Ffolkes,
~~ Plautus ~~
(B.C. 254-184)
There is a fascinating sort of beauty to fires such as this; I’ve been to Bass Lake, where this was taken, perhaps even stood where the photographer stood to take this shot. It does look like a very familiar outline, one my mind remembers well, if only for its similarity to so many other places I’ve been in the mountains of California. The picture itself is one I saw all over the Net, released during the recent spate of wildfires in California this past summer, and, though beautiful, is also very saddening…..
But, we aren’t going to let that sadness keep us from our appointed rounds today; I’ve missed too many days already (one is too many in my book….), so, I don’t intend to miss any more…. Even if I must cheat to get them done…. I am still a bit stupefied by the meds I’m still using to combat vertigo (it’s passing, much better, but, still a bit of edginess running along that eye nerve, when I move the eyes too quickly…. but, much better), as it makes me sleep heavily, and long…. hence my late start today….
In fact, I’m so late, this intro is going to be truncated rather severely, immediately following this paragraph, else we’ll not get to the rest of this mess anywhere near soon enough…. In fact, I’ve hear a rumor we’ll be using an entirely new technique, one both effective, and ruthless…. I wonder what it looks like? It couldn’t be any worse than….. Wait. Who are you? What are you doing ther…….
Shall we Pearl?….
“As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks that this mesh of a net is an independent, isolated thing, he is mistaken. It is called a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes.” — Buddha
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The new intro-shortening technique seems to work rather well, wouldn’t you say? A bit of upset in the initial stage there, but, nothing too obvious; no tears, or blood, so, it must be okay. So much so, it’s put me in too good a mood to rant…. plus, I didn’t have time for any research…. so, easy money, we’ll just go old school for a change in this section, thus proving the old adage, that says…. well, I forget, but, I’m sure there is one to fit…. For the nonce, I have a perfect set of pearls for this space, one I’ve been saving for just such an occasion…. I give you then, the following pearl of pearls….
Ladies and gentlemen…. for some time now, I’ve collected pearls for use here on ECR, as part of the format, upon which we depend, to give us the structure that otherwise might never have shown its face. We’ll never really know, but, accept that there are certain things in life destined to remain mysterious…. and, we can’t chase all of them down to see which is which, now, can we? Of course not…. It’s much the same with pearls…. they work, for what they are needed for, or they don’t…. but, often, when they don’t, I find it hard to get rid of them, as they have something of their own, which I have found it can be worthwhile to consider, even without the direction provided by a set of parameters….. many of which are randomly chosen, themselves….
Any who, I end up with a lot of stuff that is pretty cool, but, doesn’t fit in anywhere with what I’m working on…. below you’ll find a rather extensive array of some of these random, extraneous, yet valuable pearls, collected, but not used as yet…. I don’t like to let them build up too far, as I then lose track of what is there…. even my memory has limits…. So, here are a bunch of them, just for fun, and maybe, who knows, a bit is virtual wisdom, to boot….. Abondanza!
“If you attack Stupidity you attack an entrenched interest with friends in government and every walk of public life.” — Robertson Davies
“For this invention [writing] will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practise their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.” — Plato (274-275 BC) in Phaedrus
“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain
“Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear — kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor — with the cry of grave national emergency… Always there has been some terrible evil to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant sums demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.” — General Douglas MacArthur, 1957
“Lysander said that the law spoke too softly to be heard in such a noise of war.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Caius Marius
“The belief that words have a meaning of their own account is a relic of primitive word magic, and it is still a part of the air we breathe in nearly every discussion.” — Charles K. Ogden, The Meaning of Meaning
“Possibly the greatest threat to those who want to believe that everything in the Bible is true was advanced by an individual standing in wading boots in cool water up to his hind end, in fact, who revealed that most of the early witnesses to all that Jesus said and did were fishermen!” — Smart Bee
EXCERPTS FROM LIFE’S LITTLE INSTRUCTION BOOK, VOLUMES I AND II
35. Plant a tree on your birthday.
47. Don’t waste time learning the “tricks of the trade.” Instead, learn the trade.
53. Vote.
68. Be brave. Even if you’re not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
100. Read the Bill of Rights.
198. Feed a stranger’s expired parking meter.
209. Observe the speed limit.
267. Lie on your back and look at the stars.
271. When facing a difficult task, act as though it is impossible to fail. If you’re going after Moby Dick, take along the tartar sauce.
322. Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
393. Learn how to operate a Macintosh computer.
513. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams.
558. Never betray a confidence.
595. Be the first to fight for a just cause.
817. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
939. Never be ashamed of your patriotism.
— H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Just so’s you know…. I think #271 of Life’s Instructions is a really good one….. #558 is a solid truth, as well.
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Here is some rather esoteric rock, by one of the SF Bay Area most beloved local performers, Boz Scaggs, at a live concert benefiting the Bridge School, an alternative school in Marin…. Enjoy, please… it’s different than the usual fare you hear, for certain…..
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Any introduction for this poet is superfluous; you know who he is…. Now, enjoy one of his best….
Isabel met an enormous bear,
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t care;
The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,
The bear’s big mouth was cruel and cavernous.
The bear said, Isabel, glad to meet you,
How do, Isabel, now I’ll eat you!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry.
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,
Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.
Once in a night as black as pitch
Isabel met a wicked old witch.
the witch’s face was cross and wrinkled,
The witch’s gums with teeth were sprinkled.
Ho, ho, Isabel! the old witch crowed,
I’ll turn you into an ugly toad!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry,
She showed no rage and she showed no rancor,
But she turned the witch into milk and drank her.
Isabel met a hideous giant,
Isabel continued self reliant.
The giant was hairy, the giant was horrid,
He had one eye in the middle of his forehead.
Good morning, Isabel, the giant said,
I’ll grind your bones to make my bread.
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She nibbled the zwieback that she always fed off,
And when it was gone, she cut the giant’s head off.
Isabel met a troublesome doctor,
He punched and he poked till he really shocked her.
The doctor’s talk was of coughs and chills
And the doctor’s satchel bulged with pills.
The doctor said unto Isabel,
Swallow this, it will make you well.
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She took those pills from the pill concocter,
And Isabel calmly cured the doctor.
~~ Ogden Nash ~~
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Here’s a pearl of indeterminate style, yet, somehow, seems to work… It may be the closing pearl that does it, bringing it all into focus, but, that may must be the drugs talking…. Y’all can take from this whatever you wish to take; it has more than enough to suit any taste…. Watch the ending, though, it’s kind of a rapid turn, & I’m not sure of the road’s ability to handle it at speed….
“Nothing endures but change.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.)
“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depends on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the measure as I have received and am still receiving.” — Albert Einstein
“Whatever happens at all happens as it should; thou wilt find this true, if thou shouldst watch narrowly.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD)
— Meditations, iv, 10
“Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.” — Phillip Brooks
“Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of the colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. Each time a person stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” — Robert F. Kennedy Speech, South Africa, 1966
“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), “Circles”
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.
~~ William Butler Yeats ~~
“The Stolen Child”
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Like the pagan said about the gospels; “Well, it was a long time ago, and we can hope it all wasn’t true.”….from Clouds of Witness…
On that note, I believe I can safely, and with some dignity intact, take my leave for yet another day….. Regardless of the legality, or any implied lack thereof, should it be heretofore challenged in a court of law, why, y’all can give ’em my statement, yes? That would be, uh, how you say in English?….Oh, yes…. Fuck you, asshole….
Oh, for goodness sake! Not y’all…… I’m talking to, and about, those myrmidons over there, across the street, watching the house, hoping I won’t see them, standing there with their little orders from the asininnies to take me in for questioning…. I’m afraid they’re doomed to disappointment; I’ve far too much to do on my own agenda to even consider allowing them to alter any of it for THEIR purposes….. But, then, they still believe that they have the right, and/or the means, to force me to comply….. silly wabbits…
See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, and don’t worry, they won’t be here again, nor will they ever find this batch….. Ta, then…..
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
“The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.”
À bientôt, mon cherí.
gigoid 