Bonafide templates of silver mesh….

Posted on May 8, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“‘The early bird catches the worm’ just shows that the worm should have stayed in bed.”

~~ Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love ~~

Wait! I swear it moved….

Hajime…. Leelu is home from the vet, and is fine, though still a bit unsettled, and seems to be healing well, so far, with not a lot of pain. I’m a mess, but, I’ll be fine now she’s home, once I get rid of the useless guilt I’m experiencing for putting her through it. Ah, well, I guess I’ve already pulled my covers, so, it won’t matter if people know I’m a softie about my animal mates. I don’t regard it as a weakness, anyway, but, rather a strength; my connection to Life is strong, and balanced, so, such compassion is not out of place.

The effect of the past few days on today’s Pearl is not easily calculable, so, I won’t be testifying as to quality; it will be complete, and as user-friendly as I can make it; beyond that, all bets are off. I’m not feeling particularly artistic, nor am I in my sharpest state of mind, as pain & worry has again taken much of the ease from my recent sleeping habits. Again, all I can say is, so be it. Duty is duty, and fatigue/pain/lack of chutzpah is no excuse for abrogating it.

In order to ensure all the above is true, I’m going to end this intro, here, sans nonsense, sans humor, sans damn near everything which could possibly hinder our efficiency…. even proofing is on ‘as you go’ mode, to save time. So, if y’all spot errors, just write them down & let me know privately; I’ll ignore them then. Thanks for that. Now, let’s just pretend we’re professionals, and get on with it without any particular fanfare, shall we? Okay, why not?….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
Now far ahead the road has gone
And I must follow if I can.
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way.
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.”

~~ J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Lord of the Rings” ~~

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Now, don’t tell me y’all didn’t know what kind of music we’d have today…. I gave enough clues, for sure. Oh, well, you’ll enjoy it, so, no worries, right? Right…. Abondanza, ffolkes; the playlist on this sounds pretty good….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/m7IdCuwKOWw

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I’ve been in no condition to rant, so, here’s one from the archives for today…. Enjoy!….

From 2/3/2013:

“People see what they have been conditioned to see; they refuse to see what they don’t expect to see.” — Merle P. Martin

This statement is one that will find some strong agreement here, as it is as clear an indictment of the unwashed masses as I’ve ever seen; it places some of the blame on their oppressors, as it should, but still manages to show where people are responsible for their own ignorance, in spite of how they may be conditioned…. One may not be responsible for their conditioning, but they are still responsible for what they refuse to acknowledge as truth, and Mr. Martin has given them little room to wiggle out of that responsibility…..

In some ways, y’all might think that I tend to obsess about those who are manipulating society. and the impending global catastrophes that I see as inevitable. In a way, you could be right…. it COULD be called obsession, since I do take at least one shot a day at the BRC and the priestly hierarchies; if I don’t hit them regularly, I just feel empty, and incomplete….. But, I don’t lose any sleep over it, so I think my concerns are still in the rational stages of evolution. What can be challenging is finding new ways to approach the subject, that will show the assholes for what they are, and what they are doing to the rest of us, and still not bore the reader senseless…. it’s hard to motivate someone who has fallen asleep….

“The worth of the State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it, and a State which postpones the interest of their mental expansion and elevation to a little more of administrative skill, or of that semblance of it which practice gives in the details of business… will find that with small men no great thing can be accomplished.” — John Stuart Mill, ‘On Liberty’, 1859

The other day, someone asked me a question about a statement I had made, to the effect that I believed that the usurpation of the Constitution began within minutes of it being signed…. She asked me how I knew that, and at the time, I gave her the answer that occurred to me at the time, to wit: I know this because I know human nature, and the money lenders and bankers wouldn’t have wanted to wait even a minute to try to get their two cents into the process, in order to start turning it to their advantage….. And Mr. Mill has, with this statement, shown us how they went about that perversion….

During elections, and often in the time prior to the announcement of the candidates and their platforms, there is a loud lamentation that there are no GOOD candidates to be found, that the men and women who end up running for office are NOT the most qualified for the job, but merely those who WANT it for their own reasons (you can bet that altruism is NOT one of those reasons….). In fact, to my mind, the single most qualifying characteristic I would like to see in ANY candidate would be a lack of desire to get elected; in other words, in order to be well-qualified, they have to NOT want to get elected…. It’s the only way we can trust them not to steal so much….

“Intelligence has nothing to do with politics.” — Londo Molari

What we have in reality is that ALL of those who run for office are people who WANT POWER; the exceptions are too few to be statistically significant, so I use the word ALL with that caveat. Sure, occasionally, a person who really doesn’t want to be in office, but happens to be the most qualified, gets persuaded by friends that they can do some good, and they are popular enough, and intelligent enough, to get elected. Once in office, though, they generally discover that their opportunities to do good for others are severely limited by the efforts of their peers, who have no interest whatsoever in looking after the people, unless it serves their own purpose.

“Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.” — Elbert Hubbard

It’s hard to say whether writing pieces such as this one is a part of my five minutes, or whether it is part of the other side of the coin, which prevents me from reaching my limit…. Either way, I’m starting to understand that, since I’m shouting into the wind, pretty much, with these political and social diatribes, I need to keep them fairly short, and uncomplicated, or I will lose my audience to boredom with the repetitive nature of what I’m writing. Yes, we need to be aware that most of our Beloved Ruling Class are assholes, and need to be culled from the human herd….. but railing about it too much will only defeat my purpose, which is to educate and stimulate, hopefully to action that will serve to help the situation….

So rather than exceed my limit for the day, we’ll leave this here, and hope that what I’ve written will cause at least a touch of bleeding in the BRC, even if it’s only a scratch…. Better now to go look for some poetry, to soothe my fevered brow….

“I know everything about everything, except that.” — Smart Bee

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Funny Bones

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

9/6/2012

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Our final, old-school pearl for today is somewhat, um…. well, different. I’m not entirely certain there’s a single thought to which it leads , but, there seem to be quite a number of pieces of rather cogent advice on how to look at life with some humor, and, how to live it with some style. I can’t think of any particular word or phrase to describe it, so, we’ll just call it Random Thoughts on Life at Large…. Enjoy!….

*********

“Plato says,
“‘T is to no purpose for a sober man to knock at the door of the Muses;”
and Aristotle says
“that no excellent soul is exempt
from a mixture of folly.”

~~ Michael de Montaigne ~~
~~ Essays, Book ii, Chap. ii, Of Drunkenness ~~

*********

“A good laugh is sunshine in a house.”

~~ William Makepeace Thackeray ~~

*********

“In certain trying circumstances,
urgent circumstances,
desperate circumstances,
profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

*********

“Power is an illusion; only stupidity is real.”

~~ Fatalist Bee ~~

*********

“Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily.
All other “sins” are invented nonsense.
(Hurting yourself is NOT a sin–just stupid.)”

~~ Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love” ~~

*********

“A process which led from amoeba to man
appeared to the philosophers to be obviously progress
– though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known.”

~~ Bertrand Russell ~~

*********

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

~~ Mark Twain ~~

*********

“Take a breath of the new dawn and make it a part of you.”

~~ Hopi proverb ~~

*********

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

I’ll be damned. Well, most likely, anyway, if one buys into the delusion that holds sway over most of the planet. Since I don’t, it’s just a phrase, without much meaning other than to express my surprise at being done. As mentioned, there will be no claims as to quality; all I’m going to say is, it’s done, and done as well as I can do it, given the circumstances in play. As we’re fond of saying ’round here, so be it. I’ll add I’m going to try to do this again tomorrow, and if the past five years gives any indication, I will be here, pretty much for sure, and for certain. See y’all then, ffolkes, if my cat allows it….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Too shy to prance….

Posted on April 29, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.”

~~ James Russell Lowell, Shakespeare Once More ~~

“It all moves ~~ nothing stands still.” — Heraclitus

Sonoma Creek, Spring 2016

Hajime…. Today’s Pearl will be another truncated version of the usual post. Reality continues to demand my attention during the time when I generally put together these pieces; since trying to change reality is a rather fruitless pastime, we’ll go with what we can do, and be done with it. Moreover, I don’t feel I can even spend the time to be silly, or tricky, or even odd, to any significant degree, so, I’m also cutting this intro off at one paragraph, at whose end we have already arrived. What you will see below will be all we can do; as you well know, around here, we are firm believers in doing all we can do, for, after all, all you can do, is all you can do….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The deadliest bullshit is odorless and transparent.”

~~ William Gibson ~~

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

Y’all must have known, after seeing the intro, what kind of music we’d have today. Obviously, we’re going to our default on that, so, enjoy!….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/1rlU2WQ_Wf4

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“I remember now.
I remember how it started.”

~~ Queensryche ~~

In truth, I do remember…. But, this rant grew on me, until, at the last, it fell apart on me. I suppose I got too ambitious, but, I can explain. You see, I found the pearls you will find below, which seemed to me to be a fine outline for an ultimate rant, one that would cover all the ideas I hold regarding human nature, and how it has contributed to the problems we face in the world today…. That, apparently, was too much to put together…. So, I decided to trust the process again, since I’m short of time and material for today, and go with the pearls themselves, in old-school style, and let the Gentle Readers create their own rant in the comfort and safety of their own mind…. Slick eh?

So, here are the pearls; it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what I would have written; they’re pretty clear to me…. I hope you enjoy this little cheat. Hey, it’s better than a thousand more of my words on what is essentially ‘bad stuff’, right? Right…. Let’s do this, ffolkes, and get on to the poem for today…..

“You are a slave!”

~~ Morpheus, The Matrix ~~

*******

“There’s nothing more demoralizing than money.”

~~ Sophocles ~~

*******

“… men say the gods have a king
because they themselves either are or were
in ancient times under the rule of a king,
For they imagine not only the form of the gods,
but their ways of life to be like their own.”

~~ Aristotle, Politics ~~

*******

“In God We Trust.”
I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

*******

“Security is the individual’s responsibility.”

~~ Reality Bee ~~

*******

“True myth may serve for thousands of years as an inexhaustible source of intellectual speculation, religious joy, ethical inquiry, and artistic renewal. The real mystery is not destroyed by reason. The fake one is. You look at it and it vanishes. You look at the Blonde Hero–really look–and he turns into a gerbil. But you look at Apollo, and he looks back at you. The poet Rilke looked at a statue of Apollo about fifty years ago, and Apollo spoke to him. ‘You must change your life,’ he said. When the true myth rises into consciousness, that is always its message. You must change your life.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

*******

“Hardly a pure science, history is closer to animal husbandry than it is to mathematics, in that it involves selective breeding. The principal difference between the husbandryman and the historian is that the former breeds sheep or cows or such, and the latter breeds (assumed) facts. The husbandryman uses his skills to enrich the future; the historian uses his to enrich the past. Both are usually up to their ankles in bullshit.” — Tom Robbins

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Platitudes for Attitudes

Platitudes shake us, attitudes break us.
Life can be a real pain, y’know?
Still, if we don’t fight where it takes us,
it’s a pretty straight row to hoe..

A lot of what we see and hear
isn’t always in the best of taste.
Life at large can be one long frisson of fear.
Making an effort often seems a huge waste.

Pundits, dogma dogs, myrmidons, oligarchs & pimps;
assholes and predators every one.
Twisted, sick, anti-humans; anomalous, ignorant wimps.
Logic says, every time, lobotomize ’em, & be done.

Illusions, delusions, confusions, a dedicated data dump,
bilious, divisive, spicy with hatred and fears.
Inflation, immigration, promises from the clownish Trump
Leaving even our basest survival heavy with tears.

Ancient sages left signs on the path to peace,
for those with wit to see.
No need for undue effort, no quest for golden fleece.
All we ever need to do, is be.

~~ gigoid ~~

8/29/2015

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Naked Pearls

Thoughts on Life at Large

*******

“There is no wealth but life.”

~~ John Ruskin ~~

*******

“A propensity to hope and joy is real riches;
one to fear and sorrow real poverty.”

~~ Hume ~~

*******

“To laugh often and love much,
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give of oneself;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sing with exultation;
to know even one life has breathed easier:
this is to have succeeded.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“One doesn’t discover new lands
without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”

~~ Andre Gide ~~

*******

“It is never too early or too late to care for the well-being of the soul.”

~~ Epicurus ~~

*******

“How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those
who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful
than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?”

~~ Kahlil Gibran ~~

*******

“It can’t rain all the time
The sky won’t fall forever
And though the night seems long
Your tears won’t fall forever.”

~~ The Crow ~~

*******

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

Well, I did it, in spite of myself. Don’t ask, & I won’t be compelled to tell an untruth to protect my ego, okay? It’s silly enough without garnering attention for such indulgence. I’m thinking, given our state of mind, it’s time to shut this down, & try again tomorrow. Maybe I’ll find some wherewithal, or perhaps bit of coherent thought hiding in a far corner of my mind to share. If not, well, we’ll see what we can do. In any case, we’re done for today, which I am sure is a great relief to all. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should reality fail to stop me, again….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Portraits of unqualified soap….

Posted on April 27, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.”

~~ George Iles ~~

Wow! So many birds!…

Hajime…. Today’s version of a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom will be somewhat unique, if such a concept can be applied to our work at all. It’s been cobbled together on a morning of broken routine, with the cat complaining, and the author wandering about his own head in a confused state. Since I have no excuse for it, having slept like the proverbial baby (hmm… does that mean I awoke every two hours, hungry and/or wet?…. Oh, well, figure of speech…) for about eight solid hours. Yet, here I am, completely clueless, with a blank screen in front of me, in a state of utter panic.

Not really. I gave up on panic years ago. Actually, I’m fairly content with how things are progressing today, though the complaints from Leelu regarding her share of my attention are true enough. She objects to how much time the computer gets. But, she’ll get over it with one piece of crumpled pager and some play time, so, we’ll finish up, and get to that forthwith. In the interests of maintaining some peace in the house, I’ll cut this introduction short again today, so as to soothe her fevered brow, so to speak. Watch this one, ffolkes; it’s a new toy I found in the Tardis, and is almost too fast to use…. By the time I can say, onward, we’re already go…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“Dying is a very dull, dreary affair.
And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it.”

~~ W. Somerset Maugham ~~

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Okay, so, I’m giving in to the hullabaloo surrounding the recent passing of Prince, by including a live concert from 1982 today for our video selection. I have yet to check it out for sound quality, but, it was recorded live, so, we’ll see. Otherwise, it should prove to be a good example of why he was considered to be one of the most original artists we’ve ever seen…. Enjoy!….

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Prince Live in Concert
1/30/1982

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https://youtu.be/uAYQUbh8HHA

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The Morning Muse

The rant upon which I’ve been working keeps changing & growing in different directions on me, and isn’t done, obviously. Here is another piece from the archives to get us down the page today…. I hope our little trip into the archives, yet again, fulfills your expectations. If not, well, that’s what you get for having them…. *grin*

From 12/7/2012:

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

As is his stock in trade, Mr. Twain once again give humanity a solid poke in the ribs, in a humorous, even comfortable way that makes us want to laugh about our all-too-human foibles, instead of crying, which would really be more appropriate. In his assessment of both the character of most men, and most dogs, he is absolutely correct, and shows in one simple, sardonic phrase, just how ugly people can be. In fact, I can honestly say that, in my life, I have met many more dogs who deserve to go to Heaven, than I have men or women. Of course, I wouldn’t wish that on any dog, but, you know what I mean. Dogs are better ffolkes than most folks, in the world I see around me….

And this leads me into a perfect ranting jump-off point…. “Heaven goes by favor” This is all too accurate; in order to get into the club, one has to meet a certain standard, that of faith. Of course that standard is pretty easy to meet, as all it requires is a verbal commitment ( accompanied, I suppose by a heart-felt commitment….) that one believes in JC, or Mohammed, or Buddha, or whomever, and will try to follow their teachings. No pressure to actually do so, just commit to it, and you’re in. Or, go ahead and live your life walking the path of evil, then convert on the deathbed, and you’re in…. according to their rules…. Or, in other words, it’s all who you know…..

“An ancient buddha said, Mountains are mountains; waters are waters. These words do not mean mountains are mountains; they mean mountains are mountains.” — Dogen

I’ve recently been reading an author whose work I had read in my youth, when I was devouring science fiction on a daily basis. Samuel R. Delany has written some powerful novels, as well as shorter works. The most recent I read, Babel-17, uses the structure and meaning of words in language as the basis for the plot. In the book, he relates how important perception is to meaning, and how the way we use language can actually work to program the brain, just like the organic computer it is. What struck me is how the process he describes, which is what can be observed in people, if you look closely, shows just how powerful a tool language can be, when used in full consciousness of what it means, and what it CAN do…..

People base their entire existence on a few words, and what those words mean to them. If someone else (say, a preacher?) is able to influence the person’s choice of the words that have that power, then that person becomes the willing slave of whomever supplies him with the words. This is a subtle process, that operates below the level of consciousness that most folks are aware of; they don’t realize how they are being manipulated by the very words they use, into thinking along certain lines, and in certain ways, all of which benefit the manipulator in some way, much more than they do the one whose thoughts are being channeled.

“This is Daddy’s bedtime secret for today: Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.” — Eugene O’Neill

Mr. O’Neill was a decent playwright, but as a philosopher, he sucked, plain and simple. This is merely the parroting of basic Christian dogma, and as such stands as a perfect example of how religious institutions tend to lie to their constituents….. I can say this because I have my own secret for today: Man is NOT born broken; he is born as a blank slate, and what is written upon it is only what they are taught to write. Since the first premise is false, the rest of the train of thought becomes irrelevant, and you can easily see where it is just an attempt to get people to accept the untruths, and keep their patterns of thought within the boundaries drawn by dogma….

Sorry if such an idea is offensive, but, I don’t need to be “born again”, I did just fine the first time. I’m not broken. I’m not guilty of original sin, any more than is anyone else. That single concept, original sin, has been the most destructive idea that Man has come up with in all of our long history, and is responsible for much of the torture, warfare, and egregiously evil events of the last 3000 years. I kid you not…. That simple lie, that we are all somehow born inherently sinful, and guilty of something, is pure hogwash, and is the most blatant falsehood to have been thought up, and perpetrated upon the rest of mankind, EVER!

What a ridiculous idea! To think that a newborn, of any species, should bear the guilt for an action performed before their birth, is just plain stupid, and self-serving. Not to mention that the act we are supposedly guilty of is the acquisition of knowledge, which is, to me, NOT something for which we should be punished, but rather deserve to be rewarded. Of course, knowledge is its own reward, so that really doesn’t matter, or shouldn’t. But, in order to gain control over others, preachers have, since the beginning of history, tried to convince the rest of us that they are the only ones who have the right answer, all based on a bald-faced lie, and a false assumption….. And, since a large percentage of mankind is too lazy to think for themselves, or to risk thinking independently of others, THEY FALL FOR IT! It almost makes me ashamed to be human, to be truthful….

But, we have dogs as our companions, and they love us, so we must not be ALL bad…. right? Right…. so, just follow your dog’s example, and just BE moral, don’t try to follow what others may tell you is moral. You’ll do a lot better, in life, and when it counts, after life…..

“Go back. Everything you need to know is in the first seven axioms.” ~~ Peruaosophy, Axiom #8, by gigoid

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Gently Came a Wounded Child

But you shall not escape my iambics.

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

2/2/2012

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Today’s final old-school pearl is another odd one. Don’t blame me, SB is the one who’s been in a mood. This one appears to be a series of observations on Life at Large, some of which are rather esoteric in nature. Others, not so much. All in all, it works, and the final pearl is a classic, tying it all together for us with a nice bow…. Enjoy!….

“You are not what you think you are; but what you think, you are.” — Subtle Bee

“Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism.” — Albert Einstein

“I will show you a philtre without potions, without herbs, without any witch’s incantation – if you wish to be loved, love.” — Seneca

” ‘He deserves death’. ‘Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them ? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.’ ” — J. R. R. Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings

“He who has the courage to laugh is almost as much a master of the world as he who is ready to die.” — Giacomo Leopardi

“And sometimes the bear eats you.” — Realist Bee

Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

~~ Tao Te Ching ~~

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Well, it’s done, and, that’s the best I can say of it. I’m not even going to THINK about the quality today; nope, not going there. All I know is, it’s done, and I’m rather glad it is, for it’s been a struggle. I will, however, make another attempt tomorrow, as long as I’m still half-crazy. Odds on that are pretty good…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Bess’s fine messes, at cost….

Posted on April 22, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Arguments derived from probabilities are idle.”

~~ Plato ~~

An alley market on Portobello Road, London

Hajime…. Had I known yesterday, when beginning to put this Pearl together, that the intro would end up being the most contentious section to get done, I would have done it first. Since I’m doing it last, so to speak, it seems to have taken it personally, now refusing to coalesce into anything worth putting on screen, This isn’t to say we haven’t encountered this issue previously, though it’s not a frequent problem at all. No, the empty mind is our biggest issue in this section, as it usually occurs pre-coffee, or, nearly so. Since I’m about to go pour my second cup, that isn’t a factor…. Yet, here it sits, ugly, and relatively empty, save for this single paragraph of almost pure blather.

I wonder if they give refunds…. Nah, probably not, since nobody’s paying, and posting is free. Oh, well, another opportunity lost through lack of any comparatively sane thought processes as needed for basic comprehension. As we’re fond of saying around here in such situations, c’est la fucking vie. We’re going on in spite of our complete lack of talent, or intent, or even coherence. Of course, we could employ one of the Tardis toys to distract and discombobulate, (what a fine word!….), but, we’re not IN the Tardis yet. I suppose I could quit fooling around with this, and get on with it, but, what fun would that be?….

Oh…. okay. Well, since that’s the case, there’s nothing left to but this…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“Once you’ve seen the face of god,
You see that same face on everyone you meet.”

~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~

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

I’ve used this in the past, but, I’m running a bit late today, so, we’ll go with it, as when it’s done, you can choose from a large number of other numbers from Playing For Change artists, from the suggestions that You Tube gives after each video. Enjoy, ffolkes; this one is one of my favorites…. It’s hot!….

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Gimme Shelter

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https://youtu.be/GJtq6OmD-_Y

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The rant for this section turned epic on me; it’s not quite done yet. To take it’s place, here is a discussion from 2012, on one of our most frequent subjects, to wit, politicians, the BRC, and Asininnies in general. It’s a bit long, but, there’s some humor involved, so, it won’t hurt too bad. I find it ironic to note how relevant many of the old rants I wrote have remained over time… I guess it goes to show we humans are a bit slower learners than we’d like to believe…. Enjoy!…..

From 10/2/2012:

This old-school pearl started off in one direction, then veered off into another…. and I don’t blame it a bit. I’m just as tired of all the political bullshit being flung around as the next guy, and the election can’t get here quick enough to suit me, that’s for sure. What with the amount of crap flying around, I feel like I’ve got to shower it off at least once or twice a day……

Any who, I was collecting the pearls for this, when I noticed that each one of them, from the first to the last, make a pointed statement that could easily be applied to this election, and most specifically, to the Republican party’s platform and candidates…. As far as I can see, they fail at every one of these, and this then becomes an indictment of their failings, all without intent, but with great accuracy….

“The majority never has the right on its side. Never, I say! That is one of the social lies that a free, thinking man is bound to rebel against. Who makes up the majority in any given country? Is it the wise men or the fools? I think we must agree that the fools are in a terrible overwhelming majority, all the wide world over.” — Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)

“The honest poor can sometimes forget poverty. The honest rich can never forget it.” — G. K. Chesterton (gigoid sez: There being none of those, to wit: honest rich, in this election, we can pretty much take this as gospel, or at least accept it at face value……)

“It is the edge and temper of the blade that make a good sword, not the richness of the scabbard; and so it is not money or possessions that make man considerable, but his virtue.” — Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.) (gigoid sez: This could NOT be clearer…. since Mitt the Twitt feels compelled to rattle his scabbard at every opportunity…..)

“I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won’t.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (gigoid sez: In modern times, the concept of a politician lying is not merely common, it is expected, and, sadly to say, empowered by the voting public, by their passive acceptance of same….)

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

“Intemperate speech is a distinctive characteristic of man. Hotheads blow off and release destructive energy in the process. They shout and rave, exaggerating weaknesses, magnifying error, viewing with alarm. So it has been from the beginning; and so it will be throughout time. The framers of the constitution knew human nature as well as we do. They too had lived in dangerous days; they too knew the suffocating influence of orthodoxy and standardized thought. They weighed the compulsions for the restrained speech and thought against the abuses of liberty. They chose liberty.” — Justice William O. Douglas

“When they took the fourth amendment, I was silent because I don’t deal drugs. When they took the sixth amendment, I kept quiet because I know I’m innocent. When they took the second amendment, I said nothing because I don’t own a gun. Now they’ve come for the first amendment, and I can’t say anything at all.” — Tim Freeman

“It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.” — Aeschylus (525-456 BC) — Frag. 385

Yep, it’s going to be a real dust-up this year, as the forces of evil have gathered all of their minions and myrmidons, ready to sally forth on election day and try to lie and cheat their way into office. The degree of illegal, ill-advised voter suppression efforts that the Republicans have made are coming to light on a daily basis, with the money they’ve paid to companies dedicated to blocking the votes of seniors, poor people, and veterans being exposed as well. It’s truly a disgusting development, although it isn’t new to them; they’ve managed to steal two elections already, for the junior shrub, in 2000 and 2004, once in Florida, and once in Ohio.

They also managed to distract the public away from looking at those election results, by talking a bunch of Islamic militants into attacking New York City, right at the time when the Shrub’s chicanery in Florida was about to be investigated by an independent commission…… I always thought the timing there was a bit suspicious, and it couldn’t have been better for the Shrub, even though he probably wasn’t in on the planning of it himself…. his daddy never trusted him THAT far…..

But, you may remember, the senior Shrub was the head of the CIA for many years, before he was President, and is considered by most to be personally responsible for the establishment of the cocaine trade in this country; see the book “The Cocaine Papers” written in the 1980’s, if there are still copies around. There may not be; I’m sure the dark-side operatives snap them up for destruction whenever they come across one…. This man would suffer no ethical restraints, and would not even hesitate, to have some of his operatives clandestinely trick terrorists into attacking when and where he wished it…. Civilian casualties are always more compelling when trying to distract the public…. And, it is funny how nobody ever investigated where the money for the 9/11 attacks came from…. Usually, in any such event, finding out who paid for it is a primary goal of the investigating teams…. but, nobody ever did that for 9/11…. Kind of makes one wonder, doesn’t it?……

Ah well, conspiracy theories aside, this election is seeing every dirty trick the two parties can think of between them, with the most egregiously immoral actions taking place on the conservative side…. voter suppression efforts in swing states, outright lying, misinformation spreading, magical bean platforms, all are being employed with gusto…. The upcoming debate tomorrow promises to be quite a show for the American public, and it will be interesting to see the contortions that the Republicans go through to try to show their man to their advantage, when every time he opens his mouth, he drops another bomb that indicates just how clueless and uncaring he is…. I’m almost looking forward to it, if it didn’t promise to be so bloody…. c’est la vie, I guess, and we’ll have to see how time will tell the tale…..

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

While researching yesterday in SB, I came across this, which I remember hearing live, watching TV with my kids & family, many years ago, on a show called The Muppet Show, in which characters from Sesame Street performed with live actors & artists, as well as performing solo, as Kermit did once in a while; generally, he, or another, or, occasionally all the Muppets on the show also did a duet with the live guest. I like this one, a lot, which is why it graces our poetry section today…. Enjoy, ffolkes; it’s a bit soft compared to our usual fare, but, hey, as noted, I like it, so, deal….

Rainbow Connection

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
and what’s on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions
rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we’ve been told and some choose to believe it
I know they’re wrong, wait and see.
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thoughta’ that and someone believed it
— look what it’s done so far.

What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing
and what do we think we might see?
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

All of us under its spell
we know that it’s probably magic.
Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices?
I hear them calling my name.

Could it be the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice may be one and the same.
Well I’ve heard it too many times to ignore it
it’s somethin’ that I’m s’posed to be.

And someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

~~ Kermit the Frog ~~

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This, ffolkes, is an odd pearl. For me to say that is, well, unprecedented, if only in its stark simplicity. It’s also quite cogent, in its own weird way, for it wanders around quite drunkenly, almost randomly, yet, still manages to fulfill whatever it is trying to say. The exact nature of that is, of course, left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader, though, as always, you may decline the mission. It will, however, at least partially, probably end up on the Quiz….Ya never know what ya might need to know…. Pay attention, now; some of it is tricky…. In fact, it begins with a bit of subtlety many might get stuck on, but, trust me, and keep going…. You’ll be fine.

“Avoid fried foods which angry up the blood.” — Satchel Paige

“We all carry it within us; supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, unquenchable joy. It is never thwarted and cannot be destroyed. But it is hidden deep,
which is what makes life a problem.” — Huston Smith

“We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.” — Virginia Satir

“Watches are a confidence trick invented by the Swiss.” — Chiun, in “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins…”

“For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children

“Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.” — from Observations on Life From Children

“In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing.” — Antonio Porchia, Voces

“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”

“The flesh surrenders itself. Eternity takes back its own. Our bodies stirred these waters briefly, danced with a certain intoxication before the love of life and self, dealt with a few strange ideas, then submitted to the instruments of Time. What can we say of this? I occurred. I am not… yet I occurred.”
— Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

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

“.. bleakness…. desolation…. plastic forks…”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

Now, now, don’t fret; it doesn’t mean anything, other than I’m a strange person. Well, I guess, if you really enjoyed today’s Pearl, it might have some relevance for you; other wise, it’s where it is simply because I thought it was damn funny. Hell, I could fill most of a ranting section with it, but, I just figured I’d add it here at the end, sort of like a, what? Oh, how, ’bout, an innovation. That works; we’ll go with innovation. Don’t worry, I won’t try this again. Zippy just hit the right note, so, there he sits. Now, as noted below, it’s time for me to go sits…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, Zippy or no Zippy….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Abject traces of bellicose faces….

Posted on April 18, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.”

~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 1 ~~

Different day, different pub ~~ Cork, Ireland

Note the perfect Guinness waiting at the tap….

Hajime…. Hmm… Where to begin? No doubt, the beginning would be best, so, let’s start there. Good morrow, I think. I can’t be entirely positive, but, saying so often sets the tone, so, we’ll go with that. I’d ask how y’all are doin’, but, that would be silly, since you’re not really here yet. A distinct possibility exists you will never be here, but, if I thought too hard about that, it would probably make me crazier than I already am; I don’t think that would be wise today, as the drive to crazy would be very short, indeed.

Ah, well, such is life as a retired dilettante, I suppose. I can’t really complain, as I have a roof, warmth, ample food, and a magic cat; many people don’t have any of that, even at my age…. and, isn’t THAT a proper indictment of our society? I’d say so, but, if I did, that would be ranting in the intro again, and I promised myself I wouldn’t do that any more. It would probably be a good idea for me to avoid ranting altogether today, I think; anything that came out would be suspect, for sure and for certain. In fact, I suspect we ought to leave this right here, and use this little button again, to get us down the page to the next section. Hold on, it can be a little bumpy with this one….

Shall we Pearl?….

“If one sticks too rigidly to one’s principles,
one would hardly see anybody.”

~~ Agatha Christie~~

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

Today’s video selection is a two hour compilation of classical music, combined with a screensaver slide-show of fine art photographs. I have yet to watch or listen, but, it sounds lovely, and the picture it displayed was certainly fine art…. Enjoy!….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/-3FMzIRSIMc

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It may not seem like it, but, it’s been a tough morning. The current rant isn’t done yet, either, so, here is a lighter piece, an old-school pearl with comments, to take the place of anything fresh, or reasonably coherent…. Enjoy, ffolkes; this may be the best I’ve got today…. Too bad I wrote it almost four years ago….

From 9/12/2012:

This is an old school pearl for your reading pleasure, or nearest approximation of same…. a bit different, with some internal comments from yours truly (in parentheses for your convenience….), to give directional hints that may or may not lead you to the point being developed…. but, funny, at least, as much as I can make them….

“… But when he [the people’s champion] has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.), “The Republic”

(When I read this, or sentiments like it, I always get a picture in my head of the two Bushes…. GW and GHW, otherwise known as the Senior Shrub and the Junior Shrub, or vice versa…. The national mourning that took place yesterday is the best example of their work in this arena….)

“My first American ancestor, gentlemen, was an Indian-an early Indian. Your ancestors skinned him alive, and I am an orphan. All those Salem witches were ancestors of mine. Your people made it tropical for them…. The first slave brought into New England out of Africa was an ancestor of mine-for I am a mixed breed, an infinitely shaded and exquisite Mongrel.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

(Me too! I loved this when I first saw it, back in High School, a VERY LONG time ago… so long ago, it was hot off the press…… The best part is, every one of those folks who believe themselves to be blue-blooded Americans are exactly the same make-up… There are very few real pure-bloods left anywhere in the world, and certainly not in a country with the diverse population we have….. we’re all, technically speaking, close to being “mutts”, every one of us…..)

“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.” — Galbraith’s Law

(I am reminded of those folks who are busy trying to convince everyone that they aren’t against Obama because he’s black, and then turn around and support R&R, who have all but guaranteed to return racism and bigotry to government….. Hell, just look at one of their primary talking point slogans, the key part of which is, and I quote, “…we’ll take America back….” Take it back? From whom? From other Americans? Does this mean the current government aren’t real Americans? That sounds suspiciously of both racism, AND treason, to me…..)

“The clinching proof of my reasoning is that I will cut anyone who argues further into dog meat.” — Sir Geoffery de Tourneville (ca. 1350)

(Ah, the good old days…. sometimes, I wish we would see someone in the House, or the Senate, say this at the end of a speech, just to see if anyone is paying attention…)

“Somewhere in suburban Honolulu, an unemployed bellhop is whipping up a batch of illegal psilocybin chop suey!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

(Okay, I admit it… this one isn’t part of the message inherent in the other quotes…. I just like it….. Though, now that I think about it, the fact that it is entirely possible this is true, does say something about the subject at hand, to wit: society and government thereof…. What it says could be paraphrased as “If God is in charge here, I am angry; if He is not, I am frightened….” — Smart Bee)

No one ever made laws keeping people from making fools of themselves. — Smart Bee

(This is a wonderful end point for this discussion, or at least, it is such an ending for the discussion going on in my head….. I think this is very, very true, sadly…. Moreover, I believe that the laws we do pass actually are the proof of the pudding, in terms of people making fools of themselves…. especially when we try to legislate morality…..)

That’s enough mental torture for one day….. I hope the conclusion these quotes led to is clear…. if not, well, that’s okay, because I never hold quizzes…. and hopefully, you got a chuckle or two from reading it…. and if not, well, console yourself with the fact that it is done…..

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

Off the proverbial cuff….

I never meant to kill that period of time,
it didn’t give me any choice.
It tried to hem me in without reason, or rhyme,
refused me any vote, or any voice.

You have to admit, I buried it deep and fast,
just as if I cared.
I knew, though, it would never last,
or ever be fully repaired.

No news, no pictures can bring it back,
once is all we get.
No pleas of public good, or even public lack;
in stone the past is set.

Futuristic visions now occupy my dreams,
I’m ready to go on.
Look! It fills up the screen, and it gleams!
Where’s the moment I’m sitting on?

Now, I remembered, at long, long last,
is all we really can hold.
Every moment goes by so bloody fast,
we’d best fill them all with beauty, warm and bold.

~~ gigoid ~~

4/30/2013

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

Naked Pearls

Random Notes On Being Human

*********

“Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused or disabused;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled,–
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world.”

~~ Alexander Pope — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 13 ~~

*********

“Catch the wind, see it spin, sail away, live the day way up high in the sky.”

~~ Jimmy Page and Robert Plant ~~

*********

“It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider
that the limit of our power of perception
is also the limit of all there is to perceive.”

~~ C. W. Leadbeater ~~

*********

“Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.”

~~ Euripides ~~

*********

“All the magick of creation exists within a single, tiny seed.”

~~ Magi ~~

*********

“A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a Unicorn.”

~~ Ancient Human proverb ~~

*********

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
To keep our faces toward change
and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate
is strength undefeatable.”

~~ Helen Keller ~~

*********

“Once you can accept the universe
as being something expanding
into an infinite nothing which is something,
wearing stripes with plaid is easy.”

~~ Albert Einstein ~~

*********

Whatever far-off world exists,
dearer to man than life itself,
darkness keeps it in her arms,
and shrouds it in a cloud.

No one has found a way beyond,
What lies beneath is unrevealed,
Adrift upon a glittering stream,
We sigh for some still nameless thing.”

~~ Euripides, “Hippolytus” ~~

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

I am fairly certain it’s done; I went over it all, and there is enough in each section to make the grade, even if it isn’t an A, or even a B, today. So be it. The mere fact it is done is a testament to the process of creating Pearls, which has evolved to the point of near independence. Sure it has. On that delusional note, I think it would be best if I just say, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, when you’ll see yet another attempt to get this right. Don’t hold your breath, though; it could be late…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Bordering on rhubarb pie….

Posted on April 16, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.”

~~ Aristotle ~~

White’s Tavern, Belfast, Ireland

Est. 1630 by Royal License

Hajime…. I slept, sort of. Since my lower back decided, right at bedtime last night, to go into sever spasming mode, I had to take a break, go to the local pub, and apply some C6H11O6 to the problem. It worked, naturally, even if I did have to walk home, due to no cabs being available. Not a problem when three sheets into the wind, I assure you. I then crashed, and actually slept for 6 solid hours, only to arise to the glory of the morning after….

SIGH…. Such is life in the big city, I guess. I haven’t got much today, so, other than the old-school pearl, we’ll be archive diving today. So be it. And, so be it, now. I am in such a state I don’t even have any tricks or traps I can use, so, we’ll just have to get on with the show without them. It’s a little ugly, but, that’s the deal…. Here’s how that looks….

Shall we Pearl?….

“My great mistake, the fault for which I can’t forgive myself,
is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality.”

~~ Oscar Wilde ~~

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

Since we are in suppressed state, a bit of our default is in order. I hope you enjoy it; as usual, it was picked solely for the picture it showed….

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

Classical Music

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

https://youtu.be/nG4bUpPQZ60

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

Do not confuse ‘duty’ with what other people expect of you;
they are utterly different.
Duty is a debt you owe to yourself
to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily.
Paying that debt can entail anything
from years of patient work
to instant willingness to die.
Difficult it may be,
but the reward is self-respect.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

I had intended to write a discussion based on the above statement, which, if you’ve been here a lot, you have seen previously. But, upon reflection, this really needs no embellishment. According to what I was taught about being a Man, by my father, Sarge, this is exactly correct. He never said so, in so many words, but, this is how he lived, and my brothers and I knew, this was what he expected from us…. That’s enough for me.

So be it.

gigoid has spoken…..

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

When life calls, ready or not….

Memories are all we have sometimes
to keep our sanity intact,
with learned phrases and subtle rhymes
lessening life’s vicious, vibrant impact.

Presently all seems composed and intent
in stark contrast to hollow day,
forlorn patchwork emotions of unheralded bent,
fill up night’s bower, leaving hell to pay.

Such vigorous and elevated temper
brings us rare moments to ponder,
filled with lessons all need to remember
lest base perception lose valued wonder.

Laugh loud when entropy sticks fast
leaving shameless anger in its wake.
Let bygones pass quietly into the past
reaping only what is left to take.

Final words of wise imagination
tell us living well’s the best revenge, it appears
ever eluding choirs and congregations
finally finding home, never buried in tears.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/10/2012

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

Oh, boy! Our final pearl today is my favorite kind. Strange, obscure, full of whimsy and ironic truths, it winds its way with unerring imprecision to the final pearl, which brings all of it together into a nice little package. The shape, size, and contents of that package are, to me, quite clear, but, then, all of what I said about the pearls fits me, too, so…. Enjoy!….

“If you’re going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance.” — Whimsical Bee

“Ask a toad what is beauty?…a female with two great round eyes coming out of her little head, a large flat mouth, a yellow belly and a brown back.” — Voltaire

“Be careless in your dress if you will, but keep a tidy soul.” — Mark Twain

“Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoan to the philosopher; and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately, it is the philosopher, not the protozoan, who gives us this assurance.” — Bertrand Russell

“Smoke a little dope and walk out in the air: the stars are all connected to the brain.” — The Who

“How could the drops of water know themselves to be a river? Yet the river flows on.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“All of a sudden, I want to THROW OVER my promising ACTING CAREER, grow a LONG BLACK BEARD and wear a BASEBALL HAT!!… Although I don’t know WHY!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Never miss a good chance to shut up.” — Scott Beach’s grandfather

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

Let it never be said I faded under pressure. It’s done, though I can’t say at all how it turned out. Nor will I make any further attempt to be coherent, as it is becoming rather an onerous task. In fact, I think I’m going back to bed. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, as long as I’m still upright and semi-conscious….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

From inside the pentagram….

Posted on April 8, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Never do a thing concerning the rectitude of which you are in doubt.”

~~ Pliny the Younger — Letters, Book i, Letter xviii, 5 ~~

Shadow of a not-so-crooked old man….

Hajime…. As I sit to begin this morning, I am struck by just how important to my sanity this process has become. Of course, sanity is a question-begging term for most folks, Most ffolkes, too. For me, it’s not a question, at all, at all. I am crazy as a bed-bug, as the saying goes, but, rather than suffer from it, I tend to revel in it. But, then, I am strange, and have accepted it as reality. In fact, being ‘tetched’, as it were, has afforded me untold opportunities in Life, of which otherwise I might never have seen or heard, to my everlasting regret. Since I don’t believe in regrets, I chose insanity.

You see, insanity is not the boojum most folks would have us believe. It is merely another of the many states of mind we humans can adopt, a state which, in truth, is merely another method humans have developed to deal with a big, scary universe they don’t always understand. It isn’t, as we are told, a bad method, it’s merely strange, compared to what most people have experienced. Strange and different don’t always have to mean ‘bad’; if it works to help the person deal with life more effectively than their previous method, well, so be it, in my book. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

But, the rest of the world doesn’t much like strange and different; those two adjectives have, unfortunately, been given a bad rap, in my estimation, and needn’t be viewed askance any more than any other such superlatives. In fact, they offer many advantages the merely sane are unable to even perceive, and, in their own way, are honorable methods for dealing with Life at Large. Well, I find them so, anyway….

I think I’m lost. I haven’t a clue how we got to this point, other than by indulging my own talent for blather. Since we’ve gotten to this point without having any real direction, perhaps it would be best to get on with the show, before we reach the point of no return. We need the return, for the deposit. Therefore, I am calling a halt to any further nonsense, sense, or blather, and will now flip this little switch right over here, which should take us directly to the oyster beds, express-style…. Hang on….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Mongo only pawn… in game of life.”

~~ Alex Karras in “Blazing Saddles” ~~

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

Bonnie Raitt

The musical selection for today is an example of pure self-indulgence. I feel like listening to something both soothing, and hot. I can’t think of a better artist to cover both. Here is a live concert from the Oakland Coliseum in 1989. It just doesn’t get any better than this, ffolkes, not in my world…. Enjoy, if you will….

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

Bonnie Raitt Live

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

https://youtu.be/scokz7A4kkU

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

Yesterday, for a time, before my back & shoulders began to react to the oncoming rain we’re expecting today, I spent time commenting on a friend’s blog. He posts mostly about politics and issues in the Middle East, and can be found here: https://lobotero.com/

My comments became rather a lengthy series of mini-rants, and, apparently, have cleared out any angst that had built up. So, in today’s section reserved for such ranting, you get an old-school pearl, designed to create more angst, or, as we like to call it sometimes, stimulating our rage against the Machine…. It isn’t the most pointed pearl ever, but, it gets rather esoteric and strange in spots…. As well, it’s got some rather tasty shots…. Enjoy!….

“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” — Aristotle

“In all levels of life, the sheep are safe only when the wolves are not hungry.” — F. J. Lovret

“If you have ever seen a four-year-old trying to lord it over a two-year-old, then you know what the basic problem of human nature is — and why government keeps growing larger and ever more intrusive.” — Thomas Sowell

“When I was seven years old, I was once reprimanded by my mother for an act of collective brutality in which I had been involved at school. A group of seven-year-olds had been teasing and tormenting a six-year-old. It is always so, my mother said. You do things together which not one of you would think of doing alone…. Wherever one looks in the world of human organization, collective responsibility brings a lowering of moral standards. The military establishment is an extreme case, an organization which seems to have been expressly designed to make it possible for people to do things together which nobody in his right mind would do alone.” — Freeman Dyson, Weapons and Hope

“A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” — Paul Simon

“King Arthur and his armored goons of the Round Table functioned as the Politburo of a slave state: Camelot. Of all who have written on the Matter of Arthur, from Malory to White, only Mark Twain understood this. But Mark Twain was a great writer.” — Edward Abbey

“How many Presidential family members does it take to screw in a light bulb in the White House? Two, Hillary for her office, Bill for the rest of the White House.” — Snarky Bee

“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 — Harper’s Magazine, September, 1899

“If voting could change the system it would be illegal. If not voting could change the system it would be illegal.” — Schroedinger’s Cat

“Our subjectivity
Is a mirrored,
Spiked casket.”

~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~

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

After the odyssey….

Portraits of iconic symbols, crashing, singing, forgotten;
evolving into mature innovation, as yet pale, and rotten.
Still water justly breeds, impenetrable primal verses resound;
unholy moments tarry, emotion swirls in passion unbound

Spiritual ovulation precedes each pregnant pause;
gravid, time moves on, following destiny’s cause.
Cast adrift on waves of confusion, to a final, damp landing;
salvation beckons sweetly, fed well on understanding.

Dreams directly fall, in night’s grey bower, unbidden;
lingering flavors in simple taste, lovingly, cleverly hidden.
Childish laughter sounds, joyful, bright, and clear;
no need ever to hide, no more monsters to fear.

Temper most foul arrives under unregistered mail;
forgotten taunts live on, lashed by an ancient flail.
Plain dealing delivers such lasting specks of honest hate;
savage in retrospect, never hasty, always running late.

Forever, cries an ambient lover of the pending night;
his pale, weak issue forms its own failing light.
Still, fortune favors such as those who apprehend;
Sweet love of Gaia, let it never end.

~~ gigoid ~~

3/10/2013

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

Naked Pearls

Life according to Jimi

*********

“But first, are you experienced?”

~~ Jimi Hendrix ~~

*********

“[Freedom is] the power to live as you will.
Who then lives as he wills?”

~~ Marcus Tullius Cicero ~~

*********

“Make haste slowly.”

~~ Ben Franklin ~~

*********

“Where no hope is left, is left no fear.”

~~ Milton ~~

*********

“If you want to be loved, be lovable.”

~~ Ovid ~~

*********

“I have noticed that nothing I have never said ever did me any harm.”

~~ Calvin Coolidge ~~

*********

“The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world
is to be in reality what we would appear to be;
all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves
by the practice and experience of them.”

~~ Socrates ~~

*********

“Use a mirror in difficult times:
You will see both cause and resolution.”

~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~

*********

“If I don’t meet you no more in this world
Then I’ll see you in the next one.
Don’t be late”

~~ Jimi Hendrix ~~

*********

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

Having fulfilled the minimum requirements for a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom, we shall take our leave. We shall, in the interim before our return, attempt strongly to rid ourselves of this damnable royal “we” into which we keep stumbling. We are hopeful of success. We are also outta there, until the morrow. Count on it….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Golly! It’s exactly infinite!….

Posted on April 3, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Love not what you are, but what you may become.”

~~ Miguel de Cervantes ~~

Typical tourist shot of Abbey & Ben

Hajime…. Well. Here we are again, this time with a degree of reluctance rather difficult to overcome. Another very long night, with the bonus of tweaking my back good and proper right before arising. Joy, oh, joy…. Since I am determined, in spite of all that, to post today, I’ll struggle through the process, & see what can be done. And, I won’t even ask for any slack.

I will, however, take some, or make some, one way or another, for, today, I’m going to need some to get through this without any unwarranted angst build-up, nor any dead bodies, if at all possible. Leelu hates the smell. At any rate, this little short diatribe-like outburst, which is here merely to fill in a bit of space on the page, is all the intro you get today. In fact, you have already reached the end of what I’ve got, so, we’ll just be on our way, just as if we planned it this way…. Slick, eh?…. Well, I think so, but, then, we already know where from I began the day…

Shall we Pearl?….

“A man can’t get rich if he takes proper care of his family.”

~~ Navajo Proverb ~~

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

Betty Boop in 1934

Image from 123freevectors.com via Google Images

I’m feeling pretty down, altogether, so, we’ll go today with a bit of different entertainment. Here is a collection of all the various Betty Boop cartoons that got banned at one time or another, for various offenses against the public’s sensibilities, as legal at the time. None, of course, are anything perverted, other than with the usual human insanity, which, in Betty’s case, was mitigated by the size of her heart…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this is all classic humor and state of the art for the time…

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

Betty Boop

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

https://youtu.be/VkG9c1yy2lg

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

There are days when I must trust the process. Today is such a day, for sure and for certain. I’m trying NOT to go into the archives for anything other than the poem, so, here is an old-school pearl, taking some shots at modern society, and a few of the things that I see we need to change, if we have any hope of making it to the twenty-second century….

“The world has taken on a thickness of vulgarity that raises a spiritual man’s contempt to the violence of a passion.” — Charles Baudelaire

“It’s silly to go on pretending that under the skin we are all brothers. The truth is more likely that under the skin we are all cannibals, assassins, traitors, liars, hypocrites, poltroons.” — Henry Miller

“The industrial way of life leads to the industrial way of death. From Shiloh to Dachau, from Antietam to Stalingrad, from Hiroshima to Vietnam and Afghanistan, the great specialty of industry and technology has been the mass production of human corpses.” — Edward Abbey

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” — Genesis 1:28

(As an aside, I would like to note, the statement from Genesis, in my mind, is the root cause of ALL our troubles here on Earth….This is not only a contemptible lie, it is sheer effrontery on the part of the one who thought this shit up…. Sheer wishful thinking, and, quite obviously insane….)

“If you close your eyes, You won’t see them dying” — Eric Bogle

“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.” — Lord Acton

“The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause the best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves.” — Albert Einstein

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

Elemental, dear Watson….

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

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

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

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

Fuck.

It
hurts.

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

He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….

Ante up.
Deal.

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

I say,

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

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

because

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

I
will
take the complaints.

After all,
they
are
my bones.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/14/2014

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

Our final pearl is an old-school, random harlequin variety pearl. It’s a bit more obscure than most, but, winds its way to where it should be, eventually. Try not to take it personally, okay? I’m tired, and it’s all I’ve got…. Just think of the children before you decide to vent….

“The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.” — Socrates

“If you don’t know where you’re going, when you get there you’ll be lost.” — Yogi Berra

“Any certainty is a delusion.” — Subtle Bee

“Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.” — Cicero

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” — Mark Twain

“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” — Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

“And furthermore, my bowling average is unimpeachable!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

While making no claims as to quality, I can honestly say, it’s done. That, by the way, is also ALL I’m going to say about it. I will, as usual, try again tomorrow, given half a chance. For now, I shall bid thee adieu, with the hopes your day goes better than my night. See y’all mañana, amigos; I wouldn’t advise trying to stop me….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Uncanny visions in sauce aubergine….

Posted on April 2, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Yow! Did something bad happen or am I in a drive-in movie?”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

Iconic Alaskans, Pre-Zombie Age

Hajime…. In spite of the rather excellently nonsensical title for today’s Pearl, I can make no claims to any particular excellence, as it isn’t done yet. However, having, somehow, managed to fall into some pleasant hours of actual sleep, there is hope for, at least, some degree of coherency, if not erudition. Plus, having already used up half of my most elegant vocabulary in this paragraph, the rest may suffer somewhat. So be it, as they say downtown; I’m too happy to care. Sleep is a weapon, and, for the first time in what seems like a decade, I am armed well to start the day.

It’s odd to have such clarity so early, but, let’s see if we can’t take some advantage of it, to make a decent effort at a fine, lustrous Pearl, of great beauty and value. Or, we could fake it, which may happen further down the page, as one can never tell just how cooperative SB will be on any given day, and, we must always be aware of the kind attentions of our old nemesis, one Murphy, the ultimate asshole. Oops, he doesn’t care for that epithet, but, hey, he knows how I feel about him, so, as they say in certain areas of the city, fuck it.

And, we’ll apply that attitude to the intro today, in the interests of getting on with it, since I’m rapidly running out of patter. In fact, I can’t seem to find even a tidbit left in there which might have any useful effect on what is happening. As can be observed, we are rapidly getting close to a point from which extrication may be impossible…. To forgo any possibility of derailing our purpose today, I believe I’ll use this little toy right here, which is, possibly, our most efficient toy. It’s pretty cool, and it works like this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Are people more important than the grizzly bear?
Only from the point of view of some people.”~~ Edward Abbey ~~

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

One might have guessed I’d go with a classical composer today; it’s my default. When I really want to concentrate, and be soothed at the same time, this is usually the composer to whom I turn. One of the most prolific composers of all time, I give you Camille Saint-Saënz, for your listening enjoyment….

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

Camille Saint-Saënz

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

https://youtu.be/eIZpyoKHhXo

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

Today’s rant will be from the archives, simply because I’m in too good a mood to spoil with such vitriol as might come forth. Here instead is a relatively short discussion of the tendency of the human animal to resort to violence as a means of expressing their innermost demons…. sort of. It will do for our purposes today, which, at this point, merely involve getting down to the next section…. Keeping that in mind, please enjoy our little foray into the fairly recent past…

From 1/23/2013:

“I’ve never killed a man, but I’ve read many obituaries with great pleasure.”

~~ Clarence Darrow ~~

I really love the power of understatement; this one from Mr. Darrow is an excellent condemnation of a huge class of people, unnamed as yet, but whose names are indelibly etched on our memories, just waiting to be included in a list of people the world would be better off without…. We all have a list by that title in our heads; anyone who denies it is a liar, plain and simple, and fooling no one. As a human being, it is part of our nature to hate, and nobody is so morally chaste as to escape those kinds of feelings now and then. Nobody…..

Sometimes, what amazes me about modern life is that there are so FEW outbreaks of random violence… I’d think that, with all the pressure our society puts on people, there would be a lot more of us who crack, enough to lose control over our baser impulses, and start trying to cross names off our list of preferred targets….. The way they usually go about it isn’t the most logical, or tactically intelligent, but what do you expect from somebody in an emotional crisis? Logical thinking? Not going to happen, sorry….. I’d say it would be time to get nervous when some guy starts blasting away, then disappears, only to attack again later, in a new place…. That would indicate more planning and strategy, and a much more dangerous person…..

I’m not sure just why I started this pearl…. It might have been in response to yet another random shooting spree reported yesterday in the news, in which a teenager started firing at people because of some argument he/she had with another teen, or something like that… another totally insane reason to start killing people, but, then, do you really expect rational from these people? It isn’t rational to expect them to have an understandable reason for their insanity, it doesn’t work that way…..

But, the media will spend an incredible amount of time and energy exploring every nuance of what this idiot was doing when they snapped, until no secrets are left to the young person’s life…. In looking at the entire incident, including the media coverage, I am tempted to give a big sigh, and lament the death of society, or at least the apparent death of decency…..

Amorphous anxiety seems to be our legacy as members of today’s culture; our lives consist of a series of unpalatable events fueled by unwarranted lies, and made worse for a societal tendency toward sloth combined with a severe lack of compassion; the sheer futility of it all seems to be the only message that comes through clearly. The fatal flaw in human nature that keeps us from becoming truly moral creatures is still in control of our destiny, and any impetus toward rationality is disallowed.

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.” — Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

This is the flaw we possess, all of us, and that which has plagued us throughout our history. One of my blogging friends commented a day or two ago with a relatively famous quote, in response to another discussion around the recent spate of reported shootings…. “All that is needed for evil to succeed, is for good men to look on and do nothing.” (She didn’t report the attribution, but according to Google, it was first stated by a man named Edmund Burke, with a number of slight alterations in wording since its appearance.) This single truth has been the biggest stumbling block to human progress for our entire history, and continues today to keep us from making any progress toward improving our chances of survival in the long run.

Once more, I’ve painted myself into a virtual corner, so to speak, since I don’t have any good solutions to offer to our dilemma. Oh sure, I can tell anyone what is needed for us to start making the world into the kind of place that would be home to EVERYONE…. I think, down inside, all of us KNOW what is needed for the world to be a better place. But, until it becomes common practice for people to make decisions based on compassion and love, rather than ambition and avarice, things aren’t going to change much, because the folks who don’t care about others aren’t going to stop what they’re doing…. there’s nothing in it for them if they do. Only when good men stand up, and refuse to allow that kind of usurpation of the rights of everyone else, will any changes take place…..

So, you tell me….. When is that going to happen? And how do we convince people that it needs to happen? Answer those two questions, and we might have a direction to go……

“If you ever go temporarily insane, don’t shoot somebody, like a lot of people do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you’d really be surprised.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

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

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

Often I stand to watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, season to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/7/2012

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

Our final pearl today is a rather simple, yet definitive pearl, of the pointed variety. This points us toward a way to approach our lives with elegance, rationality, and a degree of style. If you don’t get it, just go by the final injunction, and you’ll be fine…. Enjoy!….

“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” — Sagacious Bee

“But the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” — Arthur C. Clarke

“I’m not a teacher only a fellow traveller of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead – ahead of myself as well as of you.” — George Bernard Shaw, “Getting Married,” 1908

“Don’t take anything seriously except happiness.” — Albert Camus

“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” — Mark Twain

“If you get confused, listen to the music play.” — Robert Hunter

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

The smooth efficiency with which this Pearl came together makes me nervous; however, having trusted the process thus far, I must go with the flow. Since it’s also done, perhaps I’ll forgo the usual idiocy here at the end, & merely take my leave. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, unless somebody comes up with a weapon I can’t deal with…. The odds are good, as always….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Bargaining is intrinsically sordid….

Posted on March 26, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
down the foggy ruins of time
far past the frozen leaves
the haunted frightened trees
out to the windy beach
far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.

Ah, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
silhouetted by the sea
circled by the circus sands
with all memory and fate
driven deep beneath the waves
let me forget about today until tomorrow.”

~~- Bob Dylan ~~

Traffic Monitor Leelu

Hajime…. My first task today is to apologize to those blogging friends whose sites I have not visited in the last few days. I’ve been posting, then spending most of the day offline, recovering from, or dealing with the physical issues plaguing me of late. I’ve made a few comments, but, mostly have skipped surfing at all, and made only a few comments. I hope to be back to relative normalcy soon, or, what we call that around here, anyway, so, bear with me in my struggles to find my center/balance, and get back to doing what I wish to do….

Today’s mess was mostly done, save for the final section, which has a short bit to finish. It’s just as well, as yesterday’s events nearly put me in a world of trouble. A young security officer made the mistake of attempting to intimidate me when I showed some anger at a bureaucratic conundrum that had developed during my time out of the house; he is a very fortunate young man, in that I was able to refrain from sending him home in a box, with a massive effort of will. He simply had no clue as to how much danger he was in, so, I was compelled to let him go, and merely lashed him verbally. I then had to walk off the anger, and today, am paying for that in stiffness and pain…. SIGH…. So be it.

That’s probably enough whining for one day. In fact, it’s enough, period. Let’s get on with this mess before I fall into any more chatty, boring episodes, okay? Okay….. Besides, this isn’t as easy as it looks, when I have a very hormonal teenage cat, trying her best to call the neighborhood boy cats to come play, while alternately rubbing up against me for attention in her affectionate state…. It isn’t easy to type with claws in the leg, you know. But, I’m getting it done, with the help of this little Tardis Toy, which works very simply and efficiently. Watch this….

Shall we Pearl?

And Katerfelto, with his hair on end
At his own wonders, wondering for his bread.
‘T is pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat,
To peep at such a world,–to see the stir
Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.

~~ William Cowper ~~

~~ The Task, Book iv, The Winter Evening, Line 86 ~~

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

Playing For Change Logos

In keeping with my new cause, here is another video from Playing for change, with one of the best versions of an old Stones tune I’ve ever heard…. Enjoy, ffolkes; it just doesn’t get much better than this….

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

Gimme Shelter

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

https://youtu.be/GJtq6OmD-_Y

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

My recently adopted policy of working ahead with old material seems to be working okay, for the time being, hence, here is another discussion of morality/ethics and religion from the last day of 2012…. Enjoy! At least you don’t have to listen to any more BS about the elections, or Republicans, or the Hillarity, or Brussells…. Bonus!….

From 12/31/2012:

Forgiveness. How does a person without faith in a higher power obtain this boon? Certainly not from themselves…. I know, if I have done something for which I feel the need, or desire, to be forgiven, then I most likely don’t deserve it, and refuse to give in to self-indulgence. According to the preachers, God forgives all, but damn me if I can see any reason to do so, no matter how ‘merciful’ he/she/it might be. How can anyone expect moral behavior, if even our most grievous sins are forgiven? Because of the promise of reward for compliance, or threat of punishment for refusal to conform? I agree with Albert Einstein, that any such philosophy is not realistic, and certainly not moral…..

“In his private heart no man much respects himself.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

All of us, without exception, have things we hide inside ourselves, secrets that nobody else will ever be told. Whether it is a memory of an act one is not proud of, or a bit of severe foolishness, or something so shameful that to share it would be to become a pariah, all of us humans have secrets. I would guess that almost all of them are akin to what is described in the first paragraph, to wit: acts that need forgiveness, but do not deserve it. I believe that this may be a method by which one can tell another person’s outlook on religion, for almost all religions are based on this principle, of divine forgiveness. Even though we may do things in life that are unforgivable, the gods, or God, for the monotheistic among us, are so merciful, that they will do so, if you but acknowledge their divinity, and admit they are your higher power…..

It’s a good deal, all in all, if one buys it. Myself, I’m a bit sanguine about it, since I only have the word of the preachers that it is so; there is no real evidence to be found that supports the theory, and the scientist in me wants at least a little bit of proof before accepting something as truth. I’m not going to buy anything just on someone else’s word, or assertion of truth; I’ve been alive long enough to know that doing things like that can only lead to losing something, if only the advantage of self-respect.

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

~~ Mark Twain ~~

Wait, I thought we were talking about religion, not the last Republican President….. Sorry, couldn’t resist…. Any who, it all comes back to the basic idea of how we view reality, in terms of the concept of God, or a power greater than ourselves, that is responsible somehow for everything that exists, and thus, for us. By giving away that responsibility, I think, we are showing our own cowardice; I’m not willing to do that, not without more compelling evidence than hearsay.

I’m not blind to the other evidence that many religionists claim as being proof of God and his will; I’ve burst into tears myself at the sight of a particularly vivid sunrise, without knowing why, other than the beauty of it was so arrestingly powerful. I’ve seen good things happen everywhere, in human interaction, and in Nature. I’ve witnessed what priests like to call “grace”, and will admit that such events are not explainable by ordinary means. I’ve also witnessed the other side of existence, where human nature turns dark and cruel, while Nature reveals its own complete indifference for human suffering, and cannot accept that the same entity would dare to assume, or want responsibility for such a wicked universe, even if the balance of good and evil is maintained by the presence of the other.

That assumption is purely human, and thus does not qualify, in my mind, as evidence of divinity in the form of God, by any of the visions held by any of the churches of Mankind. Unless, of course, one goes beyond doctrine, into philosophy, where the above contradictions do not apply, or can be explained by one further assumption. That assumption is a hard one for most humans, as it involves taking responsibility for EVERYTHING that they do, and for everything that happens to them. (Yep, that’s a paraphrase of the basic principle of Karma…) In other words, as Robert Heinlein put it so aptly in Stranger In a Strange Land, “Thou art God.” I know, it’s blasphemous, but, hey, been there, done that, let’s get past it…. It is the only explanation that fits ALL the facts in evidence, and even if a bit grandiose, really isn’t, because we are, after all, just a bunch of bozos on the bus.

Being God, though, would be a really boring job, the way the job descriptions in all the churches read, and I don’t think I want to take that on, particularly. It may be the only way I can find any forgiveness for those things I’ve done in my long life of which I am not proud, but, since I don’t feel that I SHOULD be forgiven for them, I think I’ll just accept the responsibility, along with the consequence, a certain lessening of my self-esteem, and try to act in the future in ways that won’t make me feel that way…. It really isn’t hard to be good, in reality, as long as you care…. The problem is, not enough people care, or even think about stuff like this….. Me, I can’t help myself…… Caring, to me, is what being human is about; those who don’t care aren’t fully human, and won’t be until they do…..

“I am covered with pure vegetable oil and I am writing a best seller!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

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

Random Visions/Coloring Between the Lines of Grief

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

2/22/2013

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

Naked Pearls

Thoughts on Love

*******

Again, Again! Again, again, even if we know the countryside of love, and the tiny churchyard with its names mourning, and the chasm, more and more silent, terrifying, into which the others dropped: we walk out together anyway beneath the ancient trees, we lie down again, again, among the flowers, and face the sky.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

“When you’re around it all the time, you don’t notice it so much.” — Garrison Keillor, “Lake Wobegon Days”

“When one loves, nothing is too much trouble, and there is always time.” — Abdu’l-Baha

“If you’re smoking after sex then you’re going *WAY* too fast!” — Thinks he’s humorous Bee

” Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.” — Instructions for life

“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“All I know of love is that Love is all there is.” — Emily Dickinson

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

Well, I did it, in spite of the cat’s yowling for love, which we are NOT giving in to this year; no kittens for us. In looking back over what happened today, I have no explanations, or clues, so, I’ll just let it fly as it is, trusting once more to the process. Tomorrow, at this point, is still a question, so, we’ll see how it goes, eh? My plans are to post again tomorrow, but, y’all know how plans go. Regardless, y’all be chill, it’s strange out there….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

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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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Mark Twain

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