Ulysses wasn’t all that brave….

Posted on June 21, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Okay, now we’re all in for it….. I tried, several times, and even sent out for the latest version of the necessary software, but, I couldn’t adjust reality to suit the needs of the few, and had to let it go ahead with it’s program, which DOES suit the needs of the many, but, at the expense of dignity…. Reality, of course, has no opinion either way; it’s level of indifference to human sensibilities is long-standing, and well-practiced. As that is the case, I’m going to just finish issuing this warning, as required, and hope for the best….

There, that should meet all the legal requirements for density; it certainly lends new meaning to the word “inscrutable”, doesn’t it? I’ve worked hard over time to hone my writing skills, and find that I have a natural bent when it comes to producing sheer nonsense; it’s a gift….. It may have a lot to do with my Bozoid tendencies, but, that can probably be said for most anyone, at least anyone who recognizes the bulbousness of their nose, and has no problem with it’s glowing redness. Gift or not, it’s a valuable skill for a blogger….

This morning, it’s a good thing I do possess the ability to blather & spew at will; I’m about an hour and a half late getting up, having inadvertently consumed, last night, about twice the amount of the Beast as I intended, or am used to, which had a wonderful effect on my sleep, if we don’t count the extra time in bed as a handicap…. What it does mean, though, is some slight alteration to the structure and content of what will come out of my creative well today; the exact nature or shape of that alteration remains to be seen, as I’m still trying to figure out, first, how to make this intro acceptable, and, second, how to end it with some style….

Of course, those are the same two issues I encounter every morning with this section, so, the contortions you are witnessing shouldn’t be anything new, or out of the ordinary, at least, not for any regular Gentle Readers; they should be quite used to this by now…. I’m never sure how this will turn out, and the fact that is does so every day is a constant surprise to me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that I came up with something Murphy actually approves of….. which may just be the case, as this format certainly offers him, and his associates, plenty of opportunities to nail me one way or another…. SIGH…

This introduction has now entered the stage where I have to start trying to decide how to bring it to a close, without spoiling whatever message I’ve already delivered…. Actually, this one won’t be much of a problem, as it looks to be about done…. these last few lines are properly aligned for a landing approach, even if the weather is blustery…. In fact, I’m pretty sure that…. yes, it will work…. Okay, I’m taking a flier here, and going out on that proverbial limb…. I hereby declare this intro section complete, and direct you to proceed to the next available check station, where you will be issued the necessary weapons for this next stage of the journey….

Shall we Pearl? I think we’d better, before it’s too late…..

“I like nonsense — it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope…and that enables you to laugh at all of life’s realities.” — Theodor S. Geisel, a.k.a. “Dr. Seuss”

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Some of y’all, who have been here previously a number of times, will know what is coming now…. Since I’m so late, today’s rant will be furnished out of the archives, this time with an excellent outburst aimed at mankind’s oldest, most insidious scam….

Last posted in April of 2013:

I looked for something appropriate, and here it is… a quite long religirant, from sometime in 2012, I didn’t check, and it doesn’t matter…. it was a good one, so enjoy…..

“The evidence of the emotions, save in cases where it has strong objective support, is really no evidence at all, for every recognizable emotion has its opposite, and if one points one way then another points the other way. Thus the familiar argument that there is an instinctive desire for immortality, and that this desire proves it to be a fact, becomes puerile when it is recalled that there is also a powerful and widespread fear of annihilation, and that this fear, on the same principle proves that there is nothing beyond the grave. Such childish proofs are typically theological, and they remain theological even when they are adduced by men who like to flatter themselves by believing that they are scientific gents…” — H. L. Mencken

“One of the proofs of the immortality of the soul is that myriads have believed it–they also believed the world was flat.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

“Convincing yourself doesn’t win an argument.” — Robert Half

Here is an old school Pearl, in a manner of speaking…. These three quotations all say pretty much the same thing, with varying types of expression. Each, to me, seems to express that same idea more succinctly than the one before, leaving out more and more words until the final statement gives the bottom line… which is one that is heavily argued by those to whom it most applies….

It’s funny (ironic funny) to me to hear some of the arguments proposed by the priestly hierarchies in support of their beliefs. Some are couched in formal robes, all dressed up so they appear as reasoned logic, rather than the unwarranted assumptions that they really are. Mr. Mencken’s expression above would be the most effective in engaging these wordy individuals, as it would appeal to the side of them that pretends to being a scientist. They might reject the arguments, since their own arguments are, in the final analysis, subjectively formulated, not based on observations but on induction, as the platform of their entire argument is all based on an imaginary entity’s theoretical wishes…..

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”…. Such an innocent sounding piece of doggerel…. one would scarcely believe it is one of the most insidious examples of blatant propaganda in existence. The proponents of the “Old man in the sky” group start drumming this into the minds of children as soon as they are able to talk, and, as they well know, before they learn to doubt what their elders tell them. Children naturally accept what their parents tell them, almost exclusively for the first few years of life.

This home-schooling form of brainwashing continues once they are of an age to start looking outside their family for knowledge of the world, with teachers, preachers, and kindly old aunts who continue to inundate the young minds with stories of Bible heroes and villains, drilling into the malleable minds the sense of entitlement and elitism that will provide them with the impetus for bigotry later in life. In addition, this period strengthens the brainwashing given earlier, teaching the kids that they should only trust certain people to tell them the truth, and that all the other religions in the world are not only not saved, but are not eligible for saving, due to their own beliefs, which are characterized as villainous, and as enemies, to be reviled and persecuted because they are different….

“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.” — Oscar Wilde

This entire process, this systematic, deliberate mental conditioning, is, to my mind, pretty despicable. It denies its proponents any possible way of examining the information that other systems may possess, by convincing them that all other forms of knowledge are not only wrong, but blasphemous in nature, and should be cast aside whenever encountered, without ever examining the information for its relevance, or its accuracy.

Education is learning that you did not even know what you did not even know you did not even know. — Smart Bee

The whole system is designed to continue the delusional system into the future, while keeping the congregation in the dark of ignorance. It has no other purpose…. it is not in place to help or sustain the members of the congregation, but rather to control that population’s thoughts and behavior, ensuring the power and influence of the priests, pastors, preachers, or whatever name they choose to call themselves…..

I can only count myself as fortunate, to have been raised without the brainwashing on a regular basis. We attended a Presbyterian church, probably an offshoot of the old Church of England, where the adage about “cake, or death?” was originated…. The net result of this was that I was able to include other systems in my education, and found the entire construct to be a house of invisible cards, easily knocked down with a single bite of the Apple….

“How come you never see a politician (or a preacher) laugh? Because they know what they’re getting away with, and if they started laughing, they’d never stop.” — Smart Bee

And you know what else?…. I always thought Satan got a pretty raw deal, all for exercising the free will he was given…. and so did Adam and Eve…. Even as a child of five, I always wondered why God had set them up to fail like that…. it’s like, “Here’s the apple…. don’t taste it….” and then making sure we, as humans, had a sense of wonder and curiosity strong enough to disregard the admonition…. Even then, it looked like a set-up, and I could never reconcile the image in my head of a God, supposedly with infinite knowledge, setting up his own creation like that…. it just didn’t seem very God-like, or even fair…. and I still don’t get it, even today…..

With a subject such as this, it’s hard to know when to stop…. the issue has been one that has held Mankind back for two millennia now, preventing us from achieving our real potential as a species. All the progress we, as a species, have made in the last 3,000 years or so has been in spite of the efforts of the priestly hierarchies to keep us as ignorant as possible; at every turn of the wheel of science, the powers that be have thrown sand in the works, to try to slow down the acquisition of knowledge.

“Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom. For herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself; he has no desire for that of which he feels no want.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)

The preachers, from long experience, know that an educated populace, capable of reasoning beyond the limitations placed on the human mind by religious dogma, is the greatest threat to their continued existence as the leaders of Mankind. They know that once people are exposed to knowledge (the flesh of the Apple, remember?), the less they will submit to the brainwashing that is the lot of the common man…. and it scares them to death…..

Doubt. Question authority. Ask the next, deeper question. And never, ever, give up the right to make up your own mind…. In the final analysis, that power is the only one we all have, and the only one that cannot be taken away from us without our consent…. Viva la raza!…..

Oh, and won’t it be nice when you don’t have to give tithes anymore?…..

Though old the thought and oft exprest,
‘T is his at last who says it best.

— James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) — For an Autograph

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Since it takes less time to find one of my own poems than to search one out on the Net….. Plus, this one fits in with today’s rant better than any I could find….

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 ~~

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Once again, I had hoped to have more pictures today, but, the Wise Old Pine Cone has been busy with his new student, so we’ll have to settle for a fresh, old-school pearl….. We’ll make it a random, harlequin style pearl; they’re the quickest to put together, as the parameters involved are so flexible…. Enjoy!….

“This is a wise maxim, “to take warning from others of what may be to your own advantage.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Heautontimoroumenos, Act i, Sc. 2, 36, (210.)

“The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt.” — Max Lerner

“Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do ingloriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple: who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?” — John Milton (1608-1674) — Areopagitica

“He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.” — Kahlil Gibran

“After all is said and done, a hell of a lot more is said than done.” — Olmstead’s Law

“…for the most part happiness consists in being willing to be what you are.” — Erasmus

“Honor is the reward of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

Sometimes this process doesn’t work; this is NOT one of those times…. This is a good pearl, ffolkes…. Serendipity strikes again….

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There are occasions when I think I should always procrastinate; I seem to do my best work when I’m in a hurry…. This Pearl is a perfect example of that…. not that y’all care at all about that, but, it keeps me occupied, and mostly off the streets, so, all in all, it’s a good thing….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

The White Rabbit’s waistcoat won’t fit….

Posted on June 16, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

As I closed my front door early this morning, on the way out to drive to work, a large white rabbit, dressed, oddly enough, in a gentleman’s morning attire, complete with, waistcoat, pince nez, and a huge watch chain hanging from the pocket, ran quickly past me, muttering what sounded like imprecations indicative of great agitation…. Well, being familiar with Lewis Carroll, and his pederasty fantasy child, I DIDN’T give chase, not having the time, or the slightest inclination to attend any tea parties, experiment with mushrooms, or wage any battles of wit with a Cat, especially one as curmudgeonly as the Cheshire who gave Alice all that lip and grief….

Nor, as I’m sure you are aware, did I really see any rabbits this morning…. The first clue it was all fiction was in the first line, when I said I was driving to work…. which is, as you may know, something I no longer do for anyone but myself…. The second was the waistcoat, which, as you may have noted, was mentioned in today’s title, and as such, was NOT expected to be in the body of work today…. There are times, and this is one of them, when I suspect this process is not entirely under my control…. which begs the question, who’s driving this bus of bozos?….

The answer, of course, is that NOBODY is driving the bus, ffolkes…. I’ve given up, and nobody else can be persuaded to take up the gauntlet; I’ve even tried employment agencies, but, after a few stories from the few they’ve sent over got back to them, it’s been hard to find anyone willing to take it on…. I mean, it’s not like it’s a HARD job; it’s just the strangeness that gets to them, I suppose…. Well, that, and the uniforms; I shouldn’t have gone for the one with the epaulets on the shoulder; everyone thinks they look ridiculous, and hates to wear them….

Of course, I’ve had to let everyone go anyway, what with the recession and all. Even though the economy is on the mend, or so they say, (I think they really have no clue about what will actually happen; they just play the odds and guess…. like we all do since Cassandra died….), if I try to pay a living wage, it eats into my meager profits…. which are also non-existent…. All of which is why it’s a dead giveaway for me to say I’m about to drive off to work…. Hard to do with no car, and no job…

All of the above, of course, is just another distraction, a load of bilge-water, best if left to its own devices lest the smell get into your clothing…. I’m up quite late, for me, and suffering again from the usual complement of painful joints, hips, and the concomitant deleterious effect on my energy, and motivation…. I have to bust through the reluctance to move at all, in order to get past the point where it holds me down, or up, whichever direction I’m going at the time…. Then, well, let’s not get any more into that; it’s just encouraging me to whine….

Instead, I’m going to get on with what we have in store for today, whatever that might be…. Once again, your guess is as good as mine, as to what that may be, or look like…. So, we’ll use trusty method #4, and get on with it….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Acquittal of the guilty damns the judge.” — Horace

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“Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth.” — Socrates (470?-399 B.C.)

Yarrr! Avast, ye land lubbers! Stand your ground, and pay heed!….

The pirate phenomenon came to my town this weekend, in the format of a festival…. A consumer’s delight, where about a hundred or so craft, food, & beverage vendors, singing and musical groups, stage production companies, and otherwise normal folks get together dressed up like pirates, talking like pirates, and generally celebrating the pirate culture, such as it was….. It’s all pretty romanticized, considering the whole scenario of piracy as a way of life; all of the cool, frosty stuff is kept, and all the pain, misery, abuse, and poverty that went along with most of it is ignored….

The historical period when piracy on the high seas was popular, back a few hundred years, was a lot more brutal on the general public than most folks realize, but, hey, that’s America for you…. just look at the parts you want to see, and ignore what you don’t…. They did have their priorities straight, though…. The ATM machines were quite prominent, in three locations for the consumer’s convenience, set up by the food & beer area, and in the first row of craft & clothing vendors….

This all sounds a bit curmudgeonly, of course, which is a result of my thoughts AFTER attending…. I actually had a good time, without spending a fortune, and had some decent noms (food, for those of you not current on slang….)….. I had a sausage roll, Scottish style, just as greasy as the one I had in Scotland, and the shepherd’s pie looked pretty good, too…. Sadly, the only liquor available, other than beer, was rum, which does NOT agree with me at all, due to an unfortunate incident in college, where a quart of rum and I had some issues…. I still can’t smell the stuff without a nose curl….

“And here you thought your money was going to waste. Well, a Federal Appeals Court has ordered the FDA to determine whether drugs proposed for Lethal Injection executions are “safe and effective!” — Smart Bee

The festival is one of those uniquely American deals, a consumer celebration designed to bring tourist dollars into a town that is suffering badly from the economic shenanigans of the corporate elite, who have been busily raping the American economy since the days of Ronald Raygun and his band of banker, ex-USC grad buddies, who managed to spew so much BS around, people began to think it didn’t stink…..

I mean, how else can you explain any reasonable, rational person falling for the “trickle down” theory of economics, otherwise known as Reaganomics, a not-so-hidden attempt at outright theft by the government, if ever one was seen? Only sheer, bald-faced lying could have carried that one off…. But, then, remember some of Ronnie’s OTHER moments of truth?…. Such as….

“Trees make more smog than cars.” — R. Reagan

Any who, that’s all over now, except, of course, for the hundred or so years it will take to recover from it…. In the meantime, we have these kinds of distractions to keep us busy, and having fun doing stuff that makes no reasonable sense at all, spending massive amounts of time and money to pursue a lifestyle so hard and so insane, it no longer exists anywhere but Hollywood…. But, as the pictures show, it’s fun, for all ages, and there are a lot of interesting things to see and do….. Here are some pictures that will give an idea of the day…. Enjoy!….

“Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.” — Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

“Somewhere between real and real real.” — Senator Dan Quayle pinpointing their location to reporters — aboard the Quayle campaign plane. — (reported in Wall Street Journal, 10/21/88)

Just WHAT is that octopus doing with that mast?…..

Spare change, anyone?…..

“Oh, God, look at that!”…..

A little tough to romanticize this….. though one does wonder how the bear fits into the story, eh?….

Some people have WAY too much time, and money, on their hands….

An indicator of how strange and perverted the human race is…. This lovely character was the most popular costumed figure wandering the festival grounds, with just about every other person encountered wanting their picture taken with him….

Well there you have it ffolkes, my day hanging out with a segment of America’s most gullible consumers….. It must be the cynic in me that sees not only the romantic side of the whole phenomenon, but, its uglier, less acknowledged economic factors….. But, hey, I found a great deal on a really good dirk, in case I ever want to wear my kilt and heraldry badges….

“Cynicism is disillusioned idealism.” — Harry Kemelman

Let’s go on, shall we?….

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The perfect poem to go along with the odd little rant in section one, here is the first stanza of T.S. Eliot’s epic poem, The Waste Land…. I have provided a link to a site where you can read the rest of the poem, which is quite long, but well worth the time and effort to peruse…. Enjoy!….

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176735

The Waste Land

FOR EZRA POUND
IL MIGLIOR FABBRO

I. The Burial of the Dead

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

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Okay, I’ve made it this far, which is a surprise to me…. Soon after beginning, some severe arthritic hip pain began to throb in my lower back, and has resisted all attempts to curtail its advance…. Hence, this will be old-school, and just about as quick a pearl as ever was…. I hope….

“I might repeat to myself, slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound; if I can remember any of the damn things.” — Dorothy Parker, The Portable, 1944

It is the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It is the dream afraid of waking
that never takes a chance.
It is the one who won’t be taken
who cannot seem to give.
And the soul afraid of dying
that never learns to live.

— Bette Midler, The Rose

“Be of good cheer,” said Diogenes; “I see land.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Diogenes, vi

“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain

Teach him how to live,
And, oh still harder lesson! how to die.

— Beilby Porteus (1731-1808) — Death, Line 316

“If you would know a man, observe how your cat treats him.” — Smart Bee

“If you can see a thing whole… it seems that it’s always beautiful. Planets, lives…But close up, a world’s all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life’s a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. You need distance, interval. The way to see how beautiful the earth is, is to see it as the moon. The way to see how beautiful a life is, is to see it from the vantage point of death.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, Dispossessed

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There it is, such as it is…. I’m going to go consume massive quantities of mind-numbing, obliviating drugs, & then take another look at the day in a few hours, once my attitude has been adjusted…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if they don’t catch me….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Even duct tape won’t help now….

Posted on June 15, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Staring into the abyss is not easy without coffee, but, that’s what I’ve been asked to do today…. Well, perhaps that’s a bit dramatic, but, it does give you the “look and feel” I was trying for, if you’ll pardon the retreat into Appledom…. I’m pretty sure, since that phrase has been legally identified by some court or another, it’s okay to use it in general speech….

If not, well, screw ’em, because it’s already done, and I’m not about to start again, just because Apple doesn’t like me using their words….. As we’ve been known to say on previous occasions, when just such a complaint has arisen, fuck them if they can’t take a joke…. hard, or soft, your choice, I don’t care….

There, the first nonsensical paragraphs are done, now we get to the plain speech paragraph, which is MUCH easier, believe me…. When I come up with an easy-peasy kind of subject, which talking about Apple always makes so simple, producing such literary flotsam becomes almost automatic…. But, then, by now, just about anything at all wouldn’t surprise MY readers in this space….

In spite of the difficulties we face each day (Damn! There’s another of those royal “we”‘s! Gotta watch that….) to get this intro done in a timely fashion, without it becoming an ordeal beyond all endurance, I think I’ve managed to endow my audience with more than just a few formats and/or incarnations, if you will, of this introductory section, enough so that they’ve learned not to expect anything in particular, but just wait to see whatever manifests on any given day…. It’s also safer that way, in a physical sense…. less chance of explosions….

Even the explosions have reached the point of becoming mundanely routine, I suppose…. That’s what happens after the first several hundred of them….. I don’t know if it is normal to be so blasé about such volatile material, but, it’s certainly normal around here, and I’m not about to start justifying or explaining at this point…. Nobody but a regular here would understand anyway, so, it’s all moot…. Of course, if we ever get to the point where the blog is starting to get some more attention from a wider audience, I suppose I’ll have to consider a few changes, to meet the demands of the public eye….

Don’t hold your breath on that one, though, because I’m pretty stubborn, and not about to make too many changes, just to suit readers…. My curmudgeon training wouldn’t allow that anyway, as it is catering to the wishes of others, and that sort of pandering is NOT going to happen on my watch…. People are responsible for their OWN minds, and beliefs, and I don’t allow any BS in that respect….

I am responsible for what I say, and what I believe, but, not for anyone else’s words, or their ideas….. and trying to blame me for what someone else may think, even about my own words, is not only NOT going to alter my behavior, it could conceivably piss me off…. Whomever THAT happens to fall upon may just end up regretting they ever spoke…. or, for that matter, regretting they were ever born….

Hmm…. I see that I’m beginning to show symptomology of a need to rant, which isn’t surprising, as I’ve not indulged myself in that respect for a week or more, not in any detailed, fresh sense…. Soon, I’m sure…. For now, though, I’m going to go with my impulses today, which are random, and not well understood, even by me…. In fact, I really don’t know, at this juncture, just WHAT will happen from now on…. I have deliberately avoided thinking about it…. So, whatever occurs below will be as much of a surprise for me, as it is for you….. The only thing I know for sure is that the Wise Old Pine Cone took another day off, having overindulged himself radically at the ball game a couple of nights ago; he’ll be back in a day or so, with new pictures of new adventures to share…. For now, though….

Shall we Pearl?….. In fact, let’s begin with a two-fer….

“Zen Buddhists do it because they don’t want to do it because they want to do it.” — Smart Bee, showing off

“We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made, or only just happened.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), Huckleberry Finn

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In lieu of a fresh rant, which is not imminently forthcoming (Don’t ask why; the answer would be TMI…. I say that just as if we had not already reached a point of no return in that regard….), here is an older rant, from some time in 2012, on a typical issue, i.e., the BRC and their shenanigans…..

“He who imitates evil always goes beyond the limits of the example, whereas he who imitates what is good, always falls short.” — Confucius

Perfect! If ever a quote could be applied to fit one group of people, this one would; it fits the folks who occupy elected office in this country like the proverbial glove.

Ooh! Ooh! Here’s another one…

“Ignorance: When you don’t know something and somebody finds it out.” — Jethro Burns

Okay, that’s a good start…. Now, we all know that politicians lie to us…. It’s what we’ve taught them to do, by our calm acceptance of all the other lies they’ve told, from the very beginning. We expect them to lie… then, when we catch them at it, there is this huge public outcry, as if it had never happened before. Sometimes, the behavior of the American public toward the political beast reminds me of a shark…. to wit: no memory of the past to slow down their willingness to rush into dangerous situations….. For millions of years, sharks and dolphins have lived together in the oceans. For just about all that time, whenever a shark attacks a dolphin, it gets killed, unless the dolphin is injured in some way, or, it is a baby inadvertently left alone. Always, if things are even, the shark dies, because the dolphins are faster swimmers, but, more importantly, they’re smarter.

After millions of years, you would think the sharks might learn to let them alone, but, they don’t, which is evidence of their lack of ability to learn. The American voting public has the same problem…. they never learn to expect to be lied to, and always seem surprised to learn that their elected officials are, shall we say, less than perfectly honest? It, quite frankly, drives me nuts…. What is it about people that does that to them? Why are they so UNwilling to use the mind that (presumably) sits between their ears, rather than just carrying it around from toilet to toilet, which is all most folks seem to do with it? (Almost forgot it was a question….) I wish I knew….

“There is one way to find out if a man is honest–ask him. If he says yes, you know he is crooked.” — Groucho Marx

I’m starting to feel a bit of anger, actually, (Surprise!) and I have a hard time not letting it out on the voting public, the idiots. But, it really isn’t all their fault, as the people who run for office are the ones who are actively imitating evil, and, obviously, exceeding the limits of their example. And the voting public can’t help never being able to quite reach the good for which they reach. This is why I get angry about it…. The folks who run for office tell the public they are going to work for the people when they are elected; we all know they are lying, but we elect them anyway. Now, how stupid is that? Pretty stupid, in my book…..

On the one hand, the stupidity displayed by the politicians is deliberate, in its adherence to principles of theft and prevarication; on the other hand, the stupidity displayed by the voting public is, perhaps, not deliberate, but at minimum, misguided, and, ultimately, just as evil, in placing its trust in evil people. In the dispassionate view held by the universe, stupid is as stupid does, and the sentence of death is the same for both types of stupidity, deliberate and unconscious. It (the universe…) doesn’t care about why, it only looks at results….

What can be done about this? Not a damn thing…. Not only do I find that most people are unconsciously stupid, but they are stubborn about it, even when it is clear how being stupid is hurting them. Rather than use their minds to find a new way of dealing with these issues, they retreat into platitudes and dogma, and run right back out to vote for another idiot who promises them manna from heaven, or, more accurately, from Washington D.C. If confronted with their idiocy, they become even more stubborn, as they are unwilling to accept they might have been wrong, usually refusing to either examine any evidence of being wrong, or, denying its existence altogether.

The politicians, who choose to live in stupidity, by lying and cheating and stealing from their own people, don’t even WANT to choose otherwise. Why should they? They’ve got it easy, with a ready supply of host bodies on which to practice their symbiotic parasitism, a body that not only accepts all their lies, but encourages them to even further depredations with their complete acquiescence with whatever the politicos want. All the politicians have to say is that the public is in danger, from this, that, or the other…. The public will then allow them to do whatever they choose, as long as they’re fooled into feeling safe from whatever fictional fantasy they have been told is dangerous…..

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift; the rational mind is faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” — Albert Einstein

It’s an interesting spectacle to observe from the sidelines, but it arouses in me a strong feeling of sadness, with the anger underlying, as I watch, day after day, as so many millions of foolish people get taken advantage of by a few assholes. It definitely makes me want to buy a gun, even though I would only use it if pressed; I have a feeling I may get pressed some day, if I continue to make noise about all this.

I’m fairly well protected thus far by a lack of notoriety; the BRC and the PTB aren’t going to worry about me until I have an audience a lot larger than a couple of hundred folks, of which perhaps fifty regularly read my work. If what I am saying began to gain popularity, and was being read by millions, I’d be in danger; until then, I’m as safe as I can make myself with the tools at hand… which, if I say so myself, are not entirely inconsequential…. If I said any more, I’d be giving away my precautions, and that wouldn’t do, so, just rest assured… I am ready to deal with anything short of assault weapons, with what I have on hand…..

“Many, if not all, of my presidential opponents are certifiable idiots.” — Miriam Defensor Santiago — The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1993

See? I’m not completely alone! Actually, if you pay close attention, you will note this was uttered by a politician, about their peers, so it really doesn’t count as support of what I’m saying here. What, exactly am I saying here? Hmm, okay, since I’ve already written about 1200 words or so on this, it’s a good place to wind it up…. so, here goes…

Ffolkes, you are being lied to, daily, and hourly, by those who have been elected to office to look out for your interests. I hate to tell you, but those folks never intended to do anything of the sort. So, it would be a good thing if everybody in this country would OPEN THEIR FUCKING EYES AND GET A DAMN CLUE!!!!!….. I don’t think I can say it any clearer than that….. That’s all, for now…..

“Ignorance kills daily. “– Smart Bee

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

It’s been a while since I posted this poem by Emily D….. It is one of my favorites of hers, though I’m not sure exactly why…. Maybe it’s the length, which is about four times her usual measure….. with Emily, the more, the better, in my book….

I measure every grief I meet

I measure every grief I meet
With analytic eyes;
I wonder if it weighs like mine,
Or has an easier size.

I wonder if they bore it long,
Or did it just begin?
I could not tell the date of mine,
It feels so old a pain.

I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.

I wonder if when years have piled–
Some thousands–on the cause
Of early hurt, if such a lapse
Could give them any pause;

Or would they go on aching still
Through centuries above,
Enlightened to a larger pain
By contrast with the love.

The grieved are many, I am told;
The reason deeper lies,–
Death is but one and comes but once
And only nails the eyes.

There’s grief of want, and grief of cold,–
A sort they call ‘despair,’
There’s banishment from native eyes,
In sight of native air.

And though I may not guess the kind
Correctly yet to me
A piercing comfort it affords
In passing Calvary,

To note the fashions of the cross
Of those that stand alone
Still fascinated to presume
That some are like my own.

~~ Emily Dickinson

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

I had not originally planned, when I got up today, to go with older material… It just sort of worked out that way. To forestall any whining from the peanut gallery about cheating, here is a fresh old-school pearl, randomly chosen, for no good reason at all, at all…

“In the beginning was the word. But by the time the second word was added to it, there was trouble. For with it came syntax…” — John Simon

“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” — Alan Watts

“It is a difficult task, O citizens, to make speeches to the belly, which has no ears.”– Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Marcus Cato

“Ignorance is no excuse.” — Smart Bee

“It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.” — Voltaire

“Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before,” Bokonon tells us. “He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.” — Kurt Vonnegut, “Cat’s Cradle”

What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; th’ unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield.

— John Milton (1608-1674) — Paradise Lost, Book i, Line 105

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

All things considered, this will do…. Of course, one must remember, this is the place where Peruaosophy comes from, where the very first axiom gives the root/core idea that, to me, MUST be understood, if one wishes to get through all this with a minimum of fuss, to wit: “Axiom #1 — I think I am. That’s close enough.”

For today, it certainly is….. See ya, ffolkes….. More pictures tomorrow, I promise…. which I don’t do lightly….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Two parts fantasy, one part reality; mix lightly for best results…

Posted on June 14, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

When I first began this version of gigoid’s folly (the original title of my blogging efforts….Now, of course, we dignify it, as Exploring Consensual Reality….), here on WordPress, in the latter half of 2011, I had already been sending it out via email for many years, first in computer school, then at work, once the state hospitals and developmental centers (where I was mainly employed for many years….) finally embraced computers…. At Napa State Hospital, where I was a program secretary, then, the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director of the Hospital, I sent it out every day to about 300 or so people, in its prior incarnation…. It was formatted a bit differently, but, you’d recognize it, mainly because of the pearls….

All this is merely a lead in, designed to give me an opening to speak in a certain direction…. Over the course of the three or so years at this site, now with my own domain, I’ve learned quite a bit, about the process of writing, and about the necessary issues involved in publishing a daily blog of this sort…. because it’s different than what I did before. The difference is one I can’t explain, exactly, but, it mostly has to do with how the material is, first, organized, and secondly, presented…. either of which, should they become corrupted, can obviously corrupt the remainder….. Yes, even this process is subject to both entropy, and Murphy’s less-than-welcome attentions….

At this point, you’re probably asking yourself, “Now what’s he trying to pull?”….. I can’t blame you for that; I’ve got priors, I know…. But, today, my blather has merely served to get us down this far on the screen, to fill the space between up there, and down here, with something worthwhile, or, at minimum, distracting enough to keep the gentle readers from realizing we’re just wandering in a circle again….. Yep, I’m totally out of ideas to begin today, so, I thought this might work to keep y’all busy and distracted from realizing we’re again sans material for an intro…..

I’m not sure if it’s legal, or not, nor do I much care, at this point…. I’ve already gone too far…. We’re committed, and there’s no going back now…. not for me…. Y’all, of course, can bail whenever you like, but, I’m hoping you’ll stick around long enough for me to get to at least one part of today’s effort…. Not that there’s anything special planned, I just like to know that SOMEBODY will read what I write, if only for the ego-stroke I get from seeing more visitors…. I don’t write to be a popular blogger; it’s still mostly to get this crap out of my head…. But, it’s nice to know others like it, occasionally….

Look at it this way…. How many other blogs do you go to where you can find almost a thousand words on NOTHING MUCH, in the beginning, before even approaching anything resembling a subject for discussion or dissection? Not many, I’m sure….. And, who would be so honest about spewing BS? Nobody, that’s who…. I’m fully aware of what I’m doing, but, I also know it won’t harm anyone, unless they try to argue with it, at which point they usually discover how WRONG they are, to attempt any sort of critical analysis of material that is evidentially solid, such as the material generally presented here, whereupon they slink off to lick the figurative wounds to their respective egos…

Oh, look! I believe I’ve done it again…. Wandering, rambling, blathering about very little…. to look at it, and to think about it, one might think it would be pretty much useless…. but, one more time, we’ve managed to get far enough into the morass to find our way back to reality, where we are now legally allowed to call this an intro, and get on with the day’s business, such as it may be…. What do you know about that?….. Huh.

I’ll stop the sarcasm now, and get on with it….. Sorry, ffolkes, but, some days, it just POURS out, and I can’t do anything about it, but type…. and carry on with what I do in place of prayer….

Shall we Pearl?……

“Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

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

In this section, we have been running a new style pearl, (there’s that royal ‘we’ again….), with pictures to go along with whatever quotes and/or comments I come up with…. The latest incarnation involves a new subject of interest, the Wise Old Pine Cone, who has been kind enough to allow me to photograph his wanderings around town, to record his interactions with people, and the environment, as he wends his way around the town….. Yesterday, I posted the photos of when I accompanied him to the local ball team’s night game, which came out fairly well….

Sadly, the Wise Old Pine Cone, by the time we left the ball park, had consumed WAY too many brewskis, and has yet to get out of bed…. He’s pretty small, and a few beers really do a number on him; I’ve seen him stay in bed for three days after a bad session with wine, and beer isn’t any better for him…. He’ll be alright, but, he’ll be out of action for a day or two, so, we’ll have to find something else for this section….. Let me think….

Okay, you’ve convinced me…. I’ll rant….

“There is nothing a man can do to guarantee success, but there is nothing that can defeat him if he won’t give up.” — Greg Praino

Well, perhaps I won’t rant today; it doesn’t mean I’m giving up, but…. I just went to look for a rantable headline from the news…. Of the eleven headlines on the world news page, eight were about various bombings, battles, or other war activities, mostly in the middle east, where the Islamic sects are all fighting to see who will become the sole arbiter of the Muslim future….. never realizing how silly and counter-productive they are being, in terms of survival…. But, then, most people engaged in war are not in a very intelligent frame of mind, anyway….

(And, how can a Muslim extremist group name themselves after an Egyptian goddess over seven thousand years old {Isis}? I thought they hated ANY other religion…. Ah well, stupid is as stupid does…)

The point is, I couldn’t decide WHICH subject to rant about…. There are plenty of wars being fought, none of which make any sense…. There are governments still robbing the people, or oppressing them unmercifully; the churches are still butting into everything, as is their habit…. I see where the Pope is trying to be a mediator between Israel & Palestine (good luck with that!….), and now, the Presbyterian Church is doing SOMETHING over in Iraq, or Iran, to get involved with that whole mess…. what a bunch of idiots!…

Cars and factories are still streaming carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide into the air by the hundreds of millions of tons, every day, so pollution continues unabated, and climate change keeps changing, so, we can kiss our asses goodbye, once we figure out how long we have…. Religious fanatics and fundies of all varieties continue to wage their holy wars, blaming all that is wrong in the world on anything but their own actions…. Bankers and politicians continue to work together to steal everything that isn’t nailed down from the public, all enforced by paramilitary police forces, blindly obedient myrmidons with guns, and really bad attitudes, due to their completely unwarranted sense of entitlement regarding their psycho/sociopathic need to be seen as authority figures….

All of the insanity I’ve previously commented upon here continues, relatively unabated, as the world skips merrily down what it BELIEVES is the garden path, completely oblivious, calmly seated in a handbasket, never even wondering why it is getting so bloody hot…. And people wonder why I rant….

I found no particular headline to get me started, but, as can be seen by the above, none are really necessary for me to find my anger about the state of the world…. My anger is based in the realization that NONE of it is necessary; if people would take responsibility for themselves, and stand up to the assholes who are oppressing everyone who puts up with it, we could fix this broken puppy….

I’m a realist, though, and, as far as I can see, realistically, it ain’t gonna happen…. so, I’ll pick a few pearls, to make how I feel about it clear, and be done with it for today…. I’m mad, but, so mad, I don’t even want to talk about it any more….. Here, take these…. No worries, you’ll live; there are only five of them….

“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.” — John Locke

“All I know is just what I read in the Congressional Record. They have had some awful funny articles in there lately. As our government deteriorates, our humor increases.” — Will Rogers

“I have never found, in a long experience of politics, that criticism is ever inhibited by ignorance.” — Harold MacMillan

“Look for a tough wedge for a tough log.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 723

“You know how dumb the average guy is? Well, by definition, half of them are even dumber than THAT.” — J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, ripping off George Carlin, who made that point YEARS before Bob finished puberty….

There you go, ffolkes…. a pointed, bitchy, but accurate, five-star pearl….. Let’s go on, shall we?….

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

Sometimes, I don’t even know why I like a poem…. but, then, I don’t have to know…. enjoy!

Brown Penny

I WHISPERED, ‘I am too young,’
And then, ‘I am old enough’;
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
‘Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.’
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.
O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

I know, I know, it doesn’t even rhyme…. oh well, I suppose there’s no accounting for taste….. which is something one might say in response to most anything, if you think about it…. But, I don’t want to think about it…. so, I won’t…. so there…. Now that I’ve finished being two years old….

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

It’s a strange morning; it must have something to do with it being the weekend of the Pirate Festival here where I live…. Things always get a bit weird when everyone in town is walking around in big hats, with patches over their eye, going “Yar!”, or “Aye, matey!”…. It seems to do something really different to the local ambiance, making it okay to be as odd as one wishes…. In light of that, we’ll go with an old-school, parameter-less pearl, to provide the proper strange finish to this very odd Pearl…. Let’s see what SB can come up with today….

You may be capable of great things,
But life consists of small things.

— Deng Ming-Dao

“Take a straw and throw it up into the air,–you may see by that which way the wind is.” — John Selden (1584-1654) — Libels

“I am quite sure that (bar one) I have no race prejudices, and I think I have no color prejudices or caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. Indeed I know it. I can stand any society. all that I care to know is that a man is a human being – that is enough for me; he can’t be any worse.”– Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910) — Harper’s Magazine, September, 1899

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone?

— Joni Mitchell, “They Paved Paradise”

“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave…” — Ernest Hemingway, “A Farewell to Arms”

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle

“If ever you had to kill someone, could you do it?” — Turlough, TERMINUS

Wow! I guess Aristotle is right….. and, in my opinion, so was Mark Twain….

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

Without even going back to look, I know this one is going to haunt me at night, unless I can completely block out the memory of today, & pretend it never happened….. which will probably be worth the effort…. I’m not even going to think about it…. I will, however, be back tomorrow…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Oatmeal, techno-piracy, and the Legion of Honor…..

Posted on June 12, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Today’s Pearl is incredibly late getting started; this will require some patience on your part, and some rapid thinking on mine, or we’ll both be lost all day…. It’s sort of like that first button, which, if you don’t get it into the correct button hole, you’ll never get dressed up all right…. We wouldn’t want that, especially given the somewhat amorphous nature of this beast….

All that having been said (WITH, I might add, the inherent embedded apology…. went to a baseball game last night at the local yard, and didn’t get in until late….), we’re going to do the unprecedented, and not have an intro at all…. Well, I suppose this little bit could be construed as such, but, it’s so little, it doesn’t fit in much with the others…. S’okay, though, all shortcuts have been approved, and the apology issued here is good for the whole deal…. There will be a number of them (shortcuts), so, please, remain alert….

So be it…. gigoid has spoken…. On with method #4, so we can get this slow on the road (not a typo….)….

Shall we Pearl?

Don’t you hurry me, sonny, you hurry a miracle man, you get rotten
miracles, that what you want? — Miracle Max, played by Billy Crystal from William Goldman’s, “The Princess Bride”

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

So, here’s the deal…. Below is a link, to an article discussing some of the latest developments over at the NSA, and their continuing campaign to bullshit the American people as much as is humanly possible…. The article is in lieu of one of my own rants, even though I’d find this one a snap, mostly…. right up my ally, and I can FEEL the anger inside when I think about it…. But, I’ll let the author of the article expound on it today… Instead of a rant, I’ll be going with another short episode of the Travels of Wise Old Pine Cone, as I follow him around the neighborhood each day, watching him relate to friends, neighbors, and the environment at large…. Enjoy!….

First, the bad news….

http://theweek.com/article/index/262945/the-nsa-has-a-shocking-new-excuse-for-destroying-evidence

AMNESTY, n. The state’s magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

It’s getting to the point where the BRC had better begin thinking about leaving Eric Snowden alone; Al Gore has come out in support of him, and the public has always been on his side…. If they continue to verify his claims in such prominent ways, it would be in their best interests, I think, to let him be, from a legal standpoint…. I don’t think the public is going to allow them to sacrifice him to their gods of paranoia…. End of short rant….

Now, the good stuff…..

Wise Old Pine Cone stopping in to tour the training center nearby….

Wise Old Pine Cone posing against one of his favorite plants as a backdrop….

Wise Old Pine Cone, being a curious git…. blurry on purpose, to avoid details on someone’s package…

Wise Old Pine Cone, taking a short nap….

Wise Old Pine Cone, reminiscing about the old days….

Wise Old Pine Cone, with another of his Cone friends…

Just so you know I’m not being a troll about being up late, here is a shot of the park outside the center field fence at the ball game I attended last night…. As you can see, it was late; the game was just over, and the lights were still on as people wound their way home….

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

Again, we’re going with one of mine, this time because it’s faster…. This is one of my own personal favorites, because it speaks about my Dad, and what I learned from him…. I’m 63 years old, and he’s been gone since 1984, (thirty years!…. Time does fly…), but, I still miss his calming presence….

Ah Ain’t Sho, but Mebbe So….

Fried eggs got nuthin’ on me
Ah’m not even sure of mah name,
or how Ah come to be;
no idea from where Ah came.

Ah does like a mystery tho’,
puzzlin’ things out so’s Ah knows,
good from bad fo sho,
Ah sho don’t want no rock pillows.

If’n Ah cain’t figure out what’s best,
Ah just falls back on mah Daddy’s words,
seems he knowed just whut’d stand the test,
‘n how to gentle the scaredest birds.

‘Course, he’d lived a good long time,
‘n had lots of stuff go on by;
Went to a war, n’ lost a piece or two,
never once used it fer an alibi.

He tol’ me once Ah’d best learn to learn,
school’s only cool if ya ain’t already a fool.
Yer own good measure you can earn,
by startin’ yer learnin’ with the Golden Rule.

Always seemed to me as Ah growed up,
he mostly only spoke if it wuz true,
‘n by doin’ that clued me to what’s up,
kept me from stuff that’d a made me blue.

Without ever sayin’ the word itself,
Ah learned ’bout honor, ‘n helpin’ others
not some fake stuff from some shelf,
but, knowin’ whut’s right, ‘n that we’re all brothers.

Ah’ve been around long enough now, Ah think
to get around the block at least two times.
I s’pose long as my head don’t shrink
Ah’ll keep on doin’ right, ‘n makin’ these rhymes…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Naturally, saving time means old-school…. I’ll be good, though, and find some fresh pearls, instead of pulling one from the archives… Aren’t I nice? Especially for someone still half-way buried in sleep…. Let’s see what happens; this could go several ways, so I hope it finds a good path…. I never quite know what to expect when I push Smart Bee to hurry…. sometimes it comes out well, and sometimes, well… it comes out, which is the BEST thing that can be said of it…. Let’s hope for better than that….

“Memory: what wonders it performs in preserving and storing up things gone by or rather, things that are!” — Plutarch

“We ought never to do wrong when people are looking.’ — Mark Twain

‘The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.” — Darth Vader (Star Wars)

Although a cloth be washed a hundred times,
How can it be rendered clean and pure
If it be washed in water which is dirty?

— Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.)

“Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.” — The Wizard of Oz

“After being asked by a waitress if he wanted his pizza cut into four slices or eight: “Better make it four. I don’t think I can eat eight pieces.” — Yogi Berra

“The death of God left the angels in a strange position.’ — Internal documentation, programmer unknown

Well, it does show some of the effects of hurrying, but, it’s really not bad at all…. Makes a couple of good points, I think…. No worries, either way, it’s done…. so be it….

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

Yes, indeed…. so be it….. I’m not going to push any harder, or any longer…. In fact, I’m done, and I’m outta here…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

How much for the colorful ceramic penguins?…..

Posted on June 8, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Thoughts and fears of many years are with me tonight; company for the lonely man. Yet nothing I’ve thought or felt is truly mine, for time wins all the small battles in life, and steals away even our youth…. Elegantly, the universe falls apart, with beauty, grace, tears, and blood…. We are all victims of entropy, still cowering at the noise of the Big Bang, unsure, even at this late date, that we are truly God, as intended from the first. If I didn’t know better, I’d believe it is too late; as it is, it will be our early out, sent to bed with no dinner, no cigar, and no hope…. Reality’s teeth are sharp…..

Well…. that’s…. well, that’s something, that is…. I can’t quite say just what that may be, but, that’s something, for sure…. I kind of like it; it’s a bit odd, but, consistent, and quite lovely in some respects…. It can stay, even if it doesn’t MEAN anything in particular… though, in looking at it, it COULD be a rather depressive view of Reality…. I think, instead, we’ll regard it as just another fantasy; it works a bit better that way, and won’t cause so much folderol if we use that as our basic premise…. Not that there is any penalty for being wrong, other than your confusion….

Now that has been made as clear as it can be, (not very, I admit…) we can get on with our usual affairs, such as they may be in this state of mind. What state is that? I’m not sure, but it might just be some sort of physical state, like ice on the verge of melting, a very poignant moment…. The air in here today is a little heady, I’m afraid; not sure why. I woke up rested, if not completely comfortable, and feel okay, all in all…. It’s my head that is feeling strange….. I suppose, one could say that is relatively normal, for me, but, if they did say that, I’d have to object, if only for form….

Objections aside, how do you think this is going? I’m sort of trying a new Joyceian-style stream of consciousness kind of writing…. It’s fun, and a real challenge to keep from going completely off the rails. I’m not entirely sure it’s what will be our final format for the intro, but, it’s working today, in a manner of speaking…. I’m already at the legal limit, so that’s good….. Now, if I can only figure out how to get us out of here with some style….

I know, we’ll just use method #4, the old standby…. It always works, just because it’s so damn ruthless…. Oh well, nobody’s ever been hurt, and what’s a few articles of clothing in the bigger picture, eh? Nothing important, I’m sure… In any case, I’m going to put it to work now, so, hang on….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Hurting yourself is not sinful — just stupid.” — Robert Heinlein

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

I like the quote above by Heinlein; it’s a part of his philosophy of life with which I’ve always identified strongly. It actually has a piece that precedes this line, which makes it only more powerful as a guide to living…. that piece states, “Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense.,” a statement that, to me, makes the whole thing perfect as a rule of thumb for being moral and ethical in one’s dealings with others…. It also places religious dogma in its proper place, i.e., identifying it as superfluous nonsense that has no actual counterpart in reality…..

I’m not going to start ranting on religious dogma now, though this has been a relatively perfect lead-in for such a discussion; instead I’ll refer you to my archives, where you can find any number of such rants…. For today, I’ve brought in some pictures, one I stole borrowed from a web site, and the others from my camera…. Let’s see what sort of mess Smart Bee and I can make of them, okay? Okay!…..

Picture: Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media / London Daily Telegraph

______________________________________________________

“There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?” — Lazarus Long, aka Robert Heinlein

Okay, so, I lied, a little…. I’m still not going to rant about this, but, this statement, to me, puts the lie to just about EVERYTHING the religious cults have tried to pummel into your brain ever since you were knee high to a duck, or, in this case, a really cute wolf pup. The pup seems to be saying something, or trying to make a point somehow, so why not imagine him making a really good point of philosophical realism, rather than some jokey little stuff to try to pull out a chuckle…. This, I think, is much classier, if a bit harder for some folks to swallow…. Oh well, I suppose you could say that about ALL of reality….

“I don’t like to commit myself about heaven and hell – you see, I have friends in both places.” — Mark Twain

Hmm…. We seem to be sticking to a theme today, and I don’t have anything to do with it; Smart Bee keeps throwing these up in front of me…. What else can I do, but, go along with the program…. The picture above was taken while riding one of the buses I must use to get around town these days…. It’s a picture that shows some of the land for sale here in this city, where the economic downturn in the last couple of decades, (for which we can thank our good ol’ buddy, Ronnie the Reagan….), has turned much of the area into a ghost town, at least by appearances….

Yep, ffolkes, we here in Amurrica are STILL trying to get over the application of “trickle down” theory that was his byword, a theory which did a real number on our economy, sending it straight down the tubes, as intended…. Thanks to the Reagan years, which were then augmented and made worse by the Bush years (16 years of financially ruinous insanity by the Shrubs has taken the last almost eight years to just get back to where we were in the 70’s….), the entire economic system we live under was usurped for the exclusive benefit of the rich and powerful, in a blatant period of not-so-covert manipulation of the world’s money markets, solely to benefit those at the top of the heap, and keep those at the bottom just where they are….

Ah, but he was such a great communicator, wasn’t he? Well, when he could stay awake long enough to remember his lines, I guess so…. I always thought he was more of a strict asshole than anything else; his smarm tended to get on my clothes, whenever I forced myself to listen to him, and I really hated that smug expression he’d get when he was manipulating the public…. He pulled the wool over so many eyes, I’m surprised anyone at all could even see him…. but, I guess that was the idea…. It kept attention on him, while his cronies were busy rifling the treasury….

It’s all commonly held knowledge, ffolkes, for anyone who can actually read…. The evidence of what I’ve just said is all there, in black and white; all it takes is for someone to look at it with clear, unprejudiced eyes, and mind…. Rather than the heroic icon he made himself out to be, Reagan was the worst political disaster of the twentieth century for the American people…. The rich folks loved him, as did the stupid…. and they still do…. If they admitted what he did, they would have to admit their own foolishness at being conned, and they would rather keep on being stupid, than admit to any such thing….

“Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love.” — Albert Einstein

Beauty needs no explanation, as with love, and the only reason this is here… This is one of those serendipity pictures, which I took while literally on the move…. I was waiting on a bus, & spotted this little flower bush in the center of the street, with some other plants…. I was taking the picture when the bus pulled up, and had to do it quickly, so as not to miss my ride…. It came out really well for such a hurried shot, so, I’m using it, just because they’re such pretty flowers… and I’m such a closet romantic….

“Look into my eyes and try to forget that you have a Macy’s charge card!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Sometimes, Zippy is more profound than anything I’ve ever seen in a King James Bible…. To my mind, this reeks of social irony, and could be the rallying cry for the revolution, when it comes…. Or, maybe not; it’s hard to tell with all the stuff we have to wade through, but, this isn’t any worse than any of the crap I hear on TV, or from the pulpits of this country…. and it’s certainly much more honest and forthright than anything we’ve heard out of Washington D.C. in the last eight years….

Okay, I’m done fooling around with this format…. besides, I’m out of pictures…. My back and hips have kept me from getting out and about for a few days now, so new pictures have been hard to come by, unless taken from the Net, like the wolf pup…. Ah well, such is life in the big city, and since I’m retired, I’m trying to cut back on my whining….. It’s not working, is it?…. Oh well….

Y’know, maybe there’s more to this blogging stuff than I thought…. Then again, who cares? It’s all a wash, when you consider that even though I publish for all to see who can access it, some of those who access it are people in windowless rooms, in a building somewhere in D.C., where faceless myrmidons of the government are listening to everything we write, and publish anywhere on the Net, over our phones, or, no doubt, on paper….

How many of you would care to wager the NSA can also read snail mail, at their demand? We all know that the government can intercept mail; it’s been happening for a long while, and is nothing new….. This whole NSA spying issue is merely an extension of that kind of activity, which governments will perform any time they feel threatened….

I’d better bring this to a close, before it begins to resemble an actual rant, rather than a disjointed effort to create a new format for pearls…. I’m guessing one more aphorism should do the trick…. Yeah, that’s the ticket….

“Cleverness is not wisdom.” — Euripides

Oops! We’d best go on; I’m pulling my covers here….

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

This poet needs little introduction; just make sure you are prepared to feel real…..

Are You Drinking?

washed-up, on shore, the old yellow notebook
out again
I write from the bed
as I did last
year.
will see the doctor,
Monday.
“yes, doctor, weak legs, vertigo, head-
aches and my back
hurts.”
“are you drinking?” he will ask.
“are you getting your
exercise, your
vitamins?”
I think that I am just ill
with life, the same stale yet
fluctuating
factors.
even at the track
I watch the horses run by
and it seems
meaningless.
I leave early after buying tickets on the
remaining races.
“taking off?” asks the motel
clerk.
“yes, it’s boring,”
I tell him.
“If you think it’s boring
out there,” he tells me, “you oughta be
back here.”
so here I am
propped up against my pillows
again
just an old guy
just an old writer
with a yellow
notebook.
something is
walking across the
floor
toward
me.
oh, it’s just
my cat
this
time.

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

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

Having ranted sufficiently, if not overly thoroughly, found a proper, fitting poem to accompany the work, my reward for such efficiency is an old-school pearl, naturally…. If I can just get this knife out of my hip for a little while, all would be very cool…. Ah well, maybe diving will make it ease off a bit; it’s worth a shot…. No set parameters here today; what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG, for those among you that speak geekish….)…. I’d brace myself, but, that’s just me…. Y’all can do what you want….

Liar, n.: A lawyer with a roving commission. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Cheese food is not cheese.” — Mom’s Hint #052

“Hope is nature’s veil for hiding truth’s nakedness.” — Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896)

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

“A new broom sweeps clean, but never trust an old saw.” — James Thurber

“Good God,” said Arthur, “it looks just like the sea front at Southend.”
“I’m relieved to hear you say that,” said Ford.
“Why”
“Because I thought I must be going mad.”
“Perhaps you are. Perhaps you only thought I said it.”
Ford thought about this. “Well, did you say it, or didn’t you?” he asked.
“I think so,” said Arthur.
“Well, perhaps we’re both going mad.”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “we’d be mad, all things considered, to think this was Southend.”
“Well, do you think this is Southend?”
“Oh, yes”
“So do I.”
“Therefore we must be mad.”
“Nice day for it.”
“Yes,” said a passing maniac.
“Who was that?” asked Arthur.
“Who–the man with the five heads and the elderberry bush full of kippers?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. Just someone.”
“Ah.”

— From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

“Perilous to all of us are the devices of an art deeper than we ourselves possess.” — Gandalf the Grey

Y’know, sometimes, this just works better than other times…. This is one of those times….

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

“Well, my mind’s been goin’ through these changes,” he sang, blithely ignoring the time and space…. Then, realizing where he was, he came back from the edge of insanity, to bid his guests goodbye…. and with that little declension, I’m back…. to bid thee adieu until tomorrow, in the firm belief there will BE a tomorrow…. for now…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Only the freshest innuendo served here…..

Posted on May 31, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Yesterday’s title is more connected to reality than I had previously realized; I can feel the changes happening here at ECR as I type. Yet, it all looks the same from this vantage point; a blank, white screen, filled only with trepidation for the need to fulfill my chosen duty….. which is NOT going to get it done. Perhaps if I petitioned for an extension?…..

Reality, however much we would prefer it do so, does not do extensions…. When the bill comes due, it’s payable in full, or deal with the immediate consequences, regardless of whether or not those consequences are something with which we are capable of dealing. In short, duty gets done, or a price is paid. No exceptions, no excuses, and whining, though optional, is considered wimpy, and not encouraged by any right-thinking participants…. Reality itself adopts the cat’s position, i.e., it doesn’t give a shit either way….

Regardless of how much I blather about it, or dance around the point, it remains…. changes are coming to this blog…. In fact, they started yesterday, but, even I didn’t notice…. not that it matters now, does it? Once it’s posted, there’s no more editing allowed; once you set out on that slippery slope of scree, there’s little hope to ever get done with it…. and, given the idiosyncrasies of the WP editing page, I don’t like to chance it, anyway, as one never knows how one’s proposed changes will actually turn out on the page…. That’s too much of a crap shoot for me….

All of this blather, of course, is merely a prelude, to madness and folly, I’m sure, but, that actually remains to be seen…. One thing I DO know for sure, and that is that I am going to be spending a LOT more time out in the BBR, looking for suitable pictures to illustrate the pearls…. I say that because my first outing, yesterday, for that purpose was more of a wash than I like, as you’ll see from the pix taken…. It’s not going to be as easy as I had thought, which is fine….. a little complexity is good for the soul…

I’m wandering…. I can feel it. I’m circling around, just filling in lines until enough of them have accumulated to call it an intro…. AND…. I believe I’ve reached that point already. From what I can see from here, this appears to be sufficient, and I don’t hear any objections from the court-appointed monitors, so, I think we can go on now, and see how this is going to work, exactly…. You see, it’s all new to me, too…. Isn’t that encouraging?….

No? Oh well…. I guess that means we’re all committed to this fabulous folly, so, we may as well just get on with it, before I manage to screw this up any further….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It’s snowing still. And freezing. However, we haven’t had an earthquake lately.” — A.A. Milne’s Eeyore

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

Here is how I’m going to have this work…. First comes the picture; below the picture will be a pearl, followed by some quick, hopefully amusing or engaging prose or poetry from me, then the next picture…. and so on, down the line. It’s not complicated, but, what do you want to bet I can screw it up? Okay, don’t everyone offer money at once; I know I’m a Bozo, so you can’t hurt my feelings…. I do hope you enjoy this new experiment, designed to save the sanity of everyone involved….. That said, let’s be off…. Oh, if it isn’t my own picture, attribution will be listed after the picture, & before the pearl….

This picture came from the SFGATE.com “Day in Pictures” gallery, on 5/30/2014….

“A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Actually, kids are cool…. Ralph, I think, had just spent two days babysitting his nephews, and was a bit overwrought when he wrote this particular aphorism…. This picture is included just because it was so cool; it’s hard NOT to anthropomorphize this one, and believe the hippo is actually smiling at having her picture taken with the little girl, who is more bemused than pleased, to judge by appearances….. It’s also hard to not believe that both are familiar with the whole picture-taking thing, aren’t really INTO it, and are putting up going along with it out of politeness….

See, now isn’t this fun, and educational? Speculating nonsense about odd configurations of animals and people is always a kick in the pants, eh? No? Oh…. Well, we’ll go on anyway…..

“With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.” — RFC1925

The picture is a study of a park, across the street from the bus stop where I awaited a bus home from a nearby town. It has no particular significance, other than the desire to get started taking photos for this experiment….. I guess I’ll figure out how to make the pictures fit into the pearls better as the process evolves…. One may only hope….

“Money will buy a pretty good dog, but it won’t buy the wag of his tail.” — Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw (1818-1885))

The picture is the kid’s playground at another park, near my house, next to the field where a local semi-pro baseball team plays, a few blocks from where I live…. The pearl, once again, has little to do with the picture; I just thought it was a good pearl, and a good bit of logic with which to approach reality…. As mentioned above, this process is still evolving, so, bear with me, please…. It will get more compelling, I promise….

“A warped sense of humor is vastly better than no sense of humor at all.” — Smart Bee

This picture is my first attempt at an action shot…. not too bad, all in all. The accompanying pearl is my firm belief, and I hope that whatever sense of humor is possessed by the Gentle Reader will extend itself to include this Pearl, as the first of its kind…. I have a feeling this new technique is going to work out well, if I can only get enough pictures to work with…. If nothing else, it will get me out of the house, and save me from any further descent into sloth and lethargy…. For now, let’s go on, & see if I can pull the rest of this together for today….

“You see things, and you say “WHY?” But I dream things that never were, and I say “WHY NOT?”” — George Bernard Shaw, “Back to Methuselah”

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

I’m saving time today by not searching for a poem; here, instead, is one of mine, to keep the blame for all this where it belongs….

Honorable Request

Days, filled to a brim with fluff and time, pass
dimly into memory, bit by combative bit,
ever mournful, yet loud with life and sass,
only in dream do we meet, and dance, and flit.

Souls, spinning ’round in gleeful wonder, comply
as they must, never given a reason,
somberly proper, yet limber and quite spry,
dancing on to greet each bright new season.

Storms, angered by apathetic care, rage
proceeding into ministerial glare, unknown,
clothed in colors, purified solely with sage,
past an infinite future, already flown.

Life, plumbed to its depths and secrets, keeps
flowing with currents, strong and fairly found,
love stands, asking release, as it slowly weeps,
seeking refuge unasked, to stay honor bound.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

To finish off today’s effort, an old-school pearl is pretty much a given…. If nothing else, it will give me a feeling of familiarity that should soothe the pain of the newest part of this, which is working muscles that aren’t accustomed to such a workout…. I’m not whining, because I like it; it feels good to stretch out in directions heretofore neglected, and my muscles can use the work. They’re actually more used to being worked hard than they are NOT being used, which is the case far too much in my current position…. Changes comin’ all around, ffolkes…. Hope you enjoy today’s gathering of gems…..

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Essays: First Series (1841) “Self-Reliance”

“Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.” — Henry Clay (1777-1852) — Speech at Ashland, Ky., March 1829

(This pearl may seem out of place, but, I thought that maybe a politician might drop in to read today, and, if so, it would be good for them to see a reminder of what they are SUPPOSED to be doing….. The rest of the pearls all go together pretty seamlessly, I think….)

“I gained nothing at all from Supreme Enlightenment, and for that very reason it is called Supreme Enlightenment.” — Gautama Buddha

“A thing either is what it appears to be; or it is not, but yet appears to be; or it is, but does not appear to be; or it is not, and does not appear to be.” — Epictetus

“Often, the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth.” — Mark Twain

“Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they think laughable.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

“The only abnormality is the incapacity to love.” — Anais Nin

Just so you know, this pearl is one for the ages…. I mean it. It’s got a LOT of what is needed to make ourselves into better human beings…. happier, too, if done right….

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

This certainly put the effort back into the job, I’ll say that. I suppose anything has a learning curve, at first…. Let’s hope it turns out to be worth it…. which I’ll never know if I don’t get this posted, so, see ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.gigoid the dubious

Failing that, we’ll go subterranean….

Posted on May 30, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I find myself in a position all too familiar, yet strangely, it doesn’t SEEM to resemble the past I remember closely. That probably sounds as confused as I feel, which, obviously, is considerably befuddled. Of course, befuddlement is also a somewhat common state for me, ever since my teens, when I started to question why what I had always been told about the world, and life, was pretty much all wrong….

I mean, can you BELIEVE this? They told me, when I was just a little kid, that I could trust policemen, that they would never harm me, or hurt anyone…. They told me my money would be safest in a bank, and would earn me the most if I let the bankers invest it for me….They told me that merchants and vendors were honest people, just trying to make a living, not trying to cheat me with shoddy products or hidden charges…They told me that the leaders of our country were honest, forthright men and women, who would never lie to the public (George Washington and the cherry tree are often brought out at that point….)….. And, they told me that God loves people, meaning me, and will make sure I live forever, if I just give enough money at church….

Do I have to give the evidence? Is it necessary for me to show y’all exactly how NONE of those things, that we ALL were told when young, are true…. nor have they been true for most of my life…. The world does NOT match the crap that we were all told, and to think it does, in any fashion, is just feeding into the hands of those who would keep us all in the slave’s collar, if they thought they could get away with it….

You watch, some day soon, wearing a slave’s collar will be described as “the latest fashion”, and people will fall all over themselves to get one in a leopard print…. We all may as well face the facts, ffolkes….. You, and I, and every other fool, whether we buy into the crap that the current leaders of society are putting out, or not, are nothing more than pathetic, economic slaves, and there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it, not any more…. If you don’t believe you are a slave to their form of economics, or that you really have any CHOICE in the matter, well, you are, quite simply, deluded, and all-the-more-perfect fodder for their pillaging….

They’ve got it all tied up, in a nice pretty bow, and nothing we do can cause any real changes to happen, if they don’t want them…. and change is NOT what they want…. Maintaining the status quo is JOB ONE for any politician; how else will the money keep flowing into their pockets?

And what the hell am I doing?….

I’m barely into the intro section, and find myself in a full-on rant…. It all stems from the article I read yesterday, which I’ve included below in section one; not the one about Eric Snowden’s interview, but the response by that prominent fat cat, Dianne Feinstein, which, I note, didn’t come out until well AFTER the interview….

I guess it took some time for Obama, Feinstein, McConnell, and the other players in this drama to confer, and decide who was going to lead off, with whatever lies they’ve prepared to answer Snowden’s latest attempts to communicate with the American people, to try to undermine anything he might say, as being the words of a traitor…. Since DiFi led off the barrage, I imagine today we’ll hear from someone at the NSA (maybe…) or McConnell, or Obama…. all of whom will try to convince the public that Snowden is the liar, not them…. Since there are many of them, and only one of him, they think they have the advantage, and they’re right…. Besides which, they’re all PROFESSIONAL liars, not just your average prevaricators….

I’ll finish this discussion in section one; if I continue here, we may never get there…. Damn it! I had hoped to not have to rant, at all, so I could create one of the new style pearls, with pictures, but, this just HAS to be addressed, or they’ll have the floor with nobody else to speak back, to show how they are the liars….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured.” — Tacitus (54-119 AD) — Agricola, 42

Ah!….. Well, that explains it…. It’s no wonder the politicians, the preachers, the bankers, et al, hate us all….

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

Here is an article regarding the interview of Eric Snowden on NBC a night or two ago…. In it, Mr. Snowden brings out several points which go a long way to helping understand why the government is so inflexible in going after him, and why they are so determined to prove him wrong… (Hint: in their eyes, it justifies their own illegal activities)…. Read the articles, especially the second one, with the egregiously STUPID remarks by someone I had thought was smarter….. not that I’ve ever trusted her, but, I always thought DiFi was smarter than the average Senator…. Apparently not, if this issue is any indication….

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/six-memorable-quotes-from-edward-snowdens-nbc-interview-20140529?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Feinstein-Snowden-never-voiced-NSA-concerns-5514604.php

I’ve decided NOT to rant. I’m just going to say these few comments, then I’ll put together an old-school pearl to make my point…. DiFi makes one obvious error in her statements to the public on this matter…. She claims that Snowden didn’t really blow any whistles to the NSA, he just stole the documents, without ever trying to do what they consider the right thing, which is to ask the lying spies to tell the truth…. Such BS….

Any who, she says E. S. never said anything to his supervisors about his concerns….. and how does she know this?…. Well, ffolkes, that’s easy…. because the NSA told her so…. Sure, Dianne, lets believe a bunch of spies when we ask them what they’ve been up to…. This is the same woman who accused the CIA of hacking into her investigation of them; furthermore, she accused them of obstructing the process of investigation, and lying to her and her staff…. Now, she expects us to believe this OTHER group of spies are NOT lying to us, or to her; she wants us to believe they won’t lie when she asks them if he said anything to them…. Is that STUPID, or not? If you said ‘not’, then, I feel for you, living in a world where cotton candy passes for brains….

Oh, plus, she says that the NSA has no documentation that Mr. Snowden ever wrote anything to them to point out any of the reservations he was having…. Well, of COURSE they don’t…. Silly woman… What does she think they’ve been doing ever since his actions were revealed? Looking for things he wrote, to save them? If they looked for any written notes from him, they did so during their interior auditing process, after discovering the leaks, to look for what they needed to delete and/or destroy…. They’ve had over a year since then to clean up anything that might prove his contentions, and I’m positive they didn’t waste a minute of it SAVING his documents…. just the reverse…. They can lie about this without fear of exposure, because they KNOW they’ve already destroyed all he DID write….

Okay, that’s it, end of rant…. But, ffolkes, if any of y’all are buying into this crap the government is spewing about this issue, then, you are living in the land of the blind, and deaf, and more than just dumb…. Here are some aphorisms that may help you to realize how badly the BRC, and the rest of the Asininnies, wants us to believe their lies, and how important it is for them to have our blind trust and obedience…. Without it, they are sunk…. Well, that’s our hope, I suppose…

“Want a taste of religion? Bite a minister!” — Smart Bee

“By trying, we can easily learn to endure adversity — another man’s, I mean.” — Mark Twain

” — Bother! said Pooh, these people are evil.” — NOT Christopher Robin, & NOT A.A. Milne (In fact, your guess is as good as mine…. It SOUNDS very Carlinesque….)

“The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.” — Justice Anthony Kennedy, in 91-155

“Is there a Lemon Law for Presidents too?’ — Smart Bee

“And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight…Then he [the Lord!] said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.” — Ezek. 4:12-15 (KJV)

(Just so you know…. That’s disgusting, in every way….. but, typical of the lessons taught by the Bible….)

Lastly, to round off this strange collection of insults and oddly phrased indictments of the BRC, et al…..

“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent- it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash, and in small bills.” — Lazarus Long

Some of you may wonder how religious figures and churches got lumped into the group being vilified today…. That’s just me…. In my world, I tend to lump politicians, preachers, police, bankers, and sexual predators all into the same group, of humans who are either evil by choice and nature, or completely misguided fools, victims of the same propaganda under which we all labor in life, but, worse, because they ENJOY being assholes about stuff…. Any who, the last pearl says it all…. anyone who buys into their BS gets EXACTLY what they deserve…..

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

Since I’m in full curmudgeon mode, and have fallen back into my old ways today, here is one of my favorite political poems…. It’s kinda silly, but, it fits my mood….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors and their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks;
Though they talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
take careful aim, and piss.Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

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

In the very olden days, when I first began to post here on WP, the POVW had a different format. It was simpler, merely an intro, followed by a five- or seven-star pearl, and maybe one closing line….. which is the format you see below…. I’m late, and tired, and want to go start taking pictures for tomorrow’s new-style Pearl; since I intend to use my own pix, I’d best start collecting some appropriate pictures to use…. Any who, all excuses and rationalizations aside, this is a good example of how Pearls used to look every day…. They were a lot shorter then, as you will notice….

From 9/25/2011:

Ffolkes,
It is once again Sunday, and it looks as if we’ll get some rain. And talking about the weather is pretty much a useless pastime, but it’s all I’ve got today. I am, for some reason, exhausted, and I just got up. I believe I know the reason for that, though, and will have to take care of it some day very soon. Meanwhile, I’m going to just give you the Pearls today, and they can stand on their own. I’ll write tomorrow, I promise….

“A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.” — Barbarella

“Communication is next to impossible with someone who has no doubts.” — Limon

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

— Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

“Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by his heart, and his friends can only read the title.” — Virginia Woolf

“Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.” — Smart Bee

“On the other hand, life can be an endless parade of TRANSSEXUAL QUILTING BEES aboard a cruise ship to DISNEYWORLD if only we let it!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Yes, if only we will let it, life can be what it is…..y’all take care out there….

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

Lest my habit of accepting the blame for all of this be abrogated, I think I’d best just be done with it, and begone from this place…. I DO have a lot to do today…. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes…. I’m hoping, anyway….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.Which is Why….

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

<big>gigoid the dubious<big>

Further remonstrances should be unnecessary….

Posted on May 19, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Realizing such an overreaction would draw attention, I put away my weapon, and proceeded to thrash the idiot with my bare hands….. Having thus protected the next poor slob who tried to buy one of the asshole’s fake watches, (The fool didn’t even bother to put works in them, or set them to the right time….. just tried to foist off a fake Rolex on me, without any real idea of what a watch like that would cost, or look like…. What an idiot….), I walked out of the alley where I left his groaning carcass, giving him the opportunity for a leisurely introspection, wherein he could contemplate the error of his ways…. I turned south, toward the waterfront, where the ship that would carry me on the next leg of my journey only waited for me to board….

As I strolled down the Avenida del Revolucion, other, more honest vendors hawked their wares, to the early tourists and locals who crowded the narrow sidewalks, jostling each other in the crowded spaces between the shops and the street-side displays for each….. All the stalls were colorfully crammed with hundreds of items for sale, handy to the cars that crawled past, filled with other tourist groups and possible buyers…. The street vendors, each hawking the wares of the shop in front of which they stood, joined their cries to each other’s, almost a sing-song of prices and salutations, a commercial music that blended with and through the noise of the cars, and the blaring mariachi music from the speakers every fifty feet….

Then, of course, I woke up, and lost all sense of proportion, staring into the darkened room, wondering whether I was still in Mexico, shivering slightly in the cold air from the open window, behind me…. Pulling on a t-shirt, I arose, grabbed the essentials, and came out to try to start this Pearl….. The above two paragraphs are the best I can do, ffolkes; on looking it over, it’s not bad, but, it isn’t the best I’ve ever done, either….. Given the handicap under which I’m operating, I’m fairly content, as it is better than I’d hoped, given the level of spasming and pain I’m currently ignoring….. well, as best as I can….

Regardless of that, I’m not going to whine…. What I WILL do is try to put out a complete Pearl, fresh, (other than poetically…. I’m afraid I don’t have THAT in me right now…. but, I’ll pick something worthwhile to make up for any lack of freshness or originality on MY part….), and as compelling as I can make it…. It may not be quite up to snuff, but, it will have to do, because, well, it will….

On that note, I’m going to forgo any further folderol, or nonsense from my darker side, & jump into the rest of today’s effort….. which, as I can already tell y’all, is an effort, indeed….

Shall we Pearl?….

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

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

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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

“Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions are all based upon that large defect in your race — the individual’s distrust of his neighbor, and his desire, for safety’s or comfort’s sake, to stand well in his neighbor’s eye. These institutions will always remain, and always flourish, and always oppress you, affront you, and degrade you, because you will always be and remain slaves of minorities. There was never a country where the majority of people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), “The Mysterious Stranger”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/17/government-lies-nsa-justice-department-supreme-court

Is there any more question? Can it be laid out any clearer? It’s pretty clear to me….. Our world has been usurped, pirated by the myrmidons of the paranoid übermensch, the sociopathic monied elite, who seek to control every aspect of life on this planet, to further their own pathetic need to control and manipulate the rest of mankind for their insane personal ends….

Now, some might think that’s a long stretch of the imagination, to extrapolate such dire accusations from the shenanigans of one federal agency, or even two, apparently turning it all around into blaming the poor, faceless gazillionaires who control the resources of the planet; after all, most people now are inured to being lied to, stolen from, and getting their fannies reamed by those in charge of society, having endured that sort of treatment their entire lives.

Given that sort of background, what could be LESS surprising than to hear that someone in the government had lied, to protect someone else in another governmental branch?…. (Please note: both the liars, and those they lie about, are UN-elected officials, having been appointed to their positions….) Or that the Justice (?) Department was no longer bound by the Constitution, or, apparently, any other laws that are contrary to their purpose, thus giving them the legal right to lie, to the public, and to the SUPREME FUCKING COURT?….

Sadly, I’m not sure they needed to lie to the Supremes; that particular batch of lawyers, who, after first indicating which path to glory they preferred, mutated into judges, of such obvious degrees of corruption they became worthy of the attention of one or more of the Shrubs, those blatant corporate/spook soldiers who appointed them…. (Notice again how voting doesn’t come into this picture?…)…..

This particular current batch of Supremes seems to be more than ready to fuck things up all by themselves, casually casting aside numerous laws set, over time, as legal precedents by previous Supremes, laws designed to guard against societal discrimination, as being “no longer an issue of law”…. meaning, they are changing the law themselves, sans any need to ask for, or receive, approval from anyone else, such as Congress, the Executive Branch, or god forbid, the people of this country….

It’s pretty clear in this case, it all connects at a deeper level, where the inner workings of a clandestine organization are merely the tip of the iceberg, compared to how the ice is being used….. which is, begad, a terrible metaphor. But, I think it’s clear that ALL of the branches of our government are now corrupted by this attitude, of entitlement and the absolute belief that whatever rights we, the people, may have had, are not relevant to their goals…. all of which, in their eyes, makes those ‘rights’ immaterial, pathetic obstacles to be brushed aside, in the interests of expediency and paranoia….

Ffolkes, I don’t like to join hands with the ranks of those who believe in all sorts of conspiracies; most of the time the evil that we see is not a matter of conspiring to take over the world…. there’s no need for that, because it has already happened. It actually happened thousands of years ago; the problem has always been that not many people are willing to look directly at the evidence, or able to accept the FACTS…. which are, to me, relatively clear.

“By all means, let’s not confuse the issue with facts.”– Smart Bee

The 1% (which, actually, is a misnomer; 1% of the total number of humans alive is actually a rather large number, in relation to the small number of people who actually have real control of the resources of the entire planet…. 1% of 7 Billion is actually 70 Million people; there are many times many fewer people than that who are the actual masters of this society…. Planet wide, the true figure of people who are in the true ruling elite is probably closer to 7000, or perhaps, 70,000, not millions…. Sorry, ffolkes, but, numbers CAN’T lie…. and, remember, these people DON’T share…..), are perfectly aware they don’t NEED a conspiracy, when the controls they require have been in place for centuries…. As long as people are susceptible to money, or power over others, as long as they are subject to their own fear and ignorance, no real planning is required, as people will, all-too-often, freely give their freedom away, to those who promise to remove their fear…..

This has always been true, ffolkes…. The weak and ignorant, of which there are so many, spend their lives in fear of not being able to succeed, of being confronted with the harsh realities of life without the means to deal with any of it. The unprincipled rulers of mankind, with the willing and able assistance of the religious fanatics who support them, don’t actually conspire against the rest of humanity….

They merely live up to their own standards, which are based on expediency and self-promotion, and the ignorant masses fall right into line, giving their allegiance and obedience to temporal authority, while both the church and the rulers steadily, and thoroughly, empty their pockets of all they don’t require for basic living…. and more, if they feel they can get away with it….

I don’t profess to have any special knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes; all of my opinions are based on what can be seen right out in the public arena, based on what I read, what I see, and what I can deduce from that data. Everyone alive has the same opportunity as I do to see what is going on….

Sadly, most people don’t seem to have, or, to use if they do have, the simple intelligence required to put the pieces together, into a picture they can understand…. which, in turn, means they cannot control their own destiny…. Nor will they ever be able to do so, as long as they continue to give up the right to control their own minds, to the Beloved Ruling Classes, including the priestly hierarchies, and all the faceless myrmidons (police and military…), who do the bidding of the powered elite, the corporate snakes/monied assholes, (sorry, I decided elegant doesn’t work when describing these pricks, but, short, pithy Anglo-Saxon slang works just fine….), who prey on the rest of mankind….

I think, personally, it’s time for me to buy a gun…. and lots and lots of ammunition…. As an American citizen, I can only say that, I’m tired of my ass being continuously threatened with impalement, on the shaft of government indifference, or corporate immorality, and, I don’t intend to have it go on that way forever…. I’m sure we can find something that will work better, and won’t constantly be a pain in our collective ass….

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” — Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) — Churchill’s Commentary on Man

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

There are times when the mere act of reading a poem, if done honestly, paying attention & trying to put oneself into the author’s mind, to fully understand the metaphor of life being portrayed, is a worthy experience in and of itself, with no more justification needed, or required, by either the universe, or the monitors of this blog, who are, as we know, non-existent…. Well, I know it; if y’all still have doubts, just submit another claim….

In the meantime, here is a poem, which long-time prisoners, er, readers, will probably recognize as having been seen here previously…. That’s just because it’s a good one, and, because I can…. Enjoy, please, as millions of history’s readers have done for a long time…..

A Dialogue of Self and Soul

{My Soul} I summon to the winding ancient stair;
Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,
Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,
Upon the breathless starlit air,
‘Upon the star that marks the hidden pole;
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done:
Who can distinguish darkness from the soul
i{My Self}. The consecretes blade upon my knees
Is Sato’s ancient blade, still as it was,
Still razor-keen, still like a looking-glass
Unspotted by the centuries;
That flowering, silken, old embroidery, torn
From some court-lady’s dress and round
The wodden scabbard bound and wound
Can, tattered, still protect, faded adorn
i{My Soul.} Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?
Think of ancestral night that can,
If but imagination scorn the earth
And interllect is wandering
To this and that and t’other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth.
i{My self.} Montashigi, third of his family, fashioned it
Five hundred years ago, about it lie
Flowers from I know not what embroidery —
Heart’s purple — and all these I set
For emblems of the day against the tower
Emblematical of the night,
And claim as by a soldier’s right
A charter to commit the crime once more.
i{My Soul.} Such fullness in that quarter overflows
And falls into the basin of the mind
That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind,
For intellect no longer knows
i{Is} from the i{Ought,} or i{knower} from the i{Known — }
That is to say, ascends to Heaven;
Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue’s a stone.
i{My Self.} A living man is blind and drinks his drop.
What matter if the ditches are impure?
What matter if I live it all once more?
Endure that toil of growing up;
The ignominy of boyhood; the distress
Of boyhood changing into man;
The unfinished man and his pain
Brought face to face with his own clumsiness;
The finished man among his enemies? —
How in the name of Heaven can he escape
That defiling and disfigured shape
The mirror of malicious eyes
Casts upon his eyes until at last
He thinks that shape must be his shape?
And what’s the good of an escape
If honour find him in the wintry blast?
I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch,
A blind man battering blind men;
Or into that most fecund ditch of all,
The folly that man does
Or must suffer, if he woos
A proud woman not kindred of his soul.
I am content to follow to its source
Every event in action or in thought;
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.

~ William Butler Yeats ~~

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

Okay, finally, a bit of fun for us all…. I’ve been working hard to get this done before the pain gets to the point where someone has to die, and it’s going fairly well, all things considered…. Let’s see if Smart Bee is up to a bit of cooperation this morning, shall we? I’ve got my wet suit on, and my scuba tank is full…. Let’s dive, ffolkes…. Oh, yeah, take your knife; no parameters today….

Hug O’ War

I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

~~ Shel Silverstein ~~

“A little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Madison, 1787

“To think contrary to one’s era is heroism. But to speak against it is madness.” — Eugene Ionesco

“One must never precede any maneuver by a comment more predictive than, “Watch this!” (Keep ’em guessing.) — The Third Commandment of Frisbee — Dan Roddick

“Fear is the lock and laughter the key to your heart.” — Steven Stills

“That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

“What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?” — Ursula K. LeGuin

I really love this job….. too bad nobody will pay me to do it…..

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

Well, ffolkes, (and that’s a deep subject….) (Sorry, really…. I’m an incorrigible punster, so, don’t incorrige me…) (Okay, sorry, I’m done….), here we are again…. I’m still uncertain as to whether or not I’ll continue to try to keep myself unblooded today; I suppose it will depend on how much pain I’m fighting when some idiot tests my resolve. But, at my age, I don’t really give much of a shit whether it does, or not, and if things get out of hand, I’ll just blame Murphy…. it’s about time he took some of the heat he dishes out…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Cats don’t do intangible….

Posted on May 17, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Yesterday, for me, was pretty well trashed from the beginning, and today is looking not much better; I’m not going to whine, which is, I’m sure, a relief to all…. I am, however, going to go ahead and let y’all know today isn’t going to be much better…. The pain I felt yesterday hasn’t gotten better by any appreciable degree, so I’ll be spending another day in a drugged stupor, if I have anything to say about it….

I decided today’s Pearl could be a re-blog, but, rather than do it the normal way, I’m going to reproduce one of my oldest works, in five sections instead of the three we have in today’s format…. This is from December of 2011, near the end of my first year in retirement, and my first year of learning to live in near-poverty…. At the time of this writing, I was in a minor funk (depression, to the uninitiated among you….), due to having NO money, with Christmas fast approaching….

This Pearl was created, fresh out of my head, the day before my son’s 32nd birthday…. I hope you enjoy it; it’s a good picture of my mind during that period, such as it was…. Minor editing has been performed to make the whole thing more readable, given my current understanding of how that works, without changing any of the content significantly… i.e., I’ve added spaces, and adjusted an adjective, or a punctuation mark, at various points throughout, that’s all….

Shall we Pearl? Yes, we shall, and more than merely old-school…..

“If you are near the enemy, make him believe you are far from him. If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.” — Sun-Tzu, The Art of War

(I keep trying, but, my worst enemy, pain, never pays any attention….)

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

12/16/11

Ffolkes,

Another day dawns, and I’m fairly certain that I left my mind in one of my dreams last night. Disconcerting, to say the least; I’m operating on extreme autopilot mode. This could make for some very interesting Pearls, as my mind is where I keep almost all of my restraint. In this condition, I could say damn near anything, and not give a whit for how it sounds to other folks. Oh well, we’ll just have to dive in, and takes our chances…….

(Shall we Pearl?…..)
___________________________________

“Violence accomplishes nothing.” “What a contemptible lie! Raw, naked violence has settled more issues throughout history than any other method ever employed. Perhaps the city fathers of Carthage could debate the issue, with Hitler and Alexander as judges?”–attribution not given, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this with Robert Heinlein’s name behind it.

Our planet is rife with violence of many sorts. It’s only to be expected when a goodly number of the creatures who live on this planet use other creatures as their source of food. Those other creatures are not always amenable to that, and will put up a pretty good argument for an animal that otherwise does not fight. This can lead to some rather spirited discussions over dietary preferences…….

There is, however, another effect of using force to obtain food, one that can be problematic to use at best. The use of force can be easily applied to the process of obtaining other desired objects, such as a better cave, a prettier mate, more food, etc. Humans very quickly adapted to this system, as violence is part of our nature. (Anyone who does not agree with this is not paying enough attention, or is in deep denial) We tend to use the threat of force a lot as we go about our business; it is one of our most universally adaptable tools, able to be applied to almost any situation as a means of achieving one’s goals.

But there is a price for the use of this tool, and it is a heavy one. Each time a person uses violent means to achieve their ends, a little bit more Grace is carved out of their karma. They devolve, instead of evolving, and become more and more unable to use any other tools they may have, more bestial in their demeanor. The more violent a person becomes, the further they remove themselves from the rest of society, eventually coming into conflict with society at large, as being a danger to others.

As with just about anything, society as a whole is much more effective at violence than any single entity can be, just because of numbers, if naught else. Breaking the habit of assuming a violent stance in response to life’s vicissitudes is extremely difficult; people don’t give up their primary behaviors without a great deal of resistance. But society has little patience with rogue citizens, and will have its way, irrespective of our wishes.

This is why we have prisons, and an entire system of law to protect each citizen from suffering violence at the hands of another citizen. If we were truly moral creatures, we wouldn’t need any of that….but we are not, and violence will be an issue for society to deal with as long as human nature remains resistant to change…..
___________________________________

“Pessimism is only the name that men of weak nerve give to wisdom.” — Mark Twain

I always enjoy good advice in the form of an aphorism. Short, sweet, and sharp as a scalpel, a good aphorism cuts right through any preconceptions or perceptive fog, and arrows straight to the rational corner of the mind. This one from Mr. Clemens is a perfect example of the venue, and how it pulls the mind along with it, out of the darkness of ignorance, and into the light of knowledge.

I consider aphorisms, or axioms, or anecdotes, or any other word that describes this form of communication to be peerless in their usefulness, especially as a teaching tool. Hell, they are the backbone of this entire process; if I didn’t rely on them for subject matter, I’d have to actually sit down and think up what to write, instead of just commenting on what others have said, and that would bear far too much resemblance to actual work…….
___________________________________

If money is the root of all evil, I’ve been uprooted.

True enough, but not accurate in its original sense. The quote actually reads “The love of money is the root of all evil”, and is misquoted a lot, probably because it makes the same kind of sense the original possessed, and people, in my experience, are pretty lazy. The sad part of this in my estimation is that everyone knows this, and just about everyone totally ignores it. People still spend most of their waking hours in employing various and sundry methods to increase how much money they possess. Everybody wants more, and more, and more, and will say and do almost anything to achieve that end.

I’ve never wanted any more of it than I need to get by, to be able to do the things I like to do, with possibly some extra to give to folks who need some. That’s all. Perhaps my lack of ambition in this respect makes me seem strange, but I’ve never understood why folks would want to burden themselves with so much stuff that they have to worry about others trying to take it away.

It’s much more fulfilling to use only what one needs, and be happy with that, and then use the rest for helping others to achieve the same…..and you don’t have to worry that it will be taken away, just like it was taken from someone else. I prefer to not become a target……
___________________________________

“That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

I’m always amazed at how accurate the statement “there’s nothing new under the sun” can be. According to this little gem, mankind has been struggling with the same philosophical questions for a long time, in this case about two thousand years. And from what I can see, we’re not making a lot of progress. This concept is as true today as it was in Greece two millenia ago; mankind continues to use whatever means they have at hand to manipulate others, even if those means are degrading to all who participate.

The urge to control other folks, in order to set ourselves up as being superior, has never been comprehensible to me; I believe that the impulse to do so is indicative of a sickness in the soul, and that the folks who indulge in such actions are mentally ill. And I should know; I spent close to twenty years caring for the mentally ill, and have seen the outcome of every maladaptive behavior known to science.

In my humble opinion, anyone who actively wants to be President of this country is seriously mentally ill. The job is impossible for one man to do well, what with all the roadblocks to reform and/or progress that are thrown up in their path by the opposing political party. But, as absolute power corrupts absolutely, there is always some dickhead out there ready to foist their own particular madness on the rest of us.

I’m looking forward to the election next year, if only because the political arena has been so frigging insane this year. Next year promises to provide even more stuff to write about every day, as one pundit after another parades their ignorance before the unwashed masses…..
___________________________________

“Honor isn’t about making the right choices. It’s about dealing with the consequences.” — Midori Koto

This is a good point to make, as I see a lot of folks in today’s world who really don’t have any idea of what honor really means. It is rare to even find someone these days who even thinks about their honor, and even more rare to find a truly honorable person. The whole concept has fallen out of favor in general society; expedience has become more acceptable, no matter how dishonorable it may be.

To my way of thinking, society has reached a point where people’s sense of entitlement has grown completely out of control. A person’s personal desires are considered sacrosanct, no matter how badly achieving those desires may affect others. It doesn’t matter that acting in such a fashion places others in danger, or demeans them, or merely inconveniences them; people don’t care, because they’ve been led to believe that what they want is what they deserve, by corporate entities who feed into this, because it plays right into their hands.

It’s easy to get someone to buy something, when they believe they have the right to it. What is hard is doing so in an honorable fashion, and we all know how most folks feel about doing hard stuff…..
___________________________________

It’s probably a good thing to stop here. This was threatening to grow by another thousand words, so it’s just as well I cut it off here; you probably have other stuff to do, and I know I certainly have a plate full of problematic tasks. We’d all best be getting to it…..y’all take care out there…..

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

I just realized this old Pearl has no poem…. We can’t have THAT….. Since I’m being egotistical today, anyway, here is another of my old ones, which speaks about my reason for not writing today….

Gauges of Pain

Consciousness devolves in pools of gripping fears
holding hostage any hope of serenity,
sharp stabbing motions and greedy tears
nary a moment passes without common calamity.

Always a surprise, nothing soothing ever found,
leaving only breathless clinging pain,
salvation seemingly absent, it muffles all sound,
bringing ever more sadness and rain.

Solitude is ever present to claim my time,
lonely hours and relentlessly long days,
no radio plays such music in secular rhyme
happy, vibrant voices belong to elder ways.

Life can be justified it seems to say,
by hopeful favored moments of pleasure,
seemingly friendly, pointing out the only way,
to bring back happiness in minimal measure.

Days of horror and embarrassing tears
serve ever to drive wretched hours to withhold
promising naught but sorrow in coming years,
black, bitter memories that never grow old.

Cold, cold the days fly by,
can it really be our only token?
Never to say, or know just why
the pain never stops, even when spoken…

~~ gigoid ~~

(Yes, yesterday was NOT a good day…. why do you ask?…..)

Griefe brought to numbers cannot be so fierce,
For, he tames it, that fetters it in verse.

— John Donne

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

Well, ffolkes, if this Pearl is any evidence, my propensity for divulging opinion isn’t anything new…. I DO feel I’ve made some good progress, in terms of my writing; I am much better now, I think, at many of the small, yet important details that make a piece more readable. Even the few structural changes I made to this piece improved the flow, and made it easier to consume…. Plus, it’s done, which, today, is the most important factor of all…. I’m going to post this as quickly as I can, then go let some hot water beat me into submission, while I wait for my latest round of consumable cannabis to take effect…. I’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully in a better frame of mind, and body….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

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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