Perspective ALWAYS matters….

Ffolkes,

“According to the proverb, the best things are the most difficult.”

~~ Plutarch (46-120 AD) ~~

~~ Of the Training of Children ~~

Galway garden path

A Garden Path in Galway


Hajime….  We take drugs very seriously at my house… Now, before anyone goes off on some weird tangent, I’ll say this: first, I found the statement in Smart Bee, and it fit so well, I had to steal it…. Second, it’s perfectly true, but, not in the way most folks would think it might be construed. What I mean by such a statement is exactly what it says; we take them, and very seriously.

That being said, we may now proceed on to more important things, such as getting this fucking Pearl done, as it didn’t get done yesterday, thanks to some levels of pain I haven’t experienced in over a decade…. What great fun we had, remembering back to those days of yesteryear, when life was shit, with no cherry, on top or anywhere else….. ‘Twas indeed a day to remember to forget…..

Fortunately for us all, pain, like any memory, fades in time, and, though this morning bodes ill for another such day, I have my plans to deal with it, involving yet more drugs…. But, don’t worry, they’re legal in this state. I mean, OF COURSE, they’re legal, if reluctantly. I’m quite sure, if the Big Pharma companies had their way, it wouldn’t be, for the use of these “drugs”, which have been used my mankind since the time we lived in trees and caves, promises, in time, to put them out of their very lucrative business, which involves keeping everyone sick, so they can sell them more poisons.

End of mini-rant. Let’s go on to the rest of today’s mess, shall we? It promises to be a little more pleasant, at least in tone, if not quality. But, then, if you wanted quality, you’d be somewhere else, now, wouldn’t you? Yep. Don’t worry, I know exactly how good all this is, compared to the general run of things online, so, don’t worry you’ll hurt my feelings. Besides, me and pain, we’re old friends…. For now…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend.  If not, you can kill him without hate -and quickly.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

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royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

    Yep, you know what that picture means, don’t you? Yep. Classical music, which is all I can think of to play right now…. might have something to do with the Grateful Dead jam I’m listening to, which sounds much like a long classical, bohemian piece….. until now, as they begin to break into a jauntier tune, (I Know You Rider), in a famous jam from 1979 or so….. Ah well, you can’t hear it, anyway, unless you’re a Deadhead, and go download it yourself…. But, you can enjoy this collection of great older stuff…. Your choice, as always…..

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Classical Music

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Albert E & true sin

    I don’t have it in me to rant, but, given the above statement from Albert, I think we can put together an old-school pearl to show just how the world has been put into the position we now find ourselves, as well as who is to blame, and, how we can make the necessary changes…. Quite a lot for a few quotes, isn’t it? Well, you’ll see…. Enjoy….

“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde

“The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true.  It is the chief occupation of mankind.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

“You cannot conquer a free man, the most you can do is kill him.” — Lazarus Long

“Forbid a man to think for himself or to act for himself and you may add the joy of piracy and the zest of smuggling to his life.” — Elbert Hubbard

“As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.” — Christopher Dawson, “The Judgement of the Nations”

“It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.” — H. L. Mencken

“For every disease that doctors cure with medicine, they produce ten in healthy people by inoculating them with that virus which is a thousand times more powerful than any microbe: the idea that one is ill.” — Marcel Proust (1871-1922)

“The highest treason, the meanest treason, is to deny the holiness of this little blue planet on which we journey through the cold void of space.” — Edward Abbey

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Comedy_Tragedy

    Since yesterday was one of my worst days ever, I thought a poem written on a very similar day might work. You tell me….

Gauges of Pain

Consciousness devolves in pools of gripping fears
holding hostage any hope of serenity,
sharp stabbing motions and greedy tears
nary a moment passes without common calamity.

Always a surprise, nothing soothing ever found,
leaving only breathless clinging pain,
salvation seemingly absent, it muffles all sound,
bringing ever more sadness and rain.

Solitude is ever present to claim my time,
lonely hours and relentlessly long days,
no radio plays such music in secular rhyme
happy, vibrant voices belong to elder ways.

Life can be justified it seems to say,
by hopeful favored moments of pleasure,
seemingly friendly, pointing out the only way,
to bring back happiness in minimal measure.

Days of horror and embarrassing tears
serve ever to drive wretched hours to withhold
promising naught but sorrow in coming years,
black, bitter memories that never grow old.

Cold, cold the days fly by,
can it really be our only token?
Never to say, or know just why
the pain never stops, even when spoken…

~~ gigoid ~~

(Yes, yesterday was NOT a good day…. why do you ask?…..)

Griefe brought to numbers cannot be so fierce,
For, he tames it, that fetters it in verse.

~~ John Donne ~~


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About Hopi Indian Symbols

    I’m somewhat surprised at how this pearl turned out; it was mostly serendipity at work, I believe, which dictated the icon you see adorning the top of this final section. It’s a long pearl, with 13 gems shining out with some brilliance. The opening from Keats, and the close by Bryant may, at first seem out of place with the rest of the pearls, but, in truth, the form the perfect bookends to the ideas between, marking a section with some of the more off the beaten track when it comes to advice on living life with some style to go along with the virtue we all seek…. (Sure we do..) Enjoy!

In a drear-nighted December,
  Too happy, happy tree,
Thy branches ne’er remember
  Their green felicity.

~~- John Keats ~~

~~ Stanzas ~~


“A priest advised Voltaire on his death bed to renounce the devil. Voltaire said, “This is no time to make new enemies” — Attribution unclear

“A gift of flowers will soon be made to you. Don’t eat them this time.” — Cute Bee

“First, learn to love yourself, and then you will learn to love others.” — Chen-It Ong

“Waiting is.” — R.A. Heinlein, ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’

“Think it more satisfactory to live richly than die rich.” — Sir Thomas Browne

“Smile, but sharpen your knives.” — Found without attribution; probably a Fremen proverb (the original would have said “chyrsknife”)

“None but a fool is always right.” — Hare

“It’s not true that life is one damn thing after another; it is one  damn thing over and over.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

“Be not as one that hath ten thousand years to live; death is nigh at hand: while thou livest, while thou hast time, be good.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus  — Meditations, iv, 17

“Character is a victory, not a gift.” — Our old friend, Anonymous

“Courage conquers all things.” — Ovid

The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,
Of wailing winds and naked woods and meadows brown and sear.

~~ William Cullen Bryant ~~

~~ The Death of the Flowers ~~


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It’s done. In the final analysis, that is all that can be said of it, as it should be. Having fulfilled my self-imposed duty for the day, (while making no claims of quality, lest we find ourselves in court), I’ll take my leave, post-haste, to go begin the process of consuming sufficient herbal oils and essences to mitigate my agony…. Wish me luck, ffolkes, I’ll need it…. See y’all tomorrow, come Hell, or High Water…. I’ve been through both of late, so, that’s no empty promise….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Too late for palliative measures….

Ffolkes,

“Misfortune shows those who are not friends.”

~~ Aristotle ~~

Last of Eire 2015 012

Leaving Galway on a Train


Hajime…. There are times, such as today, when I wonder why I push myself to do this. Then, I just do it. That’s what we will have to do today, ffolkes, thanks to some physical issues demanding attention, and, the realization that Reality is about to step on me, big time. I’ll let y’all know if I live through it.

In the meantime, I got most of this done last night during one of my insomniac periods during the night; even so, some of it is rather truncated, due to well, taking on more than I was prepared to handle. So be it. I have no more to say, until the end, so, let’s start working our way down to that end….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/30

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flintstones

Out on the town in Bedrock

Image from free-extras.com via Google Images


Yesterday, I made a slip of the fingers, typing ‘Fred and Wilma’, when I meant to type ‘Fred and Ethel’, referring to the Mertzes, of course. Since it reminded me of this show, which I had not used previously, I figured it would work today, which, oddly enough, it does. Enjoy!….


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The Flintstones

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socrates

“The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.”

~~ Socrates ~~


Today’s rant will be more of an ‘exploration’ of an idea than our usual ‘explanation’ of how an idea functions, and the resultant angst that function creates in me. If you think about it, a rant is more of the latter, and thinking is what I’d like to encourage with this particular piece, in myself, and in the Gentle Reader, if you acquiesce. Otherwise, it may get a bit boring, or, at least, uninteresting, two related, yet, not equal states. The second is not necessarily a choice, the first always is…. but, once again, I digress. The idea Socrates brings up in the above quote is our focus, so, let’s examine it while I have the wherewithal, and the urge….

In this assertion, Socrates echoes an opinion I’ve seen expressed by other sages, to wit: the language we choose to use in our speech influences our thinking, thus affecting our behavior, equally as much as the process works the other direction, with our thoughts influencing speech. When we choose, as we often do, we humans, to allow our feelings to guide what we say, rather than what we may think, it tends to roughen our language; it becomes simpler, perhaps, and plainly expressive, but, with such feeling attached, often negative, it becomes vulgar. This can lead to allowing feelings to dictate behavior as well, so, the common use of vulgarity tends to encourage that indulgence. To maintain a rational level of sustainability for all in our interactions, upon which our behavior is such a vital factor in the outcome, we must learn to detach ourselves from the feelings involved, and that is best encouraged by using language that does not retreat into either excessive passion, or vulgarity.

Not to say vulgarity doesn’t have its place in language; anyone who DOESN’T cut loose with some serious vulgarity when a carbon-steel hammer comes down unexpectedly on their finger is missing out on the best way to release the frustration, if not the pain. And, if they HAVEN’T done so, well, quite frankly, I’d put down serious money to bet they’re lying about that…. We all have our secrets, especially those who deny ever having evil thoughts, or having never made a moral or ethical mistake i.e., a bad choice, of words perhaps most often…. Since much of the language I hear in the mainstream culture to which I’m exposed is pretty vulgar, as a whole, when not merely perverse and ignorant, I would say Socrates’ point has been made rather graphically.

So, now we know evil is rampant in the world, as evidenced by the language you can hear any/every day, in the news, movies, on TV, on the radio, on the net, all of it together makes up a picture of culture, and, by all I can tell, this one is pretty well fucked. I mean, just look at religion, and the stranglehold it has, and has had on society for practically forfuckingever…. I’m  not the only one to have noticed you know; just read some of the lesser known passages in the Bible, describing the victories the ancient tribes had in their wars to spread the word of Yahweh, the bloodthirsty asshole… Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to get vulgar…. Let’s see what somebody else has/had to say on the subject….

“Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane — like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell — mouths mercy and invented hell — mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man’s acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!” — Mark Twain, _The Mysterious Stranger_

I’m afraid this rant has gone a bit south on me; I keep finding pearls which, though they fit in with the overall theme, exploring how society has gone wrong over time, also seem to want to go all over the map to find those responsible for much of it…. For example, while thinking of how to next demonstrate the principle we’re dealing with, i.e. how our language reflects our attitudes, and thus, our reality, Smart Bee gave me the following pearl, defining another class of people who have caused more than their fair share of damage to others…. our old friends (NOT!…), solicitors/counsel/officers of the court, to wit: lawyers, or as most of us here on the streets call them, fuckheads in suits…..

Q: What do you call 5000 dead lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A: A good start! — Smart Alec Bee

Lawyers, of course, once they have rotted on the vine for a while, generally become politicians, so, Smart Bee came up with the following pearl to show his diverse talents….

“Anyone can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.” — Cicero

Gee, does this remind y’all of anything you may have seen/heard before about the post-larval lawyer class? For example, in the news lately, we see how the US government, at the behest of, and in collusion with the Big Pharmacy companies, have conspired to keep the knowledge of how powerful a cancer drug cannabis is, for more than 40 years. The FACT that cannabis cures cancer has been withheld from the American people and the world for all that time, the secret held by a few traitorous politicians and their pet scientists. In short, all of the more than 20 million people in this country who died from cancer since 1976, when the research was classified, have been, essentially, murdered by their own government….

http://www.naturalnews.com/051881_cannabis_oil_cancer_treatment_Big_Pharma.html

Okay, I’m sick of talking about those assholes, the scum of our species, the oligarchs, politicians, preachers, pimps, police myrmidons, professional military assholes, and especially lawyers, who prey upon their fellow man… To finish off this now epic diatribe, let’s go 180º, and find some pearls to show us how things COULD be, if we just kicked their asses to the curb….

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” — Greek Proverb

“The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.” — Henry L. Mencken

“It is our duty to make the best of our misfortunes, and not to suffer passion to interfere with our interest and public good.” — George Washington

“Let us face a pluralistic world in which there are no universal churches, no single remedy for all diseases, no one way to teach or write or sing, no magic diet, no world poets, and no chosen races, but only the wretched and wonderfully diversified human race.” — Jacques Barzun

That’s all, ffolkes. I’m done, having bitten off more than I can chew. At least I spit it out….

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Comedy_Tragedy

Fine and Good, Good and Fine

A pig in a poke’s got nothing on me,
cuz I’m as confused as a man can be.
This ol’ world’s got me spinnin’ around
cussin’ and spittin’, a penny for a pound.

Forty ‘leven times since I was a kid, well,
I’ve fallen in love, ‘least too close to tell.
Every damn time, it all went to crap,
Forty ‘leven times I’ve felt like a sap.

‘Course, each time it happens, I forget the last;
why not? I’m havin’ such a blast….
Livin’ in each moment, filled with joie de vivre,
’til it’s all gone away again, nothin’ left up my sleeve.

Don’t want y’all to think I’m sad or blue,
life’s full of sorrow, lots for me, and/or you..
T’other side of that coin, we can be glad,
is joyful love, and that ain’t at all bad.

My road’s been littered with parts o’my heart,
each one colored with trust, which ain’t always smart.
Yet, long as I don’t lose my connection to joy,
I’ll find my own true love, and be a happy boy.

It’s been some kinda fun, even when I’d take a fall,
and doin’ it over makes no sense at all, at all
Day after day, I keep on keepin’ on, as it’s said;
Guess I’ll keep on doin’ that ’til I’m dead.

‘Nuff said….

~~ gigoid, tongue firmly in cheek….


Written 3/23/2013.

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About Hopi Indian Symbols

   

    It’s a pearl, and that’s about all I have to say at this point. It does have a meaning; I’m just not up to explaining it. Enjoy, anyway, please….

“Some people are, through no fault of their own, sane.” — Smart Bee, talking about gigoid again

“A dead man cannot bite.” — Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey)

“Fortune is unstable, while our will is free.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Epicurus, xxvii

“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.” — Doug Larson

“A man makes no noise over a good deed, but passes on to another as a vine to bear grapes again in season.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations, v, 6

“Think not that thy word and thine alone must be right.” — Sophocles (496-406 BC) — Antigone, 706

“It’s not what we don’t know that gets us into trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.’ — Will Rogers

“Dreaming permits each and everyone of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.” — Charles William Dement

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It’s done, and that’s the best I can say of it. Moreover, it’s all I SHALL say, for I am, for once, out of words. See y’all tomorrow…. I hope.

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Featured Image -- 2780


À bientôt, mon cherí….


Positively charged pinnipeds on parade….

Ffolkes,

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”

~~ Robert A. Heinlein ~~

Leelu etc 021

The Warrior at Rest


Bon soir, monsieurs. et madames…. Today I celebrate (if that is the correct word…. perhaps ‘acknowledge’ comes closer to the truth…) my 65th birthday. And, that, you may be sure, is the last you’ll hear of it from me. I’ve got too much on my plate, and mind, to spend much time considering, or spending time on, an event which happens every damn year, and no longer warrants much enthusiasm as a new experience…. It’s like Ronald Raygun said, back in the 60’s (if I remember it right…. tough call for some of the memories from that time….), “if you’ve seen one tree, you’ve seen ’em all.” Familiarity, in many cases, CAN breed contempt….

End of story…. Of course, now I’m tasked with finding and employing some other snappy trick with which to open up today’s mess. Over the past four years, I’ve tried a number of methods: nonsense, fiction, ranting, even subletting to a robot. None of it seems to last long, however, so, the daily battle to make this introduction interesting, or, at least enough so to get y’all down the page far enough it’s too late to turn back…. well, it continues to rage unabated, with no logical end in sight. Damn! It’s a good thing we don’t depend on logic, isn’t it?

That’s probably enough fun for one section, even if it only approximates actual fun. We’ve got bigger fish to fry today, even if half the post is from archived material. I figured out it makes little sense to spend too much time on this one, with only a couple days left until I won’t have to jump through so many hoops to get it posted, a five or six step operation that is much less conveniently performed away from home, without even factoring the travel involved, or the added stress on my budget. I’ll be glad when I don’t have to do that any longer, for damn sure… For now,

Shall we Pearl?….

“Whatever you’re doing, it’s not as important as petting the cat.”

~~ Leelu ~~


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    All the choices today are mine, by default; today’s musical choice meets that requirement, with my all-time favorite piece of classical music…. Enjoy!

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Vivaldi
The Four Seasons

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HL Mencken

gigoid’s rule of law


Back in early 2013, I received a blogging award from a fellow blogger (if you visit the archives on the date below, you’ll find a link to elliebloo’s site, one of my earliest follows, and followers….) The information I included on moi, if not particularly intimately informative, or complete enough to give up a lot of private stuff, turned out, altogether, quite amusingly accurate. So, to pat my own back for once, here’s what I wrote for receiving the award, whose name I forget at the moment….

From 4/12/2013:

Seven things about gigoid you probably didn’t need, or want to know, but rules are rules…..

1) I am a true curmudgeon (I hate everybody, and everything they do…. equal opportunity cynicism, at your service….), with a large streak of closet romantic in me….. so be it….

2) If you took all of the moments in my life I’ve been truly happy, it would make quite a good 10 minute video…. Just kidding…. Actually, it would have to be considered an epic film, because I’ve been happy, mostly, for much of my life…. I discovered, a long time ago, if we are just happy with the way things are now, then things will work out for the best,  most of the time…. In other words, a man who knows he has enough, is rich beyond measure….

3) Apparently, I don’t like to talk about myself, at least not intimately, because I’m stuck here on #3, with no idea of what to say….. Hmm, how’s this?…. I’m giving up Boston Baked Beans for good…. what they do to my guts shouldn’t be allowed in polite society, so we’re parting ways, with no hard feelings, only odoriferous remnants of past repasts…..

4) I am not a Vegan…. in fact, I’d rather eat a Vegan than talk to one…. No, really, just kidding, but, I’ve never understood the impulse toward such ideas…. First, why fight several hundred thousand years of evolution? My body LIKES meat, and processes it as well, or better, than many other foods in that category I like to call rabbit food…..

Sure, I believe in the connection between all life forms, but, given the chance, there are many members of the animal kingdom who would have no objection, philosophical, or otherwise, to eating me, should the opportunity arise…. Sharks, any big cat, wolves, bears, komodo dragons, monitor lizards, any of them would be happy to consume my carcass, cooked or not….. I feel no need to avoid eating them, as long as I appreciate the sacrifice, and grok their spirit….

5) As I grow older, I am finding myself appreciating my years of experience more each day. Tasks I found onerous throughout my life become simpler with the inside knowledge of how things work in the real world, and though I cannot lift as much as I used to, and I walk pretty slowly now,  I THINK a lot faster, and there isn’t much I can’t do now than I could as much as twenty years ago…. If I do have to move quickly, or apply some strength to accomplish something, I may pay a higher price, in pain, for doing so, but, in general, I find most stuff easier, because it is familiar, and thereby made simple….

6) What is the mind? This question has fascinated me all of my life, and has provided me, because of the breadth and width and depth of the query, and the implications of whatever speculative answers one may find. It makes the study of people, myself included, a topic of endless fertility, as I try to understand my own mind, and how it works, and how it perceives the universe, as well as watching other people to try to ascertain the answers to the same questions that I see in their behavior, or in their words.

This question has been the central driving force behind all of my curiosity, and hopefully, will continue to stimulate my interest in Life right up to the day the Grim Reaper comes for me….. whereupon he will need to use all his skills and tricks, for I will not go quietly from this plane of existence, even though I do not fear what is next…. I’m just having too good of a time to go when HE wants me to go…. If I’m  not done, I’ll be kicking and fighting every step of the way to Hell, or wherever my next stop might be…..

7) Damn! Isn’t that enough?…. Okay, okay, here….. I’m a sucker for a good hat. When I received the money from SS for all the months they had delayed in awarding the benefits, my second purchase was a new hat, followed by the third, a beautiful black homburg with grey trim around the brim…. very classy and dignified…. Hell, it might even get me in to see the Queen when I’m in London, you think?…..

Alright, that’s seven…. Whew!  I thought that would NEVER end….

Okay, now I  have to notify all the folks in my list of blogs, above, so I’ll be off to do that…. Thanks again to elliebloo for nominating me for this award, which I don’t deserve, but appreciate a lot….

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Comedy_Tragedy

    Writing haiku has always come naturally to me; the numerical requirements seem to fit right in with the way my mind works. I’ve been a bit slack about writing a poem each day for this month’s challenge, choosing instead to pick from my archive. Today, I will force whatever is in there to come out, even if only as haiku…. Let’s hope it’s more than just one of those….. As every day this month, this is for the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/ (I still don’t know if I’m doing this right, but, oh well….)

Haiku II

An inner light glows
shining out of open eyes;
madness or wisdom?

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

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 ~~


Well….. that just popped out, in near-record time…. It doesn’t rhyme, except at a couple points, but, I like it, so, here it is, for better or worse….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken…


_________________________________

Written & posted 4/12/2013.

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Yin-Yang-symbol-sun-and-moon

    I like this one. SB struggled a lot in giving it up; you’ll note more than one pearl you’ve seen before, if you’ve come here often. But, with a few ideas added, expressed in new ways, the message is slightly altered, thus offering yet another opportunity to find that one key thought to lead you onward, into realms unexplored, where enlightenment waits for us to find. If it doesn’t happen this time, well, perhaps the next…..

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“At birth we woke to dream in this world between.”

~~ Kan’ami Kiyotsugu ~~

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”

~~ Seneca ~~

“In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don’t wobble.”

~~ Yun-Men ~~

“If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are.
For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained.
Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.”

~~ Saint Augustine ~~

“We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~

“Men are born with two eyes, but only one tongue,
in order that they should see twice as much as they say.”

~~ Charles Caleb Colton ~~

“If happiness changes hands, that’s no catastrophe.”

~~ Simone de Beauvoir, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter~~

“Not all who wander are lost.”

~~ J. R. R. Tolkien ~~

“Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.”

~~ Buddha ~~


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The Colonel’s right; ya gotta love it when a plan comes together; it feels great, even when there was no plan. As I said somewhere above, and meant with all my being, so be it. gigoid has spoken…. and, probably, quite enough for one day. Let’s try it again tomorrow, shall we? As long as the revolution holds of a while, ffolkes, we’re good to go, & I’ll see you mañana…. Well, not SEE you, but, well, you know what I meant…. I hope.

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Dozer


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

If only it were visible….

Ffolkes,

“While it is true that you are free to say what you think in this great land,

it should be said that it is helpful to think what you are going to say

before you do it.”

~~ Sardonic Bee ~~

3-1-2015 020

Backyard Springing


Good morrow…. Somehow, it hardly seems worthwhile worrying too much about an introductory section; not knowing when, or, at this point, IF this will get posted precludes any sort of relevance, or, any solid connection to real-time in reality. So, I won’t. Worry much, that is, a state made patently obvious by the tenor of what you’ve thus far seen. So be it. If I don’t need to care, then, I won’t care…. Wowie! That means I can go right off the edge, and nobody can say anything!….

Okay, so, maybe I’ll save that for later; there’s always time to go insane in my world. That, however, being the case, perhaps we’d best not push our luck, taking this, instead, as an indicator of some rather unusual politeness by the Universe, reminding us just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should do it. I’ve probably made a bad habit of choosing poorly in that respect, a number of times, so, maybe it’s time to admit I’m getting older, and make the choice to be sane, rather than heading out for the fringes immediately upon noting the open door…..

Damn! Sounds really boring…. But, what the hell? It can’t hurt to try it this once. Luigi, fire it up, but, take it nice and easy, okay? We’re gonna do it right for a change…. maybe. The rest of you, look busy, or, at least, interested….

Shall we Pearl?

“Science is a way of talking about the universe in words that bind it to a common reality. Magic is a method of talking to the universe in words that it cannot ignore. The two are rarely compatible.” — The Phantom Stranger, “The Books of Magic”, by Neil Gaiman

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EmmylouHarris

Image from jacksonville.com via Google Images


Here is a nice little piece to listen to while enjoying today’s Pearl; Emmylou is one of my favorites, and I think it’s a perfect start to the day…. Enjoy, ffolkes….


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Emmylou Harris

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https://youtu.be/NsyI1dpL7s8

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We the People...

    I had thought to rant; however, being without internet service causes a dearth of fresh headlines; finding new events about which to rant is a bit problematic, as is patently obvious. But, the first quote below, which had been destined for a discussion, will instead be used to head a nine-star group of thoughts on our BRC, or, as they are known in the mainstream media, our “leaders”, as well as some more general thoughts on democracy, government as a whole, and some of the reasons things have gotten as ugly as they appear…. You’ll see, and, if any of it strikes a chord, well, feel free to comment, to which I will eventually respond…. Enjoy!….

“When I see a congressman giving his opinion on something, I always wonder if it represents his *real* opinion or if it represents an opinion that he’s designed in order to be elected.  It seems to be a central problem for politicians.  So I often wonder: what is the relation of integrity to working in the government?” — Richard Phillips Feynman (1918-1988),   “What Do You Care What Other People Think?”

“The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it.  Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.” — Albert Einstein

“To see what is right and not to do it is cowardice.” — Cervantes

“Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a congressperson can.” — Ridiculously Observant Bee, mimicking Mark Twain

“All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.” — Noam Chomsky

“Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on “I am not too sure.” — H.L. Mencken

“The devil is the father of lies, but he neglected to patent the idea, and the business now suffers from competition.” — Josh Billings

“Terrorism: deadly violence against humans and other living things, usually conducted by government against its own people.” — Edward Abbey

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.  This world in arms is not spending money alone.  It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.  This is not a way of life at all in any true sense.  Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” — Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

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Comedy_Tragedy

Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused or disabused;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled,–
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world.

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

~~ Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 13 ~~


Above, in the ranting section, we spoke of political man; in his famous epic poem, Alexander Pope speaks of the whole man, and, as far as I’m concerned, nailed it with every last verse. It’s a very long work, so, to save space and time, I’ve only included the above excerpt to read here; the rest of it can be found at the link below. It’s worth reading, and thinking about, no matter how long it takes….


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Yin-Yang-symbol-sun-and-moon

    Seven stars, birth to death…. what more would a pearl need? Nothing…. Enjoy!….

“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

“Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival.” — W. Edwards Deming

“We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it – and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.” — Mark Twain

“The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them… Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will.” — Michel Eyquem de Montaigne,1580

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is an absurd one.” — Voltaire

“Our virtues and vices spring from one root.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Dharma: What is the greatest mystery of all?

Yudishthira: That each day, death walks the earth,  and we continue to live as though we were immortal.

~~ The Bhagvad Gita ~~


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

By the time anyone sees this online, it will probably be tomorrow, relative to when it is actually being written; thank goodness for the Tardis, eh? We’ll carry over the discovery made in the intro, re: “don’t worry, it don’t matter”, and let this little spew serve as our closing thoughts. Hmm… risky, but, probably okay, given the state of entropy today. If the Space/Time Continuum can hold together, it’ll all be fine. I’ll see y’all on the other side of that decision, if it goes the way we hope; if not, well, most likely, nobody will notice, anyway….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Dozer


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Gasp! They did this while inflated!….

Ffolkes,

“It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved.”

~~ Galileo Galilei ~~

bridge-wallpaper-high-definition-h09nd

Beauty at Night

Image copyright ahuha.com ~~ found at:

https://halfeatenmind.wordpress.com/2015/10/10/photo-moment-building-bridges-a-quote-by-rick-pitino/

“The opposite of Galileo’s defense is also true;
surely it is harmful to souls to make it mandatory to believe what is unprovable.
History is a long litany of absolute proof of such harm.”

~~ gigoid, the dubious ~~


Good morning…. Well, I have the proof now. After all this time, what we’ve always known to be true has now been thoroughly, scientifically tested, and found to be true, to wit: Shit happens, and there’s nothing to be done about it.

Good to know, don’t you think? I do; it’ll save us all a lot of time worrying. Myself, I plan to use a good part of today, just contemplating the simple fact of my own innocence…. I mean, I can’t do anything about it, right? That means, by logical concatenation, I can’t be held responsible for it if it goes wrong. What a bonus!

Now we’ve thoroughly, and scientifically destroyed any chance at all of having y’all take any of the following seriously, we’d best be off to the oyster beds. At least underwater your shouting at me in frustration won’t be so loud. Wait! Sit down! If y’all rush me now, we’ll never get this poor old thing off the ground! Luigi, get us outta here! Hang on, ffolkes; you can take your shots at the end….

Shall we Pearl?….

Calvin: “Do you believe our destinies are determined by the stars?”
Hobbes: “Nah.”
Calvin: “Oh, I do.”
Hobbes: “Really? How come?”
Calvin: “Life’s a lot more fun when you’re not responsible for your actions.”

~~ “Calvin and Hobbes,” Bill Watterson ~~


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royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

    I’m modeling a new version of the White Rabbit syndrome today; that means I only have time to fall back on our default musical choice…. It’s hard to feel guilty about it when I know it will be enjoyed, if only for it’s own inherent beauty and peace to be found within its space and time…. See, we can use fantasy and metaphor ANYWHERE!…. Oh, and if the choice is confusing, don’t fret; I just picked the one you see because I liked the picture the best…. Enjoy, ffolkes…..

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Classical Music for Spring

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HL Mencken

If you wish to know
Why there are disasters
Of Armies and Weapons in the world
Listen to the piteous cries
From the slaughterhouse at midnight

~~ Old Chinese Saying ~~

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

“The Meaning Of Life:
The reason that we’re all here is that
it was too crowded  where we were supposed to go.”

~~ Steven Wright ~~


At last! A statement so perfectly attuned to actual Reality as to be indistinguishable from a slap in the face, which is mankind’s most favored form of testing the strength of a proposition to, and for, each other…. Sure, there are some issues in the implications, but, I’d say it fits the available evidence as well as any of our current major religious philosophies, and a damn sight better than most of them.

To me, quite frankly, it makes a lot more sense than some old fart with a long beard up in the sky who gives a rat’s patootie about what the hell I’m up to here where He is supposed to have dumped me, into this shit pile of violence, mutual abuse, and, an overall atmosphere of bigotry and all-around IDIOCY that permeates every level of society, all around the world. If that shit is true, I’m supposed to THANK the butt hole? I don’t think so….

Besides,if Steven is wright, (and, of course, he is, obviously), that means everyone on this planet is somebody who failed whatever test they had to take to make it into the country club, which goes a long way toward explaining the past 10,000 years of history, filled with blood, aggression, and very little progress toward any sort of intelligent response to life at large….

“Are you sure it isn’t time for another colorful metaphor?”

~~ Spock, “The Voyage Home,”  stardate 8390 ~~


I would say, in this case, Spock is correct; it’s time for a long series of colorful metaphors, which, if vulgar and distressing to the faint of heart, still offers a relief from the angst of knowledge unavailable with any other activity, such as prayer, or, kicking an unsuspecting furry creature, which, though a temporary relief, can bring both a large rise in one’s karmic account, and, if one possesses any sensitivity and compassion at all, a large dose of guilt, well-deserved. ( This, I might add, is true of the metaphoric “kicking of the cat” one commits when they take their anger out on any creature undeserving of it…. A child, a woman, a dog, a man, a cat… what’s the difference? None at all, when they are innocent…)

I would also say our entire species is deserving of any epithet applied to us by the Universe; if so, it, too, will be a metaphor, of the failure of spirit which will lead to our eventual extinction as a species…. The only possible other result, survival into the far future, will only occur if we can act to change our very nature, and quickly; the planet’s ecosystem is not going to give us much longer to make the necessary alterations in the way we treat LIFE, of which we are a much less important part than that for which we give ourselves credit. When we are gone, the Universe will barely blink; it is only our towering egos, propelled by the power of our imagination, which gives an unfortunate few of us the idea we are more important than a single grain of sand….

There are a hundred issues confronting society today, any and all of which are disruptive to our progress as a species and a culture. War, sickness, greed, abuse of all kinds, education, racism, sexism, government corruption by business…. Let’s take a moment to review some information I re-blogged yesterday here on ECR, having first noticed its publication on our old friend Lou’s site, Tales From The Conspiratum, on WordPress (here: http://talesfromtheconspiratum.com/2015/10/14/we-are-anonymous-cannabis-cures-cancer-525 )

As I said yesterday, how much truth can you handle, ffolkes…. Here is just ONE  example of a rather egregious example of how our government has been corrupted by big business, and the ambition and greed of professional politicians, who do the bidding of their corporate masters, at the expense of the rest of us…. Check this out….

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We Are Anonymous: Cannabis Cures Cancer

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If they would lie to us about something like this, at the same time they lied to us about Vietnam, and all the other crap they did during that shameful period of our history, why would anyone think they are, all of a sudden, now telling us the truth, about ANYTHING?…. I ask you if can believe them; if you do, I have a wonderful deal for you in a bridge…. Cash only, no credit…. And, uh, can you tell me the way to the bus station?….

I say again, ffolkes. They are lying to us; they know it, we know it. How much longer can this situation go on, before the societal version of critical mass is reached?

Not long, I’d say….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken, with the help and support of We Are Anonymous, and hundreds of millions of unhappy slaves of the corporate nightmare in which we are all entrapped…. But, only until enough wake up, & see the truth…. I have only three thoughts with which to leave you…. An observation, a reminder of what CAN happen if we don’t pay attention, and, a last bit of hope….

“Recorded history is largely an account of the crimes and disasters committed by banal little men at the levers of imperial machines.” — Edward Abbey

“All military type firearms are to be handed in immediately… The SS, SA and Stahlhelm give every respectable German man the opportunity of campaigning with them.   Therefore anyone who does not belong to one of the above named organizations and who unjustifiably nevertheless keeps his weapon… must be regarded as an enemy of the national government.” — SA Oberfuhrer of Bad Tolz, March, 1933

“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 — Areopagitica

there are nights...

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Comedy_Tragedy

    I have followed this poet’s blog for over four years, since first discovering her website, soon after starting my own blog here on WordPress. Each and every time I read one of her poems, I am astounded, or deeply moved, or shocked into clarity, or just plain slack-jawed in awe of the power that moves through her sometimes, when her Art, her pain, her love, and her imagination merge to make magic with words…. mostly in her second language.

In my mind, her spirit is Art, a muse come to life; in a world once painted in a story by Samuel R. Delaney, she would be called a Singer, an artist at large in the world, allowed to go anywhere, and do anything, from singing in a fountain during a fire, to acts of self-mutilation after a performance, even to murder, in the pursuit of their Art, whether it be poetry, song, sculpture, all of it, or none…. so long as the Art moves through them…. Believe me, Art moves through Mari Sanchez Cayuso…. This poem was a recent offering, a simple poem that spoke to me somehow, and can be found here:

http://starsrainsunmoon.com/2015/10/04/essays/

Essays

I don’t know what is airier

Than silence, somehow natural

Accommodating yardfuls of violet

Tens of thousands living roots

Reopening by instinct

I like it; privately wanting it

Finding satisfaction in its touch

~~ Mari Sanchez Cayuso ~~


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Yin-Yang-symbol-sun-and-moon

    This one’s pretty simple. It begins and ends with an idea presented by a Taoist master, which explains the choice of today’s icon for this section. It’s another pearl about Life at Large, and how to approach the whole ball of wax with some intelligence, dignity, and honor…. with a bit of good advice thrown in on how to nurture one’s inner garden…. Enjoy! It won’t be on the Quiz, though all of it is stuff you probably would be wise to remember….

“Every day passes whether you participate or not.” — Deng Ming-Dao

“Freedom begins between the ears.” — Edward Abbey

“Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious cares.” — Plutarch — Of the Training of Children

“It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.” — Miss Manners (Judith Martin)

“The truth is always the strongest argument.” — Sophocles — Phaedra, Frag. 737

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.” — Seneca

“The soul is healed by being with children.” — Fyodor Dostoyevski

“You’re never too old to become younger.” — Mae West

“Use a mirror in difficult times: You will see both cause and resolution.” — Deng Ming-Dao

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I did it…. barely, and a bit late, but, hey, it’s done, so, who cares? Not me, obviously. Nor should you, as this means you can now go do something that might actually help the situation…. I’d suggest washing up first; reading ECR can create a build-up difficult to clean off if it dries…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided Space and Time can hold together that long….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Elucidation is generally non-obfuscatory….

Ffolkes,

“Let there be a hundred answers with none of them entirely correct.

The asking of the question is already enough.”

~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~

This image shows a small section of the Veil Nebula, as it was observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This section of the outer shell of the famous supernova remnant is in a region known as NGC 6960 or — more colloquially — the Witch’s Broom Nebula.

This image shows a small section of the Veil Nebula, as it was observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This section of the outer shell of the famous supernova remnant is in a region known as NGC 6960 or — more colloquially — the Witch’s Broom Nebula.

Veil Nebula ~ The Witches Broom

Image by NASA/ESA Hubble Deep Space Telescope via Space.com


Good morning…. Such greeting might have more cachet, were it actually morning. It is, however, not. It’s 11:13 PM, and I am up, in moderately severe pain, (if you MUST know, everywhere but for my eyebrows….), complete with twitching in every muscle in my body, for the second time since trying to go to sleep tonight, an ambition obviously not in the cards. Had I known this would be happening earlier today, I would have probably just shot myself then, and been done with it…..

Ah, well, such is Life; ’tis the lot of Man to suffer, and die. Too bad, really, it has to be in that order, isn’t it? It would be a lot easier the other way around…. or, hey, couldn’t we just skip the suffering part? Seems like an idea, to me. But, then, I guess you could say I have a vested interest, having experienced what I tend to feel (like everyone) is more than my fair share of it…. Should that matter? I don’t know, and, currently, don’t give a rat’s ass…. Gee, is that a little too over the top? I repeat, ah, well….

I think it was Plato, or possibly Aristotle, who once remarked, “If everyone were to bring their troubles, and throw them all together in a pile, most everyone would be content to just pick up their own, and go away home.” That makes a lot of sense, and shows a deep understanding of human nature…. Another ancient sage said this on that subject, to wit: “Every horse believes his own burden to be the heaviest.” That one makes a lot of good sense, as well. Of course, neither one of them, though perfectly appropriate, make me feel one little bit better, but, hey, it distracted me long enough to get another paragraph done, so, bonus!

Why, look, ffolkes! We’ve lost our way again! Fancy that…. I don’t suppose any of y’all know which way might lead us back a bit closer to Reality? No? So be it. We’ll spend the day searching the way back, instead of diving for pearls. Good thing I’ve been working on this for a while, isn’t it? Maybe I’ll hop in the Tardis, and take a spin into the future. Oh, wait, that’s right. It’s temporarily restricted, as it may not exist at all much longer; they’re waiting to see what happens in the next couple years. If things don’t work out for us humans, the Tardis will have to go to another species somewhere else in Space and Time…. can’t let it sit idle, it’s too valuable.

See? Told ya we were lost. The hell with it. Let’s go do something else now….

Shall we Pearl?….

“If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.” — Maya Angelou

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mozart2

“An agreeable companion on a journey is as good as a carriage.”

~~ Publius Syrus — Maxim 143 ~~


I thought (relatively) long and hard about what to put in this section today. Today’s Pearl, as it turned out, is, in the current sense, an anomaly, as it is completely composed of (relatively) fresh material. By fresh, I mean it is all newly written material, just for this Pearl, though it took three days to complete, as I wend my way through the latter days of my recovery from medical abuse. (Long story, for another time….)….

, I picked Wolfie’s two last symphonies (I am pretty sure there’s no # 42…. I did look.) because they are, perhaps, the best representation of the kind of music that turned me on to the classical genre, about thirty years ago, when I became tired of the state of modern music being played on the airwaves, and, well before the advent of internet streaming…. As far as I’m concerned, this is about as good as music gets. Period. I also think it goes well with the rest of the stuff you’ll find below…

Oh, and, by the way. If you enjoyed this, on the You Tube page where you will be taken by clicking  the link below, you’ll find a link to a video recording of eight of Mozart’s best symphonies, over three hours worth, all conducted by Leonard Bernstein… I haven’t checked it out, but, I have a feeling it will be my next download, for music to keep on my computer, for those times I need it…. which come fairly often these days….

Enjoy!….

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Symphony 40 & 41

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The Anti-trafficking Movement Needs Survivor Voices:  Why Are We Ignored?

“If people were required to know the law rather than to obey it,

the government would be overthrown the next day.”

~~ Polly Sigh Bee ~~


As I walk the streets of the city in which I live, I see the truth of the above proposition all too clearly. Yet, the urge to rant about it seems to be in abeyance for the nonce; chalk it up to the selfishness brought to the fore when we suffer from physical issues. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t take some shots at our Beloved Ruling Class, or spend some time being ironic regarding modern society… I think the following nine-star pearl falls right into that category, so, we’ll go with that today, rather than forcing the issue with a rant…. This is better, trust me…. It’s all about the old Reader’s Digest, with yet another version of Life in these United States….

“Deal,” said the devil. “Don’t you want to cut first?” the imp asked, shoving the cards across the table. “Why bother? We’re all going to cheat, anyway.” — Ester M. Friesner, “Bargaining Chip”

“Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent,  hard-working, honest Americans.  It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity.  But then–we elected them.” — Lily Tomlin

“One can imagine a sane, healthy, cheerful human society based on no more than the principles of common sense, as validated each day by work, play, and living experience. But this remains the most Utopian and fantastic of ideals.” — Edward Abbey

“If we were to promise people nothing better than only revolution, they would scratch their heads and say: “Is it not better to have good goulash?” — Nikita Khruschev, quoted 1971

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the rights of the people by the gradual & silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — James Madison, Virginia Conv. 1788

“The only guarantee of the Bill of Rights which continues to have any force and effect is the one prohibiting quartering troops on citizens in time of peace.” — H. L. Mencken, 1951

“A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not easy to do without servility to mobs or monarchs…” — Epicurus

“The majority, compose them how you will, are a herd, and not a nice one.” — William Hazlitt

“I see from your coat, my friend, you’re from the other side.
There’s just one thing I’d like to know:
Who won?

~~ David Crosby ~~


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Comedy_Tragedy

Adjectives of Quality/Bloody Friday
A baleful lump of ironic introspection
 sits upon my shoulder today
leaving traces of fey reflection
with a smattering of true dismay.

Resistance may be futile, many have said,
belief didn’t necessarily follow.
Abnegation of fear marks all bills paid,
leaving such empty threats hollow.

Symbolic courage never sleeps so deeply
as when delusion holds sway.
Bartered virtue, sold far too cheaply,
stands in shame, until honor fades away.

Too many culprits exist to count just one;
 all of us bear obvious blame.
Evil is as evil does, only, when it’s done,
it begins again, all same-same.

Nobody seems to care enough to deny the lies.
Ignorant fear rules humanity’s masses.
When evil passes unremarked, innocence dies;
silence equals guilt, leaving only hope’s ashes.

Reality screams; tales of terror unfold,
flames fanned with purposeful malice,
insidious dangers hide beneath atrocity untold
as Gaia weeps into an empty chalice.

~~ gigoid ~~


Written 10/2/2015.

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This one is for Tom, who stimulated/inspired it by the simple act of asking two questions…..

About Hopi Indian Symbols

    Life, as we know it, can be a tricky proposition; I think we can all agree on that. This is especially true for us humans, given our gift/curse, to wit: endless imagination. Both help and hindrance, it makes us, if naught else, the strangest creatures on the planet, duck-billed platypi notwithstanding.

Today’s final old-school pearl is a a celebration/lamentation of that particular facet of our existence. Each of these pearls, if I’ve done this correctly, should give you both a little thrill of understanding, and a little chill of foreboding…. Enjoy!….

“Is this going to involve RAW human ecstasy?” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.  Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around — nobody big, I mean — except me.  And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.  What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.  That’s all I’d do all day.  I’d just be the catcher in the rye.  I know it;  I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.  I know it’s crazy.” — J. D. Salinger, “Catcher in the Rye”

“No one is as weird as they think they are. Everyone is weirder than others think they are.” — Byron Elbows’ two rules of human nature

“Dragons fly because they *think* they can.” — Anne McCaffrey.

“If there are twelve clowns in a ring, you can jump in the middle and start reciting Shakespeare, but to the audience, you’ll just be the thirteenth clown.” — Adam Walinsky

“A man who carries a cat by the tail is gaining helpful experience. He will never be dim or doubtful. Chances are he will never carry a cat by the tail again. But I say, if he wants to, let him!” — Mark Twain

“Forward goes the vanguard of the lunatic fringe, tickling the death clowns of normality.” — HealNorm

“I go through the house in the middle of the night, and hear the ticking of the clocks. I can’t stop them; I can’t turn them back.” — the Marschallin, in Der Rosenkavalier

And if I laugh at any mortal thing,
‘T is that I may not weep.

~~ Lord Byron — Don Juan, Canto iv, Stanza 4 ~~


Whew! I don’t know about y’all, but, all I can say is, what a ride!…. Good thing we’re done for today, isn’t it?….

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Done. And, if not, tough stuff, as they say. Well, somebody said it. Plus, it’s done, so there. I’ll take the credit, and/or the blame, whichever seems most appropriate. Meanwhile, I’m outta here, to try to find some of the sleep I lost. See y’all next time, whenever that may be….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Dozer


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Approaching mundane bogosity, captain….

Ffolkes,

I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
Was thy dream then a shadowy lie?
Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly;
And thou shalt find thy dream to be
A truth and noonday light to thee.
 
~~ Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1816-1841) ~~

~~ Life a Duty ~~

Madrid supermoon

Supermoon, July 2015, Madrid

Image from an article on Space.com


Good morning…. I’ve decided to throw out the last two days; there doesn’t seem to be much point in remembering such an extended period of misery. Oh, not that it’s been exactly Hell; Hell’s probably hotter than 94º, the average for the last 48 hrs. But, the roller coaster ride of pain, from extreme highs to complete absence, and back again, over the course of an hour or two, every couple hours like a damn clock, sure makes telling the difference a distinct challenge. Faugh! Basta! Begone from my mind!

Please?

Ah, me. Such is Life in the Big City, I suppose. If I didn’t like it, I’d probably move. Hey, wait! Is that….? No, sorry, it’s not her; it’s just the arrival of our delivery of indigestible parables. Not to worry, Luigi will sign for them. Okay, where were we? Ah, yes, about to consider emigration to the wilds of Northern Cali, due to the massive influx of insanity here in the Bay Area. The level of bogosity present out in the BBR is becoming more than merely annoying; it’s getting downright dangerous for us curmudgeons; the act of obtaining one’s bagel in the morning has become a challenge of major proportion…..

Not that there’s anything up with the bagels; it’s the mundanes one must wend one’s way through to get it. They’re everywhere, spreading their ignorance and cluelessness wherever they walk, confusing themselves and others, as they try to understand a world in which they cannot comprehend the rules of engagement. It makes the effort to remain non-homicidal VERY hard to repress; they’re EVERYWHERE, asking dumb questions, making dumb mistakes, honking their horns, walking into light poles as they walk down the street obsessively gazing into their phone…. It’s enough to make an old fart regret not carrying his gun… or, a nice, big, sharp knife….

Oh, gosh. I guess it IS a little early for homicidal impulses, isn’t it? Okay, I’ll quit now. It’s just being indulgent, anyway. I’ve sworn off killing mundanes for at least another month. If I hadn’t decided on a hiatus, I would have reached my legal limit before October. It’s too expensive to get an extension; maybe next year they’ll up the limit….

I reckon that’s enough. I can’t expect y’all to take it forever, can I? Nope. Let’s go see what kind of trouble we can get into down below…. If Luigi ever gets those parables stowed away, we can…. Oh, good, we’re ready. Let’s get on with it, before it’s too late, again….

Shall we Pearl?….

“If the average man is made in God’s image,

then such a man as Beethoven or Aristotle

is plainly superior to God.”

— H. L. Mencken

Ipse dixit!

Q.E.D.

So be it.

gigoid has spoken.


☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬

royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

    I’m lazy; big surprise, eh? In this case, that’s a good thing. This collection of music touts itself as the “Best” relaxing classical music on the Beach. You tell me if that’s so, okay?…. Enjoy, please….

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The Best Relaxing Classical Music on the Beach

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☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬


The cartoon was reproduced, without permission, but with full attribution, from the UK Guardian news site…..

I decided to give y’all a break from a down-to-earth, makes-you-think sort of rant, opting instead for a bit of educational entertainment, first, with the chosen graphic from the UK Guardian’s own First Dog on the Moon, followed by a rather smarmy old-school pearl, with parameters set to make us laugh at, or jeer at. the Asininnies, of whatever variety we can find, or, you may choose your own to fill in the blanks…. Enjoy! Where else can you find such interactive fun, eh?…. Okay, so, not all of it is funny, or fun. Some of it’s just Truth…. I think you’ll recognize those without any help….

“Believe 1% of what you see, and none of what you hear.” — Dubious Bee

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” — Thomas Jefferson to A. Stuart, 1791

“I’m all in favor of the democratic principle that one idiot is as good as one genius, but I draw the line when someone takes the next step and concludes that two idiots are better than one genius.” — Leo Szilard

“Crime does not pay. Unless, of course, you get to make, enforce, or interpret the laws.” — gigoid, the dubious

“I call Christianity the *one* great curse, the *one* great intrinsic depravity, the *one* great instinct for revenge for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, *petty* — I call it the *one* mortal blemish of mankind.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Who is secure in all his basic needs? Who has work, spiritual care, medical care, housing, food, occasional entertainment, free clothing, free burial, free everything? The answer might be nuns and monks, but the standard reply is ‘prisoners’; i.e., citizens of a provider state.” — Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

“The apathy of the born freeman is worse than the docility of the born slave.” — Grant Singleton (1890-?)

“A special cleaning ordinance bans housewives from hiding dirt and dust under a rug in a dwelling.” — real standing law in Pennsylvania, United States of America

“A kitchen in every pot.  I mean, a pot in every — I mean, a chicken in every…” — George Bush, 1988

“The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science, that smiles in yer face while it picks yer pocket; and the glorious uncertainty of it is of mair use to the professors than the justice of it.” — Charles Macklin (1690-1797) — Love a la Mode, Act ii, Sc. 1

“Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.” — Henry Adams

“Keep a very firm grasp on reality, so you can strangle it at any time.” — Realistic Bee

“The higher you climb, the more you show your ass.” — Alexander Pope, “The Dunciad”

I must stop here… my fingers are hoarse. In addition, thirteen pearls of this nature is probably enough; we all know what can happen to the Space/Time Continuum if we go to fifteen…. It isn’t pretty….

☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬

Comedy_Tragedy

Penance, Made Simple

After all the dross is sent away
a celebration can begin,
time will face up to space, to stay
willing, to shine from within.

Anger and confusion come in to share
brushing reason aside,
eager to welcome all that is fair,
alert to danger, eyes wide.

Re-gift the wicked with their own pain
stand with the just;
fail to partake of the ill-gotten gain,
living in honor, the only must.

Standing fast in the face of wrong
is its own prize and reward.
Holding on to truth makes us strong,
well worth working toward.

Little is left to chance by fate
our lessons are never free of cost.
Seldom does reality make us wait
only when alone, are we lost.

~~ gigoid ~~


Written 10/23/2012.

☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬

Yin-Yang-symbol-sun-and-moon

    This one is about being human; the good, the weird, the ugly, the wondrous…. but, mostly,  it’s about the duality of nature, and, our own inner nature, with which we constantly battle, inside AND outside ourselves… It’s not easy when the only way to win, ultimately, is to keep battling; if either side becomes dominant, imbalance disallows longevity; eventually, whatever is created destroys itself, whether overbearingly good, or obsessively evil…. Sounds a bit confusing, doesn’t it? Yeah, to me, as well, but, it DOES go a long way toward explaining a lot about most people’s reaction to much of what happens to them in life….

SIGH…. Ah well, if they would only learn to listen to the pearls that live inside them…. If not, well, they could always come read some of these; I don’t see how it couldn’t help things. Nothing much else seems to have done so….

“Be not as one that hath ten thousand years to live; death is night hand: while thou livest, while thou hast time, be good.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, iv, 17

“The measure of man is what he does with power.” — Pittacus

“Nothing shows a man’s character more than what he laughs at.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“You know what they say about paradigms – shift happens!” — Witty Bee

“To him that waits all things reveal themselves, provided that he has the courage not to deny, in the darkness,what he has seen in the light.” — Coventry Patmore

“His red right hand.” — John Milton — Paradise Lost, Book ii, Line 174

“Arms are instruments of ill omen… . When one is compelled to use them, it is best to do so without relish. There is no glory in victory, and to glorify it despite this is to exult in the killing of men…. When great numbers of people are killed, one should weep over them with sorrow. When victorious in war, one should observe mourning rites.” — Lao-Tzu

“Mongo only pawn… in game of life.’ — Alex Karras in “Blazing Saddles”

“Sometimes I think. And sometimes I am.”

~~ Smart Bee, using Peruaosophy as a koan ~~

☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬☬


What the…? How did we get here? Oh, wait; okay, I get it. Sorry, the Tardis was set to put me here at a certain time, & I forgot. Okay, we’re done, right? Right. I suppose I’d better go see what happened up there, before I let this loose on the world….. Hang on….

Hmm…. I think it’s best if I don’t comment on any of that. I’ll just say this; it’s done. That fulfills all the legal requirements, so, I’m going to use some common sense & get us the hell out of here, before Reality is stressed any further…. I’ll be back tomorrow, ffolkes….. Hey! Oh for goodness sake, stop with the wailing and lamentations! It’s not a threat, calm down. I don’t THINK we’ve even made any of the do-not-fly lists yet, so, it’s just another walk in the park. Sheesh…. Besides, what’s your beef? Did you pay for this? No…. Well, not in anything other than a karmic sense….

See ya, ffolkes; that’s a promise…. I don’t make them lightly….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Frugal memories of Cracker Jack….

Ffolkes,

“I’m not crazy. I just don’t give a shit!”

~~ gigoid, the dubious ~~

scaredy cat stump

Frightened Feline, Stumped


Good morning…. I suppose it’s only natural to be a bit thick at this time of day, regardless of how much sleep I may have been blessed to receive. But, does it have to be thick as a brick? It sure would make it easier if it didn’t take so damn long to find two neurons willing and able to work together long enough to get started on this, at least until the coffee can kick in. Of course, that would eliminate more than half of my opening ideas, since I generally end up doing just as I’m doing now, to wit: beginning the day with whining and complaints at how early it is….

I would imagine it’s getting as old for y’all as it is for me; it’s really a shame I can’t seem to think of anything else much of the time. Nobody told me it would be so difficult to come up with interesting, believable, compelling literature first thing in the damn morning. And, damn if I’m not experiencing some of the strongest feelings of deja vu I’ve ever felt…. What to you think? Should we go for three full paragraphs of cheap whining, or just get on with the regularly scheduled insanity? I vote for getting the hell out of here….

Since my vote is the deciding factor, that’s what we’ll do. Sorry for the boring intro; I’m sure you’ll give me, just this once, the benefit of the doubt, and forget the whole thing, won’t you? No? Ah, well, fuck it, then…. Luigi, fire that puppy up, and get us out of here, now! I’m done with this….

Shall we Pearl?….

He that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
  The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man’s door.

~~ William Cowper ~~

~~ Translation of Horace, Book ii, Ode x ~~

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s and m dog walk Cascades 1


Today’s video has been preempted by pictures…. One of the more consistent Gentle Readers of this blog has moved, and is involved in exploring an area of the country new to her and her partner and dogs. They discovered a very beautiful hiking area near where they are looking for a home, and posted some picture of the hike…. I thought they were great pictures, of a very beautiful part of the country, so, rather than a video today, here are a couple pictures, and the link to her site, where you can see the rest…. They’re worth it, even if the drought is affecting the forests heavily…. Enjoy!….

s and m dog walk Cascades 2

s and m dog walk Cascades 3

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Dont keep calm

“The Earth is degenerating these days. Bribery and corruption abound.  Children no longer mind their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching.” — Assyrian Stone Tablet, c.2800BC

Mankind, as a species, is fond of touting how special he is; one is constantly hearing how advanced our culture is, how magnificent the works of art we have produced, how wonderful is our species! The pinnacle of Creation! Which makes us, possibly, about the stupidest creatures ever conceived, for basing our sense of entitlement on a massive sense of delusion and denial of reality….. If we can assume, for the purposes of discussion, the tablet referred to in the above quote was created on today’s date all those years ago ( as likely a date as any other day….), our species has made absolutely NO progress in the past 4,815 years! Whoever wrote those words on the tablet could easily have been born in 1950, for our world today exhibits EXACTLY the same symptoms of decay as described…..

Now, I don’t know about y’all, but, it seems a little specious to claim such a position of ascendancy when we cannot even bring ourselves to make sure everyone in the species experiences the same advantages as any other; what is the point of having a society/culture, if it doesn’t provide the same advantages to ALL its citizenry? None I can see. Yet, we continue to behave as if there is no tomorrow, lying, cheating, preying upon each other as if the future did not exist…. There are times when it seems we understand, for there is evidence, such as in movies, when a character can make a statement that catches the fancy of the public, who repeat it endlessly, without ever realizing it applies to themselves…. such as, “My mama says “stupid is as stupid does….”

Yes, Forrest’s mama had it right; what wasn’t clear to most folks is that it was talking about THEM. Most of the people I see in this world have no clue they are a slave; they live their lives just as if they had some choice in what they do, never realizing they are hemmed into such a narrow field of existence, they cannot see they are confined at all, believing themselves to be free men…. And the beat goes on, as it has for almost 5000 years, without ever getting anywhere that might actually brings us all into a future we can live with….

This rant isn’t going much of anywhere; I’ve already whined and complained for four paragraphs, without ever buckling down to any specifics…. Part of that is the simple fact there is SO MUCH about which I could rant, it’s hard to pick one…. Should I rail against the industrial machine? Should I indict the pundits, who lie and cheat and steal their way around the halls of government? Should I condemn the Dogma Dogs, who sycophantically endorse the corporate mandate, promising immortality and manna from heaven for the privilege of wearing a slave collar? Or, should I just bemoan the fact of my peer’s lack of honor and strength of will? Any and all of these are part of the core problem, but, I’m tired of them all…. and, that’s only a partial list!….

Ah, the hell with it. I’m gonna go find some pearls to sublimate, and be done with it for today…. We’ll all just have to deal with it…. If the group gets a bit smarmy, well, chalk it up to the mood I’ve put myself in with this rant….

“Bother!” said Pooh, as he found his smack had talc in it. — Smart Bee

“It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceregal palace, while he is still organizing and conducting a campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representative of King-Emperor.” — Winston Churchill, — speech to the West Essex Conservatives, February 23, 1930

“It makes no difference who you vote for– the two parties are really one party representing 4 percent of the people.” — Gore Vidal

“And if I said a year ago that these [social] programs weren’t working, perhaps I have been vindicated.” — President George Bush, on how Lyndon Johnson was to blame for the LA riots

“Definitely, times have changed. If you flunk out of high school today, you will likely have to settle for being just Vice President.” — Smart Bee

“I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate.  And I can  picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

“Keep the war alive.” — A White House official, — describing President Bush’s 1992 reelection strategy

“Do unto them before they do it to you.” — American proverb

“Talk of revolution is one way of avoiding reality.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sure sign he expects to be paid for it.” — H. L. Mencken

“You’re standing where I want to pee.”

~~ gigoid, to Ronnie Raygun, in one of his favorite dreams ~~


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Comedy_Tragedy

Piraeus calls me, silently

Sizzle, sizzle, crash, bang, boom.
Intellect burning with subsequent doom.
Lingering long over decisive style,
Whistling up chaos all the while.

Such frozen thoughts may shatter,
Should we infer, but, no matter.
Firing blanks is children at play
Blooded sages all gasp in dismay.

Nonsense is good sense at times
Mundane objectives trip lightly in rhymes.
Fallen angels dance on a pin
Until each sinner enters within.

Fast moments with natural rain
Bring ashes, yet still must remain.
Final thoughts clamor for more
Find them only on a far distant shore.

~~ gigoid ~~


Written 9/3/2012.

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pearls_3

    Now, THIS is a pearl!….

When the night has been too lonely,
and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter
 far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun’s love,
in the spring becomes The Rose.

~~ Bette Midler, “The Rose” ~~


“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” ~~ V. Smart Bee ~~

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” — Marcus Aurelius

“The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp.” — John Berry

“In morals, what begins in fear usually ends in wickedness; in religion, what begins in fear usually ends in fanaticism. Fear, either as a principle or a motive, is the beginning of all evil.” — Mrs. Jameson

“The mountains, too, at a distance appear airy masses and smooth, but seen near at hand, they are rough.” — Diogenes Laertius — Pyrrho, ix

“Do every act of your life as if it were your last.” — Marcus Aurelius

“To him who is in fear, everything rustles.” — Sophocles

    Do I contradict myself?
 Very well then I contradict myself
(I am large, I contain multitudes).

~~ Walt Whitman, ‘Song of Myself’ ~~


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

Well…. That was something. Rather than try to figure out exactly what, I think I’ll just go proof, and be done with it. Given the state of my attitude so far today, it’s probably for the best if we don’t make any further attempts at rationality; besides, my lawyer’s on vacation, so, I’d rather not have to deal with any consequences just now.

It’s Monday. I’m going to pretend it’s Sunday, again. I can do that; I’m retired….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can remember where I parked the Tardis….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

We’re off to see the lizard….

Ffolkes,

No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth.

~~ Francis Bacon — Of Truth ~~

rainbow lightning-saguaropicscomviagizmodo

Rainbow Lightning

Saguaro Photography via Gizmodo.com


Good morning…. Indeed, it’s actually morning, too. I’m up at an hour more familiar to the rest of the world today, having, for an unknown reason, slept all of seven hours, thanks to the application of a massive dose of helpful herbs. I’m not sure what to do with all the energy, but, I’m sure most of it will be consumed by the sheer rush of putting a Pearl together in no time. As a matter of fact, just thinking about having to work so fast makes me tired…

No, not really, but, it does make me want to get going, so, I’ll reject all temptation to fool around here in the intro, and merely instruct Luigi to get us the hell out of here, now…. Hang on, ffolkes….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Truth is a gem that is found at a great depth; whilst on the surface of this world, all things are weighed by the false scale of custom.” — Lord Byron

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royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

    As you may guess, default music today….. I’ve tried to give it a bit of a new feeling, by going to the last page I could find on You Tube to grab this one, which was chosen just for the picture alongside it on the page…. Enjoy….


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Classical Music for Babies

The Mozart Effect

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Sandclock .jpg

    As always, the picture tells the story; here’s a rant/discussion from the archives…. This was last posted on 2/25/2014, written earlier.

From 12/12/12:

“He who proselytizes in the cause of unbelief is basically a man in need of belief.” — Eric Hoffer

This is true…. you never see an atheist going door to door, trying to convert the pious to their unbeliefs. However, I would go further on this train of thought, and add that, “He who proselytizes, in any cause, in basically a man in need of a life.” I’m sure it occurred to Mr. Hoffer, but he was too busy trying to explain this statement to somebody who didn’t understand the word ‘proselytize’….. For my own case, I have never, ever understood why people feel compelled to go door to door to try to get other people to believe what they believe; it’s one of the most persistent delusional systems I’ve ever witnessed, to believe that anyone wants to hear what they have to say, much less they will find their beliefs palatable to others, or find anyone who believes them to be superior to their own…..

“More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying they made them.” — Smart Bee

Humans seem to have an immense blind spot when it comes to their own actions and beliefs. Most of them never seem to question the things they are told, even when those things are presented with no evidence other than faith. Of course, the people who are invested in the religious system, to wit: the preachers, begin their indoctrination when their constituents are very young, when they are still prone to accept whatever an adult says as truth. This ensures a life-long predilection for being simple to control…. or, in short, mental slavery, if you will. Unless there is some sort of rebellion of spirit, where new knowledge is injected, these poor saps will spend their entire lives believing that what they have been told is real, when, in fact, they are fitting themselves with shackles, that will forever imprison their minds, and their imagination…..

“To defend one’s self against fear is simply to insure that one will, one day, be conquered by it; fears must be faced.” — James Baldwin

In my life-long quest for the truth, I’ve come to believe that religions, while originally intended to benefit people, (by their iconic progenitors, anyway…. I’m sure Jesus was a quite nice man, and wanted the best for those to whom he preached his own philosophy of compassion….), have historically been taken over by the predators who live to control others.

To be fair, some of those who become priests, or any of the other varieties of religious fanatic that prevail in our society, may indeed believe that their beliefs are true, and act accordingly, but the majority are, as far as I can tell, only concerned with maintaining status quo, thereby benefiting themselves, while never actually allowing any REAL progress in the development of the human condition. They would have society behave as if we were still living in caves, in essence, still cowering in our meager shelter while the storms and lightning are raging outside, terrified of the power of what we do not understand, and, therefore, allow ourselves to fear….

“A universe of death, which God by curse
Created evil, for evil only good;
Where all life dies, death lives,
and Nature breeds Perverse,
all monstrous, all prodigious things,
Abominable, unutterable and worse
Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived,
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.”

~~ Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II ~~


(Side note: I’ll bet Milton had a hard time sleeping….)

The Universe is a big place, and there is a lot to learn. Fearing that knowledge, or fearing what changes that knowing will always bring, is the act of a coward, to my mind, and should not be encouraged. Supernatural beings of unlimited power are not a required component to the understanding of Nature and the Universe; we need not fear that our lack of knowledge of how things work is unattainable. Just because we do not understand a part of reality does not mean that whatever it is, is beyond our understanding.

It is not necessary to ask for exemptions, or intervention by our own personal gods, for us to achieve happiness, or even contentment; that is completely within our own power, if we but acknowledge that part of us that is free, and connected to everything else we can perceive. The connections may not be fully understood, but they are there, and if we can only learn to recognize it, the power to change reality lies within us, all the time…. As Epictetus said, “Happiness lies in learning to accept a simple truth. There are some things you can change. And there are some things you cannot.” It’s really quite that easy, you know, once one learns to accept this fact of life…. No dogma required…..

“If brains were outlawed, nothing would change.” — Smart Bee

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Comedy_Tragedy

Pensive early and late…

Endings aren’t always a new beginning
I’m sad to say.
Sometimes it’s just an ending
there’s always a price to pay.

Still, it’s only money, he said
watching it piss away
Did everything ‘cept meet Fred
‘n had a good time the whole way.

Even the bad stuff turned out well,
life lessons are just that way.
Knowing what’s right, you can’t always tell,
we don’t always know the right things to say.

I’ll take all the hard times, without complaint,
learning isn’t always easy to take.
Kindness, patience, and compassion without restraint,
are still the best decisions we can make.

~~ gigoid ~~


Written 4/26/2013.

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ankh

    Okay, so, here is the only fresh pearl you’ll see today…. Try to enjoy it, okay? Thanks….

Every one is bound to bear patiently the results of his own example.” — Phaedrus (c. 8 A.D.) — Book i, Fable 26, 12

“He that feareth is a slave, were he never so rich, were he never so powerful. But he that is without fear is king of all the world.” — E. R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros

“Anacharsis said a man’s felicity consists not in the outward and visible favours and blessings of Fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind.” — Plutarch — The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, 11

“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

Although it is tempting to resent disaster, there is not much use in doing so… Whether we remain ash or become the phoenix is up to us.” — Deng Ming-Dao

“You are all depending for your spirituality on someone else, for your happiness on someone else, for your enlightenment on someone else…. You have been accustomed to being told how far you have advanced, what is your spiritual status. How childish! Who but yourself can tell you if you are incorruptible?… I desire those, who seek to understand me, to be free … from the fear of religion, from the fear of salvation, from the fear of spirituality, from the fear of love, from the fear of death, from the fear of life itself…. You can form other organizations and expect someone else. With that I am not concerned, nor with creating new cages, new decorations for those cages. My only concern is to set men absolutely, unconditionally free.” — Krishnamurti — From his last speech to the Theosophical Society

“When one asked him what boys should learn, “That,” said he, “which they shall use when men.” — Plutarch — Laconic Apophthegms, Of Agesilaus the Great

“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness, and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” — Aristotle

“The only problem with seeing too much is that it makes you insane.” — Phaedrus

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I don’t even have time to apologize for any breathlessness with which y’all may have been bothered and bewitched, ffolkes. It’s done, and that’s that. See y’all tomorrow, hopefully with a bit less rush to get done. Of course, that will depend on whether or not the Space/Time Continuum continues to breeze along at its current clip…. We’re hoping for the best….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

Kindly inform the sublime Pasha his hot dog is done….

Ffolkes,

“How could the drops of water know themselves to be a river?

Yet the river flows on.”

~~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~~

pluto-from-charon_thetimes3

Europa’s Ice Wolf watching Pluto from Charon

https://europasicewolf.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/smashing-the-final-planetary-frontier/


Good morning…. The odds on that have improved a bit, thankfully…. Mind and body yearn for more sleep; five hours, though welcome, doesn’t quite make up for the weeks of 2-3/day I’ve just gone through. I have to admit, though, more, in this case, is better. Not that I’m a bundle of energy, by any means, but, it is nice to not have to summon my courage just to stand up….

Today’s Pearl promises to be something of an anomaly, though why that should be is still unclear…. It’s a sort of background hum with which we are familiar, from the identical phenomenon in my nervous system; when it’s there, tension reigns, though the underlying reason seems hidden…. It is only when it stops we note we’ve been so tense; the relief is immense. Sadly, there isn’t much that relieves it for my nervous system; for Pearls, I have yet to even identify the root cause, much less figure out how to get it to stop…. So, we end up with weird, which may not seem all that odd, but, trust me, it will be…

Since I can’t seem to find much of anything to say here, and don’t want to completely bore anyone in the intro section, we’ll take this slow on the road…. Luigi! Fire that sucker up, & let’s hit it! Time’s a wastin’…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“Learning isn’t a means to an end; it is an end in itself.”

~~ Robert A. Heinlein ~~


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stolen child

    A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a You Tube video, which I enjoyed so much I’m including it here today. It’s a verbal performance of a W.B. Yeats poem, The Stolen Child, one of the most famous poems in all of English literature. The accompanying original video and music are the perfect enhancement to the poem’s beauty, and though short, one of the most intense doses of beauty I’ve ever been fortunate to experience…. I hope you enjoy it….

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The Stolen Child – W.B. Yeats

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We the People...

“Justice is incidental to law and order.” — J. Edgar Hoover

For someone of my ilk, such a statement, with its inherent arrogance and sense of entitlement, is an obvious invitation to rant; one might say, metaphorically, it’s a red flag to my bullish intellect…. But, that would leave me open to too many bad puns on referring to myself as a bull, or with bovine qualities to my thought processes… I certainly hope NOT…. Nonetheless, whichever metaphor we end up with, if any, I’m going to rant…. J. Edgar is just too much of an asshole to pass up the chance to chew on him. He was SUCH an asshole, I am prompted to pearl….

“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.” — Oscar Wilde

I’m sure Oscar must have been thinking of J. Ed; I think he met him as a child…. I mean, J. Edgar was a child…. Oscar was already nearly dead at the time…. In fact, it’s a little known historical fact the sight of J. Edgar’s face at the age of three, was the event which actually kicked Oscar over the edge…. (Little known = I made it up…. But, imagine it. Remember J. Edgar’s face when he was at the FBI? At three he must have been a truly scary sight; probably never had to buy a Halloween mask in his life….)

Okay, I’ll stop picking on the dead FBI guy. We’ll get back to what he said above, which, as far as I can tell, is just about as far removed, philosophically, ethically, and morally, from the ideas and concepts involved in the US Constitution, as it can possibly get. I don’t believe the framers of the Constitution had that sort of brutal single-mindedness in mind when they drafted the document; it’s completely foreign to the same view of, well, everything…. The intent of Mason, Franklin, Jefferson, Paine, and the rest was to secure Justice for the people, not place it in the hands of the faceless myrmidons who have taken over the police forces, not to mention the courts, of this country.

“All I kin say is when you finds yo’self wanderin’ in a peach orchard, ya don’t go lookin’ for rutabagas.” — Kingfish

Yesterday, when I began this rant, I had the firm intention of dissecting Hoover, and the ridiculous, self-centered attitudes he espoused, which have, sadly, become the modus operandi of almost every police force in this country…. The more I think on it, however, the greater is my feeling of futility, as I so often feel as if I’m preaching to the choir when I rant; the people who NEED to see, and think about this material, almost never do see it, as they’re not interested in changing their minds. Hell, most of them aren’t even aware they HAVE a mind….

So, I’m gonna sublimate, to please myself. We’ll find some statements, about politicians, dogma dogs, snakeheads, myrmidons, pimps, and all the other assholes who are dragging us all down to Hell with them…. Let’s see what SB can come up with today to poke a few holes in their misguided sense of adequacy…. Ah, what the hell; we’ll poke a LOT of holes today…. How about, say, oh, 13 holes?…. Hope they bleed a lot…

Was there a time when dancers with their fiddles
In children’s circuses could stay their troubles?
There was a time they could cry over books,
But time has set its maggot on their track.
Under the arc of the sky they are unsafe.
What’s never known is safest in this life.
Under the skysigns they who have no arms
Have cleanest hands, and, as the heartless ghost
Alone’s unhurt, so the blind man sees best.

~~ Dylan Thomas (1914-1953), “Was There A Time” ~~


“I like the way ONLY their mouths move…. They look like DYING OYSTERS” — Zippy the Pinhead

“The public demands certainties; it must be told definitely and a bit raucously that this is true and that is false. But there are no certainties.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), “Prejudice”

“Our “neoconservatives” are neither new nor conservative, but old as Babylon and evil as Hell.” — Edward Abbey

“If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments.” — G.K. Chesterton

“Be entirely tolerant or not at all; follow the good path or the evil one. To stand at the crossroads requires more strength than you possess.” — Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

“With rank goeth privileges- so it ever shall be. But also with it go responsibility and obligations, always more onerous than the privileges are pleasant.” — Robert A. Heinlein

“I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue” — Bertrand Russell

“Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.” — Confucius

“I’m going to have you wrapped in a U.S. flag and burned personally by the President, in high octane American gasoline!” — The Firesign Theatre movie, J-Men Forever

“Ignorance is Strength.” — George Orwell’s 1984

“Remember: there’s a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.” — Frank Zappa, “He’s got 20 million dollars in his heavenly bank account.”

Ye shall know the” truth, and the truth shall make you mad.”

~~ Aldous Huxley ~~


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Comedy_Tragedy

    Here is a poem I haven’t re-posted since first written… Don’t know why, as it may be one of my best, such as they are…. I hope you enjoy it…

Dreaming, I wait….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~


Written 9/18/2013.

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buddah-out-to-lunch_s

    Our final pearl is, apparently, a small, if significant part of what makes today’s effort such an anomaly…. Created in only two sessions at the computer, it came together quite easily, which is the first sign of possible oddity. After a bit of rearrangement, I realized it’s actually a pretty good pearl, for a certain type of mind…. The others who read it may find it a bit hard to penetrate, but, s’okay, not everyone likes peanut butter, even the chunky kind…. Enjoy, ffolkes; I think you can figure it out from here….

“It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably.” — Immanuel Kant

“Remember what the dormouse said…  FEED YOUR HEAD…” — Grace Slick

“A good reputation is more valuable than money.’ — Publius Syrus — Maxim 108

“A little learning is a dangerous thing but a lot of ignorance is just as bad.” — Bob Edwards

“The worst deluded are the self-deluded.” — Christian Nevell Bovee

“Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.” — Baltasar Gracian

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

“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.” — Walt Kelly, Putluck Pogo

At this point in the process, you may ask, what the hell was that all about? I have only one response….

[dignified silence]


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

Y’know? Maybe I’ll make that last line my standard response to ALL queries…. Yeah! That’s the ticket!….

Then, again, that might tend to stifle any potential dialogue…. Okay, we’ll continue to use it only when appropriate…. Now we have that settled, I’m outta here, with energy, a bit of the ready in me pocket, and time on me hands. It’s a big world out there in the Big Blue Room outside the place where my computer lives…. I think I’m going to go see what kind of trouble I can create today…. Not get INTO, mind you, just create…. I’ll try not to involve any innocents, but, they would probably be better off staying off the streets, anyway…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I don’t run into anyone faster than me….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3


À bientôt, mon cherí….