Damn fine socks, mister….

Posted on December 29, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”

~~ Socrates ~~

Animal Pictures of the Week
London Daily Telegraph

“I am especially grateful to Saint-Expury for bringing out a paradoxical truth which seems to me of great psychological import: that man’s happiness lies not in freedom but in his acceptance of a duty.” — Andre Gidet, 1931, in the preface to Saint-Expury’s “Night Flight”, called “Flight to Arras” in the English version.

Serendipity can be of great help when one is floundering, if one is able to put aside any confusion to notice its presence…. I am in a deep funk, one brought on by a resurgence of PTSD symptoms, in reaction to some stressful issues with which I’ve been dealing over the last few weeks…. The details are not important; nor is any real discussion of my own neurotic/psychotic tendencies of any help that I can see….

However, the process of finding one’s center, and the inner balance to maintain one’s position there, is often helpful to discuss, if only to point out those ideas that may bring some relief, to myself, or anyone else, from the issues at hand…. In this case, the above quote from Mssr. Gide reminded me of something I already knew, but, lost track of in my floundering around in my head…. Easy to do, methinks, especially for those of us who dwell in our inner spaces a lot….

How does all this relate to a Pearl? Well, the fact is, I’m seriously considering NOT Pearling for a while…. The duty I have in life now is not one of my own choosing, in one sense, though there is, of course, another sense which always knows that ALL of what we do, and all of what happens TO US, is all our choice…. But, right now, I’m dealing with more pain and misery, for reasons found in the state of my own physique, than I ever imagined, much less thought to feel; having been healthy all my life, I didn’t imagine ever having my own body betray me…. I suppose that goes to show how little we actually know, and how much we need to learn to pay closer attention….

In any case, it seems to me that I’ve become too sedentary; my whole life these days revolves around the process of creating these Pearls…. The routines I’ve built up all are centered on the early morning period when I write; the rest of my day is generally taken up by methods of passing the time without increasing my pain…. In fact, my entire existence, including the writing of Pearls, is designed to keep my pain at a level that can be managed…. By pain, I am referring to both the physical pains I feel, from arthritis, diverticulosis, and the aftereffects of a life spent in hard labor (so to speak….), and the internal, mental pain that plagues me when my PTSD flares up….

It’s hard to say which is more debilitating; the physical pain is tough, especially when it all kicks in together, but, I can usually push past it to do stuff…. The mental pain is, perhaps, a bit harder to deal with, as when it strikes, I don’t want to do ANYTHING, not even think…. The chemical means I use to manage both types of pain are helpful, but, there are times when the pain pretty much IGNORES anything I take, and will push through all chemical barriers to make itself known…. Those times, while illuminating in terms of what one learns about one’s self, are NOT pleasant…. a word which, in this case, may be termed as reverse hyperbole….

As can be seen, today, my hands and joints are better; I’m typing without a need for long breaks, and the magic cream is working fine. Hence, this long, wordy, wandering intro section, all just to say that this may be the last Pearl you see for a time…. I am not sure. but, the statement above, re; duty, has caused some deep resonance in my spirit, and I feel I may be taking a hiatus from writing to go find my duty…. It’s that simple for me, you see…. I’ve always known that I am duty-driven, as any man worth his salt is…. Whether we like it or not, it’s the way we’re built, and we don’t do well without a purpose, one we have chosen to fulfill….

So, bear with me, ffolkes…. This could get maudlin, or it could get brilliant (less likely, I’m sure, in my current frame of mind….); what it WILL get is DONE, one last time, if it kills me….

Shall we Pearl?

“A hug is a heart to heart talk.” — Bobby Matherne (American writer, 1940-)

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In order to keep with the theme today, here is some gorgeous music from a brilliant artist, playing music designed for the instrument he plays…. Enjoy!….

Yo Yo Ma… The Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach

http://youtu.be/EcR6j_JNwQs

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I definitely don’t have a rant in me today, other than one against reality, which is totally useless…. So, here is a discussion from the archives, that takes life down to a pretty simple level….

From 9/15/2012:

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

See? There, now, I’ve been saying this for years, and here’s old Marcus Aurelius, that Roman cogitator extraordinaire, putting it straight out there, way back around the time of J.C.’s failed attempt at societal reform. A very cogent, yet poignant description of human nature and the preponderance of Ego that drives most of humanity to act out of their own ignorance, rather than consider the veracity or usefulness of someone else’s ideas. This format for stating this answer to one of the great questions is one that all the best philosophers choose when creating aphorisms; clear, simple language and brutally honest self-examination provide us with true wisdom, like it or not……

What particularly gets me about people at large is the high percentage of folks who fall into the trap that Ego sets; for some reason, people seem to prefer the cozy blindness with which ignorance can cover them to the cold, harsh light of self-knowledge. The very ego that sets them apart from the rest of the animals who inhabit this planet becomes also the greatest threat to survival, when it is allowed to dictate how one views reality.

The state of society in today’s world rests on the brink of total collapse; any number of issues currently in play in the world can lead us to upheaval unseen since the last Ice Age. Pollution, created by mankind, is pumping tons of carbon monoxide into the air every minute, and all those precipitates are eventually bound to cause changes to climate that we will have no power to stop, or reverse.

The economy of the world is constantly on the verge of collapse in these times, due mostly to the unacknowledged crimes of the 1% of mankind who controls 99% of the money and resources. These crimes arise, again, out of Ego, as the elite of the world believe that they are “different” from the rest of humanity, and deserve to make all the decisions, which oddly enough, are only beneficial to themselves….. again, the power of Ego trumps virtue…..

I’m a smart guy, pretty much, but this is a problem for which even I cannot find a solution, other than the age-old, time-worn, and always ineffective war between the classes. That solution has been tried innumerable times throughout history, and each time the same structure of society re-settles into the same old shape, with a few people at the top, making all the important decisions for the rest of humanity. All because we, as individuals, and as a species, cannot learn to control our ego, to persuade it to act for the benefit of all, rather than just looking out for itself….. I figure that whatever happens will be what we deserve, and I can’t say that I think it will be very pretty, for the species….. or for a lot of individuals…..

Maybe there is a solution…. as a matter of fact, there is one that has been around for as long as mankind has been writing stuff down…. and it’s always the same little piece of advice, a little idea that can change one’s entire life and world-view….. but only if it is accepted, and believed, and applied to reality…… Everybody knows this, but, how many actually live it?…..

“Do unto all as you would wish to have done unto you, and reject for others what you would reject for yourself.” — Mohammed

That’s right, the Golden Rule…. a basic tenet of EVERY philosophy that Mankind has ever formulated; even most religions will acknowledge the wisdom of this, though it doesn’t serve their interests as well as they would wish. But, throughout history, we have always known what is the right way to act…. we’ve just always chosen not to apply the principle in interacting with others…. Instead, we allow our ego to dictate how we behave, thus bringing us to the current world, with all of its problems and dangers…..

SIGH….. It’s really quite easy, and it’s the only answer that will work, in the long run. It really is too bad that most of humanity isn’t buying into it, isn’t it?……

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

I’ve been inundating y’all with my own poetry, so, here is one we all have seen before, at one time or another, from a poet who needs no introduction from me….

The Arrow and the Song

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~~

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Above, I stated I don’t have a rant in me…. but, that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything about which I want to rant. It only means I don’t believe I’ve got the mental acuity to do it right…. Smart Bee, however, seems to be in fine fettle, now that it has gotten over whatever snit it was pursuing there for a while….

This pearl speaks about modern society, in this country specifically, but with relevance to the entire gamut of human culture today…. Follow the bouncing idea ball to the perfect resolution to the issues brought forth by this most excellent indictment…. I couldn’t have done better if I’d tried….

“Existing order thrives upon ignorance and lies. Objective truth and individual reason are feared above all.” — Smart Bee

“Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. In democracy, what you get generally is bad government by a bully, tempered by the pen of several newspaper editors.” — George Bernard Shaw — Man and Superman (1903) Maxims for Revolutionists: Democracy

“But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.” — Frederic Bastiat, The Law

“It doesn’t require any particular bravery to stand on the floor of the Senate and urge our boys in Vietnam to fight harder, and if this war mushrooms into a major conflict and a hundred thousand young Americans are killed, it won’t be U. S. Senators who die. It will be American soldiers who are too young to qualify for the senate.” — George McGovern

“The history of most countries has been that of majorities – mounted majorities, clad in iron, armed with death, treading down the tenfold more numerous minorities.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes poet, novelist, physician 1809-1894

“Capitalism did not arise because capitalists stole the land, but because it was more efficient than feudalism. It will perish because it is not merely less efficient than socialism, but actually self-destructive.” — J. B. S. Haldane

“We’ve got to end this foolishness.” — Smart Bee

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“So as this only point among the rest remaineth sure and certain, namely, that nothing is certain. . .” — Pliny The Elder

Pliny the Elder, in many of his works, tended to lean a bit toward the fantastic, especially when it came to biology, a science of which he knew very little, but said much… The above, however, is perfectly true, and is a good place to end today’s missive, as it fits right in with my mood…. Most days, at this point, I would say, see y’all tomorrow…. Today, all I will say is, be real, and wish me luck, in finding some peace of mind…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Supplicants in front, mendicants to the rear….

Posted on December 18, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

Colliding Galaxies, picture taken by NASA’s Chandra Deep Space Telescope

It’s no use. Nothing is going to help this morning; that much is already clear. Not the opening quote, nor the most excellent photo, illustrating the sheer size of our Universe, nor any of the weird, silly, and/or just plain odd thoughts running around in my head will serve to open up today’s post…. None of it is stimulating anything in my head other than reluctance, both to start, and to make a decision about WHERE to start…. It can make a huge difference in where we end up, obviously, so I do like to at least have some input….

Today, however. it isn’t going to work, not the way it usually works, anyway. Since I have no alternative opening ready to use, we may end up wandering around, listening to me panic, until we’ve managed to fill in enough to satisfy the monitors (whoever they are….). We could also try something new, and dangerous…. what do you think? Want to try it? The danger isn’t as much as we face any other day; it’s just more specific to the section than is normal, due to the strange laws concerning such matters, none of which are on the books, or even published…. They’re the unwritten laws that control all writers, which, if they knew of them, would doubtless drive them even crazier than they are….

Of course, that, too, is merely another figment, drawn from the depths of my insecurity, just so I could fill in a few more lines, thus, getting us further down the page…. Did they work? No? Ah, shit….

“I find myself beside a stream of empty thought.” — Smart Bee

Well, that sinks it…. Now, of course, I’m gonna have to step in, and settle this for once and all, or we could be stuck here for days…. Since the usual methods haven’t worked at all, I’m going to apply the ruthlessness which has saved us so many times already…. It’s amazing what tossing out the bullshit can do for one’s decision making abilities…. It sure is easy to make a decision when one only considers ONE set of expectations, i.e., one’s own…. It’s amazing how much more gets done…. Here, watch, it works like this….

Shall we Pearl?

“He that respects himself if safe from others; He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.” — Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

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

For some reason, when I went to find a video, I thought of this show, from my childhood; it was one of my favorites… How could it not be? Space flight, magic, and Barbara Eden, a young man’s fantasy woman…. all hit my interests right on the money…. When I went to look for episodes to watch, I was delighted to find an entire page with several seasons’ worth of shows to watch…. Yay! I know where I’ll be wasting my time for a few days….

I Dream of Jeannie Season 2 Episode 1-2

http://youtu.be/HDA3r9O_XYM

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

Here is one from the archives, which fits in with some of our recent discussions quite nicely…. (I’m still saving my hands, a very good excuse to be lazy, I find…)….

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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Today, you are getting one of my poems, simply because I’m too lazy to go find someone else’s…. So be it…. Here is one I haven’t used for a while, first created on a Friday in 2013…

A Dubiously Soft Morning

Idiosyncratic images, clamoring for regard,
fill up the white, white screen on which I view
my life, never seeing, nor invited to sup
ambrosial remnants of anything new.

Still, yet almost in motion, allegory sails away
bobbing gently, quick and easy to find,
signs of one happy child, seriously at play,
blissfully immersed, focused joy in mind.

Formidable cries of outraged simple justice
echo plaintive relevance, in half the time.
Maladaptive infants, destined for hospice
salvage an only child, daring to sing in rhyme.

Creativity equals unquestioning farce,
often reaching for absurdity, brazenly afire.
Instead, a blow is felt that no joy will soften,
accepting the price, added to the cost of desire.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Whew! It’s a good thing I got up early today; today’s final pearl may be in the top five, on the list of pearls that took the longest time to complete…. Smart Bee appears to be in a mood… Ah well, all’s well that ends well, as we all know…. quite well… This one SEEMS abstruse, but, once you’ve finished it, you’ll see it really isn’t…. In fact, it’s quite transparent, in many respects…. Enjoy!….

“Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xii

“Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.” — Voltaire

“Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness; on the confines of two everlasting hostile empires, Necessity and Freewill.” — Carlyle (1795-1881)

“The miser is as much in want of that which he has, as of that which he has not.” — Publius Syrus

“Depend not on fortune, but on conduct.” — Publius Syrus

“Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Roman Apophthegms, Cato the Elder

From ignorance our comfort flows.
The only wretched are the wise.

~~ Matthew Prior (1664-1721) ~~

~~ To the Hon. Charles Montague ~~

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

I know, already, without having gone back over this yet, it will be okay…. It may not ever be considered as one of the best Pearls ever, but, it will definitely do for our purposes today…. Hell, a lot of it is even fresh…. or, what passes for fresh these days…. Regardless of all my rationalizations and/or excuses, it’s done…. As I’ve been reduced to saying already today…. So be it…. gigoid has spoken…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. most likely….

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.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Baggy pants and a wrinkled silk shirt….

Posted on September 17, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” — Albert Einstein

Having used the above quote from Albert a number of times, I can attest to its relevance, both in general and specific terms. The persistence that reality displays at times is the issue for me; my own perceptions tend to question the signals received, cautioning me regularly to not put all my faith into one basket, lest, in my folly, reality changes on me, before I can adjust…. It will do that, you know, just to fuss with us. But, as Albert warns us, it WILL have its way, no matter what we believe…..

Philip K. Dick showed us, with his own definition of the slippery slope I call reality, (well, for me, it is….), when he said, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away”, which, you can see, fits right in with Albert’s contention….. All of this, of course, merely means that WE are responsible for what happens, both in re: what we do, and, not so clearly, but, just as fully, for whatever happens TO us. This is a point of karma many people find it hard to accept; it is natural for humans to try to blame something outside themselves when things go wrong. To admit their own failure is not something they do well, so, they tend to try to find somewhere else to put it, and reality is always right there….

So, what brings on such an abstruse, obscure discussion first thing in the morning? Well, I’m not sure I should tell y’all; it might sound like more whining…. but, it’s a direct result of my own issues, so, it’s not as if I’m trying to dodge my own part in what is going on in my life… I fully understand that the actions I took in the past have, one way or another, led me to where I am today; I also understand I may not always be able to tell exactly what it was in my past that is causing me difficulty now. By not understanding fully the principle of moderation in all we do, I overdid it on using, and abusing, my body, conditioning it BEYOND what is good for it, for too long….

Now, I’m paying the price, and it seems as if the price is higher than I anticipated, and almost too high for me to afford…. or, more than I’d like to pay, anyway….. For going on three days now, I’ve been suffering vertigo, whenever I move my head off an upright line, enough to cause me to hide in bed for much of the last two days, to avoid the subsequent nausea and malaise that goes with the condition…. Supposedly, it will pass before long; I sure hope so, because the medication that one may take to control the dizziness is one I cannot take, due to side effects…. So, I have to deal with it by not moving, as far as possible, and that’s all I can do…

C’est la vie…. I’m hoping it’s gone soon; if not, I may just go back to bed entirely until it is….. But, this mildly whiny discussion has gotten me far enough down the page I can call it an intro, and move on…. Since much of this Pearl was done in my spare moments yesterday, when I was up, and felt okay for a bit, it should be possible to get it done in a reasonably timely fashion… and, if not, screw it, I don’t care…. It will be done, and that is the only goal I have today… In fact, I see my chance, so, we’re bailing out, right here, and right now….. Hold on, please, this will be a sharp turn….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” — Nietzsche

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

“I think I just heresied on several important religions.” — Smart Bee, this time, parroting gigoid

No, but, I DO have priors…. Of late, I’ve been working ahead, at times; this is one of those times…..

From May 15, 2012:

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

— Buddha

My religious upbringing was pretty casual, since my parents weren’t particularly devout, at least outwardly. Most of my life we attended Presbyterian churches, but were never heavily involved. The whole story behind Christianity always seemed pretty improbable to me, even at the tender age of four or five when it was first introduced in Sunday School, where the kids in Presbyterian churches were sent during services to keep from either distracting the minister during his sermon, or to distract their parents from their nap during said sermon. (You can’t fool a four-year old about motivation….)

As I grew older, the things about church that first bothered me continued to grow in number, fueled most heavily by the actions of the church-goers. It always seemed to me that what was said in church on Sunday, and what actually happened out in the real world had nothing to do with each other. Nobody I could see was acting in a Christian manner anywhere but in church, and even then, it seemed pretty self-serving, as if the folks who were discussing morality were showing off for the preacher, more than they were invested in the morals themselves. (You can’t fool a teenager about hypocrisy….)

As my reading list expanded, I found that my suspicions and objections to Christian churches intensified, as I became more aware of what actually went on out in the real world, and was exposed to more religions and philosophies. It seemed, at least on the surface, that the proponents of the other big religions in the world were no less hypocritical in their actions than were the Christian, and further evidence of the accuracy of that observation has been in the news daily for a long time.

Nobody in the entire world, as far as I can see, really buys into any of the religions, unless they are so poor that they grasp onto the charitable aspects of their respective creeds in order to survive. I can find no religion, anywhere in the world, that has significantly advanced the cause of morality in humans; it generally has a negative effect instead, providing their constituents with reasons to practice immorality, as long as it is directed against those in other sects.

So, I continue to wage my own personal battle against the ignorance of reality that all churches demand of their followers, and promote rationality and reason as an approach to life, rather than encouraging people to submit to what, to me, is just another lie disguised as something supposedly “good for me”…. and I find the following statement to be extremely accurate, not only in the context of when it was written, but today as well….

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton (1874-1936), “What’’s Wrong with the World

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Not only don’t I feel well, again, but, I feel poorly enough to keep from searching for a poem by someone else…. Hence, you get one of mine, and I know just the right one….

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

The pearl you see below is one that falls into the “odd” category. Smart Bee took over, picking out all seven of these, even dictating to me where each should be placed, as you see, with the two quotes from one source as brackets…. the other five, holding down the center of the pearl, are just what I was directed to put there. I had little to do with it, other than providing the opposable thumbs to work with…. In fact, SB also chose the two quotes you will see in the closing section, having decided, I guess, that what I was doing wasn’t cutting it…. SIGH…. Now, my software is abusing me…. I guess I’ll go eat some worms, since that seems to be all I’m good for just now…… But, please, enjoy the pearl, whatever it means….

There was once a programmer who was attached to the court of the warlord of Wu. The warlord asked the programmer: “Which is easier to design: an accounting package or an operating system?”
“An operating system,” replied the programmer.
The warlord uttered an exclamation of disbelief. “Surely an accounting package is trivial next to the complexity of an operating system,” he said.
“Not so,” said the programmer, “when designing an accounting package, the programmer operates as a mediator between people having different ideas:
how it must operate, how its reports must appear, and how it must conform to the tax laws. By contrast, an operating system is not limited my outside appearances. When designing an operating system, the programmer seeks the simplest harmony between machine and ideas. This is why an operating system is easier to design.”
The warlord of Wu nodded and smiled. “That is all good and well, but which is easier to debug?”
The programmer made no reply.

— Geoffrey James, “The Tao of Programming”

“Man grows cold faster than the planet he inhabits.” — Albert Einstein

“To lead the people, walk behind them.” — Lao-Tzu

“All things come round to him who will but wait.” — Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882) — Tales of a Wayside Inn, The Student’s Tale

“Everything you know is wrong.” — The Firesign Theater

“Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.” — Gilda Radner

“When managers hold endless meetings, the programmers write games. When accountants talk of quarterly profits, the development budget is about to be cut. When senior scientists talk blue sky, the clouds are about to roll in.

Truly, this is not the Tao of Programming.

When managers make commitments, game programs are ignored. When accountants make long-range plans, harmony and order are about to be restored.
When senior scientists address the problems at hand, the problems will soon be solved.

Truly, this is the Tao of Programming.”

— Geoffrey James, “The Tao of Programming”

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

Aha! I got it! The pearl, that is… Not bad, either; good job, SB….. I also figured out these two aphorisms…. The first is an addendum to the discussion in yesterday’s opening remarks, regarding animals in zoos…. It’s a quote I have seen, and had hoped to find to include yesterday; Smart Bee obviously was trying to be nice, by finding it, and giving it to me ONLY a day late….. which means thanks are in order, I suppose….. So, thanks again, SB…. I couldn’t do this without you…..

“Animals, whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider our equal.” — Charles Darwin

Boy, ain’t that the truth!…. So, here is the last one, which I like a lot, and am considering it as the closing line to use on a daily basis, as it expresses how I feel after catching these pearls, and bringing them up for us to use…. as if I’d been out hunting all day, & hauled a 300 lb. carcase home over the mountains…. Well, maybe not EVERY day, but, the last few, for sure…. If y’all have a thought on this one, let me know…. You may see it again, unless it doesn’t work, so, your opinion counts…. well, a little bit, anyway…. Google didn’t know who said it; it’s apparently been floating around the Net for some time…. so, I’ll just leave it as is, for the full effect…. This is the closing line, ffolkes, so, see y’all tomorrow….

“Here ya are pilgrim. Skin that ‘un, and I’ll go getcha another’n.”

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

À bientôt, mon cherí.

Entirely new aspects of unpardonable sins….

Posted on September 12, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Today’s Pearl will be a typical road-based version, with mostly archived material…. The reason for this today is that the jet-lag caught up with me last night…. I fell out at 8 PM, and didn’t finish sleeping until 8 AM…. It’s a glorious feeling, getting enough sleep, but, it happened just in time to take another plane home today, and reverse the lag again…. I guess Murphy found me…

S’okay, since I’m going home today, I can comfort myself with knowing he will have to get back to California on his own, and won’t have time to mess with me a lot…. I know, probably wishful thinking, but, hey, one must maintain one’s illusions, n’est pas? All I have to do is drive an hour, yell at the rental car company folks for their outrageous hidden charges, and catch my plane home…. That alone will be an ordeal, as we fly to Phoenix first, get off, get on another plane, and then fly to SFO…. I’m glad I decided not to take BART home, as I’d probably end up getting lost at the airport trying to find it….

Any who, chatty bilge aside, today’s Pearl is one from mid-2012, prior to the elections in November of that year, so it has some good shots at Romney in it, along with the normal blather I produce at such an alarming rate. Never fear, tomorrow’s Pearl should be a fresh one, with all new material…. oh, joy…. In the meantime, please enjoy this one, a blast from the past….

Shall we Pearl?….

“I’m glad I did it…partly because it was worth it but mainly because I will never have to do it again.” — Mark Twain
____________________________

Ffolkes,
I’m giving up. Or, more accurately, I’m acknowledging that I’ve given up; the actual giving up part was accomplished some time ago, and I’m just now getting around to letting y’all know…. You may well ask “what are you babbling about now?”, and would be within your rights to do so. I’m talking about giving up some of my angst, just letting it go…. the part that I keep around to worry about whether this blog gets done by a certain time.

My sleeping pattern has achieved true randomness, I think; I can no longer tell when I might get sleepy at night. It seems to alternate between falling out at 6 PM on Monday, then being wide awake at midnight on Tuesday. Then Wednesday, I take a 3 hour nap, until 4 PM, and fall out again at 8. It’s absurd, and I can’t get a handle on it…..

I don’t know if this is a functional result of getting older, or if it is because of the medication I’m taking, (or not taking…. there are at least five things my doctor tells me to take that I can’t afford, so I don’t….), or just my PTSD throwing me mental curves and sliders. Whatever the cause, I can no longer count on being up by a certain time, so it makes no sense to get all worked up when I don’t get this Pearl done before 8 or 9 AM.

So, I won’t…. I may be a Bozo, but once I do figure something out, I’m not shy about implementing changes….. Just because one’s nose is big, red, and honks doesn’t mean one can’t be efficient…. We may all be Bozo’s on this bus, but the bus stops now and again, and one must get off and join the rest of the circus…..

That said, we can get on with the process of finding pearls. They may not get published as early as is usual, but they’ll get there. I’m just not going to sweat over it quite so freely….. Shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

“You can’t use tact with a congressman. A congressman is a hog. You must take a stick and hit him on the snout.” — Henry Adams

The political arena has been quiet of late; we are between elections leading up to the main one in November, and waiting for the National Conventions of each Party to take place. The Republican front runner, Mitt Romney, has placed a gag order on himself, having recently acknowledged that thus far in his campaign, his greatest problems have occurred when he opened his mouth to speak. So, he has been watching what he says very carefully, and in the process, is saying nothing at all.

Well, that is, he’s saying nothing if one doesn’t count his normal quota of lies and made up statistics. Why, just two days ago I read where he told a group in the Midwest how Obama’s administration had increased some debt percentage “more than ANY previous administration”. This of course, is completely false, as the numbers show, in fact, that the particular statistical number to which he referred, has DECREASED more than any previous administration had been able to do….. typical.

So, this leaves me little to rant about. I guess I’ll have to go look through the news before writing these pearls, to find something to use as the latest evidence of the ongoing chicanery and yes, illegal activities being acted out on the public stage. Hang in there, I’ll be back….

There, see? Nothing…. no outrageous statements, no news of new idiotic policies. Well, there was one story, about how Romney is now claiming that cutting spending will cause a depression (that’s Democratic cuts, not Republican cuts…. they’re different, you know… sure they are…. trust me….). Of course, he doesn’t bother to explain his reasoning for this claim; he just knows. I guess the information came in via radio, straight into his brain from the Cosmos… Hardly worth picking at, even for me….

Ah well, I’ll just wait. I am certain that it won’t take more than a day or two for the pressure to build up, and Mitt will have to blurt out some new idiotically absurd new statement that demonstrates his complete cluelessness. He’s been in the public eye now for several months, and if they are any indicator, it won’t be long before he opens up and inserts his size 10 alligator loafers…. and I’ll be waiting….

“There are things worse than a public speaker with a three word thought, a three minute vocabulary and a three hour speech, but I have not been able to think of any over the last three days.” — Smart Bee
___________________________________

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” — Rafael Sabatini

A few days ago, I posted a quote from William Yeats, about making our words inevitable…. The above line is the opening line of the novel, “Scaramouche”, and is, in my not-so-humble opinion, one of the best opening lines ever written. With style and wit, and a strong sense of inevitability, it sets the tone for the entire book, and gives a taste of flavor from the feast to follow….. I would recommend the story to anyone who enjoys a well-told historical novel, rich in detail, and with engaging characters living in a time of great change.

The story is set in France, during the same period as Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”, i.e. the period leading up to the Peasant’s Revolt in the 19the century. Love, hatred, political intrigue, revenge, all play their part to paint a beautifully detailed picture of the period, and tell a story that holds one captive to the final page. I won’t bore you with a discussion of how it can be related to current times; you can see for yourself when you read it. But, even without any political overtones, the book remains a great read, and well worth a trip to the library…..
___________________________________

The Day Is Done

The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.

I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me
That my soul cannot resist:

A feeling of sadness and longing,
That is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles the rain.

Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.

Not from the grand old masters,
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of Time.

For, like strains of martial music,
Their mighty thoughts suggest
Life’s endless toil and endeavor;
And to-night I long for rest.

Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As showers from the clouds of summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start;

Who, through long days of labor,
And nights devoid of ease,
Still heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction
That follows after prayer.

Then read from the treasured volume
The poem of thy choice,
And lend to the rhyme of the poet
The beauty of thy voice.

And the night shall be filled with music
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poetry break…. enjoy!
___________________________________

“At once it struck me what quality went to form a man of achievement, especially in literature, and which Shakespeare possessed so enormously — I mean negative capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” — John Keats (1795-1821)

I have previously given my opinion on Shakespeare, and won’t bore you again with more samples of his impenetrable verse; it always gives me a headache anyway…. but it is nice to find evidence that my less than enthusiastic take on Will is shared by others who are not afraid to state an unpopular opinion. The fact that the person who makes this statement is possibly the best poet who ever lived gives me a lot of satisfaction; if anyone is entitled to an opinion about Will’s work, John Keats is certainly one of them.

Keats is acknowledged as probably the most influential poet of all time, not merely during his own life. His work changed the face of the entire genre; one can only lament his early death, and grieve over all the genius that was lost…. And not just genius, but brave genius, to be honest enough to say what he thought about the most revered playwright of all time…. It’s tough to be right, when everyone one else believes you to be wrong…. but it’s well worth it, to my mind…. Especially if it means I don’t have to try to sit through another reading of Will’s nonsensical refuse, trying to find some way to puzzle out what he was trying to say with all the extra verbiage he piled on to his verse….
___________________________________

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” — Buddha

Obviously, this needs no adornment, nor comment from me, other than to say it is my idea of the correct path to a full and complete life, based on right action, compassion, and love…..
___________________________________

I’ve said it before…. All you can do is all you can do…. hopefully, it is enough. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here endeth the lesson…. We’ll not tempt fate by commenting here on any of the various characteristics of this piece, though we will acknowledge its age, if naught else. Such as it is, it deserves some respect, if only for that age…. and, for being right about Romney…. See ya back in California, ffolkes….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole,
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

Tattered remnants of a once proud machine….

Posted on April 16, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Mmmmm…. coffee, good….mmph, grglk, blast, hmph, okay…. Sorry, took a moment for the coffee to kick in…. Let me just say this, and we’re good to go…. Draco! Braz! Mento! Ah, yes, all fine now…. Having uttered the proper incantation, to prepare the air for such brilliance, and to put up the wards against theft and interruption, we may now proceed to Pearl, if we are able…. We are always willing, but, often, the flesh is weak, so it’s best to “prepare the palette”, as a painter would say…. Not that I paint, no, far from it…. My drawing of a crowd looks like a convention of stick figures, kind of like watching someone count on an abacus; if you look at it for long, it will make you dizzy….

Drawing is one of those skills lacking from my toolbox; for some reason, probably having to do with spatial visualization, I can’t seem to get the hang of putting on paper what I see with my eyes. Most of my drawings resemble something by Dali during his melting clock phase, without the clarity of figures he painted so well…. An artist must know how to draw properly before turning to drawing in the abstract; since my work doesn’t come close to reality, my abstractions are just weird….. It’s okay, though, one cannot expect to be able to do EVERYTHING one wants to do, unless you are Leonardo da Vinci, or someone of his level of genius….

I can paint a picture with words, though, and pretty well, once I turn my mind to it. In fact, these introductory sections have turned out to be one of my favorite places to practice that skill, as I try one style or format after another, in my constant search for an acceptable template for this somewhat unorganized section. Those days when I write the first paragraph or two as a fictional story beginning are my practice sessions, and some of them aren’t half-bad, if I do say so myself…. Now, as I have been chastised to believe by a number of my readers, all I need to do is to continue one of those beginnings to the logical ending of the story, and I could probably get published for real…..

Alas for the world, I don’t wish to do that just now…. I’ve just begun to receive my SS disability benefits, and if I publish a book, whatever I make off its sale would be taken out of those benefits, in the form of a reduction in the money I receive each month. Since I’ve been waiting for this to happen for over two years, I don’t want to fuss with the system, yet…. If and when I can sell a book for a hefty price, of at least a half-million, I will consider publishing; any less of an initial amount wouldn’t cover what I would lose from SS over time, and would be a chancy risk to take at this point in my life…. If I can broker a deal for more than that amount, I’d consider it, as I would then have enough to cover my retirement, and all I wish to do in this period of my life….

So, y’all will have to wait a year or two…. If I can work on putting together more than one book, then publish them one after another, or a multi-book deal, I might be able to get by on what I’d make from it…. But, until I can get at least a half-assed guarantee of making enough to get by, I’ll continue to publish here on WP, for the same reason I’ve been doing it for the last two years, to wit: to maintain my sanity….. Such as it is….. Why, look! We’ve got ourselves five paragraphs here, which is plenty to qualify as an intro, cheating or not….. On that note, Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Somewhere in suburban Honolulu, an unemployed bellhop is whipping up a batch of illegal psilocybin chop suey!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Fucking brilliant! Bill Griffith, the cartoonist who created Zippy, is an absolutely awesome social critic, and the perpetrator of some of the most obscure nonsense, (that makes perfect sense), that has ever been written, or published….. As is apparent from the frequent appearance of his quotes in this blog, I find him to be incredibly insightful about human nature, a naturally poetic prose writer, weird as hell, and an excellent graphic artist. Zippy’s comments on life and everything he sees in the strange world he inhabits are priceless, for their acute insight, for their gut-busting humor, and are strangely real, despite the unreality of almost everything in the strip…. It’s eerie sometimes, how life will imitate art; I’ll find myself having a deja vu memory of one of Zippy’s lines when I am out in the Big Blue Room, dealing with some business or another, because it matches the unreality of what was in the strip….

At first, I didn’t understand how including this line was to fit into the Pearl, or even into the pearl, but, then I realized…. I am the unemployed bellhop today, and I’m whipping up the distilled mushroom juice, right here on my computer! Look! It’s a whole new type of oyster! (Further research reveals this statement to be false, partly…. I found a couple of old Pearls that experimented with this format, slightly differently, though… so, this is still fairly unique….. end of interrupt….)

I’ve just had a brainstorm of major proportions; since I had no warning of its advent, I went down on the first big wave, and died a figurative death…. I was hanging in limbo, sort of floating there, while the gods decided just how badly they wanted my ass in a sling, when it came to me…. This is a sign from the gods of blogging, to show me a new species of pearl…. which, having been dumped in my head, I must use, before it rots there, or the gods zap me… So, here is a pearl, in this case, the first of its kind, with five pointed quotes, and a number of comments from yours truly, standing in as Zippy, in disguise, sort of…..

I see the lights of the village
gleam through the rain and the mist.
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me,
that my soul cannot resist.
A feeling of sadness and longing
that is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
as the mist resembles rain.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), The Day is done

(I often forget about Longfellow’s poetry, and it is what he is famous for, at least during his own time…. Now, of course he is known as one of the Trinameral Poets, that category which includes himself, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, John Cougar Mellencamp, James Earl Jones, and so forth…. all good poets for sure, so he is in good company…. but, what is with those names, eh? Bit egotistical, don’t you think?…..)

“Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(Goethe had a knack for this kind of deep, many leveled insights, pointing out with just a few well chosen words a very complex principle of human nature, or interaction… This one, no matter how one interprets it, is true as the day, and gives an appropriate feeling of emotional content, namely sadness, both for the one lacking in vision, and for the person observing them…..)

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man except one thing: the last of the human freedoms— to choose one`s own attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Victor Frankl

(Not much to add here; this is pretty clear, and also quite true…. It has been said that true freedom, is the release from pain, which is absolutely congruent with this idea. When one chooses one’s reaction, and makes their own choice of how to feel, they are choosing to let go of their pain, and gaining their freedom, if only in their own mind…. Another way of saying you can’t make a truly free man do anything he refuses to do…. You can kill him, but you can’t make him change his mind, or take away his freedom in that respect…..)

Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time. — John Keats (1795-1821) — Ode on a Grecian Urn

(Just too beautiful a line to leave out…..)

Behold on wrong
Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong!

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book viii, Line 367

(Hmm…. this is a bit depressing, if it means what I think…. Nah, I must be wrong, so, never mind…. Oh, I see now…. Okay, well, I guess so, but, I think I’ll use my stick for that….. Ya think?….)

Well, there you go…. you will probably see this format again, though with different quotes, of course…. And, I think I can even do it this way with a normal pearl, maybe even a Seven Star….. Wait! I didn’t mean it as a threat! Come back!….. Oh, hell….. Ah well, c’est la vie…. hopefully, they’ll find their way to the exit, or on to section two…. If not, I’ll send out a search party after I’m done here…..

“I always have fun because I’m out of my mind!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
__________________________________

I’m working on a poem, but it’s only half completed, so this morning will see another haiku, served up freshly composed, and a poem I wrote last October, about Love, sort of…. Hope you like it….. 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/

Haiku V

I can write haiku
quick, at the drop of a pun.
Such wonderful fun.

~~ gigoid ~~

Beyond Agapé

Passion burns, shining like iridescent paint
yet solitude stands mocking such mundane complaint.
Schemes and dreams promise to tempt attraction
never ending effort spends wit in perverse reaction.

Hale and hearty reports of honor and love
draft recruits to collect manna from above,
while searching each soul for that which will serve
to bring pure sensation to each expectant nerve.

How simple to fall into complete helpless hope
of two hearts bound in tradition, with cultural rope,
living a simple life, shared, in joy and in grief
promises consummated, in consensual belief.

Reality dictates our degree of control over its state
insisting on changing whether or not we can wait.
Love will be present when we are completely at peace,
allowing ourselves, to give of ourselves, without cease.

~~ gigoid ~~

__________________________________

Go boldly forth, my simple lay,
Whose accents flow with artless ease,
Like orient pearls at random strung.

— Sir William Jones (1746-1794) — A Persian Song of Hafiz

I had intended to rant in this section today…. Unfortunately for me, (I won’t presume to say the same for y’all….), my back is killing me today, and I’ve a number of things to accomplish, in preparation for my upcoming trip(s) to Tejas, and to Europa…. which is a roundabout way of saying I’m about to cheat again…. Here is a pearl from 2011…. bonus points if you can figure out the month it was written, from whatever context you may find…. Enjoy! And, good luck, or as we say downtown, buena suerte!….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ffolkes,
As I’m sure you’re aware of by now, it takes a really, really weird guy to do this every day, rain or shine, clothed or not, and that the process of putting these ideas down and sharing them is one that brings me not just pleasure, but pain as well. (Like anything worthwhile in Life, I suppose). I’m writing for a blog site, and wrote a piece yesterday that took me back, in first person with full audio memory, to a time of my life I’d just as soon forget most days. But it helped ease the pain somewhat, and reminded me that I don’t write for recognition, or praise, I write because I must! Not writing is……unthinkable. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t write; I think it would act much like my bowel disease, causing alternate bouts of mental diarrhea and constipation, with the accompanying pain and discomfort. Since I don’t enjoy that, particularly, I choose to write….. lucky you……

“A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew.” — Herb Caen

A good pun is its own reword.

“Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Roman Apophthegms, Cato the Elder

“Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.” — G. K. Chesterton, Autobiography, 1937

“It’s said that ‘power corrupts’, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable.” — David Brin, The Postman

“People who don’t Think probably don’t have Brains; rather, they have grey fluff that’s blown into their heads by mistake.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne
__________________________________

“Well, Stanley, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into…. What do you have to say for yourself?” More bonus points are available to anyone who can give me the first name of the person who said those lines, frequently….

Okay, so, I’ve read back over what we have here, and I think….. Well, quite frankly, I don’t know what to think…. I’m going to leave it alone, and let it fly, as is, trusting to luck and my lawyers to keep it from becoming legally actionable…. In the meantime…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

No touching the platypus, ma’am….

Posted on June 25, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Now that I am up and ready to write, all the great stuff that was floating around in my mind as I lay in bed has disappeared. This is not unusual, in my experience. I think it’s a human thing….

Human or not, it’s a bummer, as the stuff I thought of was pretty cool. Now I don’t know for sure what I’m going to do, as I didn’t make a backup plan, trusting, poorly, as it turns out, that I would have plenty of stuff to write about when I started today. I suppose I’ll have to just fake it again…. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before, is it?…..

Even short paragraphs will do for the introductory section, and we have almost blundered our way through enough of them to make this worthwhile. Hmm…. maybe if I apologize ahead of time for this, it will go over better…. Nah! No way I’m apologizing for this; it isn’t my fault. It’s that bloody fool Murphy at work again, I know it…. I know, I know, paranoid…. but it’s not paranoia if they are really out to get you, and I have documented evidence…. so there….

Having thus completed the minimum number of paragraphs (3) allowed by law in an intro, (the law says nothing about whether the paragraphs have to be good, or actually contain any real content…) we will now return to our regular program, which promises to be an interesting trip today. Shall we Pearl? We shall…..
___________________________________

“The non permanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of summer and winter seasons. “– Bhagavad Gita

I don’t know about you, but I think if someone were to sit down and write a one sentence summary of Ecclesiastes, this would be what they came up with. Coming as it does from the Bhagavad Gita, written prior to Ecclesiastes by several centuries, I doubt the author(s) had that in mind as a goal. It’s funny to me (ironic-funny) how often that is the case. I’ve read the religious books from several different religions, and they seem to have all been written by the same guy….

This idea led me to more research, so I spent some years trying to track down the authors responsible for all the books, and what I found is amazing…. The religious books of ALL religions on Earth WERE written by the SAME GUY. I don’t know his name, but his writing style, and the content of what was written, are the same in all of the tomes I searched. This datum is somewhat disconcerting, as it implies a conspiracy…. logic says that if all were written by the same guy, there is a reason. That reason is probably NOT in the best interests of the average person; it more likely has to do with whatever the author’s goals are….

Now, I have previously written here on religions, and how they attempt to control the populace, and make them amenable to more control by their political counterparts. It seems now that this concept is even more sinister than I had imagined.

The beloved ruling class, and the priestly hierarchies, don’t want us to know that they are controlling us. Their purpose is simple; they want us to be their slaves. They want the average man to work all his life, and never realize that they are working for someone else’s benefit.

The pattern is clear enough that examples are not necessary at this time, but rest assured, our beloved ruling class, with the support of the religions, is manipulating events for THEIR advantage, not ours, and has been doing so for thousands of years…..

“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Let me make something clear. There are people on this planet who are not selfish. There are people who don’t wish to control others, or to manipulate others for their own benefit. There are folks who are just plain good; their spirits are free, and clean. (A lot of them apparently end up on WordPress….)

The problem is, they are few, and far between, and not a single one of them cares a whit about controlling others. Thus, though they are likely not as affected by the manipulations of the ruling class, they are not going to be roused to action without just cause, which the ruling class will not allow to occur, if they can help it.

The number of people who are part of the beloved ruling class is very small, compared to the mass of mankind. From what I can see, that number is probably about the same as the number of people who really understand what is going on, and object to it. Let’s say that number is about 5% (probably lower, but we’ll just use this for now….)

So, that makes 5% beloved ruling class, manipulating society for their own benefit, 5% ffolkes who actually see the manipulations, and 90% clueless sheep. Well, not sheep I guess, because some of them can be pretty violent. But, clueless, for sure…. This breakdown, while not exact, represents society’s makeup since the dawn of civilization….

If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t there more happy people? — Smart Bee

So, to bring this back around to where we started, the 5% of mankind that are actually running things have no investment in changing; they want things just the way they are, as they have been for 10,000 years. The other 5% aren’t enough to make the changes happen without the cooperation of the 90%, which the beloved ruling class will work to deny with all their resources.

With all that in mind, I have a new tactic which could help. See, we gotta find that guy…… What guy? Please, pay attention…. the guy who wrote all the books for the religions.

Once we find that guy, we either brainwash him, or recruit him through reason, into a re-write. The re-write could be artificially aged, and then found in some cave in the Himalayas, or in the fertile crescent. The altered text would be designed to negate, or nullify, all of the lies that the other books have perpetrated on society. Once the 90% is enlightened, I think the resulting anger at the beloved rulers and preachers will set matters aright in no time.

What do you think?…. Hey, it could work!….
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A Gleam of Sunshine

This is the place. Stand still, my steed,
Let me review the scene,
And summon from the shadowy Past
The forms that once have been.

The Past and Present here unite
Beneath Time’s flowing tide,
Like footprints hidden by a brook,
But seen on either side.

Here runs the highway to the town;
There the green lane descends,
Through which I walked to church with thee,
O gentlest of my friends!

The shadow of the linden-trees
Lay moving on the grass;
Between them and the moving boughs,
A shadow, thou didst pass.

Thy dress was like the lilies,
And thy heart as pure as they:
One of God’s holy messengers
Did walk with me that day.

I saw the branches of the trees
Bend down thy touch to meet,
The clover-blossoms in the grass
Rise up to kiss thy feet,

“Sleep, sleep to-day, tormenting cares,
Of earth and folly born!”
Solemnly sang the village choir
On that sweet Sabbath morn.

Through the closed blinds the golden sun
Poured in a dusty beam,
Like the celestial ladder seen
By Jacob in his dream.

And ever and anon, the wind,
Sweet-scented with the hay,
Turned o’er the hymn-book’s fluttering leaves
That on the window lay.

Long was the good man’s sermon,
Yet it seemed not so to me;
For he spake of Ruth the beautiful,
And still I thought of thee.

Long was the prayer he uttered,
Yet it seemed not so to me;
For in my heart I prayed with him,
And still I thought of thee.

But now, alas! the place seems changed;
Thou art no longer here:
Part of the sunshine of the scene
With thee did disappear.

Though thoughts, deep-rooted in my heart,
Like pine-trees dark and high,
Subdue the light of noon, and breathe
A low and ceaseless sigh;

This memory brightens o’er the past,
As when the sun, concealed
Behind some cloud that near us hangs
Shines on a distant field.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I realize this is fairly long, but some pearls just shine more brightly than others…..
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“My other computer keeps calling me Dave.” — Smart Bee

Scary, scary, scary, for anyone who gets the reference…. To anyone else it will be meaningless, and pretty silly…. Even those who know the reference may not fully understand the level of fear that this statement can bring to anyone who KNOWS computers, and understands their infinite possibilities. The movie was so excellently done that it gave a lot of the feeling, but without that knowledge, the actual fear level Dave was experiencing could not be fully fathomed.

However, the computer in “2001”, HAL by name, was programmed according to the programming languages that had been developed at the time the movie was made. I think, if they had used the following language, things might not have turned out so badly…. I give you, VALGOL…..

From its modest beginnings in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley, VALGOL is enjoying a dramatic surge of popularity across the computer industry. Here is a sample program:

LIKE, Y*KNOW(I MEAN)START
IF PIZZA = LIKE BITCHEN AND GUY = LIKE TUBULAR AND
VALLEY GIRL = LIKE GRODY**MAX(FERSURE)**2 THEN
FOR I = LIKE 1 TO OH*MAYBE 100
DO*WAH – (DITTY**2)
BARF(I)=TOTALLY GROSS(OUT)
SURE
LIKE BAG THIS PROGRAM
REALLY
LIKE TOTALLY (Y*KNOW)
IM*SURE
GOTO THE MALL

When the user makes a syntax error, the interpreter displays the message:

GAG ME WITH A SPOON!!

— THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #5: VALGOL — Smart Bee

Okay, so it’s not my best effort. It will be funnier to those who are computer geeks than to those who are not. I don’t like to limit the potential audience like that, but sometimes ya gotta go with the gut…. Any who, it filled up some column inches…. 🙂
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Writing for the few
with words of power and grace
often brings such pain.

gigoid

Well, in looking back, I must say, it’s definitely one of my more unique Pearls, in spite of, or perhaps because of the somewhat dubious quality of the subject matter. Ah well, another one bites the dust…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Irrational numbers often resist emulsification….

Posted on May 26, 2012 by gigoid

“You can’t use tact with a congressman. A congressman is a hog. You must take a stick and hit him on the snout.” — Henry Adams

The political arena has been quiet of late; we are between elections leading up to the main one in November, and waiting for the National Conventions of each Party to take place. The Republican front runner, Mitt Romney, has placed a gag order on himself, having recently acknowledged that, thus far in his campaign, his greatest problems have occurred when he opened his mouth to speak. So, he has been watching what he says very carefully, and in the process, is saying nothing at all.

There, see? Nothing…. no outrageous statements, no news of new idiotic policies. Well, there was one story, about how Romney is now claiming that cutting spending will cause a depression (that’s Democratic cuts, not Republican cuts…. they’re different, you know… sure they are…. trust me….). Of course, he doesn’t bother to explain his reasoning for this claim; he just knows. I guess the information came in via radio, straight into this brain from the Cosmos… Hardly worth picking at, even for me….

Ah well, I’ll just wait. I am certain that it won’t take more than a day or two for the pressure to build up, and Mitt will have to blurt out some new idiotically absurd new statement that demonstrates his complete cluelessness. He’s been in the public eye now for several months, and if his history there is any indicator, it won’t be long before he opens up and inserts his size 10 loafers…. and I’ll be waiting….

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” — Rafael Sabatini

The story is set in France, during the same period as Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”, i.e. the period leading up to the Peasant’s Revolt, and the French Revolution, in the late 18th century. Love, hatred, political intrigue, revenge, all play their part to paint a beautifully detailed picture of the period, telling a story that holds one captive to the final page. I won’t bore you with a discussion of how it can be related to current times; you can see for yourself when you read it. But, even without any political overtones, the book remains a great read, and well worth a trip to the library…..
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The Day Is Done