Pete thinks it shouldn’t do that….

Posted on February 4, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Belief is the death of intelligence.”

~~ Robert Anton Wilson ~~

London Daily Telegraph ~ Darek Siustra

I’ve come to learn, over the past three years, there will be days like this. In my world, such days tend to defy description, even for me; I seem to have no issues whatsoever with spouting off on virtually any subject, logical, realistic, or otherwise…. Of course, part of that is due simply to my nature, which is rather crusty from the outset. When one is the middle child of five, it happens. We middle kids get the brunt of the other four siblings’ attempts at manipulation, which took the form of violence, or crying, as we are the perfect target. One can’t beat up the bigger ones because, well, they’re bigger, and can’t beat up the little ones because a) it isn’t fair, and, b) Mom & Dad would paddle ME.

So, we learn our own methods of coping, often having to do with learning stealth, with a healthy dose of our own forms of manipulation. One must, after all, maintain a certain degree of dignity in life…. Naturally, this dignity lasts only as long as we are at home; the world at large tends to alter or adjust whatever attitudes we may take on during our early years, teaching an entirely different set of lessons in how to deal with what life throws in our path. SIGH…. Sometimes, I think it really WOULD be nice if there were some supernatural entity up there somewhere in the sky, taking all the responsibility for all that happens to us; it would be more comfortable than the way the universe is actually constructed; in the real world, reality couldn’t care less what we do, or what happens to us….

I guess that’s too scary for most folks, so, they latch onto whatever religion or set of beliefs that allows them to blame the universe for all the crappy stuff that happens, completely ignoring the fact of their own culpability, or to acknowledge any such concept as Karma, which presupposes we are completely responsible for both…. we bear the responsibility for what we do, and we bear equal responsibility for what happens to us. Most folks can’t accept that responsibility, so, they give up the right to think for themselves, allowing a bunch of manipulative liars to decide for them what they should believe, even though it is one of the most unbelievable stories I’ve ever heard….

Ah well…. I’ve already come far too close to ranting mode here, without intending to do so; I think I’ll show a bit of restraint, by stopping here, so we can try to get something else done before it’s too late to get anywhere worthwhile…. Of course, we have yet to ever get to any such place, but, we do try…. Maybe this time it will work…. All we can do is all we can do….

Shall we Pearl?

“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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I’m in the mood for some smooth, easy listening…. here is a mix with four hours worth of that very thing…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

*4 HOURS* of Classical Music

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

http://youtu.be/n_0Qix6qf5g

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

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“Sigh… Every day I thank my statuette of Wilma Flintstone that I was born normal.” — Zippy the pinhead

Due to circumstances completely within my control, there won’t be a fresh rant today; I’m not even going to tell you why. I will, however, supply y’all with a short discussion from the archives, just a quick indictment, and a reminder what we see happening in the world today is merely more proof of the old saying…. same shit, different day….

From 2/14/2012:

“I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she’s too young to have logged on yet. Here’s what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say ‘Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?'” — Mike Godwin

This is something all of us should be thinking about, now that the Bill of Rights, which ostensibly assures us of freedom of speech, has been nullified by another homeland insecurity authorization, approved by our beloved ruling class, including the great Hope, Obama, who stealthily signed it on New Year’s Eve, when he knew nobody was watching too closely. Effective the next day, all of our protections as citizens against being unjustly accused or held in jail without cause or review, free speech, the right to assemble to protest grievances, all of those rights are now null and void. Any American citizen can now be arrested without warrant, taken to undisclosed locations, and tortured (yes, I said tortured; if you don’t believe me go read the damn thing yourself), all because they are SUSPECTED of being in, or aiding a terrorist organization. No evidence, no proof required, merely suspicion.

In addition, the authorities who are authorized to carry out these unconstitutional actions are not required to tell anyone, and there is no judicial or any other oversight; no warrants needed for any of this, and they don’t even have to tell anyone they have done so. It’s enough to make me go out and buy a gun….and prepare to use it. I guarantee that anyone who tries to do this to me will have bitten off more than they can chew; I’m not a pacifist, and I am a free man; I will protect my own rights, thank you, and I will do that until either they give it up, or they’re dead, or I’m dead. No compromises here, folks. I have no intention of being a victim of these assholes, and I suggest to all truly free Americans that they keep their weapons handy, and their powder dry…..

“….secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you may not see, this you are forbidden to know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrarily, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything–you can’t control a free man, the most you can do is kill him.” — Robert Heinlein, Revolt in 2100, “….If this goes on….”

Note from 2015: There you go: short and sweet. Naturally, I could expand on all of that, but, I’ll be nice…. We’ll go on to our next stop…

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Here is a poem I wrote in response to one of those school shootings we see every now and again, so the BRC and the Asininnies have a chance to try again to curb our right to own guns…. It’s much easier to work people up into a frenzy when they have incidents of insanity like those to point to; I only wish people would remember those in charge only use those incidents to manipulate the public into doing what they want them to do, which is to be afraid…. of nothing much….

Modest sounds of impatient concern….

Crowds converge at the raw and grisly scene,
comatose to compassion, curiosity tugging at the hem
with sharp, oh, sharp tools made obscene,
filing the essence of future hopes in spite of them.

Yet who has won the keys to the treasure,
who whipped up the fear of another brother?
Who spent the dreams of the old in selfish measure,
with such arrogant blindness grave issues to smother?

Fateful decisions may prompt still another pause,
to catch and release collective images of insanity.
Surely legitimate anger arises with ample cause
wallowing in self-made entrepreneurs, fluent in profanity.

A quartet of eternities must pass to guarantee change,
regardless of need, or desire, or autonomous manipulation.
Ancient rules and modern aggression is only passing strange
when golden delusion grasps futilely at its related illusory station.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

If I were compelled to classify this pearl as to type, I don’t think I’d be able to do so; it defies explanation pretty thoroughly, from what I can tell… As far as I CAN tell, it’s merely observations of reality, with a slight twist toward how to cope with it, in whatever form it assumes…. Or not. Who cares? I’m done now…. No worries, ffolkes, they make excellent operational notes…. The last one is particularly cogent, I think….

“A rolling stone gathers momentum.” — Smart Bee

“Much may be known of a man’s character by what excites his laughter.” — Goethe

“When a man is wrong and won’t admit it, he always gets angry.” — Thomas Chandler Haliburton

“If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.” — Herodotus

“A bee is not a busier animal than a blockhead.” — Alexander Pope

What we leave behind is not as important as the way we lived.” — Smart Bee

“You only live once — but if you work it right, once is enough.” — Joe E. Lewis

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As I said in the previous section, I’m done. More than done, actually; I blew past done & went straight into bail mode. That, of course, is why you see this ending right here, and right now, rather than later. We do try to at least pay lip service to some sort of routine, even if it’s all an illusion. Y’all should be used to that by now…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, and thanks for dropping by….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Mildred, leave the toilet seat where it is….

Posted on January 25, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“You can easily judge the character of others
by how they treat those
who can do nothing for them
or to them.”

~~ Malcolm Forbes ~~

From the London Daily Telegraph, Animal Pictures of the Year, 2014

Reality, having assumed a configuration untenable to my sanity, has retreated from my perception, leaving me stranded, forlornly seeking a fantasy world in which to spend my time. Of course, there are many from which to choose, making the process of making a choice that much more intimidating. The feeling of doom, with its concomitant companion, depression, lies in wait behind a number of them, always ready to kick me to the curb with its melancholy insistence on dwelling upon that which cannot be changed…. Others are more friendly, yet, contain their own demons, certain to devour even more of my soul than even Reality can consume…. All of them, from the first to the last, are certain to make things worse, for any retreat from what is Real only worsens the issues one has in that state….

Wow…. now THAT is a bummer of a way to start the day, isn’t it? I think, maybe, given how downright depressing nature of the above paragraph, the proctors will allow me to begin again. The authorities who regulate this process are aware of the problems that can ensue when such material is spread around; the damn stuff grows like weeds, given half a chance….. So…. I think we should start over, don’t you? Well, too bad, because we are…. Here, let’s try this….

What was that? Who’s there? Did I say something? Oh, I see, alright…. Good morning, L & G, I see you all have your boarding passes correctly stapled to your foreheads, so, the scanners should be able to get us all on board shortly. Allow me to welcome you to ECR Airlines, your friendly first-class carrier to Reality, and back. We hope you enjoyed the visit to our waiting room by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Old Maid Division, who treated us all to a rendition of John Sebastian Bock’s Ode to Fish. To enhance your vacation experience, and to give you an opportunity to regain your hearing, no on-board entertainment will be provided…. If you’d all take your seats, and buckle yourselves in, we can be on our way….

There, is that a bit better? No? Well, shit. Oh well, fuck it, I’m done. We’ll just have to go with what we’ve got, and trust to our luck to see us to the other end of the Pearl…. I’m tired of this nonsense, so, as I have already mentioned at least once, fuck it…. Let’s dive….

Shall we Pearl?

“‘If everybody minded their own business,’ the Duchess said, in a hoarse growl, ‘the world would go round a deal faster than it does.'” — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

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“Life is full of surprises when you’re up th’ stream of consciousness without a paddle…”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

There is a great deal I could say about this man; his words, and books, have had a strong influence on my life. More importantly, that influence has been one I can truthfully say has brought me nothing but good results, for having embraced the knowledge, and the mindfulness, Mr. Watts shared with the world for much of his life. He was truly one of the most important philosophical minds we, as humans, have ever seen; his presence is missed sorely in these troubled times, but, his words of wisdom and reason remain, showing us the way to reach our true potential, if we choose to listen…

Alan Watts: Full TV series

http://youtu.be/0gyTymQobR8?list=PL02D3110151849463

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“Never create by law what can be accomplished by morality.”

~~ Charles-Louis Secondat Baron de Montesquieu ~~

We begin today’s section devoted to venting the frustration and angst created in me, by the state of our society/world, with yet another ironic statement of advice from a reliable social critic, giving voice to a warning, one which has been repeated often throughout history. Sadly, it is also a warning never, ever remembered by those who MAKE laws, to the everlasting regret of everyone alive. Even today, in our computerized world, fueled by the availability of universal access to ALL of mankind’s accumulated wisdom, nothing seems to prevent modern fanatics and/or ignoramae from continuing their efforts to force their own morality upon everyone else, by passing laws intended to shape the societal norms….

Even considering the wide array of sources of information I try to use, to maintain an even balance from all sides of the issues at hand, everything in the world seems to be, quite simply, turning to shit, right before our eyes…. Nothing any of the great sages of history have said, warning mankind of the danger of unreasoning stupidity, generally involving some sort of delusional, or self-serving institutional system of thought, has altered the overall prevalence of deliberate ignorance in shaping society’s approach to Life at Large. In short, nothing we’ve ever had told to us, by those among us smart enough to see the Truth, has ever been of use in keeping our inherent tendency to look for the easy way…. or, to prevent the more ruthless and immoral among us from taking advantage of those who allow fear to rule their existence.

“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” — Lazarus Long, from Time Enough For Love, by Robert A. Heinlein

I first read this when I was about 12 or 13 years old; every day since that time has provided me with evidence in support of its ongoing relevance, reinforcing my decision to adopt it as a proven theorem, suitable for everyday wear as armor against the worst effects of such ubiquity…. Every day I witness people performing acts of incredible stupidity, not just on TV, but, everywhere I look; on the streets, in the stores, in churches, in businesses, homes, and, most especially, in Congress….

Calm down, you knew we had to come to this point, didn’t you? You should have known, as soon as the quote from Lazarus showed up, talk of the public humiliation embodied by the US House of Representatives, along with the US Senate…. Hell, ffolkes you MUST have known such talk couldn’t be far behind…. Both of those houses, by their actions over the past 50 years, for all of which I’ve steadily observed their antics, showed, to the world, as well as me, a consistent, practical demonstration of the very definition of the word “stupid”….. Anyone who disagrees is free to do so, but, obviously, they must have been living on another planet since before 1950…. Tough to do, since we humans didn’t even get to our own Moon until 1969….

“Imagine, if you will, that I am an idiot. Then, imagine that I am also a Congressman. But, alas, I repeat myself.” — Mark Twain

As is apparent, our generation is not the first in this country to suffer from the asinine goings on in Washington D.C. In the less-than-glorious past of our country, more than one Senator, and/or Representative of the House, have acted as role models, prompting Twain to hold them up as examples of idiocy, one of his finer talents. In fact, one of his most telling insults, in my mind, is one I’m positive was made in reference to a politician of his era, though I couldn’t say which one it might have been…. If his work, and that of Ambrose Bierce, who wrote a bit earlier than Twain, are any indication of the public perception of typical politicians, then the following pearl makes a perfect statement of that view during most of the 19th century….

“His ignorance covers the world like a blanket, and there’s scarcely a hole in it anywhere.” — Mark Twain

Unfortunately, the description also can be, and must be, applied to far too many of the human race; the sheer, ever-increasing number of mundanes in the world, each one determined to maintain the status quo, imparts to society so great an inertia, any changes needed require herculean effort by large numbers of people, before any real reform, or even negative progress, can show any effect on society as a whole…. Only massive outpouring of human energy, over long periods of time, can cause society to alter the slightest custom….

This is why I like to say humanity’s bus is driven by, and, maintained by, those of whom the most charitable description of their relative intelligence might be considered to be derogatory….. In short, our fate as a species is being decided by folks who have trouble out-thinking rocks, who serve chiefly as a means for transporting their own ass from chair to toilet, while demonstrating, on a consistent basis, the emotional range of a button-hole.

In case it isn’t apparent, I’m not a big fan of politicians…. preachers either. Nor anyone whose primary goal in life is in any way involved in controlling other people for their own gain…. To me, that includes far too many of those who are in positions of authority in our world, in which sociopathy has become the most valuable and efficient means of gaining power and influence, not merely in what used to be termed the underworld, but, in government, churches, business, academia, the medical community, police and military…. All these powerful entities are all under the spell of the cult of self-love, what my uncle called ‘Me-Firsterism’, but, which I simply call ‘Evil’, borne out of a deep laziness, lack of compassion, and amorality….

But, then, that’s me…. Most of the world doesn’t even think about much of this sort of issue; they’re too busy trying to get by, to make the rent, or the car payment, or the food bill, to spend much mental energy on wondering why their lives are so hard…. S’okay, one of the most critical lessons my years on this sad old ball o’mud taught me is a simple one, which tells us, “Stupidity is its own reward”…. To me, ignoring, or accepting, those who would enslave us all is, quite simply, stupid….. I refuse to countenance such indifference of spirit, in me, or in my life….

I’ll leave you now a relatively short group of pearls, with some advice on the proper attitude to take when dealing with members of several of the categories mentioned above, all of which, by association, are applicable any time we are forced to deal with representatives of those we here at ECR call, the Asininnies….

“There is one sure way of telling when politicians aren’t telling the truth — their lips move.” — Felicity Kendall

“Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.” — Claud Cockburn

“I have an understanding with my local police–I have them outgunned, but they have me outnumbered” — gigoid

“For your penance, say five Hail Marys and one loud BLAH!” — Smart Bee

“All them surgeons – they’re highway robbers. Why do you think they wear masks when they work on you?” — Archie Bunker — All in the Family

“If idiots could fly, Congress would be an airport.” — Smart Bee

“Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.” — Lazarus Long

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Well…. the poem I’ve been percolating decided to leak out of the vein I opened this morning…. I’m really not sure what I think of it yet; it’s still too close to my nose, so to speak…. I hope you enjoy it, such as it is….

Sundown, Sunrise

Feel the bones, watch them burn
allow the rage
accept the wage
seek out the page
waiting in vain, never to turn.

Craving only simple signs of justice
compelling each social act
cancels all critical impact
no virtue to be left intact
falling swiftly out of practice.

Simple acts of sincere compassion
nothing left to pretend
no stone, no able friend
only the pain to amend
ably fulfilling current fashion.

Memories help alleviate pain
no youth so callow
no field so fallow
no spirit so shallow
convince each inmate to remain insane.

Reality offers no pathetic amnesty
no contract with indemnity
no party to suffer serenity
shall stimulate dishonest pity
nor bring back Truth, or Honesty.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Weird…. I asked SB to make up a pearl, without giving any parameters, or any clue at all as to what might work…. When I came back to see the results, this is what I found; it seems to be SB’s interpretation of my life, as it currently exists…. Since it also seems to be pretty damn accurate, speaking, of course, metaphorically, we’ll let it fly, trusting to luck to see no deleterious side effects come into play …. You may want to take notes; this one could end up on the Quiz….

” The road to truth is long, and lined the entire way with annoying bastards” — Alexander Jablokov, “The Place of No Shadows”

“If a cat spoke, it would say things like “Hey, I don’t see a problem here.”” — Smart Bee

“Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.” — Charles Schulz, Charlie Brown

“Is consciousness just a special form of hallucination?” — Frank Herbert

“And when the physician said, “Sir, you are an old man,” “That happens,” replied Pausanias, “because you never were my doctor.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax

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

“Not for me” — gigoid, the dubious

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“Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.”

~~ Clarence Darrow ~~

Just before I wrote the poem you see in the poetry section, above, I found this most excellent pearl, without any good place to put it…. So, since it fits into our whole concept so well, I thought I’d use it today as a closing thought, to highlight the importance of teaching our children how to think, how to learn, rather than just how to obey…. On that singularly coherent note, I shall take my leave. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Oh, no, not the exotics! What a mess!….

Posted on January 19, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Between the vision and the act lies the shadow.”

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

From the London Daily Telegraph Animal Pictures of the Year Feature,2014

Thanks to Reality’s insistence on being real, I’m up, but, have started late, having first dealt with one aspect of that Reality which has been a burr under my saddle blanket for weeks. It’s not fixed, but, I’ve fired a warning shot over the bow of my adversary’s ship, so, the real battle should begin sometime later today, when I expect a phone call stimulated by what I’ve written elsewhere. There…. is that obscure enough for you?

I hope so, cuz I’m done with that for now. I am duty-bound to complete this Pearl, so, I have no other choice, according to my own adopted beliefs, than to get on it. How I mean to rescue this intro from the doldrums of real-time BS is unclear just yet, but, no worries, something should occur to me momentarily, as the back burners have been cooking that stew all morning; it may not be delicious, but it will be thoroughly cooked….

Picking a small, yellow flower from a bush, Mirandella absently placed it in her hair, wandering slowly through the forest’s shadow-dappled path, thinking of the night’s dream, which had awakened her, breathless, only to send her flying out of the castle, into the forest, to escape the power of the dream, and how it had made her feel. Her heart, now beating its normal slow, strong rhythm, filled again at the memory of that vision in the night, while she pondered its meaning, so unclear, yet so compelling…. At a sound to her left, she turned…..

What should we add now, eh? Should the noise interrupting Mirandella’s disturbed thoughts be a friend, a lover, a monster? A frog? Or, the Doctor? Any of those might work…. Ah, hell, it’s probably too late, anyway…. I’m already off in another direction in my head, so, we’ll leave Mirandella to her own fate, while we go see what we can find over in this corner of my mind…. In looking again at that first sentence, I might just send this one off to the committee who decides on the yearly Bulwer-Lytton Literary Contest, to see who can write the WORST opening line for a book or story…. It might just have a chance….

Oooh! What’s this? Why, look! It’s a pearl! Pretty shiny, too…. Here, I’ll show it to you….

“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”

~~ New Testament — Acts ix, 5 ~~

Hmm…. Now, I wonder what SB means by leaving that one out to be found? It’s perfectly cute, of course, but, what the hell does it mean? I mean, it’s a great little summary of my ongoing battle with a soulless corporate entity, (easily recognized as the ‘pricks’ in this statement…), but, Smart Be KNOWS I don’t use the Bible much; it’s so damn ambiguous. I usually find it best to leave it out, as most, if not all of it, was written under the influence of, and ABOUT, the world’s most persistent delusion…. But, since it shines so nicely, even considering the source, we’ll let it stay….

Especially since it used up enough room to call this a legal document…. We’ll take the next available exit to the pearl beds, and consider ourselves lucky, on a day when I don’t have a lot of chutzpah…. Hang on for moment, ffolkes, it could get bumpy….

Shall we Pearl?

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars…” — Jack Kerouac, “On the Road”

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It’s tough on a day like today, when vertigo, tardive dyskinesia, and pain are competing for attention all at once; it’s a tough battle, which nobody wins, least of all, me…. But, that’s neither here nor there; it just is. It has complicated this process, however, as I’m having a tough time figuring out what would be fun…. You see, right now, nothing much I can think of fits that description, at least, not for me…. But, I know…. I’ll retreat into the past, with a bit of indulgence for my hebephrenic urges…. If the word is unfamiliar, well, look it up, and you’ll understand…. I hope. If not, well, look at it again, then it will hit you….

The summer of 1967, for me, was one of budding independence. I left my parents home to go stay at my sister’s house, in the Los Angeles suburbs, where I got a summer job, driving an ice cream truck. I grew my first whiskers, in the only place I could, my chin, a nice little fuzzy rug I called a goatee, and, with my surfer-boy’s haircut, I looked much like a current TV character, Maynard G. Krebs, from the show you will see today…. Maynard was a beatnik, the precursor and role model for all future hippies, and I loved that summer, if for no other reason than acquiring the nickname of “Maynard” to all the young ladies on my ice cream route…. SIGH…. good memories… Enjoy, ffolkes, these two characters, Dobie, and Maynard, formed a large part of the cultural influence which molded my own persona….. Deep stuff for a fluff TV show, eh?….

Dobie Gillis: Maynard Joins the Army

http://youtu.be/HL-zcyhPUUY

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“Either CONFESS now or we go to “PEOPLE’S COURT”!!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

Ukraine. France. Saudi Arabia. Syria. India. Iraq. Afghanistan. Pakistan. China. Turkey. United Kingdom. USA. Several African nations, including Egypt, Uganda, Zaire, the Congo, South Africa, and others.

In the past month or so, certainly in the past year, we have heard of some sort of terrorist event, whether a suicide bomb, mass shooting, abduction, plot of genocidal poisoning, threats of harm to both innocents and those in the public eye, or computer hacking, taking place in all of the listed countries. I am sure, there are, no doubt, others we either did not hear of, or I missed in my recollection, as these are all the ones I remember from the mainstream news…. Head over to one of the alternative news sites, and there are even more examples of the insanity of hatred and violence taking place in the world today….

In the last three years, I’ve ranted about various aspects of this issue, identifying the part played by government pundits, as identified above so arrogantly by Herr Goerring…..

I’ve ranted about religion, as epitomized by the violence displayed by the fundamentalists of every organized religion of the world, not merely those of Islam. The slavish encouragement of the Christians, and all other organized scams of their ilk, to obey temporal authority, in return for the illusory promise of immortality in another life, as well as the brainwashing of the public to accept clerical authority, while encouraging elitism, divisiveness, ignorance and bigotry among the various sects of the followers of the various gods, are primary factors in our species’ inability to ever achieve any real stability…. For example, here is another graphic aid to highlight one of the ways churches, and religion in general, have oppressed half of mankind for millennia….

In addition, and in truth, religions also are responsible for molding the mindset of the young, to believe completely false information, encouraging them to use it as the basis for their entire philosophy of social behavior, thus ensuring the different ideologies will forever remain separate, believing the lie that they are all ‘different’ from each other in some fundamental way, rather than merely differing in the size, shape, and spelling of the name of their own particular supernatural best friend…. Perhaps, this will make clear how such organizations work, by using the very structure of our family to create bigotry; it exposes the dark metaphoric meaning behind a great many childhood rhymes, which teach people to hate before they can think for themselves….

“Father, Mother, and Me,
Sister and Auntie say
All the people like us are We,
And every one else is They.”

~~ Rudyard Kipling, “We and They” ~~

Most tellingly, I believe, I have ranted in recognition of the basic flaw in human nature shared by all of us, acknowledging the part we all have played in allowing things to get this point…. What do I mean by that? Well, this should make it plain, just as it has every time I’ve posted it….

The world, it seems to me, has reached this point simply because virtue is gone; few people today can even tell you what a virtue might be, for the common man is not encouraged to think in those ways. Children are not taught how to live, or to learn; they are taught how to survive, in a world that cares nothing for them, by the simple expedient of allowing them to grow up without ever learning how to use the native intelligence they possess, learning rather to allow others to tell them what they should believe, and how they should act, without ever examining what they are told for truth, or for any benefit to their own life; learning to help others isn’t even considered…. They are taught to lie, to cheat, to take care of number one, thus disconnecting them from their own humanity, which can only achieve its potential in relation to the rest of the species…. In short, they never even understand they live their entire lives as slaves….

I have witnessed this for all of my life. I grew up in hope, of a world where what I believed to be the American Dream not only had a chance of becoming reality, but, could be achieved by virtuous intent, and right action. Little did I know the “Dream” was merely a public relations term, used as a sop to those who want to believe it is possible, when, in reality, it has had no real chance of existence since soon after the ink dried on the US Constitution…. The powerful people behind the political scenes, the bankers, and oligarchs who have always influenced the rest of society to their own ends, began immediately to usurp the democratic process, right from the start, culminating in the Federal Court decision in the mid-nineteenth century which laid the legal basis for defining corporations as “people” according to the law, giving them rights even flesh and blood people do not possess…

Funny thing about people, though. When they do figure out what is going on, they have a tendency to act, and quickly, without apparent thought, though it may have been present during the stimulation toward action…. What’s more, the people who oppress others never seem to realize that all creatures have a limit to what they will endure without resistance; those who endure the most will act the quickest, and the most violently, to remove the source of that which has given them reason to remember their own honor…. I’m not the first to say this, by the way; other patriots before me saw what is happening, and were in a position to voice their opinions for posterity, to wit:

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those of us who profess to favor freedom yet depreciate agitation are men who want the crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters…This struggle may be a moral one or a physical one, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has and never will. Show me the exact amount of wrong and injustices that are visited upon a person and I will show you the exact amount of words endured by these people. These wrongs and injustices may be fought with words or with blows or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.” — Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), Letter to Gerrit Smith [March 30, 1849]

I’ve been, essentially, a historian for most of my life, patiently observing the antics of my fellow humans, as we all make our way through this confusing universe, while also reading, a lot, of how previous versions of our culture, and those of the entire world, have had their records passed to us, to aid us in our journey, by giving us the details of what has gone before, in all of its glorious, yet venal reality….

I’ve seen how mankind has evolved, both physically, mentally, and culturally, throughout the millennia for which we have written records, as well as the records of those who have investigated the universe, and our world, regarding the nature of things in the time before our species reached the point of self-awareness, sufficiently to have created a means of passing information from one generation to the next.

The most generous comment I can think to make regarding today’s culture, and the danger of extinction to which we have allowed ourselves to be led, is a line from a song of my youth, by a musical group who were the very incarnation of the cultural mood of that time, the Grateful Dead… In one of the iconic statements of the period of history in this country which, to those with the wit to see, heralded the state of the world today, they sang, aptly enough, in slightly off-key four-part harmony:

“What a long, strange trip it’s been!”

~~ Hunter, Garcia, Lesh, and Weir ~~

All of my years of study of the human condition can find no more cogent statement to try to make any difference in what I see taking place today. Since it’s just depressing to think about, let’s go on, shall we? Better than moping here, where we can do no good, though we do no more harm than is ever done by inaction…. Considering how inaction, due to either deliberate ignorance, or worse, indifference, seems to be the underlying factor which has brought us to this point, that will be quite sufficient….

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

I’ve felt so much….. everything, I must let some of it out…. I am still unsure how this turned out; having just allowed it to leak from the vein I opened, it’s still pretty raw…. In the future, you may see a different, improved version; for now, this will do, as it let off a bunch of pressure, at least for the moment…. I hope you enjoy it…

gigoid’s lament

Not a bit of all the pain I feel
is worse than all I see;
all worldly truth, solid and real,
has faded away, never to be free.

Honor stripped of all regard,
while compassion simply fails;
Ignorance , powerful, hard,
crows as reason wails.

Crushing resistance, mandating the vote,
selling illusion, smiling all the while.
Pundits, speaking purely by rote,
arrange all the lies in a tidy pile.

Stupidity ’tis said, is a risky choice;
the price is always the same.
Reality has no pity, no warning ever voiced,
only a gravestone, carved with, our name.
,
~~ gigoid ~~

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

I cannot say for certain what parameters were used to pick out this pearl; I forgot to check beforehand, and, Smart Bee jumped out with them so quickly, I didn’t have time to write it down…. I don’t believe, after looking it over, there will be any problem, anyway; this one pretty much speaks for itself, though one must, I think, be able to be fairly subtle to find the way to the correct conclusion…. That’s not a problem, either, because, we all know these pearls are designed, and constructed with that very ambivalence in mind, such that any conclusion you come to can be the right one…. This one definitely makes that grade…. They’re all so short, this won’t take long, unless you go off on a side trip, into each one’s implications ….

“Time is breath – try to understand this.” — Gurdjieff

“Few people have the imagination for reality.” — Goethe

“The brooks sing carols and glees to the spring.” — Thoreau

“Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.” — Lily Tomlin

“Hope is very dangerous….” — Servalan

“Never hold a grudge.” — Noah Moore, (1994-2011)

“A mind content both crown and kingdom is.” — Greene

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

It may just be me, but, from what I can tell, this process seems to be working fairly well…. Of course, that is probably wishful thinking on my part, but, hey, nothing new there, right? Right. On that note, and in appreciation for your kind attention once more, I will take my leave. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if the men in the white coats, with the leather restraints, have been successfully beaten back…. Ta, then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Counting the cost in plaid pyjamas….

Posted on January 13, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“I have been a lucky man. But someone has to be.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

Psst! Want some candy, boys and girls?

I find myself today in an unenviable position, one in which my only thought can be “PEACE!” Perhaps I am getting old, for the problems I face in my life are challenging my ability to adapt to them, leaving me without the balance I so treasure. It is certain my physical issues are presenting many difficulties for me; what is not so certain is whether or not there is any solution to them, other than learning to endure even more than has been asked of me to this point. That, simply put, gives me no peace….

I suppose also that this feeling marks me as human. But, that brings no comfort either, for I know human nature to be flawed, and dangerous, to itself, and every other creature on this planet. Claiming my humanity does not bring me any comfort, only confusion. But, then, confusion seems to be rather ubiquitous of late, in my life, anyway…. It isn’t a state of mind with which I’m terribly familiar, having been fortunate to possess a mind capable of resisting it with some skill; of late, it seems to have increased its power, or I am getting old, losing my ability to adapt quickly enough to suit reality….

Since the latter is more likely, it may mean there IS no solution to my conundrum; another step further away from peace of mind, clearly. SIGH. It may also be another sign of advancing age, I guess, to feel that peace of mind is the only goal worth pursuing….. In fact, that sounds particularly cogent, to me…. Of course, that may be because we are speaking of my issues, but, I think, maybe, this is something we may assume to be a universal issue for any human reaching my age…. I don’t know about other ffolkes, but, obtaining a bit of peace of mind has assumed a large importance in my world, if only for moments at a time….

That being said, we can now move on to a more practical issue, to wit: what the hell do we do with today’s Pearl? I’ve usurped this intro already, turning it into a no doubt too long piece of introspection, clearly personal, with very little hope of providing any direction to the rest of today’s post. Getting from there to the necessary point, where we can dive into the ocean of knowledge that is the world wide web is proving to be…. Wait, look! There’s a jumping-off point now! I’m grabbing it, while I can…. Hang on, ffolkes….

Shall we Pearl?

“Some people write to please, to soothe, to console. Others to provoke, to challenge, to exasperate and infuriate. I’ve always found the second approach
the more pleasing.” — Edward Abbey

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

(From the London Daily Telegraph-Animal Pictures of the Week)

“Yow! Are we laid back yet?”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

According to one study, in the United States, 14.215% of respondents have consumed cannabis in the last year. In a total population of approximately 330 million people, this comes to (hmm… here is proof that math skills need use to maintain their freshness…. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to find a percentage with such odd figures… It took me a while to pencil it, having abandoned the calculator, as I didn’t recall how to work that function…. SIGH….), approximately 43 million ffolkes (making the obvious connection, are you?)….

When one considers that any such study is limited in scope, the figure assumes a larger significance. It must be remembered that, for the most part, cannabis users are accustomed to hiding their use; it is habit to deny such use, or minimize how much, or otherwise skew the picture with inaccurate data. Given that caveat, one must assume the figure of 43 million is far lower than is the actual case in Reality….

Personally, given what my experience over the years has shown me, going by what I KNOW of the ubiquity with which marijuana is present among the populace, I would say that figure could be revised upward to right about 50% of all Americans, and possibly more…. Remember, not very many of them will tell the truth about it, for fear of repercussions…. I would also guess many of the rest would just take a pot shot at the questioner with their rifle, for having the temerity to ask them about their private business…

Below you will find a wonderful song, a parody written by Weird Al Yankovic, using a great Alanis Morrisette song as the basis, along with link to an excellent summary of information on the current state of the legal battle to legalize cannabis, for medical AND recreational use, in these United States…. compiled with great skill, and compassion, by our old (well, maybe not so old, just familiar….) friend, Lou, over at Tales From the Conspiratum, his blog site, which he writes from his home in Montreal, Canada, graciously sharing his knowledge with his mates around the world….. Enjoy, ffolkes…. it won’t be long now, from the way things are looking….

You can find Lou’s site at: http://talesfromtheconspiratum.com/2015/01/12/latest-us-cannabis-news/ By the way, today’s opening picture is from the same post as was noted yesterday, and the day before, from a post on Lou’s most excellent blog….

What if God Smoked Cannabis?

http://youtu.be/PybtBKSAtLM

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

“None can love freedom heartily but good men; the rest love not freedom but license.” — John Milton

I found two pearls which seemed to perfectly form the bookends for a rant on political issues, but, find myself in a state of mind incapable of ranting…. I’m simply too tired. So, I’ll take a little time, & find an appropriate rant from the archives to fill in between the bookends I found, and be done with it…. I’ll be right back….

From 4/10/2013:

Artfully, he dodged the bullet, turning to watch it plow into the wall by his head. Slapping one palm to his forehead, he gave out a great shout, “ki aieeeeeee!”, striking to the left with his other hand, shattering the small bird statue on the pedestal. The bird screamed….. As entropy increased, gravity grew weak, then strong, tossing the players about the room like ten-pins in a row. Finally, a loud gong sounded, whereupon everyone dutifully trooped into the great hall to hear the daily proclamation from the beloved Leader in Mystery. Headache gone, thanks to the bird’s scream, he joined the parade, knowing he would find what he sought in the great hall…. His quest neared the end, and he could almost taste the cold dish of revenge, demanded by the blood of his murdered master…. Not for nothing was he called, “Pujin, the Merciless, Nearly-Master Killer of the Temple of the Divine Duck…..

Oops! That isn’t a rant, is it? Hmm…. It appears I lost track of my mind there for a few minutes; see what happens when I’m not paying attention? I go right for the nonsense…. Oh well. Here is the rant, now that I’m thoroughly embarrassed….

From 4/11/2013:

“He who conceals a useful truth is equally guilty with the propagator of an injurious falsehood.” — Augustine

If ever there was a perfect lead in to a rant about the Beloved Ruling Class, or our/their Corporate Masters, or about the Priestly Hierarchies, those fawning sycophants who support those two entities in their chicanery, well, I don’t know what it would be, if not this. It’s perfectly positioned to attack any, or all of these groups, all of whom make the described action, to wit: bare-faced lying, a habitual choice in their daily interactions with others. They do this with full knowledge of the harm they may cause, but are not concerned with that, other than as it pertains to the maintenance of their own image; they want us to see them as people who care about those over whom they hold sway. In short, they live a complete lie, they know it, and they like it….

Whether we speak of the political leaders of our nations, the corporate leaders of the banking crowd, or the Pope, Ayatollah, and other figures held as religious icons, they speak “with forked tongue”, in the vernacular of Tonto, our favorite TV Indian stereotype. Not only do they lie to the public almost every time the open their mouths, they know they are lying; with many of them, you can see it in their eyes, as they speak…. Some of them (perhaps even most….) are very good at concealing their cupidity from most people; it’s part of why they are successful. But, to anyone with even a hint of street smarts, or even moderate intelligence, and the patience to observe with impartiality, their lies are obvious…. Hell, it’s been said, with some reason, that you can tell a politician is lying, because his mouth is open….

“If I can’t misquote it, I don’t want it.” — Rush Limbaugh

This statement, whether he actually said it or not, explains quite accurately why he is so popular among the conservatives and ignorant fundamentalists in this country…. I would guesstimate the majority of elected officials in this country use this principle on a daily basis, as one of the standards by which they formulate their public policies, and one of their bywords when speaking in a public venue. Nothing is accepted so readily by the uneducated listener as a quote, or a statistic, that sounds elegant, and real, and comforting, even though it is an absolute untruth, or a mistake, or even a misquotation…. None of that matters to those in power, because they know that their success hinges on their ability to lie successfully to the public….. It’s a time honored tradition in our government, one every politician knows in his bones…

“It’s not that simple, no matter how you wish it so. You made public statements from a position of false authority; now you’re having them shoved down your throat. Welcome to netnews. — Smart Bee

The advent of the internet has made it possible to detail these lies as never before in history. As always, however, the information is only accessible if one reads, and is competent enough to be able to use the internet to its full capability for gathering data. So, the lies continue, though they are much more visible now than in previous periods of history. They will continue as long as people are too lazy, or too brainwashed to think for themselves, and to question what they hear from those who hold power over them.

I don’t think it is reasonable to ever expect those who are in power to stop what they are doing, do a complete reversal of attitude, and start using their positions to advocate for the people, instead of their corporate masters; it isn’t going to happen, as they LIKE being able to raid the public treasury at will. There is no benefit for them, in their eyes, for them to stop lying, so they won’t…. No, if we want things to change, it will have to begin in that part of society that does not answer to the moneychangers, or to the call of avarice, to wit: with you, and me…. Otherwise, we may as well just bend over, and kiss our asses goodbye, because ultimately, the way things are going, we are all headed down the universal toilet, where all of Mother Nature’s failed experiments get flushed…..

I can rant on this subject without limit, I think, as there is no lack of material to work with; the news is all over the net every day with more evidence of the lies the BRC wants us to believe. Hell, one can take almost any large newspaper, look on the front page, and find at least two examples of issues that arise out of corruption in government, or some environmental disaster that is a warning of our impending doom…. In any of these, you will find at least one government official making a statement that is just plain wrong, or false in some way, intended to spin the information to benefit the administration, or to denigrate it, depending on which side is speaking…. It’s a circus maximus, for sure, and provides us curmudgeons with all the rantable material we could wish for, gratis (well, for the price of a computer, and internet access, anyway….).

“God said it, I believe it and that’s all there is to it.” — Smart Bee

I had to put Smart Bee as the attribution here, probably because nobody in their right mind would ever claim credit for having said it…. But, as I, in my lifetime, have actually heard several people say this, (realio trulio, I swear…. three times I’ve heard it, in person, come out of a real live idiot’s mouth….), I can only credit it as being a common feeling among a certain percentage of people. Be that as it may, as long as there is ANYONE who thinks this way, we are all going to be held back from being all our species could be, as well as being in danger of facing extinction because of the intransigence of their ignorance…..

“Misanthropology: the study of why people are so stupid and why most of them should die, SOON!” — Smart Bee

I don’t know the exact figures, but I would say that at least 50% of all the elected officials in this country hold this attitude, if not as gospel or dogma for all issues, at least as true for most issues. Our government has been taken over, insidiously, over time, by religious fanatics, who are working frantically to cement their hold over everyone else by enacting their own morality as law…. As history has proven, time after time, legislating morality is ALWAYS doomed to failure, but, as this group believes implicitly in the rightness of their articles of faith, they will listen to no evidence to the contrary….

“Religion is the highest vanity.” — Friedrich Hebbel

Ah well, I guess all I can say at this point is I think we’re all going to hell in the proverbial handbasket, and I, for one, would just as soon not be involved in this particular picnic…. Nope, not me…. Sadly, there isn’t anywhere else to go, where I can get away from these fools, as they have infested almost every corner of this sad old globe, and are busy destroying the chances for any of us to survive their ignorance…. Unless I, and all those like me, change our nature, and become like the ones who are in power, willing to kill our brethren over these issues, there is little to be done, for they will never give up until they kill us all….

~~ gigoid has spoken….

“Buy a rifle, encrypt your data, and wait for the Revolution!” — .sig of Travis J.I. Corcoran (TJIC@icd.teradyne.com)

“Speak the truth, but leave immediately after.” — Slovenian Proverb

Note from 2015: Well…. There you go. As I look at the above, I note it is pretty thorough; as well, it has its own ending pearls, so, I’ve eliminated the one previously chosen, since it isn’t needed, and would be overkill on a rant already far too long for your comfort…. Sorry ’bout that, but, I get a little carried away once I get going….. No worries, ffolkes, it’s done now, and we can go on….

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

I chose today’s poem for its relevance to my current state of mind; it just seems to fit…. I hope you enjoy it; it was one of the first I wrote after my nearly 40 year hiatus from writing poetry…. Before this, the last poem I wrote was in my early twenties….

Gently Came a Wounded Child

But you shall not escape my iambics.

Soft, sinuous patterns of unearthly beauty
blithely commune with sinking stars,
as pale shadows of former virtue hover
near, ever clean, ever tolerant.
These unbidden habits are worn with age and care,
ready now for dissolution,
welcoming gladly the kiss of Death’s handmaiden.

Unknown to all, the child stands aside,
weeping for the lost days of youth,
days that now shall never be,
nor yearned for ever after.
Only darkness shall lay upon the landscape,
cold, hard, eternal.

Such then are the signs and portents
as we enter into the unknown future,
they are grave indeed.

Uncertainty will be our sole companion,
as the search for hope yields no result.
The lamentations of the gods
shall sound the elegy for Man,
who never learned to see the gift that was made,
so many echoes ago, in the hopeful past;
thus will we pass this plane of existence
as we came, baffled and afraid….

~~ gigoid ~~

written 2/2/2012

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

This is what I would call a serendipity pearl; in choosing the inclusions, I gave no instructions or parameters to Smart Bee. With seemingly no effort at all, it gave me the following seven-star pearl, within an incredibly short time, and, only a few offerings that were rejected…. Nice of SB, don’t you think? Especially as it came out very well…. It speaks, of course, of LIFE, or as we like to call it, LAL, or Life at Large….

Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises.

~~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616) ~~

~~ All ‘s Well that Ends Well — Act ii, Sc. 1 ~~

“As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.” — Christopher Dawson, “The Judgment of the Nations”

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” — Confucius

“Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787

“In practice it is seldom very hard to do one’s duty when one knows what it is, but it is sometimes exceedingly difficult to find this out.” — Samuel Butler

“There is only one blasphemy, and that is the refusal to experience joy.” — Paul Rudnick

“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

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

Considering how little of my native intelligence is at my disposal this morning, I am astounded; for finishing, and for writing so much, even if much of it was archived material…. But, my astonishment doesn’t outweigh my inertial state, which is balking at thinking at all…. I think I’ll go eat some worms…. Well, maybe I’ll make it oatmeal. Whatever, I’m outta here, ffolkes, with the very real hope I can see y’all tomorrow….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

As the sole survivor, he’ll feel some guilt….

Posted on January 5, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Go on, EMOTE! I was RAISED on thought balloons!!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

London Daily Telegraph Animals of the Week, December 2014

Timing is everything…. the photographer who grabbed this image certainly knows this, now, if not before taking the photo. Of the three entities involved in this cosmic interaction, which do you think is the most clueless? I say the frog…. but, the human probably comes close…. The moth obviously knows what it is about; it stopped to pose on a frog whose skin color is a perfect match for its own wings….

Now my little fantasy is done, what shall we do? It’s hopeless to think it will have any real meaning, but, maybe we could go for some humor; that’s always a good way to start the day….. Okay, we’ll try it….

A guy calls 911; when the operator asks what is happening, he pants in a panicked voice, “My buddy and I are out hunting, and he just accidentally shot himself! What should I do?” The operator calmly replies, “Calm down, sir. Now, the first thing to do is, make sure he is actually dead.” The guy says, “Okay”, & the operator hears the phone get set down…. She then hears a gunshot, & after a moment the voice comes back on the line, and says, “Okay, now what?”….

There, isn’t that funny? No? What do you mean? I happen to know this joke was voted the best joke ever told in a survey a few years ago….. Well, I think it’s funny….

Well, that didn’t work so well, did it? Y’know what? I’m giving up. I don’t give a shit anymore. Y’all can figure out your own damn introductions…. Screw it, we’re outta here….

Shall we Pearl?

“One of the most perverse things about the universe is that it doesn’t care what you believe.” — Smart Bee

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

“The moving cat sheds, and having shed, moves on…” — Smart Bee

What else? Cats, doing cat stuff…. Being the sort of person who likes to leave things done merely half-way, this one is about an HOUR of cat’s displaying their funny side…. Enjoy, if you have the time to waste….

Funny Cats Video Compilation 2014

http://youtu.be/h7Pr4ijnXNg

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

“The world is wide and beautiful. But almost everywhere, everywhere, the children are dying.” — Edward Abbey

What a powerful lament! Mr. Abbey shows us, in one line, the true state of reality, as it concerns any person to whom honor is as necessary to life as is breath… In truth, I’d love to be able to rant about it, but, I just don’t have one in me today…. I will, however, find an appropriate entry from the archives, to speak to this issue, the best I may….

Ooh, ooh…. Wait a minute… I saw this yesterday, when the email notice from this site came in…. Here then, to fill the need for some words of warning about “those who would be kings”, a post from our friends at talesfromtheconspiratum, by our old friend Lou…. with an article to remind us of the extent of lying to the public by the government, that goes on here in the good old US of A…. Pay attention, ffolkes, this is all evidence based fact, not supposition….

http://talesfromtheconspiratum.com/2015/01/04/2015-reminder-government-word-is-worthless/

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/2015-reminder-government-word-is-worthless_012015

Now, be honest, ffolkes…. You didn’t believe them, did you?…. I didn’t, but, I was lucky, & found out some of the truth at a young age…. Most folks never realize this at all, going through their entire lives living by the lies they accept as truth…. SIGH…. You know it’s a piteous, pathetic issue, when even Shakespeare gets it right…..

But man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he ‘s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep.

~~ William Shakespeare ~~

~~ Measure for Measure — Act ii, Sc. 2 ~~

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

For some reason, this poem, the most recent of my own efforts, seems to fit perfectly with today’s themes, such as they are….

A dream, weeping….

“Never a dull moment to spare”, he said
with a crooked grin, and a broad wink.
“Can’t keep Reality hanging by a thread….
what would Chaos, or Entropy think?”

So, we plucked up our dreams of old,
to carry us on, in dutiful, strong arms,
stuffed a candle in the remaining fold,
for luck, and perfect proof against charms.

Storms follow the sun, but, never stay;
lessons round every corner, all free.
Past fleeting doubts, in a sad disarray,
the journey becomes the reason to be.

Simple kindness manifests untold riches,
in defiance of common cause’s demise.
Bold courage, hanging in stitches,
mends wounds that come as no surprise.

Still, waters run deep, ’tis said by many.
Too much pain cannot apprehend
the salient, sharp points of epiphany,
nor, plainly, to wisdom aspire to pretend.

Folly dogs even the simplest truth,
fumes of toxic ignorance and bile,
alienated as a loose rotten tooth;
it often hides itself, for a long while.

Sought after eons ago, we cried out,
to believe, to suffer no more doubt.
But found instead good reason,
for love, and truth, from season, to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Here is what I’d term a “normal” pearl of virtual wisdom, if such word may be used here; we do tend to stretch the meaning of it just a bit…. Chock full of good advice on how to live a life well lived, it also manages to bring us to the correct conclusion using humor, and deep insight into not just human nature, but, how to deal with being human…. Well, maybe I’m strange, but, it says all that to me…. Try it, ffolkes, you’ll like it….

“He ‘s armed without that ‘s innocent within.” — Alexander Pope — Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace, Epistle i, Book i, Line 94

“There’s more to living than not dying.” — Smart Bee

“Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.” — Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace

“To endure oneself may be the hardest task in the universe. You cannot hire a wise man or any other intellect to solve it for you. There’s no writ of inquest or calling of witness to provide answers. No servant or disciple can dress the wound. You dress it yourself or continue bleeding for all to see.” — Frank Herbert

“The measure of a man’s life is the well spending of it, and not the length.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Consolation to Apollonius

“Keep the juices going by jangling around gently as you move.” — Satchel Paige

“Just the facts, Ma’am.” — Joe Friday

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

Finding myself here at the end of today’s post is a bit of a surprise; I suppose I got caught up in the sheer joy of an entire hour’s peace, found in the absence of my usual morning companions, pain and misery…. Not that they aren’t hovering, waiting to break through the distraction writing sometimes provides…. but, it’s nice to have a bit of space, which has been hard to come by…. We aren’t going to fall into a litany of complaints now, though, we’re going to take our leave, just as if it were planned that way…. Whether it was or not (and I wouldn’t wager on either direction….), I’m outta here…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, most likely…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Is that even legal?…

Posted on January 1, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“How many lawyer jokes are there?

3, the rest are true stories.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

From the London Daily Telegraph, 12/27/2014

“Sandra, a 29-year-old orangutan, looks out from her enclosure at Buenos Aires’ zoo. Sandra has been cleared to leave the zoo she has called home for 20 years after a court ruled she was entitled to more desirable living conditions. Argentina’s Association of Professional Lawyers for Animal Rights (AFADA) filed a ‘habeas corpus’ writ (a form of legal redress against unlawful imprisonment) arguing she was “suffering an unwarranted confinement.” The AFADA is in the process of securing Sandra’s release to transfer her to a sanctuary where she is expected to live a more comfortable and happy life, lawyers said.”

~~~~~

One of the most ironic parts of this story, to me, is that the lawyers who obtained the judgment for Sandra, by their actions in doing this, are obviously NOT the sort who become the object/subject of bad lawyer jokes, even though many ignorant people will laugh at them for even considering Sandra as an intelligent creature, worthy of the law’s protection. But, then, the people who laugh at monkeys, especially orangutans, are usually less intelligent than those at whom they laugh, in a relative, but very real sense….

I hate to go to zoos, even though many of the animals are now well taken care of, in the sense that the zoos try to make their prisons (well, they are….) as much like their natural habitat as possible. But, it always occurs to me, at every cage (be real… it’s not an ‘exhibit’; its a cage…) I come to, how sad most of the creatures look. In too many grim places, I’ve seen the animals performing neurotic behaviors they would never feel the need to display in the wild….

Why? Because people want to see the animals, but, don’t want to pay to give them the space to live in without becoming insane…. I once saw a fully grown crescent bear that paced in front of the door to its cage for hours on end, in an exact twelve foot space, which obviously was the same size as his ‘den’…. It moaned piteously the entire time it paced to and fro, in small, eerily grieving moans, all the while looking at all the people with madly terrified eyes…. Even at 13, I cried, right there in public, just as I am at this moment, to think of the pain he felt, and at the cruelty of humans….

I cannot help but feel this strange need in humans is the same sort of elitism we show each other, that sense of special entitlement which gives us leave to believe we have the right to imprison these animals…. It’s especially egregious, and cruel, to do this to the more sentient of them, such as the apes, the elephants, the big cats, dolphins, orcas, seals, polar bears, etc. Taking them out of their natural environment, confining them to a life as a curiosity, on display before the only creature on the planet that would think to so act, as an elitist bully, thinking that their vaunted intelligence puts them at the top of the food chain, acting like spoiled children, with no manners or restraint….

Sorry, but, I calls ’em like I sees ’em, ffolkes, even when I do rant in the intro, like I said I wouldn’t…. But, think about it, and look at that face…. I’d take that face as a friend any time, unlike the vast majority of human faces I ever see…. Wouldn’t you?….. I can think of one celebrity/actor who would, at least, so, Hollywood’s on my side in this…. Who would have thought it?…. Oh well, that’s what I get for trying to be compassionate, and light-hearted at the same time, I suppose…. Accidental liaisons are unavoidable in such instances, I would imagine…. Well, I guess it would be more honest to say, I would hope…. Oh heck, let’s get out of here, okay? Okay….

Shall we Pearl?

“They seem to have learned the habit of cowering before authority even when not actually threatened. How very nice for authority. I decided not to learn this particular lesson.” — Richard Stallman

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

During a recent exchange with my blogger friend of longest-standing, Ms. Willow, whose site you can find by following the link below, I came across this post, on her site, with a guest blogger, named Paul, authoring the community flash writing exercise, If We Were Having Coffee, discussing the events of the pre-Christmas happenings around his place of residence, Ottawa, Canada…. As part of the post, Paul included the video you will see below, which is not merely inspiring, but, the kind of reminder of the kind of behavior ALL of us should be occasionally displaying toward our fellow man… As we hippies used to call it, committing random acts of kindness and beauty…. It should be the law, and is, in the Utopia I keep in my head to go to when all is dark…

You can find the post at:

http://willowdot21.wordpress.com/2014/12/14/if-we-were-having-coffee-dec-142014-guest-post/

The post is well worth a read, but, I like the video so much, I’ve included it here for my readers to enjoy….. It affected me so powerfully, I know this is something I’ll probably do next year, and as long as I’m able to keep it up…. It’s the kind of thing almost anyone who is reasonably situated in our society could do once a year or so, or even more, on a random basis…. It can’t hurt, and the kind of spiritual energy such acts create could bring more people to do the same; then more, and more, until, hey, all of a sudden, the homeless have homes, and a lot of the anger in the world is bled off into space, where it can do us no further harm….

I know it’s a fantasy, but, it’s a nice one, isn’t it?…. And, it’s got more of a chance than a lot of plans out there…..

CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR THE HOMELESS

http://youtu.be/mm1I3mjDFvA

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

“All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.” — Albert Einstein

I found the video below on the site of a blogger friend, talesfromtheconspiratum.com, where ‘tales’ continues to post a wide range of information on a very wide range of subjects, all concerned primarily with stuff most people try not to think about…. It is merciless, and I always find some new piece that astounds, or surprises even me, who has seen most every evil mankind has ever been involved in… This one fits right in with a lot of what I’ve ranted about recently, so, I thought I’d put it here, rather than ranting myself…. Believe me, listen to this, and you won’t need to hear me rant for a week…

Ken O’keefe, an ex-US Marine living in London, has shown me I only THOUGHT I knew how to rant…. He rants, verbally and on TV, doing so without a pause, or a misspoken truth, well enough my only possible reaction is to drop my jaw, genuflect and mutter reverently, “awesome, man”…. Just watch the guy listening to his points on the other screen…. He has nothing with which to possibly refute any of it, obviously…. and knows it…. Brilliant indictment of the very people I’ve been trying to throw the light on for years….

Enjoy this little dose of TRUTH, ffolkes…. I did, immensely…. It’s actually a pretty big dose… I thought I could rant, but, I bow to this man’s angst, with shock and awe….

http://talesfromtheconspiratum.com/2014/12/31/ken-okeefe-exposes-obama-bush-isis-bankers-syria-fake-news-856/

Ken O’keefe on PressTv exposes Obama, Bush, ISIS, Bankers, Syria – Demoralizes bald shill – EPIC

http://youtu.be/aYX4WeqQfRo

The expert judgment of an institution, when the matters involve continuation of the institution’s operations, is totally predictable, and hence the finding is totally worthless.” — Robert N. Kharasch

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

The state of the world today is not particularly surprising; if we didn’t all expect today’s events, it can’t be from not being warned, for we have all heard this admonition: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — George Santayana

As well, poets throughout history have consistently written poems which tell us what in life is worth paying heed…. for example, here is such a sentiment from perhaps the very first of Mankind’s poet laureates….

On What Is Best

Some celebrate the beauty
of knights, or infantry,
or billowing flotillas
at battle on the sea.
Warfare has its glory,
but I place far above
these military splendors
the one thing that you love.

For proof of this contention
examine history:
we all remember Helen,
who left her family,
her child, and royal husband,
to take a stranger’s hand:
her beauty had no equal,
but bowed to love’s command.

As love then is the power
that none can disobey,
so too my thoughts must follow
my darling far away:
the sparkle of her laughter
would give me greater joy
than all the bronze-clad heroes

~~ Sappho ~~

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

Today’s final section is an odd little pearl, visually symmetrical, with an apparent whimsical little comment on being human….

A little rule, a little sway,
A sunbeam in a winter’s day,
Is all the proud and mighty have
Between the cradle and the grave.

~~ John Dyer (1700-1758) — Grongar Hill, Line 88 ~~

“I pity men who occupy themselves exclusively with the transitory in things and lose themselves in the study of what is perishable, since we are here for this very end- that we may make the perishable imperishable, which we can do only after we have learned how to approach both.” — Goethe

Under the shade of melancholy boughs,
Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time;
If ever you have look’d on better days,
If ever been where bells have knoll’d to church,
If ever sat at any good man’s feast.

~~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616), As You Like It — Act ii, Sc. 7~~

“All is mystery; but he is a slave who will not struggle to penetrate the dark veil.” — Benjamin Disraeli

I burn to set the imprison’d wranglers free,
And give them voice and utterance once again.
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups
That cheer but not inebriate
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.

~~ William Cowper (1731-1800) ~~

~~ The Task, Book iv, The Winter Evening, Line 34 ~~

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

I feel fortunate I was able to finish this at all; ’twas interrupted a myriad of times by breaks and confusion, as much of it was completed during a bout with nerve static, for about two hours just prior to the midnight madness here on the Left Coast of the Northern Hemisphere’s continent with the Pacific Ocean to the East, aka, Amurrica…. ‘Twasn’t much fun, but I still managed to fall out in time to be awakened by all the fireworks at midnight… of which there were a LOT, much more than on the Fourth of July, or any previous years I’ve been here…. I think the world let off a lot of steam last night…. I hope so, maybe it will put off the apocalypse for a day or two….

Hope springs eternal, even when there is little or no reason for it to exist at all…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, for as long as I can keep this up, and civilization continues at a level capable of supporting the use of electric power, and the internet….. a level which is at great risk, I’m afraid…. Well, Happy New Year, anyway….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

And another one bites the dust….

Posted on December 31, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ Smart Bee ~~

From the London Daily Telegraph Animal Pictures of the Week 12/28/2014

The quote adorning the first line, above the most excellent picture, is a familiar idea around here; that may be why, whenever I come across it, I am also reminded of another fine statement, to which I also strongly subscribe, to wit:

“There comes a time in every man’s life when it becomes necessary to just roll up his sleeves, spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and start slitting throats.” — H. L. Mencken

Just gets me, right here (*somber expression, with hand over heart*), every time…. The picture you see, by the way, was NOT posed, reportedly…. An average guy was taking pictures in the forest back of his home (in France? I think it was France…. must have been an escaped snail….) when he noticed the frog and snail toddling along, in whatever form of interaction they may have been pursuing….. Makes one wonder what that interaction might be, doesn’t it?… Well, it does this one…. I suppose that makes me a strange one, but, if so, so be it….

Beautiful frog, isn’t it? It doesn’t seem to be in any hurry, does it?….

I thought I’d end the year on a high note…. and, no, that doesn’t mean I’m any higher than usual. Boy, tell people a secret, and ya never hear the last of it…. No, actually, I meant I was going to actually write an intro section that made sense, well-thought out and constructed, and perfectly led the way into the day’s post…. Of course, that idea is now kaput; frogs & snails will do that…. I’m not sure just how I do it, but, somehow these never seem to quite come out the way I start them….

I go off into tangents, maybe? I suppose if I knew, it wouldn’t happen, would it? Probably not, but, then, that assumes I have some sort of clue, which is patently uncertain, if not outright untrue…. Maybe it’s like my friend suggested, and I’m addicted to parenthetical remarks…. I do love my commas, semi-colons, three-and-four dot pauses, and parentheses….

Who knows? Maybe there is a purpose in all this meandering around…. Nah…. If I thought that, I’d shoot myself. No, I’d rather it be just what it is… a bad habit of spending too much time in my head, then giving myself the chance to put that stuff out for everyone to see, all without any clear idea of what it will do, or mean, or anything…. I’m just throwing it out there, and seeing what sticks, so to speak…. Plus, it gets all this crap out of my head, which helps me no end, so, y’all will just have to put up with it, no matter how silly it gets….

Well, no, actually you don’t, but, I hope you will… Some of it, at least, is worth reading, or listening to, or watching…. Plus, I guarantee, a LOT of it is worth thinking about…. and, I don’t even care, or assume, or put any pressure on anyone to do anything with what they think…. only that they do…. Or, if not think, at least laugh…. even if they don’t get it….

Of course, if I can help anyone see the light, or even point the way to the road they need to be on, I’ll feel okay with it…. If nothing else, it keeps me off the streets, which, given the way I feel these days, about people in general, and the world at large, is probably a good thing….

Enough blather….

Shall we Pearl?

“I’m a belligerent omnivore – I eat vegetarians.” — Smart Bee

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

“Music is, perhaps, the most powerful form of social influence in society, when it lives up to its promise, and is used to promote change.” — gigoid

Okay, so, this will pull some covers, but, I no longer care…. Whenever I hear this song, I weep…. I can’t seem to help it….. The song was such a big part of my musical education, as well as one of the most powerful songs of the “revolution” that my generation underwent during the 60’s, that period of American history when the emerging importance of the income gap was first highlighted by the studentsn and young people of the nation, with protests taking place against almost every facet of our sick society, molding the political future of the nation in ways that are still being felt…..

This song, for me, brings back all of it…. the hope, the anguish, the sense of purpose, and the sheer hedonistic pleasure of being able to listen to such brilliant geniuses take rock music to new heights, while at the same time, bringing the message of love, and peace, to a world that sadly needed it…

I’m not sure, but, in the cut I chose, there are a number of other famous rock musicians playing along with George & Eric…. One of them, I believe, was Elton John, on the piano…. Another great cut of the same song can be found when this one ends…. when Eric played it at the Concert for George, giving his ALL to the song…. amazing guitar work….

Any who, here is George, before his passing, at the height of his musical talent, in one of our songs of revolution, the one that makes me weep….. just as I am now…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. rock music never got any better than this….

George Harrison and Eric Clapton – While my guitar gently weeps (HQ)

http://youtu.be/oDs2Bkq6UU4

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

“The truth has never been of any real value to any human being- it is a symbol for mathematicians and philosophers to pursue. In human relations kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.” — Graham Greene

I hate that this is true…. We humans are a perverse species, are we not? This next pearl strikes me the same way, with regret for its validity…

“You may either win your peace or buy it; win it by resistance to evil; buy it by compromise with evil.” — John Ruskin (1819-1900)

Damn, Sam, this is also true! Why? How have we come to this? Yes, I know asking why isn’t always productive, but, it really does bother me…. In this country, sadly, it is easy to see the how and why of it; for example….

“You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in their struggle for independence.” — Charles Austin Beard, American Historian, 1874-1948

Sterling truth, as is patently obvious, merely by looking at some of the documents released by the NSA, more than one of which make it clear they use those patriotic phrases as key search elements in their paranoid quest to find ‘domestic terrorists’…. Just read them, I’m not making it up… well, read what little they’ve released; there is still a great deal more information on us they have NOT told us about, nor will they ever do so, if we allow it….

Okay, here, read this…. It has both good news, and bad news….

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/29/latest-snowden-revelations-expose-scope-of-nsa-interceptions/

“Do not be afraid of enemies; the worst they can do is to kill you. Do not be afraid of friends; the worst they can do is betray you. Be afraid of the indifferent; they do not kill or betray. Yet only because of their silent agreement, betrayal and murder exist on earth.” — Bruno Yasienski, contemporary Soviet novelist

I only speak the truth when I say it is indifference at play here, as well…. The NSA, and the people who support their work, are completely indifferent to any of the principles upon which our country was founded, and is supposed to be run. Add to that the incredibly MASSIVE indifference of the average citizen, who cares little about anything beyond their next meal, composed of the processed, fatty almost-foods that are killing them…. but, not before they use a great deal of their time and resources to pay for the medical care to keep them alive longer, living in ignorance and fear…..

Whew! I didn’t know that was in there…. I typed so long it hurts…. If you couldn’t tell, I am just a little bit annoyed with our government, and the assholes who partake in its thievery from the citizens who trust them, and, most especially, with those parts of it which actively wage war against the very people they are sworn to defend…. The problem lies in their belief that “defending” us entitles them to invade our privacy, and make every part of our lives their business…. which, is , of course, illegal, immoral, unethical, and just plain wrong, from any virtuous viewpoint one may assume…..

I’ll say this once, and mean it…. No matter what anyone tells you, or wants you to believe, ffolkes,

THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS!

Let me say that again, just in case anyone didn’t hear me when I shouted….

THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS.

It really is that simple, ffolkes, and I wish more people would realize it…. But, they won’t, because there’s no money in it, and that’s all most of them care about…. It may appear as if they’re talking about your rights, and, they are, in terms of how they are going to take them away…. but, the bottom line, for almost every person of a political persuasion, is how much power, money, and control over others they can seize for their own…. That is the whole sum and extent of their concern, and anything they say otherwise is a bald-faced lie…. count on it….

I’ve ranted enough for one day…. and, I’ve made my point, I believe…. Now, it’s up to the rest of y’all, to decide how long we will allow this to be done to us, and whether or not we are going to take our rights back from those who would abrogate them… Plus, I’ve got more to do today, and this won’t get it done…. Let’s go read a poem, shall we?…. Well, naturally, AFTER an appropriate pearl….

“Never refuse to do a kindness unless the act would work great injury to yourself, and never refuse to take a drink- under any circumstances.” — Mark Twain

Oops, wait, that wasn’t the one I wanted…. Right, here it is…. I will say, there isn’t anything wrong about Mark’s observation… it just doesn’t fit the rant very well…. though there IS a slight connection, if one looks closely…. Never mind, here, this is a much better ending to this particular section, I think…. Accurate, anyway, if anyone cares to buy into the God idea….

“God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.” — Voltaire

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

Today’s poem is one I wrote as a way of showing, not the solution to the above, but, a way to deal with its effect on us….. Enjoy!…

Accentuated Lessons

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

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

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

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

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

This is one fucking amaaaazing pearl…. It was put together during a bout last night with some rather severe arthritis pain, served up with a side dish of dyskinesia, providing me with several hours of riveting entertainment….. I think, in retrospect, I’d much rather skip the show next time…. The amazing part is that I kept sitting for a moment as I paced around the house, limping and moaning, to hit the keys to go through SB for quotes, just to distract myself….. The following seven-star pearl came up, piece by piece, and damn if it didn’t end up making a point, or more accurately, a statement of belief, that is a big, big part of what I am all about…. Totally cool…

“He who endeavors to serve, to benefit, and improve the world, is like a swimmer, who struggles against a rapid current, in a river lashed into angry waves by the winds. Often they roar over his head, often they beat him back and baffle him. Most men yield to the stress of the current… Only here and there the stout, strong heart and vigorous arms struggle on toward ultimate success.” — Albert Pike (1809-1891)

“If an expert does not have some problem to vex him, he is unhappy! If a philosopher’s teaching is never attacked, he pines away! If critics have no one on whom to exercise their spite, they are unhappy. All such men are prisoners in the world of objects.” — Chuang Tzu, “The Way of Chuang Tzu” Thomas Merton, transl.

“The belief that words have a meaning of their own account is a relic of primitive word magic, and it is still a part of the air we breathe in nearly every discussion.” — Charles K. Ogden, The Meaning of Meaning

“A good word is an easy obligation, but not to speak ill, requires only our silence, which costs us nothing.” — Tillotson

“The great question of life is not the question of death but the question of life. Fear of death shames us all.” — Edward Abbey

“For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows than the second man in Rome.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Caesar

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” — H.H. the Dalai Lama

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

This Pearl is a testament to my own degree of dedication…. or, some would say, obsession, to get this stuff out of my head, despite everything I, and the universe, can do to stop me…. The greatest portion of YESTERDAY (it appears that way in my memory now…. that’s how bad it was….) was spent in SHEER MISERY. I was attacked, all at once, by severe arthritic pain, a side dish of dyskinesia, thanks to my ongoing battle with my HMO, and, the concomitant aggravation of reacting to all of that stress with emotional outbursts, disconnected to anything going on physically…. What a mess I was!….

But, it’s done, though I could not say exactly HOW that happened…. So be it….. I’m going to press my luck now, and post it, so, I guess I’ll see y’all tomorrow, given half a chance…. See ya, ffolkes…. and watch out for Big Brother….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Damn fine socks, mister….

Posted on December 29, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ Socrates ~~

Animal Pictures of the Week
London Daily Telegraph

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shall we Pearl?

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

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

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

http://youtu.be/EcR6j_JNwQs

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

From 9/15/2012:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Arrow and the Song

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

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

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

~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

She smiles a lot, for a Vulcan….

Posted on December 26, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Ordinary people know little of the time and effort it takes to learn to read.

I have been eighty years at it, and have not reached my goal.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) ~~

The picture is one almost everyone has seen by now; I got this copy from the London Daily Yell (Telegraph), in their Pictures of the Day feature. It shows the Grand Canyon, filled up by a fog that completely covers the floor of the canyon, as seen from one of the vantage points somewhere in Arizona, or Colorado…. Great shot, but, I couldn’t help thinking about how strange it must be to be on the floor of the canyon when it happens…. Talk about eerie!…. I bet the Indian ghosts who live there have a great time, running about, scaring the tourists….

There…. I’ve started a Pearl with an intro that doesn’t rant…. In addition, it never comes close to anything resembling nonsense…. At the same time, I managed to fulfill attribution requirements, and still get a mild joke in there…. Not bad for a totally new concept for me…. an introduction that actually starts the day out with some relatively common sense, rather than the usual nonsense, or, the overflowing angst that often takes over my fingers on the keyboard. I doubt it comes up to any of the more popular blogs out there, but, it’s a change for here, so, I can deal…. Not that it matters if I don’t, but, like anyone, I don’t like to look foolish any more than necessary….

Probably a little late on that, aren’t I? Oh well, it goes right along with how my week has gone, overall…. There have been some moments of grace and pleasure, such as when my kids came over to visit, and I talked to a friend on the phone, but, mostly, it’s been a week of agonizing pain, leading to the consumption of so much chemical help, my mind turns to mush, or I get sleepy, or just plain can’t think…. For me, THAT is terror…. Yesterday, Christmas, I spent sleeping, or sitting at the comp, staring at the screen, wondering if I had the wherewithal to even watch a movie, or wandering around, trying not to fall into a stupor….

Not my most productive day, though I did manage to get some of this Pearl finished, which will help this morning go faster…. I’m hoping I didn’t annoy anyone out there, by my absence, or any inadvertent failure to fulfill a given promise…. I don’t remember if I gave any, but, I couldn’t be sure of anything I did, or didn’t do that I said I would, so, mea apologia, to anyone to whom I displayed unintentional disrespect…. I can only plead temporary insanity (clinically speaking, severe pain can cause such….), and hope for forgiveness….

On that pathetic little note, I think it’s best if I get on with today’s mess; I have a feeling much of it shows how badly my PTSD has been affecting me this week; it always manages to rear its ugly head when I’m having this much pain…. I suppose it just wants to feel like it’s part of the party, but, I could do without a lot of the tears, and the sudden onset of deep emotional reaction to rather mild stimuli…. such as bursting into tears over a passage in a book that speaks of some powerful interaction between people…. Nobody is here to see, but, it is embarrassing, nonetheless for that….

Ah well, the hell with it…. Be aware, ffolkes, this one may have a few bits of smearing, from the tears getting into the ink, so, if watching someone display inner conflict is disturbing to you, maybe you should just watch the video, (picked, in part, for its ‘lightness’….), and call it a day…. It’s bound to be different tomorrow, right? Right…. Well, we hope so…. No…. It’s too important, and more than mere hope is needed…. We are counting on it being different tomorrow, because today, quite frankly, sucks….

Shall we Pearl?

“All things are the same,–familiar in enterprise, momentary in endurance, coarse in substance. All things now are as they were in the day of those whom we have buried.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 14

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One of the sure signs I’m getting old seems to be how much time I spend in thinking of past events, and bygone years; one of the sure symptoms of that is the old material I’ve been putting here, as blasts from my past…. If y’all are at all perceptive regarding psychological motivation, the shows I put here will tell you a lot about my inner workings, and what I find important in life….

How can that be surmised from all this? Easy…. remember that each of these shows I have termed my favorites are part of what I grew up believing, or, at least, the stuff society WANTED me to believe…. so, it all makes up a part of my inner picture…. In my case, it’s a pretty esoteric, exotic picture, but, hey, somebody has to exist at the fringes of society, right?…. Right…. Enjoy!….

Gidget’s Summer Reunion

http://youtu.be/_DtcS1BHito

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Yesterday, for me, was a wash, in almost every respect…. I felt absolutely miserable for the best part of the day, with various body parts, and brain sections trading painful cries for attention; I was reduced to coping by cutting myself off from all human contact, (lest I do, or say, or not say, or not do, something I’d regret at a later date….), and, consuming large amounts of pain relieving substances, of various strengths and chemical compositions, necessitating the use of a variety of methods of ingestion/consumption…. a long winded way to say I drugged myself into insensibility for the entire day. The only computer time I spent was to search for material to fill in Pearls for a while, as I know this onset of my PTSD is one that may last a while; I fell into a pretty deep hole, and I’m not yet all the way out….

Much of that time was spent in a state of introspection re: my life, and the darkest moments in the past; this, naturally, leads to thoughts of how those times contributed to my present state of affairs…. The following is an older piece I wrote, during a period when many of the same issues were circling in my head… It’s a bit of a self-confession, so, if honest feelings dismay you, feel free to go on without reading….

From 9/18/2012:

Often of late, I find myself staring at the screen with a vacant expression, listening to the patter that passes for thoughts in my head. I can sit like this for a long time, just meandering here and there in my memory, re-living good and bad moments from what has turned out to be a lot more years than I ever thought about, really. Until I became 60, I had never thought about how it would feel to be that age, a discovery that surprised me to a certain degree.

But, as I thought about it just now, I realized that I really had not considered what I might be doing in my 60’s, either as a career, or as a person. Part of the surprise, I know, is connected to the fact that I am currently without a life-partner, as the one(s) I chose as my supposed mate(s) seem to have chosen to be elsewhere. This state, of living alone, was not part of my plan……

I had thought to be sharing all the joy, and all the pain that my life has brought me, with a person who I thought was as committed to that as I. Instead, I am left wondering, as Tom Robbins put it in “Skinny Legs and All”, “How do you make Love stay?” His premise is is based on the idea that love is easy to find, but impossible to keep, given the craziness of the modern world, and the state of confusion and angst that seems to be the legacy of everyone these days.

I’m not sure I completely agree with his final assessment, but I can see how it came to him, having had many similar experiences in my years. I hope he is wrong, and there are still people out there who can actually give their word to someone else, and mean to keep it….. If not, then the world is beyond hope, to my way of thinking, and we may as well just give up….

Of course, there is still that small part of me that won’t do that; I’m not sure if I should call it being stubborn, or stupid. Maybe it is what Emily calls Hope, that will not die easily. Whatever it is, it keeps me getting out of bed every day, with the view in mind to see what the world has to offer, whether it is more BS like I’ve been putting up with now for a few years, or whether there is some sort of justice to the world, and I’ll soon meet, or get together with, a person with whom I can share all of what I have inside me to give, and who will live up to whatever promises we can make to each other.

And if not, well, I guess I’ll just keep flirting with the young lady at the coffee shop, and listen to her talk about her boyfriends, smiling to myself, grieving for might have been, and hoping for what might yet be…..

Leave the past behind;
leave the future behind;
leave the present behind.
Thou are then ready to go to the other shore.
Never more shalt thou return to a life that ends in death.

~~ The Dhammapada (c. B.C. 300) ~~

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I also found this, a poem that fits in with the theme above like they were made to go together….

From 9/21/2012:

Playing by the Rules

All my days I looked for love,
And found it everywhere I looked.
The years were joyous and fully booked
Seemingly by command from Above.

In return for all of the beauty in Life I found
I played life by the Rules that we all know,
It was from my father I learned the how,
Honest love, given freely, hand-fasted, gladly bound.

It seemed a while as if it were all real,
that fulfillment and contentment could be
as real as the children given us to oversee,
to teach them of Life and Love, and how to feel.

Then storm clouds of grievous change arrived, unbidden
Insidious, deceitful, three steps forward, then one back.
Tearing holes in our beautiful cloth, a heart heard to crack,
Gleeful demons eating life’s bounty, fangs dirty, and hidden.

Pain and sorrow grew, in defiance of all I tried,
Sanctuary turned into a reluctant scene of ritual battle,
Love still lives, but is herded like doomed and pitiful cattle,
While the keening of my soul sounds as if I’d cried.

Betrayal in love is, allow me to assure, no small pain to take.
Time has no power to reduce its place in my heart or soul.
My truest love became a stranger, a powerfully sharp toll,
Solitude has become my lot, no killing time for necessity’s sake.

Love yet surrounds me, everywhere; I’m not one of those fools…
Children are forgiving, I’m glad to be able to say,
They show me life’s solid purpose, the old, right way,
I guess I don’t know any other, than to Play it by the Rules.

~~ gigoid ~~

Okay, ffolkes, this one hurt, a lot, but it had to come out…. I’ve been in tears for an hour now, first drowning in feeling that arose from inside, unasked, then letting those feelings out onto the screen, and they’re not going to stop anytime soon, I can tell. This is an old, old pain, and apparently has been hiding for a while, buried much deeper than I had previously given credence to; it fucking HURTS!….. It’s a damn good thing that I’m an optimist, and too bloody stubborn to give up believing in Life, and all that is good and beautiful in it…. that’s all I can say…. otherwise, I’d be damned depressed right now….. I gotta go…..

Short note from 2014: Sadly, yesterday was a repeat performance of all this implies… and, as for the last paragraph, well, all I can say is, ditto….

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

I often compose pearls of virtual wisdom with the intention of helping others live life according to their own best potential, according to what I have learned in my life…. None of the pearls I’ve ever composed gives more good, solid advice on how to accomplish that purpose, to live life with dignity, and honor, than the following list…. If you don’t believe me, just compare this to how YOU live, and see which one makes more sense….

(The simplest way to test the validity of each piece of advice? As you read each suggestion, ask yourself, a) is it good advice?, and b) how often do I do this?….)…

~~ Things We Can Learn from a Dog ~~

1. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.

2. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

3. When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

4. When it’s in your best interest, always practice obedience.

5. Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.

6. Take naps and always stretch before rising.

7. Run, romp, and play daily.

8. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.

9. Be loyal.

10. Never pretend to be something you’re not.

11. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

12. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

13. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

14. Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

15. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

16. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

17. When you are happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

18. No matter how often you are criticized, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout.

Run right back and make friends.

It all sounds pretty sensible to me…. Also, I defy ANYONE to look at this picture, (stolen from Facebook, many moons ago….), and NOT say “Awwww”…..

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Okay, well, it’s done. Beyond that, I make no implied promises. In fact, I’m going to take this opportunity to take my leave. while I still have a neuron or two working; maybe I can get something done today, other than sleep, or moan…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if only to make another futile attempt to save my sanity…. Maybe, tonight, if I work it right, I might actually sleep past 2 AM….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Concrete oatmeal & hockey puck biscuits…. Yum!

Posted on December 14, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Life without the courage for death is slavery.”

~~ Seneca ~~

There is a nice back story to this picture of a bear in a tree, which came from the London Daily Telegraph feature last week, the Animal Pictures of the Week…. This four year old female brown bear (don’t ask me how they know….) was observed to climb this tree, all the way to the top, where, after distributing its weight to sit comfortably, it proceeded to sit in the sun, enjoying the magnificent views of the valley in the warm sun, for about four hours before climbing down to amble off…. Just an afternoon off from whatever bears do, I guess…. She does look rather content and peaceful, doesn’t she?…. It was rather nice to see something in the news that didn’t end up depressing me….

That does, however present us with a conundrum, to wit: now what? Having spoken to the picture, it’s too late to chime in with a bit on the quote from one of our favorite ancient sages, even if it went with the picture’s theme…. which it doesn’t, somehow…. I suppose there is some slight degree of similarity in the two, which COULD be exploited to create a bit more discussion, but, what would be the point, when I’ve already said it’s beyond the pale? That’s what I get for opening my trap so quickly, I guess…. There are still some things to learn about this business, I’d say….

Of course, I only need to learn them for MY benefit; I don’t imagine y’all care one way or the other…. Hell, I can barely get y’all to comment any more; too much material I suppose, with too many quiet questions in them to pick from…. I suppose it would also help to have a few more readers come by to take in what I’ve written, but, I’m not going to get my hopes up on that event ever happening; I don’t put any effort into increasing readership, with good reason…. I’m lazy, and I’m lazy…. Oh, and did I mention, I’m lazy?….

Not really; I used to be lazy, but then I discovered the power of metaphor, and I got even lazier…. Now, I work at it assiduously, with high hopes of qualifying for the national tournament next year, in Madison Square Garden, the big one held each spring, after the winter’s beard contest, whose entrant contestants are picked from the previous year’s finalists, has been completed…. It doesn’t always take place; some years they’re too lazy to get it done…. These folks are serious about their work, I tell you….

But, now that I’m retired, I’ve got all this time to practice, so, I know I can make a good run at the top spot this year; I’ve been aided by my recent pain levels, which have helped me to NOT do much, a firm prerequisite for any serious competitor in this field of non-endeavor. Nobody is going to look twice at someone who has a job, or any such regular form of activity of any variety…. It’s just too much work…. Hah! I guess that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Yep, ’tis, indeed….

On that note, we’ve definitely slipped out of reality, and into fantasy, which means we don’t have to pay any further attention to any of the rules of engagement…. and, we can leave the intro with no further nonsense needed…. Besides, I don’t know about y’all, but, I’ve had just about enough of this silliness…. In fact, more than….

Shall we Pearl?

“Don’t try to have the last word. You might get it.” — Lazarus Long

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

Today’s video is another blast from the past…. In this particular case, it’s a blast from MY past…. I was AT this concert, and, if y’all watch closely, you could see me wandering around the stadium, dressed in a tuxedo without a jacket, to go with my wife, who dressed in gold lame with a glittering gold wig…. Just getting into the spirit of the night’s events, don’t y’know?….. Enjoy, ffolkes, I did…. for sure….

Grateful Dead Oakland Stadium 7 24 87 View from the Vault 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFpSbAzhgdg

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“Since the whole affair had become one of religion, the vanquished were of course exterminated.” — Voltaire

“Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned.” — Smart Bee

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” — Voltaire

It has been a good long while since I ranted about religion…. It’s a big subject (which is why it takes three pearls to start us off….), which makes for big rants…. However, I try not to let them get away without at least a mention at least some of the time, especially when I’m talking about the BRC and the other Asininnies, with whom the major churches work hand in hand to keep mankind from ever reaching its true potential…. Yes, indeed, I DO see the established religions of the world as villains, though many of them are no more than unwitting fools, just more victims of their delusional belief system….. But, many more of them are just manipulative sociopaths, much like their counterparts, who infest, er, inhabit the political world….

Consider, if you will, preachers/priests/imams/rabbis, or other religious leaders, whom I tend to lump together in a group I call the Dogma Dogs, and politicians, whom I call Fools, (or, sometimes, Assholes….) of all varieties, whether elected, monarchical, tyrannical, or whatever…. These two seemingly separate, yet symbiotic groups, each of which is comprised in the main by sociopathic con artists, have been working hand in hand, quite efficiently, for millennia…. Each uses similar methods to work toward their ends, but, ultimately, their will is enforced, on the one hand, supposedly, by a distant, impartial, but all-powerful supernatural being, and, on the other hand, by their faceless police and military myrmidons, all for one simple purpose…..

That singular, shared purpose, is to maintain the status quo in re: power and control over the money, the resources, and thus, the majority of mankind, with themselves at the top of the societal heap…. The control these silent, faceless despots hold over the whole of mankind would never have lasted so long, without the help they receive from the religious brainwashing by the different churches, which is first applied to ALL the babies they can get to, an event generally occurring before people have the mental defenses to resist, or avoid it…. This mostly system of passing on an entire set of delusions to each new generation, without ever examining it for its relevance to reality, is a large part of the reason the aforementioned societal control has been in place for so many centuries, without most people ever being aware of it….

How can these people be aware of any of the truth of their beliefs? They have been told since they were small, by the people they most trusted to tell them the truth, that this supernatural being (over which they have NO influence beyond their mandatory worship, submission, and good behavior…. i.e, obedience to custom….), has decreed them to be part of the elite of the real world, thereby guaranteed to live forever, together with those others of our kind, in the world that comes after this one….

Of course, none of these claims, of immortality, of divine intervention, or, any of the other claims made, is provable by any physical means, but, these folks believe it, and pass it on to their kids, thus preparing them for the lifetime of mind control, and submission to both divine and temporal authority, just the state of mind the ruling class prefers them to have…. It makes things SO much easier for them, when the entire populace is trained to believe anyone in a position of authority….without question….

And yet, a few people manage to see through the early years of foggy thinking…. In fact, here’s one of them now….

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

Even amongst themselves, the proponents of SOME religions, (not all, but, most..), get just a little carried away in the defense of their own particular interpretation of holy writings…. most of which are deemed holy because everybody has always said they’re holy…. That’s it…. that’s the best reason any of them will give me… Go figure…. Some of them get so carried away, I’m required by insurance law to mention that the following is a joke, but, only because I say it’s a joke….

“My god can beat up your god!” — Smart Bee

Well, okay, so it wasn’t me at all…. SB is obviously making a point, not a joke, about all the different Christian (Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, etc.) sects, each of which seems to feel they worship a different God than all the others…. At least, that’s the way they act to each other all the time…. All of them, even when pressed to answer plain, visible evidence to the contrary, maintain their own vision over everyone else’s, even those, no, especially those, who profess not to believe any of it…. For example….

“Why, when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery, do honest men proclaim in pulpits that unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant? Is it not a spectacle to make the angels laugh?We are a company of ignorant beings, feeling our way through mists and darkness, learning only be incessantly repeated blunders, obtaining a glimmering of truth by falling into every conceivable error, dimly discerning light enough for our daily needs, but hopelessly differing whenever we attempt to describe the ultimate origin or end of our paths; and yet, when one of us ventures to declare that we don’t know the map of the universe as well as the map of our infinitesimal parish, he is hooted, reviled, and perhaps told that he will be damned to all eternity for his faithlessness…” — Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), “An agnostic’s Apology”, — Fortnightly Review, 1876

Rants about religion can get away from me; trust me, I’ve got priors…. Since I’ve already gone well past my comfort zone to accomplish this much, I’ll leave it here, sans any firm conclusions, or, for that matter, any real answers to the problems implied…. I don’t know the answers, anyway…. How does one go about changing human nature, which seems to be willing to allow this sort of degrading behavior without the blink of an outraged eye…. Ah well, all I can do is keep my own counsel, and avoid all the crap that tends to splash around whenever these idiots are spewing their bile…. Oh, and, I can rant every once in a while, if only to give myself some relief from having to watch this sad story unfold…. I think we’ll move on, after one appropriate pearl to seal the deal…..

Here we go…. Here is an alternate version of the first chapter of Genesis, which makes as much sense as the one currently in vogue throughout the Christian world….

In the beginning, God created the Earth and he said, “Let there be mud.”
And there was mud.
And God said, “Let Us make living creatures out of mud,
so the mud can see what we have done.”
And God created every living creature that now moveth,
and one was man.
Mud-as-man alone could speak.
“What is the purpose of all this?” man asked politely.
“Everything must have a purpose?” asked God.
“Certainly,” said man.
“Then I leave it to you to think of one for all of this,” said God.
And He went away.

~~ Kurt Vonnegut, Between Time and Timbuktu ~~

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

Since today’s rant is on the perils of religion, here is a poem that fits right in with the theme….

Rejection

“Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so…”
I’d be crying a river, I thought
if ever such crap I bought.

Sorry if it hurts your sense of style,
but, hypocrisy always gives me bile.
Being lied to accidentally is okay,
but, deliberate lies make me angry, and fey.

Oh, God, hear what I pray!
Keep me from your followers today.
Having to listen to so much that is wrong
makes me puke, before it makes me strong.

I don’t know why it isn’t clear to other folks,
which is alright, you know, different strokes.
But, why should that mean that they must
force me to believe, or fail in trust?

Spare me the lies, and the make-believe,
fairy tales are easier to hear, and to weave.
They give us a lesson which we can feel
but don’t pretend at all to be real.

Reality can scare us, that’s a given fact,
still, met with care it will leave us mostly intact.
Met without fear, standing tall and alone
Life will allow us to make it our own.

Folly beckons, and so many follow
mass delusions seem to me most hollow.
I’ll have to stick to my own chosen way
while so many go so sadly astray.

It’s lonely at times, it may seem sad,
but really isn’t, and I’m quite glad,
that knowledge is always stronger than fear,
year after year, tear after tear…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

LAW, n.

Once Law was sitting on the bench,
And Mercy knelt a-weeping.
“Clear out!” he cried, “disordered wench!
Nor come before me creeping.
Upon your knees if you appear,
‘Tis plain your have no standing here.”

Then Justice came. His Honor cried:
“_Your_ status?–devil seize you!”
“_Amica curiae,_” she replied–
“Friend of the court, so please you.”
“Begone!” he shouted–“there’s the door–
I never saw your face before!”

G.J.

~~ Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary ~~

All of us, I think, have our favorite lawyer joke. Mine has always been the one that goes,

“Q: How do you tell the difference between a dead snake, and a dead lawyer on the road? A: There are skid marks leading up to the snake….”

There is good reason for all those jokes, you know; you see, they’re NOT jokes…. They’re all true…. Don’t believe me? Let’s ask Smart Bee to see what it can find on the subject….

“Cato instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying that they that did not prevent crimes when they might, encouraged them.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Roman Apophthegms, Cato the Elder

Hmm… No, no SB… the OTHER direction…. sheesh…

“Lawyer: only person in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.” — Smart Bee

Okay, right you are…. Now, THAT’s better… Okay, the rest, please… and, no worries as to the #; we’ve got time….

“One lawyer can steal more than a hundred men with guns.” — The Godfather

“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” — Mark Twain Following the Equator (1897)

Half, or more, of Congress, of course, is composed of lawyers; the other half never acts without consulting one of their own…. Most of the rest of them work in the Judicial Branch of the federal government….

“We could do that, but it would be wrong, that’s for sure.” — from the best-loved quotes of Richard Milhouse Nixon (Yes, he was…. Duke University School of Law, 1937)

“If it weren’t for lawyers we wouldn’t need lawyers.” — Smart Bee

LAWYER, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law. — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

— How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb? — None, he’ll have the paralegal do it. But, you’ll get the following bill:

Item                            Light bulb
Charge                           $2185
(Itemization of bill charges)
Lawyer’s time (1 hr. minimum) $ 400
Connectivity charge            $ 100
Staff charge                   $ 250
Secretary prepared bill        $   2
Research fee                   $ 422
Consulting fee                 $ 431
Paralegal processing fees      $ 25
Specialized equipment          $ 122
Bought bulb                    $   5
Overnight express delivery     $ 34
Rule 453.957(B)(1) charge      $ 394

The thing that has always bothered me the most, about lawyers at large, is this; they CHOOSE the kind of lawyer to be, remember…. 99% of them turn out to be corrupt, at least partially because of what Mark observed in human nature, (and, our final pearl for today), when he noted, to wit:

“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” — Mark Twain

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

Given the state of my hands today, it’s a good thing this went swiftly…. It also helped that much of it was done yesterday, between bouts of agony…. Ah yes, cheating… the American way…. It’s now 0435, and, once again, I’m done…. Now, I get to wait for the rest of the world to wake up, so I can sit around and watch it sink a little further into insanity’s fatal dream…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if Fate is kind….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

gigoid

Ned Moore, aka gigoid, is a 70 year-old, (!!!… When did that happen?….), retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat, most days. His first blog, "gigoid’s folly", has been emailed out to folks he knows for about 18 years now. He still considers it his best defense against angst, and the ever-present specter of sheer insanity..... Due to rigorous curmudgeon training requirements, he has discontinued his Facebook presence, but still indulges in the occasional Twitter session... In essence, he's socialized, but, not overly sociable; all labels and stereotypes are forbidden in his presence... and he doesn't care what anyone thinks about that..... In fact, he doesn't want to talk anymore.... If you feel you MUST contact gigoid, his email address is: alphagigoid@gmail.com You can go read now.... Go on, beat it.... gigoid, the dubious

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She smiles a lot, for a Vulcan….

Concrete oatmeal & hockey puck biscuits…. Yum!

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