Ffolkes,
and one only evil, namely, ignorance.”
~~ Diogenes Laertius — Socrates, xiv ~~
Image by Manish Mamtani from Space.com
http://www.manishmamtani.com/
Good morning…. It’s a good thing I came up with the new method for these intros; on days such as this, when my mind is a vast, blank plain, without even the smallest of shiny objects, anywhere to be seen…. Instead of worrying over it, we’ll merely go on to the next section, knowing we’re covered…. See ya down the page, ffolkes….
Shall we Pearl?
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” — Mark Twain
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Image from slowmoto at deviantart.com via Google Free Images
Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, the Warner Brothers (and Sister), are the only modern cartoon I like; they hearken back to a crazier age…. Just my cuppa tea, so to speak…. Here’s a playlist with a LOT of their cartoons…. Enjoy!….
Yakko, Wakko, & Dot
The Animaniacs
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“Do you ever think about the end of the world as we know it?”
~~ Calvin ~~
I do…. It can be a rather daunting task to carry any such examinations to a final conclusion, for, most of the time, my calculations put us humans much closer to our own moment of truth, as a species, than anyone cares to either admit, or address, without panicking, laying blame, or, attempting to minimize the truth, to make it more palatable. From what I see happening in today’s world, both on the environmental, and the psychosocial/political/cultural fronts, it isn’t going to be long at all before we are faced with a number of severe crises, all of which will threaten our very survival as a species, or, as a civilized culture, should we be fortunate enough to survive at all….
In a general sense, I’m not certain we deserve to survive. Human history is little more than a long litany of sorrow, pain, death, and abuse of our fellow creatures, including the weakest members of our own species. Wars, political chicanery, more wars…. history is rife with Man’s inhumanity to Man, and to the other creatures with whom we share the planet. We have killed whenever we felt like it, for as little reason as the desire for power, a sickness afflicting a significant portion of the male half of the species. Nothing more than personal wants are considered sufficient reason for some to take and take and take, never considering the effects of their actions on any other living thing, nor caring….
Yet, there is good in life. A great many people are compassionate, and live to serve others, at least to the extent they love. There are a great many intelligent people, who have plumbed the secrets of the physical universe, bringing the advantages of the power of imagination to ease the lives of many others, as well as to help provide the species with the time to explore the limits of that imagination…. Art, Philosophy, Medicine, Music, all the finer characteristics of an advancing civilization have been created by the same creatures who kill for fun…. We are, for certain, a creature of great contrast; Our nature, quite naturally, mirrors the nature of reality, to wit: both good and evil coexist, as two sides of one coin, at the very core of both…
This leads, patently, to some confusion, especially in those members of our species whose power of imagination, and basic wit, are not sufficient to allow them to fully understand this concept. (Yes, I just called a lot of people “stupid”. I was trying to be nice….) This, of course, leads to a basic misunderstanding of their own nature; some people have a lot of trouble with the ambiguity that naturally exists in nature. It frightens them, as does anything they do not understand…. This fatal flaw allows them to be manipulated by any other person they have learned to trust, accepting the thoughts of others as their reality, rather than learning to face their fear, to learn what they do not know. Learning is hard; faith is easy…
“The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.” — H. L. Mencken
I admire H. L. Mencken; he wrote at the turn of the twentieth century, some time after the time called the Industrial Revolution had come to pass, solidifying technology as the primary focus of society in its advance, while simultaneously witnessing the usurpation of our democracy by the corruption of the Judicial Branch, which, bribed almost openly by corporate interests, passed laws cementing the control of the oligarchs, who now had the reins of government, industry, and the economy firmly grasped in their fat, avaricious fingers….. H. L. was fearless in pointing this out to the society of the time…. Did anyone listen? Apparently, not much….
“Government, today, is growing too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world; there are only subjects. They work day in and day out for their masters; they are bound to die for their masters at call. Out of this working and dying they tend to get less and less.” — H.L. Mencken
Sound familiar? George Orwell’s novel, “1984”, detailing the horrors of the possible future of mankind, should the current cultural trends continue, was published in the mid-twentieth century, in 1949, many years after Mencken’s comments. Today, society does not look much different from the one proposed by Orwell; it’s been said that, of the more than one hundred predictions made in the book regarding society, ALL of them have come to pass…. I can believe it; anyone who doesn’t can just read the news headlines for a couple days to find graphic proof of how true it is….
“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” — Isaac Asimov
As far as I can tell, this is obvious. Yet, we continue to use the same old methods of problem solving so poorly used for millennia; sometimes I think the whole species is insane, for it doesn’t make any sense to keep using ideas and actions that don’t work…. SIGH…. It’s really frustrating to think of how stupid people act a lot of the time, especially when I know that stupidity is a choice….
Oh well…. such is life, they say. I’m tired of hearing it, but, what can ya do? Not much. In fact, for right now, I’m so damn depressed over the state of the world, I’m going to STOP ranting, and go do something more fun… You should do the same…
Go on… Find something constructive to do, ffolkes…. Go on, I mean it….. We’re done here…..
~~ Plutarch ~~
~~ On the Tranquility of the Mind ~~
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As noted, I’ve had quite a bit of pain lately; s’okay. We’ve become old friends, me & my pain…. Here’s a poem I wrote another time I felt this way for a while….
Don’t worry,
it’s not
me
you hear
screaming.
It is
only
my bones,
giving in,
to
cowardly,
pathologically,
repetitive,
fucking,’
complaints
of
past abuse,
and
all the fun
we had.
playing,
hard.
I don’t mind
too much;
I can spend my
TIME
in another space
in my head,
pretending
my bones
don’t
exist….
It
is,
indeed,
a shame
they
always
come
back….
Fuck.
It
hurts.
More proof,
I guess,
either
God isn’t,
or,
He is.
IF
He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….
Ante up.
Deal.
IF
He is?
Then,
I don’t fucking care
who
doesn’t like it,
I say,
He
is
a bully,
a coward,
a hypocrite,
and,
truly,
an enormous asshole.
I suppose,
God
is
what comes,
to,
and
from,
People,
because
they
feel
a need,
for
someone
to
blame,
for
a
Universe
they
cannot
understand
or
accept.
I
will
take the complaints.
After all,
they
are
my bones.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 9/14/2014.
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Today’s old-school pearl speaks very simply of life, and some of the rules, and/or ideas to remember, to help us to live it well….
“Do every act of your life as if it were your last.” — Marcus Aurelius
“Custom does often reason overrule and only serves for reason to the fool.” — John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
“Often when he was looking on at auctions he would say, “How many things there are which I do not need!” — Diogenes Laertius — Socrates, x
“Seek not happiness too greedily, and be not fearful of happiness.” — Lao-Tzu
“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” — Clive James
“You live and learn. Or you don’t live long.” — Lazarus Long
“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
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What an ordeal!…. Actually, it went fairly smoothly, even if Smart Bee was in a snit…. None of it matters now, of course, as we’re done. Having done all the damage I can do for one day, I’ll take my leave, to gather my resources so I can try again tomorrow, to fulfill my never-ending quest to create the perfect Pearl of Virtual Wisdom…. As today’s episode indicates clearly, we have a ways to go…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….
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
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 