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Ffolkes,

“What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others.”

~~ Lucretius (95-55 BC) — De Rerum Natura, iv, 637 ~~

Day 5 015

    The choice of whether to write about the opening quote, or the picture that comes below it, can be a true conundrum, one I generally ignore in favor of my own silliness, or the random blather that so often marks these introductions. Today, I will choose the picture, one of my own, because of the thought that occurred to me as I viewed it this morning….

That thought centered on the church in the picture, surrounded, as it is, by the seemingly limitless row houses, each with its complement of flats and apartments, and each of those filled with a number of low-income Irish folks, who probably work in or around the water, attending the church on Sunday. I am struck, each time I look at these pictures of Cobh, the port town near the city of Cork, in Ireland, at the sheer opulence of the church, as opposed to the shabby houses that dot the hills all around it…

It makes a perfect example of what is wrong in our world, a place where the minds and efforts of the general run of men are focused more on the rewards they expect in the next life, and not on the problems we have in this one…. It makes a perfect visual metaphor for how we continue to have the same issues dog us, year after year, century after century, while we insist there is nothing wrong at all. The Asininnies and the Dogma Dogs have the population of the Earth so bamboozled, they will believe almost anything told to them, if it has the proper provenance, and is uttered by a talking head, either at the podium in church, or on a TV with a national flag behind them….

Ah me, I’ve stumbled again, haven’t I? Ranting before my coffee has settled in my tummy…. With nary a joke, nor a helpful cliche to smooth the way, I’ve no doubt already driven half my potential readers to another blog, without ever getting out of the intro section…. I must be an idiot, which would put me right into the same category with everyone else in the world wouldn’t it? Oh well, at least we didn’t sustain any serious injuries (unless y’all aren’t sharing with us….), or, for that matter, leave a trail of body parts behind us…. not yet, anyway. Nor do we plan to do so, unless, of course, we can’t avoid it…. Sometimes, the sight of the vehicle can cause a bit of panic among the denizens, and they’ll riot, but, as long as we maintain altitude, it won’t bother us….

I’ve about gotten to the desired point; in fact, we’re here. Since we have become more ruthless in our approach to these intros, it has made it easier, mostly, to get us where we need to go…. Well, mostly it just keeps us from getting off the track so far, but, that helps, too. For now, it’s enough to know, and to say, here we are, so, please hang on, while we navigate this rather tricky turn, right around the herd of peacefully grazing metaphorical logic bombs…. A beautiful sight, eh, what?…. Oops, better duck, ffolkes, low bridge a’comin’!….

Shall we Pearl?

“But the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” — Arthur C. Clarke (1917- 2008) — Profiles of the Future (1962; rev. 1973) — “Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination”

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Today’s video selection is another comic; this one is also a special kind of guy, like George Carlin. His approach is similar, but, entirely different, if you know what I mean…. If not, that’s okay. You’re gonna laugh anyway, because he’s funny as hell…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

Eddie Izzard – Dress to Kill

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“Time has only a relative existence.” — Carlyle (1795-1881)

I’m afraid a fresh rant is out of the question today…. I spent most of yesterday, right up until arising today, buried in intermittent, damn-near=intolerable pain, mostly in my hands, and shoulder joints, with some help from the hips and lower back, just to keep it interesting for me, I guess… It pretty well shot the whole day, after posting in the morning, an event made more difficult by the pain, for sure…. The act of typing has become a struggle, to get my thoughts down on the screen, while nursing the fingers through the aching to get it done…. Not as easy to do as to say/type, trust me….

So, nothing fresh today, but, I have time, so I’ll try to find something not too long…. Ah, perfect…. ‘Tis not a rant, for sure. ‘Tis just an old-school pearl, actually a Pearl, taken whole from the post for the listed day….. This was the original format of the Pearls of Virtual Wisdom (they have gone through at least three format transformations over the three-plus years on this site…); what you see here was the entire post for the date…. It isn’t a rant but it’s not bad, and it takes up the appropriate amount of space and time…. so be it…

From 8/22/2011, entitled, “A Different Sort of Hermaphrodite“:

Ffolkes,

This is definitely a different sort….it floats. Of course if it didn’t we’d just have to find one, of fix one, that would show the same characteristics. It’s a dirty, lonely job, but, somebody has to hate it, so why not us? It’s not as if they aren’t paying us well, right?…..And if it was so bad we couldn’t take it, it would just fall to someone who didn’t know the right way to hold one. So let’s have no more nonsense; just get in there and grab it by the toe and start twisting…..right? Alrighty then…..

The foregoing was brought to you with support from a grant by a local drug dealer with delusions of adequacy. He’s trying to buy his way into respectable society; we don’t think he’ll ever be accepted, but that is no reason we can’t take his money, since we’re doing something about all the lost souls he creates. We turn them into body slaves for sick old men and women who have never been treated for their bipolar disorder. It’s just another public service that we don’t much talk about, because it’s embarrassing to have everyone fawning over us. People sometimes have no dignity…….

Okay, enough fooling around, let’s get down to some serious literature……well, I guess we would, if I could think of something serious. Somehow this morning my brain is refusing to wrap itself around anything too heavy; hence the above two short paragraphs of…….hmm, well of whatever they are. Can’t seem to come up with a description, which isn’t surprising; it’s pretty far out in left field. I suppose we should come in out of the cold now, so with no further ado, I give you today’s Pearls of Virtual Wisdom. Remember to wash up afterward…..

“I once wanted to save the world. Now I just want to leave the room with dignity.” — Lotus Weinstock  (I can definitely relate…..)

“Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum — “I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“He who has a WHY to live for can bear with almost any HOW.” — F. Nietzsche

“Just as a cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one quarter alone.” — Sigmund Freud

“Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties,  genius will manifest itself.” — Robert Henri

” — Bother!” said Pooh.  “Eyeore, ready two photon torpedoes and lock phasers on the Heffalump; Piglet, meet me in transporter room three.” — Smart Bee

So, I’m going to end on that note, so I can head down to the transporter room to see them off. Y’all take care out there……

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Once again, to avoid splashing on anyone else, here is one of my older poems…. Since it’s raining again today, we’ll go with this one…. It’s a bit early, since winter won’t officially begin for three more weeks, but, it’s appropriate to the day, and the way I feel about it…. or, hope to, at some point during the day….

An Old Man, Snoring….

Winter arrives with gusts of wind and rain,
  clover spreads green amongst the hedges.
Urban gardens quiver, and dream of spring again,
  gargoyles stoically crouch on corniced ledges.

Umbrellas sprout over heads shrouded and hatted,
  dotting the sidewalks in colorful profusion.
Urban denizens pose sketches, framed and matted,
  adding casual beauty to fill the illusion.

Hissing tires, swishing along with the wipers
  join nature’s orchestra smoothly, as percussion.
Dripping gutters sound gong tones, true pipers,
  a sudden roar of wind hushes all discussion.

Dreams of summer heat form the crux of desire
  as winter chills our souls from without.
Sitting in warmth, gazing into an imaginary fire;
  content to know spring will come, no doubt.

~~ gigoid ~~


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Sometimes, putting together a pearl of virtual wisdom becomes an exercise in patience, as well as a perfect real-time example of the old saw, that speaks of how the journey is often more illuminating, and/or satisfying, than the destination…. This took forfuckingever to get done; it’s fortunate that a) I’m retired, and b) I’m stubborn. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have come out as well as it did….

Of course, such a value judgments are perfectly useless, but, nonetheless remain inevitable; we’re all humans here, nothing of which we should be ashamed. In fact, that might just be a good summary of our destination today…. You tell me, if you feel you should; don’t let any subsequent guilt keep you from indulging yourself…. It’s all in good fun, right?…. Well, I’m having fun, so, y’all can do as you like… First, though, read this, and let yourself flow with it to its proper conclusion, whatever form that may take for you….

“To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Fabius

“Most people would rather give than get affection.” — Aristotle

“No man is rich enough to buy back his past.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“What the meaning of human life may be I don’t know; I incline to suspect that it has none.” — H. L. Mencken

“Blessed are the forgetful:  for they get the better even of their blunders.” — Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

FRIENDLESS, adj.  Having no favors to bestow.  Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“If possible, try to find a way to come downstairs that doesn’t involve going bump, bump, bump, on the back of your head.” — Pooh in Winnie the Pooh A.A. Milne, English author (1882-1956)

Well, there you go…. I don’t think I could have said it better myself…. But, then, how can one not admire a man who wrote both Winnie the Pooh, and the world’s first, and perhaps ultimately, best, murder mystery? (The Red House Mystery)…. He also was a playwright, and poet….  Gotta love those polymaths, eh?….

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I think I’ll stop now; I don’t think I’ve got any more in me today. I will apologize in advance if I seem to disappear; I have a feeling I’ll be down and out much of the day, under the influence of copious quantities of pain relieving medicines…. SIGH…. Another day down the tubes, so to speak, though what the tubes may be, I haven’t a clue…. Ah well, that’s nothing new….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
It’s National Hand Grenade Day…..

			
						

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Ffolkes,

As the clock struck noon, the moon rose majestically in the west. Farther on, the homeless hunters preyed upon a dilapidated group of sun worshiping bank clerks, while the maitre d’hotel shouted for more wine. Belatedly, a large, crimson cake was delivered to the kitchen door, unbeknownst to any of the appropriate managerial cadre. A heffalump charged the main desk, only to retreat at the first sign of snow from the chandeliers; no animals were harmed, or even challenged in the making of the video version. As quietly as possible, one of the late arrivals poured his quota of abuse, and ketchup, into the designated slot in the south wall. The band played on…..


Whew! Writing absolute nonsense is harder than it looks from the other side. No way in hell am I going to take THAT one any further! It about twisted me up into knots as it is; trying to create more of it would put me in bed for days. But, every once in a while, I just have to get that stuff out of my head, before it takes over and makes me write poetry, or something equally frightening. Of late, the poems I’ve written haven’t been too bad, but if this kind of stuff got added into the mix, there’s no telling what might happen. The universe itself could come to a crashing halt, or split in two, or something, and I have no desire to cause a rift in space/time…


My head feels lighter though, and that is a good thing. It always feels better out than in, and there is less extraneous angst to deal with; always a bonus, in my mind. Since we seem to have some good omens for it (though I’m not superstitious at all, of course….) we should probably head right into the regularly scheduled program….. Shall we Pearl?…..

___________________________________


“No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.  Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my own constitution; the only wrong what is against it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)


I was about 15 or 16 years old when we first read this in English class, and I remember distinctly when it hit home. I was at home, studying the Essay on Self Reliance as homework. I remember how difficult it was to plow through Emerson’s style of writing, which is thick and convoluted; one must read slowly, and think about what has just been read, to fully ascertain the point he is making at the time. When I came across this line, and thought about it, I experienced an epiphany of understanding, and a lot of what he said in the essay became clear. Most simply put, he admonishes all to “Trust Yourself”…….


“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself.  Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter To Francis Hopkinson, Paris Mar. 13, 1789


Tom Jefferson lived prior to Emerson, but had a similar approach to life, and to thinking. Individualism could be said to be Jefferson’s God; to him, each man was responsible for making himself into what he wished to be, and the self-reliance so ably encouraged by Emerson came to him naturally. Though a Christian by choice, he constantly challenged the church authorities in his writing, accusing the priestly hierarchies of the same crimes I am chastising them for today, to wit: twisting the word of Jesus Christ, manipulation of the teachings, and power-seeking behaviors more suited to barbarian chieftains than priests. Tom saw clearly the need for the continued separation of church and state, as he firmly believed that combining the two would inevitably lead to the loss of liberty he feared, and for which he fought so hard.


As we can see today, he was right. He feared both the church leaders, and the bankers and corporations. He wrote on numerous occasions of his lack of trust in those entities, as he clearly saw that they were inimical to individual freedom, and would eventually try to subvert the liberties we enjoy, by slow encroachment. Guess what, ffolkes….. he was dead right. Between the “corporate personhood” enjoyed by the elite fat cats, and the brainwashing carried out on a daily basis by the churches, the public has been manipulated into willingly giving up many of their rights for the sake of feeling safe. And why do they fear for their safety? Why, because the politicians, supported by the preachers, have convinced them that the rest of the world is out to get them, and wants to take away what they have; for God’s sake, they’re heathens!…..


Much of the nonsense that is foisted upon the unsuspecting public would be less believable if more people believed as Emerson does, and made up their minds on their own. Instead, most folks give in to their laziness, and, unwilling to think for themselves, allow the preachers and pundits to fill their heads with lies and manipulations. This lack of personal responsibility is what is killing this country; only those who are unwary can be fooled. One who takes responsibility for themselves cannot be fooled in that manner, for they are aware of the machinations that others will attempt, and react accordingly….. One can only hope that Emerson’s essay on Self Reliance becomes a best seller again, and people awaken from their self-induced state of somnolence…..

___________________________________


Lamenting Empathy, No Grace


Strange, strong, passions burn from within

Selling nothing short, nor out

Consumed, loudly, failing to mark the spin

Sad, resigned, in singular redoubt.


Fallow grounds for twisted seed

Become fated, grow, and die.

Experience never fills critical need

Save perhaps once, in ages gone by.


Shouting in severe, dulcet tone

Brittle, flaking, destiny floats away

Making noise, rattling the bone

Simple ageless fears held at bay.


We mask our illusions in faux belief

Tied to reality by matter of rote,

Send them postcards, without relief

Consecrated time, forever remote.


~~ gigoid

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The following has been edited for the ironically impaired……


“The craving for power which characterizes the governing class in every nation is hostile to any limitation of the national sovereignty.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)


I’ve been watching….. and I’ve come to the conclusion that the Republican bozos (Romney and Ryan) have neglected to consider one crucial factor in their tactical planning for the pre-election posturing done by both parties. That crucial aspect is commonly known as the Complete Asshole Factor….. This important principle is one that every successful candidate has learned to obey, while every loser in an election could be said to have neglected it, to their everlasting regret….


They’re assholes; they can’t help it. Complete assholes. They chose, years and years ago, to spend their lives pursuing their own selfish desires, to the exclusion of the rights and/or desires of anyone else, and the slimy stench that is produced by constantly spouting off the primary substance that issues from the area in question permeates everything they try to say or do. Often, since they HAVE learned to at least try to disguise it, they appear to be normal, reasonable men, but the smell always manages to come through, giving people the first clue as to the content of their speeches… If it looks like crap, smells like crap, and sounds like crap, it’s probably crap…..


“As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.” — Josh Billings


One might think, given the above, that the prospective political wannabees now touring the nation by bus, so the yokels can get a closer glimpse of them, would use at least a small portion of truth in their campaigns. But, from what I’ve seen so far, they have no intention of ever coming within shouting distance of the truth. 


Unless, of course, one counts their statements about healthcare, women’s rights, human rights for LGBT citizens, immigrant rights, and Social Security; all of those are things they’ve promised to eliminate, and I think we can truthfully say they aren’t lying about those intentions. Of course, when asked about any of it in public, they hem and haw, and try to shuffle the question off with a distracting counter-attack of the questioner. so they don’t have to actually give an answer, knowing it would be a lie……


Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon)  — Hogwarts School Motto


I have a feeling that Romney and Ryan have not remembered to take this into account. By their constant lying in public venues, they are actively tickling the dragon of outrage that sleeps in every patriot’s heart. Although this election is seeing a decrease in the number of young folks involved, I believe the actions of these two rogue pundits are becoming intrusive and obnoxious enough to awaken the largest dragon we have; the middle class, of all ages. Their constant stretching and bending of the truth, when they bother to address it at all, is becoming a rock in the shoe of the American people.


They have made statements that are guaranteed to lose the vote of seniors, women, gays and alternative lifestyle citizens, Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, animal rights activists, the poor and homeless; all of them have received notice that they will have no rights at all under the administration they are promising…. and I don’t think those folks are going to sit still for it…. 


Come November, I think the dragon will awaken, and will turn its dangerous attention to the Republican party’s blatant attempt to send our society back to the middle ages…. Romney and Ryan will learn the last part of the old statement about why one shouldn’t trouble dragons…. because to them, you are crunchy, and good with ketchup…..

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I have tried to live up to Ralph Waldo’s admonition today; all of the material created today is original, outside the attributed quotations. So be it…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..




—

Sometimes I sits and thinks,

and sometimes

I just sits.


gigoid


Dozer
Kowabunga!