Word is, WordPress rocks!….

Posted on April 7, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
As may have been noted, I love serendipity, in all its guises and forms. Nothing is more delightful in life than realizing the plain brown rock one is holding is really a diamond in the rough, or that the person we just met is the long-lost brother for whom we’ve searched, or whatever surprising shape it may take for our delectation. It is one of the truest joys in life, for it is always unexpected to receive anything nice from the Universe; generally the things we are allowed to experience are designed by the Murphy Team, and are somewhat less than delightful in their nature…..

This morning’s events led me to meander along these lines…. This time, the impetus for my thoughts is alive, and has taken the form of a vocal, affectionate, attention-mongering young cat by the name of Sadie….

She is a beautiful cat, with markings and colors that tell me part of her ancestry includes a pixiebob, a recently recognized breed of cat bred to look like a miniature lynx, without the funny ears, and a touch of calico. They have tiger-like stripes, in black, against a coat of three shades of brown, with just enough white to add contrast. Pixiebobs are dog-like in their actions, liking to hang out with their humans, following them around the house and lying nearby when quiet, and are quite trainable. They are also very affectionate, and like a lot of attention….

Another part of Sadie’s ancestry was obviously Siamese…. She has the identifiable small kink in the tip of her tail, when she holds it up straight, and her voice clinches the resemblance, as it has that Siamese tone, regal and demanding, that will cut right through a door, or three, and she uses it to express EVERYTHING…. Talk, talk, talk, just like a…. well, I’d better not say that, a good number of my readers would kick my ass…. but, she won’t shut up until I figure out whatever it is she wants from me, or decides to take a cat nap…. I’ve known a lot of Siamese, and she fits the personality type to a T, once the affectionate pixiebob characteristics are factored in….

Sadie is destined to go live with my daughter, who picked her out, but cannot take her for a week, so I agreed to let her stay with me; Sadie needed to leave where she was, in an uncomfortable (for her) home, whose human loves her dearly, but whose cat population just exploded by a factor of 5 (kittens)…. Sadie was not amused by the kittens, so she came to live with me until my daughter can take her home. As I love cats, it is no hardship, kind of like babysitting the grandkid for me, since I get to eventually send her home….

This morning was our first morning together, and it has been a wonderful way to start the day, having someone to talk to, (well, mostly listen to more than talk with….), and provide me with some affectionate company. As I sit now to write, she is lying on the floor next to the chair, purring loudly, and occasionally looking up to see if I’m looking at her; if I am, she says something, then accepts a pat on the head with a grateful blink and preen. Lovely!

If I didn’t already have plans to travel, my daughter might have to find another cat, as Sadie would be welcome to stay as long as she likes…. She slept politely all night at the foot of the bed, and didn’t knock anything over in her nocturnal explorations…. very lady-like behavior in a new place, so all is good….

There, how’s that for a low-key, happy introduction to a Pearl? Not too shabby, I’d say, and a good way to start off a day devoted to family style events…. (see section one….) I think it’s now time to get on with the rest of today’s effort, so I’ll leave this now, and get to the easy part…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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One of my oldest friends on WordPress…. Wait, let me qualify that, because I have no idea how old she is, and wouldn’t assume, or say, anyway…. Let’s start over…. A blogger friend of mine, known as Willowdot21, ( her site is at: http://willowdot21.wordpress.com/about/ ), who has been coming to my site (and I to hers….) since I started a couple of years ago, AND who has been one of my best blogging friends, nominated me for a new award, the WordPress Family Award. It was created by the blogger at this site: http://prayingforoneday.wordpress.com , who nominated Willow for the original, initial award. This one is a simple award, giving us a chance to acknowledge how great the WordPress family of bloggers are, in their support and encouragement of everyone who writes for the site….. Those rules are as follows:

Rules:

1. Display the award logo on your blog. I hope it worked….

2. Link back to the person who nominated you. Right here: http://willowdot21.wordpress.com/about/

3. Nominate 10 others you see as having an impact on your WordPress experience and family. The hardest part of this for me was limiting the number to only 10…. as I rolled through my blogroll, I found at least that many more that should go on the list, but, to save time, I’ll follow the rules…. I’ve picked those sites who assumed family status soon after our meeting each other online….

Dolly http://allaboutlemon.com/
Europaicewolf   http://europasicewolf.wordpress.com/
Carol Welsh   http://carolwelsh.wordpress.com/
Carolyn at ABC of Spirit Talk   http://abcofspiritalk.wordpress.com/
Linda Vernon   http://lindavernon.wordpress.com/
Ginger Snaap   http://ohmygawdjustdowhatisay.wordpress.com/
Lizzie Cracked   http://runningnakedwithscissors.com/2013/04/06/a-z-challenge-f-mm/
Eric Alagan http://ericalagan.net/2013/04/07/samuels-counsel-fallen-grace-15/
Jerry Doby   http://theurbanlink.net/
Lou   http://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/

4. Let your 10 Family members know you have awarded them…. I’ll do that today…. or, more simply, I’m on it….

5. That is it. Just please pick 10 people that have taken you as a friend, and spread the love

So, there you have it…. I’m part of the WordPress Family, and now, so are you….. One of the best parts of this award is that there isn’t any real pressure to accept, or to send it on by nominating others…. which is why I ended up taking the time to do so, because, hey, it’s family…..
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I was feeling some whimsy last night, and this is what leaked out, such as it is…. It may grow, I think, but, for now, it’s not bad, just strange…. As every day this month, this is for the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here: http://www.napowrimo.net/

Relative Cynicism, with Caramel Sauce

Absolute stillness follows violent movement,
it can happen during a downhill race,
as an immovable piece of asphalt pavement
meets the once handsome racer’s face.

Yuk, yuk, yuk said that asshole Moe,
after poking both of Larry’s eyes,
bashing face, head, & crotch of Curly Joe
and only ever got hit with pies.

Lonely moments never really come along
when Murphy’s got us in his sights.
Not for money, love, or siren’s song
will he abrogate his natural rights.

All we can do is sigh, or laugh in pain,
as Life portions out our ration of shit.
Silver linings melt in the slightest rain,
so we may as well learn to live with it.

~~ gigoid

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“The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” — H.L. Mencken

I can feel it building…. the anger, the angst, the frustration at the members of the Beloved Ruling Class, and the priestly hierarchies, who prey on their brethren, fully knowing the evil they do. It is also building up against those idiots who allow themselves to believe what these egregious assholes tell them, no matter how outrageous, or how badly it mangles the Truth. I really, really want to rant, and I think when this one comes out, it will be a big one, and I’ll have to coin a new word just to describe it…. but, no worries, I already did that part…. I’m going to write a politireligirant of major proportion, to go along with the upcoming epic take-down of the American Rail System, as personified by Amtrak…. They (Amtrak) forgot that there are SOME American citizens who not only know HOW to write in English, but are capable of doing so, to their soon-to-be-detriment and ultimate chagrin…..

Right now, though, I don’t have the proper frame of mind for ranting; Sadie’s morning activities have bemused and amused me too much, and I can’t quite get my outrage collected enough to spill over. So, I’m going to refer you to a fairly new (to me) blog site, where the blogger rants on what seems to be a daily basis, mostly on the political scene in this country, with side trips into how politics and culture may clash…. The writer’s name is John, and he is a die-hard liberal, politically, with a lot of good sense, and a fine grasp of the reality of the issues, as far as I can tell. His arguments and statements are clearly expressed, as well as well thought out, and he does his research, with attribution, too….. 😆

The site is located here: http://americanliberaltimes.com/ This address link will take you to one of his posts, from today, I think, where you can peruse his archives for quite a few good takes on society, politics, and common sense…. which, as we all know, is not as common as believed by most. When I feel the urge for dialogue, I go over to his site, and can always find a post that will prompt a comment, usually several paragraphs long, and we’ve had some good conversations (which, to me, is a big part of what this blogging stiff is all about….).

Sorry if I’ve disappointed anyone by not having a rant ready, but, Sadie just wouldn’t let me get upset enough to get pissed, so you’ll have to blame her…. If you feel a NEED to hear a rant, try one of John’s well-mannered, but pointed, pieces to sublimate for today, because I just don’t have any outrage to vent….. Oh well, who’s to say who’s luckier, eh?…. On that note, I’ll leave you with this final thought from an old friend….

“Give them RADAR-GUIDED SKEE-BALL LANES and VELVEETA BURRITOS!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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It’s a wrap, if it passes the proofing stage…. let’s go see…. Oh, hey, that isn’t bad at all…. I’ll take it, and not look a gift frog in the gums…. In fact, I’m going to escape now… TTFN, as my kids would text…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Fatuous noises about the size of their noses….

Posted on April 6, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Purple dots keep dancing in front of my eyes, but they are no doubt due to the vigorous rubbing I’ve been engaged in since getting up…. can’t seem to shake the fatigue that hit me when I got home last night…. Oh well, rather than whine about it, we’ll just get going on today’s Pearl, sans any real idea of what reality is looking like right now…. I don’t suppose we can consider that a handicap, given the expressed purpose of this blog, and it’s very title, to wit: Exploring Consensual Reality…. I guess this morning you’ll just have to settle for MY Reality, or at least my take on what we all agree as that slippery slope’s approximate shape and properties….. So be it….

Travel is harder than I remember, and the TSA thing is just absurd….. I haven’t flown much since 9/11; it was way back in 2004, on the way to and from Beijing, when I was last exposed to their tender mercies….. The weird part is, after all this time, they are even worse at the whole security thing than they were back then; there seems to have been no attempt to improve the system, other than some improved technology (the full body scanner was pretty cool….). But, I noted at least five ways it had gotten worse, and could have carried enough stuff on the plane with me to cause a lot of problems, had I so desired. Being a bit of a coward about doing things that endanger ME, or anyone else, while flying at 35,000 feet, I have no such desires…. But, I also don’t want anyone else doing it, and it sure would be simple to do so, by my calculations….

I’m not going to enumerate my noted observations, though for those who know how to contact me, I will discuss it privately, for the simple reason that I don’t want to put in print any ideas the assholes who think about that sort of thing haven’t thought of yet, and give them any ideas. I may not be the smartest bozo on the bus, but I know better than to tempt the animals among us who have no restraint or compassion. I’ll say this, though…. Air flight in general is pretty safe, but I feel LESS safe thinking that the security that is supposed to keep the passengers and crew safe is being carried out by what appears to be the low bidder for the contract… and that’s the name of that tune….

Whoa, look here! We have an intro, complete with a mini-politirant, fresh out of my head, under the most excruciating of circumstances, while I was still half asleep….. Though I know better than to start a rant before I’m fully engaged, it didn’t come out too badly, so we’ll leave it alone, and get on with today’s dive…. I even found a poem lurking around in my head, to fulfill today’s poetry challenge for April, which, I will remind you is National Poetry Writing Month (I think… if not, it should be…). With no further claptrap (great word!), we’ll go on….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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I’m feeling a bit old school today, so here is a harlequin pearl, randomly chosen, at the whim of Smart Bee, and my own unconscious, somewhat somnolent direction, as far as I am able to do so on a day like today, when my mind is a bit fractious, and difficult keep reined in…. But, my problems are not your problems, are they?…. 😆 Any who, here are a few good ones, with a point yet to be determined…. whatever suits SB’s rather silly sense of appropriateness…. Enjoy!…. Oh, and no worries, none of this will be on the Quiz…..

“Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.” — Nora Roberts

“Some people never learn anything because they understand everything too soon.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744

“Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough.” — Billie Holiday

“The church is near but the road is icy; the bar is far away but I will walk carefully.” — Russian Proverb

“Basing our happiness on our ability to control everything is futile.” — Stephen R. Covey

“The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think–rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.” — Bill Beattie

Eas’d the putting off
These troublesome disguises which we wear.

— John Milton (1608-1674) — Paradise Lost, Book iv, Line 739

Well, it works for me…..
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I found this lying around in my head, so here it is….. The link to where you can see all the challengers is here: http://www.napowrimo.net/

Ah Ain’t Sho, but Mebbe So….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid

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I forgot I had to get something done today, and I need to go do it, so here is one more piece from the archives, from the days before I became so damn wordy and long-winded…. just a little blast from the past, around 2007….

Cat’s feet…

Ffolkes,
Foggy mornings such as this always bring Carl Sandberg to mind….am I dating myself? Ah well, so be it…Perhaps it is the drowsiness, but I’m feeling philosophical this morning (uh oh, better take cover). I’ll try not to leave any bruises….

In Ancient times, the great Taoist sages looked,
Alert, as if surrounded by danger.
Yielding, like ice that is on the verge of melting.
Polite, as if they were always a guest.

A sage is skilled at helping people without excluding anyone.

A sage lets go of extremism,
lets go of luxury,
lets go of apathy.

Like ice on the verge of melting…what a powerful image! I can’t compete with that, so….y’all take care out there.
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Not too shabby for an old travelin’ fool…. it’s done, anyway, and that is all that matters at this point…. As I said, I gotta go TCB, so….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Let’s fall into this crevasse over here!….

Posted on April 5, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
This Pearl may end up as one of the shortest ever, in all sections…. I’m pressed for time, as I have to get to the airport in a bit to fly home from Oregon. No more trains for me, and look for a long, detailed rant about Amtrak in the near future…. For now, we’ll just pretend like I actually know what I’m doing here, and get on with today’s dive…. Shall we Pearl?….
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As stated, no time to be fresh, so today’s material will be from the archives…. here is a Pearl I enjoyed, in the old format, from October of 2011….

Ffolkes,
We’ll begin today with one of my all time favorite quotes…..

“A man who carries a cat by the tail is getting experience that will always be helpful. He isn’t likely to grow dim or doubtful. Chances are, he isn’t likely to carry the cat that way again, either. But if he wants to, I say let him!” — Mark Twain

The first time I read this, years ago, it brought a huge smile to my face, a huge laugh, and one more piece of evidence that Mr. Clemens was more than just an author of good books. There are numerous websites that feature quotations by Mark Twain, with varying formats for finding the one you want, but going to a different website for each quote isn’t an efficient use of time, so I generally use what I find in my own secret pools, where I know the oyster beds well, and I know I’ll find just the right Pearl.

Now, obviously, Mr. Twain wasn’t talking about actually holding a cat by the tail; anyone who knows cats is aware of a cat’s reaction to having its tail grabbed, i.e., instant attack with all teeth and claws. Knowing this, no normally intelligent person would use this method of cat transport, so the immediate thing that comes to mind is that he (Mr. Twain) is not really talking about carrying an actual cat, he is referring to crisis situations in general, and how to deal with them. “He isn’t likely to grow dim or doubtful”……what a wonderful, tongue-in-cheek turn of phrase, to describe how one should approach a crisis, and how to describe the mind-set that will assist in resolving the crisis. The humorous light in which Mr. Clemens viewed the world was on full when he wrote this little maxim, and I find it to be one of great value in developing an attitude that allows one to take any crisis in stride, thereby removing one particular kind of fear from our lives. It is indeed a valuable tool that provides protection against fear…..

“Viewed from the summit of reason, all life looks like a malignant disease and the world like a madhouse.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The day this was written, Johann definitely woke up with his crankypants on…..it may have the advantage of being true, but I find it to be a flawed view to hold as a final belief. The flaw lies in the subjective, and somewhat snobbish nature of the quotation; superiority is claimed by the ascent to the summit of reason, and that reasoning is given as the evidence of the truth of the statement. But not everyone reasons using the same methods; there are many different ways to view something, all of which are subjective. Grandiose descriptive pronouns (‘malignant, madhouse’) don’t provide evidence of anything but the author’s own prejudices, and reason cannot be considered logical when based on prejudice.

Now, in some fashion, I have to agree with Goethe’s conclusion; I, too, have looked at the world and seen nothing but madness in every direction. And I, too, was filled with anguish at the state of the world’s affairs. But my experience in that world has taught me that negative prejudice is NOT the best way to approach living in the world in some sort of comfort. Assuming the negative stance actually can be easily shown to produce negative results, and I’ve found that a positive approach is much more effective in achieving the desired results. It’s too easy to find the bad; it is harder, but much more satisfying to concentrate on finding the good……

“A friend is one who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”– Smart Bee

I wish this had come with attribution. It’s such a beautiful thought, I would like to have known the person who first said it. I suppose, since it exists, someone had to be the first one, and the people who knew, or know, them were lucky indeed. It takes a special kind of outlook to find the true nature of an idea, and express it in a way that not only gives the information contained, but provides beauty in the way the information is presented. I am of the opinion that this is the mark of a poet, and poets should be exalted in society. It is they who turn our eyes away from consensual reality, to show us another version, another view, another, better way to live.

To avoid confusion, (or maybe to increase it, who knows?), I tend to lump poets and authors of prose into one group, and use only one term, calling them all poets. This is to me, very simple; poetry doesn’t have to rhyme, it doesn’t have to be in cadence, and it doesn’t have to follow any particular form. All it must do is communicate ideas, and whether the ideas are simple or complex, their accuracy and efficiency in communicating those ideas is the point. So whether one writes poems, or writes short stories, the only required characteristic is truth, in all its myriad of guises.

And as for friends, all I have to say is to treasure them. A true friend is truly the greatest gift we can receive from the universe, and should never be taken for granted. I give thanks every day; I don’t have a multitude of friends, but the ones I have are the best…..

Th…th..th…that’s all ffolkes! Y’all take care out there…..
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Once again, I must use a poem from my collection to meet today’s challenge…. so, here it is…. The link to the home page of the National Poetry Month Challenge is http://www.napowrimo.net/

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

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For today’s finale, we will pick out a fresh old-school group of pearls for your pleasure and edification… As always, the conclusion implied by the tenor of the group is left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…..

“The future exists first in the imagination, then in the will, then in reality.” — Smart Bee

“Take what you can use and let the rest go by.” — Ken Kesey

“Should our moral beliefs really prove to be dependent on factual assumptions shown to be incorrect, it would be hardly moral to defend them by refusing to acknowledge the facts.” — F.A. Hayek

“UH-OH!! I put on “GREAT HEAD-ON TRAIN COLLISIONS of the 50’s” by mistake!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying they made them.” — Smart Bee

“Oh Lord, grant that we may not despise our rulers; and grant, oh Lord, that they may not act so we can’t help it.” — Lyman Beecher

Do not stop to ask what is it;
Let us go and make our visit.

— T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

There you have it, ffolkes, another in a long line of obscure, but ironically accurate, pearls…. I hope it doesn’t give anyone indigestion trying to figure out the point to it… Remember, it may not have one…. 😆
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I was right, it is a short one, for this blog…. so be it. I don’t have time to do any more to it, so it will just have to fly on its own…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

A smattering of simple sugars…..

Posted on April 4, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
In the grand scheme of things, I would normally begin this with some unadulterated nonsense, or perhaps a purely fictional story opening. Occasionally, I will speak of how Murphy’s latest japes have enhanced my morning, or of how I’m feeling emotionally, or physically, as those two states occupy a lot of my attention these days. Today we are trying something relatively new, which I will call pure honesty, and I hope to hell it works….

I can’t seem to find an opening format for these introductory comments that is suitable for daily use. It has to be funny, and/or compelling enough to draw attention, but not so heavy as to frighten away those who like lighter reading. (They are the ones who are NOT usually in the choir, and need to hear my messages the most….) It should tease a little about what is coming up later, but not give away any of the suspense I am trying to build in some cases. In short, it is driving me crazy, and that has been reflected in these paragraphs almost every day, with yesterday’s being the exception. That one was a short excuse, telling why I was cheating by using archived material, and was completely atypical.

But, nothing I’ve ever tried has fit the bill sufficiently to make me use it again, other than to try to remember what has worked in the past…. which brings me back to yesterday’s post, from here in Oregon where I’ve been visiting for a couple of days now…. That post had perhaps the shortest intro in a couple of years, and my statistics from yesterday were highest I’ve ever seen here… 21 Likes in the first 24 hours, an unprecedented number, and once again, over a dozen of them were ffolkes who hadn’t been here before, to my knowledge. I am jazzed about that, even thought I don’t write for statistics, per se; I write for my own sanity and pleasure. But, it’s nice to know other ffolkes are enjoying what I write as well, so I’m pleased with the turnout yesterday….

In hopes of keeping those numbers up, today’s intro will again be relatively short, as this will be it…. I’m done with it, and want to get on to the end, so I can go play with my friends in the Big Blue Room…. a visit to taste beer is on tap for later, which will be great, as they’ve got some prize winners on hand for tasting… should be good…. Any who, I don’t know how this will turn out yet, so let’s go see what happens…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“I’m in direct contact with many advanced fun CONCEPTS.” — Zippy the Pinhead

There is no doubt in my mind that this is true and complete, to the best of Zippy’s knowledge, which is extensive and quite varied in nature. However, for our purposes, we will ignore all that, and go right to what matters…. which is rutabagas….. You never see anybody making any dishes out of rutabagas any more; I’m not sure it’s available for sale anywhere… Of course, it’s no big loss, as they were just about the most tasteless, useless foods I’ve ever encountered…. Hmm… I seem to have written meself into a corner, with no way out… Too bad, really, I like the Zippy quote….

Well, that sinks it…. I’m don’t have it this morning, so, I will once again need to dip into the past for an acceptable pearl or two…. I’ll be right back with one for this section….. Okay, here’s a good one, from late in 2011….
———-

“To get people to think they are thinking begets friendship, whereas actually to make people think begets resentment. There is no level so low to which people will not stoop, even honorable people, to avoid the difficulty of thinking.” — Smart Bee

So true, so true…..it fascinates me at times, this reluctance on the part of most folks to using the one and only evolutionary advantage they possess over other creatures. Compared to other animals, we’re not particularly fast, nor very strong, and our teeth and nails are not very good weapons compared to those of a leopard, for just one example. We need to wear clothing to protect ourselves from our own planet’s weather extremes. We rely on other species for our sustenance, being unable to create it ourselves. And, in the final analysis, we’re pretty fragile, physically speaking; even a soft blow administered to the correct point can cause death.

Hell, our bodies have more than one design flaw; how about how our food and air processing facilities? They cross each other at a critical junction, at the throat, and can frequently cause problems that can have mortal consequences. Our elimination process and sexual organs also cross paths, in a manner of speaking; the outlet for the former is right next to the points of ingress and egress of the latter, depending on gender. From a strictly engineering viewpoint, it’s not a very good design.

It’s clear that there is little chance of humans ever dominating on the basis of physical characteristics; most animals are much better equipped for that. Our mind, our imagination, our perception of more than merely physical energy in the universe, these are our advantages over other creatures. We have the ability to remember the past in the present, and use those memories to extrapolate the future. This is an incredible evolutionary leap, one that allows humans to readily turn their perceptions of how things work into tools that enable us to alter reality to suit our wishes. We can’t really fight our way out of a paper bag, and our defenses against predators is weak in comparison to other animals. But the power of our minds is sufficient to neutralize all physical and environmental advantages of the other inhabitants, and gives mankind the means to not merely survive, but to thrive and dominate.

So, the question remains: why are so many people so averse to using their minds? Well, I don’t know, for sure. I could make some guesses, and they might even be accurate. But it really doesn’t matter, because the only creature who can cause us to change ourselves, is ourselves. Nobody can make us do anything we don’t want to do. Most folks learn the power of the word “No” at a young age (age 2 is customary for most folks), and get so impressed with it that it becomes their default position for anything that appears ‘difficult’. Sad, but true…..and wishing won’t make it go away. I can only wish I were smart enough to figure out how to get folks to see the light, before its too late, and the bulb burns out for good…..
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I’ve looked deep inside, and I can’t find a poem in there today, but I have this poetry challenge to meet, so, once more, I’ll dip into my older material for one…. Here is one of my favorites….. And the link to the home page of the National Poetry Month Challenge is http://www.napowrimo.net/

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

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Well, it seems clear that my fresh material isn’t up to snuff today…. it seems so to me, anyway, and I’m the one who has to stomach it first….. Which means I’m going into the past yet again, but with fresh material…. This will be a random chosen old-school Pearl, the best I can do on short notice…… The point may or may not be apparent, but, what else is new?….

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

“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.” — William Arthur Ward

“In a mad world, only the mad are sane.” — Akiro Kurosawa

“A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Man’s many desires are like the small metal coins he carries about in his pocket. The more he has the more they weigh him down.” — Satya Sai Baba

“Whoever has even once become notorious by base fraud, even if he speaks the truth, gains no belief.” — Phaedrus (c. 8 A.D.) — Book i, Fable 10, 1

I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.

— Thomas Moore (1779-1852) — Oft in the Stilly Night

“And thereby hangs a tale.” — Francis Rabelais (1495-1553) — Works, Book v, Chap. iv
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Aye, thereby indeed hangs a tale…. and a fluffy tale at that…. 😆 I’ve done all the damage I can do, so I’m outta here…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

We carry unfortunate news, your majesty….

Posted on April 3, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Unfortunately, the trains just aren’t what they used to be…. The trip to Oregon turned into a nightmare along about 4:30 AM, and just got worse from there until I got off the damn thing…. It’s taken me until this morning to get over the frustration on exhaustion the trip engendered, and I still have yet to call them to file my complaint…. Ah well, it’s a good thing I’m a nice guy, right? Nobody died, so I can go on to enjoy myself here with my friend….

I am also finding that writing is not an activity to carry on when visiting friends…. It’s a bit rude to ignore them for three hours while I create a Pearl, so I’m going to be quick today, using more archived material to fill in the sections. Even the poem for the challenge will have to come from what I’ve already done, and I don’t know if that is legal, or against the rules of the challenge, which may entail only fresh material…. oh well, I’m not trying to win any prizes, so it doesn’t matter in the final analysis….

In order to make this perhaps the shortest intro on record for the past two years, I’ll get right to the rest of the Pearl for the day…. It seems to be the only way I will get this done in a timely fashion…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Before a cat will condescend
To treat you as a trusted friend,
Some little token of esteem
Is needed, like a dish of cream.
— T. S. Eliot

Sometimes I’m not sure which is my favorite poet, between T.S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, or ee cummings….. all three were of such power and influence that they changed the very face of poetry in the 20th century. Poets of earlier ages are always there to give us the beauty and depth of human experience leading up to the last century, and there were a number of great ones. Alexander Pope, Yeats, Keats, Longfellow, Cowper, Shakespeare, and a host of others, all left behind an impressive legacy for later generations, for which I am eternally grateful. This particular poem is one of my favorites; I love cats (and dogs, and just about any other 2, 4, 6, or 8 legged creatures), and it’s obvious that T.S. has known several of them intimately. In my humble opinion, cats and dogs are much better at being what they are, and nothing else, than humans can ever be. If one believes in the concept of a Deity, then they were put here to be our examples of how to live with honor, and we can do no better than to emulate their approach to life at large…..
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I don’t know if the challenge rules mean I am supposed to create a fresh poem each day, or not, and I find myself in a position where I MUST use an old poem, as I just cannot make the time it takes to create one today. So, if that mean I’m disqualified or anything, oh well…. the link to where you can see all the challengers is here: http://www.napowrimo.net/

Dreaming of Calliope

La dame sans merci speaks aloud through endless night,
torturing dreams, with powerful words and stentorian phrases.
Manifest visions bathed in unbearable grace and light,
destroying all direction, standing lost, in unfathomable mazes.

Fate plays a part, one that will never face denial,
as fear and courage eternally vie to gain ascendancy.
Conflict becomes valid, gifting strength in open trial,
but honest emotion wears no costume so fancy.

Blood, sweat, and tears stroll on avenues of gold,
unlikely heroines heralding as in ancient lore;
Sharp, competent knives cut through tales untold,
eternally shifting reality past the naked shore.

Drifting toward origin, bereft of mandate or cause,
finished, nay, abandoned, tied with a figurative bow.
No simple gift from muses to give comfort or pause,
save that all we need to know, we already know…..

~~ gigoid

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Though old the thought and oft exprest,
‘T is his at last who says it best.
— James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) — For an Autograph
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Well, it’s not particularly fresh, but it’s clean…. and it’s done. So be it, I gotta go play with my friend in the Big Blue Room…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Further than ever toward the native state…..

Posted on April 2, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Okay, so writing on a train isn’t practical…. at least not in one of the little roomettes they give you as a sleeper for a single passenger. The little table provided just isn’t cut out for working on, as it is cocked off to the side of the room. So, I’m sitting here trying to type in a very weird, uncomfortable position, which will kill my back before too long. Oh, the sacrifices one must suffer for one’s Art!…… Or even, for Bill, or Harry…. Sorry, couldn’t resist….. Since I’m stuck writing in these primitive conditions I let myself get away there….. it won’t happen again….

In fact, this is so difficult, I’m going to cheat, full time, for the first time ever…. All three sections today will be filled with old material, written for earlier Pearls, and you’ll just have to lump it, if’n you don’t like it…. Even the second section, with a poem for this month’s challenge, are from past Pearls…. so deal with it…. I’m having to….

Not only am I cheating to the extent of pulling from old stuff, but, this intro section is going to end up shorter than usual, as well…. Not that that is a bad thing, mind you….. Given the normal state of affairs here in the morning in the intro section, this one is downright upright. In fact, it’s so together, I’m going to leave it as is, and get on with the rest of today’s effort….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Here is a most excellent Pearl, from January of this year….. some of you may recognize it, as it wasn’t too long ago, but, I like it, and it’s a good one, so I feel justified…. Enjoy!…..

“Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.” — Oscar Wilde

One may always trust Oscar Wilde to be both elegantly witty and intelligently insightful, though, to be sure, many of his most closely held views were somewhat divergent with what was commonly held to be true, philosophically. This divergence was, I believe, mostly deliberate on his part, as he tended to mock that which he did not respect, and he never had much respect for…. well, anything to do with human nature vs. reason and rationality. He mistrusted most people to act morally, and was unafraid of saying so; this, of course, made him both famous, and infamous….. His infamy, I’m sure, ultimately was his undoing, much to society’s loss; as is said so often about our brightest minds, “only the good die young….”

I often wonder, (well, maybe not so often, as much as I’m wondering now…) what the world today would be like, if somehow, some of those bright stars in history had lived to an age where their accomplishments, in relation to the advancement of human thought, and the betterment of the human condition, had a broader, and more lasting effect than their absence has left us. What if Keats had written poetry until he was 85? How many more inventions would have come to us from Nicolas Tesla, had he lived long enough for the rest of the scientific world to catch up to him, instead of hounding him to an early grave? How much more good music, and art, and literature would be available to all of us, if not for this tendency for the best of us to live as a burning meteor, flaming brightly through the sky, until burned out and lifeless?

It is a sad commentary for society to know that it is often the very brilliance of these people that brings about their downfall, at the hands of the ignorant, and the avaricious…. What is even sadder, to me, is that this demonstrates another part of human nature that is responsible for almost every issue in human history, and current society, that causes people to suffer pain, oppression, perpetual struggle, and will most certainly ultimately lead to the extinction of our species, on this planet, at minimum, if not completely…..

That piece of our nature is the unfortunate characteristic, in a number of humans, to be able to put aside all conscience, and act solely in their own self interest. All of us, of course, possess this to some degree; it is an outgrowth of having a will to survive. To these few others, it is their primary modus operandi; they simply do not take other people, or their concerns, into account when deciding what they are going to do, and are not hampered by the consideration of any suffering they may cause other people, animals, or things.

As is patently obvious, to my mind, every elected official, every high level preacher, every corporate magnate, and a great many lawyers, are all of this ilk, and have, for nearly 230 years now, been quietly and efficiently plundering the pockets and rights of the American people (and those of every other country in the world, for that matter…. it is a HUMAN condition, not just American…. Ours are just some of the most obvious about it….), while simultaneously lying, cheating, and otherwise acting to secure their stranglehold on society.

Anyone who disagrees with this assessment, quite simply, isn’t paying enough attention to the world around them….. Sorry to be so blunt, but the facts are all laid out, right there, almost every day in the news media, if one knows how to look at the larger picture it presents, rather than the individual facets of that picture. Focusing on the little shit is just what those in power wish for people to do…. it keeps them busy not noticing other, more incriminating stuff they are carrying out, in the darkness where they mostly live….

“… change depends on individual acts of courage and commitment. Most such acts are private, invisible, and uncelebrated. But some find a place in the public spotlight; and their influence goes far beyond mere example.” — Arthur C. Clarke & Michael Kube-McDowell, The Trigger, 1999

Each and every one of us, in the face of what we know about reality, is responsible in some way, and to some degree, for both the way things are, and the way they will be in the future. If you don’t believe that, well, discussion is, for you, probably useless, and little hope remains. For anyone with moderate insight, however, this is plain, clear truth, and we all need to accept it before any significant progress can be expected against those who are sociopathic, which I define, and hereby name, as homo suicidus, those who would kill us all…. But, it is imperative that we act soon, for the damage we have done, and continue to do to our world, is at a point where the effects are nearly irreversible, and even if we manage to wrest control from the beloved ruling class,it may be too late to save our lives….

“In regard to disagreeable and formidable things, prudence does not consist in evasion, or in flight, but in courage. He who wishes to walk in the most peaceful parts of life with any serenity must screw himself up to resolution. Let him front the object of his worst apprehension, and his stoutness will commonly make his fear groundless.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, _Essays_, Prudence

It is my hope, small and pale though it be, that we WILL speak up, that the rational among us will rise up, and take back the control of our destiny from the hands of those who would see us all die, rather than give up their own control. It will only happen when men of courage, as defined by Mr. Emerson, stand up to those who would render us all impotent, for their own benefit. The only hope that exists for the rest of us lies in enough of us showing this kind of courage, and overcoming the fear that keeps us in thrall…..

“I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.” — John Milton (1608-1674) — Areopagitica

Myself, I don’t want to die ignominiously, gasping for breath, because I didn’t have the courage to speak up, and to fight back against the immoral, avaricious assholes who dominate society….. Instead, let’s create a whole new world, without a beloved ruling class, at all….. Who knows? We might just find out that anarchy works!….. Worth a try, I think….. And, if it doesn’t work, well, we can always try a technocracy, which we have yet to do in history….. With a bit of foresight and planning, it might just be what we need to survive our own foolishness… Maybe, Richard Brautigan had the truest prophetic vision, when he wrote “All watched over, by machines of loving grace….”

“Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.” — Pablo Picasso

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

— Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning”

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I forgot yesterday to post a link to the NaPoWriMo site, so here it is today, where it will be every day this month, or as long as my poetic urges hang tough…. Any who, you can see all the entries here: http://www.napowrimo.net/

A year has gone by
draped in melancholy tears
A mere stitch in time

~~ gigoid

So, I wrote this haiku on the one year anniversary of this blog, in August of 2012…. The poem is also from last year, in August, and it has an odd provenance, to wit:

” Yesterday afternoon, (which would have been 8/15/12) I sat down with the urge to write. A number of fleeting images chased each other around in my head, vying for who would be first to fly…. after some negotiations, I wrote what appeared to be a paragraph of prose in an abstract style, re-read it, scratched my head, and left it alone for the night….. This morning, when I sat down to start today’s Pearl, the paragraph was still there…. but it had changed somehow in the night…. I don’t know if it is my mind that changed, or the paragraph, but all of a sudden, it wasn’t a paragraph….. a few strokes, a couple of format and structural changes, and voilá, it’s a poem! Completely finished, too, needing nothing more from me…. I’ll call it…. ”

Serendipity Morning

My mind wants to fly,
my soul wants to hold close, the source,
strong, the moments of time;
each as precious as golden thread,
binding together such elements of longing desire.

Love hovers, always patient,
seeking the open heart,
reaching for the promise of tomorrow…..
only for one, only for now, only what is real….
Dreaming, the morning calls,
heavy with mordant belief,
replete, and eternally alive…..

~~ gigoid ~~
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I am a wordy son of a gun, when I get rolling…. Here is another old pearl, excerpted from a Pearl posted in 2012, and though a bit long, as is often the case, it has the advantage of being at least mildly amusing going for it….. Enjoy!…..

“Comedy = Tragedy + Distance” — Lenny Bruce

“Comedy is tragedy plus time.” — Carol Burnett

I’m sensing a theme here…. both of these people are known comedians (I know, kind of like known criminals, but legal….), yet both have deduced a common principle of humor…. It would be interesting to know the timing of these statements, if only to see who was plagiarizing whom. Regardless of which of them was the more dishonest, both were right, and both saw clearly how pain is directly tied to humor….. I’ve heard it said that we laugh because, if we didn’t, we would cry…… and I think everyone alive can identify with that…..

“Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself, for he shall never cease to be entertained.” — John Powell

I’m either lucky, or smart, and since I know for a fact that the only luck I’ve ever seen is of the bad variety, I’m counting on smart….. I’ve known this for many years; in fact, I distinctly remember a moment when I was about 4 or 5 when something happened to drive the point home to me, and I stood there laughing at myself, distinctly enjoying my own silliness, and realizing that I would always be able to do so….. It was also a revelation about humor in general, because it allowed me to identify with other people, and what they found to be funny, thus enlarging my world by several degrees…. and opening up vast new worlds of humor….

I once read a book that proposed the theory that the feelings we get in life that are of value to us are not merely pleasant to feel, but are actually good for the body and system, to the extent that experiencing those valuable feelings would stop, and in some cases, reverse the aging process. In other words, laughter doesn’t just make you feel younger, but actually makes you younger by its effect on your overall well-being. Whether or not this is true, it feels true, and I’d like to think it so…. it would be very heartening to know that the more I laugh and enjoy life, the longer it will go on…. talk about a win-win situation! Even if it is not absolutely true, having “value experiences” seems like it can only be good for us; there doesn’t seem to be a down-side to this idea…..

“One of the things older folks like to give is advice, as a form of consolation for not being able to give bad example.” — Smart Bee

And if nothing else, it sure makes it a good thing to enjoy life to its fullest, so how can you lose? Nobody knows us like ourselves, so it should be pretty easy to come up with something about ourselves, and our often comical dealings with reality, to laugh at regularly, thereby giving ourselves a few more years to enjoy living…. And, if it is a just a bunch of backwash, well, at least you got a good laugh out of it…. that can’t be all bad…..

A guy calls 911: “My buddy and I are hunting, and he accidentally shot himself! I think he’s dead…. what should I do?” The operator, true to their training, says to him, “First, make sure he’s actually dead.” There is a moment of silence, then a gunshot is heard…. The guy comes back on the line to say, “Okay, now what?”…..

See, now isn’t that better?…..
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It may look from the outside as if this Pearl is much like any other, but that is misleading. I’m sitting here, fighting nausea from some rather curvy, up and down just like a big boat on the ocean movements by the train…. I can’t recall this ever happening before, so maybe it’s a new gift of the aging process… Oh, joy….

Good thing I’m done, or nearly so…. Once I’m done putting this together, I’ll go explore the train, to find a spot in the Parlor Car, where the Wi-fi spot is located, so I can post this in a little while…. This train stuff isn’t as easy as I remember it; I think I’ll fly from now on…. Oh, quit your bellyachin’ Ned…. I think I’ve done all I can do here, so….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

New tricks for old dogs…..

Posted on April 1, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

As he stepped aboard the waiting train, he turned to look back at her, a small, forlorn figure standing in shadows near the exit turnstile. As he turned, she saw him, and raised a hand, as if to wave, but paused, locking eyes with his across the platform. The hiss of the train’s escaping steam mingled with the hum of the crowds boarding, but all faded into the background, unheard, as the two lovers gazed, with searing pain, into each other’s eyes, hers now flowing with shining tears. She again raised her hand, waving once before quickly turning, and rushing away, losing herself in the crowd. With heavy heart, he turned, walked past the conductor, and moved toward his seat, leaving the past behind…..

Now that my own tears are flowing, let’s leave the star-crossed lovers to their fates, and get on with the day’s work, such as it is….. It may be a bit more work than I usually have to do, as I’m supposed to come up with a poem for the April National Poetry Month Writing Challenge, in which I’ve agreed to participate…. I just spent a few minutes, trying to begin a verse, and experienced about that many minutes of sheer terror and exasperation, as I was able to come up with only two lines before the well went dry…. two….. not a grand start, to be sure. I may just have to resort to a haiku for my first effort; I know I can come up with one of those, as I’m pretty confident of my skill with them…. justified or not.

But, that’s for later…. right now, I still need to come up with a bit more of an intro, and I’ve written myself into a nasty little corner here, with no apparent way out….. I might have had a chance, had I gone one more paragraph into the opening story line, but, I didn’t, so here I am once again, stuck for anything intelligent to write…. I don’t know how I do it, but, maybe I could find some fool who would believe me when I tell them I know what I’m doing, and get them to pay me for this…. That will probably happen just about the time the pigs are ready to fly…..

Oh, look! There’s one taking off now! Gosh, it looks so brave, outlined against the morning sky, tiny wings beating to beat the band, weaving back and forth across the brightening sky like a drunken loon…. SIGH…. Such beauty is uncommon, and a joy to behold…. If you can buy into that statement, I have a deal in a bridge you might be interested in…. It’s a good deal, and a great source of income, once the toll booths are put in. I’ll need cash only, though, no checks, and all deals are final….

Now that we’ve entered into the spirit of the day, I think it’s best if I try to steal silently away, into the dark morning light, and get on with today’s dive…. I have a feeling that if I don’t do that now, this entire operation is going to go down in flames, which always annoys the insurance dudes…. I’ll avoid that whole issue, and get on with it, forthwith…. Shall we Pearl?…..

__________________________________

Today’s Pearl is going to resemble the coat of many colors that gave Joseph so much trouble back in Biblical days (I think it was Joseph…. oh well, doesn’t matter, y’all know the story anyway…..)…. It’s just got too much randomness to ever achieve any real coherence, so I’m not even going to try to explain it all…. Below you will find a very rare old-school pearl, a group of seven quotes, freshly chosen for their very randomness, in relation to each other…. As is sometimes the case, the point that emerged is one that defies normal expression, and is actually so intimate, it can only be experienced on a personal level; sharing it would be unwise, if not dangerous to both parties…. So, just enjoy them for what they may bring you, and go on with a bemused smile, and my good wishes….. not that they will help, but, I try…..

“It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“We view things not only from different sides, but with different eyes — we have no wish to find them alike.” — Pascal

“Silence can be the biggest lie of all. We have a responsibility to speak up; and whenever the occasion calls for it, we have a responsibility to raise bloody hell.” — Herbert Block

“Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d’etre oblige de’en pleurer.

(I make myself laugh at everything, in case I should have to weep.)” — Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais (1732-1799)

“An assertion produces a stronger effect than an argument, at least among the majority of mankind. That is why public speakers seek to hammer home their party’s arguments with assertions.” — F. Nietzsche, _Human, All to Human_

“It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“.. Should I get locked in the PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE today — or have a VASECTOMY??” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well, there you go…. I don’t think I can make that any more obscure than it is, so we’ll go on to further adventures in literary suicide…..

__________________________________

April 1, 2013

Rhyming is better than lying….

It’s all too, too much, he cried

I can take no more!

It’s all crazy, my brain is fried,

battered, bloody, and sore.

Talking heads shout out hatred and fear

jam for my morning toast.

Pointing fingers far, middle, and near

enemies everywhere, almost.

Women, gays, and seniors fall prey,

easy targets, slow and weak.

Convenient fools, wanting only to play,

used, and abused, even as we speak.

It enough to drive me floridly insane,

or want to buy a gun.

I may end up in jail, or in massive pain,

but, oh, it would be fun….

~~ gigoid ~~

April Fool! This, such as it is, is the first poem of the month for me, and the first entry in the National Poetry Writing Challenge for April….. It’s not my best effort ever, but, it’s okay, and it’s almost a rant, in its own little way…. I’ll do better as the month goes on, I promise…. Hell, I’m betting tomorrow’s effort will be better…. Just for the hell of it, here is a haiku, too….

To write a poem,

hard as it seems to be, is

not impossible.

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

I have a bunch of stuff to do today in the Big Blue Room, to finish preparations for my trip tonight to Oregon. So, I’m cheating again, and putting in here an old pearl, from the archives…. I can’t say exactly when this first appeared, as I don’t organize them well enough to do so, but, hey, it really doesn’t matter at all…… From the vantage point of the future, I see that Smart Bee was particularly helpful this day….. Enjoy!….

—————————————————

A few random thoughts on the meaning of insanity, and by implication, sanity…….all came from one dive. Pearl after pearl on the same subject kept presenting itself for my perusal, so after a few, I just gave up & collected them. So here they are, all with a bit to say about those among us who perceive reality from a whole different place than you or me….. (My comments are in parentheses, like this one…. )

‘What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art.’ — Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), Reminiscences

If sanity were dollars I’d be bankrupt. — Smart Bee

“I come from a long line of Southern psychotics and an environment where madness is currency and conversation is blood sport.” — Elizabeth Ashley

According to figures from the Justice Department, the average rapist serves only 5.2 years on jail, and the average murderer serves only 8.6 years. By contrast, the average time served for possession of LSD is 10.1 years, and many Americans are serving mandatory minimum sentences of 20 to 25 years for possession or sale of marijuana. — Smart Bee

(Insanity comes in many guises…… your choice as to which is real, and which is delusion….)

Avoid reality at all costs! — Smart Bee

And who (in time) knows whither we may vent

The treasure of our tongue? To what strange shores

This gain of our best glory shall be sent

T’ enrich unknowing nations with our stores?

What worlds in the yet unformed Occident

May come refin’d with th’ accents that are ours?

— Samuel Daniel (1562-1619) — Musophilus, Stanza 163

(Psychosis is rooted in fear, and fear also assumes many masks…..)

I feel like one

Who treads alone

Some banquet-hall deserted,

Whose lights are fled,

Whose garlands dead,

And all but he departed.

— Thomas Moore (1779-1852) — Oft in the Stilly Night

(An accurate description of the onset of depression…..)

“Why ask me? I’m just visiting reality.” — Smart Bee

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program…..

__________________________________

April Fool! Again! None of the above exists, and we are all an illusion, alleged in our own minds….. Thank goodness! This day, being one of my favorite days of the year, due to its strong connection to the concept of nonsense and bozoid tendencies, is also a new beginning….

Today the future of this blog begins anew, as I will now be writing each day’s post from a different location, beginning tomorrow morning, with a Pearl that will be created on a moving train, as I speed through the Northwest toward Oregon… I’m looking forward to it with great anticipation…. Until then….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

—

Sometimes I sits and thinks,

and sometimes

I just sits.

gigoid

Finer memories are unavailable at this price…..

Posted on March 31, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Balderdash…. folderol….. bamboozle…. cantankerous….. flibbertigibbet…. They just don’t make words the way they used to…. nor does society offer the same opportunities to put them to use, sad to say….. But, this isn’t why I’ve called you all together here today…. Yes, losing parts of our past heritage is a serious drag, and something society needs to address in the long run, and in fact, there are now bills before the New Congress to that effect…..

This is not, however, the most dangerous change to have taken place in our culture, not when there are still increasing numbers of unemployed, homeless, lawyers being spotted on our streets, in our parks, and in all our public haunts….. Ever since the revolution, when we killed all the bankers, politicians, and priests, who had been oppressing and terrorizing society for thousands of years, all those law school students were thrown out of college, and have never adjusted to the loss of their future….

The poor pathetic creatures, bereft of any hope of becoming the rich, privileged jackasses they wanted to be, by entering politics, or landing a cushy position on what used to be Wall Street, now known as the Day Care District, wander the streets of our major cities, looking dazed and confused…. Most of them refused the reconditioning offered after the new order was established, still angry at losing all they had studied for, so they are having trouble finding jobs or any stable existence for themselves, as society marches past them into the glorious future we can now expect to see, now that those who were killing us all have been dealt with appropriately….. I always enjoyed the spectacle of those heads on spikes, arranged in straight lines down Broadway in New York…. They were a stirring sight, for certain, especially when they left them with their cigars in their mouths….

On that somewhat disturbing image, we’ll leave this morning’s wish-fulfillment fantasy to its own devices for now, and hope that someday, it will be useful as the start of a real article for some new online magazine, filled with revolutionary zeal, and the promise of a real future for mankind…. And, now, I am off the soap box for the time being…. Hmm, now what?

I’m once more at a loss as to what direction to take, so, I’ll go right to default mode, and call this an intro…. Hey, it has at least four paragraphs, and none of them are what I’d call incendiary, or particularly compelling, even if a bit radical in tone. Around here, that is more than enough, so we’re going with it, because it’s my blog, and I can do what I want…. Nyah, nyah, nyah…. (Even resorting to childish taunts….) Since I can’t think of anything else that would possibly help this to recover, we’ll just dive right in, and see what we can see….

Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Yes, this is an age of moral crisis. Yes, you are bearing punishment for your evil. But it is not man who is now on trial and it is not human nature that will take the blame.It is your moral code that’s through, this time. Your moral code has reached its climax, the blind alley at the end of its course. And if you wish to go on living, what you now need is not to return to morality — you who have never known any — but to discover it.” — John Galt

Well, if ever I’ve seen a better segue into a discussion of the primary problem facing society in the modern world, I not only wouldn’t have known it, I wouldn’t have admitted it, because this is as good as it gets, in that respect. The character who said it, John Galt, is, in the novel by Ayn Rand, a social philosopher, critical of the society in which he lives, which the author blames on socialist idealism. I found the book, Atlas Shrugged, in which Galt plays a part, to be a tour de force of delusional thinking, an entire series of novels, all of which promote the author’s own brand of conservatism, and, to my mind, idiocy.

In order to write these novels, the author had to make certain assumptions, about socialism, about human nature, and about society, and, though the character of Galt SOUNDS as if there is some wisdom in what is said, such as in the above statements, it is based on an erroneous assumption, which, naturally, makes all subsequent conclusions suspect. The assumption made is that socialism will always lead to the society as described in the books, and that assumption is one that isn’t necessarily supported by any real evidence, in the real world….

All of which makes me smile, as what is said above, in the quote by Galt, is pretty much absolutely true of today’s society, which is in imminent danger of self-destruction due to the lack of any morality among the Beloved Ruling Class, and the 1%, who are the real culprits, fully responsible for the state of our culture…. Galt, and Rand, merely make the wrong system their villain when they target socialism. Parasitic conservatism is the real culprit in today’s world, for which there is ample evidence. Hell, our culture, the way it exists today, is perfectly suited to such parasitism as practiced by those elite groups, as the greater percentage of mankind buys into just about anything they are told, as long as they hear it on TV from a guy in a suit….

“Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant or an enemy, must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.” — Aesop (620-560 B.C.)

Considering how long ago Aesop said this, one would think that most of humanity would have learned this lesson. One only need look around today’s news headlines to see just how little this piece of advice has been heeded by the general run of mankind. The politicians and bankers are running amok, struggling and fighting amongst themselves for the best seats at the table of public feasting, studiously ignoring the futile noises from the people from whom they are stealing, as they are busy bickering with their neighbor over each new privilege….. SIGH…..

I’m not sure where I’m going with this anymore…. I wanted to strike out against those assholes in power, who don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, but, they’re too amorphous, hidden within the myriad of folds in the costumes they hide in, that make them look just like everyone else…. It’s really too bad that one cannot see into a person’s heart visually; it would save us all a lot of trouble if we knew from the start that these assholes were lying to us…. Ah well, since I never underestimate the power of human stupidity, I have to figure people would find some way to pull the wool over their own eyes, and fall for the same old shit, anyway…. It almost makes me glad I’m old, and won’t have to put up with it all much longer…..

“And then, last but the reverse of least, there plunged in all the people who think they can solve a problem they cannot understand by abolishing everything that has contributed to it. We all know these people. If a barber has cut his customer’s throat because the girl has changed her partner for a dance or donkey-ride on Hampstead Heath, there are always people to protest against the mere institutions that led up to it. This would not have happened if barbers were abolished, or if cutlery were abolished, or if the objection felt by girls to imperfectly grown beards were abolished, or if the girls were abolished, or if heaths and open spaces were abolished, or if dancing were abolished, or if donkeys were abolished. But donkeys, I fear, will never be abolished.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Flying Inn
__________________________________

One of my favorite WordPress sites for poetry of a unique nature is 1XPad, or OneTimePad, written by Doug, located here: http://1xpad.com/ . He challenged me to join the National Poetry Month Challenge, at this site: http://www.napowrimo.net/ By registering at the site, each blogger commits to publishing a poem every day in April; people from all the participating sites will see it, and join in the community discussion…. It sounded like a good challenge, one that might help me get a bit more disciplined about my poetry; the process by which it leaks out of my head could use an upgrade, metaphorically speaking…. So, tomorrow, this section of the Daily Pearl of Virtual Wisdom will contain a new poem, by me, for as long as I can come up with something I’m not ashamed to post…. We’ll see how it goes….

In the meantime, here is one of my older poems, from September of 2012….. it seems apropos, somehow…..

For The Blind Poet, Embraced

I sit to open a vein, exposed in public places,
happy to be written, judging by the faces.
None can see the price so willingly paid,
at the feet of imagination is that cost weighed.

Still shadows of reality shine quite as well
to hide all the bleeding as if under a spell,
while visions and fantasies vie for attention,
hoping to win once-hoped-for final mention.

Technology may or may not rue its day
never knowing or caring its part to play.
All the precious moments of inspiration
Fall ever short of our own imagination.

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

Okay, so, I’m lazy, so sue me…. I was cruising through some old school Pearls, and came across three that demanded to be included in today’s post…. Alright, so it was merely a request…. but, it was made in a firm tone of voice, so I’m going with demanded…. Any who, it turned out to be a bit long but each one is fully appropriate, and all are quick and easy reads, as each one was intended as an early morning motivator for people at work… These are from sometime in 2006…..

Year end sale…

Ffolkes,
When I started out this morning’s offering, I had intended to remain seriously random. But it seems the sub-conscious me is always there, scheming and plotting. Since most of the plots seem to bear more of a resemblance to scams than schemes, I was lulled into a sense of complacency. Hence the following offering. Again I ask you, which of these is not like the others? Which of these things just isn’t the same? Which of these things is not like the others? Come on and play our game! (To be sung to the tune of….)

COMMAND: A suggestion made to a computer.

Did you hear they removed the word gullible from the dictionary?

This Job Is A Test, It Is Only A Test. Had it been an actual job, you would have received significant compensation, some words of thanks and some form of recognition such as raises, promotions, and bonuses for a job well done. Yes, This has been a Test!

Perhaps we invented God to take the burden of self-judgment from us.

And if we did, how’s that workin’ for ya?….

Feel free to reply; via email, via snail mail, via phone, or just in the relative privacy of your own mind…and of course, y’all take care out there….

Out of the East…

Ffolkes,
“Interesting” is only the beginning. As humans, we tend to get bored when not stimulated by a challenge of some sort. If the world does not provide one, we are perfectly okay with making it up. Something about the perversity of human nature, I suppose, though it seems a bit dramatic to me. Ah well, ours is not to reason why, etc., except it is, or should be, do and die, not do or die. Cuz that’s what is at the end of the road for all of us. Kinda puts us on the same playing field, eh? Here…. I’m feeling less than Occidental this morning……

“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” — J. C. Watts

Always we hope
Someone else has the answer
Some other place will be better
Some other time it will all work out.
This is it.
No one else has the answer
No other place will be better
And it has already turned out.
At the center of your being
You have the answer;
You know who you are and what you want.
There is no need to turn outside
For better seeing.
Rather abide at the center of your being
For the more you leave it
The less you learn.
Search your own heart and see
the way to do is to be.
— Lao Tzu

Y’all take care out there…..

Just plain brutal….

Ffolkes,
Monday’s can be that way, even the best of them. I’m not certain, at least in my own case, just where the motivation to get up & get moving is coming from. Routine is powerful enough to take us in to work, but what then? Coffee only goes so far, then something stronger must come into play, or the week just goes all to >@#%! (Supply your own curses) It can be difficult to find a substitute; drugs are illegal, and so is theft. So what do we do? We rely on luck!…..

“Indifference is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don’t stand a chance against it.” — Joan Vinge

Life is short. Get it right.

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, write.
Those who can’t write go to the State Department (of Mental Health).

That’s the ticket….motivation means caring…..Recently on the radio, Hoyt touted a book, and challenged the listeners to send in our own version of what it was about, to wit: describe your life in six words. I liked mine…

“Looked for love, found it everywhere”……

Six on the button, eh?

Y’all take care out there…..
__________________________________

Today is my daughter’s birthday; since she is now a grown woman, I’ll forgo mentioning the number, and just wish the best day possible, as it is always one of MY two best days of the year (I have a son, also…..). I enjoy being able to remind myself throughout the day that I am blessed with a wonderful, beautiful daughter….. Happy Birthday, Kelly!

There, housekeeping done, and Pearl constructed…. let’s see how it reads….. Go ahead and let the Pulitzer Committee they won’t need to meet again today…. Actually, it’s not too bad, considering the state of my mind….. Tomorrow is Monday; I’ve a lot to do before traveling tomorrow night, and much of my available RAM is being used up in calculations in re: the trip.

Oops…. I’m starting to use computer metaphors now; I’d best bring this to a rapid close, lest we reach critical mass…. See ya….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Standing by with unqualified operators….

Posted on March 30, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Well, let’s see what kind of trouble I can get into this morning….. Murphy threw cold water in my face today, precisely at 0437…. That’s in the AM, by the way, in case the use of military time didn’t clue you. He didn’t bother to explain why, just grinned at me, then disappeared, so I’m sure he’s got some sort of booby trap set up for me, to hit me when I’ve relaxed and forgotten about him. SIGH…. there are times, such as this, when I wonder what life might be like without his unkind attentions, and though it might affect the balance of the universe somehow if he weren’t around to see to that, I’d be willing to try it out, just to see if I could deal with it any better than I do with him dogging me…. In fact, I’d give serious money to try it…..

Sadly for me, money won’t buy my freedom from Reality, or the elements of Chaos and Entropy that are as much a part of life as are Order and Beauty….. There are people who believe that money CAN buy happiness, but they are deluded, and exist in a way that prevents them from ever really connecting with the universe deeply, or experiencing the finer parts of life, that only come when one is open to compassion and love. Moreover, they are completely unaware that they are missing out on anything….. I suppose that means that I must once again come to my own terms with the events that Murphy perpetrates in my life, and just smile as if it didn’t hurt…. For me, the alternative is unacceptable….

Wow, how did I get so serious? It’s too early to rant; even I have limits, and two paragraphs in is NOT where I like to begin letting it all hang out, even if the target deserves it…. Hell, I’m barely awake, even though I’ve been up an hour now, and have sucked down an appropriate amount of coffee. I’m so out of it, actually, that I just tried to think of a joke to put in here, and it caused a stabbing pain right behind my eyes, like I’d been struck by a brilliant blast of light right in the face, or a left fist to the temple…. ouch!…. Maybe serious isn’t so bad….

Nah, I’m not in a serious mood…. Of late, I’m experiencing a bit of how the universe maintains balance over the long run, as the past two and a half years of relative misery is countered by a period of positive support by reality, in the form of an influx of resources.

I’ve been steadily using those resources to set up my life for retirement on a different level than it has been thus far, and the concomitant release of built up stress is delightful, as well as liberating…. I’m only glad I am able to appreciate it; I’ve known many people who would complain about even good things that happened to them, but, as I’ve said before, I’m not one to look a gift frog in the gums…..

Why is it that the quality of what I write in the intro is so variable? I can’t seem to find a method, or a format, or anything that is consistent, allowing me to segue into each day’s work smoothly, unless I go through all these rambling, blathering contortions….

Of course, in the course of writing these every day, I DO get a lot of practice at different styles, and get to let out my imagination to play, especially when I do a fictional opening. But, I can never seem to get it just the way I want it…. Oh well, I guess you could say that is a metaphor for life, in a way…. we can’t always get it just the way we want it…. So, I’ll just get on with the rest of today’s dive, and go with the flow, like I had some kind of choice….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I just stepped on a factoid!” – Zippy 😳
__________________________________

If the intro section is any indication of how things will go today, I am firmly convinced that ranting would be problematic, for one of us, if not both….. Rather than chance any ripped clothing, or lost hair, I’m going for an old school rant, which is to say, a pearl, very pointed, and very obviously sarcastic about its subject…. Today, just in case it isn’t so obvious, I’ll tell you, this one is about our Beloved Ruling Class, and their hobby, governing nations….

“Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. — Plato, The Republic. Book VIII. 558

“A stiff neck usually supports an empty head.” — Smart Bee

“The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.” — Charles Eliot Norton, True Patriotism, 1898

“Anybody who wants the presidency so much that he’ll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office.” — David Broder

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Abigail Adams, Paris, Feb. 22, 1787

“A politician will always tip off his true belief by stating the opposite at the beginning of the sentence. For maximum comprehension, do not start listening until the first clause is concluded. Begin instead at the word “but” which begins the second, or active, clause. This is the way to tell a liberal from a conservative–before they tell you. Thus: “I have always believed in a strong national defense, second to none, but … ” (a liberal, about to propose a $20 billion defense cut).” — Frank Mankiewicz

“Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How’s that again? I missed something.” — Robert A. Heinlein

As a chef, and an artist, of sorts, I know that odd numbers are more attractive to the eye, and to the mind, than even numbers…. So, I should stop here, with seven pearls, which, I might add, made their point beautifully. But, the following pearl just seemed to fit perfectly as the last comment for this subject, and I couldn’t resist adding it as a post-script…..

And, as in uffish thought he stood
The Jabberwork, with eyes of flame
Came wiffling through the tulgey wood
And burbled as it came

— _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)
__________________________________

Having decided NOT to rant today, due to a distinct lack of outrage, I’ve sublimated with old-school pearls, in sections one and three, one with the BRC as its target, one focused on the priestly hierarchies, both of which hopefully demonstrated my opinion (low) of both entities. In keeping with that sentiment, and to replace the rants with what is at least my own work, I offer this poem, that I wrote last October, prior to the Presidential election by about two weeks….. I hope you enjoy it….

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.

I often stand and 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, from season to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

__________________________________

In 1980, when my son was a baby (born in December of 1979), we started watching Sesame Street, both together, and by ourselves, just about every day. When he was about five months old, he was so alert, and interested in the world around him, that we could plop him down in his car seat, on the floor, where he would sit, serenely watching the entire hour-long show, making happy noises, babbling to the muppets, and closely watching all the action on the screen.

I learned, by watching with him, that the show was made for children, but with the knowledge that adults were watching, too, because much of the humor in the show was too obviously aimed at the adults…. I also found I enjoyed watching it, though it was, of course, somewhat repetitive in nature at times….

One of the best skits, or lessons, that was repeated frequently was one called, “Which of these is not like the others?”, wherein a group of four items…. pictures, letters, fruits, balls, or statements…. would be shown together. One of the items in the group was obviously different, such as one blue bird in a group with three red birds, or a puppy with three kittens, etc…… The lesson for the kids, of course, was to teach how to recognize patterns, and differences between patterns, a useful skill for all humans….

Having decided earlier today not to rant, I’m substituting old-school pearls, in place of my customary thousand words on various targets. This pearl is patterned after the Sesame Street skit, and has one aphorism grouped together with several others (you are adults, and can have more than just four to pick from….), which is a of a different nature than the others….

All of them have been painted with a coating of sarcastic impudence, I hope, as they speak about organized religion, tongue firmly in cheek. The single exception is an idea that is contrary to all the religionists believe to be true, thus setting it apart, as being rational…. It shouldn’t be too hard to find, and the others will give you an idea of how today’s rant might have progressed, had I written it…. Enjoy!

“Religion is the fashionable substitute for belief.” — Oscar Wilde

“Cockamamie is a word that comes to mind.” — Smart Bee

PHILISTINE, n. One whose mind is the creature of its environment, following the fashion in thought, feeling and sentiment. He is sometimes learned, frequently prosperous, commonly clean and always solemn. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which live was first breathed… There is grandeur in this view of life … that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being, evolved.” — Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Give a man religion and he’ll starve to death praying for a fish.” — Smart Bee

“Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething.” — Mark Twain
(Sorry, couldn’t resist….)
__________________________________

“And never think about the past. No regrets, ever.” — Robert Heinlein

I’ve always tried to take this advice; it’s good stuff….. In keeping with that policy, I’ve decided to post this mess, even though I haven’t proofed it, or checked it to see if it will be either legally actionable, or, worse, terminally boring….. I’ll do that now, & be right back…..

Well, okay, that’s not bad, all things considered. I’ll take it…. And, before I can change my mind, I’ll be on my way, out into the Big Blue Room, to see what kind of mischief I can find to get into out there in the real world….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Negative! Do NOT scotch that beezul…..

Posted on March 29, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
It is hard to believe, I know, but, it’s true….. If I hadn’t already had coffee, I wouldn’t have believed it myself, but, I’m considered by most to be a cynic, so, people expect me to have doubt about most everything, and rightly so….. This, however, is really, really hard to accept, as it goes against the grain of everything we were taught about reality when we were children, for starters….. The fact that it also is extremely offensive to almost anyone with a sense of taste, or style, is just added to its negative impact. Maybe we could just convince it to go back to where it came from? It’s worth a shot, I think….

Oh, didn’t I mention that? Sorry, I get carried away, and forget, well, everything….. Ah, hell, I give up…. It was all a sham, as usual…. I had hoped, by the time I finished the first paragraph, to have come up with some idea as to what the devil I was talking about above, so I could do a 180 degree turn, and leave you all breathless with admiration, and gaping surprise at my cleverness. Instead, I’m once again forced to be honest with you, and admit my failing…. SIGH….. Sometimes, I guess I’m too clever for my own good…. I just wish that was an event that occurred infrequently, rather than being the norm for this blog…..

However, I’m nothing if not realistic, so we’ll go on, despite having embarrassed myself unmercifully; an author needs to have thick skin, especially considering the nature of what I generally write….. In fact, I need to have thick skin, and a strong stomach, but we won’t dwell on that, as it is controlled by a bit of medication…. gotta love modern chemistry, eh? It would be nice if they could come up with an inspiration drug, wouldn’t it? Just pop a pill, and, voilá, floods of ideas pour out of the subconscious…..

I used to be able to use my conversations with my old friends, Mr. John Daniels, and Mr. James Beam, for that, but, I lost my tolerance for hard liquor when I couldn’t afford to drink, so, that’s no longer an option…. SIGH…. I miss them…. Jack was a funny guy, and nobody can tell a ghost story quite like Jim…. Old friends are the best, aren’t they? Plus, neither of them seemed to care if I plagiarized them; they’re just that kind of guys…. But, we lost touch over the last couple of years, and right now, I’m not ready to take up the habits I had when younger, as I can’t keep up like I used to…. or, my liver can’t keep up, which has the same end result…. C’est la vie…. When one becomes a man, he puts away the toys of the boy he was….

I have a few good reasons for drinking
And one has just entered my head
If a man can’t drink when he’s living
How the hell can he drink when he’s dead?

~~ Smart Bee

I see that I’ve managed to blather and ramble enough to call this an intro, and since I have nothing further in my head that I can think of to babble about, I suppose we’d best get on with the day’s dive….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Have the courage to act instead of react.” — Earlene Larson Jenks

Why is it the shortest aphorisms have the greatest depth to them? This is so deep, one needs scuba equipment to explore its depth safely, or drowning in one’s own ignorance seems certain. This indictment, or call to action, however one views it, is part of what makes the world such a dangerous place. Albert Einstein said it very well, with a quote of which I’m very fond, even though it is an indictment of me, along with everyone else who fails to act at certain times in life….

In my own life, I know that those times when I have failed to meet the dictates of honor weigh upon my conscience most heavily. As much as I feel badly about those acts in my life where I know I caused pain to others by my own lack of control, I feel worse, if possible, about those times when I failed to act, when I knew I should….. No failure of courage is more dishonorable in my eyes, and I will never forgive myself for those acts, or those times when I failed to act, even if God will…. Whether we like it, or not, duty remains duty….

At this point in this narrative, it would be relatively normal to begin a rant about modern society, and how little courage most people show when confronted by evil acts. And, on most days, I would do so…. but, I think the little pup in the picture says all I have to say, and says it much more effectively, than I could hope to do. So, I’m going to leave it at that, and just say this…. We all have choices in life; the choices we make will determine whether or not we can look ourselves in the eye each morning when we look in the mirror…..

“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’m not sure why, but this poem of mine, from last year’s prolific output during September, seems to capture some of the flavor of the above section, so, here you go….

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

I’m feeling lazy this morning, even though I slept well; probably my inner nature asserting itself…. Any who, I’m going to cheat a bit again, and put in a pearl from an older Pearl… from 2012, that is, so not too much older…. It’s not bad, and seems to fit in to today’s scheme…. Enjoy!….
—————————————————

“If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.” — Don Marquis

This is a lesson that I didn’t learn until I was almost out of high school, even though I had ample opportunity to do so. I guess I was less skeptical of human nature then, having had less direct experience at dealing with all its idiosyncrasies….. but, learn it I did, to both my everlasting regret, and my endless gratitude, for a gift that has lasted a lifetime. Being able to tell the difference between the two states, to wit: thinking and thinking they are thinking, has been invaluable in preventing trouble, as well as remedying it when it occurs. Which is alladamtime, in the vernacular of the streets of Rome….

“No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means.” — George Bernard Shaw

I was a very good student in high school, and though I didn’t carry that tradition into college, during those teen years of the early 1960’s, I was considered a reference source by most of my classmates, and ended up tutoring them fairly often in the course of joint studying, assuming a teaching role. (Being such a reference source can also be a potential problem, but that’s another story….) This was my first real exposure in how human nature affects learning, and what works with some people to get them to comprehend what they are trying to learn won’t work for others, who are not as invested in the process of using their mind for anything other than counting change for a dollar…..

“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on. “I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least – at least I mean what I say – that’s the same thing, you know.” “Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “Why, you might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!” “You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!” “You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, which seemed to be talking in its sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!” “It IS the same thing with you, ” said the Hatter. — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

This conversation from the other side of the looking glass creates in me a very strong sense of deja vu…. Many of the conversations I’ve had while acting as a tutor to my peers sounded just like this, only we were discussing mathematics, which makes it that much scarier…. But, it also highlights the problem for those of us who act as tutors to our peers, relating back to the original quote…. When teaching others, you must find the right mode of speech, the right way to approach the student in a way that they can comprehend the lesson…. A good friend sent me a poem yesterday which states the difficulty perfectly (Thanks to Shawna Alexander, who also forgot to send the author’s name…)…..

Which is better?

A genius knows when to dumb it down
A smart man knows when to know nothing
And an idiot can be all three
Well what does that mean?

You’re only as smart as others allow
So if you’re too smart to be understood,
To others your intelligence level goes down
So to truly be a genius you must know when dumbing it down is good

To know nothing isn’t unintelligence
It’s best for different situations
Though very different from a genius,
A smart man recognizes when on his knowledge to put limitations

An idiot is in the best position,
Because it’s second nature for them to put it in layman’s terms
An idiot has the best potential for genius if it’s his intention
And being an idiot is how others feel their intelligence is confirmed

Thus we can see that in order to successfully teach, one must be flexible enough in their own persona to be able to assume the characteristics that will ensure a successful lesson, by speaking to the student at their level of understanding, and by fooling them into using their mind to think with, rather than just using it to find their way home every night….

“Neither man nor woman can be worth anything until they have discovered that they are fools. The sooner the discovery is made the better, as there is more time and power for taking advantage of it.” — William Lamb Melbourne
__________________________________

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t the fine line between sanity and madness gotten finer?” — George Price

The answer to that would be a resounding “Yes!”…. Well, you can tell the Pulitzer Committee to stand down; we won’t be needing them to meet in special chambers to award this any prizes….. But, it’s not exactly the worst Pearl ever created, either. It has the distinctly advantageous quality that I so admire in a Pearl, which is to say, it’s done, and I’m not doing it over…. Y’all will just have to chew it up the way it is; swallowing is optional…… I’ve done enough damage for one day, so….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

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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