Ffolkes,
Without it you cannot be really rich.”
~~ Chinese Proverb ~~
Solar Array on the International Space Station
Image from NASA.com
Good morning…. One is allowed to hope, anyway, since it’s a new day. I’m late, again, but, we’ll forgo any discussion of the reasons, as it would only depress us all…. Instead, we’ll just head on down the page, where we might find a solution, or, at worst, a change of scenery…. You could do worse, on a Tuesday in May….
Shall we Pearl?
“It has long been known that one horse can run faster than another – but which one? Differences are crucial.” — Lazarus Long
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Some of my Gentle Readers, who aren’t as familiar with my mind as some others, who have been here longer, won’t quite get why the following video is here today, given the general run of stuff you will see. That’s okay, I’m willing to explain this time, if briefly…. The picture is of Aristotle, arguably Mankind’s most influential teacher/polymath/scientist/philosopher, considered by many to be the founder of Western civilization, with only a couple other candidates (Plato, possibly Homer…). Aristotle, a true polymath, was, nonetheless, a man who frequently admitted his ignorance, in order to demonstrate to his students the proper frame of mind with which to approach any new knowledge.
Today’s very short video demonstrates a very simple idea, which merely takes the very old, simple principles involved in lacing one’s shoes, the traditional way, then, performing an even simpler reversal of the idea, in space, and in thinking, to produce a technique for securing footwear securely, more quickly, more cleanly, and more safely than the old method…. Bloody brilliant in its simplicity is what it is, and I commend the person who came up with it…. I can’t wait to change all my shoes with laces….
See, I’m not such an old dog, am I?….
Ukrainian Lacing
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Original article found at Lifehacker.com:
http://lifehacker.com/tie-shoes-smarter-with-the-ukrainian-lacing-technique-1705179518
Instructions found here:
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And the wind shall say,
their only monument the asphalt road
and a thousand lost golf balls.
~~ T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) ~~
Yesterday evening, while waiting for the pain to recede far enough to go to bed, I was struck by an irresistible urge to rant. This is what happened….
My passion has become subsumed in anger; I spend, it seems, the major part of my days battling with physical issues, almost every one of which can be attributed to one medical clusterfuck…. This, I think is why I haven’t been able to collect enough angst built up against the machineries of evil as a whole, other than one specific part of it, to provide enough emotional drive to rant effectively, or, at all, mostly.
That simple fact, the simple inability to fire back at my tormentors, pisses me off, especially, as I can ascribe all of it to the lack of courage, and slavish ignorance of two young people with degrees in medical science, an M.D. and a D.O., both of whom have been brainwashed to believe they are physicians, when they are merely practicing what they’ve been taught to believe is medicine. In reality, it’s a pretty narrow picture of all the medical knowledge available in the world, especially now, in these days when we all have access to the medical information of every culture, in every country in the world.
Losing my passion as a side effect of their clumsy manipulation, apparently, is a tough nut for me to swallow, (not to mention the mixing of metaphors it makes me commit…); I can’t seem to get past the sheer cruelty they have both unwittingly, (mostly… I have to assume that, or I’d have to kill them…), put me through, by their insistence on enforcing a policy of the HMO, which they both know to be ill-advised, due to a) having NO medical justification; b) necessitating a breach of medical ethics; c) ignoring patient rights; and, most egregiously, d) directly causing aggravation of existing conditions, including pain, stress, and, a serious loss of quality of life.
If I were a doctor, or wanted to pretend to be one, I don’t think I’d be able to sleep at night, even if I only had to do this to ONE person; I know for a fact I am NOT the only person to whom this is happening. I’ve talked to them. I’ve talked to their lawyers, and the people who have submitted their complaints, all of which are ignored, completely, by the HMO, which has paid many legislators over the course of many years to pass laws ensuring they cannot be stopped from doing what they do, whatever it is, to ensure their bottom line profits…. This includes making the process of even filing a complaint difficult, complicated, and ultimately, completely useless, as, strangely enough, they NEVER find they’ve ever done anything wrong, in any investigated complaint…
Nor have they ever been found to have done anything wrong by any of the agencies who are supposed to oversee them, and protect the rights of patients…. I can tell you, from personal experience, having talked to all of those agencies, the system is rigged to favor the powers that be, and even IF a private citizen had the time, the money, and the energy (remember. these are sick people, who AREN’T getting the treatments they need….) to be able to follow through on the several levels of appeal, each of them is more complicated, and harder to begin, much less finish, than the one before…. In short, it is impossible, and it’s meant to be that way.
(Gee… y’know? This situation all sounds a bit familiar in its general outline, I think…. Does it remind anyone else of the current situation with the misdeeds police are guilty of committing? I seem to recall hearing a recent federal court deciding a case that indicates that no police officer can be held legally responsible for the death of ANYONE while on duty, and probably when not…. Same, same, all same, same, sounds like to me….)
To protect the rights of the patients? I may be skeptical enough to deserve the sobriquet of ‘the dubious one’, but, even the most trusting soul in the world must be able to see what is happening here; the only entity the laws are made to protect is the corporations, who pay the lobbyists, who bribe the politicians…
Of course, now, thanks to having bribed the Supreme Court many years ago, and finally getting a majority of assholes, er, honestly insane judges on the bench, the corporate powers who influence the making of laws can contribute directly to the politicians, cutting out the lobbyist contingent altogether…. Guess whose money gets saved there…. Yep… Not mine, or yours, that’s for sure…. Nope, now the corporate entities can pool their money, and give it directly to whomever will vote their agenda… Sweet, eh?…
So, what does all that mean? Well, who the hell knows… I sure know how I feel about it, and that is most easily, and succinctly stated as consistently enraged. But, rage is pretty useless, as emotions go; the only time it really works for us is to save our asses in the middle of a fight, to wake us up to do whatever we need to do to survive…. channeling the berserker, I call it… Or, in my case, that would be the bozoid berserker…. Basically, though, any other time we feel rage, it is difficult to keep the consequences from being regretful…. dead bodies are SO inconvenient, and so is having to move to another country…. again….
Just kidding…. I hope you knew that, right? Well, if not, that’s okay. I like to keep folks guessing, because all the ffolkes I know would get it without being reminded, or having it pointed out…. I haven’t had to move to another country in many, many years, and, to be honest, have yet to leave any dead bodies behind me, that I know of…. Left a few in a bit less than pristine condition, but, no dead ones, I’m pretty certain….
So, how ’bout them Giants, eh? What, I can’t change the subject? I was done with that one anyway…. That, you know, was NOT a rant…. It was more what I’d call a vent. Having thus removed at least a portion of the bilious crap that collects so quickly, along with all that other noxious shit in my head, (better out than in, I always say….), I suppose I should stop teasing/torturing y’all and get on with whatever comes next…. It can’t be any worse than this, and there is a distinct possibility it could be better…
SIGH…. Okay…. Who am I kidding? We all know it will be…. Ah, well, I’m nothing if not tough…. tough, stubborn, who cares? We all made it this far, didn’t we? What’s to complain about?….
“A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits.” — Lazarus Long, The Notebooks
SHHHH! Please, don’t say anything, okay?….. I owe the lawyers enough….
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Miss Maggie Mae (maggiemaeijustsaythis.com, aka, mmijst.com) has graced these pages a number of times over the last almost four years; she’s one of my favorite modern poets, whom I found on WordPress many moons ago…. I think she was one of my first ten ‘follows’ after signing up here.
Her poetry is, quite simply, incredible…. Sharp, incisive, powerful, filled with metaphor, exploring the darkest feelings a human can experience…. and, by the power of her words, implying the presence and power of light, that she just can’t keep from shining out from within her….Enjoy!….
inch of time spent over the sea,
dragging your dead body back
from the sharks I fed you to.
There should be enough salt
to drown in. Now that is something
you don’t hear of!
But, I have heard of Buddha,
and Gandhi,
and what great advice for the
blonde girls in white dresses,
not scratched by hands of
light drinking, or hard gunfire;
the girls untouched by
living a dead life, waking under floorboards
built by their mothers.
Your heavy photograph burns to
my tongue. I spit. I curse you out
of your newly dried grave.
I am ecstatic for your corpse,
it grows on me like tough leather.
Now for her.
I carry a monsoon to her driveway.
She is lit up. A bright pumpkin
ripened for plummet.
She dresses in honeysuckle,
and flickers like whiskey.
I haven’t thought of her name,
she is black as a canvas; a new galaxy
before energy matters.
If her heart happens to
do that, I will carve it out.
I will take it back to July in my teeth
where the desert is waiting for me,
it’s Queen.
~~ Maggie Mae ~~
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I’d call these “lesser known” pearls of wisdom; they all give some really strong advice on living life as we choose, but, in ways, and about seemingly small factors, that aren’t common…. Works for me….
“Nature is not benign. Natural laws have no pity.” — Lazarus Long
“It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated… it is finished when it surrenders.” — Ben Stein
“A hug is a heart to heart talk.” — Bobby Matherne (American writer, 1940-)
“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” — Marcus Aurelius
“Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity.” — William Hazlitt
“The little girl expects no declaration of tenderness from her doll. She loves it – and that’s all. It is thus that we should love.” — DeGourmont
“How you do anything is how you do everything.” — Zen proverb
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Okay, well…. I can see I’m going to have to think very hard about this…. But, we’re done, so, that’s for another day…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, as long as nobody comes up with a good enough reason not to do so….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid, the dubious
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 