Tag Archives: John Galt

Fat sausages, sizzling in the pan….

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Ffolkes,

Savory pieces of bacon bits flew elegantly through the highest points of the tent, filling all below with joy at the smell of sizzling pork fat; the crowd went wild…. Vendors hawked their plastic Jesus bobble-heads to unsuspecting Muslim tourists, while numerous swift-fingered waifs worked the crowd, lifting wallets from unsuspecting tourists.

Down in the center, two pathetic roosters were being abused so they’d fight each other, while money exchanged hands all over the stands, as winners and losers took turns feeling stupid….Me, I just watched and grinned, since I was the only one who knew the whole building would be coming down around the ears of everyone inside in approximately four minutes….

And thank goodness for that! I don’t think we need to go back there again; I stopped enjoying what I was writing about halfway through that piece of nonsensical farce, having apparently lost all of my sense of propriety, right along with my taste…. That was supposed to be funny, or at least strange enough to feel that way, but, never seemed to reach anywhere like that…. It was probably the bacon bits…. Nasty little things, those little chemical bombs can’t even be classified as food; they’re an artificially colored and flavored food-like substance, and I haven’t a single clue as to why ANYONE would want to eat them, ever….

However, it’s too late now to worry about whether or not the opening paragraphs made any sense, or even any nonsense; it’s already two paragraphs back, and we all know how hard it is to turn back the clock…. In our minds, or our writing, we can alter time, using the chance to do things over, to do them right, but, we all know the real world doesn’t allow do-overs, and couldn’t care less how you feel about that…. Besides, since it’s me, we just need to be aware of how simple it is to fill up space on the page, as I seem able to fill these intros, with pretty much nothing….

Of course, that’s a skill I’ve been developing now for close to three years, on this site; meeting the minimum introductory regulations has become almost second nature, not requiring all of my attention…. which probably shows in these little disasters I call the intro section. But, it DOES get the task completed, at least to the point each day where I am able to break free of it, and go on to finish the Pearl…. Given the methods I use, that is more of an accomplishment than it seems, though I’m not looking for kudos…. Just some new shoes…. and maybe a shot of two of Jack, when it’s quiet at night….

Shall we Pearl?…..

(1) You can’t win.
(2) You can’t break even.
(3) You can’t even quit the game.

— Ginsberg’s Theorem

Every major philosophy that attempts to make life seem meaningful is based on the negation of one part of Ginsberg’s Theorem. To wit:

(1) Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win.
(2) Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break even.
(3) Mysticism is based on the assumption that you can quit the game.

— Freeman’s Commentary on Ginsberg’s theorem

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“Some people confuse boredom with security.” — Smart Bee

I seem to be unable to find any spare neurons this morning, to help me find some small degree of intellect, or imagination somewhere within the reaches of my mind…. Moreover, I can’t seem to work up the energy to care…. I’d like to rant, as there is always so much to rant about in today’s society, as the two segments of mankind continue at war…..

I’m talking about the war between those who want to control everything and everyone, and those who don’t…. Mostly, throughout our species short, bloody history, the bad guys have been winning; today, the gap between the wealthy, and the other 99% of humanity, is as wide as the Mississippi River during flood season, and growing wider each day….

This, of course, means that this section of today’s Pearl will be an old school variety indictment; it’s what we do here as a default, when ranting is an unattainable goal…. I have no apologies, but, I’m sure they are unnecessary, as it DOES spare you from having to listen to yet another seemingly endless diatribe against people who don’t give the slightest shit about anyone else…. Just take in these pearls, complete with comments, and you’ll get the same effect as if you’d listened to me spew…. Enjoy!…. or, not, as you wish…. just pay attention, please….

“One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to come up to you and show you a nice, brand- new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not bet this man, for as sure as you stand there, you are going to wind up with an earful of cider.” — Damon Runyon

(And when you’re standing there, with your earful of cider, and a stupid expression, you’ll realize you should never have elected him in the first place….)

“We cannot assert the innocence of anyone, whereas we can state with certainty the guilt of all. Every man testifies to the crime of all the others – that is my faith and hope.” — Albert Camus (1913-1960) — The Fall (1957)

(Albert was a bit of an optimist sometimes….)

“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

(Why am I skeptical of this? Oh, right, because he’s a politician, and he opened his mouth… ergo, it’s a foregone conclusion he lied….)

“Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it.” — George Bernard Shaw

(Oops! How’d that get in here? Oh, well, they’re (politicians and preachers…) all of a kind, so, it can stay….)

For some reason the little Senators make us laugh.” — Smart Bee

(In my case, that’s a full-blown belly laugh, complete with red face, tears, and runny nose from laughing so hard….)

“A liar should have a good memory.” — Quintilian (42-118 AD) — Institutiones Oratoriae, i, iv, 2, 91

(Is a comment necessary? I think not…. We all know to whom this refers…. and his name is Barry…. or Joe…. or Dianne…. or Paul, or Rick, or George, or Mitch…. or Anthony….)

(The last name refers to Mr. Chief Justice of the scOTUS Scalia, who is more of a politician than a judge… Actually, he’d be what is known as an honest judge, defined as one who STAYS bought, once he’s been paid for….)

“Dogs, ye have had your day!” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xxii, Line 41

(This last line, from Pope’s Odyssey, is wishful thinking on my part…. this is what I would LIKE to be able to say to any of those assholes I mentioned in the pearl above….)

Thus endeth this modified old-school pearl, picked fresh for your reading pleasure, with completely new, yet exciting comments to stimulate your….. well, to stimulate…. Onward, he said, rushing into the next room….

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I’ve been spending some time reading old Pearls, to get new ideas, and, as we have here, to find old ideas, or material, worth posting again…. This poem falls directly into that last category, as one of my favorites, and as one of the best ever written, in my estimation…. I hope you enjoy it….

First posted on 7/15/2012:

For me, one mark of a good poem, and poet, is when one finishes reading the last line, the mind does not immediately let go, but follows the train of thought created by the poem to its conclusion, whatever that may be for each individual reader. Frost is a master at that type of poem, to my mind…. There is so much power in the phrase, “But I wonder….”!…..    Enjoy!

A Brook In The City

The farmhouse lingers, though averse to square
With the new city street it has to wear
A number in. But what about the brook
That held the house as in an elbow-crook?
I ask as one who knew the brook, its strength
And impulse, having dipped a finger length
And made it leap my knuckle, having tossed
A flower to try its currents where they crossed.
The meadow grass could be cemented down
From growing under pavements of a town;
The apple trees be sent to hearth-stone flame.
Is water wood to serve a brook the same?
How else dispose of an immortal force
No longer needed? Staunch it at its source
With cinder loads dumped down? The brook was thrown
Deep in a sewer dungeon under stone
In fetid darkness still to live and run —
And all for nothing it had ever done
Except forget to go in fear perhaps.
No one would know except for ancient maps
That such a brook ran water. But I wonder
If from its being kept forever under,
The thoughts may not have risen that so keep
This new-built city from both work and sleep.
                                        
~~ Robert Frost ~~

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In the last few days, I’ve found some rather good old entries, in Pearls posted back a couple of years…. Some of them are worth a reprint, so, here is one of them, which is obviously the larval stage of a complete, adult religirant….. Enjoy!….

From 7/16/2012:

Okay, here is another “old-school” Pearl…. and yes, it makes a specific point. Read all of them, in order, and the message will be crystal clear…..

“The truth is that Christian theology, like every other theology, is not only opposed to the scientific spirit; it is also opposed to all other attempts at rational thinking. Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of knowledge a serpent- slimy, sneaking and abominable. Since the earliest days the church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions. It was, for centuries, an apologist for slavery, as it was the apologist for the divine right of kings.” — H. L. Mencken

BIBLE : A bible is a book which one or more religions consider to be holy, and to be something that they should follow. It is of course generally rather impractical to follow books, not just because they  don’t often go anywhere, but also because they are not very good at public speaking, decision making, problem solving, or any of the other qualities recognized as being an advantage for leadership. A religion based around the teachings of any compilation of Toxic Custard would be very strange indeed. To subscribe to this new cult following, send $15 now. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA

“Angels, I read, belong to nine different orders. Seraphs are the highest; they are aflame with love for God; cherubs, who are second, possess perfect knowledge of him. So love is greater than knowledge; how could I have forgotten? The seraphs are born of a stream of fire issuing from under God’s throne… Moving perpetually toward God, they perpetually praise him, crying Holy, Holy, Holy… But, they can sing only the first ‘Holy’ before the intensity of their love ignites them again and dissolves them again, perpetually into flames. ‘Abandon everything,’ Dionysius the Areopagite told his disciple. ‘God despises ideas.’ — Annie Dillard, “Holy the Firm”

“Man has a single basic choice:  to think or not, and that is the measure of his virtue.  Moral perfection is an unbreached rationality — not the degree of your intelligence, but the full and relentless use of your mind, not the extent of your knowledge, but the acceptance of reason as an absolute.” — John Galt

“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.” — H. L. Mencken

“The sagacious reader who is capable of reading between these lines what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied, will be able to form some conception.” — Goethe (1749-1832)  — Autobiography, Book xviii, Truth and Beauty

There you go…. I can’t make it any plainer than that…..

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It’s probably a good thing my energy level is so low this morning…. I refrained from generating a discussion of the possible reasons for that (you can thank me later…), in order to keep from getting all wimpy, & to keep from wasting a lot of time whining about it, thus freeing me up to use that little bit of energy to put together the rest of today’s effort, a word definitely appropriate for what happened here…. Now I’m at the end, though, I’m at a loss for what to do…. This went together so fast, and so smoothly, it makes me nervous…. Ah well, it’s not as if I’ve never been THAT before… As I recall, there was this time in 1988….

Screw it, it’s done…. I’m not going to spend any more time second-guessing myself…. I’ll see you mañana ffolkes, provided we’re both lucky enough to get that far…..

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

Finer memories are unavailable at this price…..

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Ffolkes,
Balderdash…. folderol….. bamboozle…. cantankerous….. flibbertigibbet…. They just don’t make words the way they used to…. nor does society offer the same opportunities to put them to use, sad to say….. But, this isn’t why I’ve called you all together here today…. Yes, losing parts of our past heritage is a serious drag, and something society needs to address in the long run, and in fact, there are now bills before the New Congress to that effect…..

This is not, however, the most dangerous change to have taken place in our culture, not when there are still increasing numbers of unemployed, homeless, lawyers being spotted on our streets, in our parks, and in all our public haunts….. Ever since the revolution, when we killed all the bankers,  politicians, and priests, who had been oppressing and terrorizing society for thousands of years, all those law school students were thrown out of college, and have never adjusted to the loss of their future….

The poor pathetic creatures, bereft of any hope of becoming the rich, privileged jackasses they wanted to be, by entering politics, or landing a cushy position on what used to be Wall Street, now known as the Day Care District, wander the streets of our major cities, looking dazed and confused…. Most of them refused the reconditioning offered after the new order was established, still angry at losing all they had studied for, so they are having trouble finding jobs or any stable existence for themselves, as society marches past them into the glorious future we can now expect to see, now that those who were killing us all have been dealt with appropriately….. I always enjoyed the spectacle of those heads on spikes, arranged in straight lines down Broadway in New York…. They were a stirring sight, for certain, especially when they left them with their cigars in their mouths….

On that somewhat disturbing image, we’ll leave this morning’s wish-fulfillment fantasy to its own devices for now, and hope that someday, it will be useful as the start of a real article for some new online magazine, filled with revolutionary zeal, and the promise of a real future for mankind…. And, now, I am off the soap box for the time being…. Hmm, now what?

I’m once more at a loss as to what direction to take, so, I’ll go right to default mode, and call this an intro…. Hey, it has at least four paragraphs, and none of them are what I’d call incendiary, or particularly compelling, even if a bit radical in tone. Around here, that is more than enough, so we’re going with it, because it’s my blog, and I can do what I want…. Nyah, nyah, nyah…. (Even resorting to childish taunts….) Since I can’t think of anything else that would possibly help this to recover, we’ll just dive right in, and see what we can see….

Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Yes, this is an age of moral crisis.  Yes, you are bearing punishment for your evil. But it is not man who is now on trial and it is not human nature that will take the blame.It is your moral code that’s through, this time.  Your moral code has reached its climax, the blind alley at the end of its course.  And if you wish to go on living, what you now need is not to return to morality — you who have never known any — but to discover it.” — John Galt

Well, if ever I’ve seen a better segue into a discussion of the primary problem facing society in the modern world, I not only wouldn’t have known it, I wouldn’t have admitted it, because this is as good as it gets, in that respect. The character who said it, John Galt, is, in the novel by Ayn Rand, a social philosopher, critical of the society in which he lives, which the author blames on socialist idealism. I found the book, Atlas Shrugged, in which Galt plays a part, to be a tour de force of delusional thinking, an entire series of novels, all of which promote the author’s own brand of conservatism, and, to my mind, idiocy.

In order to write these novels, the author had to make certain assumptions, about socialism, about human nature, and about society, and, though the character of Galt SOUNDS as if there is some wisdom in what is said, such as in the above statements, it is based on an erroneous assumption, which, naturally, makes all subsequent conclusions suspect. The assumption made is that socialism will always lead to the society as described in the books, and that assumption is one that isn’t necessarily supported by any real evidence, in the real world….

All of which makes me smile, as what is said above, in the quote by Galt, is pretty much absolutely true of today’s society, which is in imminent danger of self-destruction due to the lack of any morality among the Beloved Ruling Class, and the 1%, who are the real culprits, fully responsible for the state of our culture…. Galt, and Rand, merely make the wrong system their villain when they target socialism. Parasitic conservatism is the real culprit in today’s world, for which there is ample evidence. Hell, our culture, the way it exists today, is perfectly suited to such parasitism as practiced by those elite groups, as the greater percentage of mankind buys into just about anything they are told, as long as they hear it on TV from a guy in a suit….

“Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant or an enemy, must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.” — Aesop (620-560  B.C.)

Considering how long ago Aesop said this, one would think that most of humanity would have learned this lesson. One only need look around today’s news headlines to see just how little this piece of advice has been heeded by the general run of mankind. The politicians and bankers are running amok, struggling and fighting amongst themselves for the best seats at the table of public feasting, studiously ignoring the futile noises from the people from whom they are stealing, as they are busy bickering with their neighbor over each new privilege….. SIGH…..

I’m not sure where I’m going with this anymore…. I wanted to strike out against those assholes in power, who don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, but, they’re too amorphous, hidden within the myriad of folds in the costumes they hide in, that make them look just like everyone else…. It’s really too bad that one cannot see into a person’s heart visually; it would save us all a lot of trouble if we knew from the start that these assholes were lying to us…. Ah well, since I never underestimate the power of human stupidity, I have to figure people would find some way to pull the wool over their own eyes, and fall for the same old shit, anyway…. It almost makes me glad I’m old, and won’t have to put up with it all much longer…..

“And then, last but the reverse of least, there plunged in all the people who think they can solve a problem they cannot understand by abolishing everything that has contributed to it. We all know these people. If a barber has cut his customer’s throat because the girl has changed her partner for a dance or donkey-ride on Hampstead Heath, there are always people to protest against the mere institutions that led up to it. This would not have happened if barbers were abolished, or if cutlery were abolished, or if the objection felt by girls to imperfectly grown beards were abolished, or if the girls were abolished, or if heaths and open spaces were abolished, or if dancing were abolished, or if donkeys were abolished. But donkeys, I fear, will never be abolished.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Flying Inn
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National Poetry Month Icon Pic    One of my favorite WordPress sites for poetry of a unique nature is 1XPad, or OneTimePad, written by Doug, located here:  http://1xpad.com/  . He challenged me to join the National Poetry Month Challenge, at this site:  http://www.napowrimo.net/   By registering at the site, each blogger commits to publishing a poem every day in April; people from all the participating sites will see it, and join in the community discussion…. It sounded like a good challenge, one that might help me get a bit more disciplined about my poetry; the process by which it leaks out of my head could use an upgrade, metaphorically speaking…. So, tomorrow, this section of the Daily Pearl of Virtual Wisdom will contain a new poem, by me, for as long as I can come up with something I’m not ashamed to post…. We’ll see how it goes….

In the meantime, here is one of my older poems, from September of 2012….. it seems apropos, somehow…..

For The Blind Poet, Embraced

I sit to open a vein, exposed in public places,
happy to be written, judging by the faces.
None can see the price so willingly paid,
at the feet of imagination is that cost weighed.

Still shadows of reality shine quite as well
to hide all the bleeding as if under a spell,
while visions and fantasies vie for attention,
hoping to win once-hoped-for final mention.

Technology may or may not rue its day
never knowing or caring its part to play.
All the precious moments of inspiration
Fall ever short of our own imagination.


~~ gigoid


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Okay, so, I’m lazy, so sue me…. I was cruising through some old school Pearls, and came across three that demanded to be included in today’s post…. Alright, so it was merely a request…. but, it was made in a firm tone of voice, so I’m going with demanded…. Any who, it turned out to be a bit long  but each one is fully appropriate, and all are quick and easy reads, as each one was intended as an early morning motivator for people at work… These are from sometime in 2006…..

Year end sale…

Ffolkes,
When I started out this morning’s offering, I had intended to remain seriously random. But it seems the sub-conscious me is always there, scheming and plotting. Since most of the plots seem to bear more of a resemblance to scams than schemes, I was lulled into a sense of complacency. Hence the following offering. Again I ask you, which of these is not like the others? Which of these things just isn’t the same? Which of these things is not like the others? Come on and play our game! (To be sung to the tune of….)

COMMAND:  A suggestion made to a computer.

Did you hear they removed the word gullible from the dictionary?

This Job Is A Test, It Is Only A Test. Had it been an actual job, you would have received significant compensation, some words of thanks and some form of recognition such as raises, promotions, and bonuses for a job well done. Yes, This has been a Test!

Perhaps we invented God to take the burden of self-judgment from us.

And if we did, how’s that workin’ for ya?….

Feel free to reply; via email, via snail mail, via phone, or just in the relative privacy of your own mind…and of course, y’all take care out there….

Out of the East…

Ffolkes,
“Interesting” is only the beginning. As humans, we tend to get bored when not stimulated by a challenge of some sort. If the world does not provide one, we are perfectly okay with making it up. Something about the perversity of human nature, I suppose, though it seems a bit dramatic to me. Ah well, ours is not to reason why, etc., except it is, or should be, do and die, not do or die.  Cuz that’s what is at the end of the road for all of us.  Kinda puts us on the same playing field, eh? Here…. I’m feeling less than Occidental this morning……

“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

Always we hope
Someone else has the answer
Some other place will be better
Some other time it will all work out.
This is it.
No one else has the answer
No other place will be better
And it has already turned out.
At the center of your being
 You have the answer;
You know who you are and what you want.
There is no need to turn outside
For better seeing.
Rather abide at the center of your being
For the more you leave it
The less you learn.
Search your own heart and see
 the way to do is to be.
— Lao Tzu

Y’all take care out there…..

Just plain brutal….

Ffolkes,
Monday’s can be that way, even the best of them. I’m not certain, at least in my own case, just where the motivation to get up & get moving is coming from.  Routine is powerful enough to take us in to work, but what then? Coffee only goes so far, then something stronger must come into play, or the week just goes all to >@#%! (Supply your own curses)  It can be difficult to find a substitute; drugs are illegal, and so is theft. So what do we do? We rely on luck!…..

“Indifference is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don’t stand a chance against it.” — Joan Vinge

Life is short. Get it right.

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, write.
Those who can’t write go to the State Department (of Mental Health).

That’s the ticket….motivation means caring…..Recently on the radio, Hoyt touted a book, and challenged the listeners to send in our own version of what it was about, to wit: describe your life in six words. I liked mine…

“Looked for love, found it everywhere”……

Six on the button, eh?

Y’all take care out there…..
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Today is my daughter’s birthday; since she is now a grown woman, I’ll forgo mentioning the number, and just wish the best day possible, as it is always one of MY two best days of the year (I have a son, also…..). I enjoy being able to remind myself throughout the day that I am blessed with a wonderful, beautiful daughter….. Happy Birthday, Kelly!

There, housekeeping done, and Pearl constructed…. let’s see how it reads….. Go ahead and let the Pulitzer Committee they won’t need to meet again today…. Actually, it’s not too bad, considering the state of my mind….. Tomorrow is Monday; I’ve a lot to do before traveling tomorrow night, and much of my available RAM is being used up in calculations in re: the trip.

Oops…. I’m starting to use computer metaphors now; I’d best bring this to a rapid close, lest we reach critical mass…. See ya…..   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Near the end of the Plasticene Era….

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Ffolkes,
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a word! It’s a train of thought! It’s…… Bloggerman!  Faster than a speeding thought, able to leap tall metaphors in a single bound, this mild mannered writer for a large internet blogging community, risks humiliation and embarrassment on a daily basis, bringing to the reading public the views and opinions they won’t see on TV…. Join us today, as he once more joins battle with the forces of evil, cleverly disguised as normal priests and politicians, whose wicked agenda makes them seek to harden your water, frighten the baby, poison your cat, and make your whites dingy….. Now, that’s evil….

Obviously, it’s time for coffee…. I’ll be back…. The above paragraph sort of wrote itself, as I sat waiting for the coffee to finish, so I let it have its way, and since it came out in an acceptable form, we’ll let it stay…. It’s probably too late to start over, and it might stimulate a chuckle or two, so, what the hell…. It can’t be any less appropriate than the intro sections from the last few days, which have been rather painful to create, with all sorts of contortions and hoops to jump through, a process this old body/mind conglomerate just doesn’t tolerate so well any more…. And what you are hearing now is the LAST complaint for today falling from my mouth, or out of my head, or onto the screen, choose your own metaphor…..

Nobody likes to listen to complaints, unless they are funnier than whatever else is going on, and that isn’t the case here, is it? I may not be the world’s greatest writer, yet…., but I know funny, and so far, this isn’t it….. Unless, of course, the chaotic ramblings and silliness that seems to characterize this intro section appeals to your funny bones, in which case, welcome…. Can I get you something to drink?…. Some hors d’oeuvre? A plastic bunny? Some Milk Duds?….  We like to pamper our fans here at ECR….

See, that’s what I mean about these intros…. I’ll be going along fine, and my head will take a 112 degree hard turn to the right, or left, and leave me wondering what the hell to write next…. such as in the last paragraph…. Sheesh! As if I can afford snacks!…. I know, I know, they meant well, (whoever ‘they’ were….), but it doesn’t alter the fact that they’re promising stuff I can’t deliver…. which will tend to piss people off, and they’ll never come back…. Ah well, the entire process of creating intros seems to have become somewhat degraded, or at least become rather unwieldy, and probably is in need of some time in the shop for repairs…..

Since stuff of that nature is far outside the parameters of my current budget, I guess I’ll have to keep on keeping on, as they say, and try to make this work for a while longer….. I need new shoes, and socks, and a bunch of other stuff that will have to take priority over even a simple lube job on an intro section…. That is all if and when my SS money ever comes through….. Until then, these introductions, such as they are, will have to do…. In today’s case, it is definitely a matter of “making do”, or maybe I meant, “making do do…..” Shall we Pearl?…..
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PRESIDENCY, n.  The greased pig in the field game of American politics. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

You can’t see me, but I have this big smile on my face…. It has been there since I first read this, this morning, and has flashed on each time I see it…. I had forgotten just how funny, and how eerily accurate, as well as wonderfully sarcastic, the Devil’s Dictionary could be….. In any case, this is some funny stuff, and a perfect example of how the Dictionary’s author somehow obtained a direct line to the future of this country, in order to be able to so exactly describe how our modern system has evolved, and demonstrate how it has become, rather than high comedy, an example of low farce….

Of late, you’ve seen me put out a lot of words on the Beloved Ruling Class (BRC), and the priestly hierarchies, those two entities I hold responsible for the miserable conditions that most of our society is forced to endure, and whom I also hold responsible for the danger of species extinction that we face… It is their narcissistic insistence on having it all for themselves that has put our entire species at risk, along with a large number of other species, who will also be affected by the mess we’ve created in the environment.

I keep on shouting, even though it mostly feels as if I’m shouting into the wind, because, in all honesty, I don’t want to die, and I’d like my kids to have a chance to live their entire lives, too, and perhaps even have some hope of a future for their own children…. Currently, there isn’t much hope of that…..

Yes, ffolkes, there isn’t much time left to get this done…. Every second, more and more tons of particulate matter are being poured into the air, and the cumulative effects have actually, finally, reached the critical flash point that ecologists have predicted for years…. Soon, plants that provide oxygen to the air will begin to die, (actually, they are dying as I write this…. as I said, it is late in the game….) and the balance of oxygen and carbon monoxide in the air will start to rapidly change, at a geometrically parabolic rate, (to wit: faster and faster the longer it goes on….) until it is unbreathable for us, and for all the other mammals, sea creatures, and plant life-forms that are dependent on the levels of those substances as they are now…. This process isn’t unknown….. we have been warned about it, now, for going on 50 years, or more, since the effects were first noted….

But, nobody who cared to do anything about it was listening, and still today, there aren’t anywhere near enough of our BRC who are convinced of the risk, so virtually NOTHING has, or is being done, to resolve the issue…. Instead, it is subjected to massive denial on the part of almost every government in the world. They, and most people, have no idea that the bill for our idiocy is about to be presented, and we left our wallet in our other pants….. I think it’s obvious the Universe doesn’t take checks, or give credit…..

I wish I knew the proper sequence of words to use, the words that would inflame the masses, that would inspire the world to rise up, and throw off the yoke of oppression that the 1% has fitted us with, to finally give them their just desserts, and save our own asses in the process…. Alas, I don’t seem to have them in me…. not yet, anyway…. There are probably a few ffolkes out there who agree with me, and would help, if they also knew what to do, or say, to get things started…. But, mostly, I think I’m either shouting into the wind, or preaching to the choir….

In either case, it doesn’t seem to be helping much, other than keeping me from losing my sense of perspective, and actively going out hunting, to try to at least thin the ranks of the ones who are causing the problems…. That would make me feel better, for sure, but, I’m not ready to live the rest of my life on the run, so, I’ll save that option for when things are even worse than they are now….

I’ll also keep shouting, even if it’s into the wind, because I’m also not ready to give in to despair, and loss of hope. Call me stubborn, call me irresponsible (you’d be wrong in that, but, hey, it’s a free country…. mostly….), but don’t call me late for dinner. Also, don’t call me to help you further any of the agenda items that I see on the part of those in power, because I can guarantee that would put me over the edge, and you would be right there, in the explosive field of destruction when I went off…. If you want help to work against anything they’ve started, I’m there….  In the meantime, keep your powder dry, and your field of fire clear…. This final pearl explains why….

“If we don’t survive, we don’t do anything else.” — John Sinclair

And one more, just because there must always be hope, or life isn’t worth living…

“In a just cause the weak o’ercome the strong.” — Sophocles (496-406 BC) — Oedipus Coloneus, 880
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A couple of months ago, the urge to write poems became too strong, and a bunch of them forced their way out of my head, up into the light of day…. Thirty-nine of them, to be precise…. In the intervening time since the last one leaked out, the urge has been quiet, making me afraid that I’ve lost my muse in that arena….. That is almost as frightening as having it take hold, to push me through the terrifying process of creating a poem, and letting it go public…. However, there are indications that there are some more verses percolating down there in my subconscious, so I’m trying to be patient, and wait for whatever it is to surface….

Which is why y’all have lately been treated to some of the best poetry I can find out there on the Net, among the clouds of information so bravely presented…. Here, then, is another classic, from one of my favorite poets, and yours (well, except for Shawna…. To each their own….  🙂   )…. I’ve used this before, as it is a subject on which I am expert, and speaks to me quite plainly…..

Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.

~~ Emily Dickinson
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“You, who claim that you long to rise above the crude concerns of the body, above the drudgery of serving mere physical needs — who is enslaved by physical needs:  the Hindu who labors from sunrise to sunset at the shafts of a handplow for a bowl of rice, or the American who is driving a tractor?  Who is the conqueror of physical reality: the man who sleeps on a bed of nails or the man who sleeps on an inner-spring mattress?Which is the monument to the triumph of the human spirit over matter:  the germ-eaten hovels on the shorelines of the Ganges or the Atlantic skyline of New York?” — John Galt

As far as I know, John Galt is a fictional character, who is often used to illustrate some obscure point of justification for the attitudes of the elite, the 1%. This statement seems to be a pretty good example of that, though it is a bit unclear, but, that, I believe, is a deliberate device on the author’s part to make the reader think the speaker is more mindful than he appears….

Anais Nin, the author of the book, or books, I’m not sure which, with Galt as the protagonist, is also often held up as the apologist extraordinaire for the moneyed classes, for her unapologetic defense of the lack of compassion, and rejection of human equality, that so characterizes the BRC, and the 1% of humanity that controls 99% of the physical and financial resources…

Yes, them again… Sorry, but, their influence over our lives is ubiquitous, touching on every aspect of what we do, and what we don’t do; as a result, their name tends to show up in a great many places where I’m trying to throw some light on certain examples of their activities, which they would just as soon stayed in the dark….. 

So, anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, Galt and Nin, poster children for the hidden masters of society….. I began with the phrase, “As far as I know”…. That was deliberately vague, but accurate, in that I’ve never been able to read one of Nin’s books all the way through….

Oh, I’ve tried, and have read enough to get a pretty good idea of how the rest of it would go…. I’ve started “Atlas Shrugged” any number of times, with identical results each time, no matter how sternly I spoke with my inner judge to keep quiet until I was done…. It wasn’t the heavy, pretentious, wordy style of writing that made it so hard to finish, or even the presumption of validity, or the transparent misuse of logic, that made me give up on finishing the book(s) of hers I opened……. It was the nausea that built up over the course of the book’s events, directly related to the demonstration of the lack of human compassion, and narcissism, that infuses the main character’s behavior, and that of many of the books’ characters, which is so transparently a part of the author’s own beliefs.

In short, it literally made me sick to read this woman’s thoughts about how reality should be considered, according to her absolutely self-centered philosophy…. It is very nearly a clinical description of sociopathy, with its complete insistence on the validity, and priority, of one’s own rules of behavior over society’s standards…. If the character of John Galt ever came to life, and manifested in my vicinity, I might just give myself a day off from my vow to never kill anyone without first trying to at least talk them out of their asininity…. which is to say, the very idea of meeting someone like him(her) makes my blood boil….

Ah, me…. It can’t be good for my blood pressure to pump itself up so early in the day, so I’ll leave this little diatribe where it is…. I think by now, I’ve made it pretty clear how I feel about the 1%, whom I choose to call the BRC and the priestly hierarchies…. Besides, much more of this, and I take the risk of losing ffolkes out of repetitive boredom…. not a good recommendation for a writer, and certainly not something of which I wish to ever be accused.

Go ahead and read Anais Nin’s books…. If nothing else, they’ll give you a good idea of how the 1% tries, nay, succeeds, in combining the use of logic and lies to keep the public in a state of fear and confusion as to what is real; reading at least some of it will keep you abreast of what they believe, or claim to believe…. A sociopath chooses their beliefs like a shirt, and can change them just as easily, and as swiftly, in order to meet their own needs, and fulfill their own agenda, which has nothing to do with doing anything for you that would be helpful…. It’s all about them, and what they consider “rational”, or “practical”…..

“There is no conflict of interests among men, neither in business nor in trade nor in their most personal desires — if they omit the irrational from their view of the possible and destruction from their view of the practical …  A wish for the irrational is not to be achieved, whether the sacrificial victims are willing or not.  But men will not cease to desire the impossible and will not lose their longing to destroy — so long as self-destruction and self-sacrifice are preached to them as the practical means of achieving the happiness of the recipients.” — John Galt

See? I rest my case…..

“Concentrate on th’cute, li’l CARTOON GUYS! Remember the SERIAL NUMBERS!! Follow the WHIPPLE AVE EXIT!! Have a FREE PEPSI!!  Turn LEFT at th’HOLIDAY INN!!  JOIN the CREDIT WORLD!!  MAKE me an OFFER!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Well, that was certainly an outpouring, wasn’t it? Of what, precisely, there appears to be some confusion, which means my work here is done….. And with some style, too!…. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say… Mikey likes it. Or, he will, when he sees it…. Now that I’ve convinced even the most stubborn among y’all of my dedication to sheer insanity, I will leave you be….

If you are having some second thoughts, or even first ones, about the time you spend here, immersed in my particular brand of consensual reality, look at it this way…. You COULD have to live INSIDE my head, instead of just peeking in through these windows…. Be brave, I’ll be back, tomorrow, given a choice….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Coping skills for bald penguins…..

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Ffolkes,
Nature will always tell us, in her inimitable style, when we are getting too weird. I’ve had this proven to me on numerous occasions, as I have a tendency toward weird, a genetic gift from my grandfather, who made his living as “a performance artiste” around the turn of the 20th century. She (Nature, of course…) generally lets us know we have strayed beyond the boundaries of propriety in some grand, publicly embarrassing fashion, such as slyly convincing us that, “Yes! Everyone at the soirée really WANTS to see me dancing on a table with a lamp shade on my head!” Of course, she lied, but that doesn’t come out until later, when one is already in the doghouse……

What, you might ask, does this have to do with the morning Pearl? Not a damn thing that I know of…. when I sat down to type, this is what came out….. Oh, it’s all true, though I believe it might have been a colander rather than a lamp shade…. I’m pretty sure I remember thinking (if what I do when deeply influenced by the Beast can be called such….) that the colander had a cool, spaceman look to it, which is why I wore it. But there is nothing from that night (a night whose memory, blurred as it is, I keep in the category of ~I-hoped-it-had-been-forgotten~….) that has anything to do with getting this Pearl finished. Or, rather, started….

I suppose it’s just another of the odd little mind-games I play with myself during this introductory section. Though it doesn’t have anything to do with creating a Pearl, one could say that it helped in the process, by giving me something to do for a beginning, even though it has absolutely no relation to anything remotely interesting. Of course, if you are the kind of reader who enjoys thinking of the author in embarrassing situations, well, then, I guess this is right up your alley…. Boy, and they call ME weird!

Regardless of why, or how, or even if, this intro section evolved into its present state, here it is, four paragraphs later, still trying to find the doorway into the diving area, so we can go find some pearls. Oh, wait, I see it now!…. Okay, we can now stop discussing this abysmal foray into weirdness, and get on with the day’s business…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent,  hard-working, honest Americans.  It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity.  But then–we elected them.” — Lily Tomlin

During the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, the true financial picture of humanity was drawn, with the ratio being 99% to 1%. It seems that Lily had noted this phenomenon somewhat earlier in time, using slightly different, but no less valid, figures of 98% to 2%. I think it would be safe to say that these two statements are equal, and pretty much describe accurately how society is structured, financially, and, as it turns out, morally….

That simple fact is what makes it so hard for me to accept what takes place in the public arena, without having to resort to ranting. Not that I mind ranting, far from it….. but it’s hard to accept the truth of the situation, because that truth is that people have actually CHOSEN to put themselves in the situation we have today. Actually, it is more accurate to say, it is due to the inaction of those who disagree with the politicians and corporate pirates; they get disgusted and don’t vote, so all the idiots who fall for the BS being flung around end up voting the thieves back into office, every time……

I mean, it’s not as if the truth isn’t out there to be found. Every day, people like me, and Jueseppi B., and 3hickspolitico, and a lot of other web sites, write the truth about what is being said in the public arena. We rant, and show, by way of incontrovertible recorded audio and video proof, that the talking heads are lying their butts off, and people just nod their heads and ignore it, preferring to bury their heads in the sand rather than accept the truth.

“If a million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” — Anatole France

It is disheartening to say the least, when so many folks choose ignorance over truth; it is almost enough for me to wash my hands of it, and let them enjoy the fruits of their ignorant choices. Unfortunately, that means that I, too, must put up with the thieves who suck from the public tit, and that is not acceptable to me. I’m tired of having to look away, or ignore the latest outrage from that quarter, just to stay sane. SIGH….

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
— Thomas Gray (1716-1771) — Elegy in a Country Churchyard, Stanza 19

But, so be it. Hating it, and complaining about it won’t make it go away…. all I can do is this. I write, time and time again, warning people of the crap they are putting up with, and show them how they are being used and abused by the beloved ruling classes. It’s probably just shouting into the wind, but since it is all I can do, I’ll keep doing it. After all, all you can do is all you can do….

“A police state is great, so long as you’re the police.” — Smart Bee
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Okay, here is another “old-school” Pearl…. and yes, it makes a specific point. Read all of them, in order, and the message will be crystal clear…..

“The truth is that Christian theology, like every other theology, is not only opposed to the scientific spirit; it is also opposed to all other attempts at rational thinking. Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of knowledge a serpent- slimy, sneaking and abominable. Since the earliest days the church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions. It was, for centuries, an apologist for slavery, as it was the apologist for the divine right of kings.” — H. L. Mencken

BIBLE : A bible is a book which one or more religions consider to be holy, and to be something that they should follow. It is of course generally rather impractical to follow books, not just because they  don’t often go anywhere, but also because they are not very good at public speaking, decision making, problem solving, or any of the other qualities recognized as being an advantage for leadership. A religion based around the teachings of any compilation of Toxic Custard would be very strange indeed. To subscribe to this new cult following, send $15 now. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA

“Angels, I read, belong to nine different orders. Seraphs are the highest; they are aflame with love for God; cherubs, who are second, possess perfect knowledge of him. So love is greater than knowledge; how could I have forgotten? The seraphs are born of a stream of fire issuing from under God’s throne… Moving perpetually toward God, they perpetually praise him, crying Holy, Holy, Holy… But, they can sing only the first ‘Holy’ before the intensity of their love ignites them again and dissolves them again, perpetually into flames. ‘Abandon everything,’ Dionysius the Areopagite told his disciple. ‘God despises ideas.’ — Annie Dillard, “Holy the Firm”

“Man has a single basic choice:  to think or not, and that is the measure of his virtue.  Moral perfection is an unbreached rationality — not the degree of your intelligence, but the full and relentless use of your mind, not the extent of your knowledge, but the acceptance of reason as an absolute.” — John Galt

“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.” — H. L. Mencken

“The sagacious reader who is capable of reading between these lines what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied, will be able to form some conception.” — Goethe (1749-1832)  — Autobiography, Book xviii, Truth and Beauty

There you go…. I can’t make it any plainer than that…..
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A Party Of Lovers

Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes,
Nibble their toast, and cool their tea with sighs,
Or else forget the purpose of the night,
Forget their tea — forget their appetite.
See with cross’d arms they sit — ah! happy crew,
The fire is going out and no one rings
For coals, and therefore no coals Betty brings.
A fly is in the milk-pot — must he die
By a humane society?
No, no; there Mr. Werter takes his spoon,
Inserts it, dips the handle, and lo! soon
The little straggler, sav’d from perils dark,
Across the teaboard draws a long wet mark.
Arise! take snuffers by the handle,
There’s a large cauliflower in each candle.
A winding-sheet, ah me! I must away
To No. 7, just beyond the circus gay.
‘Alas, my friend! your coat sits very well;
Where may your tailor live?’ ‘I may not tell.
O pardon me — I’m absent now and then.
Where might my tailor live? I say again
I cannot tell, let me no more be teaz’d —
He lives in Wapping, might live where he pleas’d.’

John Keats

Hmm…. it seems that young Mr. Keats also had issues with society…. but he sure could make it sound important! I like the ending especially, with its tongue firmly entrenched in his cheek….. Enjoy!
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Often, reaching the end of a day’s work is a surprise, at least from a time-centered view. Nonetheless, I have done so again, and feel it would be best not to fuss with it any further. Knowing when to walk away is the most important skill we have, in a lot of ways…. 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!

Even tough guys call him ‘Sir’….

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Ffolkes,
I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but mornings are,for me, an important time of the day. A lot depends on what takes place in that first few minutes, and colors what may happen the rest of the day. Today has been relatively normal, though I stayed up later than usual, and thus am up a bit later. All within normal parameters, so things are looking fairly routine. Whether or not this kind of serenity will help what goes onto the screen remains to be determined….we may as well just jump on in……
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“I’m trying to think, but nothing happens.” — Curly

I’m not sure why I wanted to include this one, except that when I read it, an image popped into my mind’s eye, and it aroused my outrage again. I could see the Junior Shrub (my own little term of affection for The asshole president Who Stole Two Terms, and yes I know the title should be capitalized; he didn’t earn enough respect to deserve it) in the now-famous video tape of GW Jr. sitting in front of that class in Florida when he was informed that the attacks had occurred on the Pentagon and World Trade Center Towers, on 9/11/01.

For seven agonizing minutes, the whole nation was able to observe firsthand how unqualified he was for the position of President. It was completely obvious that the quote above was playing in his head like an endlessly repeated loop for the entire time, and the parade of emotions across his face was painful to watch, as he obviously became more and more fearful with each passing moment.

But then, I’ve always believed that his father could conceivably had a hand in that whole mess anyway, and that the news that morning was not a surprise to Junior; it struck me right away how the attacks were very conveniently timed to draw attention from the news of the preceding day, which was focusing on the voting irregularities of the last election, the second time the results of the election were disputable.

After having read The Cocaine Papers, and personally observing his time in office, the whole scenario just stunk of the senior Bush’s talents; folks seem to forget he headed up the CIA during the time when that organization was busy interfering in governments all over the world, and was almost completely responsible for setting up the cocaine trade to the US from South America, aided by the work of CIA operatives in the area. Yes, it was an incredibly fortunate thing for GWB Jr. that we were attacked just at that time, or we just might have seen our second president go down in the glaring light of public sight, for having been found guilty of voting fraud in at least two elections, and forced to resign due to public outrage over his shenanigans….

But, as I say, he’s a lucky guy, isn’t he?……. it only cost us around 4000 American lives, give or take a few, and gave us the opportunity to hare off after the nasty terrorists, to exact our revenge from the civilian populations of Afghanistan and Iraq, to the tune of several HUNDRED THOUSAND civilian deaths. All things considered, we took more than we were entitled to, but then, it is the habit of our society to over-consume on every level, so it’s not particularly surprising. And, all things considered, I regard the period from 9/11/01 to now to be one of the most shameful periods of American history, and nothing to be proud of…….
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“One of the saddest lessons of history is this:  If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.  We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth.  The bamboozle has captured us.  it is simply too painful to acknowledge — even to ourselves — that we’ve been so credulous.  (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise.)” — Carl Sagan, “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” Parade, February 1, 1987

What is beginning to depress me about the state of modern society is how often I find myself in a state of outrage over the latest antics of the beloved ruling class. The above quote is absolute truth, (the telling of which is a habit of Carl Sagan’s….), and is probably the direct result of the continuous reduction taking place in the average IQ of the average human, when viewed on a society-wide basis.

We have discussed this proposition in this space previously, and have presented the scientific proof of this phenomenon, including its intrinsic inevitability; as time goes on, the species grows dumber, and there is no way to prevent it, other than population control, and humans won’t ever let that happen. The quotation below grows ever more applicable and as time goes on, approaches absolute truth; perhaps the only question remaining to be asked is “How much time do we really have to turn it all around, before it’s too late?” I don’t know about you, but I am very afraid of the answer……

“Yes, this is an age of moral crisis.  Yes, you are bearing punishment for your evil. But it is not man who is now on trial and it is not human nature that will take the blame.It is your moral code that’s through, this time.  Your moral code has reached its climax, the blind alley at the end of its course.  And if you wish to go on living, what you now need is not to return to morality — you who have never known any — but to discover it.”” — John Galt
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— How many roads must a man walk down before he finds a damn good pub?


— Let us define n to be the number of roads a man must travel before he finds the pub defined above.  We may thus define n+1 to be the first road which a man need not travel in order to reach a good pub.  Now the traversal of road n+1 is not a necessary condition, but rather a sufficient one; thus it is sufficient for n+2 as well.  Thus the statement is true for x roads where x is >= n.  Therefore, by induction, it is true for any finite number x greater than n.  We may conclude that the statement is true for sufficiently large x, or alternatively that as x approaches infinity, the number of roads that have been traveled become sufficient to have found a good pub.

Ya gotta love math! Especially as it is taught at English public schools…. Well, maybe not, but it might have been, right? Sounds just loony enough for schools that have to have a “headmaster”, presumably to lead their charges into their own mastery over the thick, nearly impenetrable British head. (Get it? mastery, British head? No?….ah, well….) And, as the above shows, the system works, sort of, so even the ones who didn’t get the math found a pub, and grew up to write for Monty Python…. those who took in the math went on to further glory in obscure positions in research on numbers theory as it applies to counting sheep….or money…..or the proper number of pints of stout for quoting from documentation manuals out of memory…..
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“Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than minority of them – never become conscious of them all.  How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?” — C. S. Lewis

Brilliant! This is the type of question that only occurs to someone who can be called a genius. Most folks never even consider any of these concepts; it is all they can do to keep track of their own preconceptions and assumptions, much less have the imagination to wonder what they would be able to do if they could see more clearly, clearly enough that meaning is absorbed with perception. There are many ffolkes (this is called a contextual clue) who do think about this kind of thing, but only the truly exceptional mind has the depth of perception, and understanding, to not only see the light, but to describe it to their brethren……
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Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the center of the silent Word.
— T.S. Eliot

What is the silent Word?  The Word Is……Not not, Is…..We may be, or not, but what is, is, and needs no word, but the Word remains….at the center, where it was seen and not heard by T.S…. Sometimes, powerful truth can be found in apparent nonsense, and T.S. was a master at creating very lean, very clean poetry whose very simplicity drove straight into the heart of Truth. I always feel more serene afterward, and find that reading his work brings me illumination, if not enlightenment…..
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The results are in, and we find that much of what is included today doesn’t bring much serenity, but is sufficient unto the day for its mere expression. It’s often that way; I often don’t know I needed to get something out, until it is staring at me from the screen. If nothing else, this has kept me off the streets for a time, which is always a good thing…..I tend to attract craziness out there, and it gets to be wearing at times. Probably why I live alone…..I’m old enough now to enjoy not having to worry about adjusting my self to anyone else’s standards, and have found that I’m pretty good company…… Y’all take care out there….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Arbitrary signs of healing, again…..

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Ffolkes,
“Fall back! Quickly! Don’t think, just go!”…rushing through the dark, breathless and bone-deep in fear. Whispers followed, hissing “run! run!. The swollen moon above gives only shadows in the dark underworld beneath the trees, and each step is driven by the flickers of fear still running along his nerves. Branches whipping the face, panting with the sheer force of adrenaline, he bursts into a clearing. Ahead, outlined in stark, bright light from lamps hung among them trees, he sees what he most fears, the obstacle to his most cherished dreams….. his editor had arrived, and the shit would now hit the fan……
So, what? You expected bagels and lox, maybe?….read on, you’ll get over it…..
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When I ‘m not thank’d at all, I ‘m thank’d enough;
I ‘ve done my duty, and I ‘ve done no more.
— Henry Fielding (1707-1754) — Tom Thumb the Great, Act i, Sc. 3

Well said, Tom! Too often in today’s society do we see men who don’t understand this about duty. Hell, these days one can barely find a man who knows what duty is, much less how to fulfill it honorably. Duty is not something that anyone else can tell you, or give you, or make you see or do. Duty is a choice.

It is a man’s most honorable choice, and once assumed, may not be put down until finished. It is, in the final analysis, what determines the character of a man. There is no reward for doing one’s duty, other than self-respect, and none should be expected. Thanks are also not necessary, for the honor in the act lies not in how other people see it, but in how the man himself regards it.


Many confuse duty with the responsibilities given to them by others; they are not the same. A man may have other responsibilities, but those were not of choice, and thus are not duty. Duty is ONLY chosen, never assigned, and it can’t be given away. The only honorable path is to fulfill it oneself, as is expected when it is assumed. It is the true path to leading a life with honor, and for a “real man”, honor is everything. Death is preferable to loss of honor…..and that is what is missing today in a lot of men……
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“The major problem–ONE of the major problems, for there are several–one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.” To summarize: it is a well known fact that those people who must WANT to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.  To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.” — Douglas Adams, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”

Couldn’t have said it better myself….. but, having many times covered the same theme, with perhaps less humorous expression, I can recognize when it is well spoken….People are definitely a problem. And the people who want power over others are the biggest problem we have as humans. It is this single characteristic of a particular segment of humanity that has kept us from progressing to a fully civilized existence. As long as there are people who insist on everything being done “their way”, humanity will never reach its true potential.

In spite of the assurances from the beloved ruling class that what they do is for our benefit, this intransigence is keeping us from progressing beyond the larval stage. In a truly enlightened society, no man is greater or lesser than any other; tell me if you can think of one society, either now, or in the past, in which this was true. I’ll tell you right off, though, you won’t be able to think of any, because it has yet to happen on this planet. And it never will, unless we humans rein in those bozos, and send them off to rehabilitation….
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“You who’ve lost the concept of a right, you who swing in impotent evasiveness between the claim that rights are a gift of God, a supernatural gift to be taken on faith, or the claim that rights are a gift of society, to be broken at its arbitrary whim — the source of man’s rights is not divine law or congressional law, but the law of identity.  A is A — and Man is Man.  Rights are conditions of existence required by man’s nature for his proper survival.If man is to live on earth, it is right for him to use his mind, it is right to act on his own free judgment, it is right to work for his values and to keep the product of his work.  If life on earth is his purpose, he has a right to live as a rational being:  nature forbids him the irrational.  Any group, any gang, any nation that attempts to negate man’s rights, is wrong, which means: is evil, which means: is anti-life.” — John Galt

A very well-thought out and scripted statement from Mr. Galt; on first examination, it would be difficult to find any flaws in his logic. A second examination upholds that judgment, as well. Which leads me to conclude that every politician alive today is evil. If any of them aren’t, well, they never speak up, and silence is the strongest tool of those who prey upon the rest of society. What’s that old saw, “there is no need for evil to act, as long as men are silent in the face of oppression”? Something like that….or, “all that is required for evil to win is for good men to be silent”. That’s a little better said, though I forget who said it.

The point is, we are, as a society, moving rapidly toward self-extinction (and if you disagree, please, please offer me some evidence that what I’m saying isn’t so! Just one little piece of verifiable fact would suffice to create a discussion). If we don’t stop these fools, they’re going to drag the rest of us down with them into the abyss……
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A monk sat with his three students. He took out his  fan and placed it in front of him, saying, “Without calling it a fan, tell me what this is.”

The first said, “You couldn’t call it a slop-bucket.” The master poked him with his stick.

The second picked up the fan and fanned himself. He too was rewarded with the stick.

The third opened the fan, laid a piece of cake on it, and served it to his teacher. The teacher said, “Eat your cake.”

The question to consider here is, what did the student tell the teacher about the fan?  How would you describe his answer in words? My answer to both questions would be: The fan is, first of all, an opportunity to be of use. It is, as we are, best used in service to others. If you can think of another way to say it, feel free to submit your thoughts, and we can discuss them in a future Pearl……
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“Speak, thou vast and venerable head,” muttered Ahab, “which, though ungarnished with a beard, yet here and there lookest hoary with mosses; speak, mighty head, and tell us the secret thing that is in thee.  Of all divers, thou has dived the deepest.  That head upon which the upper sun now gleams has moved amid the world’s foundations.   Where unrecorded names and navies rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot; where in her murderous hold this frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; there, in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home.  Thou hast been where bell or diver never went; has slept by many a sailer’s side, where sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down.  Thou saw’st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave; true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them. Thou saw’st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from the midnight deck; for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the insatiate maw; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed–while swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that would have borne a righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms. O head! thou has seen enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham, and not one syllable is thine!” — Herman Melville (1819-1891), “Moby Dick”

Now I’m glad I never read this book…..I gave up on reading this paragraph about half-way through, and have no desire whatsoever to subject myself any further to such drivel. It reminds me of The Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner, which, as we all know, was written under the influence of opiates….. I suppose people thought this was good because they couldn’t understand it, and were too embarrassed to say so, thinking they would appear foolish and illiterate. Naw…..it’s just crap, and I don’t care who thinks otherwise…..

Iago. She was a wight, if ever such wight were,–
Des. To do what?
Iago. To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.
Des. O most lame and impotent conclusion!
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Othello — Act ii, Sc. 1

Sorry folks. Ditto….. not everything Shakespeare wrote was good….and this is particularly bad….
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Another day, another 42 cents…..this treatise won’t be available on my site until after 8 PM tonight. I am participating in the internet-wide protest against SOPA, the internet piracy bill now before Congress. Please use one of the available methods to add your voice to others in protest. If this bill passes, virtually half or more of all websites would be taken down, just because someone else didn’t approve of it. Censorship at its worst. And after you’ve registered your disapproval, please come on back and enjoy today’s Pearl….. y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!