Maybe we should use another connotation of “stiff”…..

Posted on July 28, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

Ffolkes, I don’t know about y’all, but, it’s my considered opinion that’s one damn silly looking puffin. Between the fat little body (which only appears that way; he’s actually about right for a seabird living in the cold Atlantic ocean…), the mouthful of dead fishies, (which goes to show it’s a pretty efficient fisher….), and that silly expression (do birds really HAVE expressions? If so, how do they do that without eyebrows?) Most importantly, why am I even THINKING about any of this, when I’ve got a Pearl to write?….

Oh well, such is life here at ECR…. I should probably tell you the picture came from the London Daily Telegraph, out of a weekly feature of theirs, called the Animal Pictures of the Week…. There are always some good shots in there, but, this one was irresistible…. If it wasn’t a wild creature, you’d want to take this little guy home with you, wouldn’t you? I know I would; he’s about as cute as can be….. Of course, no wild creature should ever be caged, in my opinion, nor made into a “pet”…

I do enjoy going to the zoo, but, in my heart, I grieve the entire time, for the loss of freedom for creatures who are made to live in the wild. I always end up sad, feeling their sadness, too, the sorrow felt by all those prisoners, of Mankind’s overbearing, completely misplaced sense of entitlement, SUPPOSEDLY given him by that first part in the Bible, that manual of idiocy spawned by a number of fanatical fear mongers over the course of centuries, wherein some asshole made the absolutely false statement that convinced everyone that we have “dominion” over the other creatures with whom we live…. It is especially hard for me to watch the large predators, such as bears, or the big cats, who, after a time, become neurotic and crazy from being confined their entire lives….

I know, it’s probably a little early to start a religirant, especially when it’s an attack on a book revered by such a large percentage of people. But, some days, my anger, at those bloody manipulative assholes, who make up the whole misogynistic structure of modern religious thinking, is just too huge for me to keep inside…. Jimmy Carter made what I consider one of the most cogent statements I’ve ever heard, about how men have perverted even religious dogma, one that SHOULD have been echoing back and forth across the world when it was made…. but, nobody paid any attention…. It went like this….

It is a small step from treating animals like property, to do with as we wish, to treating women, children, and anyone who will submit as if they are of no importance, as if the rights of one aggressive, confused person are more valid than the rights of a woman, a child, or an animal…. All it takes is the innate cowardice that enables one to completely abjure any sort of true humanity, choosing instead the path taken by religious assholes for millennia, thus perpetuating the myths and false assumptions upon which the entire society has been built, and ensuring that women, children, and animals will suffer the perils of persecution and cruelty from men with no scruples….

Ah me…. There is no doubt that I’ve created a monster here; I kind of wish I had an explosive nuclear device with which to kill it, but, it’s rather amorphous, without shape or form one may grasp & hold, and may be hard to destroy…. I know, we can always laugh at it; that always seems to work on bullies, so it should work on these guys, for sure…. Of course, then we have to deal with the mess they always leave behind, but, that’s better than the alternative, for sure…. In fact, that’s such a grand idea, I’m going to make a unilateral decision here, by kicking us completely out of the intro, on into the next section….. I’ll do that, right about HERE….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free your very existence becomes an act of rebellion.” — Albert Camus

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

I think I hurt myself, ranting like that before I was even awake…. Now, when I consider trying to work up the chutzpah to rant some more, I experience a sense of crushing fatigue, and extreme reluctance to get started….. In short, I’m feeling lazy…. To try to appease my sense of duty, we’ll put an old-school pearl in this section, then make another field decision later, when we get as far as section three…. It’s probably futile, but, it sounds like a plan to me, so, off we go, diving for dollars, or, more accurately, pearls of virtual wisdom….

“Men only learned to walk upright cause they put beer on the top shelf!” — Smart Bee

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty–power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” — Wendell Phillips

“The tragic lesson of guilty men walking free in this country has not been lost on the criminal community.” — Richard M. Nixon

“And we are told in the Scriptures that at the beginning of time the Lord said, “Let there be light.” But I’ve checked this out with a number of eminent biblical scholars. The Lord’s complete statement was as follows: “Let there be light. Well, maybe not all day.” — Steve Allen

“Sin is a dangerous toy in the hands of the virtuous. It should be left to the congenitally sinful, who know when to play with it and when to let it alone.” — H. L. Mencken

“A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.” — Napoleon Bonaparte, “Maxims” 1804-1815

Okay, so here’s the deal….This last little part is the perfect lawyer’s joke, as it takes aim at them from a number of directions, each striking well at their pointy little heads…. It doesn’t really fit the usual image of a pearl, but, it just went so well with the rest, I couln’t resist…. Here then, I give you our very fine closing pearl for today….

A lawyer shows up at the pearly gates. St. Peter says, “Normally we don’t let you people in here but you’re in luck, we have a special this week. You
go to hell for the length of time you were alive, then you get to come back up here for eternity.”

The lawyer says, “I’ll take the deal.”

St. Peter says, “Good, I’ll put you down for 212 years in hell …”

The lawyer says, “What are you talking about? I’m 65 years old!”

St. Peter says, “Up here we go by billing hours.”

— Orson Bean

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First, here’s a haiku, fresh….

Complete

I am, at last, done.
Nothing more to say, not now.
I shall go away.

~~ gigoid ~~

Now, to give this joint a little class, here’s a classic…

Witch Burning

In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit
The wax image of myself, a doll’s body.
Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.
Only the devil can eat the devil out.
In the month of red leaves I climb to a bed of fire.

It is easy to blame the dark: the mouth of a door,
The cellar’s belly. They’ve blown my sparkler out.
A black-sharded lady keeps me in parrot cage.
What large eyes the dead have!
I am intimate with a hairy spirit.
Smoke wheels from the beak of this empty jar.

If I am a little one, I can do no harm.
If I don’t move about, I’ll knock nothing over. So I said,
Sitting under a potlid, tiny and inert as a rice grain.
They are turning the burners up, ring after ring.
We are full of starch, my small white fellows. We grow.
It hurts at first. The red tongues will teach the truth.

Mother of beetles, only unclench your hand:
I’ll fly through the candle’s mouth like a singeless moth.
Give me back my shape. I am ready to construe the days
I coupled with dust in the shadow of a stone.
My ankles brighten. Brightness ascends my thighs.
I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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My reluctance to get started on a rant has not merely continued, but grown since last we spoke on this, above in section one…. Rather than subject y’all to yet another obscure grouping of pearls, we’ll go with some artwork…. Here are some pictures I’ve collected from the Net in the last few days &/or weeks, some with animals, a gorgeous landscape, and one brilliant political meme…. The attribution for these pictures is either SFGATE, the London Daily Telegraph, or the UK Guardian, which are my primary sources for news and pictures on the web…. Enjoy!…..

I would caution you to NOT anthropomorphize the last picture…. It would be very easy, but, completely WRONG, so don’t do it….

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Well, that was interesting…. and I mean that in ALL of its senses…. I’m not going to fuss with even thinking about how it turned out, as it sort of got away from me rather quickly today…. I’m trusting my instincts just to post this, knowing it could be the end of all my hopes and dreams…. Well, that’s probably a bit dramatic, and overblown as to risk, but, hey, hyperbole can be fun, when used with some care…. Since that isn’t going to happen around here, I’ll find my way to the exit, and we’ll all be happy….. Well, until tomorrow, when I get up, and do it all again….. See y’all later, 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

It’s just like a dead parrot….

Posted on July 24, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”
~~ Buddha ~~

Or, if we are lucky, we can be what we imagine in our thoughts, no matter how fantastic they are….. Just sayin’…. Ultimately, though, it’s both egotistical and impertinent to believe that I could add anything particularly useful to something the Buddha said as part of sharing his wisdom…. Oh well, it’s true, so, it can’t hurt, and I’m sure the Buddha wouldn’t mind, as long as I am not being untruthful, or mean-spirited…. Mostly, I’m just being fanciful, to get the old grey cells moving along in a reasonably straight line, even if the line doesn’t get us much of anywhere important…

‘Important’ is just another personal judgment anyway, right? Right…. the universe treats us all alike, with complete, massive indifference to our wishes or our sensibilities…. It’s just the way it is, so, what becomes important is how we react to whatever we are presented with in our lives…. much of which is not under our direct control…. As always, the only thing we can really count on being able to control is ourselves; beyond that, all is up for dispute…. Nobody likes that part of karma, or existence, or whatever we choose to call life when we are speaking metaphorically; we don’t have to like it. All we have to do is deal with it, for there is no other choice…

That being said, we do have SOME choices; in fact, that is our saving grace, to my way of thinking. We have the choice to act, or not, always…. That is a powerful tool, though sadly misunderstood to be so critical…. But, then, it takes more than just two neurons bumping up against each other to have a chance of cluing into that fact, so, a lot of folks out there just don’t have the wherewithal…. This is what creates so much tension and difficulty in the world, because of their thrashing around, trying to control everything they don’t understand, using the only tool they know, which is aggression and violence….

There, how’s that for a three paragraph summary of world history, with a valid, pertinent appraisal of human nature, and a solid, short, rational description of the root causes of the mess we call current events in world-wide society, or, as we usually think of the issue, Life As We Know It? Not too shabby, I’d say, even if it is a little bit heavy on the assumption of guilt part…. Hey, stupid is as stupid does, as Mama Gump says, so, I’m not apologizing for any of it, not even to the Buddha…. I was only trying to help!….

Never mind, we’ll just go on…. Today’s picture is one of several I took yesterday on my walk, taken when I discovered the local colony of pine cones, in their original habitat…. Apparently there was some kind of formal gathering going on, so several of them agreed to pose in the formal attire, right there in the pine tree where they live…. It was interesting, and gave me a little better insight in the Wise Old Pine Cone, and the environment from which he was, shall we say, sent forth unto the world, to carry out the dictates of his Arts….

Now, now, calm down, no need for drama…. Remember, this is all fantasy, so, I can say all this, and it doesn’t mean a damn thing, unless….. wait for it…. hold on…. unless….. YOU MAKE UP THE MEANING!….. See how that works? I rest my case, and my arguments, and my tired grey cells…. Well, not tired, just confused, their normal, default state after such a bout of philosophy, combined with fantasy, and a dollop or two of humor, all in one sitting…. All prepared prior to even awakening, too; I’ll bet you didn’t even notice that part, did you? Nope, but, don’t feel bad….. There was no way you could know I was writing ahead, or, in my sleep….

Since I’ve discovered I have the powers of a Time Lord while writing here, it’s getting a little hard for even ME to keep track of when stuff gets done…. but, as long as I don’t cross the streams, we’ll be fine…. Well, that’s what Ray said…. and Luigi backed him up on it, so, I’m letting it fly….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Who needs astrology? The wise man gets by on fortune cookies.” — Edward Abbey

And, in the same vein….

“I drank WHAT???????” — Socrates (470?-399 B.C.)

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

On most occasions, the first section is comprised of either a rant, or an old-school pearl, or some combination thereof…. Or, it may start with links, to articles that stimulate my discussion/ranting, which often turns out to resemble my nose, i.e., large, round, & red, with a tendency to HONK when squeezed….. or, on rare but entertaining occasions, when looked at with the plain intent to squeeze…. Today, we, or, dropping the royal personage, I, am going a completely different direction…. sort of…..

The link you’ll see below is to an article from the sports page of SFGATE, the SF Bay Area news website run by the SF Chronicle, about the home team’s latest exploits, in this case, a Giants’ win, night-before-last in Philadelphia, a tough win in 14 innings on the road…. It’s an upbeat story, with a lot of good signs for Giants fans regarding the second half of the season…. Read it, even if you don’t know baseball, for the change of pace from the usual fare around here, which, I am aware, is generally rather intense in nature….

http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Posey-extends-game-in-9th-Crawford-lifts-Giants-5640059.php?cmpid=hp-hc-sports

The last line in the above article kept me smiling for a long time…. Don’t skip down to it, or it won’t make any sense…. You must read the entire article, or at least skim it down to the last couple of paragraphs, to get the sense of the game, and the fantastically humorous, ironic ending lines…. Brilliant!…..

Now what?….. Hmm, I guess we’ll wait until something occurs to me…. I know, let’s see if Smart Bee can come up with a five-star pearl that is “happy-making”, in a manner of speaking…. I’d try to explain, but, English is the wrong language for that…. Oh, hell, let’s just see what happens…

“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment… They do everything but watch television.” — Lewis Thomas

“I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things that I am most certain of the first time.” — Josh Billings

“By definition, when you are investigating the unknown, you do not know what you will find.” — The Ultimate Principle

” The difference between a politician and a snail is that a snail leaves its slime behind.” — Gerrold’s Pronouncement

“One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that the cat has only nine lives.” — Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson

Mad, adj.: Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence … — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“The forces of evil can marshal even more support than the forces of good, especially when pizza is served.” — unknown

Okay, so, I can’t count…. I’m happy, so it all balances out, right? Right…. Onward, before they have a chance to catch up….

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

This poet needs no introduction in my world; he is indeed a master of the metaphor, and silly to boot. What’s not to like?…. Enjoy this one, ffolkes, it’s a dandy….

Children’s Party

May I join you in the doghouse, Rover?
I wish to retire till the party’s over.
Since three o’clock I’ve done my best
To entertain each tiny guest. My conscience now I’ve left behind me,
And if they want me, let them find me.
I blew their bubbles, I sailed their boats,
I kept them from each other’s throats. I told them tales of magic lands,
I took them out to wash their hands.
I sorted their rubbers and tied their laces,
I wiped their noses and dried their faces. Of similarities there’s lots
Twixt tiny tots and Hottentots.
I’ve earned repose to heal the ravages
Of these angelic-looking savages. Oh, progeny playing by itself
Is a lonely little elf,
But progeny in roistering batches
Would drive St. Francis from here to Natchez. Shunned are the games a parent proposes,
They prefer to squirt each other with hoses,
Their playmates are their natural foemen
And they like to poke each other’s abdomen. Their joy needs another woe’s to cushion it,
Say a puddle, and someone littler to push in it.
They observe with glee the ballistic results
Of ice cream with spoons for catapults, And inform the assembly with tears and glares
That everyone’s presents are better than theirs.
Oh, little women and little men,
Someday I hope to love you again, But not till after the party’s over,
So give me the key to the doghouse, Rover

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

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

What we have below is a typical old-school, random pearl, picked out by myself and Smart Bee, acting in mind-meld-mode, where SB brings up quotes as suggested by whatever the meld is telling him I am looking for…. Well, it works something like that, anyway; maybe one of these days we’ll let the folks at Princeton test us for their ongoing studies into telepathy…. Or, maybe not…. I think this came out rather well, all things considered; in all honesty, I’m not entirely sure my mind has been in attendance, at all, while creating this Pearl today…. Hmph…. No matter, just enjoy….

“It behooves a prudent person to make trial of everything before arms.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act iv, Sc. 7, 19, (789.)

“What is done with joy is always better done.” — H. L. Mencken

“After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” — Aldous Huxley

“I agree with the realistic Irishman who said he preferred to prophesy after the event.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 10/7/16

“Nobody does good to man with impunity.” — Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

“Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.” — Nietzsche, “Thus Spake Zarathustra”

“And furthermore, my bowling average is unimpeachable!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Also, ffolkes, you need to consider this….. If it wasn’t, would I tell y’all? Probably not….. and, what that has to do with any of the above remains as much a mystery to me, as it does to you….. I also suppose, if you stop to think about it, isn’t particularly unusual for this process….

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

Well, that was interesting…. It isn’t every day my brain takes a working vacation, while still putting a Pearl together; I can’t say what kind of effect it had, but, I suppose I’ll see when I go proof it….. SIGH, I guess I’ll do that now, while I’m still in my coveralls….. I’ll be back…..

Well…. Contrary to all the available evidence, I’m speechless. But, that is, by definition, and by its nature, a good place to bring this to a close. It’s logical, if only to a fault, never approaches any sort of politically correct terminology, and, bonus, it’s on sale….. How can you lose? Hell, I’m pretty sure we now take Bitcoins, so, it’s even more convenient….. If you act now, we’ll even throw in the chocolate sprinkles….. Or, not, your choice….. My choice, should I choose to accept it, is to make my way outta here, which, I will proceed to embrace, here, and now….. I must, for I’m out of both pomposity, and, more critically, chutzpah….. 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

Man the focs’l! Avast me hearties! Yar!….

Posted on July 19, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“A man can only do what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.” — Albert Schweitzer
The pub pictured above, is, as can be noted by the mirror over the bar, the The Old Swan, in Kensington, just around the corner from the B&B where I stayed in London, in Abbey Court, quite near Portobello Road. It could be considered as my neighborhood pub for when I am in that city, as it felt like home from the first time I walked in…. During the three days I spent in London, I was in here four times, for three meals, and a night out, once I’d gotten over my jet lag. It was everything an English pub was advertised to be; comfortable, friendly, and bursting with tradition, from the dark wooden walls, to the pretty barmaids, and the warm fire in the hearth….

For three years now, damn near, I’ve been trying to create an environment here, on this blog, that would make ffolkes feel the same about coming here as I did about going to the Swan, with the same sort of welcoming atmosphere, sans food and drink….. Instead, here, we serve dishes of a more intellectually fulfilling nature, rather than those of a savory, aromatic, stomach-filling sort…. The intent is a bit different, too…. The pub’s focus is on providing a place to relax and socialize, rather than one designed to stimulate thought, and to illuminate that which is kept deliberately dark, thereby arousing the passion to make changes…. all in the hope of helping the world to make the changes needed to save our ignorant asses….

That goal, of course, is probably not realistic, but, it’s the only one I find to be worthwhile, since, if we don’t manage to make the aforementioned necessary alterations in how we approach living, we, as a species, are certainly going to die…. I hate being so pessimistic; it really isn’t my nature to lose hope, or to give up…. but, between the intransigence of those in power, the ignorance of the great unwashed masses, historical inertia, and the unfortunate tendency of our species to express the violence in our nature rather than the compassion that exists within us as well, I don’t see the necessary changes as having much chance of being made in time to fix what we have made of our nest….

That lack of hope doesn’t keep me from trying though, and, if the last three years is any indication, my efforts are, if nothing else, prodigious…. I guess it wouldn’t be out of line to say I must have had something to say, because I’ve certainly said something, to the tune of about four thousand PAGES, holding more than three million words that have been inside me for years, waiting for their chance to come out to play…. I’m not sure how many are left in there, but, as you can see, there doesn’t seem to be any lack of them to pick from…. thank goodness…..

In fact, I’m pretty sure we’ve put enough of them together so far today to have reached one of our potential points of entry into the later sections…. Yep, there’s the ending of this intro coming up right there, up there a few lines ahead of us…. Probably a good thing, too, as this was beginning to unravel, or, as we like to say around here, it was “preparing for burn”, or “damn, what the hell was that?”….. I’m sure you know whereof I speak, as it tends to happen here on an almost daily basis…. I’m not going to bother naming it, or trying to define it, but, y’all know exactly what I mean, don’t you?…. I know you do, but, if it embarrasses you to admit it, that’s okay…. We all know, so, it’s cool….

Oh look, it’s the ending I saw….. Good, the water looks inviting today….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Scilurus on his death-bed, being about to leave four-score sons surviving, offered a bundle of darts to each of them, and bade them break them. When all refused, drawing out one by one, he easily broke them,–thus teaching them that if they held together, they would continue strong; but if they fell out and were divided, they would become weak.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

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“All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.” — John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)

In the course of this blog, I’ve ranted many times about how the Asininnies, or, at least, those in that group who speak to the public, consistently lie about their actions, as well as their motivation for those acts. Moreover, I’ve tried to relate how the ignorance of those who listen to those lies, believing them implicitly, is as much the underlying cause as the lies themselves….. In support of that opinion, I offer the results of the presidential election in November of 2012, when 55 million Americans voted for a man who lied to them more than 50% of the time, a figure corroborated by more than just two fact-checking organizations….

Yes, you read that correctly…. 55 million Americans chose to vote for a man who was a proven liar, just so they wouldn’t have to consider the idea of having a black man as President for another four years…. Not that the established conservative political coalition would allow him, or his political allies, to actually DO anything for the people; the GOP has managed to throw up a roadblock on EVERY piece of legislation designed to help the public for the last six and a half years, becoming in the process the champion “do-nothing” Congress of all…. This Congressional group has considered fewer bills than ANY other of its predecessors, and has passed even less of it, thus earning their championship with a truly monumental, record-breaking LACK of work…. or, progress….

“A long tradition has regarded low self-esteem as a powerful and dangerous cause of violence. Our review has indicated, however, that it is threatened egotism rather than low self-esteem that leads to violence.” — Case Western Reserve University psychology study as quoted in Thomas C. Palmer, Jr.’s Boston Globe article (3-31-96), — Self-Esteem Self-Threatening?

I ask you, sincerely, as an experienced, retired mental health professional, what is legislative obstruction other than passive-aggressive violence to the public, like a spiteful child complaining of a lost entitlement?…. As far as I can see, the House of Representatives Republican majority has done NOTHING other than act like spoiled children for the last seven years, since BEFORE the ’08 election, when the threat of a black president first surfaced…. and, in the process of their throwing their series of legislative tantrums, have managed to slow the process of healing so needed by the economy, and the national psyche….

In spite of their efforts, the economy has improved, a LOT; unemployment and inflation are at their lowest rates since the first Shrub started raiding the public coffers, the banks are fat and happy, and even the middle class has seen an improvement in their overall economic picture…. It’s looking as if the American economy is finally starting to recover, a little bit, from the disaster of the Reagan years, and the complete catastrophe that was the legacy of the Shrubs, both Senior and Junior, each of which created their own particular mess in the money world, giving new meaning to words such as nepotism, corruption, and cronyism….

I’m going to give y’all a break today; I’ll end this rant here, & finish off this section with some appropriate pearls…. I’ve made the point I wanted to make, if only minimally…. but, I feel myself approaching a level of anger at such immorality which could potentially affect the quality of the argument, so, I’ll let it go, and just reinforce my point with pearls…. Remember, ffolkes, you have to listen closely to what they say, and make the effort to determine its veracity, or lack thereof, before buying into anything that comes out of a politician’s, or a preacher’s, or a banker’s mouth…. They don’t have a good track record at truth-telling…. nor, as far as can be seen, do they have any interest, or investment, in learning to do so

“The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” — Winston Churchill

“What one fool can do, another can.” — Ancient Simian Proverb

“What we wish, that we readily believe.” — Demosthenes

“Men of power have no time to read, yet the men who do not read are unfit for power.” — Michael Foot

ARTHUR: I am your king!
WOMAN: Well, I didn’t vote for you.
ARTHUR: You don’t vote for kings.
WOMAN: Well, ‘ow did you become king then?

— Monty Python and the Holy Grail

“POLITICIANS do it, but they stay in too long and make you pay for it afterwards.” — Smart Bee

“What is it not to sin? Do not ask much; go, the silent flowers will tell you.” — Angelus Silesia ne Johannes Scheffler (1624-1677)

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Hang on…. I just finished section one, and don’t have a clue as to a poem for this section…. yet. I’ll be back… I won’t be Arnold, but, I’ll be back…. Uh oh, stand back, ffolkes, I feel a poem bleeding out….

A Few Words of Note

In place of ranting and raving about assholes every day
maybe I’ll try something more fun.
Rather than throwing words at all the assholes on public pay
I’ll switch to shooting at them, with a gun….

Should I actually hit one, purely by mistake,
maybe it would wake them up.
Maybe, if they had to think, or actually cut us a break,
we’d see a chance to win at life, to take a step up.

Our nation, such as it is today, was founded by men who told the truth;
that morality disappeared long ago.
Simple ethical strength so bright, so prevalent in our country’s youth
was soon corrupted, corporate interests now run the show.

Nothing would please me more than to fire off some rounds,
if only to gain their attention.
But, I can no longer run, I’ve gained too many pounds;
so, my keyboard and intellect must serve to fulfill my intention.

I won’t stop, of that you may be sure
I love my freedoms, and the philosophy from which it springs.
Tom, and Ben, and John, and Pat, those patriots pure
gave me their example, and the inner peace it brings.

If bullets won’t persuade our elected liars to toe the ethical line,
I’ll throw my most powerful words…..
If nothing else, it will make them wriggle to escape, or voice their pitiful whine,
thus exposing themselves for what they are…. plain and simple turds.

~~ gigoid ~~

Well, they can’t ALL be great…. It rhymes, and it’s a good message… I like it, but, then, I DID write it, so…. It will do, for now; it could conceivably get some editing done on it in the future, but, for the moment, I have to go stop the bleeding, so I can get all this posted…. Now, where did I put that gauze?….

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

Time for some more old-school pearling, ffolkes…. Smart Bee has been pretty cooperative so far, so, I’m going to push my luck, & see if we can come up with another pearl of virtual wisdom to finish off today’s effort….. Go, SB!….

“When ideas fail, words come in very handy.” — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“A guilty conscience never feels secure.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 617

“Christ believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment.” — Bertrand Russell

“If you have had your attention directed to the novelties in thought in your own lifetime, you will have observed that almost all really new ideas have a certain aspect of foolishness when they are first produced.” — Alfred North Whitehead

“You must turn and face the tiger to learn it is made of paper.” — Smart Bee

“I grow old ever learning many things.” — Solon 630 – 555 BC

“.. I think I’d better go back to my DESK and toy with a few common MISAPPREHENSIONS…” — Zippy the Pinhead

I rest my case…. The most cogent of the above aphorisms came from SB itself, which, obviously, goes to prove my assertion….. I hope you enjoyed this one, it’s pretty good….

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

When I awoke this morning, I had no idea this would all flow out before I was done…. It’s all fresh, and all punctuated, so, I’m going to take my chances with it as it is, sans any further perusal, and trusting to my basic skills to protect me from the grammar Nazis out there…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. I feel lighter, for sure…..

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

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

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

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 ~

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

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”

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

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

Tumbling down the Stairway to Heaven….

Posted on July 8, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book iii, Chap. xi

The pearl you see above was intended to get my mind out of the doldrums in which it found itself becalmed; I’m pretty sure they’ve failed, miserably, because I’ve been sitting here, looking at it, waiting for inspiration to strike, for, oh, a good twenty minutes now, and what you see is what I’ve got, so far….. If I weren’t sure I was wrong, I’d say it wasn’t working, but, I’m never wrong®, so that can’t be it…. It must be the shoes….

Okay, so it’s not the shoes; more likely it’s just the normal foggy mind-state that dogs me every morning when I sit down to begin this self-induced torture…. I’ve never let that stop me before, so, I suppose I can’t give up today. My pain level today is a bit distracting; I probably overdid it on the SF trip the other day, and my calves & thighs are complaining about all the unexpected exercise, along with the usual arthritic back, hip, and shoulder joint pain…. just another day on the farm. I’ll get done, but, I guarantee I won’t enjoy that part of it….

In fact, I’m starting to feel rather curmudgeonly, so much so, it’s possible you could see a rant later; all I need for that, I think, is one good headline, informing us of yet another item of chicanery from one of the BRC, or a preacher, or perhaps one of the entitled myrmidons, and I’d be able to go off on whomever it was, with power, elegance, and a sharp, pointed stick in the eye…. Of course, that’s providing anything is in the media, which has an unfortunate tendency to pass over the most egregious of the shenanigans our leaders engage in; after all, if the reporters didn’t have the politicians to pick on, who would they write about?….

I guess I have to face it…. I’m lost again, and I haven’t a clue as to how to get back to anywhere we can recognize as the right path…. Damn! This means we’ll have to use one of the emergency endings…. In fact, I see one right here, so, we’ll jump on it, while we have the chance…. Otherwise, we may NEVER get out of the intro; I’m THAT screwed up today…. Oh, look, there’s the end I was talking about; let’s dive….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“A man learns to skate by staggering about making a fool of himself; indeed, he progresses in all things by making a fool of himself.”– George Bernard Shaw

As you can see, pearls can be VERY accurate, when describing human nature, and how it applies to each one of us…. Here we find it to have perfectly nailed this entire intro section, and my part in creating it….. See, even when I screw up, the process of Pearling can save us…..

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

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/williesworld/article/What-s-with-the-American-public-giving-a-fail-5601966.php?cmpid=hp-hc-bayarea

Okay, I give up…. I’ll rant…. Whoa, now! No throwing stuff!…. Okay, I won’t rant…. But, I could, if I wanted to; you needn’t think your rude flinging of that odd substance in the general direction of my head had anything to do with my decision… I’m just a nice guy, at heart, and I figure I’ll save it up for the next one…. I’ll just say this about the above…. For once in my life, I agree with Willie, at least in part…. Not fully: I am, to use his style, 100% sure that Obama has lied to the public, on more than one occasion… Sorry Willie, but, that’s documented elsewhere… But, considering the handicaps he has faced, he’s done as well, or better, than could be expected….

Not to say that means that things went well, but, there have been a number of advancements of culture that indicate some progress toward a more moral society…. I just don’t expect it to last long…. Any who, section three today is a long one, so, rather than rant, we’ll just put together a seven-star pearl, of a directly critical nature, (in the vein of Socrates, the “gadfly”), directed at those I like to call the Asininnies…. You’ll recognize them, I think…. If not, well, the comments I make should make it all clear….

“If a man boasts a great deal about what he is going to do tomorrow, it is timely to check into what he did yesterday!” — Smart Bee

(I would say this is probably a very, very good policy to hold when examining politicians….)

“It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies.” — Arthur Calwell

(Obviously, this is an idea that never became popular in this country; in fact, every single politician in office in Washington D.C. will spend a long time trying to convince you this is a lie, at least when it comes to THEM….)

“Join the Army: Travel to exotic distant lands. Meet exciting, unusual people and kill them.”– US Army recruiting poster, as envisions by MAD Magazine

(This was popular back in the 60’s, during the Vietnam conflict, yet, somehow, remains valid today….)

“A society made up of individuals who were all capable of original thought would probably be unendurable.” — H.L. Mencken

(Maybe so, but, I’d be willing to try it, just for the contrast….)

“Do you ever think about the end of the world as we know it?” — Calvin

(Every damn day, thank you….. since I can see it, just down the hall…..)

“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” — Thomas Jefferson

(More proof that Jefferson was NOT a politician; he just played one during the Constitutional Convention…. Be assured, you would NEVER hear a politician from today’s world say this, unless he was trying to fool someone into believing his crap, to wit: playing the humility card….)

“Fewer possess virtue, than those who wish us to believe that they possess it.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

And,there, with the last line, we have the perfect closer for a discussion of the BRC, an admonition, as it were, to watch them, like the proverbial hawk, for they will tell you whatever they think you would like to hear, and never mean a single word of what they say….. Believe it….

“And THAT’S the TRUTH! Thppt!” — Edith Ann (Lily Tomlin)

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

From 4/13/2013…. This poem is actually of an older date than that; the given date is the last time I posted it…. It was first penned as prose, then, later, I noted it to actually be a poem, if in free verse…. Enjoy….

Stray Cats

The veils that billow and fold
between dreams and reality
may sometimes part,
showing the visions of one to the other,
blending, bleeding as one,
only to bring us up short,
closely jammed against immovable fate.

Still, we keep our watch,
seeking to find the vision
that brings with it the mark of reality’s regard,
a humble mind, and a compassionate heart.

Events of broad impact draw us away again,
distracting with shiny glitter and tinny music,
leaving our feelings raw and bruised,
the victim of universal disregard.

Now, in the twilight of years, the music is fading,
and the glitter has all gone….
yet the memory of visions remains sharp and clear,
melancholy reminders of reality’s promises,
unkept…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I promised a photo shoot, and here it is…. Those who receive this via email will only see a link…. The link will take you to today’s post on my blog, where you can see what goes in this section…. There were way too many pictures to send out via email; it would have taken forever to upload that much data…. It’s simpler for me, and you, to just click the link, whereupon you’ll be taken to the blog, where the pictures are living for now…. Of course, you’ll still see the comments, but, they won’t make much sense without going to see the pictures….

The pictures you’ll see were all taken on my recent day trip to SF, taking along the Wise Old Pine Cone’s young paduan learner, whom we’ll call the Young Cone, for now…. The comments will be located, as this one, above each picture, to provide any necessary background…. We had a great time, if a bit exhausting for me, so I hope you enjoy this photo report….

First, here is the Young Cone, posing in the branches of a tree on the way to the bus stop, where we caught a bus to the Ferry terminal downtown…. He was so excited, he jumped to that branch all the way from the sidewalk, and capered there until I agreed to take the picture…. He looks really excited, doesn’t he? Almost vibrating with the intensity of his emotions….
Here you see the Young Cone excitedly telling another cone he met at the bus stop about his upcoming day…. He’s a friendly little cone, he is…

In this pic, the Young Cone gets his first look at the Ferry….

Checking the departure time, before embarking….

The Young Cone was amazed at the amount of CRAP on sale; as a student of the Master, he doesn’t eat such poison, but, he likes to look at the packages, which are so colorful….

The Young Cone was also amazed at the prices of everything…. Here he looks at the espresso they served, for about three times its worth, in the only cup they had to serve it in…. The counter-lady was very nice to him, though….

Here is the Young Cone, trying out one of the ferry’s seats….

As I mentioned, he’s a friendly little cone…. Here, he tries to soothe a pooch he met, who looks a bit nervous to be on the ferry…. Looks like she isn’t buying whatever line he’s trying to sell her….

Gazing out the front window of the Ferry at the SF skyline a few minutes prior to arrival at the Ferry Building…..

In this picture, the Young Cone looks at some very interesting flutes, hand-crafted out of ceramic, for sale at the craft fair across the Embarcadero from the Ferry Building, in the shade of the Financial district skyscrapers, at the end of Market Street….

Whoops! Who’s this cute little fella? And how did he get in here?…. Oh well, he’s too cute to delete…. so he stays….

(Actually, the pic is from the London Daily Telegraph, from a couple of days ago…. It actually DID end up here by mistake, but, as I stated, he’s just too cute a wolf pup to suffer the indignity of deletion…..)

    When we got to Pier 39 to wander around, the Young Cone insisted on posing on one of the sculptures…. As it turns out, he’s a camera hog, and loves to get his picture taken in almost any odd place…. as you will see below…..
    The Young Cone was almost mesmerized by the colors in the flower gardens spotted around the area…..
    Here, the Young Cone gazes in amazement at the high-tech, futuristic restroom sink in one of the public restrooms…. all motion activated, so, no fixtures…. very cool…… No cleaner than any other type, but, it did LOOK cool….
    Posing on the wall outside the Hard Rock Cafe…..
    Checking out the outrageous prices at Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream outlet…..
    Posing again, this time as a wing-walker, in front of the Kite Store…..
    He really wanted to go on the Alcatraz tour, but, the boat for that was being repaired, so we had to forgo that trip….
    The Young Cone, looking out over the marina, just before getting on the Ferry to come home…..
    There you have it, ffolkes…. I hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them…..

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

I did it…. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get this one done, but, I did… I’m going to say, it wasn’t easy, but, it turned out pretty well, in my estimation, so, I’ll go post it, and pat myself on the back, later, when I can actually REACH it…. 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

Saved by tea and biscuits….

Posted on July 3, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Reality is an interesting concept. It has some rather compelling qualities that make it attractive, not the least of which is its insistence, as Philip K. Dick observed, on not going away, even when you stop believing in it. Sadly, or perhaps it is inevitably, due to the duality of said reality, it also has many qualities that are less than perfectly attractive, or desirable as a regular experience. In fact, if I had to spend ALL of my time there, I think I’d just shoot myself, and be done with it…..

I suppose, because of it’s dual nature, reality thus could be described as what is called, in legal terms, an attractive nuisance, like having a swimming pool in your back yard…. Our problem is that reality is in everyone’s back yard, and the nuisance factor is not only thus made universal, but, for some unknown reason, multiplied by a factor of at least ten….

Or, it that just me? Am I the only one who has such problems with reality? I shouldn’t think so; I consider myself to be fairly competent at dealing with life. I have, after all, made it this far without any major fuck-ups or jail time. Maybe y’all could tell me if you have the same sort of trouble getting reality to act right?….

Regardless of the answer, it must be dealt with, and therein lies the heart of the matter. None of us, especially those of us with any experience at it, really LIKE to deal with reality; the greatest number of us arrange life so we don’t have to confront it too often…. If you believe that to be untrue, I suggest you take a look at the most recent spate of TV “reality” shows, or consider the fact that, although I’ve been hearing about these Kardashian people for several years now, as so-called “celebrities”, and I still haven’t a clue as to what hole they crawled out of, or why they are said to be such…

Before, oh, say, four years ago, I’d never heard the name Kardashian at all, except as part of a late night commercial, as some rug store by that name kept going out of business and had their rude commercials all over the late night TV screen…. You know the ones, that offer 70% discounts, and overuse the phrase “everything must go!” by a large margin…. Up until their names began showing up in the media, I’d never heard of a Kim, or a Khloe, or any of the others who are now considered part of the glitterati…

Ah well, complaining about reality is a fool’s game, anyway, and the public’s idea of fame is pretty fickle. I suppose, as long as I don’t let reality dictate my emotional state, I’m ahead of the game…. by a long way, it would seem, as the general run of society seems to have trouble getting reality to act in any fashion that suits them…. which is also, in my estimation, pretty normal, as I’ve noted all my life that most folks are oblivious to much of what goes on around them, and haven’t a clue as to the true nature of what they perceive…. It does keep most of them occupied and out of my hair, but, it doesn’t do much toward making things more equitable for everyone, which is, as I see it, our main difficulty as a society….

But, I’m guessing I’m NOT normal, and that’s just fine with me…. In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Finality is death. Perfection is finality. Nothing is perfect. There are lumps in it.” — James Stephens

I like that; “there are lumps in it.” Now THAT is a fine way to see reality, IMNSHO….

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

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

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/one-slender-man-attacker-deemed-mentally-incompetent-20140702

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/meet-slender-man-the-online-phantom-that-inspired-attempted-murder-20140604

Have you been following this story? About the two girls who stabbed another, in perhaps our society’s most telling incident of the century, thus far…. I can’t think of a crime that more perfectly describes what is wrong with our society than this one…. I’m not going to rant about it, any more than this short diatribe; I will however ask this question, which is derived from a fact of media reporting that also indicates where many of our issues begin, to wit: In all of this, no mention is made of any of the parents of any of the 3 girls involved….

My question is “Where the FUCK were the parents of these children when all of this was going on?”…. That’s all…. just think about the answer, whatever it may be, and you will see whereof I speak, when I say we are all going down the tubes to extinction, without a fucking clue that we are even on that path…. But, as noted, I won’t rant any more than this…. Instead, we’ll look for some pearls to provide the pokes to the underbelly of society…. or, whatever portion of that belly I can reach….

“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” — Albert Einstein

“Why this is Hell, nor am I out of it.” — Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

“It seems these two Airmen decided to rob the local 7-11, a stupid move in and of itself. But wait, its stupid to rob a store when you’re in the military ’cause the haircut will give you away every time. But wait again, its even stupider to do it in UNIFORM with you NAME emblazoned in 1 inch letters on the front. But wait yet again, its even stupider to tie up the clerk and try and ring up customers purchases from behind the register while in uniform outside an Air Force base. Especially when your first customer is a Chief Master Sgt. — Smart Bee

“Don’t overestimate the decency of the human race.” — H.L. Mencken

“His ignorance is encyclopedic.” — Abba Eban

(Hmm…. I wonder… to which President do you think Abba was referring?…..)

“I’m continually AMAZED at th’ breathtaking effects of WIND EROSION!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

(Me, too…. especially if you consider this a metaphorical reference to the effects of TV on the human psyche…..)

“That’s the secret to life… replace one worry with another…. — Charlie Brown (by Charles Schulz)

(Yep…. cartoonists always have their finger on the pulse of society….)

Enough, before I get so worked up, I go LOOK for someone to bite….

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

Today, you’re getting one of mine out of sheer laziness; I’m too much so this morning to even go look for one by someone else. That would require at least three of four clicks before I could even start to copy and paste, which is more than I’m willing to go through right now…. Yep, that’s pretty lazy, and I don’t care…. Hmm… the subject matter in section one today seems to have been a choice for discussion some time back. I was apparently thinking about it, anyway, as I found this poem of mine, that speaks pretty directly to that theme…. I hope you enjoy it; as I recall, this one took about three and a half pints of blood replacement after penning it….

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

Often I stand to watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, season to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

As noted previously, at points scattered throughout today’s Pearl (both evidential and direct announcements….), I’m lazy today, which has also made me late getting this done…. These pearls, and therefore this pearl, were gathered while multitasking, looking for the above parameter-bound group. These just jumped up & told me, unequivocally, they were to be used in section three, and would be just fine as a random harlequin batch…. They were right, but, I’d planned to put in pictures here today…. So, you get a bonus…. a weird bonus, but, a bonus….

Above each quote, you’ll see a picture… The pictures are either mine, or taken from the London Daily Telegraph…. If you wish complete attribution, you’ll have to go to their site to get it, as I forgot to note which page of their issue it came from…. All of the pictures are examples, in my view, of extreme beauty, of the sort only Nature can produce, beginning on Earth, and proceeding outward, toward the far galaxies…. but, they DON’T have any connection, that I know of or planned, with the quotes below each one…. Maybe next time….

“Whenever anybody says he’s struggling to become a human being I have to laugh because the apes beat him to it by about a million years. Struggle to become a parrot or something.” — Jack Handey, “Deep Thoughts”
“Of all mankind, each loves himself the best.” — Terence
“This is a revolution, damn it! We’re going to have to offend SOMEbody!” — John Adams (1735-1826), 1776
“Let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.” — Rainer Maria Rilke
“Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.” — Aristotle
“What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967), “Sceptical Essays”, 1928
“In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.” — Bertrand Russell

There you go…. so be it, such as it is….

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

It’s done, which, today, is all I really was shooting for….. and, since it is, I’ll even be nice, and leave it at that…. You’ve been a wonderful audience, so, each of you may choose from a variety of prizes by the door, in the ugly green box, as a bonus for your attention today…. Me, 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

Another day in Paradox….

Posted on June 28, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Shot to hell, it is…. bowed, bloody, completely in tatters…. Fortunately, we’re referring to my routine, and, perhaps, my mind, not my corpus; typing would be even more difficult, if that were the case. It’s complicated, and challenging enough already, what with the revolt being carried out by the physical side of my persona; it has taken me well over an hour, and more than a single cup of coffee, just to be able to get this simple paragraph onto the screen.

Without going into details that might curdle the milk you just poured over your oatmeal, let’s just say that getting this done will be an act of monumental courage and perseverance, to push through the haze veiling my mind, and put some clarity into what goes onto the page. Brilliance, or even moderate style may be out of the question; we’ll have to wait and see what happens. I could conceivably loosen up a bit, and find a pocket of energy, and/or sanity, (either will do….) that will carry me through to the end of this, but, I can’t count on it, and it’s not too likely at this point, anyway…. I’ll be lucky to get dressed all the way, much less display any real creativity in my prose….

I had no idea at the start of this blog how hard it is to write something fresh and creative every day; it gives me a bit more respect for those columnists who manage to do that for many years, maintaining a witty, accessible, and fun atmosphere in their work over periods of time far greater than what I’ve done here for the last three or so years….. Herb Caen, Walter Winchell, Grantland Rice, Jon Carroll, and a number of other daily columnists now have my complete admiration, as well as my burning curiosity, wondering how the hell they managed it for all that time…

But, long discussions of old time heroes won’t get me any further toward finishing this; it’s barely given me a start. I suppose it’s some sort of solution to the lack of freshly minted material, which, combined with my fuzzy head and overall schmeckiness, (a fine old word, that I just made up…. It sure SOUNDS like I feel…. Schmecky….), but, I don’t think it will do in the long run, except as filler, which has already shown itself to be an acceptable pathway for taking such side trips into tangential subject matter…. It may be fun, and take up time & space, but, it won’t last for more than a few paragraphs before becoming detrimental to the larger picture….

Nonesuch…. what a great word. I’m not entirely sure why it floated up to the surface of my mind, unless it’s trying to give me a hint, that it’s time to try to regain our foothold on sanity, or, at minimum, make the attempt to return to reality, before we get so far lost we can’t even find a GPS, much less our own behinds…. In fact, I’d say that y’all might do well to find your own way back to your seats, because I’m about to bail out of here, and fight my way back overland….. It’s hard to fly when weighted down by depression, as we all know, and I’m not going to sit here any longer, pretending I’m okay….

On that cryptic turn, we’ll head out into the wilds of the pearl beds, where I may be able to locate my sanity…. If not, well, I’ve been there before, so, it shouldn’t take too long to fight my way out…. In the meantime, since I’ve got nothing better to do this morning….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.’ — Elrond

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

Panting and wheezing, I clamber to the next level, only to find another sheer rock face, the only way to proceed…. Having climbed this far, I’m not willing to go back down, and besides, I get vertigo thinking about it…. I’ll just have to go on…. I know, I’ll make an old school pearl, and that will bring me right back to earth, if I do it right….. Let’s see what we can do…

“Each man reaps on his own farm.” — Plautus (254-184 BC) — Mostellaria, Act iii, Sc. 2, 112, (799.)

“A Puritan is someone who is deathly afraid that someone, somewhere, is having fun.” — H. L. Mencken

“To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.” — Benjamin Disraeli (Earl Beaconsfield) (1805-1881) — Sybil, Book i, Chap. v

“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” — Gerald R. Ford

“A clown is a clown and will always be a clown.” — Babbaluche the cobbler

“I’m not a god, I was misquoted.” — Lister, Red Dwarf

“I only wish I may see your head stroked down with a slipper.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act v, Sc. 7, 4, (1028.)

Well…. I have to say this…. That’s the oddest pearl I think I’ve ever put together…. It is a bit esoteric, to be sure, but, I think the last quote, from Terence, just makes it all okay…. If you have any clues as to what he might have been referring to, or talking about, I’d love to hear them, because I don’t have one, at all….. But, I am not required to have one, legally, so, onward….

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

Here is a poem I wrote to try to describe this process, of creating Pearls…. It’s not bad, and will hopefully expiate some of the potential ire that may be engendered by today’s apparent, no, today’s all-too-real fragility, of both purpose, and intelligence…. The poem describes what I go through each day pretty well, which is, after all, WHY I wrote it to begin with…. Better out than in, I always say….

How It Works….

Retreat, retreat, he cries in vain
we cannot stand such pain!
Another battle, another day’s fight
Eternally at war, both day and night.

Storms within, crashing and thrashing about,
filling each moment with fear and doubt.
Cries of anguish, hopes for a swift end
Denied with wounds that will not mend.

The crisis approaches, time will not wait.
It marches on, driven madly by fate.
We have no recourse, no other road to walk,
No great power to whom we may talk.

Morning arrives, seemingly mild and free
Until one considers all that must be
An intro, some pearls, a photo or two
Today’s magnificent Pearl, created just for you…..

~~gigoid ~~

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

Due to the lack of any sort of intelligent activity going on in my mind, and the time constraints involved in my being so late getting to this, here is a religirant from the archives, with some closing comments to freshen it up a bit…..

From 5/09/2012:

“It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.” — Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) — Natural History, Book ii, Sect. 20

This has always been an issue in my mind, from the very earliest times I was exposed to religious instruction, in some Presbyterian Sunday School when I was a young lad. Even at the age of five or six, I had a hard time understanding two things about God, if what they were telling me about Him was true. First, I couldn’t believe that a God, supposedly able to create an entire universe, would take the time and/or energy to care whether or not I was paying attention to His rules (I also questioned why He would make rules in the first place….)

Secondly, the whole idea of worship made me uneasy…. it seemed a bit, hmm, needy, or vulnerable, to me. I knew that the admiration of others made me feel weird; uneasy and uncomfortable with their fawning (baby sisters & brothers, little kids, and others who show such feelings for their older, more accomplished siblings….). Even the admiration I held for my older siblings, and my heroes, made me a bit uncomfortable. So, I could never understand why an all-powerful being would want any part of such a thing.

So, even then, before I had any real defenses, I suppose my ability to reason made it hard for me to accept a lot of what I was told. It never made sense to me that the pictures I saw of God made him look just like some human patriarch (hmm… no Freudian comments?); I mean, if he was so far above us, how did we know what He looked like? I didn’t remember seeing any photos of Him, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, (another questionable entity to the mind of a five-year old….) playing in the Dead Sea surf, nor did I recall any such word from God Himself. There were a lot of folks saying that the Bible is the Word of God, but the only ones saying so were people, not Gods.

So, maybe I was a bit different than the average young bear cub, but much of what they tried to foist upon my unsuspecting mind never took hold, as I found it completely unbelievable. It just didn’t make any sense, even by the rules they claimed to be those by which reality operated. If I, a little kid, didn’t like to be worshiped, why would an omnipotent being have anything to do with it? Give me a reasonable, rational answer, and I will consider the concept. But, I think you’d best bring a new and different set of arguments, because the ones that have been in play for several thousand years just don’t cut it in my book….

“Everybody has the right to be stupid, but they’re abusing the privilege.” — Smart Bee
________________________

From the vantage point of two-plus years in the future, I’m compelled to expand upon what I wrote then…. which, advantageously, makes this a fresh rant, rather than one lazily pulled from the archives, and left to stand alone…. I can be nice, and diligent, when I want to be…. Of course, doing so only adds to my curmudgeonry when discussing the whole divinity scam, otherwise known as The Dogma Game….

In the above rant, in my attempts to make fun of the lack of logical structure which comprises, (or perhaps the word, infests, is better), the whole of the Christian credo, while not bad, fall short of hilarious…. I’m also aware that this current manifesto has assumed my pedantic, pontificating style, which is liable to put even me to sleep, should I insist on carrying it through to the arguments to follow…. or, that will presumably follow, once I get done deciding how to approach such a daunting task….

There, was that stiff and awkward enough for you? It was for me….. But, that’s okay, God won’t mind; from what I can tell, IF there is a God, even one remotely similar to the one the Christians, Muslims, et al envision in their holy writings, no matter what He/She/It wants to be called, I would guess His/Her/Its sense of humor would extend to include something like this essay will become, if it ever begins…. It (a divine sense of humor….), I would assume, by definition, would be infinite in scope, so, I’m pretty sure I’m covered….. If not, I should be….

Rather than bore y’all any further with all this, why don’t I find just the right pearl to close this off…. I’ll just leave you with this thought…. IF there is a GOD, and He is responsible for making us the way we are, then He MUST have a good sense of humor…. I mean, just LOOK at us! Ridiculously weak, physically fragile, and easily duped by our more aggressive, more unscrupulous peers; what was He thinking? Plus, we have noses, which grow red and make funny noises when squeezed…. If that isn’t funny, I’m a fire hydrant…. Not a funny fire hydrant, but, hey, what do you want from an inanimate object so early in the morning?….

And in your dreams you can see yourself
As a prophet saving the world
The words from your lips
I just can’t believe you are such
A fool.

— Frank Zappa, “Oh No”.

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

Y’all are now fully aware of how strange it can get around here, so it won’t surprise you to hear that the Wise Old Pine Cone is still busy with his student, but has agreed to a photo session today…. It’s a good thing, too, as I’m starting to get a lot of fan mail on him; I’ve even received several proposals for him, from a number of traffic and ice cream cones…. Tomorrow, I promise, we’ll have more pix of him, and his handsome young paduan learner…. Who knows? Maybe I’ll devote an entire Pearl to the Old Cone’s world; we’ll see how today’s shoot comes off….

But, for now, I’m done, and a damn good thing, too, as I’m about to scream, and you don’t want to know why….. Suffice it to say, I’ll be back tomorrow, if I’m still able, and the internet doesn’t crash…. See y’all then…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

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

Ulysses wasn’t all that brave….

Posted on June 21, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Okay, now we’re all in for it….. I tried, several times, and even sent out for the latest version of the necessary software, but, I couldn’t adjust reality to suit the needs of the few, and had to let it go ahead with it’s program, which DOES suit the needs of the many, but, at the expense of dignity…. Reality, of course, has no opinion either way; it’s level of indifference to human sensibilities is long-standing, and well-practiced. As that is the case, I’m going to just finish issuing this warning, as required, and hope for the best….

There, that should meet all the legal requirements for density; it certainly lends new meaning to the word “inscrutable”, doesn’t it? I’ve worked hard over time to hone my writing skills, and find that I have a natural bent when it comes to producing sheer nonsense; it’s a gift….. It may have a lot to do with my Bozoid tendencies, but, that can probably be said for most anyone, at least anyone who recognizes the bulbousness of their nose, and has no problem with it’s glowing redness. Gift or not, it’s a valuable skill for a blogger….

This morning, it’s a good thing I do possess the ability to blather & spew at will; I’m about an hour and a half late getting up, having inadvertently consumed, last night, about twice the amount of the Beast as I intended, or am used to, which had a wonderful effect on my sleep, if we don’t count the extra time in bed as a handicap…. What it does mean, though, is some slight alteration to the structure and content of what will come out of my creative well today; the exact nature or shape of that alteration remains to be seen, as I’m still trying to figure out, first, how to make this intro acceptable, and, second, how to end it with some style….

Of course, those are the same two issues I encounter every morning with this section, so, the contortions you are witnessing shouldn’t be anything new, or out of the ordinary, at least, not for any regular Gentle Readers; they should be quite used to this by now…. I’m never sure how this will turn out, and the fact that is does so every day is a constant surprise to me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that I came up with something Murphy actually approves of….. which may just be the case, as this format certainly offers him, and his associates, plenty of opportunities to nail me one way or another…. SIGH…

This introduction has now entered the stage where I have to start trying to decide how to bring it to a close, without spoiling whatever message I’ve already delivered…. Actually, this one won’t be much of a problem, as it looks to be about done…. these last few lines are properly aligned for a landing approach, even if the weather is blustery…. In fact, I’m pretty sure that…. yes, it will work…. Okay, I’m taking a flier here, and going out on that proverbial limb…. I hereby declare this intro section complete, and direct you to proceed to the next available check station, where you will be issued the necessary weapons for this next stage of the journey….

Shall we Pearl? I think we’d better, before it’s too late…..

“I like nonsense — it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope…and that enables you to laugh at all of life’s realities.” — Theodor S. Geisel, a.k.a. “Dr. Seuss”

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

Some of y’all, who have been here previously a number of times, will know what is coming now…. Since I’m so late, today’s rant will be furnished out of the archives, this time with an excellent outburst aimed at mankind’s oldest, most insidious scam….

Last posted in April of 2013:

I looked for something appropriate, and here it is… a quite long religirant, from sometime in 2012, I didn’t check, and it doesn’t matter…. it was a good one, so enjoy…..

“The evidence of the emotions, save in cases where it has strong objective support, is really no evidence at all, for every recognizable emotion has its opposite, and if one points one way then another points the other way. Thus the familiar argument that there is an instinctive desire for immortality, and that this desire proves it to be a fact, becomes puerile when it is recalled that there is also a powerful and widespread fear of annihilation, and that this fear, on the same principle proves that there is nothing beyond the grave. Such childish proofs are typically theological, and they remain theological even when they are adduced by men who like to flatter themselves by believing that they are scientific gents…” — H. L. Mencken

“One of the proofs of the immortality of the soul is that myriads have believed it–they also believed the world was flat.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

“Convincing yourself doesn’t win an argument.” — Robert Half

Here is an old school Pearl, in a manner of speaking…. These three quotations all say pretty much the same thing, with varying types of expression. Each, to me, seems to express that same idea more succinctly than the one before, leaving out more and more words until the final statement gives the bottom line… which is one that is heavily argued by those to whom it most applies….

It’s funny (ironic funny) to me to hear some of the arguments proposed by the priestly hierarchies in support of their beliefs. Some are couched in formal robes, all dressed up so they appear as reasoned logic, rather than the unwarranted assumptions that they really are. Mr. Mencken’s expression above would be the most effective in engaging these wordy individuals, as it would appeal to the side of them that pretends to being a scientist. They might reject the arguments, since their own arguments are, in the final analysis, subjectively formulated, not based on observations but on induction, as the platform of their entire argument is all based on an imaginary entity’s theoretical wishes…..

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”…. Such an innocent sounding piece of doggerel…. one would scarcely believe it is one of the most insidious examples of blatant propaganda in existence. The proponents of the “Old man in the sky” group start drumming this into the minds of children as soon as they are able to talk, and, as they well know, before they learn to doubt what their elders tell them. Children naturally accept what their parents tell them, almost exclusively for the first few years of life.

This home-schooling form of brainwashing continues once they are of an age to start looking outside their family for knowledge of the world, with teachers, preachers, and kindly old aunts who continue to inundate the young minds with stories of Bible heroes and villains, drilling into the malleable minds the sense of entitlement and elitism that will provide them with the impetus for bigotry later in life. In addition, this period strengthens the brainwashing given earlier, teaching the kids that they should only trust certain people to tell them the truth, and that all the other religions in the world are not only not saved, but are not eligible for saving, due to their own beliefs, which are characterized as villainous, and as enemies, to be reviled and persecuted because they are different….

“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.” — Oscar Wilde

This entire process, this systematic, deliberate mental conditioning, is, to my mind, pretty despicable. It denies its proponents any possible way of examining the information that other systems may possess, by convincing them that all other forms of knowledge are not only wrong, but blasphemous in nature, and should be cast aside whenever encountered, without ever examining the information for its relevance, or its accuracy.

Education is learning that you did not even know what you did not even know you did not even know. — Smart Bee

The whole system is designed to continue the delusional system into the future, while keeping the congregation in the dark of ignorance. It has no other purpose…. it is not in place to help or sustain the members of the congregation, but rather to control that population’s thoughts and behavior, ensuring the power and influence of the priests, pastors, preachers, or whatever name they choose to call themselves…..

I can only count myself as fortunate, to have been raised without the brainwashing on a regular basis. We attended a Presbyterian church, probably an offshoot of the old Church of England, where the adage about “cake, or death?” was originated…. The net result of this was that I was able to include other systems in my education, and found the entire construct to be a house of invisible cards, easily knocked down with a single bite of the Apple….

“How come you never see a politician (or a preacher) laugh? Because they know what they’re getting away with, and if they started laughing, they’d never stop.” — Smart Bee

And you know what else?…. I always thought Satan got a pretty raw deal, all for exercising the free will he was given…. and so did Adam and Eve…. Even as a child of five, I always wondered why God had set them up to fail like that…. it’s like, “Here’s the apple…. don’t taste it….” and then making sure we, as humans, had a sense of wonder and curiosity strong enough to disregard the admonition…. Even then, it looked like a set-up, and I could never reconcile the image in my head of a God, supposedly with infinite knowledge, setting up his own creation like that…. it just didn’t seem very God-like, or even fair…. and I still don’t get it, even today…..

With a subject such as this, it’s hard to know when to stop…. the issue has been one that has held Mankind back for two millennia now, preventing us from achieving our real potential as a species. All the progress we, as a species, have made in the last 3,000 years or so has been in spite of the efforts of the priestly hierarchies to keep us as ignorant as possible; at every turn of the wheel of science, the powers that be have thrown sand in the works, to try to slow down the acquisition of knowledge.

“Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom. For herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself; he has no desire for that of which he feels no want.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)

The preachers, from long experience, know that an educated populace, capable of reasoning beyond the limitations placed on the human mind by religious dogma, is the greatest threat to their continued existence as the leaders of Mankind. They know that once people are exposed to knowledge (the flesh of the Apple, remember?), the less they will submit to the brainwashing that is the lot of the common man…. and it scares them to death…..

Doubt. Question authority. Ask the next, deeper question. And never, ever, give up the right to make up your own mind…. In the final analysis, that power is the only one we all have, and the only one that cannot be taken away from us without our consent…. Viva la raza!…..

Oh, and won’t it be nice when you don’t have to give tithes anymore?…..

Though old the thought and oft exprest,
‘T is his at last who says it best.

— James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) — For an Autograph

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

Since it takes less time to find one of my own poems than to search one out on the Net….. Plus, this one fits in with today’s rant better than any I could find….

Early Observations

Until I knew there was more,
I wanted to know God.
They said he was a nice guy,
and would let me live forever.

All I had to do, they said,
was live my life for Him,
always living by scripture
cleaving only to his Way.

But, everyone I saw in church,
acted different at home.
Living wild, cussin’ and fussin’,
nobody lived like they said.

Still, I tried to be like Jesus,
he was sort of cool.
He never hurt nobody
and walked on the right path.

‘Course they killed him for that,
they couldn’t stand his example.
Turned him into a martyr,
hid his real words among their own.

Then I found the Buddha,
and met Lao Tzu at the gate.
They saw things real different,
showed me how to see straight.

Right thought, and right action
replace blind obedience and faith.
Reality becomes manageable,
fear retreats, the universe expands.

Brother John said it pretty well,
“Imagine there’s no heaven,
it’s easy if you try.”
Sounds like he knew why.

Day to day, life is grand,
we walk in eternal beauty.
Open your eyes and hearts,
find yourself already immortal.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Once again, I had hoped to have more pictures today, but, the Wise Old Pine Cone has been busy with his new student, so we’ll have to settle for a fresh, old-school pearl….. We’ll make it a random, harlequin style pearl; they’re the quickest to put together, as the parameters involved are so flexible…. Enjoy!….

“This is a wise maxim, “to take warning from others of what may be to your own advantage.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Heautontimoroumenos, Act i, Sc. 2, 36, (210.)

“The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt.” — Max Lerner

“Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do ingloriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple: who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?” — John Milton (1608-1674) — Areopagitica

“He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.” — Kahlil Gibran

“After all is said and done, a hell of a lot more is said than done.” — Olmstead’s Law

“…for the most part happiness consists in being willing to be what you are.” — Erasmus

“Honor is the reward of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

Sometimes this process doesn’t work; this is NOT one of those times…. This is a good pearl, ffolkes…. Serendipity strikes again….

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

There are occasions when I think I should always procrastinate; I seem to do my best work when I’m in a hurry…. This Pearl is a perfect example of that…. not that y’all care at all about that, but, it keeps me occupied, and mostly off the streets, so, all in all, it’s a good thing….. 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

NOTHING begins until AFTER coffee….

Posted on May 25, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

As a matter of both policy and custom, the title of these Pearls each day has nothing to do with what is inside; that is a deliberate act on my part, from the early days of Pearling, when I made the decision to not connect the title and text. This decision, of course, gave me license to make up titles out of my head, willy-nilly, without being constrained by the subject matter…. If you watch my titles closely, you will have noted this quality, I’m sure, as they are ALWAYS a bit strange, and (almost) never have anything to do, directly, with the text of the blog…. Oh, once in a Blue Moon, the title will reflect some part of the body subject, but, 99.99% of them are not connected, at all, at all…

Today, of course, is one of the exceptions, at least in the sense that the title makes sense, AND is connected to the material inside… indirectly, but, connected…. Any who, I just wanted to clear that up, as it sometimes will confuse the Gentle Reader, especially the newbies, who are not yet accustomed to the idiosyncrasies that abound on this site… Well, there was that…. plus, it got me this far down the page, without ever suffering any angst, or upset at not having anything to put here…. Bonus!….

Of course, NOW I’m stuck with it, at this painfully awkward point, where I again try to come up with something more than just nonsense to get this started…. Now, I know that nonsense is useful, and is well-used around here, for sure…. but, somehow, it just doesn’t seem appropriate this morning…. I haven’t a clue as to why that may be; it’s not as if nonsense isn’t well-known in this venue. Maybe I’m being too stringent this morning; that has been known to happen, especially before I’ve sucked down enough coffee…. If that were actually the case, though, I probably would have found a body or two on the way to my chair….

I don’t know, ffolkes…. it all seems so futile some mornings…. I write, and write, and spout off about stuff that should be important to many people, yet, nothing changes out in the BBR, not in any significant way…. If I weren’t so damn concerned about the state of the world, and about how long that world is going to last, I wouldn’t be writing at all… I’d be traveling, and making sure I see all those places on this beautiful old planet I’ve always wished to see, before it is all sent down the proverbial tubes by our common stupidity, inflicting upon us the near-certain species extinction we have courted with our ignorance, an event that is now all-but-unavoidable, according to all the evidence….

Well, that was fun…. NOT!

Having thus put myself into a semi-deep depressive state with that mild diatribe, I think I’d better get on with today’s Pearl…. I’m not certain exactly how I got myself to this point so quickly…. I didn’t start out to be so depressive, or feel such a depth of futility…. but, within five paragraphs, I managed to kill any good mood I had going, from having slept fairly well for the third day in a row…. I think, in fact, I’m going to forgo any further attempts to rant, or be serious…. I feel more like having fun today, so, from this point forward, there will be no further ranting allowed…. Instead, we’ll go seek out some fun….. gigoid-style……

That means, of course, that y’all will need to make sure your seat belts are well-secured, and that all of the provided safety devices are deployed (that includes the Kevlar vests, and the emergency stash of Valium included in the first aid kits…. In fact, if I were you, I’d just swallow the Valium now….); we’ve been known to use ALL of them on such days as this… and THAT includes the transgender disguises….

Oh, stop worrying; usually we only need to use about half the included protective devices; it’s not as if we seek out those carnivorous predators…. It’s just that they live nearby, and have learned the signs that we are going to be there, thus giving them ample warning to plan surprises for us….

But, not to worry, nobody has ever died on one of our nonsensical quests for a lightened spirit; it’s come close a few times, but, those were the times we had a replacement pilot, who didn’t know all the ropes…. Also, this is all a load of crap, so, all you really need is your earplugs, to be able to ignore the tour guides spiel when it gets tiring, or actively boring… a state of affairs that this intro is approaching rapidly…. Hmm, maybe we should go for a dive…. In fact, I believe that is becoming imperative….

Shall we Pearl?….

If you want to get the plain truth,
Be not concerned with right and wrong.
The conflict between right and wrong
Is the sickness of the mind.

— Seng-T’san

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

Since this Pearl, and these pearls, are dedicated to fun stuff, here is something I found yesterday on a random mouse-click, an interactive web site that is really neat…. and that phrase just gave everyone a big clue as to my age, I’m sure…. Any who, here is a link to the site, so, check it out, and enjoy… then we’ll go into an old-school pearl with parameters set to nonsense, or, funny, or whatever SB thinks might fit in with those concepts….

Really cool website and picture from a project completed by NASA, with the help of the people of the world…. ….. http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/155294

“I resolved no to be offended easily by human nature, but I think I blew it.” — Hobbes

“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.”– George Bernard Shaw

“Puritanism — The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” — H. L. Mencken

(Well, I think it’s funny….)

“Although war is cruel and brutal, it is also dangerous and stupid.” — Yakko Warner

(I know, marginally funny…. but, it stays, because it’s all-too-true…)

Brutha: “What could I say?”
Om: “Believe in the Great God Om.”
Brutha: “And then what?”
Om: “What do you mean, and then what?”
Brutha: “…Believe in the Great God Om or be stricken with thunderbolts.”
Om: “Sounds good to me.”

— How to be a prophet (Terry Pratchett, “Small Gods”)

AND NOW ANOTHER WORD FROM THE PENTAGON: “Oh, and by the way… about those 45,000 body-bags we had shipped to Saudi Arabia. They’re actually going to be used to smuggle booze in to our troops; otherwise we couldn’t get it to them. Honest. We’re not really sure what we’ll carry back in them though. Any ideas?” — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA.

Lister: Love is what separates us from animals.

Rimmer: No, Lister — what separates us from animals is that we don’t use our tongues to clean our own genitals.

— Red Dwarf – ‘Confidence and Paranoia’

Okay, well, that was…. well, that was…. okay, I have no idea what that was…. I thought it was funny, though, so, it will have to do for now…. Let’s go on, & see what happens…..

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

When one wishes for light hearted poetry, Ogden Nash, or Shel Silverstein will always come through for you…. But, I’m going to go with one of my own today, just because I can…. I’ll try to make it as light-hearted as I can…. In fact, I’ll try twice, as one is really short….

Striking Gold

Madness comes and goes, it’s true,
whenever it chooses to do so.
Living’s much like wearing a shoe,
when all you are is a toe.
~~ gigoid ~~

Roses for Noses

I have a bozoid personality, of the first degree;
nobody, I mean nobody, knows that better than me.
I often wonder, as the world goes around, and around
how many others have realized just what I’ve found….

I know for a fact, I’m not the only bozoid one;
too many people laughing out there, having fun.
Is their laughter, though, at themselves first?
Or is it some other impulse, like purple liverwurst?….

I’ve always loved to make others laugh and giggle,
since my tender youth, when my ears began to wiggle.
The world is full of humor, but not always easy to find
so laughing at myself I learned never to mind….

We bozos know each other, here, there, and everywhere
there’s no hiding such joy, it just wouldn’t be fair.
We all have one feature, our great bulbous nose,
and there’s no doubt at all, cuz it just grows….

There’s nothing like a good, big mistake, a disaster,
to show us the folly of living life faster and faster.
Nothing in the world can ever take the place,
of seeing in the mirror, a happy, smiling face….

Don’t be shy, just let it all hang out;
we bozos have more fun, there’s no doubt.
Life’s too somber and gray if we let it get on top
if we don’t stay loose, the pain won’t ever stop….

My advice to all of you, out there in the world,
let noses grow round & red, keep hair tightly curled.
Find a way to let your spirit out often to play,
you’ll never once regret any price you pay.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I found this the other day, and put it here…. without any clue it would be perfectly appropriate for the day’s theme… (which is because I don’t generally have a theme….)…. Any who, it fits right in, so, it can stay, too…. By the date, this was written just before leaving on our trip to Alaska, so, I must have been in a pretty good mood, if a bit hyper…. not an unusual state for me, at least, not in my head….

From 6/28/2013:

I confess to feeling too hyped to write…. I have a lot in there that wants to come out, but, a bigger part of me just wants to dance, or fall asleep to pass the time until we leave, tomorrow in the early afternoon….. So, I’ll cheat again, and dip into the archives…. This is a short little piece I wrote the day before Halloween in 2011, as part of a pearl created using a really old format, one that encouraged ranting a bit too much…. History aside, I like this one, just because, and it’s a good one to finish with on a day like today…..

_____________________________

“His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools: the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans – and summed up all three of them in his famous phrase, ‘You can’t trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there’s nothing you can do about it, so let’s have a drink.'” — Terry Pratchett, ‘Small Gods’

Laughter is probably my favorite part of Life; I can’t think of a single time in my life when laughter was unwelcome. Conversely, I can think of any number of times when it was not only welcome, but life-saving, or at the very least life-preserving. In its way, it also affirms life; it lets you know that you are alive, and that life is good.

The sound of a child’s laughter can bring a smile to the grimmest curmudgeon, and the laughter of a beautiful woman can be either joyous, or cruel. Laughing is our best defense against the tyranny of repressive thought; it can bring a tyrant to his knees, for tyranny lives in fear of ridicule. Laughter cannot cure pain, but can ease it, and make it more bearable.

In its way, laughter prolongs life, actually reversing many of the effects of time. When laughter is in our lives, everything is more colorful; vision, hearing, touch, smell, all are more acute when under its influence. And, when it is long absent, the world turns dreary, washed of all color. Without laughter, our lives become drudgery, merely a time to survive, in silence and despair.

The Universe is one huge joke, and the punch line has yet to come. We can spend our lives in black and white, trudging along the dusty road of Time with head hanging down and steps heavy as sorrow. Or, we can look for the brighter side of Life, and laugh at ourselves and everything around us, marching ahead with eyes up and seeking new vistas, hopeful for the dawn of each new day.

Your choice…..

“Excuse me, but didn’t I tell you there’s NO HOPE for the survival of OFFSET PRINTING?” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

I’m not sure what to think about this one; it FEELS as if it got away from me, but, it LOOKS okay…. Maybe I’ll read it, to see how it came through the ordeal…. Be back in a few….

Okay, so, it must be okay, because I’ve read it, and STILL don’t have a clue as to its value, or even its nature…. which makes it completely typical…. That, of course, means I’m outta here, having done all the damage I can do for one day…. 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

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: H.L. Mencken

It’s just like a dead parrot….

Man the focs’l! Avast me hearties! Yar!….

Paint all of it in flesh tones….

Tumbling down the Stairway to Heaven….

Saved by tea and biscuits….

Another day in Paradox….

In the name of all that’s roly-poly….

Ulysses wasn’t all that brave….

NOTHING begins until AFTER coffee….

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