Tag Archives: Honor

Manifestations of reality….

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7

Ffolkes,

“Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.”

~~ Latin proverb ~~

siberian volcano from ISS

Siberian volcano as viewed from the ISS

Image from www.nasa.gov via Space.com

Hajime…. Having been assaulted in my sleep by a small, fur-bearing extortionist, to the point of meltdown before I was even awake, I sit to write, only to find myself with no inspiration whatsoever. In fact, a complete meltdown remains a definite possibility for the rest of the day, I’d say. I can’t say why I’m so fragile this morning, but, hey, that’s PTSD for ya. A lot of generals, and armies, could take lessons from PTSD, regarding stealth; it seems to be masterful at sneak attacks….

Since finding something in my head about which to write seems futile, I think I’ll skip the intro altogether, giving it up as a bad investment of time. I can’t see it getting much better than what you’ve already seen, although the possibility of getting worse doesn’t seem out of the realm. In fact, I can feel it getting away from me the longer I type. In the interests of saving face, and time, I’ll end this now, before it gets to a point from which I cannot save it. I’m not sure what the regulations say about that, but, it probably fits into the rudeness category, if naught else….

Rather than risk relatively undeserved rudeness, I’ll go on. You’ll probably see some archived material below; fresh stuff probably isn’t on the agenda for today. But, that also means no further whining, so, it all balances out. Let’s see what I can find to make this semi-okay, or, at minimum, inoffensive…. Oh, wait. Too late for that, and it’s against policy. Oh, well. We’ll see what we can do….

Shall we pearl?….

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction
that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide;
that he must take himself for better or worse as his portion;
that though the wide universe is full of good,
no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him
but through his toil bestowed
on that plot of ground which is given him to till.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance ~~

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Naturally, since I’m in default production mode, you, and I, get classical music for today’s selection. I hope you enjoy it; I intend to do so myself….

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Classical Music

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Dont keep calm

“It is ridiculous to lay the blame of our wrong actions upon external causes, rather than on the facility with which we ourselves are caught by such causes.” — Aristotle

As I predicted in the intro, we’re hitting the archives. The following is one of the longest, and harshest rants I’ve written. It’s a subject about which I feel strongly, so, since I have nothing today of my own, here is something from my past…

From 8/20/2014:

 
This is a long rant, ffolkes…. When I start on this particular subject, I have a hard time stopping…. this time, to the tune of over 2500 words…. I figured I should give fair warning; this is not an easy rant to read, nor will it give any quarter to those it targets as the evil protagonists…. If you don’t feel up to it, then you can skip it…. However, this is an extremely important subject, to me, so, I’m asking you to take the time to read it, think about it, and maybe pass it on…. This needs to change, for sure, and for certain…. I’ve even given it a title, in case I decide to publish it alone, elsewhere….

A True Plague upon Our Houses….

In which we take issue with those who would call themselves Men, having none of the qualities of a Man…..

“Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776.” — Susan B. Anthony

As we know now, 1976 has come, and gone, along with 1776, and 1876; yet, the oppression and ongoing abuse of women continues, unabated and unchecked, in spite of any progress shown by society, which would be thanks to Ms. Anthony, and others, for having instigated, and overcome a number of the legal challenges involved in securing full rights for women, efforts resulting in SOME legislation that SEEMED to make some needed changes, not the least of which was voting rights…

In too many ways, unfortunately, things are worse, due to the ubiquitous attitudes, of misogyny and unreasoning fear of sexuality, which is so ingrained in both the male, and female members of society, there are few who even acknowledge the issue, unless pressed…. at which time, they generally become either defensive, feign indignation, or go into active denial…. This fear, based on ignorance, of course, is complicated by religious attitudes heaped upon men and women from birth, which only encourage such ignorance, in favor of dogma….. Now, 40 years into the next hundred years since the beginning of the women’s movement in America, the same can be said to be absolutely true….. Nothing below the surface has changed at all….

“You, you, you shouldn’t, you shouldn’t traumatize women with sexual intercourse. I should know, I’m a medieval doctor, I own a mansion and a yacht.” — excerpted from the AMA manual of advice for teens and newlyweds, 1910, 1926, 1933, 1947, 1955, and, every year since then, without changing a word….

Okay, so, it’s not really there…. but, it certainly would be, if they could get away with it…. and, is definitely there, in place, in the ingrained prejudices of virtually every male doctor alive…. This idiocy is an example of the attitudes of which I’m speaking; the hidden, slyly perverted belief that women are no more than the sum of the misguided and totally false characterizations placed on them by men, who insist on perpetuating the false image of women, in general and as individuals, as weak, feeble-minded, emotional, sex-crazed, or frigid, selfish creatures concerned only with using their beauty and sex to control men….

These claims are, of course, completely untrue in reality, but, the unreasoning, innate fear of their own sexuality, and the fear of being controlled by women, that permeates male attitudes, causes them all, or mostly all, to believe all of it, true or not… Thus, as the quote below from former President Jimmy C. notes, this belief in a full set of delusions, falsely accusing women of evil intent, is used to justify all of the pervasive objectification, abuse, and oppression of women throughout history, continuing today, no matter how much anyone says to the contrary….

Jimmy Carter sez:

jimmy sez

He would know, wouldn’t he?…..

Below this paragraph, I am placing a link, to the web site/blog of a woman who rescued herself from sexual slavery; there is no other term that fits. She was forced, at a young age, to become a prostitute, and spent most of her childhood and teen years trapped in the sex trade…. Her experiences should never happen to anyone; when I read her writing, it takes ALL of my control to keep from jumping up, buying weapons, and going hunting, for human males…. I get so angry it wouldn’t even matter to me WHICH males I started wasting; all bear equal guilt, from at least one point of view…. Otherwise, why would the rest of us, we males who do NOT wish to oppress our species’ mates, ALLOW this to take place? How can we know of this, and not act?

http://rmott62.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/are-we-not-human

Lack of honor is the only answer that occurs to me; there are not enough men, it seems, with sufficient honor to stem the tide of idiocy, gross perversion, and lack of moral fiber that infuses the greatest portion of humanity’s male members…. I would guesstimate that 98% of all males never even THINK about the issue of how women have been oppressed throughout history; most are perfectly happy to enjoy the lack of responsibility that such moral and ethical blindness allows; we are, as a species, after all, lazy by nature…. (Nothing wrong with lazy, as long as it’s not a way of life, but a tool, to make one look for smarter ways to do things….) But, to allow that laziness to act as an excuse for not acting in this respect, can only indicate a complete lack of what I call HONOR…..

This may sound like a harsh accusation; to that charge I say: Yes, it is and so fucking what? It’s a harsh world, and what men have been doing to women for millennia….. not years, not centuries, MILFUCKINGLENNIA, PEOPLE! No exaggeration or hyperbole is necessary or, in my case, desired….

Listen up, all of you men out there, because I am talking to YOU!…. It IS harsh, and I make the accusation without apology, because, I must in all honesty include myself in the group of those who have not done all they could to see the issue addressed; if it is never addressed, it can never be resolved…. I’ve done more than many, perhaps, and I do acknowledge the seriousness and urgency of the issue…. but, I, too, am guilty of NOT doing enough…. S’okay, it just makes me madder, & more determined to keep writing about this….

You see, the whole issue illustrates one small, but, critical facet of human nature that is part and parcel with those other character flaws in us which are leading us merrily down the road to hell, blithely wishing we had a bigger handbasket….. This tendency on the part of human males, to abandon honor and ethical behavior, in favor of allowing their fears and misapprehensions rule them, for our ENTIRE history, has held us back, from becoming all we have the potential to be, as rational creatures with an understanding and appreciation for what is good and beautiful in life.

Instead, we have witnessed, over those thousands and thousands of years, virtually unending wars, conflicts, slavery, abuse of women and children, or anyone considered weak and unable to defend their rights. We have seen people learn to use lying, cheating, aggressiveness, and self-interest as their primary tools for obtaining the resources needed to live, and to hoard what they have taken, by right or threat of force; this process is, in today’s world, considered to be a blueprint for successful living, with the ultimate goal in life being the fulfillment of one’s own personal goals and desires, at the cost of whatever it may take to wrest it from other people, and the world at large….

“Get it while you can!” Do unto others before they do unto you.” Bigger is better!” “One nation under God!” (It would be more honest if they just said what they REALLY believe which is, “As a Christian, I have more rights than anyone who isn’t….”)

Okay, so the last line, in parentheses, is one most people will only say under their breath; you can be sure, though, that every “Christian” alive believes they are the elite of the species, the only ones with the true answers…. This, you see, naturally gives them all a completely unwarranted and false sense of entitlement, one that really annoys the rest of us, who haven’t fallen under the spell of that particular delusion, and couldn’t care less who they think they are…. I GUARANTEE, even if there WERE a God, such as the figment they seem to believe in, I’m pretty sure, as an omnipotent entity, She wouldn’t want to have anything to do with such idiotic wastes of sperm….

Ooh! That was harsh, too, wasn’t it? Oh well… Again, I have to say, so fucking what? If people insist on showing their lack of intelligence in public, they are fair game for anyone who cares to come along and poke holes in their lack of logic, and/or foolishly naive belief in delusions that someone taught them before they could defend their own minds…. It isn’t my problem if they are offended; that is their own reaction, for which THEY bear ALL the responsibility….

I welcome dialogue, and will listen to any argument, as long as it is evidence based…. However, don’t even think about coming at me with something that has nothing more to verify its veracity than “ispe dixit”…. You will regret it to your dying day….. And, so will I, for I am not really mean, or cruel by nature; I just can’t abide people acting as if being stupid is better than ANYTHING else; it isn’t, and wishing won’t make it so…. But, it’s better to put such folks out of their misery, before their ignorance can spread to others….

Men and women are in this together, ffolkes; neither sex can possibly survive without the other, and why would anyone wish to? But, the way things are going now, if we don’t figure out, soon, how to take care of each other, instead of being at odds all the damn time (as all the people who spread jokes about the “war between men and women” keep yelling about, thus keeping the divisiveness alive, and actively harmful….), we will surely reach the point, in the not so very distant future, when our insistence on making the worst of our differences will result in the only possible ultimate end, to wit: our own extinction as a failed species.

The abuse of women, and anyone else; war; sales of drugs and/or arms; and the relative insanity of the divisive elitism as acted out by all organized religions….. All of these blights and plagues upon the spirit and growth of Man, carried out for thousands of years by those in our species who refuse to embrace any sort of beliefs that do not serve their own ends alone, all spring from one source in human nature; the expression of that negativity in our spirit has held sway since the beginnings of recorded history……

It is that part of our inner selves which compels us to use our innate talents for violence, treachery, and selfishness, using them to take advantage of others for our own benefit, using fear, and the threat of reward or punishment to control others, the use of which has led us to the impending threat of doom we face in coming days…. In order to survive, human nature MUST change…. Hmm…. not terribly good odds, I should guess….

I wish I had the ultimate answer; I wish I knew just the right words, and could say “THIS, THIS, and THIS…. just do that, and we’ll all be okay….” I don’t have them, though, any more than anyone else has had so far…. The worst part is, I know what needs to be done; but, due to the fact that I can only make changes to myself, I can’t just DO it, or even just SAY it…. It has to come from all of us, or it won’t work at all….

SIGH…. Damn if I know what to do…. I guess I’ll just go out, shoot a couple of pimps, and call it a day….. Oh, and if those pimps happen to be wearing a uniform of some sort, you may count on them being fully guilty as charged, with sentence carried out according to the dictates of justice…. in spite of any loud noises they might make to the contrary. Any noise they make in these situations is merely an automatic defense against the insistence on them taking responsibility for their actions….

Any lawyers who may try to involve themselves may try to make us feel differently, but, we can discuss that later, right? (We can decide what to do about them when we figure out where to dispose of the bodies….) For the moment, my day will be over, and justice done; it’s all I need to get to sleep….. especially knowing the women freed by my good aim will have the choice and opportunity to start the process of changing out of their slave clothes, into something a bit more free, and of their own choice….

Well, we all have our fantasies, right? Now, the trick is to remove all the above from the realm of speculation and imagination, and make it so, in Reality…. I guess we’ll see how it goes, eh?…. Later, ffolkes, & remember…. Free our sisters, and we free ourselves….

This took a long time to write, because it’s important to me…. Hence, I took a long time to pick a closing pearl, one that had the right feel to it, to express the depth of emotion involved, while still giving a nod to importance of addressing the issue’s less palatable aspects, such as the way women having to live in today’s world, or any world we have seen, are consistently, often brutally, abused, made to feel secondary, and at the very least, completely misunderstood, by their own alleged mates.

I am speaking of men who, in the final analysis, are failing their own species, not to mention failing to understand the concept, or to comprehend the importance, of such old-fashioned words as honor, compassion, and duty…. any one of which requires much more strength than any sort of aggressiveness, or shows of physical prowess…. Such behaviors are those of a child, based on fear, a child who never grew out of being selfish and/or afraid of girls, (i.e., afraid of their own sexuality, and of women’s….), refusing to grow up and truly BE a man…..

We need each other, men and women; nature’s other creatures have shown us how it is supposed to work, using the blueprint of nature’s design…. Each gender of a species is made to contribute certain characteristics to the solving of the puzzle of living, in concert with their opposite half, with the caveat being the simple FACT, that neither can survive, one without the other. Both are needed for the species to prosper, and grow…… It’s a shame there are so many men in the world who are so afraid of themselves, and of women, they can’t learn to act as men….

Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The Genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.

— William Shakespeare ~~

Julius Caesar — Act ii, Sc. 1

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Comedy_Tragedy

Between what I see and what I say
Between what I say and what I keep silent
Between what I keep silent and what I dream
Between what I dream and what I forget:
Poetry.

~~ Octavio Paz (1914-1998) ~~

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Shot in the dark….

Nothing old will do
to soothe such internal fire;
only new haiku.

Infernal chaos
bites with vicious teeth of steel.
Starts the day poorly.

Routines fill an hour
seeking a sort of balance.
Not easily found.

To bring serenity
is a task for a lifetime.
Today’s morning chore.

Five times seventeen
seems to have brought me some peace.
Counting words for hope.

~~ gigoid ~~

7/25/2016

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pearls_3

Naked Pearls

A path to freedom…

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“He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge;
and one only evil, namely, ignorance.”

~~ Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Socrates, xiv ~~

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“The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.”

~~ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ~~

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“Before you can be creative, you must be courageous.
Creativity is the destination, but courage is the journey.”

~~ Joey Reiman ~~

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“To be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough;
the prime requisite is rightly to apply it.”

~~ Descartes ~~

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“The aim of life is to live,
and to live means to be aware,
joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”

~~ Henry Miller ~~

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“I’ve wrestled with reality for 35 years,
and I’m happy, Doctor, I finally won out over it.”

~~ Jimmy Stewart in Harvey, 1950 ~~

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“When I speak to you about myself,
I am speaking to you about yourself.
How is it you don’t see that?”

~~ Victor Hugo ~~

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The mere fact this is done should be recorded in the Book. But, it probably won’t be, and, that’s okay. It’s done, so, I win. For now. To maintain my record at that, I will warn y’all now, I’ll try again tomorrow, without any claims as to any sort of improvement, or even change. All I know is, I have to try. See y’all then, provided the meltdown has been averted, once again….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Kowabunga!

À bientôt, mon cherí….

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Use all the teflon you can find….

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7

Ffolkes,

“A man is not aware of his virtues (if any).

Nevertheless, one hopes that they exist.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

superearth1-800x456

Artist rendition of possible Superearth planet found in far reaches of Sol System

Image from:

 http://nerdreactor.com/2015/12/11/scientists-discover-a-new-planet-theyve-deemed-as-a-super-earth-in-our-solar-system/



Hajime…. At 0500 this morning, I was given a reminder of the newest duty I’ve chosen. I was awakened at that time by whiskers tickling my nose, followed by a loud purring, as Leelu sniffed at my face to wake me. The purr began when I opened my eyes to see what tickled me…. Thus notified she was ready to be up, and training. Heaving a great SIGH, I arose, & stumbled to the coffee maker to switch it on, as she mewled madly for the morning play time, dropping her crumpled paper at my feet, and looking at me expectantly…. What can one do?….

She got hungry after a few tosses & returns, and is eating, so, I’m going to cut this short, so we can, maybe, get this posted before she requires further attention…. Trust me, it’s not easy being at the beck and call of a 7 lb. princess…. But, she picked me, out of seven billion people, so, whattayagonnado, eh?….. Let’s go to the oyster beds, while we can….

Shall we Pearl?….

“We’re not talking about the same thing,” he said. “For you the world is weird because if you’re not bored with it you’re at odds with it. For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must accept responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.” — Don Juan

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Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young in 1970

Image from en.wikipedia.com via Google Images


Probably, nobody alive hasn’t heard of this group…. Four of the best singer-songwriters alive who got together for a time, to make music still unequaled in quality and impact by any one of them individually…. Their innate harmonic blend of voices created songs no one who heard them will ever forget…. Let’s enjoy some of it, live from Golden Gate Park, their old stomping grounds in SF…. Abondanza, ffolkes!….

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Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 11/03/91 – Golden Gate Park

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Dont keep calm

SOCIALISM:
   You have two cows.
 Give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM:
   You have two cows.
   Give both to the government.
The government gives you milk.

CAPITALISM:

   You sell one cow and buy a bull.

FASCISM:
   You have two cows. 
Give milk to the government.
   The government sells it.

NAZISM:
   The government shoots you and takes the cows.

NEW DEALISM:
   The government shoots one cow,
   milks the other,
and pours the milk down the sink.

ANARCHISM:
   Keep the cows.
Steal another one.
Shoot the government.

CONSERVATISM:
   Freeze the milk.
Embalm the cows.

~~ Polly Sye Bee ~~


This was yesterday’s third offering from Smart Bee, and by the time I finished reading the list, and could catch my breath from laughing uproariously, I knew I’d found today’s opening lines for this section…. Since laughing so hard put me in too good a mood to rant, we’ll go with the following two most excellent pieces from an archived Pearl, suggested a day or two ago, at the bottom of the page on ECR…. They go together, as it happened to occur that day…I think you’ll enjoy them; I know I did…. It isn’t exactly about the quoted subject, but, rather about those who must deal with the governments as described…. We do lead off with a statement from a politician, though….

Both pearls from 12/1/2012:

From Section the First:

“I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics but for our contributions to the human spirit.” — former US President John F. Kennedy

At last! A worthy pearl! JFK, like the current President, was a superb public speaker, “Ich bin ein Berliner” notwithstanding, and whether he wrote his own words, or relied on his speech writers, he delivered, arguably, some of the most memorable, and insightful, aphorisms in US political and social history. The above statement is a perfect example, as he expresses a sentiment that can only be applauded, if not verified. I say verified because  there is not a lot of verification from the past that history remembers anything BUT the battles. But, one can hope….

Actually, I believe what Jack said here very strongly, in the sense that there are different histories that are remembered, most of which become altered in some way over time, as does all memory. The great teachers and philosophers who have lived have left their mark on the world in more ways than always show, in spite of the records of their deeds not always surviving intact. But, throughout history, there have been men, and women, who have done much to advance the human condition, whose words and deeds were never seen, and never recorded, but, nonetheless. whose effects still ripple down the river of time.

Some of the great minds in history, such as Lao Tzu, Zoroaster, Genghis Khan, Gautama Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth, Mohammed, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, and many others, all made such advances in the human spirit, and their ideas keep proving their worth every day by their relativity to modern society. Men like Leonardo da Vinci, whose genius was so bright it shines even today, and modern philosopher/scientists such as Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking, have advanced that human spirit as much as anyone.

I’m not being as eloquent as I’d wish for such a deep subject…. What I’m trying to get to here is that we all, each and every one of us, have the power and opportunity to do the same as these historical figures, to advance the human spirit, just by the way we live our lives. What the philosophers say, and write, and the wisdom they pass on, is all very good, and a lesson to the rest of us…. But, what the average person does every day in their lives is just as important to the future as any scientific breakthrough, because what they do will determine what their children learn, and THAT is where the advancement really takes place, in the moments of teaching that happens every moment for children, and their adult teachers.

Living a life of integrity, with honesty and duty as the watchwords for action, is the best teaching method there is; to provide a good example for a child holds no less promise for mankind than all the work of all the genius’ of all time. How each one of us approaches life will, in the end, determine what happens to our species as a whole. It isn’t easy, especially given all of the people in society who do NOT wish to have any part of advancing anything but their own interests…. and especially when so many of those kinds of people are in positions of authority. But, it can be done, and is done, every day, by millions of men and women of good spirit…. They are truly the future of mankind, and, if there is any hope for survival, it lies in their honest hands….

“So live that you can look any man in the eye and tell him to go to hell.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~


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From Section the Third:

“The sage wears clothes of coarse cloth but carries jewels in his bosom; He knows himself but does not display himself; He loves himself but does not hold himself in high esteem. Thus he rejects the latter and takes the former.” — Lao-Tzu

In spite of how it must appear, there is a small degree of organization to this blog’s contents. Most days I try to make sure that the first and third sections, while possibly related, are essentially about different concepts. The second section is, of course, reserved for whatever poetry strikes my fancy that day, whether classic, humorous, or original (Though it does seem that my recent outpouring of original poems has run dry, I don’t think I’m done with that, yet…..).  It seems to work for me…. well enough, at least, to keep my internal critics quiet most of the time.

Today, it seems that most of what I’m seeing for pearls are related somehow to what I spoke of peripherally in today’s first section, to wit: the importance of integrity in human life. Integrity…. hmm…. not the precise word, or the characteristic I am thinking of, actually; it’s more than merely integrity. I suppose one could say the concept to which I’m referring is too mystical an idea to be presented clearly, and not be too far off the mark….

However, not being one to ignore a challenge to my vocabulary, I’ll take a few unseen moments here and find the correct word to facilitate further discussion, because, hey, if I can’t, no discussion, right? Right…. Be right back…. instantly, by all you will know and see…..  Well, the challenge is a strong one, and I think best answered with more than one word to describe what I’m trying to say. Those words are all contained in Axiom #7 of Peruaosophy, to wit:

“Do your Duty. Honor the Truth. Respect Life. Share your Love. “


I know that it is my own philosophy, and some may think that is cheating, but, not so. All that I hold to be true is in that axiom, and it represents the four cornerstones of my personal foundation. I find that when I am able to live up to all of these concepts,  able to use their direction in guiding my actions, my life is much smoother, and my moments of joy are plentiful, to balance the pain that life brings all of us in turn. This, to me, is the best way to advance the human condition, little by little, with the efforts of each man and woman adding its weight to the forward momentum.

Yes, the actions and discoveries that the best of history’s minds bring to us are wonderful, and work to make the lives of every human better…. It is the everyday efforts of each man, though, that takes that wisdom and turns it into reality, by using ideas, and integrity, to add their experience to that of the rest of society. Since there is a large number of folks who do NOT subscribe to this kind of ethical behavior, choosing to make their own self-interest their primary concern, it is the duty of those who do believe in these ideas to carry them out as best they may, so that the world can retain some semblance of harmony. It doesn’t always work, and, in fact, is in constant jeopardy of not working at all, but, it is the only way that will make the changes our society needs to survive…. which is another discussion for another time…..

“And now there is merely silence, silence, silence, saying all we did not know.”

~~ William Rose Benet ~~


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~~ Haiku ~~

Often I don’t see
any reason to exist.
Still, I’m glad I do.

~~ gigoid ~~

12/12/15

Comedy_Tragedy

Blithely Untitled

A poem came to me today, willy, nilly,
along with a sharp blow to the head.
Since it left me feeling just a bit silly,
anything that rhymes should lessen the dread.

Manifesting destiny into a small, insidious group
we push on toward sanity, concentrating hard.
Full engaging moments spent navigating the loop
shall ever make a difference to victims found in the yard.

Still corpses of creatures, straight out of nightmare
fill up the corners of our tortured minds.
While ever saddened, the iconic male, most debonair,
gazes softly, ironically, at all the mutual interest he finds.

Moronic public statutes compel outbreaks of sanity,
responding to momentary impulses toward inducing peace.
Still, the motions get completed, in fertile stages of inanity
while the bulk of our inmates can find no surcease.

Reluctant motivation to continue is unbound,
striving to ascertain how far there yet remains to go.
No precognitive guesswork will make any less of a sound
to soften the final strains, or teach us to truly know.


~~ gigoid ~~


2/7/2014


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Glasgow-Greenock Port 041

Sunrise ~~ Sunset


Just as with the photo (my own, taken somewhere off the coast of Scotland), I don’t really know, nor can I tell from what I see, exactly what is happening here…. I do know when the photo was taken, since I was the only one there at the time, but, unless one is enough of a polymath to have already totaled up the available clues to know, it can’t be known for sure which time of day it was taken…. The same issue applies to today’s final, old-school pearl, as I don’t have a single clue as to what it all means…. The process of choosing them was rather unconscious; I just clicked on each as it appeared, and fitted it into whatever weird shape my mind was creating…. It works, and I still don’t know why; though beginning and ending with some elegance, most of them are just weird, if as true as the day is long enough…. If y’all have any ideas, feel free to tell me, as it can only help….

“There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.”

~~ Alexander Pope ~~


“If you take something apart and put it back together often enough, you will eventually have two of them.” — Rap’s Law of Inanimate Reproduction

“Feeling good about government is like looking on the bright side of any catastrophe. When you quit looking on the bright side, the catastrophe is still there.” — P. J. O’Rourke, Parliament of Whores (1991)

“Being a politician is like being a football coach: you have to be smart enough to understand the game, but dumb enough to think it’s important.” — Eugene McCarthy ( I get this one; he WAS a politician….)

“Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex. You thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did.” — James Baldwin (1924-1987)

“The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, ‘Is there a  meaning to music?’ My answer would be, ‘Yes.’ And ‘Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?”  My answer to that would be, ‘No.’ — Aaron Copland

:FUBAR: n.  The Failed UniBus Address Register in a VAX.  A good example of how jargon can occasionally be snuck past the {suit}s; see {foobar}, and {foo} for a fuller etymology.” — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423 (For those with access to the File, the original FUBAR was a military term, probably originally from the Army Corps of Engineers, meaning, precisely, “fucked up beyond all repair”….)

“Gentleman: A man who knows how to play bagpipes — and refrains.” — Fred Tart

“Dum vivimus, vivamus.”

While we live, let us live.

~~ Latin, originally from the coat of arms of one Philip Doddering, D.D ~~

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dum_vivimus_vivamus),

with other instances noted in literature.


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

Hmm…. Later than usual, but, not bad, given the extra duties I must now perform while trying to get posted…. No complaints, because, hey, chosen duty, right?  Besides, it’s done. So, I’ll follow the example set in the intro, and get us out of here in an efficient manner. That works like this: See ya, tomorrow, ffolkes, rain or shine….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Featured Image -- 5012


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Inexorable notions of impropriety….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“We say the cows laid out Boston. Well, there are worse surveyors.”


~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), “Wealth” ~~


Supermoon August 2015 020


Yep. It’s Luna.




Good morning…. Yet another day spent slipping into the mire…. As I sit here, I find myself having to defend the keyboard against the imprecations of a psycho kitty, who thinks she should have some input into what I’m typing today. Her main problem, I think, is not knowing the entire alphabet; otherwise, I’d probably be watching her type this, rather than the other way around…. Fascinating!….


Ah well, it’s just another adaptation, I guess, one I have to deal with if I’m to ever get this Pearl posted. I’ll not tempt Fate, nor will I push my luck; instead, we’ll just go on, as if I knew what I was doing…. Luigi is going to ‘gently’ convey us to the oyster beds, where we shall hope to find what we need for the day…. Let’s do it now, okay?….


Shall we Pearl?….


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


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photos-of-dogs-and-cats-together




Image from arzapizza.com via Google Images




It looks as if I’ve given up on maintaining my reputation as a crusty, irritable old curmudgeon with these cute animal videos, doesn’t it? Oh, well, what the hell; I like them, so, fuck it…. Guess it won’t be too long before the new psycho kitty has company…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. and, for any Asininnies who MAY be reading, pay attention to how well our companions on the Trail of Life get along together when we don’t interfere with our own idiocy….







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Dogs & Cats Playing Together




















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Dont keep calm




    I came across this statement from Edward Abbey last evening, while searching for pearls. It is the clearest statement of reality in this country today I know of, though. it was first uttered in the last century; I know not exactly when… I am compelled to say I would agree with each and every word….


This, ffolkes, is the statement of an American patriot. The only real kind I know of, a man the men who formed this country would understand. It’s also the statement of a man with whom I’d be honored to stand…. any time, anywhere.


“The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called an ‘equalizer’ Eqalite implies liberte. And always will. Let us hope our weapons are never needed — but do not forget what the common people knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government — and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws.” — Edward Abbey (1927-1989)


Nothing I could add would say it any better, so, I’ll just leave it there…. After all, what else is there to be said?


So be it.


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Comedy_Tragedy




    I am not sure why, but, this poem seems appropriate for today, as a representation of my recent ordeal overseas…. Too much of the trip was spent in a state similar to this, so, let all memory of that time be gone with this posting….




Dead Hands,Typing…


Puzzled anew by anomalous blocks of pain

caught, bemused, chained to routine, insane.

Stilled within breathless beauty

 Engaging epiphany, insistent, called to duty.


Knees bent in lieu of a faithful rendition

suffuses, confuses, locked into stale perdition.

Clearing corrosion with hands encased in stone

Singular frozen follicles, masked by bone.


Partial focus brings unfiltered flavors to light

coloring each particle in simple delight.

Forlorn, novel conceptual artists singing in tune

nine notes in harmony, soft as the moon.


Honed blades of carbon steel flash in rhyme,

filling sensual receptors well past closing time.

Borrowed from neighbors in a week-old game

still bloody, without a proper name.


No flooded memories can justify such cost

no simple stationery, bilious, afraid, lost.

Ten times ten will never be enough

To fill so empty a stolen trough.


Bartering simplicity takes well into the night

solidly temporary pillars turned bright.

Unknown to all the pretty children who came

none were called, none had any remaining flame.


~~ gigoid ~~




Written 2/25/2015.


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lao




    A simple little pearl about Life at Large to finish the day’s effort…. Pay heed, and enjoy Life better!….




Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own

 Self in all beings, loses all fear.

 

~~ Isa Upanishad ~~




“The older we grow the greater becomes our wonder at how much ignorance one can contain without bursting one’s clothes.” — Mark Twain


“Don’t be ashamed to say what you are not afraid to think.” — Montaigne


“All is flux, nothing stays still.” — Heraclitus


“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” — Saint Augustine


“Cease to be ruled by dogmas and authorities; look at the world!” — H.G. Wells paraphrase of Roger Bacon’s works


“The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be; all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them.” — Socrates


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Well, there you go. Late again, thanks to the regularization of my life, and the literary advice of a small fur-bearing critic. Now, if I can persuade here to move long enough to post, we’re good to go…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, like it or not…..




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch








dozer3




À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Paleontological exhibits of ancient rigatoni….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“Ah said, pay attention, boy!”


~~ Foghorn Leghorn ~~


same


Curiosity on Mars



Image from http://gizmodo.com/a-fan-stitched-together-the-best-selfie-of-curiosity-ye-1723085310






Good morning…. Or, so it says here on the label. Personally, I’d hesitate to wager on that, as the hour does tend to take away some of the shine; that’s going to happen at 1 AM, especially when arising at such an ungodly hour was NOT on the agenda for the night…. Ah, well, rather than piss & moan about it, I’ll just start today’s mess…. It’s always a cleaner mess when I have this much time to spend on it…. Let us hope the gods of Entropy will cooperate to some degree…. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll be nice enough to keep the Murph off my back ’til I can get it done….


More likely it’ll just piss him off, and tomorrow morning will, no doubt, manifest as one we will all regret having experienced…. unless I can figure out a way to buy him off…. Yeah, that’s the ticket! Now, all I have to do is figure out what the hell I can give an iconic force of nature to make it go away…. Piece o’cake…


Now we’ve indulged in a morning descent into fantasy, why don’t we stop fussing around, and be off to the oyster beds, to gather enough pearls to complete today’s effort? I think that would be SWELL!…. But, then, it’s 1:13 AM and I’m about half-way to insane, with a one-way ticket clutched in my hot little hand…. what the hell do I know?….


Shall we Pearl?….


“Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets and then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again.” — TV listing for the movie, The Wizard of Oz, in the Marin Paper


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beatles


Image from allexpress.com via Google Images




It’s been a long time since I listened to ‘The Boys’, and I thought I’d try to find some live cuts for us to enjoy. What I found is over an hour of live music, all Beatles music…. but, it’s a bit strange. It was supposedly a concert in Russia, in 2014! There are a number of different songs, each with its own costumes. The players LOOK very much like them, and the music is very close, but, I can’t tell yet if it’s real, or computer magic…. You tell me, if you figure it out, okay? Otherwise, there are a lot of other REAL Beatles live cuts on the page the link will take you to…. Enjoy!….







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Bootleg Beatles ~ Live

















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Dont keep calm




    I’m working on an epic rant, that isn’t quite ready for posting. To sublimate the (quite strong) urge to rant which so often occurs at this hour, (must have something to do with the resentment at my doctors for causing the conditions which cause me to be up… thank you very much, you assholes…), here is a discussion of human nature from early in 2013…. Enjoy!….


“Custom does often reason overrule and only serves for reason to the fool.” — John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester


This aphorism is one that I think most people would accept as true, at least part of the time. It also points up what I see as a basic flaw in human nature, a characteristic that everyone possesses, and few overmaster. It has to do with our core beliefs, and the attitude we assume as our method of perception, the orientation of our world-view, as it were. We all perceive what is out there in the universe, but we are not capable, at this time, of understanding, or even noting, all that is there to be perceived, as we are limited to what we can see, hear, feel, touch, taste, or deduce, in our immediate vicinity…. We don’t yet know how to include the input of anything not in our physical presence, other than vicariously (via TV, radio, books, etc…..).


We do, however perceive what we are near, and what we do with those perceptions is what determines how the events of our lives will proceed. What is more, each one of us perceives all of this IN A DIFFERENT WAY…..  Two people can look at the same article, or event, and see two entirely different things; just ask them….. We use the same senses, the same KIND of brains to process the data, at the same time to observe the same event, yet the interpretation of those events will vary, by as many degrees as there are people perceiving them. This unique ability, to process data in a completely new and different way from anyone else’s method, is, as might be guessed, both a blessing, and a curse….. It is the latter that concerns me today…..


In order to coexist in the same place and time, people have learned to accept certain perceptions as being identical, for the purposes of communication, e.g., everyone knows what “fire” is, and knows not to touch it barehanded…. (Note: in a way, this blog is all about the process of such communications…. we explore the reality that is consensual, that we all agree to deal with as being the same for all of us…..) This is the blessing it gives, the opportunity to increase understanding, to allow people to work in tandem, making both much more capable, making two more than just one plus one….. This is a very useful tool in the real world, and has helped our species achieve the degree of civilization we now enjoy….


But, the other side of this characteristic has an equal part in our destiny, and may in fact be the more important of the two, in the ultimate sense….. You see, we are all herd animals, and desire the approval and company of our peers; without it, we suffer, much more than we even know. It is not “human” to remain alone too long…. Oh, there is nothing wrong with solitude, and much great thought is achieved when one is not distracted by others….. On the other hand, a human who is alone for too long becomes a pale imitation of his/her true self, without the presence of other minds to test his/her theories, to discuss and share their feelings and accomplishments, to vent their frustrations, to experience love….. Without these things, our spirits become small, and lose their moral compass, leaving us adrift in a reality that seems dark, and dangerous….


This dependence on custom (which I define as the total construct of human society, the set of rules and regulations, all unwritten, by which all of us shape our behavior in respect to each other…..) is so strong that, as the aphorism states, one becomes willing to set reason aside, in order to keep and maintain our feeling of having a place in society. We will assume whatever mask that society demands, at times, in order to not have to wear a mask of our own devising, one that we do not find comfortable…. This is the curse of which I spoke….


You see, there are a number of people who have no compunctions whatsoever in using this human characteristic to their own ends….. They don’t believe in any of the crap they spew, but will say or do anything to make sure that others do, because this is how they control the general populace… They spread their lies, fast and often, until they are believed…. these lies promulgate fear amongst the uneducated and timid, who then demand that “something be done!” by those in charge…. which is exactly what those people wanted, for they can now proceed to further fan the flames of fear, while surreptitiously looting the public treasury to make it seem as if they are doing something constructive…. “Hey, they’re stealing our oil! Let’s spend a few billion to bomb the crap out of them so we can keep driving SUV’s, with great cup holders!”


Oh well, I guess that’s all the rant I’ve got in me today…. It’s kind of mild I know, but I was trying to be scholarly, rather than controversial and accusatory…. I think I’ve succeeded in that, but, it doesn’t quite give the same thrill and/or release as a good, nasty rant, with some great name-calling… Well, I can always call them assholes, because, hey, it fits, and it’s easy to type…. Any who, I’ll stop now, right on the edge of illumination, and allow the Gentle Reader to follow the train of my thought to its obvious conclusion…. For those too busy, or too lazy to do so, I’ll summarize….


Don’t listen to what anyone else says, not about YOUR perceptions. And, for sure, kick the asses of anyone who tries to convince you of their integrity in an elected capacity, or any position of authority…. A lot of people, on every level of society, are just trying to control you for their own purposes, and deserve any ass-kicking that comes their way….


Be like a cat…. cats don’t give a SHIT what anybody thinks, they just are….. No apologies, no fuss, just leave me alone, because I’m busy being a cat….. This is good advice, so, listen up, I’m trying to do you a favor…..         😆


“We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offend a man for his own good is to have a healthy love for him.” — Michel Eyquem de Montaigne _Essays_, bk. III, ch. 11 [1595]


Written 4/13/2013.


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Comedy_Tragedy


Honorable Request



Days, filled to a brim with fluff and time, pass

dimly into memory, bit by combative bit,

ever mournful, yet loud with life and sass,

only in dream do we meet, and dance, and flit.


Souls, spinning ’round in gleeful wonder, comply

as they must, nev

er given a reason,

somberly proper, yet limber and quite spry,

dancing on to greet each bright new season.


Storms, angered by apathetic care, rage

proceeding into ministerial glare, unknown,

clothed in colors, purified solely with sage,

past an infinite future, already flown.


Life, plumbed to its depths and secrets, keeps

flowing with currents, strong and fairly found,

love stands, asking release, as it slowly weeps,

seeking refuge unasked, to stay honor bound.


~~ gigoid ~~




Written 10/13/2012.


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lao


He only earns his freedom and his life


Who takes them every day by storm.

 

~~ Goethe, from Faust ~~




“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh”, said Piglet at last, what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” “What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?” “I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing, he said.” — A. A. Milne, “Winnie the Pooh”


“Don’t forget that compared to a grownup person every baby is a genius. Think of the capacity to learn! The freshness, the temperament, the will of a baby a few months old!” — May Sarton


“A man who carries a cat by the tail is getting experience that will always be helpful.  He isn’t likely to grow dim or doubtful. Chances are, he isn’t likely to carry the cat that way again, either.  But if he wants to, I say let him!” — Mark Twain


“Do not confuse ‘duty’ with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.” — Lazarus Long


“The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another.” — George Eliot


“The moment in which you confront your own death is the moment in which you are most totally alive.” — Solomon Short


“Let honor be as strong to us an obligation as necessity is to others.” — Pliny the Elder




My guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglect

 deceived me into thinking I had something to protect.

 Good and bad I defined these terms, quite clear, no doubt, somehow

 Ah, but I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now.


~~ Bob Dylan ~~




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“I must go seek some dew-drops here, And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.” — William Shakespeare


So goes another late-night/early morning Pearl…. I’m thinking of making a new category, for Insomnia Pearls. Probably won’t, though; that’s just giving in to the assholes, the way I see it. Fuck ’em. I’m tired. I want to sleep, for more than two hours in a row. Now I’ll quit the whining, and take us out of here, as is my last duty…. It’s been real, ffolkes, that’s for sure. See y’all tomorrow…. I won’t bother with anything like , ‘same place, same time’ as that would just tempt Murphy AND the gods of chance. As long as no charges get filed beforehand, I’ll see y’all in the mornin’…..




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch








dozer3




À bientôt, mon cherí….



					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Terror in the breakfast food aisle…

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“I had a hunch something like this would happen.” 


~~Written on grave ~~


mars_panoramica-copy


Image created by Europa’s Ice Wolf Herself


https://europasicewolf.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/let-us-go-you-and-i/




Good morrow…. Today is the day, he said, cryptically…. Change is in the air….


Shall we Pearl?


“If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.” — The Cowboy’s Guide to Life


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David-Bromberg-Key-Image-Courtesy-of-Good-Footage-Productions-580x300


David Bromberg


 Image via pbs.org via Google Images




This artist is one many people have never seen, or heard of; during the late 60’s and early 70’s he was a favorite of the counter-culture of the time…. His music is a blend of rock, folk, and bluegrass, with a side of damn silly at times…. His song, “I Will Not Be Your Fool” remains one of my all-time favorite versions of the talkin’ blues…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is a hidden gem….




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David Bromberg















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Dont keep calm




“Our main task for the coming era is… a radical renewal of our sense of responsibility. Our conscience must catch up with our reason — otherwise we are lost. It is my profound conviction that there is only one way to achieve this: we must divest ourselves of our egotistical anthropocentrism, our habit of seeing ourselves as the masters of the universe who can do whatever occurs to us. We must acknowledge what transcends us: the universe, earth, nature, life, and reality.  Our respect for other people, for other nations, and for other cultures can only grow from a humble respect for the cosmic order and from an awareness that we are part of it, that we share in it, and that nothing we do is lost, but, rather, that what we do becomes part of the eternal memory of Being, where it is judged… It is also essential that the Euro-American cultural sphere– the one that created this civilization and taught humanity its destructive pride– now return to its spiritual roots and become an example to the rest of the world in the search for a new humility.” — Vaclav Havel, address, Harvard University, June 8, 1995


Václav Havel,  (born October 5, 1936, Prague, Czechoslovakia [now in Czech Republic] — died December 18, 2011, Hrádecek, Czech Republic), Czech playwright, poet, and political dissident, who, after the fall of communism, was president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and of the Czech Republic (1993–2003).


I thank Mr. Havel sincerely for this quote; it’s a pretty good summary of the root message I have been trying to get through to anyone who reads my work. Having concluded the same root cause to the problems we now face as a species, a culture, and as living creatures, to be found in the lack of willingness of almost every human to take responsibility for their actions. Far, far too many of those who live in today’s world have no idea of their own connection to Life, or the Universe, nor do they have any idea of how they fit into either one….


How did we come to this? Why are there so many people in the world with a sense of entitlement unlike any other creature of which we have any knowledge? Why do people think they have the right to do whatever they wish to make themselves happy, no matter what sort of effect it may have on the world around them, whether other people, animals, or the world at large…. All of it is the property of Man, as seen by these arrogant, hairless apes, who can’t even, most of the time, figure out by themselves how to keep from shooting themselves in the foot.


Well, I can explain…. But, it isn’t a popular concept; not surprising as it is diametrically opposed to most of what you, or anyone has heard all their lives…. There are those who have seen the truth; they’ve tried their best to tell people what they have seen, but, for the most part, people don’t want to hear things that don’t fit in with their longest-held beliefs… Thomas Paine, one of the founding fathers of this country was one such man… He pointed out the culprits as clearly as he could, with words such as these…


“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would seem more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.” — Thomas Paine — The Age of Reason


Just a few days ago, this country sold some Billions of dollars worth of arms, in the form of rockets, bombs, ammunition, and supporting technology to Israel, and another of our allies currently waging war somewhere around the world…. Now, it may surprise you to know that we, the USA, are the single biggest dealer of arms in the world; there are people in every corner of the world being killed by our weapons every minute of every day…. Yep, us, the peace-loving, freedom-bearing, rapacious businessmen from Amurica, who will sell anyone the means to fight wars, or, merely oppress their own people….


At the same time, as I read just today, here at home, in Amurica, our own police are killing two citizens, on average, every day, according to statistics gathered by the Washington Post, while video after video hits the news, and You Tube, showing actual crimes committed by police, with no charges ever brought…. My father, who fought in the Pacific Theater during World War II, for four years, would have been appalled at the state of affairs today, in this land he loved.


I can see him sitting at his desk, after having a talk about the material not in the news during the Vietnam War, writing to the Department of the Army, as a retired veteran of that service, asking for explanations for some of what he was hearing…. He got a runaround, for the most part, and became an active letter-writer to the service voicing his concerns…. I can do no less…


But, how many people do YOU know who are willing to say that? Not many, I’d wager. If there were, the world would be different than it is…. No, the corporate snakes, the pundits, the preachers, all have the public, for the vast majority, completely bamboozled, into believing an entire pantheon of delusions, and lies, all of which are intended to keep them ignorant of the truth, and, to keep the money, and the power, in their hands alone….

 Let me show this another way…. If I were to read the following verses to the Congress of the United States, how many of them do you think would A) understand half of it, B) agree with ANY of it, or, C) look confused, then angry….. Moreover, how many of them would NOT lie to anyone who asked them about the arms deal with Israel? Okay, I know, I switched horses too fast; I even lost myself with that one…. But, my point remains…. the people who make up our government, all 455 of them (that’s all!!!…), who have almost complete power over the rest of us, do NOT believe ANY of this is true….






Arms are instruments of ill omen… .




When one is compelled to use them  it is best to do so without relish.


There is no glory in victory, and to glorify it despite this is to exult in the killing of men… .


When great numbers of people are killed, one should weep over them with sorrow.


When victorious in war, one should observe mourning rites.


~~ Lao-Tzu ~~




Note, please, Lao Tzu does not say “if great numbers of heroes are killed”, or, “if great numbers of enemies are killed”. He just says “people”.


Now, how many of our Beloved Ruling Class have you ever seen, or heard, express their SINCERE regrets over the losses incurred in our wars? Especially for those valiant defenders of their own homelands, when we have bombed and invaded them, to bring them the “advantages” of democracy and freedom (read: “new markets for our corporate masters”), whom we call insurgents, or rebels, or the current bogey-word of choice, terrorists…..


“The greatness of every mighty organization embodying an idea in this world lies in the religious fanaticism and intolerance with which, fanatically convinced of its own right, it intolerably imposes its will against all others.” — Adolf Hitler, “Mein Kampf”


Right…. None.


I’m done. The reason for that is simple. I’m getting nauseated, thinking about those fat cats, sitting in D.C., thinking they are all that, and deciding for everyone else exactly how they are going to screw them next….


Remember, ffolkes…. you only have the rights you can defend….


“The army commander of a large State may be carried off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from him.” — Confucius


gigoid has spoken, and, he’s pissed off.


So be it.


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





Comedy_Tragedy




“Poetry is the journal of a sea animal, living on land, wanting to fly in the air… Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable… Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away…” — Carl Sandburg, “Poetry Considered”, Atlantic Monthly, March 1923


I’m fairly certain very little of my poetry quite lives up to Carl’s description; I do my best, though, and, I like this one…






Retrospective, defined in folly….


Yesterday

I wrote a poem.


It bled out of my head,

like I’d been struck with

an axe,

right through the artery, 

in the neck,

spraying blood around

everywhere,

like a pulsing garden hose….


It hurt, at first,

then came the feeling,


of quick relief,

of timeless beauty,

 

of pain avenged,

of lust aroused,


of outrage aflame,

of deep compassion,


of endless empathy,

of truest love….


Now it’s gone, cast away

like pearls before twine.


(Grin…)


You thought

I was going to call you

a pig,

didn’t you?


Hah!


Well, you’re not.

You’re a person.


I know, because

you’re reading this poem…

if that’s what it is.

I think it is, 

so,

maybe it is. 


Or, maybe,

it will be,

someday, when it

grows up, 

and learns to rhyme.

Whew…

Just in time…..


That’s all.

Reality often sucks wind,

y’know?


S’okay, though….

It keeps us busy,

and out of some of the

mischief,

so much part

of our 

nature.


We all can do

only what we

do.


Or, don’t.


Two sides, one coin.


~~ gigoid ~~




Written 8/31/2014


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





lao





If you want happiness…

For an hour – take a nap

For a day – go fishing

For a month – get married

For a year – inherit a fortune

For a lifetime – help someone else.


~~ Chinese Proverb ~~




“Drop the question what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every day that fate allows you.” — Horace


“Speak in silver, reply in gold.” — Ancient Swahili saying


“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleges, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.” — Leo Tolstoy


“The glory of riches and of beauty is frail and transitory; virtue remains bright and eternal.” — Sallust (B.C. 86-34)


“A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.” — Japanese proverb


“Truth comes as an enemy only to those who have lost the ability to welcome it as a friend.” — Smart Bee


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


Okay, so, I’m not entirely sure what happened here today, but, as far as I can tell, it’s done. So be it…. though I hate to repeat myself. Ah well, it’s a day for changes, so, we’ll all just have to deal with it…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, from a new locus…..




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch








dozer3




À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Look honey! It’s the official White House Pornographer…..

			
						

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Ffolkes,


 


As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, 


 for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task.


 ~~  Diogenes ~~


 crane style kung fu



     I’m enjoying the latest format for these Pearls; it took me close to three years here on WordPress to figure out how to give myself the impetus to begin each day, but, with a quote, and a picture, it’s almost too easy….. I can go with one of them, or the other, or I can use both, or neither; any of those seems to work just fine to get me going…. Today, you should know I found this, again, in the photo collection on the London Daily Tell, er, Telegraph, from a week or so ago, This Week in Animal Pictures, but, I gave it my own title, “crane style kung fu”, since it is a rather perfect representation of that style of the art’s “look and feel”…. The two huge birds, disputing over a patch of the lake, give us the exact form to emulate…


     Of course, once I’ve used the picture, or the quote (in this case, obviously, only the former…. the quote stands alone, and really doesn’t need anything from me today….), then I have to once more figure out where to go from there…. Sometimes, the picture, or the quote, or, most often, the combination of the two, will provide that direction…. I screwed it up today, going for the attribution, and the kung fu reference…. That, as you can see, has left me right here, in the middle of nowhere, with nowhere to turn…. I am, indeed, a Bozo, of the First Degree….


     However, even a Bozo gets productive on occasion; we just don’t like to let that get spread around too much, as it can de-sillify the image…. and, yes, I just made that word up, de-sillify, which means, to make a Bozo less silly than before… Before what? Why, before being de-sillified, of course… There isn’t a Bozo alive who can convince me they enjoy the process, even WITH all the modern improvements to keep the bleeding to a minimum, so don’t bother asking….


     There…. that feels better…. Sometimes, when the nose grows, you just gotta let is show, you know?…. Today, I think you may need all the silly I can provide, as the rant/discussion/essay/sober, reasoned discourse in section one, which I began yesterday, has grown beyond all reason, and is probably long enough for three Pearls…. In fact, it’s so involved, I’m going to use one of the best emergency methods for getting us out of here…. You may recognize it…. #4? I thought you might…. Here it is, in fact, so….


     Shall we Pearl?…..


 “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” — Albert Einstein


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


     Ffolkes, you will probably need to gird your grid for a big one….. The pearl below has been evolving for a full day, growing beyond my ability to restrict its size, due to the relatively verdant field of subject matter with which  I chose to work, the scope of the discussion, and the critical nature of the issue on which I am trying to focus, to wit: all of the available evidence at hand indicates that the human race has entered a stage of civilization that, in every historical case, has led directly to its demise, and disappearance. Moreover. because of the technological advances we have made, as a species, this time, that demise will be world-wide, and will preclude any possibility of ever rising again…


     Now, I know that sounds rather pessimistic, as well as cynical; I can’t help that. The evidence is too ubiquitous, and too convincing to me, to ignore, or to minimize. Below, I am going to provide links to articles from only ONE source of news. The breadth of the problems described in those articles are connected to the worst characteristics of human nature, and are symptomatic of the culture’s deterioration we are facing. Each one shows humanity at its worst, and the worst part of it is, all of the protagonists in the stories, on both sides of whatever issue is being discussed, all demonstrate those qualities that continue to cause the problems to be insoluble by any known means…


     I’ve got a lot to say about this, so, we’ll start with some art…. It’s just a picture of me, and one of the guys I’ve talked all this over with…. though in the case of this gentleman, our conversation was completely non-verbal…. Now that I stop to think about it, it made it all much less susceptible to misunderstanding…. Below the picture, we’ll begin our assault on the Asininnies latest shenanigans, and our discussion of how it all connects to create another link…. showing the path to extinction we are all following so blindly….
 


 


day2 London 009 


“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)


     Trust a poet to come up with exquisitely crafted, delicately balanced, subtly nuanced, completely negative statement (otherwise known as an insult….), about someone mostly everyone in the world admires, and make it almost sound as if he is administering praise, when, in fact, he just poked Willie S. with a very sharp stick in the reputation…. Of course, it is also obscure enough that you may question exactly how it applies to blogging here in section one, which is generally reserved for rants, or rant-like facsimiles…. and, it would be a good question, as the connection IS rather tenuous, at best…. However, I’ll try to make it clear….


     I speak often about how the world is screwed up, an assessment of existence for which I lay much of the blame on several aspects of human nature, and the way those characteristics affect our society and culture…. I think it can all be boiled down to one particular area of examination, which is the way we, as human beings, deal with the matter of Truth…. There is, of course, more than just this issue involved, but, how we handle clear, correct expressions of Reality, in our dealings with the world, and each other, is one that has far reaching side effects on every area of human discourse, which is a long winded way of saying, on our history….


 “Honor isn’t about making the right choices.  It’s about dealing with the consequences.” — Midori Koto


     In today’s complex world of the Future, it can easily be shown how Truth is considered to be something that is susceptible to human alteration, according to whatever whim or reason they may have for doing so, whether honorable, or otherwise, whether selfish, or otherwise…. I’ve shown many, many instances of how the government of this country, and many of its other official entities, such as the courts, the police, the churches, and ALL of the bankers, continuously, and purposefully lie to the public…. Not only that, but, they spy on us, and keep their own secrets about doing so…. 


     Then, when confronted, they create a huge hullabaloo, all starting with denial, fading into reluctant admission, then justification, then distraction, then…. time passes, and the public is given some other catastrophic event to put fear into them, such as a mass shooting, or an alleged terrorist threat….. It always follows the same basic pattern, with the intent, and result, of nothing changing at all….


     Below you’ll find a number of links, to articles that show how the White House, the Congress, the Federal Courts, the police, and, even the public attitudes toward Truth, are shown in the light in which they use them, to wit: they all regard Truth as more of a myth than a reality…. The article on how resumes for work contain falsifications is particularly disturbing, for it shows just how far the corruption has spread to the general public…. Well over HALF the public saw fit to include lies on their resumes… The companies doing the hiring reinforced the corruption by, to some extent, rewarding almost half of the resumes with lies, by considering other factors other than the lies in the hiring process…. In other words, about half of the lies were accepted as OKAY….


     SIGH…. The last article is different from the rest, though it touches on the general issue quite nicely…. Mr. Carroll offers another viewpoint than mine, with some similarities, and some differences…. As always, his thoughts on the matter are quite insightful, making an excellent addendum, and ending note, for what would otherwise be completely depressing material…. 


     I’ll let you get to the articles now, with this bit of housekeeping… I tried to help a bit, to indicate the point being made by the inclusion of each article, by including the excerpts I pulled out below each link…. They show the most disturbing points in each article, to my way of seeing them…. Good luck, I know it’s a lot, but, this is turning out to be something of a manifesto of my world-view, & I think it will be worth the effort to cover all of it…..
 
 http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Judge-won-t-force-U-S-to-release-spying-program-5681970.php?cmpid=hp-hc-bayarea


 “Michael Rumold, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the lawsuit has been successful but the ruling was disappointing….”It’s troubling to see courts sign off on government secrecy arguments when the general public knows the truth,” he said.” — excerpted closing lines from the article, summing it up nicely….
 
 http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Vandalism-looting-after-vigil-for-Missouri-man-5680580.php


 “Witnesses have said that Brown had his hands raised when the unnamed officer approached with his weapon drawn and fired repeatedly. ” — excerpted from the article
 
 http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Chief-Police-killed-California-robbery-hostage-5681892.php


 “….. results of a preliminary ballistics report show that police in the city of Stockton fired the 10 bullets that struck Misty Holt-Singh, 41, and all her wounds likely came during a final burst of gunfire,….”


 “33 officers fired at the vehicle, most of them during the final shootout. Officers were under constant fire and were concerned the suspects would kidnap other hostages, take over businesses or even a school.”….


 “We believe July 16, 2014, brought dynamics never before seen in law enforcement,” he said, adding that the suspects attempted to kill officers, fired more than 100 bullets and had about 200 rounds remaining when the gunfire ended.” — excerpted from the article


 http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/State-Supreme-Court-yanks-Citizens-United-measure-5682420.php


 “If approved by the voters, it would have asked Congress to submit a constitutional amendment to the states that would authorize federal lawmakers to limit campaign spending and would specify that only people, not corporations, have the right of political free speech.”


 “In the 2010 Citizens United ruling, a 5-4 majority of the nation’s high court said federal laws that limit spending by corporations or labor unions on political causes violated freedom of speech….. ” — excerpted from the article


 http://blog.sfgate.com/gettowork/2014/08/12/most-memorable-resume-lies/#25719101=0


 “58 percent of hiring managers in a recent CareerBuilder survey saying they have caught a resume lie.”….. “Fifty-one percent of respondents said they would automatically throw out a resume containing a lie, 41 percent would base their decision on the type of lie, and 7 percent would overlook a lie if they liked the job candidate.” — excerpted from the article 


 http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/08/06/what-would-the-founders-say-cagop-barring-media-from-qa-with-party-chair/


 “…. a response from GOP state vice chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon…. “There are open press and closed press events at every convention (Brulte) has run. There will be open press events and press conferences at this convention. Closed press is to allow delegates to ask him sensitive questions about strategy and finances that the public and our opponents are not entitled to know. … And neither does John Burton (the Democratic state chairman) invite the Chronicle to every meeting of delegates to his party.” 


 “We asked Tenoch Flores, spokesman for the California Democratic Party, about its rules regarding press coverage of convention events. His response: “It is our policy that any delegation meeting taking place at convention is open to press.”– excerpted from the article


     and, finally, a voice of reason….
 
 http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/Notice-your-urges-when-I-say-you-can-5682102.php


 “I favor considered opinion over uninformed opinion. It’s a liberal bias…..”


 “Experts are not always right. Scientists are not always right. But most of the time they are. We built a very fine country on the basis of Enlightenment rationality. Thomas Jefferson and those folks very much favored knowledge over ignorance, reason over superstition.”– excerpted from the article


     Truth. Lies. Human nature….. What a mess, eh? I can only hope that, somehow, the strength and beauty of human nature, the incredible creativity and passionate imagination our spirits have the potential to express, just as much as it does our flaws, will gain ascendancy in the coming years, becoming the rule of human behavior, rather than the exception, and that we can overcome the reckless, selfish, violent spirits among us to reach for that potential…. Being a curmudgeon, and somewhat of a cynic, at least in regard to human nature, I find myself reluctant to hope…. but, it’s like Emily always said….


 


Hope is the thing with feathers
 That perches in the soul,
 And sings the tune without the words,
 And never stops at all,


 And sweetest in the gale is heard;
 And sore must be the storm
 That could abash the little bird
 That kept so many warm.


 I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
 And on the strangest sea;
 Yet, never, in extremity,
 It asked a crumb of me. 


 ~~ Emily Dickinson ~~ 


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


     Here is a poem, that you may have seen just recently, as I only wrote it less than a month ago…. However, in  searching for another poem of mine I was going to use, I opened this one, and found it to be a perfect match for the theme in section one…. I wrote this last month, on the 19th, so all of it must have been in my head when I put together the above rant…. Any who, I hope you enjoy it, it’s not bad…


 


A Few Words of Note


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


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


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


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


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


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


 ~~ gigoid ~~


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


     Since the first section went so epic, we’ll go simple here in section three for today…. An old-school random harlequin pearl should do nicely, all fresh and sassy…. I’ve always wanted to call a pearl “sassy”…. I think seven stars today would be just fine….


 “Lawyers: the larval form of politicians.” — Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 37th edition (not really)


 “To use words but rarely is to be natural.” — Lao Tzu


 “We have met the enemy; in fact, we elected him.” — Cruickshank’s Law #1


 “The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity.” — Dr. Robert Anthony


 “Albert, stop telling God what to do.” — Niels Bohr


 “The ability of our people to deceive themselves is the highest art of the nation.” — Smart Bee*** (see below)


 ***(It should be noted that, for this pearl, I Googled it, to see if anyone had actually claimed this bit of sardonicism…. and found that there were, literally, dozens of politicians who have used this…. I’m hoping they were making a joke, but, sadly, I don’t think they were…..)****


 ****(all of that, of course, is a big, fat lie…. It COULD be true, but, I did make it up…. Full disclosure: I didn’t want to tell you it wasn’t real…. It SOUNDS as if it could be, that’s the problem….)


     Now, for the final, most excellently silly pearl, we will rely on our old friend….


 “Awright, which one of you hid my PENIS ENVY?” — Zippy the Pinhead


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


     I could make excuses, but, I won’t. In fact, I’m so burnt from creating this, I’m going to put it up without even proofing it…. and the typos can just go to hell…. See ya 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


 


 


 


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We’ve got two words for you, mister…. Puff Paste….

			
						

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Ffolkes,


I find myself immediately in White Rabbit mode this morning, having slept over eight hours again, not arising until AFTER the coffee machine had gone off at its pre-set time, a time I generally beat by a good hour each day. This morning, I find myself just beginning this process after 5 AM, which is VERY late, for me…. 


Ah well, such is life, at least, as we know it…. consistency is only present in Nature in predictable ways. The sun comes up pretty consistently, and there are a few other universal factors of existence, (Death, taxes, etc.), we can count on to happen on a regular basis like that. Otherwise, it’s a crap shoot, ffolkes, so most of us get used to not finding things exactly as we left them the last time we dealt with them….


We humans even have a word for that, to wit: entropy, which, loosely defined tells us, “Things fall apart”…. which phrase, by the way, is the title of a very good little book, by a young African author, named Chinua Achebe…. It is considered one of the best English language books about Africa, used in many colleges to exemplify the genre… 


The story, about an Igbo tribesman in central Africa, is one that gives us a very good understanding of this principle, (entropy), and how it affects our lives, and our relationships with others in society, as we all try to cope with this basic flaw in the design of our universe…


Of course, it is only a flaw to our way of thinking…. None of the other inhabitants of this plane of existence seem to have a lot of trouble dealing with this particular aspect of reality; they just shrug their equivalent of shoulders, and soldier on, going on to whatever the next thing the universe presents to them for their perception, and their experience…. 


Not that the universe cares or anything, but, it does make it pretty well impossible to avoid dealing with the iconic forces of chaos, with glaring examples at every turn to remind us of how fragile is our perceptive model, and how often it must be amended with codicils or changes to our attitudes.


All of which, of course, has nothing at all to do with this Pearl…. it’s simply another attempt to draw your attention away from what we are doing here behind the curtain, and to give y’all good reason to come on in, settle down in one of our comfortable seats, order up an adult beverage, and say goodbye to irrationality, as we take off on another exploration of this planet and all its wonders…. I don’t think it would be wise to tell you how the plane runs, or where, exactly, it will take us…. all of that is subject to change at an instant’s notice, anyway…. This is CONSENSUAL REALITY, you know, not some cheap imitation…


That having been said, for what is is worth, (and no snickering from the back rows….), we’ll get on with this, to settle down the nerves of our White Rabbit, so he, too, may enjoy the ride….


Shall we Pearl?…..


“Assess the advantages of taking advice, then structure your forces accordingly, to supplement extraordinary tactics. Forces are to be structured strategically, based on what is advantageous.” — Sun Tzu


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


Following this instructive, ethically stimulating quote by Lazarus, which immediately follows this paragraph, you will find a discussion of ethics and/or morality, with a short little foray into religious philosophy, from the standpoint of my own personal philosophy, much of which is based on the concept(s) involved in understanding, and, equally importantly, accepting the principle whereof Lazarus speaks, to wit: “duty”.  


Making one’s chosen “duty” a part of one’s life demands a certain degree of honesty, as well as the courage to apply that honesty to one’s own actions, thereby accepting responsibility for them; this attitude is not one I have found to be common to the philosophies of any the religions I have studied….. When the discussion was first posted, no pearls were associated, until the end, but, this one is the perfect lead to what follows….


“Do not confuse ‘duty’ with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.” — Lazarus Long


From 2/12/13:


I am an asshole. A jerk. A prick. A foul-mouthed, misbegotten excuse for a human being…. I, as is true of virtually all seven billion of my peers on this planet, am nothing more than a hypocrite, deserving of eternal residence in the lowest pits of hell for my perfidy….. What, you might ask, prompted this viciously personal outburst of self-denigration? Well, let me tell you….


Most of us, at some point or another, sit down from time to time to think about our actions, those we are considering, and those we have acted out in the past, to get some perspective on how those actions have conformed to our ethical and moral beliefs. In other words, we sit in self-judgment; whether we do so to praise or to chastise doesn’t matter, ultimately, as long as it is an honest appraisal, and we do not flinch from owning up to our baseness where it is found…..


This is why I am forced to curse myself…. Because I’m not a Catholic,  or any other faith that espouses such mummery, (I don’t mean to pick on Catholics…. some of my best friends, etc…..  😆  ….. They’re just an example everyone recognizes, and can relate to as similar to their own….)….  Any who, because I’m not of that Tribe, I don’t have the luxury of confessing to a priest, who would then reassure me that I am still one of the Chosen Ones, and send me on my way having learned nothing but a false sense of entitlement.


I can’t just pass off what I may have done in my life to some faceless butthead in a dress, who, no doubt, has a great laugh at the expense of the penitent, when he and the other priests get together in the rectory for a few drinks, passing around all the latest tall tales and outtakes from the confessional booth…..


I consider myself to be a morally upright person, and hope that my actions reflect that. But, I know for certain that, like every other human being who ever lived, I don’t always live up to those moral beliefs, and fall from grace on occasion…. If I were a less honest man, I’d say that there were mitigating, or at least explanatory reasons for my failures to hold to my own standards, but, if I tried that, my Dad would kick my ass from now until Thursday the next time I see him, so I’m not going to take that chance…. I take full responsibility for my actions, base and cruel as they were, and no one can hold me in lower regard than I do….


I had considered using this venue as a confessional, to air out my transgressions on the stage of reality, but, I don’t think that would be any more ethical than confessing to a priest…. Confession may make a difference to the penitent, by absolving him/her from any lingering guilt that could adversely affect them (i.e., they feel better about themselves after receiving absolution…), but, in truth, it doesn’t mean a damn thing, as nothing is done to balance the scale, in a karmic sense, especially for whatever creature or person that was the victim of the cruelty. The only act that would mean anything would be for the perpetrator to use the experience to motivate them to two things….


One, to try to repair whatever hurt or pain they have caused another creature…. man, animal, doesn’t matter…. They don’t deserve to be victimized, no matter their form, and ALL one can do, to fix any harm they have caused, is the least they should do…. 


Second, use the experience as motivation to make a change in themselves, to act with greater understanding, greater compassion, and greater control over themselves and their feelings…. which is what guilt is all about, right?…. 


The difference is that, when one confesses to a priest, and receives absolution, there is no motivation to make any changes in their actions…. They know none is necessary, since they can relieve themselves of any guilt they may feel by confessing…. so, why bother?


On the other hand, when one assumes the responsibility for their own actions, the guilt doesn’t go away…. I will never forgive myself for some of the things that I’ve done in my life (nor will I share them in any attempt to gain forgiveness from anyone else…. it’s none of their fucking business….)


(Besides, that whole confessional thing just sounds too much like a blackmail scheme…. the people who confess are sure putting their fate trustingly into the hands of those priests, aren’t they?). That simple fact is what keeps me from falling into the same ethical trap I did when I lost my cool, and acted without thinking,  or took my feelings out on innocent bystanders….. Not going to happen again, a sentiment which, I’m sure, is NOT what you can expect from any religicos after confession….


You will note that there are no pearls associated with this discussion…. That’s because I am such an asshole, none were needed to stimulate me into spilling my guts, so to speak…. Besides, I couldn’t find a proper pearl for the beginning of such a somber subject by the time I was ready to write about it…. But, Murphy must have liked the way I dissed myself, because, hunting for an appropriate closer, afterward, I found these two, which, together, make a grand finishing touch for this subject…. Think of them as bookends….


“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” — J. C. Watts


Boy, that hits the nail on the head, doesn’t it?…..    I’ve got these two quotes reversed in the order in which they make the most sense, but, given the state of things here, that isn’t surprising, is it?…. This is the one that probably should go at the front of this piece, so, just put it there in your mind, okay? Thanks….. (Note from 2014: Actually, you may, or even should, ignore all of these final comments on the care and placement of pearls, as they are currently out of context, all because the pearl that now graces the front of this discussion is so perfectly suitable….)


“We tell lies when we are afraid, . . . afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger.” — Tad Williams, Spoken by Dr. Morgenes, To Green Angel Tower (part of — Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)


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


Again, to save others from embarrassment or guilt by association, here is another of my old poems, which, sort of, fits in with today’s elusive theme….




Fine and Good, Good and Fine


A pig in a poke’s got nothing on me,

cuz I’m as confused as a man can be.

This ol’ world’s got me spinnin’ around

cussin’ and spittin’, a penny for a pound.


Forty ‘leven times since I was a kid, well,

I’ve fallen in love, ‘least too close to tell.

Every damn time, it all went to crap,

Forty ‘leven times I’ve felt like a sap.


‘Course, each time it happens, I forget the last;

why not? I’m havin’ such a blast….

Livin’ in each moment, filled with joie de vivre,

’til it’s all gone away again, nothin’ left up my sleeve.


Don’t want y’all to think I’m sad or blue,

life’s full of sorrow, lots for me, and/or you..

T’other side of that coin, we can be glad,

is joyful love, and that ain’t at all bad.


My road’s been littered with parts o’my heart,

each one colored with trust, which ain’t always smart.

Yet, long as I don’t lose my connection to joy,

I’ll find my own true love, and be a happy boy.


It’s been some kinda fun, even when I’d take a fall,

and doin’ it over makes no sense at all, at all

Day after day, I keep on keepin’ on, as it’s said;

Guess I’ll keep on doin’ that ’til I’m dead.


‘Nuff said….


~~ gigoid ~~


….with tongue lodged firmly in cheek….




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


Most days, even if running this late, I would put an old-school pearl here, just to maintain the structure for these Pearls that I think works the best…. Today, though, I just happen to have an archived pearl, somewhat old school, lifted from a Pearl posted back in ‘Aught Twelve’…. I think it’s pretty good, and so do you….


From 10/21/12:


I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.


— Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) — Just So Stories (1902) “The Elephant’s Child”


I first read the phrase “feeding the Elephant’s Child” in a Robert Heinlein novel, many years ago, and enjoyed it as a metaphor for reading/learning, before I knew from whence it originally came. Once I did know (a moment of illumination whose exact placement in time is hazy….), I liked it even more, from an aesthetic standpoint. 


The above little ditty, from our old friend Rudyard, is brilliant doggerel, astute observation, and deep insight, all presented in a simple, straightforward style, with a powerful, basic lesson for any would-be philosopher, or any one who wishes to encompass reason as their modus operandi, so to speak. Besides which, I find that another piece of Bob’s advice fits well with this one, to wit: “Life tastes better in big bites….”


“Never wear anything that panics the cat.” — P. J. O’Rourke


I like this, a lot. It summarizes perhaps one of the most elemental rules of getting along in the Universe, in essence saying, “You can learn a lot by watching what happens around you…” It is the perfect companion to the concept of learning as presented above, as it contrives to speak to both sides of Reality, i.e., how you approach reality (the clothing you choose to show to the cat….) and how reality will change to react to your approach (the cat’s opinion of your clothing….) 


It also gives one a subtle warning about how the wrong clothing can produce unwanted consequences, and we all know how an offended cat is likely to respond…. as Mark Twain once remarked…. “A man who carries a cat by the tail is learning valuable things. He will never again be dim or doubtful. Chances are he’ll not carry the cat that way again, but, I say, if he wants to, let him!”  You can’t say fairer than that….


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


One can always trust the Buddha to state the most profound thoughts in the simplest way…. I often wonder how he came to such a complete understanding of Murphy, whose presence is acknowledged in all of what the Buddha stated, but whose ministrations seem to have passed by the Buddha’s existence…. either that, or Murphy shows him a lot more respect than he does anyone else alive. 


At times, it seems that what the Buddha states, such as in this statement, is, in at least one respect, an answer to a question that is raised when Murphy intervenes in our lives…. in simpler words, he explains why Murphy is able to affect us as he does, by cutting through the bullshite we perceive, to the truth of what is real….. SIGH…. one of these days, enlightenment will slap me upside the head, and I’ll be able to see Murphy coming…. I hope…


There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.” — Bob Dylan


Often I feel as if not only is life a joke, but it is our duty and purpose on this plane of existence to codify that joke, to put it down on paper, or on screen/disc, to free ourselves from the prison of sobriety, achieving an understanding that everything in this silly universe is here for our amusement, and we have been taking it, and ourselves, seriously for entirely too long….. 


So seriously, we have begun to offend those parts of the universe that just want us to relax and enjoy ourselves, and the time is growing nearer when we will have to admit that the joke is on us, for not being able to change our inner selves enough to be able to handle the humor of our situation…. See, the universe thinks death is funny…. not because it is cruel, but because death is just another part of life, and it doesn’t care about one more than the other…. See, now, isn’t it funny how you never noticed that?…..


I once read a science fiction novel, whose title and author escape me completely; in all it was very poorly written, with prose that did not live up to the good ideas contained in the plot line. However, it was a great plot line, in all….Specifically, there was one chapter I liked, which had a super-genius taking on the task of finding the solution to a mathematical treatise, an equation so complex and advanced that no civilization in the galaxy had ever been able to completely solve it.


The genius/hero of the book shut himself up in his room for three weeks, working on the problem. At the end, he was thinking so hard he entered a trance-like state, computing while nearly dead…. after a week of this, he suddenly opened his eyes, gave a look of astonishment, and burst into uncontrollable laughter for approximately 25 minutes. When he could finally control himself, he simply said, “It’s a joke….” and would never discuss it again….


In a pearl such as this one has grown to be, there comes a time when I have to decide whether to continue on, to try to reach the conclusion that was nebulously hovering somewhere in my mind as I began, or to admit that I have once again wandered into uncharted territory, and might find it a bit tricky to find my way back to clarity. 


This is that time…. and I’m leaving it up to Smart Bee, as always…. If I don’t find a proper pearl to carry on the tenuous chain of thought I’ve created, then we’ll take the first one that will appropriately wrap it up as a lost cause….. all within a specified number of attempts…. so, here we go… You’ll know in a moment what will happen….


“In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap xi


There, see?…. That didn’t take long at all…. and I managed to find the perfect pearl to cover both bases…. In this case, we will use it as an ending quote, since it sort of summarizes a lot of the discussion, after a fashion. It could conceivably also be used as a springboard for further discussion, but this has gone on long enough, and I wouldn’t want to lose anybody due to an injudicious application of excess verbiage, culminating in tedium…. Of course, we may have reached that point some time ago, but, hey, who’s counting?…. Any who, I hope you enjoyed this little foray into not very much….


🙂


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


I have no excuses, nor apologies, at all…. I have succumbed to the dictates of chosen duty, and done the best I can do to make this an acceptable member of a long line of decently written outbursts of personal angst. 


Personally, I think it’s not bad, but, I’m probably not the most appropriate judge of that…. and since nobody has suggested I cease and desist, I’ll keep on keepin’ on, for as long as the impulse to write remains strong and fresh…. 


Y’all can take that any way you like, as either a promise, or a threat…. either way, it’s true, and I’m outta here for another day…. See ya, ffolkes….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….




— 

Sometimes I sits and thinks, 

   and sometimes, 

I just sits. 



gigoid the dubious


dozer3





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
To my best knowledge, common sense says we run away, fast…..

			
						

				Posted on   by  			

			
						

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Ffolkes,


Yesterday’s fog of pain has been dispelled, and this morning’s outlook on life is much improved, thankfully…. The application of copious quantities of heavy drugs has done the trick once more, and I am freed from the prison of pain, to march forth once more into the world, unbowed, and unafraid, to take up the gauntlet as thrown by those in power in our society, to bring my unique viewpoint, to join in the ongoing quest to find EVEN A LITTLE bloody common sense in the world…. This may sound as if I’m writing to make the title come true, but, no, it’s just what struck me, smack! right upside the head, as I sat to compose today’s missive….


I’ve learned, over the past two+ years, to allow my mind a bit of free rein, at the outset of each Pearl, to make the opening lines compelling, or at least, engaging…. I can’t say that it’s a particularly successful technique, but, it gets me going, as a general rule, so it suffices, and I am content with it, for the nonce… 


You see, the biggest trouble in writing every day isn’t coming up with stuff to write about, it’s the little details, such as an engaging opening, or a cheerful closing, that will bring a reader back again, that determine the quality of a blog…. Well, that’s how I see it, anyway, and on this site, that’s all that really matters…. Out in the BBR, to try to balance the scales, I try NOT to be too egotistical, or assume too many prerogatives; the general sense of entitlement that MOST folks feel isn’t something I care to emulate…. But, here at ECR, it’s all MINE, and I can do with it as I wish….


That doesn’t mean I’m not aware of y’all, or that there may be times when I want to cater to public viewpoints…. More often, I just ignore what may be cute, or acceptable, and go for a poke in the eye, so don’t expect a lot of leeway in that…. Ffolkes who read my blog need to remember to put on their thinking caps, and be ready to heat them up; I’m not going to suffer fools any more than is absolutely necessary…. It’s a waste of my time, and tends to annoy me when I do, so, I’d rather just lay it out there, and let ffolkes deal with what I have to say, and not worry too much (or at all, for that matter….) about how people will react to it….. In other words, gigoid has spoken…. so be it…


Now, how did we get there? Boy, sometimes I’m not sure if there’s actually anyone driving this bus…. I find myself, all too often, starting off to write in one direction, then, in mid-paragraph, I’ll find myself 4 or 5 degrees away from whatever concept began the train of thought, into a completely different set of issues and/or ideas, with little connection to where it began…. SIGH…. 


I can’t say it’s a gift, but, it’s not exactly a curse, either, as it sometimes puts me right where I needed to go, whether I knew it or not…. Sort of a Zen cowboy sort of philosophizing technique, you know? Ah well, such is life in a daily blog…. What the hell, let’s get on with it….


Shall we Pearl?…..


“To spell out the obvious is often to call it in question” — Hoffer

_____________________________


While cruising through old Pearls, I found this little diatribe from early last year…. I think it’s appropriate for today’s beginning section, as it remains as valid today as the day I wrote it….


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


From February 2013:


I am an asshole. A jerk. A prick. A foul-mouthed, misbegotten excuse for a human being…. I am, as with most of my peers, a hypocrite, and deserving of permanent sentencing to the lowest pits of hell for my perfidy….. What, you might ask, prompted this outburst of severe, seemingly sincere self-denigration? Well, let me tell you….


Most of us, at some point or another, sit down from time to time to think about our actions, those we are considering, and those we have acted out in the past, to get some perspective on how those actions have conformed to our ethical and moral beliefs. In other words, we sit in self-judgment; whether we do so to praise or to chastise doesn’t matter, ultimately, as long as it is an honest appraisal, and we do not flinch from owning up to our baseness where it is found…..


This is why I am forced to curse myself…. Because I’m not a Catholic,  or any other faith that espouses such mummery, (I don’t mean to pick on Catholics…. some of my best friends, etc…..  🙂  They’re just an example everyone knows about….)….  Any who, because I’m not of that Tribe, I don’t have the luxury of confessing to a priest, who would then reassure me that I am still one of the Chosen Ones, and send me on my way having learned nothing but a false sense of entitlement. I can’t just pass off what I may have done in my life to some faceless butthead in a dress, who, no doubt, has a great laugh at the expense of the penitent, when he and the other priests get together in the rectory for a few drinks, passing around all the latest tall tales and outtakes from the confessional booth…..


I consider myself to be a morally upright person, and hope that my actions reflect that. But, I know for certain that, like every other human being who ever lived, I don’t always live up to those moral beliefs, and fall from grace on occasion…. If I were a less honest man, I’d say that there were mitigating, or at least explanatory reasons for my failures to hold to my own standards, but, if I tried that, my Dad would kick my ass from now until Thursday the next time I see him, so I’m not going to take that chance…. I take full responsibility for my actions, base and cruel as they were, and no one can hold me in lower regard than I do….


I had considered using this venue as a confessional, to air out my transgressions on the stage of reality, but, I don’t think that would be any more ethical than confessing to a priest…. Confession may make a difference to the penitent, by absolving him/her from any lingering guilt that could adversely affect them (i.e., they feel better about themselves after receiving absolution…), but, in truth, it doesn’t mean a damn thing, as nothing is done to balance the scale, in a karmic sense, especially for whatever creature or person that was the victim of the cruelty. The only act that would mean anything would be for the perpetrator to use the experience to motivate them to two things….


One, to try to repair whatever hurt or pain they have caused another creature…. man, animal, doesn’t matter…. They don’t deserve to be victimized, no matter their form, and ALL one can do, to fix any harm they have caused, is the least they should do…. Second, use the experience as motivation to make a change in themselves, to act with greater understanding, greater compassion, and greater control over themselves and their feelings…. which is what guilt is all about, right?…. The difference is that, when one confesses to a priest, and receives absolution, then there is no motivation to make any changes in their actions…. They know that none is necessary;they can relieve themselves of any guilt they may feel by confessing, so why bother?


On the other hand, when one assumes the responsibility for their own actions, the guilt doesn’t go away…. I will never forgive myself for some of the things that I’ve done in my life (nor will I share them in any attempt to gain forgiveness from anyone else…. it’s none of their fucking business….)(Besides, that whole confessional thing just sounds too much like a blackmail scheme…. the people who confess are sure putting their fate trustingly into the hands of those priests, aren’t they?). That simple fact is what keeps me from falling into the same ethical trap I did when I lost my cool, and acted without thinking,  or took my feelings out on innocent bystanders….. Not going to happen again, a sentiment which, I’m sure, is NOT what you can expect from any confessors, after a confession….


You will note that there are no pearls associated with this discussion…. That’s because I am such an asshole, none was needed to stimulate me into spilling my guts, so to speak…. Besides, I couldn’t find a proper pearl for the beginning of such a somber subject by the time I was ready to write about it…. But, Murphy must have enjoyed the way I dissed myself, because I found these two, which, together, make a good closer for this subject…. Think of them as bookends….


“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” — J. C. Watts


Boy, that hits the nail on the head, doesn’t it?…..    I’ve got these two quotes reversed in the order in which they make the most sense, but, given the state of things here, that isn’t surprising, is it…. This is the one that probably should go at the front of this piece, so, just put it there in your mind, okay? Thanks…..


“We tell lies when we are afraid, . . . afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger.” — Tad Williams, Spoken by Dr. Morgenes, To Green Angel Tower (part of — Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)

_____________________________


Today’s poem is one I might have used in the past, but, I don’t care….. It’s so good, here ’tis again…..




Finisterre


This was the land’s end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic,

Cramped on nothing. Black

Admonitory cliffs, and the sea exploding

With no bottom, or anything on the other side of it,

Whitened by the faces of the drowned.

Now it is only gloomy, a dump of rocks —-

Leftover soldiers from old, messy wars.

The sea cannons into their ear, but they don’t budge.

Other rocks hide their grudges under the water.


The cliffs are edged with trefoils, stars and bells

Such as fingers might embroider, close to death,

Almost too small for the mists to bother with.

The mists are part of the ancient paraphernalia —-

Souls, rolled in the doom-noise of the sea.

They bruise the rocks out of existence, then resurrect them.

They go up without hope, like sighs.

I walk among them, and they stuff my mouth with cotton.

When they free me, I am beaded with tears.


Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is striding toward the horizon,

Her marble skirts blown back in two pink wings.

A marble sailor kneels at her foot distractedly, and at his foot

A peasant woman in black

Is praying to the monument of the sailor praying.

Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is three times life size,

Her lips sweet with divinity.

She does not hear what the sailor or the peasant is saying —-

She is in love with the beautiful formlessness of the sea.


Gull-colored laces flap in the sea drafts

Beside the postcard stalls.

The peasants anchor them with conches. One is told:

“These are the pretty trinkets the sea hides,

Little shells made up into necklaces and toy ladies.

They do not come from the Bay of the Dead down there,

But from another place, tropical and blue,

We have never been to.

These are our crêpes. Eat them before they blow cold.”


~~ Sylvia Plath ~~


_____________________________


This pearl will be displayed in the new format I’ve been working on as a change of scene around here…. These are headlines from SFGATE, a news web site I use as an average news collector, as it tends to display a fairly even grouping of the world’s and nation’s news, without TOO much bias, though certainly not without any…. The headlines I’ve included below, viewed as a big picture, are, as we can see, downright fucking crazy in how they portray the insanity so prevalent in today’s society…. Here then are more indications we are currently living through Heinlein’s “Crazy Years” here in America…. My comments, as always, are parenthesized for clarity….


http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/2014/02/07/tesla-driver-blames-fatal-crash-on-new-car-smell/


(I’m pretty sure I don’t need to make too many comments about this guy, or about how typically asinine he is, in as he cluelessly exhibits not only his selfishness, but, also his stupidity in public, without any idea of how ridiculous he sounds or appears to others….. “New car smell?” As the justification for running over a pedestrian? I suppose, in one way, it’s a perfect example of both the corruption so prevalent, and of the lack of any sort of system of ethics at play, in the lawyers who took the case to bring suit, as well as in the sense of entitlement that the average American asshole feels, to think that they can escape any consequences for their actions by finding a loophole in a law, or some weird psychiatric justification for acts that were at best, stupid, and at worst, deliberately, carelessly, and, feloniously, ignorant….)



http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Elderly-woman-slain-in-Oakland-home-invasion-5215511.php


(Again, no comment is necessary to make any clearer how sick our society has become, when there are people in the world who can actually perform these kinds of acts, without any compassion, or any connection to how another person feels…. I didn’t read the article, as I’ve seen its like too often to need to put myself through that again… I already know, having dealt with them for many years, the depths to which the human psyche can sink in its pain and reaction to a lifetime of abuse by the world…. It still doesn’t excuse any of it, or justify it, to understand why it happens…. But, it sure does make me want to go out, buy a gun, and start picking off some of the names, on my own personal list of those the world would be better off without….)


http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Russian-TV-shows-doctored-video-of-Olympic-rings-5214936.php


(More comedy from Russia and their current dictator, Vlad “Glad Impaler” Putin, trying to convince the world that hey, nothing wrong here, move along, nothing to see…. when, in fact, almost everything the world is seeing in Sochi points up another issue that the Soviet government has screwed up in its repressive attempts to maintain the status quo….. which, after all, is the ultimate purpose of any dictatorship, or essentially fascist government…. or ANY government, for that matter…. Democratic, Republic, Monarchic, no matter what form government takes, its bottom line priority is to maintain the status quo, to ensure the people stay out of the government’s way as they plunder, steal, and cheat…. The video to which the article refers is merely the latest symptom that shows exactly how the world’s society at large, and, Russian society in particular, is falling apart at the seams…..)



http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/SAC-Capital-ex-trader-convicted-of-insider-trading-5211174.php


(Whoops, gosh, look here! A stock trader cheated! A bank(er) was involved, a large, shadowy, amorphous corporation was involved, a government agency screwed up their job, a rich businessman profited, and the poor scapegoat is the only one to go to jail…. Have we seen this story before? Isn’t this a rather familiar scenario over the last, oh, 120 years or so? Why, yes, yes, I believe that’s so…. I can remember seeing stories exactly like this one 50 years ago, back in the 50’s and 60’s, as well as many from history that would be classed as clones of this one…. But, the media has to present each one as if it is some sort of big surprise…. SIGH…. It’s almost too easy for me, when they act this stupid….)


http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/02/07/senate-judiciary-republicans-blame-a-lawyer-adegbile-for-a-client-abu-jamal/


(Oh, right, this one…. This is SO STUPID!!!! So stupid, it caused me to go momentarily insane, with my fingers flashing out four exclamation points without conscious control, just to vent my frustration…. You know, it’s completely possible that commenting on this story could turn into a rant….


The Republican Party has become a conglomeration of some of the stupidest, most hidebound fools I’ve ever witnessed, even in American politics, and remember…. I was there when we had both Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon to push around, so, I KNOW about corrupt, greedy, amoral politicians….. This current group in the House, and the Senate, as well as spread throughout all the state’s houses of political machinery (chicanery?), are among the stupidest and most viciously ignorant that I’ve ever seen….


This particular set of idiots involved in this article are perhaps some of the most egregiously ignorant of the lot, and show the extent of how much the conservative mind has turned to mush over time, especially when dealing with issues that are, essentially, non-partisan in nature…. It seems to me that finding the most balanced people to be judges, or attorney general types, would benefit BOTH sides, more so than choosing biased people, who only make things worse for everyone…. Of course, I’m not stupid, I have no investment in pursuing my own agenda in this issue, nor do I desire to use the issue for any political gain, so, perhaps that would color my perceptions…. I certainly hope so….


Please note, I am certain, and have seen proof of the fact, that the Democrats are no brighter, in toto, or even, on average, but, somehow, they don’t seem to publicly stick their foot in it quite so frequently as the GOP pundits. I can’t blame the media for that, entirely, as they obviously have no more claim to intelligent design in their actions than do the politicians. Each of the political parties that dominate this country’s bureaucracy (it long ago ceased to function as anything else….) feels the media favors the other; that’s a typical reaction for a creature that suffers from paranoia, and the political scenario attracts schizophrenics like flowers draw bees…. (Actually, it would be more accurate to say that politics attracts the psychopathically insane like shit draws flies….. but, I won’t say that….) (Oh…. whoops….)


Nonetheless, it seems to me that BOTH of the parties that are currently ensconced in the halls of Congress in Washington have been taken over by a bunch of really, really selfish, more than stupid in their deliberate ignorance, rich, white, old men, with the random woman, African-American, Asian-American, and Latin-American tokens there to provide proof of our “diversity”…. No overt LGBT’s yet, publicly….


The funny thing about those politicians of color or gender…. when they talk, they SOUND EXACTLY like a rich, white, stupid old man, no matter whether they are young, female, black, yellow, or brown…. Next time Ted Cruz puts out a sound bite on TV, close your eyes and listen…. He will not be distinguishable from any of his peers…. Note also, the terms to describe the token members of Congress deliberately set them apart as being ‘different’ Americans than the others, don’t they? They sure do, and that’s just fine with the old white dudes, as if provides camouflage for their inherent racism and bigotry, making them appear as if they welcome the input from those parts of society THEY DON’T REALIZE ARE NOW THE MAJORITY!…..


It’s too bad, really, and frustrating for those of us who can understand what is going on…. Intelligence is the only factor in our makeup that enhances our chances to survive, especially in the oncoming crisis in the environment of our planet…. These idiots are continually, and continuously, displaying behavior that is counter-productive to that survival…. and they don’t even have the wit to know it. In fact, most of them are so insanely wrapped up in pursuing their own agenda they refuse to even listen to anything that doesn’t fit in with their own preconceived misconceptions….. Idiots, every one of them….


Okay, that’s enough…. I could conceivably spend a very long time at this…. I’ve got a long litany of complaints about government, and those who indulge in that particular vice…. But, I’m getting worked up, and that’s making me tense, and that makes my back hurt…. So, for my health, I’m calling a halt to this rant…. (For my health…. right…. Can you see my skeptical expression?….) Since the entire rant, short as it may be, is in parentheses, I can do that without any permits, or even any hand signals….


gigoid has spoken…. So be it…..)


“When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.” — Seneca


Well, you know what they say…. Ignorance is bliss…..

_____________________________


Well, this Pearl turned into an epic…. and high time, too, if I say so myself….. That’s a joke….   😆


I’ve noted very light traffic of late on my site, so it’s fortunate I don’t really care one way or the other about the size of my readership…. I kind of hope this one gets some traffic, though, as it says some stuff that would be good for most Americans to hear, whether they want to or not….


That said, let me thank all my regular readers, people I consider as friends now after a long time of exchanged information, and shared emotion…. that’s part of friendship, right? Right…. Any who, I’m happy you’re my friends, (both of you…) (Joke….),   🙄    


I do hope all who read what I write enjoy it, and are inspired to use their own “little grey cells” for more than just finding food and shelter…. But, then, I also wish for world peace, so, I’m accustomed to having my wishes denied by reality…. SIGH…..    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


dozer3



					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Subsidized pets never rust…..

			
						

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Ffolkes,

If there is one place in the world I would prefer to avoid during the month of July, Bakersfield would be that place. Hot, dusty, and ugly were the three adjectives that came to mind as I walked out of the bus terminal. The grimy faces of tired, old buildings lined the street, harsh neon lights looking pale and wan in the harsh, oppressive light of the sun. Nobody else appeared to be out in the midday heat except yours truly, acting the part of either mad dog, or Englishman, for the entertainment of whatever gods happened to be watching.


I knew of at least one goddess who would be doing so with rapt attention, for she is the one who sent me to this godforsaken hole in the wall of the universe, and she will want to know what I’m doing at all times…. The gods aren’t the most trusting of employers, but they pay well for success…. Of course, what I’ll do with all these old drachmae, I don’t know, but I’ll worry about it later…. Being the private eye on call to Olympus isn’t the easiest gig, but I like it, even if some of the major goddesses can be a bit testy about their entitlements…. As long as the money is good, I can put up with a lot of foolishness….


I might take this a bit further, but I just realized that this idea has been done already…. almost. “The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul” by Douglas Adams, tells the story of a PI involved in a case with a number of the old Norse gods…. Odin, Loki, and the like. I didn’t realize it until I typed “drachmae”, which is not Norse, but still reminded me of the adventures of Dirk Gently in a hostile universe that Adams put out. Not wishing to plagiarize his idea any further, we will leave that story right where it is, to die a long, painful, and horrible death, alone….. good thing I have no emotional attachment to it, or I’d feel some guilt….


Here’s a good piece of advice for all you youngsters out there…. Never….. wait, that’s too long…. okay, try this….. Always…. No, that’s the same thing, just backwards…. hmmm…. Sometimes…. there you go, that works…. 


Sometimes, you win, and sometimes, you lose. Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield. And sometimes, it all makes sense, until it doesn’t, and reality resumes its inevitable march toward our own personal doom…. so don’t sweat it. The end of the road will get here when it gets here, and not a moment before. We may as well enjoy the time while we’re waiting, eh?…. So be it…


I don’t know about y’all but I thinks that’s about enough of that nonsense for one morning…. Shall we Pearl?…..

___________________________________


“Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.” — Cicero


Okay, let’s see…. I can agree with the part that says “Friendship is”…leave out some words leading up to “concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.” Obviously, I am contesting the “only thing” part, yes? Okay… so, let’s see if there are any other useful things “concerning which all mankind agrees”….


Honesty?…. Well, I think this one would probably be acknowledged as being useful by everyone asked, but I’m also pretty certain that many of them would be lying, which kind of negates that whole idea, doesn’t it? Yes, it does…. nod your head up and down, and let’s go on….


Loyalty?…. Hmm… I think this one would most likely run about the same as honesty. Everybody is going to say that they believe in loyalty, but some of them aren’t going to be telling the truth about it, not if 25,000 years of history are considered as evidence.


Love?…. I don’t think there would be any sort of consensus here; too many folks have had bad experiences with love, or more accurately, bad experiences from NOT having being loved, or given an opportunity to love. This would definitely NOT be a subject on which all would agree…. not even close….


Compassion? Fair Play? Opera?  Nope, I don’t think any of these would come close to being a consensus choice, much as some of us would like them to be, or not be, in the case of Opera….


Crispy bacon?  This, I believe, comes as close as anything else to being universally agreed upon. Of course, a lot of vegans and other cholesterol fanatics would SAY they disagree, but you know that deep in their hearts, they really, really WANT that bacon….  🙂


Okay, so maybe Cicero had a valid point. There doesn’t seem to be much of anything that all of mankind can agree upon, which is hardly a surprise, given the stubborn individuality most people cling to like a life-saver in a storm at sea. In fact, this innate insistence on being unique is part of the problem, as it makes it hard for people to accept that other people may feel the higher emotions, such as compassion, or honesty, when they are seldom present in themselves. They do not trust themselves, so they cannot trust others…. only when they are in the presence of a real friend can these virtues be shown….

___________________________________


My Fancy


I painted her a gushing thing,

With years about a score;

I little thought to find they were

A least a dozen more;

My fancy gave her eyes of blue,

A curly auburn head:

I came to find the blue a green,

The auburn turned to red.


She boxed my ears this morning,

They tingled very much;

I own that I could wish her

A somewhat lighter touch;

And if you ask me how

Her charms might be improved,

I would not have them added to,

But just a few removed!


She has the bear’s ethereal grace,

The bland hyaena’s laugh,

The footstep of the elephant,

The neck of a giraffe;

I love her still, believe me,

Though my heart its passion hides;

“She’s all my fancy painted her,”

But oh! how much besides!


Lewis Carroll


Here is something a bit different from Lewis Carroll, whom we all know and love from “Through the Looking Glass: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. I think this poem tells a lot about the British culture of the time in which he lived, as I find a lot of pieces from that time that echo the sentiments described herein. At any rate, it’s a fun read, and brought me a little smile at the end, so I hope you enjoy it, too…..

___________________________________


“We may not be able to persuade Hindus that Jesus and not Vishnu should govern their spiritual horizon, nor Moslems that Lord Buddha is at the center of their spiritual universe, nor Hebrews that Mohammed is a major prophet, nor Christians that Shinto best expresses their spiritual concerns, to say nothing of the fact that we may not be able to get Christians to agree among themselves about their relationship to God. But all will agree on a proposition that they possess profound spiritual resources.  If, in addition, we can get them to accept the further proposition that whatever form the Deity may have in their own theology, the Deity is not only external, but internal and acts through them, and they themselves give proof or disproof of the Deity in what they do and think; if this further proposition can be     accepted, then we come that much closer to a truly religious situation on earth.” — Norman Cousins, from his book “Human Options”


Mr. Cousins speaks in a very even-handed manner, with respect for all of the philosophies, religions, and churches he mentions in his statement. Though it is possibly too complex for the average follower of any religion to take in at one sitting, it does make a reasonable allegation, and leads the reader on a quite logical train of thought. 


What fails to stimulate complete agreement in me is the question, “why do we make the assumption that what we need on earth is “a truly religious situation.” (whatever THAT means… I mean, really…. a religious ‘situation’? And who defines ‘truly’?…)  It is always a puzzle to me how people can use so much mental energy to chase themselves into a maze with no exit……


First, define a ‘religious situation’, and tell me who gets to decide when it is ‘truly religious’…. second explain why we need it on earth…. third, well, never mind, we’ll get to the abuse later….  Anyway, it puzzles me, how someone who can make the above argument, which shows a knowledge of religions which is at least wide, if not particularly deep, can also make such an unwarranted assumption.


I understand one purpose of such a statement, which would be to at least TRY to infuse some unifying connections between the various modes of thought, to get them to see other views, at least hypothetically. That purpose is a good one…. but trying to make the intuitive leap to a melding of religious thought is asking too much of people who, by the very nature of their beliefs, are unaccustomed to that kind of acceptance.  Indeed, one of the primary identifying characteristics of almost any “worshiper” is an extreme resistance to thinking….at all…. much less thinking about acceptance of another religion’s validity.


I believe Mr. Cousins is right to wish that everyone, of whatever religion they are, would open themselves to the idea that other religions have the same right to exist as do they, even though those beliefs are different from their own. A little bit of tolerance for the other fellow’s ideas can go a long way toward keeping the peace between nations, or people…. 


It’s a small thing, but with very large effect on how people treat each other…. It is also the most needed change to human nature that I see, the one that could lead the way to other changes to morality and ethics, thereby providing mankind with the tools needed to survive…..


You cannot face it steadily, but this thing’s for sure,

That time is no healer: the patient is no longer here.

— T.S. Eliot

___________________________________


Homer: “Marge, is this a happy ending or a sad ending?”

Marge: “It’s an ending. That’s enough.”

— The Simpsons


I know exactly how Marge feels…. and it’s enough…. 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!



					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Old~new dogs~tricks…..

			
						

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Ffolkes,

Good morning, I hope…. let’s jump right in….


“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly.  It should be thrown with great force.” — Dorothy Parker


Fortunately for all concerned at this point, I haven’t. Yet. Written a novel. I’ve written enough in the past 10 months to fill the pages of at least three of them, all about 400 pages, but, it’s not a novel, nor, as I think of it now, is it very novel…. sorry….. But, that right there, that pun, even though it wasn’t deliberate, is a good indicator of what I feel right now, in re: what Ms. Parker said above, if applied to my novel of Pearls over the last near-year. In looking over the previous efforts this month, I note a distinct decline in quality. You may not have noticed it, but it is there, to my eye….


Said decline may or may not be connected to the concomitant increase in the personal nature of what I’ve chosen to write; it’s hard to tell without a full introspective overhaul. Sometimes though, going with what is felt, without too much close examination, doesn’t seem such a bad choice upon which to base bending to change…. 


I mean, change will happen, no matter what choice I make, so it seems a good idea to be proactive, in a sense, and make some changes in myself, or in my approach to certain matters. After all, I’m the only one who can change me, and I am also the only thing in the universe I can change. May as well take advantage of those immutable principles….


Hence, I’m changing the face of the Pearls of Virtual Wisdom. Again. It isn’t the first time; over the 12 or 13 years I’ve been putting them together on a pretty much daily basis, first while at work,then from home, I’ve gone through several procedural and structural morphs. 


It all started with one pearl, and one short comment a day, and has grown to an average of 1800 words a day, with five pearls as base material. I think I’ve reached the maximum benefit I can derive by making them so long each day, so I’m cutting back a bit, starting today, and will present only three pearls a day, and give them my best shot, whatever form that may take, prose or verse….


In addition, pearls will be expanded to include more pictures, some with text, some with, well, other stuff…. about which I will either say “Aww!”, or write a haiku, or a short essay, or a rant, or whatever strikes me (not a change, but a change in stimuli….)…. No harm in trying to add some color to my day, and yours…. So, Gentle Reader, settle back, and gird your grid for a new experience…. at least, new to this blog… Shall we explore consensual reality together?…. A’Pearling we shall go….

___________________________________    Friendship is a wonderful thing; saying so is pretty obvious and trite, but nonetheless true for that. And we all know that to have a friend, one must BE a friend. This attitude, of being open to the kind of things that friends do, is especially important when one is in a place far away from those friends, when they are not there to lean on, or to help…. In life we travel, we drift apart, we follow our own paths, but our friends are always with us, even if only in our hearts… And in those times we are alone, being open to friendship can save not only your sanity, but your life….    I have friends who would do all of the things listed under the real friends category; not just would do, but have…. It’s been a while since I was in a dog pile with them, and doing so now would probably put us all in traction, but the rest of it is all true and has happened in the not so distant past. It feels good to know that I am still in touch with at least five people who used to call my folks Mom and Dad…. Mitt Romney can keep his $250 million net worth; of the two of us, I am the truly wealthy one…..

___________________________________


“…it still remains true that as a set of cognitive beliefs about the existence of God in any recognizable sense continuous with the great systems of the past, religious doctrines constitute a speculative hypothesis of an extremely low order of probability.” — Sidney Hook


Mr. Hook gives us here a long-winded, Shakespearean statement about the existence of God that probably would better have been left at “Not bloody likely!”…. Both get the same point across, but the latter has more punch, as the listener doesn’t have to spend all that time trying to first figure out what the hell he said…. 


It is a very good statement, in its way; accurate, logical, and with a proper reservation of judgment, proclaiming the idiocy of buying into such an implausible story without being snide about it. But, as mentioned, it reminds me of a certain author, who shall now remain unnamed, who had the same habit when he wrote, to wit: “HEY! Lets cover up what this means with a bunch of extra words that will make the reader’s head spin with admiration….”.


Now, as one who writes (or types, anyway…. who’s to say whether it is writing?….), I tend to agree with Twain’s method of prose, which is spare, and attempts to pare down what is written to its barest bones, leaving nothing but meaning and style; as with golf, one is trying for the lowest score. Twain, Hemingway, Steinbeck, all believed that good writing should be accessible, and clear, without having to be translated, or put into simpler terms, and Mr. Hook would have done better, I think, to keep that in mind. The idea he is promulgating is one that does need to be spread around, and should stimulate discussion. In its present form, it will only do that amongst the few readers and folks who can easily make out what he is talking about in this over-blown statement….


The idea he is expressing here is one that is generally discouraged by those in leadership positions in modern religions. Discussing the veracity of the claims that religion makes is not encouraged by any of the sects I know of; in fact, doing so tends to produce some rather volatile reactions, to put it mildly. Most folks have a hard time maintaining their cool when their religious beliefs are challenged, due, I think, to the strong emotional connection they add to those beliefs. 


Their feelings are so tied into those beliefs that, in their minds, questioning one is the same as attacking the other….. Not logical, but true nonetheless, and not a good thing to leave out of one’s calculations; I never discuss religion without being rather heavily armed…. and not only with knowledge….


Here’s the thing that bothers me about the whole concept of an omnipotent entity…. How can we, who are not omnipotent, claim to understand either the actual form of a God, or the motivation of such a being? How can we claim to be certain that this omnipotent entity, capable of creating an entire universe, not only looks just like us, but actually wants us to bow down and worship Him, or Her, or It? Even when I was five years old, nobody could, or would, answer that question, other than to say, “because it’s in the Bible.” Even then, I recognized when I was being put off, and it just made me wonder more….


Certainty is only a symptom of lack of imagination. — Smart Bee


Over time, as my knowledge of the world grew, I came to realize that the entire system is just another man-made institution, with the whole purpose of taking advantage of, and controlling, the general run of folks who are just trying to get by in life. I learned that the louder a person proclaims himself to be a Christian, the less like Christ they act. Being “safe in the arms of Jesus” is the perfect excuse to deny any responsibility for one’s own acts of immorality; Jesus forgives everything, right? Well, he does…. it says so right here in the New Testament, so it must be true….


“Our father who art in heaven..  I sincerely pray that SOMEBODY at this table will PAY for my SHREDDED WHAT and ENGLISH MUFFIN.. and also leave a GENEROUS TIP…” — Zippy the Pinhead


I don’t claim to know God. I don’t know how God looks. I don’t know what God thinks, or even if what that entity does can be called thinking at all. I’m not omnipotent, so I have no frame of reference from which to approach such a question. I do know this, though…. whatever anyone says about God is bound to be wrong. It has to be; there is no way for us to understand anything about such a creature, not if we are to assume they are truly gods. If they are gods, or God, then I refuse to believe that what is important to me as a human is important to them; it just doesn’t make any logical sense. None….


ZEUS, n.  The chief of Grecian gods, adored by the Romans as Jupiter and by the modern Americans as God, Gold, Mob and Dog.  Some explorers who have touched upon the shores of America, and one who professes to have penetrated a considerable distance to the interior, have thought that these four names stand for as many distinct deities, but in his monumental work on Surviving Faiths, Frump insists that the natives are monotheists, each having no other god than himself, whom he worships under many sacred names. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”


Looking at a Universe without God doesn’t scare me…. I think it is quite beautiful, no matter how it came to exist. Knowing one way or another how it was created, or happened, or evolved, or whatever, isn’t important to me, in either the short, or the long run. Learning about it, experiencing its joys and trials, appreciating both its gifts and its penalties, these are much more important. Do your Duty. Honor the Truth. Respect Life. Share your Love. I don’t think that God needs my approval, or my worship in order for the universe to carry on…. it’s just fine the way it is…..


“There are no physicists in the hottest parts of hell, because the existence of a hottest part implies a temperature difference, and any marginally competent physicist would immediately use this to run a heat engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is obviously impossible.” — Richard Davidson

___________________________________


Okay, enough of being serious…. here we have another find from Facebook, where all of today’s images were found…. it needs no explanation….___________________________________


There you have it… the freshest Pearl you can find, just for you…. I love it when a plan comes together…. Well, sort of together…. it’s still over 1800 words….SIGH….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!