Ffolkes,
~~ Confucius, “Analects” ~~
Threatened by the imminent arrival of a houseful of relatives, Mickey Stone found himself retreating to his basement “hubby-cubby”, where, in spite of all notions to the contrary, he does NOT perform evil rituals in the dark…. He does, occasionally, watch horror flicks on the 52-inch flat-screen TV late at night, but, that’s about as evil as the Big Mick is capable of contemplating. Shuddering at the thought of four days trapped with cousin Franklin, not to mention the dreaded presence of his mother-in-law, Mickey pulled a beer out of the mini-fridge, dropped into the leather recliner, and prepared to thoroughly insulate his consciousness with alcohol….
Me, I’m going to finish this Pearl, then go for a drive…. once my hands have recovered, that is. Not only do I have a bunch of stuff to accomplish out in the BBR (again), the day and a half break I’ve had from the worst of the pain seems to have been officially ended, as I woke up with aching joints, and a piss-poor attitude…. Thankfully, thinking about poor Mickey’s upcoming torture got me into a better head-space; the pain, however, continues unabated, laughing, as is its habit, at all the powerful medication I consume, as well as complicating this process by necessitating frequent breaks to rest my hands and wrists….
Ah well, such is life, as they say, so, I’m going to once again usurp the usual opening program, which I tried to begin the old-fashioned way, by abruptly ending this section, & moving on to the next. I call it ruthlessness, you can call it whatever you like…. just don’t call it Percy. It HATES that name!….
Hmm… We are approaching severe nonsense way too early for me. I’m getting us out of here, ffolkes, before I lose control completely…. Hang on, & do NOT get up from your seats for the next few moments…. You may never get back into it…. Well, not without a visit to the ER first…. Hold on, ffolkes, we’re going in, ready or not….
Shall we Pearl?
“He was a man, which, as Plato saith, is a very inconstant creature.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — On the Tranquility of the Mind
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I used to like this show; Bob’s one-sided conversations on the phone were the funniest stuff on TV at the time…. which probably goes to show just how bad TV has always been…. It’s funny, but, with the network censors working overtime back then, it was pretty mild, in terms of social commentary…. But, that was America in the 60’s & 70’s…. Oblivious….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As mentioned, busy, busy, busy…. plus, hey, why not?, I’m lazy. Hence, another replacement pearl from the archives…. I’m also going with my “nice guy” costume today, making it a rantish old-school pearl, rather than the usual straight-out rant…. Better for all of us under the circumstances, I think…. Enjoy, ffolkes, it’s a “good” pearl….
From 9/29/2012:
I’ve been very lucky with my latest incarnation of Smart Bee…. it seems to be giving me a higher percentage of usable quotes than it did before I had trouble with it. In fact, so many quotes are worth saving that I’m starting to group them into subject lots…. Here are a significant number of intriguing and/or interestingly accurate observations on modern life in America, land of the marginally civilized….
I still can’t see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.
~~ Langston Hughes ~~
~~ The Black Man Speaks ~~
Homosexuality is *not* a sickness. Bigotry is. — Smart Bee
“Whether you have an abortion, what you put in your own body, with whom you have sex – these are not the affairs of the state. A government does not exist to control the citizens. When it does, it is a tyranny, and must be fought. The tree of liberty, Jefferson warned us, must be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots.” — Gore Vidal
“Government is about coercion. Limiting government is the single most important instrument for guaranteeing liberty. We’re working on a third generation which has little in the way of education about what our Constitution means and why it was written. Thus, we’ve fallen easy prey to charlatans, quacks, and hustlers.” — Dr. Walter Williams
“The discovery of America was the occasion of the greatest outburst of cruelty and reckless greed known in history.” — Joseph Conrad
“Democracy is government by the people with open discussion and free speech. This allows those with no ideas to unload their thinking in the most tedious and lengthy manner. After this, a vote is taken, and the least informed will oppose the most confused. The result, inevitably, will be known as model legislation. In time, it will proliferate, and eventually a commission will be formed to review what has been done and why it isn’t working and it will recommend reforms of the previous efforts. All of this will be published in various government journals and cause great debate. There will be a veritable waterfall of newspaper editorials and Johnny Carson will use the whole thing as a part of his monologue. In the end, the reforms will be defeated. –Smart Bee
“Christianity: Please help find the cure.” — Smart Bee
(Sorry, I couldn’t resist…. A few days ago, as I sat in a shady spot outside, on a beautiful California day, I began to think, for some misbegotten reason, about Christianity in this country. I wondered, no idea why, exactly how many different definitions of the word “Christian” there would be. There are so many different interpretations of the Bible, and so many different definitions of what is “Christ-like”, that I can see no hope of any consensus answer to this question.
A conservative guess would be about 5,000 different churches, each with a different interpretation of scripture; it’s likely that Los Angeles and New York City, alone, contain that many; nation-wide, the number is probably closer to a hundred thousand….. None, I repeat, NONE, of the people who embrace the dogma associated with each of these various cults {yes, cults, by definition…look it up….} are at all willing to even consider any truth in any of the others, and they ostensibly are all worshiping the same dude…. It’s a bit pathetic, when one stops to look at the broader picture…. SIGH… ah well, back to general culture, and our caricaturization thereof…..)
You may be redneck… if you refer to Mason jars as “the good glasses.” — Smart Bee
“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
On that note, we will go ever onward, seeking approbation, or at least hoping for poor aim….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I don’t know what I want, or what I need, I turn to this poet…. every time….
Occasionally rides;
You may have met him,–did you not,
His notice sudden is.
The grass divides as with a comb,
A spotted shaft is seen;
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on.
He likes a boggy acre,
A floor too cool for corn.
Yet when a child, and barefoot,
I more than once, at morn,
Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash
Unbraiding in the sun,–
When, stooping to secure it,
It wrinkled, and was gone.
Several of nature’s people
I know, and they know me;
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality;
But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone.
~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With so much to do today, I don’t much feel up to arguing with Smart Bee over pearls… so, here is a pretty good one from the archives…. Enjoy, ffolkes, it’s a classic….
From 10/9/2012:
In keeping with today’s theme, as it evolved, I offer these pearls…. Each is, of course, a stand-alone thought, but, I let my whimsy dictate which would go well together, to further demonstrate my devotion to illogic, and it’s concomitant companion, crooked reasoning…. Crooked though it may be, there still exists a direct link to Reality, especially in today’s society, which goes much further than I have ever gone down the path to Strange….
“No matter how much cynicism you have, it is never enough to keep up.” — Lily Tomlin
“But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State.” — Thomas Jefferson, [letter?] To S. Kercheval, 1810
“The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.” — Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals
“Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
“The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given more alarm than I think it should have done. Calculate that one rebellion in 13 states in the course of 11 years, is but one for each state in a century and a half. No country should be so long without one.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), in letter to James Madison, 20 December 1787
‘But he hasn’t got any clothes on,’ a little boy said. — from The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen
“Remember that man’s life lies all within this present, as ‘t were but a hair’s-breadth of time; as for the rest, the past is gone, the future yet unseen. Short, therefore, is man’s life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iii, 10
Well, there you go…. If you can’t make heads or tails of it, don’t sweat it. None of it will be on the Quiz….. But, if you let your mind drift as you consider the parts of the pearl as a whole concept, you just might find that you’ve hit upon a very deep, very ancient, immensely valuable insight into not only the nature of Man, but your own nature as well…. If not, well, have some chocolate; then, you can, at least, feel the same way…..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not too shabby for an old fart with flat feet and flatulence…. plus, it’s done. Since that state offers no opportunity for improvement, we shall take our leave, post haste…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid, the dubious
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
À bientôt, mon cherí….