Passive salivation…

Posted on June 4, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Humankind cannot stand very much reality.”

~~ T.S. Eliot ~~

This is what distracts me.

Hello, ffolkes…. Some of y’all will have noticed the last few days inconsistency in getting posted (gigoid’s long winded way of saying he missed a couple days…). The picture you see is a big part of the why, as the scene you see is right outside the door of where I’m staying…. So, the angst and build-up of inner conflict with which we live in the urban world just doesn’t have a chance to collect to any large degree…. Hence, no posts….

Today’s post will also be truncated, and tomorrow’s may not appear at all, again. But. by Saturday all should be back to normal, if only until I take off again on the road…. We’ll see…

That said, you only get what is already ready, or can be added quickly, because, I’ve got stuff NOT do….

Shall we Pearl?

“A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

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No video today; I’m not currently watching much of anything…. I can suggest going to You Tube, type your favorite artist or subject’s name into the search box & watch whatever you find… Enjoy! After all, you’ll have chosen it….

royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

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Anyone who’s been here at least twice should have known I’d use one from the archives…. Here’s a pretty standard politireligirant from April a couple years ago….

From 5/5/2013:

The thorns which I have reap’d are of the tree
I planted; they have torn me, and I bleed.
I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.

~~ Lord Byron (1788-1824) ~~

~~ Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iv, Stanza 10 ~~

Here, in a three line verse, Lord Byron has explained the flaw that exists in human nature, a flaw that will one day drive the species to extinction, if we don’t find a way to alter its effect on us, as a species. This flaw doesn’t manifest in every human, only in a certain percentage, not particularly large, but full of the people who affect society the most, i.e., the leaders, the politicians, the aristocracy (the rich, or as I call them, the bankers….), and the preachers, all of whom are supposed to be ordering society to benefit ALL of its members.

Instead, these individuals, who have this fatal flaw, have ordered events to suit themselves, hoarding the largest part of the available resources, showing absolutely no compassion or willingness to share, and dismissing as unimportant all of the pain and suffering their actions cause to other people…. This selfishness gene will eventually kill us all, because the BRC, or Beloved Ruling Class, are so focused on their goals, and so unwilling to entertain the idea that their actions are wrong, they cannot comprehend the danger they have created by their pathology, to themselves as well as to the rest of us….

That is the unfortunate thing about any mental aberration; it’s very presence tends to limit what the victim can understand, because they are unwilling to look at the evidence….. No one wants to believe they are mentally off; it doesn’t fit in with our self-image as a competent human being. These folks never understand at all that the way they are leading their lives is a threat to the rest of us; they will only accept evidence that supports their unrealistic view of reality.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, these people are also the ones who are the most willing to use violence, and weapons, to enforce their will, and they already have control of more force than the rest of the public can possibly contend with to force a change. It is a very complex, delicate problem, with no solution that I can see as practical, or with any large chance for success….

The time we have to make the necessary changes to society is growing shorter every hour, as more and more millions of tons of CO (carbon monoxide) is pumped into the air, along with other particulate pollutants. This material in our atmosphere has almost completely destroyed the ozone layer, and the amount of heat reaching the planet from the Sun has raised the ambient temperature of the planet a full two degrees…

Two degrees may not seem like much, but, the fact that the change has taken place in less than a hundred years is a clear indicator that it is quite enough, as it continues to change the climate of the planet drastically. The polar ice is melting more rapidly than ever before, and at a geometrically increasing rate. The amount of oxygen in the air is decreasing in relation to other substances; if it changes two percentage points, there won’t be enough of it for our lungs to breathe; we will suffocate ourselves if it continues. The weather is changing all over the world, as the water from the polar ice melts, and changes the chemical balance of the air everywhere…. As plants die, the process will accelerate, and it will be a toss-up to see what will kill us first….

“Whenever I see a photograph of some sportsman grinning over his kill, I am always impressed by the striking moral and aesthetic superiority of the dead animal to the live one.” — Edward Abbey

Not a pretty picture, is it? Unless, of course, you are one of the power elite, the BRC; then, you’re the one with the gun…. I’m sorry to have to bring doom and gloom into the morning, but, this is a subject that won’t go away, so I pound on it whenever I can…. The quote above, from Lord Byron, stimulated my sense of outrage at the sheer selfishness of the 1% (yet another name for those with the flaw of extreme self-interest….), so I ranted, if mildly. What bothers me the most is that what I’m saying here is absolute truth, and the people who read it are NOT the ones who need to change…. Of course, those folks wouldn’t believe it if they did read it, so it’s rather a thankless task, and relatively futile, to boot…..

“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are good.” — Anne Frank

I think Anne was a better person than I am, because I have lost my belief in what she says here…. I do believe that the majority of mankind is good, or at least tries to be good; I just don’t believe that those ffolkes are the ones that matter to our future, as much as the folks who are NOT basically good, for as long as the innocents allow the harm their leaders continue to cause to the environment in which we all have to live. I don’t know of a solution, other than the obvious one of becoming violent myself, and doing to them what they want to do to me, but doing it first….. But, then I become like them, and I’d have to kill myself, because I’d never be able to look in a mirror again….. I guess there’s only one thing left to do…..

Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day;
Let other hours be set apart for business.
To-day it is our pleasure to be drunk;
And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.

~~ Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

~~ Tom Thumb the Great, Act i, Sc. 2 ~~

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Early Observations

Until I knew there was more,
I wanted to know God.
They said he was a nice guy,
and would let me live forever.

All I had to do, they said,
was live my life for Him,
always living by scripture
cleaving only to his Way.

But, everyone I saw in church,
acted different at home.
Living wild, cussin’ and fussin’,
nobody lived like they said.

Still, I tried to be like Jesus,
he was sort of cool.
He never hurt nobody
and walked on the right path.

‘Course they killed him for that,
they couldn’t stand his example.
Turned him into a martyr,
hid his real words among their own.

Then I found the Buddha,
and met Lao Tzu at the gate.
They saw things real different,
showed me how to see straight.

Right thought, and right action
replace blind obedience and faith.
Reality becomes manageable,
fear retreats, the universe expands.

Brother John said it pretty well,
“Imagine there’s no heaven,
it’s easy if you try.”
Sounds like he knew why.

Day to day, life is grand,
we walk in eternal beauty.
Open your eyes and hearts,
find yourself already immortal.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 5/12/2013

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However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you
If you do not act on upon them?

~~ Buddha ~~

You know? I don’t think this pearl needs any more; that pretty much says it all for me…

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That’s all, ffolkes…. for now. I’ll be back Saturday…. Be real, stay alert, & try not to hurt anyone, okay?…

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Using kosher kibbles as ballast….

Posted on May 31, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Rub her feet.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

I’m hungry, mama!

Image of Wild Love from UK Guardian Animal Pictures of the Week

Good morn…. ah, hell. Who am I trying to kid? It isn’t anywhere within shouting distance of morning; I don’t believe calling 1:17 AM morning quite fits the bill, do you? Oh, technically, I suppose it is morning, but, approximately five hours before sunrise isn’t exactly what most would say is their customary time for beginning the day; would you?

I guess five hours sleep will have to do…. Rather than complain about it, though, let’s just get on with what we have to do, thus showing a bit of courage, or, at least, common sense. It doesn’t happen all that often around here, so, we’ll take advantage of the impulse while we may….

Shall we Pearl?

“It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” — Noel Coward

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Alison Balsom

Image from classicfm.com via Google Images

There is something about the sound of a trumpet that burrows straight into the human soul, to lift it up from its mundane existence into higher realms of spirit. Other instruments, in the same way, can also achieve this connection, but, there is good reason the Archangel Michael will blow the Last Trump with the same kind of instrument as employed with such brilliance by Ms. Balsom…. It hasn’t hurt her career to be gorgeous, but, like many of the fans of her music, my fondness for her talent was established before I ever saw what she looked like…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this music will definitely give you goose bumps….

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Alison Balsom

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https://youtu.be/Z0uknBJc8NI

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“The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be _tremendous and irresistible_. Who are the militia? _are they not ourselves_. Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms _each man against his own bosom_. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are _the birth-right of an American_…the unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the _federal or state governments_, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, _in the hands of the people_.” — Tench Coxe 20 Feb. 1788

It’s funny…. funny odd, not funny, ha ha….. I wrote the following rant in 2012, after one of the spate of school shootings that took place that year. It’s funny how the mainstream media constantly plays up such incidents as the worst tragedies our nation faces, always prompting a huge outcry amongst the more manipulable amongst the public, demanding the government do SOMETHING to stop the violence…. Yet, nobody ever mentions all the research that has shown the shootings can only be the natural result of the overcrowding of the planet we humans are pursuing, in our mad rush to extinction at our own hands….

It’s also funny, halfway between odd and ha ha, I can still use this rant without changing a single word, unless I now know better than to use it. Everything I said in this is still true, and relevant to the situation in our society…. Go figure…. Any who, it’s a subject I believe in strongly, which is why my opinion hasn’t altered a whit in three years….

Last posted2/14/2013; first written in 2012:

The issue of gun control is currently a HOT BUTTON issue for a lot of people in this country…. At least, it is for those who enjoy over-reacting to all the violence reported in the news….. They seem to forget that there are now over 7 billion people on this planet, with more crowding on every second, and the increased violence we are seeing is a natural result of overpopulation combined with stupidity, both of which exist in ample supply in our society…. The following is a piece I wrote not long after one of the school shootings in 2012, which, to my mind, pretty well summarizes my objections to the foolish and unwarranted fear that has prompted the idiotic notion of repealing the Second Amendment altogether…. Here is my response to that notion..

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence… From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security, and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable…. The very atmosphere of firearms every- where restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” — George Washington (bogus?)(who cares? I don’t, it doesn’t make it any less true if it was said by someone else…..)

I constantly hear people these days spouting off about gun control, practically screaming how guns should be outlawed. This is a viewpoint that I have never understood, because it makes a totally unwarranted assumption (more than one actually, but one that is most important….), i.e., guns cause violent behavior; it goes on to insist if people couldn’t legally own them, violence would stop. This is naive, and unreasonable, given there is absolutely no evidence to support such a contention. There is no evidence whatsoever violence is NOT part of human nature; this is a psychological FACT, not subject to debate. People have violent tendencies, and violence is the primary response of a great many people who have never learned how to use their reason to control their emotions.

Though I’ve never owned or carried a gun, I am a firm believer in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, in its most literal sense. Without the right to bear arms in our own defense, we, as citizens, would be at the mercy of whomever was in office at the time, with no recourse at all to any redress of grievance against those officials, since they could not be forced to comply with law. I do NOT trust any elected official to act in MY best interests; human nature also decrees that they will act in their OWN interests first, with no compulsion to even consider anything else. Making it law only police and government lackeys could legally be armed is a sure way to guarantee the average citizen would be at the mercy of these so-called leaders, mercy being a quality they have never, heretofore, demonstrated in any fashion.

As I said, I don’t own or carry guns….. yet. I’ve trained myself to be dangerous without the use of them; I feel no fear I cannot deal with an armed man to my benefit; this is simply because it is the person holding the gun that is the danger, not the gun itself. Speed, power, and accuracy are the key elements to controlling a violent situation, along with forethought, preparation, and the ability to keep a clear mind when under duress. When a person is holding a gun, they feel ten feet tall and invincible, but they remain human, and humans can be controlled with superior strategy and tactics. It does no good to hold a gun, when the target won’t sit still, or even remain visible….. and in these cases, that sense of imperviousness becomes a liability to the gun-wielder.

However, most Americans do not have this sort of skill set, nor the state of mind that makes it work. In the hands of a skilled warrior, a gun becomes a dangerous weapon indeed, for it will be used to achieve the warrior’s goals, as any weapon would, and not employed to merely bully others into doing what is desired, which is the usual use of these kinds of weapons in the hands of the ignorant and deceitful. Politicians, by the very nature of their sociopathy, do get rather deceitful in the pursuit of their self-centered ends. The desire to be in public office, to me, is a sure sign of a sick mind, as a healthy one has no need to assume power over others, being content to be in control of themselves.

At this point in the narrative, I got a bit sarcastic, caustically so, directed at those shrill advocates of this kind of legal oppression, laws that attempt to legislate morality, so I’ve stopped it here to avoid offending anyone unduly. (Hah!) I agree with the need to tighten the regulations regarding assault weapons, but not as far as is wanted by the fear-mongers. I also think it is a good idea to keep guns out of the hands of children, and people who have demonstrated the lack of emotional control needed by a free citizen of this country, to own and use a gun appropriately, i.e. the mentally ill, who are characterized by a lack of impulse control…. Not a good characteristic for someone with a gun in their hands….

But, once again, I must caution people to examine any laws that do get passed closely, for going farther than the minimum necessary, which people in charge have a tendency to do, to slip stuff by the public…. I’ll try to wake up your precautionary instincts by asking this….. If the insane are not to be allowed full rights as a citizen, who is it that gets to decide who is insane? The same issues of trust are present, or absent, in that idea, as in the assumption that the Beloved Ruling Class will act in our best interests….. They can ONLY be trusted to act in their own interests, first, and we all would do well to keep that in mind…..

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

~~ Bob Dylan ~~

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Just because I can….

Random Visions/Coloring Between the Lines of Grief

Everywhere is dark, and shining,
with points in dissonant pain.
Sharp, senses dull past divining,
tears burn, a torrential rain.

Escape! Flee within to cower,
find an unconscious cave.
Call on Morpheus’ power
deny reality’s beckoning wave.

Light breaks, drawing the inner eye,
leading to the slippery slope.
Risk is critical, we may only sigh,
yet welcome, for bringing hope.

Sanity seems far out of reach
Insanity’s a stronger friend.
Decisions made will merely teach
our way toward Death to wend.

Lost, while still on familiar ground,
the future yet undesigned.
Making way on paths unfound,
to Now, as yet undefined.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 2/22/2013

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Inner strength. Learning & Teaching. Kindness. Change. Honor. Happiness. Friendship. Virtue. Life. Death. Humor. Pride…. Any pearl that includes a word on each of these, if that word is anywhere near the truth (of the included pearls, ALL of them ARE truth…. I checked, according to every known test of logic, and experience….),…. well, let’s just say I don’t think we can go wrong…. What do you think?…. Well, okay, then, if you insist, you don’t have to…. But, I’m betting if you pay attention, it will work out better than just passing it over…. Wow, did we just make another metaphor for living? I guess so…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

“Once, I read that a man be never stronger than when he truly realizes how weak he is.” — Jim Starlin, “Captain Marvel #31”

“No one can teach on an empty spirit.” — William Perky

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

“It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably.” — Immanuel Kant

“Friendship should be more than biting time can sever.” — T. S. Eliot

“The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” — Socrates

“I had a hunch something like this would happen.” — Written on grave

Ode to an Indispensable Man

Sometime, when you’re feeling important,
Sometime, when your ego’s in bloom,
Sometime, when you take it for granted
You’re the best qualified in the room;
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow this simple instruction
And see how it humbles your soul.
Take a bucket and fill it with water;
Put your hand in it, up to the wrist.
Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining
Is the measure of how you’ll be missed.
You may splash all you please when you enter,
You can stir up the water galore,
But stop, and you’ll find in a minute
That it looks the same as before.
The moral in this quaint example
Is to do the best that you can.
Be proud of yourself, but remember –
There is no indispensable man.

~~ Saxon White Kessinger ~~

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We’ll continue our policy of not whining, in spite of the hour at which we are finishing today’s effort…. Why, I haven’t a clue. I suppose it’s for the best; nobody likes to hear grown men cry. I also haven’t a clue what I’ll do now, to pass the time until the sun rises, and the rest of this part of the world comes to life…. Ah well, I can always…. well, perhaps I’d better just keep that to myself…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should fortune favor this sad old fool….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Mayo, peanut butter, & pickles… Yum!….

Posted on May 30, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“One’s mind is like a knife.

If you don’t sharpen it, it gets rusty.”

~~ Nien Cheng ~~

Doh! NOT Downwind, Leo! You’re supposed to stalk upwind!

Image of Dumbest Lion in Africa from UK Guardian Animal Pictures of the Week

Good morrow, Gentle Reader…. Not to worry; today’s intro is being returned to its most efficient format…. Watch and learn….

Shall we Pearl?

“Don’t teach your children what to think; just teach them to think.” — Tannenbaum

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free-vector-monty-python-and-the-holy-grail_080696_monty-python-and-the-holy-grail

Image from 4vecter.com via Google Images

As I sat to think of a video for today, I had an inspiration, stimulated by a random thought. I had thought to use videos today for the ranting section, so, in this section, I thought to go with something a bit silly…. When I thought of what group, or character might fit the bill, only one name came to the surface… I wrote the name dutifully into the proper area, and will now proceed to go find the proper video to give y’all a proper taste of the group of characters who have laid claim to the word “Silly”, to such good effect, they are the first to come to mind…. I give you the inventors of the Silly Walk, the legendary British Improvisational Group…. Monty Python….. I’ve started y’all off with their opus magnum, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in the full movie version… Plenty of other choices to see by visiting the You Tube page link below….

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Monty Python

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https://youtu.be/tW3Se4WDcXE

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Today’s ranting section will be a bit different…. I always like to try new stuff, so, here is a video rant, using the almost perfect mini-rants (though, in reality, they’re not so mini….) by John Oliver, on his weekly show, Last Week with John Oliver…. To cover the subject completely, I decided to include a rant against four groups of Asininnies, to wit: Corporate snakeheads (Wealth Gap), Myrmidons, (Police Militarization), Poly Pundits (Elected Judges), and, Spies and Lies (Government Surveillance). Each one will also provide any number of other fine mini-rants to choose from, by visiting the You Tube page where the video lives…. Enjoy, ffolkes; it’s bound to be an improvement over listening to me rant….

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Wealth Gap

https://youtu.be/LfgSEwjAeno

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Government Surveillance

https://youtu.be/XEVlyP4_11M

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Police Militarization

https://youtu.be/KUdHIatS36A

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Elected Judges

https://youtu.be/poL7l-Uk3I8

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Last posted on 6/22/2013, this is a somber poem, but, has always been a favorite of mine…. The author, naturally, needs no introduction….

There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings, are.

None may teach it anything,
‘T is the seal, despair, —
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ‘t is like the distance
On the look of death.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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The old-school pearl for today turned out to be a fairly good one. Parameters were set for more silliness, with a side of good advice on Life at Large…. This is what happened…. Enjoy! Oh, and, take notes. Some of this will be on the Quiz….

“Once when Phocion had delivered an opinion which pleased the people,… he turned to his friend and said, “Have I not unawares spoken some mischievous thing or other?” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Phocion

“Dreaming permits each and everyone of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.” — Charles William Dement

“The universe is intractably squiggly.” — Charles Suhor

“The silence depressed me. it wasn’t the silence of silence that bothered me; it was my own silence.” — Sylvia Plath

“It’s a good idea to obey all the rules when you’re young just so you’ll have the strength to break them when you’re old.” — Mark Twain

“The wisest man is generally he who thinks himself the least so.” — Boileau

“You may not be responsible for falling down, but you are for getting back up.” — Smart Bee

” What then in the last resort are the truths of mankind? — They are the _irrefutable_ errors of mankind.” — Nietzsche

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

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I’ll take it. I have to, it’s mine. That being said, I’m outta here…. Two and three-quarter days to lift-off, and the details are in the devil. Whatever that means…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if only in your dreams…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

If yes, then, no. Otherwise….

Posted on May 29, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“When in doubt, tell the truth.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

Artist’s rendition of EUSA Mars Lander “Insight”

Due to land on Mars in 2016, recorded by two satellites soon to be in orbit around Mars.

Image from Space.com

Good morrow, mon amis…. Today’s Pearl is somewhat special…. It was created mostly yesterday, with some from even the day before. Parts of it are from the archives, including the following intro section from a Pearl a couple years ago that speaks of some recent discussions here, and, in my opinion, is quite good, if your standards aren’t strictly Puritan…. It might not be Ibsen, but, it’s art, to paraphrase a character in a book…. (Go figure….)

The rest is, I think, also pretty fair, all things considered, though not necessarily in the same order as all things.

Huh? What did he say?

Ah well… Don’t fret; we’re going to just go on ahead as if it never happened. Two minutes from now, I promise, you’ll have forgotten this moment of disturbance in the Metaphorse completely….

Alright, Luigi; they’re as ready as I can get them. Take it away….

From 6/22/2013:

Ffolkes,

‘Tis a sad commentary to note one’s entire life boils down to one moment, particularly when, in that moment, one realizes the greatest skill one has developed is the ability to dither, or blather, or, as they used to say, to speak piffle….. Disheartening, to say the least; I had hoped for something a bit more dignified, or at least more useful. Piffle, as it was called in the previous century, is only useful to those who speak it, or, to those who understand and appreciate it; it’s a very small number…. The rest of society views piffle somewhat askance, as they have no idea either what is said, or what it may mean…. which, ultimately, is their loss…..

Of course, I can’t claim to be anywhere near as good at it as, say, Lord Peter Wimsey, from Dorothy L. Sayer’s novels; her books tend to intimidate as much as educate, as I believe she wrote with the Oxford Dictionary at close hand (seldom having to open it, I would guess…). Every page she wrote was filled with brilliant demonstration of a writer who loved the English language, one who seemed to use ALL of it in her writing. In my most egotistic dreams, I write only half as well as she did, for I don’t ever expect to be able to match her expertise, or her originality. Only someone with such a strong love, and full understanding, of the language could use it in such a way as to make it ironically humorous, while at the same time, pointedly insulting, laughingly charming, thrillingly suspenseful, or scathingly brilliant.

SIGH…. To my everlasting regret, I can’t do that, not as well as I’d like. It is a constant disappointment to me that I cannot; it’s one of the few skills in my life that I can say truthfully that I have been unable to master, once I set my mind to its acquisition. Perhaps, before I pass on to the next dimension, or whatever happens after we die, I’ll get closer to writing better piffle; I hope so. If not, well, I can always go back and read more of Ms. Sayers’ work, though I believe I’ve already consumed all of her Lord Peter stories…. They are the kind of books one can read over and over, finding something new every time….

All of the above is what could be called a distraction. I wrote it as a sublimation of the desire to whine about the intro again, hoping to distract both y’all and myself from the fact that this section once again is filled with material that has no real connection to anything, other than as a means to pass the time until my brain kicks into gear sufficiently to start writing something more nourishing to the mind. There may be those among you who would point out the lack of ANY material here that meets that standard, but, I don’t expect them to speak up; they’ve been threatened about doing so, and have assured us of their silence in this matter….

Of course, I can’t expect that threat to hold them off forever, so it’s probably better to just get on with the business of the day…. According to the stats I’ve seen recently, very few readers will see this anyway…. My number of followers keeps growing, but the number of Likes per day continues to drop…. I’ve averaged about four Likes per day for over a week now, though stats indicate my following is up to 270….

I don’t much care if ffolkes don’t always Like what I write, but, it’s a bit disheartening to think that no one at all cares to read it…. But, it doesn’t really matter, since I don’t much care one way or the other about fame, or money…. only about sanity (my own…), and sanity is the reason I write…. Not that what you see here is particularly sane by normal standards, but those aren’t valid here without permits anyway…..

Shall we Pearl?

“Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.” — Robert A. Heinlein

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

All us hippies are getting old…. Here is the fourth band who is celebrating their 50th anniversary as a band this year; the Stones, of course, decided to go on tour, I suppose to show they’re not too old to rock…. If their music is any indication, they’re definitely not too old…. Enjoy, ffolkes… I do suggest not looking too closely at the boys; the tour date I’ve included was just last year, and they’re looking a bit worse for wear….

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

The Rolling Stones

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

https://youtu.be/a3KJg8qw47E

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

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

“To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.”

~~ Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne ~~

OCCIDENT, n. The part of the world lying west (or east) of the Orient. It is largely inhabited by Christians, a powerful subtribe of the Hypocrites, whose principal industries are murder and cheating, which they are pleased to call “war” and “commerce.” These, also, are the principal industries of the Orient.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Recently, the Supreme Court, or one of the higher Federal Courts below them, made a decision which vindicated Edward Snowden completely (though you couldn’t tell that by the actions of the current administration, who continues to seek to prosecute him to literal death…), ruling the collection of data performed by the NSA was just as illegal as everyone knew it was…. I’m a bit under the weather, enough to preclude a fresh rant today, so, here is one of the better politirants from 2013; in fact, from the same day as the introductory section used above… Go figure…

From 6/22/2013:

“The rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million.” — Eugene V. Debs, US labor leader.

(Note: Debs received one million votes in 1920 as candidate for US President, while serving a 10-year jail sentence for having said in June 1918: “Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder…the master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.”) — Smart Bee

This has been sitting around for a couple of days, since I found it in SB. It’s the perfect beginning for a politirant, and the news of late has provided a number of interesting side notes to this idea, so I find myself in the position of being compelled to rant, which is the best attitude to start with….

The recent news has shown a number of items concerned with the revelations just released a few weeks ago, when a former NSA contractor spilled the beans about how the US government has been spying on its own people, collecting personal data from phone records, mercantile records, and from review of emails and other data mined from the internet… The revelations, of course, are in the process of being denied and/or devalued by that government, who are trying to convince the public that the spying is “transparent”, and that the information is NOT being collected to investigate American citizens…. This, of course, is a bald faced lie, and anyone who believes it deserves anything that happens to them….

The government of this country is in the hands of people who are controlled by the corporate masters of society, sometimes willfully, most times without their complete knowledge. They (the corporate masters…) don’t give a SHIT about the rights of anyone else, so the above statement that got Mr. Debs in trouble is shown to be perfectly true. The people who control society don’t believe in the sacred nature of rights, for anyone who isn’t them, so it can be said that the rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million, because to the 1% (a number that is actually far larger than the number of real masters of society…. that’s probably closer to .001%…..), neither one is sacred at all….

What disturbs me a lot of the time is that there are still a lot of people who believe that, of the choices available in the political spectrum, one side or another is better, and showing support for one of them will direct matters to a more favorable (for the people) resolution…. The fact is, neither the Republicans, nor the Democrats, nor any of the Independents who are in office, or trying to get into office, have any interest at all in doing anything other than establishing their own agenda as the one used by society. Those agendas have nothing to do with helping the general public; they are designed to benefit only those who ascribe to the correct philosophy. No matter which political party or entity you choose, you’re going to get screwed, in the final analysis.

“The art of government is the organization of idolatry.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

If you still think that Barack Obama is going to help the common man, well, I suggest you listen to the crap he is putting out right now about this surveillance. Remember, too, that he signed the law that killed the Bill of Rights, on New Year’s Eve of 2012, the infamous National Defense Authorization Act, which makes it legal for the government to arrest citizens without a warrant, to hold them in an unknown place, without any oversight or review of rights, and try them in a secret court, without legal representation. It authorized the use of drones in a domestic fashion (which they continue to lie about, and say they aren’t using them…. when reports from all over the country provide relatively incontrovertible PROOF that they ARE using them….), and, most assuredly, authorized the illegal wiretapping and internet data mining that is currently going on, even though it has been exposed.

We may as well begin referring to the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution as the Bill of Former Rights, because, face it, ffolkes, you don’t have them anymore. I’ve heard it said that they are not rights, anyway, as a right is something nobody can take away from you…. More accurately, you have no rights that you are unable to defend…. and the government has slyly convinced most people that they don’t want those rights anyway…. Look how many formerly intelligent people are jumping on the bandwagon about gun control, forgetting all that our forefathers cautioned us about, when they warned about the possible encroachment of big business and the churches into the workings of government…. Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Mason, Franklin, all of them mistrusted the corporate interests and the preachers, having suffered much at their hands, and they tried to warn us against listening to them….

But, what happened to Eugene Debs back in 1919, when he was sent to prison (in direct violation of the right to free speech….) was not the first indicator that things had regressed, and the trend toward government takeover of the rights of US citizenry has continued right up to today. The recent revelations about spying, you will see, will be quashed, and ignored by those in power, as there is now nothing we can do to stop them from doing whatever they want…. According to the laws we let them slip by us, it’s all legal ffolkes…. We are screwed, and the only good thing I can see about it, is that, due to global warming, climate change, and the imminent destruction of the human species by our own pollution, we won’t have long to put up with it….

Books are burning
In the main square, and I saw there
The fire eating the text.
Books are burning
In the still air
And you know where they burn books
People are next.

~~ “Books Are Burning”, XTC ~~

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

This poet needs no introduction; as well, you’ve seen him frequently on these pages…. Here is one I’d never seen until today; it confirms my opinion of Ogden’s poetry, as the work of a genius, who like to hide his talent behind silliness… and did it very well….

The Bargain

As I was going to St. Ives
I met a man with seven lives;
Seven lives,
In seven sacks,
Like seven beeves
On seven racks.
These seven lives
He offered to sell,
But which was best
He couldn’t tell.
He swore with any
I’d be happy forever;
I bought all seven
And thought I was clever,
But his parting words
I can’t forget:
Forever
Isn’t over yet.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

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

The pearl for today’s final section was created ahead of time; I managed to find a period of space yesterday morning while trying to distract myself from physical issues, combined with the near constant hunger that goes along with dieting, as a matter of course…. So, it’s a little different, not in the quality of the pearls, or of the message it somehow imparts rather well…. It’s just…. different…. I think you’ll enjoy it, and, if not, well, you can always get your money back…. Just ask the laughing Buddha for it…

There is a time in the tides of men,

Which, taken at its flood, leads on to success.

On the other hand, don’t count on it.

~~ T. K. Lawson ~~

“In the dark colony of night, when I consider man’s magnificent capacity for malice, madness, folly, envy, rage, and destructiveness, and I wonder whether we shall not end up as breakfast for newts and polyps, I seem to hear the muffled cries of all the words in all the books with covers closed.” — Leo Rosten

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” — Winston Churchill

“Freedom is a hard-bought thing – A gift no man can give.” — Opening lines, Settler’s Song, by Jessamyn West

“He that respects himself is safe from others; He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.” — Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

“It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say ‘I don’t know’.” — W. Somerset Maugham

“Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality.” — Abraham Lincoln

“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.” — Mohandas ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi

He who knows man is clever;
He who knows himself is enlightened.

He who conquers men has force;
He who conquers himself is truly strong.

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

See? Told ya…. different. Now, maybe you’ll listen…. You can trust me. I’ve never been elected to anything….

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

Done…. and, amazingly smoothly, too. It makes me a bit suspicious…. Ah well, we’ll trust the Universe, for once, though my experience tells me to have caution; a lot of times, when deciding to trust, it turns out badly. But, since my hands are going numb this morning, we’ll have to go with it…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can feel my hands….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Fionella isn’t ready to cope….

Posted on May 23, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Mankind…

The public enemy’s not the man who speaks his mind.”

~~ Anthrax ~~

Can you tell me when the next shuttle blasts off for Mars?

This place is TOO crazy!

Image from SFGATE.com Pictures of the Day Feature, Thursday, 2012

Good morrow to you…. Due to circumstances completely within my control, I’m running late. This means nothing. Well, it does mean I’ll cheat again, but, other than that, you’d never know, unless I told you…. Hence. the warning, since we’re all about full disclosure around here…. Unless, of course, that would be silly…. Goodness knows we do that enough, as it is….

Shall we Pearl?

“The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

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

Today’s video choice is here, heralded with the ranting logo, to take up the slack due to no fresh rant…. Here is one of our favorite comedians, with a complete show of stand-up comedy, dealing with modern times…. I haven’t watched it yet, but, if he does stand-up as well, and as pointedly as his weekly show, it should be quite Carlinesque…. and, though I had to add that word to the Spell Check Dictionary, I don’t believe that will be true for the future…. Carlin’s name will go down in history as possibly the greatest social critic/comedian of his time…. The ultimate jester…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

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

John Oliver

Terrifying Times

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

https://youtu.be/9BH6GcYW4so

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

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

As noted above, and, as the picture of Kokopelli indicates, (if you know me at all…) there won’t be a fresh rant today…. Here instead are some pearls I’ve saved as potential openings for several rants; you’ll get the picture, I think….

“Art is a moral passion married to entertainment. Moral passion without entertainment is propaganda, and entertainment without moral passion is television.” — Rita Mae Brown

“A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man. In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.” — H.L. Mencken

“One of the merits of democracy is quite obvious: it is perhaps the most charming form of government ever devised by man. The reason is not far to seek. It is based on propositions that are palpably not true — and what is not true, as everyone knows, is always immensely more fascinating and satisfying to the vast majority of men than what is true.” — H. L. Mencken

“Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.” — H. L. Mencken

“If you could print all the money you wanted, and steal all the money you wanted, couldn’t you manage to stay out of debt?” — Smart Bee

“Did you hear that the Dutch government gave Quayle 12 rare Rembrandt etchings? He’s already got four of them colored in.” — Random American comedian, 1990

“Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong.” — Buffalo Springfield

“The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.” — H. L. Mencken

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on Earth.
— Fedor Dostoevsky

Okay, that’s probably enough for you to get the idea we’re shooting for today…. As a small bonus, allow me to end this section with a perfectly appropriate critical comment from the man who codified most of the Proverbs to be found in the English-speaking world….

“This hitteth the nail on the head.”

~~ John Heywood (1597-1580) ~~

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

Today, we’ll go with two short, classic poems from our cultural past…. Two of my favorites, I might add….

The world is too much with us; late and soon

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune,
It moves us not.–Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

~~ William Wordsworth ~~

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

I’m Nobody! Who are you?

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you- Nobody- Too?
Then there’s a pair of us?
Don’t tell! they’d advertise-you know!
How dreary-to be- Somebody!
How public-like a Frog-
To tell one’s name-the livelong June-
To an admiring Bog!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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

This picture, I think, is my absolute favorite pearl of wisdom, taken as a whole, virtual or otherwise… The picture, wonderfully conceived and executed, is a perfect graphic representation of the words of Lao Tzu, giving depth and color to the idea, making it even more powerful than the words can do alone…. Considering the lesson involved, as possibly the most powerful single idea humans have to learn in their entire life, that is saying a lot…. It states the entire concept in visual words… the Man, split apart by opposing forces within… the fiery power of the passions of the heart, versus the cool, cerebral, electric power of the reasoning mind….. bloody brilliant!…

Since I don’t have enough like this to construct an entire pearl, we’ll go with a regular style, old-school pearl, with lessons similar to, or a variation of this one…. It’s pretty deep, and can stand up to a lot of discussion; in fact, it has done so, for a very long time…. Let’s pearl, ffolkes….

“A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those that are worth committing.” — Samuel Butler

“Life, it turns out, is not a struggle; it’s a wiggle.” — Smart Bee

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” — Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

“Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with.” — Mark Twain

“The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.” — Joan Borysenko

“Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it…. Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 29

“Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” — Oscar Wilde

“Perhaps I know why it is man alone who laughs: He alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.” — Willy Wonka, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Hmm…. Given the nature of the beginning, the results of our search seem a bit… off. Off parameters anyway, and, it certainly didn’t exactly follow the line of inquiry suggested by Lao Tzu’s opening remarks, did it? Oh well, I suppose we’ll just have to call it a compendium of lesser known lessons about life, as presented to, and by, gigoid, the dubious…. I picked ’em, after all…. If it comes to that, I DO stand by each one of them; they all have been useful at one time or another in my life, to be sure….

So, there… and, so be it.

gigoid has spoken, as should be expected….

Oh, shush! Ah say, shush, boy!….

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

Well, since it’s done, we won’t quibble. Instead, we’ll waffle, and make like a tree….. Yep, I’m outta here. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if nobody talks me out of it….

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

Kowabunga!

À bientôt, mon cherí….

There arose a great tumult….

Posted on May 17, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge;

and one only evil, namely, ignorance.”

~~ Diogenes Laertius — Socrates, xiv ~~

Image by Manish Mamtani from Space.com

http://www.manishmamtani.com/

Good morning…. It’s a good thing I came up with the new method for these intros; on days such as this, when my mind is a vast, blank plain, without even the smallest of shiny objects, anywhere to be seen…. Instead of worrying over it, we’ll merely go on to the next section, knowing we’re covered…. See ya down the page, ffolkes….

Shall we Pearl?

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” — Mark Twain

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

yakko__wakko__and_dot_by_slomoto-d5qotz9

Image from slowmoto at deviantart.com via Google Free Images

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, the Warner Brothers (and Sister), are the only modern cartoon I like; they hearken back to a crazier age…. Just my cuppa tea, so to speak…. Here’s a playlist with a LOT of their cartoons…. Enjoy!….

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

Yakko, Wakko, & Dot

The Animaniacs

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

https://youtu.be/DVyo7FuU4pU?list=PLorl-IXETJHEfkP2oSc0tNvFtRlaXBmrL

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

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

“Do you ever think about the end of the world as we know it?”

~~ Calvin ~~

I do…. It can be a rather daunting task to carry any such examinations to a final conclusion, for, most of the time, my calculations put us humans much closer to our own moment of truth, as a species, than anyone cares to either admit, or address, without panicking, laying blame, or, attempting to minimize the truth, to make it more palatable. From what I see happening in today’s world, both on the environmental, and the psychosocial/political/cultural fronts, it isn’t going to be long at all before we are faced with a number of severe crises, all of which will threaten our very survival as a species, or, as a civilized culture, should we be fortunate enough to survive at all….

In a general sense, I’m not certain we deserve to survive. Human history is little more than a long litany of sorrow, pain, death, and abuse of our fellow creatures, including the weakest members of our own species. Wars, political chicanery, more wars…. history is rife with Man’s inhumanity to Man, and to the other creatures with whom we share the planet. We have killed whenever we felt like it, for as little reason as the desire for power, a sickness afflicting a significant portion of the male half of the species. Nothing more than personal wants are considered sufficient reason for some to take and take and take, never considering the effects of their actions on any other living thing, nor caring….

Yet, there is good in life. A great many people are compassionate, and live to serve others, at least to the extent they love. There are a great many intelligent people, who have plumbed the secrets of the physical universe, bringing the advantages of the power of imagination to ease the lives of many others, as well as to help provide the species with the time to explore the limits of that imagination…. Art, Philosophy, Medicine, Music, all the finer characteristics of an advancing civilization have been created by the same creatures who kill for fun…. We are, for certain, a creature of great contrast; Our nature, quite naturally, mirrors the nature of reality, to wit: both good and evil coexist, as two sides of one coin, at the very core of both…

This leads, patently, to some confusion, especially in those members of our species whose power of imagination, and basic wit, are not sufficient to allow them to fully understand this concept. (Yes, I just called a lot of people “stupid”. I was trying to be nice….) This, of course, leads to a basic misunderstanding of their own nature; some people have a lot of trouble with the ambiguity that naturally exists in nature. It frightens them, as does anything they do not understand…. This fatal flaw allows them to be manipulated by any other person they have learned to trust, accepting the thoughts of others as their reality, rather than learning to face their fear, to learn what they do not know. Learning is hard; faith is easy…

“The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.” — H. L. Mencken

I admire H. L. Mencken; he wrote at the turn of the twentieth century, some time after the time called the Industrial Revolution had come to pass, solidifying technology as the primary focus of society in its advance, while simultaneously witnessing the usurpation of our democracy by the corruption of the Judicial Branch, which, bribed almost openly by corporate interests, passed laws cementing the control of the oligarchs, who now had the reins of government, industry, and the economy firmly grasped in their fat, avaricious fingers….. H. L. was fearless in pointing this out to the society of the time…. Did anyone listen? Apparently, not much….

“Government, today, is growing too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world; there are only subjects. They work day in and day out for their masters; they are bound to die for their masters at call. Out of this working and dying they tend to get less and less.” — H.L. Mencken

Sound familiar? George Orwell’s novel, “1984”, detailing the horrors of the possible future of mankind, should the current cultural trends continue, was published in the mid-twentieth century, in 1949, many years after Mencken’s comments. Today, society does not look much different from the one proposed by Orwell; it’s been said that, of the more than one hundred predictions made in the book regarding society, ALL of them have come to pass…. I can believe it; anyone who doesn’t can just read the news headlines for a couple days to find graphic proof of how true it is….

“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” — Isaac Asimov

As far as I can tell, this is obvious. Yet, we continue to use the same old methods of problem solving so poorly used for millennia; sometimes I think the whole species is insane, for it doesn’t make any sense to keep using ideas and actions that don’t work…. SIGH…. It’s really frustrating to think of how stupid people act a lot of the time, especially when I know that stupidity is a choice….

Oh well…. such is life, they say. I’m tired of hearing it, but, what can ya do? Not much. In fact, for right now, I’m so damn depressed over the state of the world, I’m going to STOP ranting, and go do something more fun… You should do the same…

Go on… Find something constructive to do, ffolkes…. Go on, I mean it….. We’re done here…..

“He was a man, which, as Plato saith, is a very inconstant creature.”

~~ Plutarch ~~

~~ On the Tranquility of the Mind ~~

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

As noted, I’ve had quite a bit of pain lately; s’okay. We’ve become old friends, me & my pain…. Here’s a poem I wrote another time I felt this way for a while….

Elemental, dear Watson….

Don’t worry,
it’s not
me
you hear
screaming.

It is
only
my bones,
giving in,
to
cowardly,
pathologically,
repetitive,
fucking,’
complaints
of
past abuse,
and
all the fun
we had.
playing,
hard.

I don’t mind
too much;
I can spend my
TIME
in another space
in my head,
pretending
my bones
don’t
exist….

It
is,
indeed,
a shame
they
always
come
back….

Fuck.

It
hurts.

More proof,
I guess,
either
God isn’t,
or,
He is.

He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….

Ante up.
Deal.

He is?
Then,
I don’t fucking care
who
doesn’t like it,

I say,

He
is
a bully,
a coward,
a hypocrite,
and,
truly,
an enormous asshole.

I suppose,
God
is
what comes,
to,
and
from,
People,

because

they
feel
a need,
for
someone
to
blame,
for
a
Universe
they
cannot
understand
or
accept.

I
will
take the complaints.

After all,
they
are
my bones.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 9/14/2014.

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

Today’s old-school pearl speaks very simply of life, and some of the rules, and/or ideas to remember, to help us to live it well….

“Do every act of your life as if it were your last.” — Marcus Aurelius

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

“Often when he was looking on at auctions he would say, “How many things there are which I do not need!” — Diogenes Laertius — Socrates, x

“Seek not happiness too greedily, and be not fearful of happiness.” — Lao-Tzu

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” — Clive James

“You live and learn. Or you don’t live long.” — Lazarus Long

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

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

What an ordeal!…. Actually, it went fairly smoothly, even if Smart Bee was in a snit…. None of it matters now, of course, as we’re done. Having done all the damage I can do for one day, I’ll take my leave, to gather my resources so I can try again tomorrow, to fulfill my never-ending quest to create the perfect Pearl of Virtual Wisdom…. As today’s episode indicates clearly, we have a ways to go…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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….

Boiled mutton in a plastic bag….

Posted on May 16, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Ask of friends only what is honorable.”

~~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) ~~

Spazosaurus

Image stolen from The Onion

http://www.theonion.com/article/fossilized-evidence-reveals-spazosaurus-was-larges-33020

Good morning…. The recent use of silence as an intro has worked quite well; let’s continue with the efficiency we’re coming to enjoy….

Shall we Pearl?

“Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.” — Henry Miller

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

The Persuasions

Image from thebluegrassspecial.com via Google Images

A capella music, to me, is the epitome of performance art by humans, in the respect that nothing else but the human voice is required to produce the effects of almost any instrument, or sound produced by nature…. Mimicry in is most essential form…. Simplicity is beauty, I think, and it doesn’t get any simpler, or more beautiful than five vocal artists, harmonizing…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

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

The Persuasions

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

https://youtu.be/tCREnT3KabQ

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

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

Okay, so, it’s clear (to me) I don’t have the angst, the anger, or, the wherewithal, at all, to rant. I don’t like to go so long without taking a shot or two at our Beloved Ruling Class or any of the other Asininnies, but, hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? Right…. Here is a discussion, of sorts, from a couple years back, to pass the time…. Enjoy!….

From 2/23/2013:

“I represent a sardine!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

At this point, after reading that line, you might just be wondering if I’ve slipped my leash again…. and, you’d be justified in that thought. However, rest assured, I’m perfectly sane, if somewhat metaphorically, so it’s all good, right? Right…..

Now, such a bald statement from our old pal is liable to make one think at first that he is either kidding (not bloody likely….), or he is currently having hallucinatory delusions of being a seafood lawyer, or fish solicitor, as my British friends would say. While both of those are possible scenarios, similar in nature to Zippy’s previous episodes of verbal gymnastics, neither is correct in this instance, as I happen to know that he is teaching a lesson in metaphorical manipulation, or, as it is commonly known, lying his ass off, to keep you preoccupied while he is doing something else he doesn’t want you to see, or know about…. He’s tricky that way….

I suppose he might be trying to tell us he is a theatrical/literary agent of some sort, and has a sardine who a) has written the next best seller, entitled “The Truth About Tuna”, an exposé of the fishing industry, b) has a voice like Pavarotti, c) juggles three seahorses while riding a motorized wheelchair, or d) paints incredibly lifelike pictures of cruise ships, from an underwater view…. He might, if that is what he meant, but, it isn’t…. It is all just a distraction, a hullabaloo to draw your attention away from his real purpose, which has to do with several cases of motor oil, a rag-time band, two Senators, and a motel out on Route 666….. You really don’t want to know, now, do you?

No, really, ffolkes, I had a reason to show Zippy’s little gem off today, and it was really a good one…. So, it’s really too bad that, by the time I finished with the second paragraph above, I completely lost track of whatever it was I had to say about it….. That, of course, is embarrassing, but not as much as having to turn tail, right in the middle of a pearl, or what SHOULD have been a pearl, and go old school, just to save my ass from complete well, asininity (what else?….)….

So, here is what Smart Bee came up with, and taken together, the pearls all DO have a point…. just don’t ask me what it is, because even if I knew, I don’t think I can be trusted today to say it correctly, or even interpret it accurately…. So, you’re kind of on your own…. Don’t worry, they’re all safe, just pointed a little….Enjoy!….

“Look under enough rocks and you’ll find _something_ slimy” — Smart Bee

“And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Dunciad, Book ii, Line 34

“Don’t edit reality for the sake of simplicity.” — Smart Bee

“No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.” — Mandell Creighton (1843-1901)

“A thief believes everybody steals.” — E.W. Howe

“I have a feeling that at any time about three million Americans can be had for any militant reaction against law, decency, the Constitution, the Supreme Court, compassion and the rule of reason.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Well, there you have it, such as it is…. Ta then, luvs…..

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

Thanks to the intransigence of modern HMO’s, my life of late has been filled with new levels of pain…. Here’s a poem I wrote back in 2012, during a time much like now…. It’s not, perhaps, my best, but, it’s honest…

Denial of Comfort

Baleful chairs become the enemy, heralded in red
seemingly welcome softness beckons with a smile,
waiting, content with slaughter, they are finally led
screaming in agony, deluged in venom all the while.

Desperate distraction becomes such a friendless fire
for all the patterns of autumn’s pale dismay,
leaving sincerely latent trails in spirals of twisted wire,
while memory insists, again, upon failure, palpably evil, and fey.

Fat, jaded tears would have fallen in good time,
if only the suitable suitor had scaled the garden’s wall.
Credence for discounted prices luckily in their prime
bring only fascinated eyes into such a hallowed hall.

Searching for answers is ever a clever portrayal
with studious accouterments to fulfill each common rule.
Arguably patient pictures of science and honest betrayal
shall evermore languish, in light of passion so elegantly cruel.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

An odd little pearl, but, with some valuable ideas, about life, to share with our Gentle Readers….

“The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to change it.” — Colin Wilson

“Belief gets in the way of learning.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.” — Edward Abbey

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire

“The stupid are deaf to the truth; they hear, but think that the wisdom applies to someone else.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.)

“In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.” — Pliny the Elder

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

Okay, that’s enough; I’ll cease the torture, of both of us…. It’s done, and that’s the best I can say today…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; after this one, it’s good to know I get another chance….

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….

Portraits of affable wallet accessories….

Posted on May 8, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“In the dark time will there also be singing?”

“Yes, there will be singing about the dark time.”

~~ Bertolt Brecht

Artist’s rendition of proposed EUSA Lunar Base

Image from Space.com

Good morning, ffolkes…. The new, minimalist method I’ve developed for the intro section seems to have worked out fairly well… If I have aught to say, well, I can…. If not, such as today, it’s perfect…. Let’s let it do its thing, okay?….

Shall we Pearl?

“Passive activity income does not include the following: Income for an activity that is not a passive activity.” — IRS form 8583, Passive Activity Loss Limitation

And, don’t you forget it!….

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

Image from wikipedia via Google free images

This little guy was my childhood hero; I never missed one of his cartoons on Saturday, for as long as I can remember…. Enjoy!….

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

Mighty Mouse

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

https://youtu.be/lxUPYqQ1Lrs

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

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

“Written laws are like spiders’ webs, and will like them only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful easily break through them.”
— Anacharsis (f1. c. 600 B.C.), Scythian philosopher — Quoted in Plutarch, the Lives of the Nobel Grecians and Romans, Solon

I decided NOT to produce a fresh rant, though I certainly could; there’s plenty of stuff going on out in the BBR at which to pick…. But, I found this older piece that works just fine with the above stimulus quote, from a few years back…. It’s actually two pearls from the Pearl posted in March of 2012. Enjoy, ffolkes! It’s all real, not to mention still relevant….

From 3/27/2012:

“And it came to pass that in the hands of the ignorant, the words of the bible were used to beat plowshares into swords…” — Alan Watts

“…You don’t have many suspects who are innocent of a crime. That’s contradictory. If a person is innocent of a crime, then he is not suspected.” — Edwin Meese

Viewed in light of the first quote, if one may assume its veracity, even temporarily, for the sake of argument, the second quote, while disappointing in the extreme, is not as surprising as it might otherwise have been seen. Oh, where to begin a response to such an outrageous display of ignorance and bigotry? I count only 26 words here, and can think of at least 14 ways this is just wrong, just off the top of my head. It piles one false assumption on top of another until any glimmer of possible relation to the truth, or reality, is completely obscured. Unfortunate as it is, this mind-set is still all-too-common, especially amongst the political pundit review currently on parade.

As a matter of fact, this mind-boggling distortion of our actual laws on the subject, reminds me very strongly of three of our esteemed Republican candidates being followed avidly by the news-mongers, especially Mitt the Twitt…. in the last week alone (post Etch-A-Sketch), he has made, (and I, along with a fairly large number of bloggers & citizens keeping track, counted), at minimum, 19 apparently deliberate lies that involved vague accusations of impropriety by the current administration. Each and every one of these statements, when checked against reality, or what was reported in other media sources, was obviously made up on the spot, or completely in reverse of what actually occurred. He is so desperate to appear to be confident and forceful, he is completely oblivious to the fact that no one is buying into his nonsense any more; in response his lies get more and more removed from any connection to reality or truth. His two closest challengers are no better; they make a habit of making statements that have absolutely no bearing on the subject under discussion, or accuse the media of playing favorites to distract the audience from whatever question they attempting to avoid answering by doing so.

All of these men have lost touch with reality in a lot of areas, and their denial of this fact serves as further evidence of that loss. Their belief, that they have their finger on the pulse of the American people, is so far removed from the truth it approaches the realm of delusion. They have completely lost track of, or denied, any connection they may have once had to the rest of their countrymen, insisting that their out-dated, ignorant policies, that didn’t work 45 years ago, or 90 years ago, will nonetheless work in today’s changing face of global politics, while completely ignoring the mountain of evidence to the contrary. They have assumed the mantle of the fanatic, a segment of the population that has previously been clearly identified as those folks who, when they have lost sight of their goal, redouble their efforts. Sad, and a terrible waste of everyone else’s time and energy to have to even listen to such nonsense. They have given up their place in the human tribe, and don’t even know it…… Pathetic, if you ask me…..

Mi taku oyasin. (We are all related.) — Lakota belief
___________________________________

There are times when the pearls I find that stimulate me to want to write about them are found in clusters. Several at once, all closely related, or similarly themed, just throw themselves at me, clamoring for inclusion. On these occasions I’ve learned to let them have their way. It is just as effective a lesson as my comments usually can claim to be, and has the added bonus of requiring less actual work on my part; the authors I choose have all done my thinking, and expressing for me, and usually much better than my discussions. Below are some observations on politics, patriotism, and the price of liberty, from some pretty well-respected political observers……

“In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it’s a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security in risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side.” — Theodore Forstmann

“My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” — Thomas Jefferson to A. Stuart, 1791

“I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.” — H. L. Mencken

“I don’t pick on politicians. They ain’t done nothin’.”– Red Skelton

“Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.” — Kin Hubbard

(Don’t ask…. it just fit, that’s all…)

and finally….

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,–
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.

~~ William Shakespeare

~~Much Ado about Nothing — Act ii, Sc. 3~~

(Will was obviously channeling George Carlin…)

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

Since I haven’t had it in me to rant much of late, here’s a poem about ranting….

A Few Words of Note

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Ffolkes, THIS is a pearl; in might even be called a prototypical pearl. It’s a wonderful nine-star collection of some of Life’s lesser known lessons, couched in less than ordinary terminology, wrapped tightly in extreme metaphor, yet, each one with a valuable piece of information, each essential to getting the whole picture of Reality as it is, not as we guess it might be… Most are stuff you either already know, or, ought to; if not, well, there’s still time to learn, even for slow-learners…. not that I’d ever suggest any of MY Gentle Readers could be such…. All of them, I’m sure, will chuckle right to the end, then just go, “yep…” Well, the polite ones will…

“Ah said, pay attention, boy!”

~~ Foghorn Leghorn ~~

“If possible, try to find a way to come downstairs that doesn’t involve going bump, bump, bump, on the back of your head.” — Pooh, in Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” — Isaac Asimov

“It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.” — The Vatican Sayings, Epicurus

“It ain’t loafing unless they can prove it.” — Dick Brown

“I only took the regular course.” “What was that?” inquired Alice. “Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,” the Mock Turtle replied; “and then the different branches of Arithmetic — Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.” “What else had you to learn?” “Well, there was Mystery,” the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flippers, — “Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography: then Drawling — the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel, that used to come once a week: HE taught us Drawling, Stretching and Fainting in Coils. I never went to the Classical master, though. He taught Laughing and Grief, they used to say.” — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

“If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.” — Edith Wharton

“Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’, but it’s free.” — Kris Kristofferson

“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”

~~ Steven Wright ~~

See. ffolkes? I’ve always told you, it’s all in the wrist….

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

Yet another day’s duty done; it’s not a bad feeling. In fact, it’s so good, I’m taking it, and my leave…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided the Apocalypse isn’t scheduled for 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….

Astrogation isn’t for amateurs….

Posted on May 7, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Aw, gee, Wally . . .”

~~ Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver ~~

Sunrise on the Road

Warning/Disclaimer: Any mental functions attempted in this area must be re-evaluated during a subsequent period. It has been discovered that standard logic works sideways in this area, if it works at all, due to the influence of the occupant.

Good morning, ffolkes….

Today’s opening picture is one of my own, and, it’s got a cute little story to it…. If you look closely at the left side of the picture, you’ll note the ray of light that comes directly at the area where the picture was taken. In the normal way, one might guess it was a trick of refraction, due to the shape of the camera lens, and the passage of the light through the atmosphere; in the normal way, you’d be right, too. But, this was NOT a ray of light from the sun, which traveled 92 million miles through space to reach me; it was actually a laser guide sight, from a ship hiding behind the clouds on the horizon….

You might think I’ve slipped over the edge, but, if you go to that spot (I can tell you where), you’ll see the big hole in the ground where the laser hit the telephone pole, just out of sight on the left, causing it to explode, nearly sending me into orbit…. Fortunately for me, just as I took this shot, a tractor beam, from another ship out of camera to the right, grabbed me, yanked me away, & deposited me in a safe spot some ways away before I could even blink. (The aliens who saved me told me this right afterward, after they’d destroyed the evil alien ship, then covered the whole area with a field of mental energy which cleared the events from everyone’s memory…. Kind of the techno equivalent of the Memory Spell in the Harry Potter world, eh?….) Lucky, wasn’t I?….

You may ask, first, if I’m getting any treatment for this…. No, silly, why would I? Most people suffer from being insane; I revel in it.

Secondly, you’ll no doubt ask how I can expect anyone to believe it’s true; the truth is, I don’t much care, because I expect that. The aliens told me I could talk about it if I wanted; nobody would believe me…. They were right, weren’t they?

Hah!

Okay, let’s get on with the REAL nonsense we have planned for today…. Who knows? Maybe some of it will be less illusory…. I wouldn’t put too much money on it, though, without some decent odds…. Who’s gonna give those around here?….

Shall we Pearl?

An older student came to Otis and said, “I have been to see a great number of teachers and I have given up a great number of pleasures. I have fasted, been celibate and stayed awake nights seeking enlightenment. I have given up everything I was asked to give up and I have suffered, but I have not been enlightened. What should I do?” Otis replied, “Give up suffering.” — Camden Benares, “Zen Without Zen Masters”

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I’m in the mood for some mild fantasy, and a little fun…. How about an old favorite movie? This one may pull my covers a bit, threatening my status as a curmudgeon, but, what the hell…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this is a better story and movie than it seems… It also has one of the first movie attempts at combining animation and live actors in the same film sequence; the only flaw in I see is its Disney-esque blandness to the dialogue; a lot of the jokes could have used a bit of innuendo, or some spicy language…..

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Bedknobs and Broomsticks

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https://youtu.be/hDTga2nThwE

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

Once you read the pearl(s), you’ll understand the picture…. Well, I’d hope you will….

“…to emphasize the afterlife is to deny life. To concentrate on Heaven is to create hell. In their desperate longing to transcend the disorderliness, friction, and unpredictability that pesters life; in their desire for a fresh start in a tidy habitat, germ-free and secured by angels, religious multitudes are gambling the only life they may ever have on a dark horse in a race that has no finish line.” — Tom Robbins, — Skinny Legs and All, p. 305.

“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.” — Buddha

“Belief gets in the way of learning.” — Lazarus Long, “Time Enough for Love” by Robert Heinlein

“In the beginning was nonsense, and the nonsense was with God, and the nonsense was God.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” — Charles Darwin

“History is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes.” — Voltaire — L’Ingenu, Chap. x

“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.” — Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love (1972) by Robert Heinlein

I was going to leave it at that, figuring it would do the trick…. But, I see it needs to move further along the train of thought, so, we’ll keep at it, until we find the right pearls to complete the necklace, er, composite of ideas as metaphor….

“If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.” — Pentagon official, on why US military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War

“A “peace-loving nation” is one which bans fireworks and manufactures hydrogen bombs.” — Smart Bee

“Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness “positively”, by uniting our affections, the latter “negatively”, by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last is a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one…. — Thomas Paine, opening lines of “Common Sense” — 1776

Men of ill judgment oft ignore the good

That lies within their hands, till they have lost it.

~~ Sophocles ~~

Well, there you go…. It’s a bit murky, but, hey, it’s better than a rant, and, you still get to see who is responsible, and how it happened…. It’s a start….

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

Here’s another one from the archives, since the one percolating seems to have filed itself in an unknown folder…. SIGH…. If only it was a conscious process for me….

November Dreams of Spring

Crass and cold, the beggar finds me swollen, so frail and fat
with painful stepping motions, running, like a Republicrat.
Building with straw and spittle, should artists come aground,
we all pay heavily, a billion for a bloody pound.

Too desperate, too ashamed to play such a part
We ask for belief, and sweet liberty, dressing up so smart.
It falls between the simple cracks, always in a hurry
To find a shrunken ego, ashen, swift, and full of worry.

Never there was a more penitent group, such a sterling way
To fast in luxury, making sure the guilty enter, but do not stay.
Forgotten gods can find their diffident suitors tonight
With dream-fitted convention, and a natural sense of delight.

For all the silken babies cried, to see the broken dreams of power
forgiven moments of certitude serve, filling up the maiden’s bower.
All the patient, loving veterans of ancient foreign time,
give up their first impressions, dying, dying for a rhyme.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 9/19/2012.

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

Today’s final old-school pearl will finish off our discussion of the power of dubiousity…. Enjoy, ffolkes; you may not realize it, but, this is a fairly good look into my soul….

“I love to doubt as well as know.”

~~ Dante ~~

“The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” — Bertrand Russell

“The majority of mankind is lazy-minded, incurious, absorbed in vanities and tepid in emotion, and is therefore incapable of either much doubt or much
faith.” — TS Eliot

“If a person offend you and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures. Simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.” — Mark Twain, Advice to Youth Speech, 1882

“Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.” — Miguel de Unamuno

“Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.” — Laurens Van der Post, The Lost World of the Kalahari (1958)

” There lives more faith in honest doubt,

Believe me, than in half the creeds.”

~~ Alfred Tennyson — In Memoriam, xcvi, Stanza 3 ~~

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

Most of today’s effort was done ahead of time, so, I’m not sure how seamless it may all be; as is our habit, we can only say, “Oh, well!”. We’ll have to work on that. But, that’s a task for another day; this one is already shot to hell…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided Reality cooperates…..

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….

To Whee or not to Whee….

Posted on May 4, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“HELLO, everybody, I’m a HUMAN!!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

Black Hole ~~ Chandra Deep Space Observatory

http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/01/supermassive-black-holes-quasar-chandra/?ncid=rss_truncated

Good morning, ffolkes.

Shall we Pearl?

“Cheshire-Puss,” she began, “would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t care much where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re quite sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

~~ Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” ~~

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Image from youngdubliners.com via Google Images

http://youngdubliners.com/index2.shtml

I first heard this band about 20 years ago; I’ve been listening ever since….. Solid, honest, and Irish rock and roll…. Long live rock!….

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Young Dubliners

Saints & Sinners

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https://youtu.be/V4idmqqGDW0

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Yesterday’s sublimated rant, which magically turned into an old-school pearl, which seemed to work out rather well. Today, let’s try the same method on another of our traditional targeted groups, those delusional sycophants who are the strongest supporters and loyal slaves of the Beloved Ruling Class, to wit: Preachers, priests, pastors, imams, ayatollahs, or any other odd little title people choose to cover up their sheer evil ignorance, and lack of courage….

How much does it take to stand up to the universe in which you were born?…. Too much for most people, it seems; they’d rather blame it all on some supernatural fall guy…. Awfully convenient way to justify one’s own stupidity and greed…. Any who, here are seven pearls which indicate fairly well how I feel and think about it…. How can I lose, beginning and ending with Frankie Z?….

“Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned — I support your right to enjoy it. However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect for the rights of those people who do not wish to share your dogma, rapture or necrodestination.” — Frank Zappa, “The Real Frank Zappa Book”

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” — Jean-Paul Sartre

“Faith: not wanting to know what is true.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Acceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western religion, Rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western science.” — Gary Zukav, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters”

“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” — Mark Twain

“During almost fifteen centuries the legal establishment of Christianity has been upon trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution.” — James Madison

Do what you wanna, do what you will;
Just don’t mess up your neighbor’s thrill.
And when you pay the bill, kindly leave a little tip
To help the next poor sucker on his one-way trip.

~~ Frank Zappa, You Are What You Is ~~

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Two years ago today, I wrote a poem. This is it…. Enjoy, please, such as it is…..

Funny Bones

Dreaming the way home, lost, unseen,
from the dance, where
he felt so free, and clean.
Sorrow couldn’t find him there.

Waiting, filling up the hours, hoping,
some connection can be found
keeping busy as bees, coping.
Love creeps in, without a sound.

Fat days, skinny nights, passionate
visions of semi-conscious entities,
cannot seem to fully illuminate
or hide our innermost frailties.

Resolute, find the perfect sense, codify
simple rules with every breath
never waiting, anxious to modify.
fear nothing in life, not even Death.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Smart Bee is still being fractious, so, I take what I can get, which, in today’s case, seems to be a fairly good description of what is needed for a Life, Well Lived….

“If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.” — Confucius (B.C. 551-479)

“There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are unavoidably related in our minds with the state of things around us. Hence it is that people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to preserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change. The tendency to look for all causes outside ourselves persists even when it is clear that our state of being is the product of personal qualities such as ability, character, appearance, health and so on.” — Eric Hoffer

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

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T. S. Eliot

“If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.” — Albert Camus

“The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject but man only.” — Thomas Hobbes

“Today is a good day to die.” — Apache warrior proverb

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Good enough. Hell, I don’t work for the government any more, so, it’s clearly good enough. Well, okay, let’s just not go there, okay? It’s done, how’s that? Yeah, that’s the ticket…. it’s done, and there’s nothing more any of us can do. We may as well be logical, and just take our leave, like good little bozoids…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should I end up anywhere close to reality by 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….

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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Tag Archives: Mark Twain

Boiled mutton in a plastic bag….

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