Tag Archives: Pandora

Deleterious side effects….

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Ffolkes,

” ‘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 ~~

golden gate fog

Fog entering SF Bay via the Golden Gate….

Hajime…. It may or may not be apparent from what you will see, but, today’s Pearl was finished while coping with a massive bout of rage, brought on by my reaction to yet another example of how our culture’s sense of ethics has deteriorated over time. My life, and my physical condition have been complicated, yet again, by a person calling themselves a doctor, who believes in their own infallibility, and their entitlement… Since I am responsible for my own health, and insist on taking that responsibility, these shills for Big Pharma have a hard time dealing with me, retreating into their delusions of adequacy & acting like an ass.

Going into details would be both indulgent, and futile, so, I’ll skip all that, in favor of getting posted without any more delays instigated by anger. It’s my own damn fault, anyway, as I’m the one who allowed myself to formulate expectations of rationality, when my experience was telling me to have a care…. Oh, well. So much for expectations, eh? Let’s go see what I’ve been able to cobble together for this morning, & go on to the next day; perhaps, if I can get a grip on my rage, it will all get better…. If not, well, maybe I can turn it into a poem, to soothe my fevered breast…. I now know better than to hold out any hope for changes in human nature…. Hope is a sucker’s bet, anyway, y’know? Better to just take the world as it is, pimples and all….

Fuck it. Let’s do this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Don’t be afraid to feel as angry or as loving as you can,
because when you feel nothing, it’s just death.”

~~ Lena Horne ~~

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george_carlin_unraveling_a_free_speech_icon

A friend mentioned this artist a few days ago, in a comment noting George B. Shaw as her second favorite George. My own opinion parallels hers; I consider George Carlin to have been the most cogent, most accurate, and most intelligently caustic social critic in this country for much of the twentieth century…. IMHO, he was the funniest, too, but, that’s a personal judgment… but, then, I would defy anyone to suggest a funnier man….

Nobody saw our society more clearly, and absolutely no one was more fearless in exposing the chicanery of those who would be known as ‘leaders’ in government. Nobody has ever nailed them as consistently, or as humorously, as did this man; his words carry a message for today’s world all Americans should listen to…. and, need to hear…. Enjoy this compilation, if you will, of some of his more revolutionary performances in the latter half of the 20th century….

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George Carlin

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Comedy_Tragedy

Internal{Vicissitude}External

Life has come, and gone rushing by,
pretty much as expected.
The only surprises I saw, as time flew by,
lay in the choices,
of which fears were to be protected.

Not to say, not even once,
my interest hasn’t been engaged.
I’ve waited patiently, for the nonce
for those moments
of love and glory, but, never got paged.

I looked all over for love,
….found it everywhere I sought.
What I never found, nor ever came aware of,
was one person
who would stay, leaving for naught.

Still, it’s been a wonderful time
filled with laughter, love, and grand craic.
I wouldn’t change a moment, nor a rhyme.
If those I love stay happy,
I can die in peace, for honor’s sake.

I’ve walked the warrior’s path
since first standing at my father’s knee.
Duty, honor, a dip in love’s warm bath
keeps me strong and content.
Today’s a good day to die, if I’m free.

~~ gigoid ~~

11/29/2015

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pearls_3

Naked Pearls

Metaphoric stew….

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“My life is light, waiting for the death wind,
Like a feather on the back of my hand.”

~~ T.S. Eliot ~~

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“Be always displeased with what thou art,
if you desirest to attain to what thou art not;
for where thou hast pleased thyself, there thou abidest.
But if thou have enough thou perishest.
Always add, always walk, always proceed.
Neither stand still, nor go back, nor deviate.”

~~ St. Augustine ~~

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“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”

~~ Carl Jung ~~

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“He who picks up one end of a stick picks up the other.
He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to.
It is the means that determine the end.”

~~ Harry Emerson Fosdick~~

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“Nature is not benign. Natural laws have no pity.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

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“It is the individual’s task
to differentiate himself from all the others
and stand on his own feet.
All collective identities… interfere with the fulfillment of this task.
Such collective identities are crutches for the lame, shields for the timid,
beds for the lazy, nurseries for the irresponsible….”

~~ C. G. Jung, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections” ~~

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“Life is full of little surprises”

~~ Pandora ~~

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Well, there you have it, such as it is. I am, still, trying to regain some balance, but, at least, now, I can focus fully on dealing with that, without the added impetus of deadline anxiety. I’ll try again, as is my wont; y’all are welcome to come on back & see how it went…. For the nonce, I’m outta here, and so are you…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Featured Image -- 13694

À bientôt, mon cherí….



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Use a little filigree for the nose….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




A monk said to Joshu, “Your stone bridge is widely renowned, but coming here I find only a heap of rocks.”


 Joshu said, “You see only the stones and not the bridge.”


 The monk said, “What is the bridge?”


 Joshu said, “What do you think we are walking on?”


~~ Smart Bee ~~


“Zensense: The Wisdom of Joshu”


DSCN0027


     Today’s picture, which seems to go so well with the entry from the Wisdom of Joshu, is, truthfully, one of my own, taken on a train trip in 2013, when I visited a friend in Oregon…. I took the picture though the train window, while crammed into my tiny little cubicle, laughingly referred to as a luxury compartment by the thieves who run the trains…. I know, the bitterness kind of takes away from the peace and tranquility implied in the photo…. Still, it came out rather well, don’t you think? I do, but, then, I do have some investment to say so….


All that aside. I like the koan from Smart Bee’s stash of the sayings of Joshu; the title, “Zensense, The Wisdom of Joshu” is my own fictional contribution, which I made up because I thought it was an appropriate word…. I may have coined the word ‘Zensense’, but, I’m not sure, and I’m not going to claim it without knowing for sure; it’s pretty neat, all in all, in more ways than one, a good word to describe the category of ideas we get from Zen koans, or other examples of Zen Buddhist philosophy…. and, it should make it much more convenient to talk about the category, just as if it were lumped into one of the concomitant categories, like Nonsense, or Common sense, etc…. Bonus!


Now I’ve established that, for what it was worth, (I’d guess about $2.95, retail, with a drop to $2.00 on EBay….), we can, legally, go on to our regularly scheduled nonsense. What do we have on tap for today? Your guess is, naturally, as good as mine; this process is fully randomized. I have little to no idea of where we’ll end up, until shortly after I begin writing. 


Even then, it’s always a hit and miss issue, as to whether we end up anywhere worthwhile. I try to make it, at minimum, interesting, or funny, but, as with any human endeavor, I frequently fall short, often, spectacularly enough to make me question why I do this at all…. Fortunately, I also possess the quite human ability to deny reality at the drop of a cliche, so, it all works out in end…. or, somewhere near the end….


On that note, with visions of endings cluttering our viewscreen, I think we should probably get on with the business for which we came today…. Once I get the memo telling me what that might be, we’ll get right on it. In the meantime, I think we’ll take advantage of that little hole in the barrier I see just ahead, and dive into the unknown, unguessed future that awaits us in the pearl beds…. See, that one right over…. wait for it….. THERE! Dive, dive, dive…..


Shall we Pearl?


AGE, n.  That period of life in which we compound for the vices that we still cherish by reviling those that we have no longer the enterprise to commit. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”


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All the recent rants you’ve seen here on ECR in the last few days have been generally involved with calling out the lies our Beloved Ruling Class tells us on a daily basis. I try to be fairly light in my treatment, always including what I would term a joke of two, usually at the expense of one of the more vulnerable pundits, such as one of the Shrubs, or Tony Blair, or Dickless Cheney; you know, the assholes. Any who, I figured today, I would shoot for even more comedy, by going with the man who always did it best…. Here is someone’s compilation of his funniest work, all pointed in one direction…. Enjoy, ffolkes, George tells jokes, but, every damn one of them rings with the full volume of TRUTH….







The Best of George Carlin: Exposing our government and fall of humanity one joke at a time













































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“Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.”


~~ Plato, The Republic ~~


The Anti-trafficking Movement Needs Survivor Voices:  Why Are We Ignored?


     Today, I plan to avoid any undue unkindness in my writing. Therefore, I’ve decided for today to NOT compose a fresh rant, as I am, oddly enough, not dubious about how it would turn out. Without going into too much, or, for that matter, any detail, allow me to say I’d either be arrested, or at minimum, receive my first hate mail, a fate I have somehow managed to avoid, in spite of publishing my email address for the entire web to find… I consider that to be merely a chance happenstance; it’s less depressing than to think I’ve never offended anyone… It’s also better than assuming nobody who isn’t already in the choir ever comes by to read what is here….


When I’m being truthful with myself, I admit to the probability of the latter being the correct case. But, right now, I’m lying to myself, and pretending it’s nice of me not to subject y’all to any of what is currently running through my head…. I am of the firm opinion, for the first time, better in than out….


That doesn’t mean I can’t at least make an indictment, if only by using the Metaphorse, that powerful tool of literary nature which saves us closet activists from complete obscurity…. Here, then, is an old-school pearl with a series of comments on our beloved ruling class, and the sham of a government we have inherited, thanks to the inattention of the general public, and the inhumanity of the oligarchs…. Enjoy!


“de-moc-ra-cy (di mok’ ra see) n.  Three wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.” — Smart Bee


“There is but one element of government, and that is THE PEOPLE.  From this element spring all governments.  “For a nation to be free, it is only necessary that she wills it.”  For a nation to be slave, it is only necessary that she wills it.” — John Adams (1735-1826), Letter to John Taylor, 1814


“We lie about the truth, that’s what ruins us here. And do you know why we lie about the truth? Not because we like to, but because we are scared to death of it. If we looked the truth in the eye nine out of ten of us would run to the graveyard and demand to be buried at once.” — Babbaluche the cobbler


“Don’t ever tell anyone they ain’t free, ‘cos they’re gonna get real busy  killin’ and maimin’ just to prove they are.” — Terry Southern (script for Easy Rider)


“If you attack Stupidity you attack an entrenched interest with friends in government and every walk of public life.” — Robertson Davies


“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.” — Aristotle


“I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people, because I bet a lot of high schools would pick “Americans” as their mascot.” — Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey


“During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to Adlai E. Stevenson “Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person!” Stevenson called back “That’s not enough, madam, we need a majority!” — Smart Bee


Oops! Did you see that? It seems one of the pearls included is NOT part of the indictment, but, rather, an expression of how it all got the way it did, in a fashion…. Can you guess which one of them gives us a clue to both the cause of our current state, and the way to correct it? I can, but, then, I did write it…. Feel free to leave your answer in the comments…. or not…. I’m betting most of y’all will ignore this part, and rush on to the poem…. but, I’m a cynic, so, what do I know?….


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Here is one of mine, from a couple of years ago, written soon after breaking my long hiatus; it’s a few thoughts and impressions about, as we call it around here, LAL, or,  Life At Large….




Choosing a Theme


Powerful words playing hide and seek in my mind,

teasing with subtle cruelty, pretending to be kind.

Grand visions and flowery verses of beauty and truth

evaded my inner eye all through the days of my youth.


Affable interludes interspersed with allegorical wit

softened the crimes, against all reason, to finally acquit.

Time became at once an enemy, and an ally

Never once compelled to provide an answer why.


Giving gifts of simple kindness are their own pay,

spreading ripples of compassion are felt far and away.

Love given freely is precious, we are ever told,

increasing love received, more than a hundred fold.


Living long and with passion has centered my soul,

allowing me room, and time, to choose my own goal.

Now that I’ve gone past any need to pretend

I love everything in life, even knowing it will end.


~~ gigoid ~~





10/21/2012




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This pearl, for reasons unknown to modern science, or, for that matter, to me, is damn near perfect! Go figure….. Enjoy!….




Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,–

Now green in youth, now withering on the ground;

Another race the following spring supplies:

They fall successive, and successive rise.


~~ Alexander Pope ~~


~~ The Iliad of Homer, Book vi, Line 181 ~~




“As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ii, 17


“Let us be thankful for the fools; but for them the rest of us could not succeed.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)


“Life is full of little surprises” — Pandora


“After I’m dead I’d rather have people ask why I have no monument than   why I have one.” — Cato the Elder (234-149 B.C.)


“In handling a stinging insect, move very slowly.” — Lazurus Long


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


“Remember that man’s life lies all within this present, as ‘t were but a hair’s-breadth of time; as for the rest, the past is gone, the future yet unseen. Short, therefore, is man’s life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iii, 10




Oh, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise,

By mountains pil’d on mountains to the skies?

Heaven still with laughter the vain toil surveys,

And buries madmen in the heaps they raise.


~~ Alexander Pope ~~




See? All in the wrist….


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Today’s Pearl is brought to you by…. the wonders of modern technology. Obviously. Since I don’t have any piece of whatever advertising you may see here, none of that part of it concerns us. All we know is what I write, which isn’t either predictable, or kosher, (hell, it’s barely classifiable at all….), though we do make it without any of the proscribed ingredients…. Well, okay, we don’t put any faith in there, but, all the rest of it is part of the recipe. We leave faith to those who require the panacea of its embrace…. Me, I’ll take my reason, and doubt, any day….


Which statement brings us, fortunately, to our closing for the day…. I hope you enjoyed today’s nonsense and angst; if not, well, just remember what you paid for it….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….