Tag Archives: Philosophy

Artichoke juice is an efficient lubricant….

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Ffolkes,
Normally, streams of accidental tourists would be barging through the parlor, trying to see the latest version of Alice’s knickers, but the piano tuner forgot to shut down the coverlets, which caused the maids to neglect the silver. It might have been salvaged, had not the vicar arrived with the generalissimo in tow, hoping to be invited to tea. Since even Timmons, the tinker, was perplexed, Maggot, the farmer’s idiot son was sent to fetch the constable, to file a report for the insurance. Even the cats at the barn door paused in washing their whiskers to watch the ambulance pull away.  Farragut Towers had never seen such goings-on, in all its days….

Hmm…. the nonsense doesn’t seem to want to flow this morning. Generally, a paragraph such as the above can fly onto the screen in about two minutes, but I had to struggle a bit to get this one down, taking at least 15 to wind its way to where it faded out. Ah well, I guess it just isn’t an English drawing room kind of day…. It’s probably just a hangover from dreaming last night, or something; I often find myself in dreams, involved in long, drawn out conversations with Lord Peter Wimsey, or Sherlock Holmes, sitting around in a smoky Victorian parlor, with the street noises of Piccadilly Circus or Baker Street muttering outside the window……

Unfortunately, that didn’t translate well onto the screen today. I don’t suppose I can expect to be able to do that on command; none of my other types of writing rely on focus or discipline. I rely far more on impulse and imaginative speculation when I’m deciding what to write, and try very hard NOT to apply a lot of conscious direction to where the decision ends up. My talent, such as it is, seems to work better for me when I just let it flow, without any direction from my conscious mind, and allow it to find its own path down to the sea, in a metaphorical sense. Metaphor is, after all, pretty much what we do around here….

Ranting at the world, even using the power of metaphor, is getting to be somewhat more dangerous, as our BRC (Beloved Ruling Class) is having a lot of success in fooling the public into being afraid, and letting them pass laws against what they fear, or, more dangerously, allowing them to make “executive” decisions to make laws, without bothering Congress about it. They are also performing a lot of surveillance on their own public, and, I am certain, marking down the names of those who are critical of the government’s actions in what they write.

To think that they will allow this criticism to go on forever is naive; they will eventually take steps to curtail freedom of speech further than it has already been eroded, just the same as how they have eliminated the right to protest in public, to gather in groups to obtain redress for grievances against the government, and the right to a fair trial by their peers. We lost the right to public oversight of the police some time ago, when the Patriot Act made it legal for them to arrest people and put them in undisclosed locations, without any judicial review or oversight. Very few of the original Amendments to the Constitution, which provided many of the rights we counted on, remain as law in this country. Americans sat around and watched, as the BRC has methodically and calmly sliced the Bill of Rights into shreds over the last 12 years since 9/11, using that day of infamy to justify their rape of the Constitution.

Oops…. I started ranting too early; forgot I was still in the intro. The latest outrageous moves by the BRC have me all worked up in that respect, as they are now, predictably, coming after the right bear arms, the one amendment that actually gives us real protection from the real world. The slippery slope of gun control is now on the public table, and the show is getting pretty raucous, on both sides of the argument….. But, all this is moot, here in the intro, or should be, so we’ll save it for below, should the subject come up….  (I know, that’s cheating, since I’m the one who picks the subjects…. deal with it…. I don’t cheat much, and when I do, it is merely a time-saving device, and has no direct effect on reality…..)

Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Gun control is not about guns. It is about control.” — Smart Bee

You had to know I couldn’t let this one go….. Yesterday, the POTUS signed several “Executive Orders” regarding the subject of gun control, addressing the issues that much of the American public is focused on (as directed to be by the BRC and the media….). Putting aside for the moment the issue of gun control itself, I wish to make it clear that the “Executive Orders” that were used to create the new regulations are a clear and obvious circumvention of the Constitution, and a direct attempt to bypass the checks and balances that our three pronged government is supposed to be subject to thereby. It seems to be escaping everyone’s notice that the Executive Branch of the government is now MAKING LAWS, not just enforcing them.

The whole system that has grown up around the concept of Executive Orders is, as far as I can see, completely illegal, according to Constitutional law. The President does NOT have the right to make laws, no matter how much urgency is seen to be present, or how much expediency is needed to address a situation. Congress is the body that is supposed to make laws, and the enforcement of those laws is the responsibility of the Executive Branch, with the oversight of both to be accomplished by the Federal Courts…. That is the way it was designed, and that is the way it has worked, to protect our rights as citizens for over 200 years….

Now, because of public fear, due mostly to the media frenzy at the behest of the BRC, and the manipulative dishonesty of the corporate masters of that same BRC, the rights we have enjoyed as Americans are now just about all gone. The assholes who run this country, the corporate masters who pull all the strings from behind the curtains, have successfully created a climate of fear amongst the general populace, and have neatly manipulated events so that it is the public itself clamoring for protection….. from itself. The media have so effectively spread the fear and horror, that the people on the streets are actually asking to have their rights curtailed, “for the good of society”…… What a load of bilge!

I am amazed at times at how naive people can be. The world is a dangerous place, and always has been, as human nature is anything but civilized. Yet people expect the government to be able to eliminate all danger from the public venue. They expect there to never be people who go crazy, and start shooting at everything they see, or attacking their delusional enemies. They expect there to never be an instance where police shoot unarmed citizens, just because they can. They actually expect members of the Beloved Ruling Class to have concern for what is important to them, instead of blithely pursuing their own agendas….. Such naivete is sadly all too common, and is the reason the rest of us will be forced to go along with the repressive regulations that are surely coming….

Yesterday, in discussing the gun control issue with a neighbor, it became clear just how naive, and unwilling to think, the general populace is…. This person is, I’d say, a pretty average citizen, perhaps less educated than some, but with more innate intelligence than many I know of. She actually said “yes” when I asked her if she trusted the police to be more ethical than the average citizen…. When I pointed out the multitude of incidents that occur every day that show police officers to be much less moral than the average joe, she acknowledged the point, but still would not voice mistrust of the police over the citizenry. She actually believes that policemen and women are more capable of carrying a gun, and not using it unethically, than are average folks…. A very, very foolish assumption, to my way of thinking…..

So, what we have now is a dual issue… First, the government wants to limit the citizenry’s access to guns, a direct abrogation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. (Read it…. it says the right to bear arms will “not be abridged.” Period.) Second, the executive branch of government is being allowed to make law, another direct abrogation of the Constitution, which assigns that function to Congress. If nothing else, these two subjects are going to provide the impetus for a shit-load of public discussion, for sure…. The trickiest part of that is to be able to winnow out the wheat from the chaff, for there will be a LOT of chaff thrown up, much of it by the BRC, as they do all they can to obfuscate the issues, and hide their own manipulative interactions.

You will, I’m sure, see and hear more on this, both here on this blog, and out there in the Big Blue Room. I’m not done ranting on either of these issues, you can count on that. For the moment, I’m going to go search out some pearls to use in the discussions, and leave you to chew on what I’ve already brought up. Don’t worry, I’ll be back, to chew on these bones some more…..

“I have the power to HALT PRODUCTION on all TEENAGE SEX COMEDIES!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Children’s Rhymes

By what sends
the white kids
I ain’t sent:
I know I can’t
be President.
What don’t bug
them white kids
sure bugs me:
We know everybody
ain’t free.

Lies written down
for white folks
ain’t for us a-tall:
Liberty And Justice–
Huh!–For All?

Langston Hughes
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“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” — Robert A. Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

It would be difficult for me to try to describe just how influential this statement has been in my life. I first read it around 1965 or so, when it was first published as part of Lazarus’ first appearance, in “Methuselah’s Children”. This incarnation of the idea, which pretty well describes Lazarus himself, was published later, in The Notebooks, as part of Heinlein’s book, “Time Enough For Love”, his magnum opus in later years. When I first read it, I was, as with much of Heinlein’s work, impressed by its relevance, and by how much it appealed to my own view of the universe. To my way of thinking, this is a perfect definition of what a man should be, and how one should approach life in general…..

As humans, our ecological niche in the Earth’s environment is that of the animal that fits into all niches. Our ability to eat any kind of food, to cope with any kind of environment we encounter, are designed to act as characteristics that enhance our ability to survive, and reproduce, which is the genetic mandate of all species. I mean, think about it, anything other than focus on surviving, and reproducing in kind, is kind of counter-productive, isn’t it? So, having this kind of all-encompassing flexibility of talent would seem to be custom made to make us efficient at staying alive long enough to carry on the species by producing offspring.

One of the talents we possess that is an essential underlying factor for our flexibility is our imagination. This unique talent, seemingly absent in most other species, allows us to see into the future, into the realm of possible outcomes of real time actions and events, giving us the advantage of being able to prepare for dealing with such issues much more efficiently than we can by merely reacting to the immediacy of what is happening in front of us. It is a very, very powerful tool, and ultimately, it will be either our saving grace, or our own personal executioner……

You see, humans also have a flaw in their make-up, a flaw that is every bit as powerful as imagination in its effect on our existence. This flaw is part of our emotional make-up, our feelings about what we perceive in the real world, outside our minds and imagination. The flaw can manifest itself in a variety of ways, but the most harmful are when this basic crack in our armor assume the form of deliberate ignorance, exemplified by fearful bigotry, or in indifference to the feelings of others, as typified by the corporate masters of the world and the Beloved Ruling Class (not necessarily the same group of men….). The flaw is typically seen in those public events that are marked by a lack of morality, or ethical behavior, such as the common habitual lying to the public by the candidates during elections, or when the police murder another innocent citizen….

I’ve written myself into another corner here, so to speak….. This subject is one that is constantly in my thoughts of late, as I witness the historic battle that is being waged in today’s political arena, a battle that began the day after the signing of the Constitution. The unseen, hidden rulers of the world have been trying to tear apart the system of protective laws and concepts that our forefathers left as our legacy since that fateful day, and their efforts are coming to fruition now. We are watching every one of the ten rights in the Bill of Rights being eradicated, made moot, by the passage of illegal laws, executive orders, and manipulation of the public’s fear until the lost and ignorant are crying out for protection from the boogie man….

At this point, I don’t know what the answers may be, nor what they may entail…. History, and our place in that history, is about to come to a head, in a manner of speaking. A lot of very volatile issues are currently being played out on the world stage, and the outcome is still in question. I can only hope that there are enough of the people who fit the description above still alive and actively working to maintain human dignity and freedom, to make a difference in the final resolution. I’m not terribly confident of success, but, I haven’t quite given up hope…. I’m not sure why, because, damn it, the BRC and the corporate assholes are holding a lot of good cards, and have a lot of resources at hand that aren’t available to the rest of us.

Ah well, all you can do, is all you can do….. and this is all I can do for now….

“I know everything, but I’m sworn to secrecy.” — Smart Bee
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Since I can’t ethically reveal any more secrets, it seems to be time to bring this….. whatever it is…. to a close. One can only beat one’s head against a wall for so long, before concussion sets in, and I’d like to get through a day without all the dizziness and nausea that daily events can produce. It would probably help if I didn’t go read the news every day, but, as I’ve said before, and will again, it’s good to keep track of what is going on, if only to be able to jump when necessary, and to know which way to jump…. makes the landing more comfortable…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

If only zucchini was more charitable…..

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Ffolkes,
In today’s world, it can become hard to maintain a positive outlook, especially about the future. The Beloved Ruling Class is so intransigent, and so self-centered, I can see little hope that the changes needed for us to survive as a species will ever happen. This is, of course, tragic, to say the least, and is possibly NOT the best subject with which to start the day’s effort. A bit dark, don’t y’know?. But, I got an email last night while I was asleep that was extremely touching, and have to deal with the issue before I think too hard about it…..

As a matter of policy, I’ve never given in to chain letters, of any kind, whether, as in olden days, they had stamps, or the more modern email variety. I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe in the idea that an email, or a letter, that I don’t forward to many people, will cause me to have bad luck, or that doing so will bring me good luck. Life, and Murphy, don’t work that way; this I know for a fact. But, occasionally, one will come along that has something else going for it, and for these I will break my policy about sending it on…..

I’ll be forwarding the email to my Pearl Drops on this occasion, and I’ll tell you why….. The letter, though full of all kinds of examples of the assumptions and faith-based beliefs about which I often rant, has something that the other chain letters don’t have, and that is a compassionate reason for sending it. The person who sent this to me did so because of their own compassion, for me, and for others, in spite of, or maybe because of, the fact  she has cancer herself, and is currently fighting the battle to stay alive we all will face one day. Yet she has the strength of spirit to want to give to her friends, and to feel that she is helping in some way……

Now, I’m not going to tell you that I’ve changed my mind about the healing power of faith, because it is actually one of the few parts of religious activity that I do believe is real. I fully believe the human mind has the power to heal through its own power of suggestion and belief; in history there are numerous examples of healings that cannot be explained any other way. I won’t allow that the power comes from God; I believe that power already resides within us. We all have the power to heal ourselves, and others, by dint of believing it strongly enough; we may not be able to see, or describe how it works, much less explain it, but, there are too many examples to deny the evidence…..

So, I believe in the power of the human mind, and in some unknown way, letters like these can distribute that power to where it needs to be, and can help people heal themselves….. So, I’ll be sending it along, with my own wishes for good fortune to those of my friends and acquaintances who struggle with physical issues, in hope that all comes out well in the end…. And, it’s like my friend said when she sent it…. it can’t hurt……

I’ve used up my intro section for this, and will double up its usefulness by copying it into the letter I’m forwarding. If anyone would like to see the letter, please leave your email in a comment, and I’ll send it to you; I don’t really want to paste it here, as it might shock some of my regulars out of their socks to see it on my site…. It’s a nice letter, all in all, and I really do appreciate that my friend sent it to me, even though I don’t buy into their faith… it is the impulse of compassion from them that is my concern, and I really feel loved for having them in my life….. Thank you, C….

I believe I’ve managed to accomplish my purpose without falling into either sappiness, or melancholy, so that makes this a GOOD intro, right? Well, whatever it is, it will have to do, as I don’t have the energy to go back and do another one. Time, I have, energy requires a bit more regulation, to ensure I can get as far as I can with what there is to use…. an amount much smaller than in previous periods of my life, to be sure. Before I figure out some way to screw this up, I think we should begin our dive for today….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I hope something GOOD came in the mail today so I have a REASON to live!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” — Anne Frank

Statements such as this are the saving grace of mankind, to my mind. It always astounds me how people who have been subjected to evil can react to that treatment by becoming the antithesis of evil, i.e., they simply become more good, in response to the evil perpetrated upon them. Anyone who can deny that Ms. Frank was witness to, and subject to, some of the most evil events in history is a fool; no, they’re an idiot. Probably both…. Yet, in spite of all that she saw happen to her family, her friends, and all she endured to survive in the face of the evil she experienced, her writing is filled with optimism and hope, and faith in the human spirit. It is almost enough to convince me of her insanity, but, I know that, even if considered insane, this kind of goodness is real….

The problem is that this kind of good is nowhere near as plentiful in human culture as are the more evil aspects of personality that we humans display. The kind of activities that took place in Anne Frank’s world are all too common in human history, and indicate the overwhelming majority of those who follow those precepts, of ignorance, hatred, and bigotry, rather than subscribing to more positive rules of conduct. In essence, what I’m saying is, there are more assholes out there than there are nice guys, no matter how we would like it to be otherwise, and no matter how strong our faith in human nature. It is the ugliest part of the dichotomy we experience as part of the universe that is based on opposites, to know that the evil in us, so far throughout history, is stronger than the good.

“As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose.” — Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita was written a long time before the birth of Christ, so we know that the human proclivity to turn ideas to their advantage, no matter the original intent of the concepts, has been an issue for society for a long time. This is the difference between those who subscribe to improving human nature, and our understanding of life and our place in it, and those who use their talents to obtain power over others. While the former works toward the betterment of all people with whom they come in contact, the latter spend their effort to manipulate and control everyone they meet. In the real world, these deliberately self-oriented assholes (sorry, gotta let it out now and again….) are the ones who seek elected office, or go to seminary, or study law, or business, or become police officers…. not to help others, but to find every way they can to take advantage of the naive nature of their peers…..

SIGH…. (That’s a sigh as commonly sighed in County Clare, Ireland, indeed, in all the west counties of Eire; long, drawn out, slowly exhaled, complete with mournful expression, shrugging of shoulders, and shaking of head….) I don’t know the answer, though I have some ideas that might work, should they ever be considered. But, they all involve a certain degree of “giving in” to the more violent side of our nature. Though it is a soothing thought to think of all those assholes getting what they deserve, it is, to some extent, assuming the same characteristics that define them in their state of anti-humanity.

To get rid of them, we would have to become them, if only for a short time, and would thereby lose part of what makes us different in the first place…. So far, I haven’t been willing to give in to that extent. I don’t know if that shows that I have integrity, or if it means I am afraid to change to that degree, even if temporary. How to get back to the same ethical standing seems to me to be the issue, and I just don’t know the answer…. My karmic balance is no doubt too delicately perched on the cusp to risk any unreasonable violence without just cause….

But, if it gave the rest of us a chance to make some changes to society that would be of help to all of us, rather than just a few, well, I think I’d be willing to pick up a weapon and join the fray. Maybe having honorable motivation would be enough to get the job done, and still maintain some integrity…. If nothing else, it might give us a bit of breathing space, in order to come up with a more permanent, and more humane, solution to the issue…. Hard to say, as things have been the way they are for a long time, and rooting out the Beloved Ruling Class from their well-fortified position is not going to be a simple task…. As we all can see, human nature is what it is, and it doesn’t WANT to change….. None of us do…. unless, of course, we want to keep on living…..

“Either you think — or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
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“A picture is a poem without words.” — Horace (65-8 B.C.)

And a poem is a picture of Life, with words as colors….. Here is what I think is possibly the best poem ever written by an American poet…. No other poem I’ve seen or heard of comes close to matching the depth of its simplicity…. and that phrase is precisely what I mean to imply…. Enjoy!…..

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

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

Robert Frost
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Okay, so there I was this morning, cruising along through Smart Bee, and all these pearls kept popping up in front of me, demanding inclusion without telling me why. Being the patsy I am in re: my muse, I did so…. and this is the group that ended up as the end result of my indulgence. It makes a good point, or two, actually, and I really like the way it ends, with the pointy finger and all…. The points it makes, of course, are left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader, with bonus points for knowing which parts to chuckle at, and which to guffaw….. (a thinly disguised manipulation on my part to get the word “guffaw” into a pearl…. I love it when a plan comes together…..)…..

“Love of money is the root of all politics.” — Smart Bee

“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire

“Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!” — Albert Einstein

“The vultures are circling…they have the faces of presidential candidates and carry bowling balls in their buttered claws….” — Smart Bee

“Cato used to assert that wise men profited more by fools than fools by wise men; for that wise men avoided the faults of fools, but that fools would not imitate the good examples of wise men.  — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Marcus Cato

‘And if you’ve just tuned in, we’re talking about the red-hot,  tight-buttocked, hairy host of Hell.’  — The Church Lady

And there you have it, all wrapped up in a nice big bow….. Ta ta, then, luvs….
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I’ve gone over it thrice, and proof-reading aside, it ain’t too bad….. Not too bad at all…. and, it’s done. So, I’m going to now indulge  myself again, and spend the next five minutes leisurely getting this copied, pasted, emailed, and posted to WordPress…. which is all the time it takes, now that I am once again blessed with home internet service.

Strange how things work out sometimes, eh? A state of existence that didn’t exist at all 20 years ago, now becomes an essential ingredient to a comfortable lifestyle….. It isn’t a surprise, so much, to those of us who grew up reading Science Fiction, as it is a gleeful sense of fulfillment that imagination and reality merged into such a powerful societal manifestation. Or, is that infestation?  🙂   Nah, it’s a good thing…. and it sure makes my day a lot more enjoyable, without a doubt…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Uh oh, it’s leaking magic smoke…..

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Ffolkes,
It isn’t the most horrific thing I can think of to have happen, but, it’s annoying enough…. Did you ever get a song stuck in your head, and not be able to stop it? I have, and it isn’t pretty; by the time the song fades away, I generally have about half my hair left, and have lost weight from the stress of hearing the phrase “oh lord, stuck in Lodi, again..” for the ten-thousandth time in a row….. Like I said, it could be worse (it could have been the theme song to “Barney”…. you know… “You love me, I love you, etc.”, on and on, into nausea unlimited….), but, even Country Joe McDonald’s voice gets old after a while…. of course, he’s old now, too, so…. Oh right, sorry, forgot…. he’s dead, now, so he probably sounds even worse….

This was a particularly sticky episode of this kind of conundrum; even playing classical music to drown it out wouldn’t work, and since my guitar is still in the pawn shop gathering dust, I couldn’t play through it. It wouldn’t be so bad, I guess, if it would change lyrics occasionally, to finish the song, at least. But, no, it has to repeat the same line, over, and over, and over, until you want to scream at your own head to SHUT UP! This, of course, leads people to believe you just might be too near the edge, and give you a wide berth on the sidewalk. It can also make it tough to get a waiter to approach one’s table at the cafe ….. Well, if I were at a cafe, it would…..

The song finally faded out last night, thankfully, just before bed time, but was sure a pain in the old arse while it hung around….. Now this morning, the incident came back to me, and I thought to myself, “Why not?”….. So, shamelessly, I have just used that minor incident, one without any particularly compelling features, or dangerous attributes, and turned it into a three paragraph intro section, through the magic of inconsistency and mumble, mumble, as well as the power of a sick imagination. (‘Mumble, mumble’ is a euphemism, for stuff I choose to hide from you due to its manipulative nature…..). I know, it was a bit unethical of me, but, that is the way we authors get when faced with a blank page…. ruthless, you betcha….

No blood was drawn, however, so I don’t see that there is much to complain about. Sure, I stretched your credibility, but that’s good practice for what comes later. And sure, I took advantage of your willing, or at minimum, unsuspecting, nature, to lead you on down a primrose path to nowhere…. But, ask yourself this: where would you be if I didn’t? See, I’ve done y’all a favor by this, and you should be grateful…. You could be stuck somewhere, reading something that makes sense, and what would that get you? Nothing you need, for sure….

So, quit the bitching, and just buckle up for the ride. It promises to get a bit bumpy today, given the state of this intro…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iii, 5

(Oops! Too late…. I wish I’d gotten the memo earlier in life….)
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“Hurt not others with that which pains yourself.”  — Udana Varga, c. 500 B. C.

This particular rephrasing of the Golden Rule from ancient India shows how long the concept has been around; in fact, it is a rephrasing of writings that are even older. This rule of behavior in society has been commonly held knowledge since the beginning of civilization, whenever one chooses to mark that date. Given that presence in the basket of platitudes that are carried by all, it brings to mind the question, “Why the fuck doesn’t anyone do this?”….. Well, that’s what came into MY mind, so deal with it…..

The Golden Rule is accepted by all societies on Earth as being a critical key to a peaceful existence, yet those who consistently ignore it, and break it with regularity, seem to always end up as the ones who are in charge of that self-same society. Everyone alive knows the rule, but many choose to not follow its advice and direction, instead, making it their purpose in life to acquire power over others, giving them both the ability, and the right, to harm others at their whim. I say right, because we have only those rights we can defend, and we, the common folk, do not defend ourselves against the BRC…. most of the time, whatever the BRC says is passively accepted by society, sometimes with regret and resignation, but mostly with barely reluctant acquiescence.

Me, I’ve never really been able to grasp what it is in those people that allows them to hurt others without suffering pangs of guilt. I know it is possible to suffer feelings such as that, and still ignore them, but it seems to me like those in power have learned to not even feel the guilt, having somehow come to be able to justify their desire for power as rational and right, rather than evil and cruel. It’s as if they come to decide they are destined to lord it over others, and thus feel only satisfaction at the suffering of others. It doesn’t make any sense to my world view, but, I understand that is how it works for them. Sick bastards….

Yes sick…. in my mind, any person who wants a public office in this country, one requiring election, is a sick person, riddled with all sorts of delusions and aggrandizements, and should be isolated from the rest of us, as it (greedy ambition, and the desire for power) can be a contagious condition. I don’t care how many logical sounding arguments or positions the person is able to spew out, they are mentally ill, and should be forced into treatment, for the safety of all society.

In fact, I think it would be a good thing if we started talking about some political control, rather than gun control. I think the political world needs regulation much more than do guns…. Guns are going to be used against people, it is what they were designed for, and people aren’t going to give them up, or stop doing crazy stuff with them, just because of a few regulations…. But, the politicians NEED to be regulated, much more than they are, and it really can’t wait…..

“Under every stone lurks a politician.” — Aristophanes

This particular subject is an easy rant for me, with all the major characteristics of a good subject right out there to see and write about. As such, I could probably go on all day without running out of stuff to poke at in this area of human nature. But, I’ve made my point, I think, so we’ll save some of the energy for later. Let it suffice to say, how someone feels about the Golden Rule is usually a good indicator of how they feel about politicians, et al. A real politician will look you in the eye, tell you they support the Golden Rule wholeheartedly, then will turn right around and say the exact opposite to your enemy. to gain their support. And, they’ll never feel a moment’s guilt over doing so…. If they did, how could they ever consider trying to be elected in the first place? Just wanting that kind of power is a clear sign of mental illness, guaranteed….

“My CODE of ETHICS is vacationing at famed SCHROON LAKE in upstate New York!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I was done with this, but fate intervened…. Just to show how our culture has developed under the influence of the delusions fostered by the lies of the BRC, consider this, which I found in the 13th Bathroom Reader…. One of our cultural myths says that the soldiers at Valley Forge under Washington during the Revolutionary War starved during winter because there was no food anywhere for them. The truth is, there was plenty of food, but the farmers in Valley Forge sold it all to the British Army, who were able to pay cash…. Kind of takes away from the grandeur of the alleged events, and puts the lie to any elements of implied nobility, doesn’t it? Conversely, it does rather support what I’ve outlined above, wouldn’t you say?…… Sick puppies, all of them, and always ready, and willing, to take advantage of human greed….

“If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, vi, 21
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On the birth of his son

Families, when a child is born
Want it to be intelligent.
I, through intelligence,
Having wrecked my whole life,
Only hope the baby will prove
Ignorant and stupid.
Then he will crown a tranquil life
By becoming a Cabinet Minister

— Su Tung-p’o

Remembrance

To what can our life on earth be likened?
To a flock of geese,
alighting on the snow.
Sometimes leaving a trace of their passage.

Su Tung-po

A two-fer….  🙂
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I’m feeling a bit lazy this morning, having already ranted sufficiently to relieve the toxicity levels in my brain; it always has such a soothing effect on me to spew….   🙂    So, I’m going to go old school again, as I am wont to do in these cases…. Today’s group of pearls are all in the same vein, so to speak…. Each one gives us a little glimpse into the methodology of life lived well, and can, if duly appreciated, absorbed, and utilized, be quite valuable tools in the daily struggle against entropy and chaos…. If, for some unknown and incomprehensible reason, they don’t strike that chord for you, well, it will impress your friends to quote them now and then; if nothing else they’re quite engaging ideas, well stated…. enjoy!…..

“As you go the way of life you will see a great chasm. Jump. It is not as wide as you think.” — Native American advice

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

“For a man can lose neither the past nor the future; for how can one take from him that which is not his? So remember these two points: first, that each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle, and that it signifies not whether a man shall look upon the same things for a hundred years or two hundred, or for an infinity of time; second, that the longest lived and the shortest lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ii, 14

“Any necessary work that pays an honest wage carries its own honor and dignity.” — W. Kelly Griffith

“Doubt is the key to knowledge.” — Persian Proverb
(Caution: If you quote this one, be prepared to defend your statement….. This has a tendency to create ‘doubt’, even in those who just hear it…..)

And, for the final word, our old friend Alan Watts, doing what he does best…. making the complex seem simple….

“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” — Alan Watts
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I have to say, having the time to spend on these Pearls, without the stress of thinking of how to get it published, is certainly helping the quality of the gems that are being produced. Probably something to do with the available time for editing and polishing, but, no doubt the reduction of the need to hurry is key…. Whatever is the reason, I’m content with how today’s version of my take on Reality has worked out….. plus, it’s done. Therefore, I pronounce this Pearl closed for business…. Hasta mañana, amigos!  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Small piles of duvets sat in a corner…..

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Ffolkes,
Coffee is on the way, so I won’t have to shoot anybody before it is ready. Or even because it isn’t ready…. I hate cleaning up dead bodies before breakfast…. So tacky….. Not that I’ve ever had to kill anyone yet, not over coffee. (No, not over anything…. I’m a virgin in that respect, thankfully….) It’s always a fun thing to think about though, especially when one is still waiting for that first glorious sip to bring the universe into focus. I don’t CARE if it is addictive, or bad for me, or whatever; NOTHING is like that first sip of coffee in the AM, nothing….. It would take someone with some serious martial arts skills, or a large weapon drawn first, to keep me from that first cuppa in the morning….. and, they would lose, due to my superior motivation….

Ahhh….. Now that the first sip is down the hatch, all is well with the world, for the moment, at least, and we can get on with the day’s business. It’s kind of fun, actually, as I’m falling back into the routine I developed previous to moving here, wherein the Pearl is the focus of my day, rather than the trip to post it being the primary subject of attention. I’m up at a decent hour (0610), and already into the intro, coffee in hand, by 0624, just bursting with ideas and plans for pearls. Of course, I know that once I try to pin down a solitary idea to use, it will slither away, pretending to hide, just because they all work for Murphy….

I’ll bet you didn’t know that…. that all your best ideas are from Murphy, who keeps a workshop for that, to develop ideas that he can use to torture authors with…. You can tell which are his…. They catch your attention, as a brilliant idea, then sort of fade off into the background, avoiding any close examination…. a technique Murphy taught them to further frustrate the author, as he or she chases down an idea that keeps moving away….. Then, when caught, at last, one sees the idea isn’t as shiny as it seemed, but rather is a buffed up re-run of an old idea….. He is SUCH an asshole……

I only know this because he, Murphy, spends so much time messing with me, I’ve learned a lot of his secrets…. I can’t block, or fix, or even prevent any of his activities but, I know for sure when he’s been around, fucking with someone, ’cause it’s usually me….. I’m just lucky, I guess…..

Now, I could spend more time lamenting Murphy’s kind attentions, or I could find something else more Intro-appropriate for this space. Or, we could get on with it, and go find some pearls to write about….. which is, no doubt, the most intelligent thing to do. Though such are not our general course of choice, we’ll go with that, if only to provide some comic relief, right?….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere” — George Washington

Wouldn’t it be grand if everyone felt this way? George wasn’t the only advocate of hemp amongst the founding fathers; I’ve seen others who wrote in praise of its qualities, though I didn’t save the references. I’m sure that the plant they found in use among the Indians back then during the colonial days was being utilized in a number of ways, as it has some very useful qualities, aside from the mind-altering characteristics in the chemical make-up of the plant.

It makes the finest rope possible. (Western civilization was built with rope…. literally…..) It can be used to make paper, clothing of all kinds, including shoes, and hats, string, food items, and a host of other things that are useful as tools or household items. It has medicinal qualities that even modern medical science cannot dispute, all of which are beneficial to people; it has no toxic qualities, and cannot be overused…. Well, one could fall asleep and dream very colorfully if one consumed a LARGE amount of cannabis, or of the THC ( tetrahydracannabinol ) component responsible for the mind altering effects, but over-dosing to the point of physical harm is, as far as can be determined, impossible…..

Now, society will tell you, and provide what they call convincing evidence, of the bad effects that using marijuana can have on the human mind. And, if used improperly, at the wrong time of life, there CAN be some slight problems encountered with long-term use. But, these issues are easily avoided, and easily overcome, given the proper treatment, and the overall harmless nature of the plant is not compromised by such evidence, as it does not allow for alternative patterns of use that are NOT harmful, but concentrates only on the ONE way to use it that is less than helpful to the organism. In other words, yes, you can find a way to harm yourself, but a small application of common sense will fix the issue, and it need not ever become a problematic issue thereafter…..

No, what makes marijuana a social problem is Society’s reaction to it, not the drug itself. The reaction by those who do not understand its benefits is extreme, to say the least. The common reaction is to totally reject all evidence that shows the drug to be relatively harmless, and to focus on only the issues involved that show it as bad; denial is a common tool to those in charge of our culture. Hell, if the BRC didn’t wear blinders all the time, they wouldn’t get ANYTHING done, as they’d be cringing and cowering in fear of everything that happened around them. If our rulers were not allowed the use of denial, they wouldn’t have anything at all to say…. think about it….

We are told, by those who make such pronouncements, that using marijuana regularly will reduce one’s cognitive abilities, turning them into clones of the character played by Sean Penn in the old movie cult classic, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, and similar to the character portrayed by George Carlin, Al Sleet, The Hippy-Dippy Weatherman….. And, if used as I described above, at the wrong time, by the wrong person, under the wrong circumstances, that can happen. But, from personal observation over 50 years now, I can attest that regular use does NOT have to affect cognition, nor does it necessarily turn one into a muddled, foolish caricature…. I’ve known too many ffolkes personally who use it on a daily basis, and there is no lasting negative effect on their intelligence, or their ability to think…. other than a slight difficulty making up their mind when confronted with more than one choice of food items….  🙂

SIGH…. I could offer even more compelling evidence, but that would entail revealing information that might conceivably turn on me, so it will have to suffice to say that I speak from personal knowledge of these events, having closely observed them, from the inside of the culture, for many years. That long period observation and information gathering has led to my understanding of the issue, an understanding much more complete than any on the other side of the fence, as they do not allow for any of the evidence I can present, whereas I can account for ALL of what they can bring forth.

It has always seemed obvious to me that the arguments presented against marijuana all tend to use the same, outdated information, collected with prejudice by those who already denied any value to the substance, and will deny, deny, deny, any and all new evidence, or any evidence that seems to contradict that old nonsense. Typical, actually, of the tactics used by the BRC (Beloved Ruling Class) to deal with ANY issue…. denial is their default position on any concept that is potentially negative to their chosen beliefs…. If denial doesn’t work, they generally resort to name-calling, of some sort….

It seems as if I could keep on this rant for some time; it is one I’ve not really explored deeply in past pearls. A matter of self-protection, as it were; it’s not an issue I want a lot of attention focused on in my life, as most folks fail to grasp any of the important aspects of the issue, and tend to get emotionally involved in any discussion of same. Many, many people react to things they don’t understand with vehemence that is entirely misplaced, due to the lies and misinformation they have received for most of their lives from the BRC and priestly hierarchies. So, it has always been a policy with me to not encourage forays into the subject, as it tends to become relatively fruitless in a short time. In other words, why beat my head against a brick wall, when I can just walk around it?…. Or, float around it, as the case may be….. you decide…. for you. I’ll decide for me….

“Hand me a pair of leather pants and a CASIO keyboard — I’m living for today!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Tableau at Twilight

I sit in the dusk. I am all alone.
Enter a child and an ice-cream cone.

A parent is easily beguiled
By sight of this coniferous child.

The friendly embers warmer gleam,
The cone begins to drip ice cream.

Cones are composed of many a vitamin.
My lap is not the place to bitamin.

Although my raiment is not chinchilla,
I flinch to see it become vanilla.

Coniferous child, when vanilla melts
I’d rather it melted somewhere else.

Exit child with remains of cone.
I sit in the dusk. I am all alone,

Muttering spells like an angry Druid,
Alone, in the dusk, with the cleaning fluid.

Ogden Nash
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But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog shall bear him company.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 111

Here is a line from Mr. Pope that raises a question whose answer is one I’m unsure of, and will need to ask someone who is more educated in dogma than me. I don’t know the answer to whether or not dogs go to heaven, according to Christian beliefs. It does strike me as a pretty good way to determine just how dogmatic a person is, to see how they answer the question (and yes, I see the irony of that…. dogma about dogs…. I get it…. I was trying to ignore it….). It seems to me that the answer they give would be a pretty clear indicator of how tolerant they are toward other species, and would tell one if they are worth knowing at all…. Someone who thinks that dogs shouldn’t be in heaven would definitely be the kind of person I would avoid, as they just don’t have the kind of outlook I can tolerate for long, without having to say something to them about it…..

In my less than humble opinion, any God, or god, who didn’t allow dogs into heaven, wouldn’t be worthy of the title of their supposed divinity. To imagine that humans are superior to dogs, in ANY way that matters, is to completely deny reality, and any philosophy that doesn’t account for that principle is one doomed to unreality, to my mind. Dogs, in so many ways, are superior to Man, in ethics, in morals, in instinctive rightness of spirit, and prove that every day. Man, too, proves his own inferiority the same way, as he torments, abuses, and kills these wonderful creatures, for sport, for cruelty, and just because they can….

I’ll take a dog over a man, any day, in almost any situation you can name, and will know for certain that the choice is one I won’t regret. Sure, you can find dogs who are mean, and vicious, to almost all who come close; those dogs have had their nature perverted, and were taught the behaviors they display. None of those kinds of behaviors are natural to dogs; they have to be taught to be bad. Their only purpose in life is to please us, and that simple characteristic is what makes them better than us, for we, as a species, have to force ourselves to act morally, to choose deliberately to forgo our impulses, and act rightly. For dogs, it comes naturally, and can only be perverted with effort…. or with ignorance….

I’m not going to carry this on further; a four paragraph rant about dogs versus humans is about right, I think, to cover the subject without going into depth. I’m of the firm opinion that dogs are far more deserving of entrance to heaven than any human would be, given the rules by which entrance is supposed to occur. So, if they AREN’T allowed there, why on Earth would I want to end up there? I can’t think of a single reason…..

“This is what I do for fun, can you imagine my job?” — Smart Bee
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I’m still liking it…. though I’m not yet used to it. I’m done with the Pearl for today, and I just realized, I can go email and post it online as soon as I wish. I don’t have to shower, get dressed, and go to the coffee shop or library. Another fine way to show that sometimes, it is what we DON’T have to do that is just as important as what we do have to do. Or, at the least, it is much more enjoyable to NOT have to do something…. ah, shoot, you get the idea…. I’ll quit belaboring the point now, and bid thee a fond adieu…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

To save time, they stalled….

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Ffolkes,
Well, a new day dawns, and it should be a doozy…. Last night, at about 5:30 pm or so, my internet connection came up, and I am now back online, whenever I wish, rather than whenever I can. WHAT AN INCREDIBLE RELIEF! Sorry, didn’t mean to shout, but I’m just so damn happy! Giddy, like a school boy with new shoes…. well, you know what I mean…. Today will be the first whole day I can spend visiting all the sites I haven’t been able to get to for months, to let my blogging buddies know I’m still alive, and am still able to comment…. it will be grand, to be sure……

T’is morning now, a Sunday, and I wouldn’t dream of calling it a doozy…. no dignity there…. Not that we are terribly concerned about dignity around here….. I gave up trying to preserve that months ago…. But, a doozy is what it will be, even if I don’t call it that. First, I get to create a new, or old, routine, of writing and posting at my leisure, instead of thinking about it all day until I can get to where I could post. Second, in a couple hours, my daughter is coming to pick me up for our periodic visit with Zackary, my grandson, and her nephew.

It is a pain, for sure, to only be able to see him every few months, but, t’is better than not at all, which could happen, given that the boy’s mother is a vindictive, narcissistic, extremely selfish woman, who only had a child to fulfill her own fantasies. The child is a secondary matter to her; his importance to her lies in how she can view herself as a mother, and in the future, she will turn on him, as he becomes more independent, and tries to form his own personality. I’ve seen it happen, unfortunately, as I know another woman with similar characteristics….

Ah well, it’s too early to start ranting on the flaws in human nature, though it is certainly easy to do. Human nature has some flaws that stick out pretty obviously, so it isn’t hard to find part of it to pick on. I’m just in too good a mood to start in on that so quickly. Already today, I’ve had indications that Murphy is out there, looking for something to piss me off…. He did spend a lot of effort yesterday, making it hard for the technician to get his part of the hook-up completed….

(Sometimes, Murphy assumes a disguise to fuck with things…. yesterday, he assumed the guise of a mid-level manager with his head firmly up his ass, who wouldn’t authorize a piece of simple work, forcing the tech to leave, and come back later, after another manager had authorized the work….. A five hour delay, with just a simple disguise. Not bad from Murphy’s point of view, I suppose…. Once the manager authorized the work, the whole process took eight minutes to complete, start to finish…..)

Ah me, it’s nice to be able to meander a bit…. No worries, no hurries to get done before I run out of gas, so to speak. Plus, I get to cruise and peruse the headlines in the news first, if I wish, to find fresh material about which to rant. Such luxury! I’m pretty sure I could get used to this….. Let’s not tempt fate, or Murphy, any further….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Their nature, by training and instinct, is to argue and  procrastinate. Yet we continue to elect lawyers.” — Ben Franklin

When I saw this, I couldn’t help both laughing, and sighing, for the statement is both funny and sad. Funny because of the irony, and sad because of its truth…. I don’t really know what it is about lawyers that seems to impress most folks; to me, their actions speak much louder than anything they say, especially considering that ‘talking’ is what they do for a living, and they use words as defensive, as well as offensive, weaponry. Yet, in spite of the endless examples of how a dishonest lawyer has cheated and hurt someone, people keep insisting they are moral, ethical people, just because they have studied the intricacies of our legal system. It makes no sense, because those are the LAST people one could expect to be honest, as every advantage offered by the system comes from using it for personal gain, and honesty doesn’t fit into that picture….. Corruption does…..

“It is not honorable to take mere legal advantage, when it happens to be contrary to justice.” — Thomas Jefferson [Third United State President]

The founding fathers of this country were very concerned with the concept of justice, versus that of legality. They had left England originally to seek a place where they could find such justice, and when they designed the Constitution, it was with this in mind. This is why a jury can find a person not guilty, in spite of the court’s evidence, even in spite of the law, and the verdict will stand. They recognized that justice cannot come from the law, but from society itself, in the form of the peers of each citizen. This, to them, was the honorable way to maintain the rights of the people over those of the BRC…..

“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” — Thomas Paine

As you can see, it wasn’t only Jefferson who mistrusted those who populate the governing classes, or the only one who saw the danger in allowing institutional forces, such as corporations, or churches, to have influence over the operation of the government. Jefferson, Franklin, and Paine were, perhaps, more vocal than others of their time, but they were speaking the words that all their peers were feeling, and thinking. They wanted to warn their ancestors of the danger involved in letting the selfish among us gain control of the purse strings of the public treasury, and how much could be lost by not paying attention….

Have we listened to them? Not well enough, that is for sure…. Corporate interests are in complete control of Congress, and the churches are not far behind in their influence. (The established churches somehow managed to gain a boon I’ve never understood, when they got tax-free status…. Why? What have they done to deserve such favoritism? Why shouldn’t their money be taxed?…. I’m still waiting to hear ANY answer, much less a logical, or justifiable one….) And, the laws, and legal system, have been bloated and enlarged to such a point that ONLY a trained lawyer has any chance of finding their way through the maze to anything approaching justice…. which in most cases, amounts to justice for the corporations, not for people….

Knowing the law is essential to knowing how to break it with impunity, and only the lawyers now have that knowledge. They deliberately keep the system complicated, cumbersome, and unfriendly to human interaction, because they know that is the best way to ensure their own value as the ones who can make it work to their advantage. It’s quite obvious, if one bothers to even look at the overall situation, and is, perhaps, another example of how easy it is to fool the general run of humanity…. because, as Ben said, we keep electing them, don’t we?…..

“I think we’re all Bozos on this Bus!” — Firesign Theater

“This only grant me, that my means may lie too low for envy, for contempt too high.” — Abraham Cowley
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Chorus of Athenians

Strophe I.
Ye shades, where sacred truth is sought;
Groves, where immortal Sages taught;
Where heav’nly visions of Plato fir’d,
And Epicurus lay inspir’d!
In vain your guiltless laurels stood
Unspotted long with human blood.
War, horrid war, your thoughtful walks invades,
And steel now glitters in the Muses’ shades.

Antistrophe I.
Oh heav’n-born sisters! source of art!
Who charm the sense, or mend the heart;
Who lead fair Virtue’s train along,
Moral Truth, and mystic Song!
To what new clime, what distant sky,
Forsaken, friendless, shall ye fly?
Say, will you bless the bleak Atlantic shore?
Or bid the furious Gaul be rude no more?

Strophe II.
When Athens sinks by fates unjust,
When wild Barbarians spurn her dust;
Perhaps ev’n Britain’s utmost shore,
Shall cease to blush with strager’s gore.
See Arts her savage sons control,
And Athens rising near the pole!
‘Till some new Tyrant lifts his purple hand,
And civil madness tears them from this land.

Antistrophe II.
Ye Gods! what justice rules the ball?
Freedom and Arts together fall;
Fools grant whate’er Ambition craves,
And men, once ignorant, are slaves.
Oh curs’d effects of civil hate,
In ev’ry age, in ev’ry state!
Still, when the lust of tyrant power succeeds,
Some Athens perishes, some Tully bleeds.

Alexander Pope
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“The world is so constructed, that if you wish to enjoy its pleasures, you must also endure its pains. Whether you like it or not, you cannot have one without the other.” — Swami Brahmananda

I wasn’t going to use this on this particular morning…. it is a very deep, complex subject that deserves my full attention and focus. Though a simple idea in and of itself, it describes Reality, capitalized on purpose, to indicate the Real Reality, the one we cannot ever really describe with words, but nonetheless, know exactly what it feels like, especially when it slaps us upside the head, smartly….. as it is wont to do upon occasion. This is its closest approach to having any consideration for our convenience, as it doesn’t have to remind us of how hard it can be, but graciously does so with its every blow to our figurative heads…. or even to our literal heads….

That’s one of the tough parts about Reality…. it doesn’t compromise. At all. Ever….. It is what it is, and it is up to us to deal, not Reality. This, I think, is the hardest part for many to learn, and yet is the key to successfully embracing the idea. The duality of natural law, the very oppositional nature of Reality itself, which is supported by all of our perceptive organs and abilities, is clear, and immutable. One characteristic, of an idea, of a thing, of a person, of anything, does not exist without a complementary opposite, anywhere in our universe. It is all duality, yet not. We see ONE, but the ONE always has another side, from which the letters read ENO…. and that perception is the ultimate clue to the nature of how the world exists as it does….

“You are blind and I am deaf and dumb, so let us touch hands and understand.” — Kahlil Gibran

“Sometimes you have to be silent to be heard” — Stanislav Lee

This duality, clearly as it exists in Reality, is all too often not perceived as such by those people who tend to not rely on their mental acuity to get by in the world. Commonly, people act as if there is truth to the delusion of believing that life is fair, or that the universe cares one way or another whether we survive, or feel happy, or sad, or anything. Life happens, and our reaction to that event is what determines our degree of comfort, and nothing else. And, in order to completely understand the experience, one must also feel the discomfort that is engendered just as often by circumstance as it is by design.

“A person can only feel as much joy as they have experienced pain…. How would you know you are alive, if you had not once been dead?” ~~ gigoid

I can cite examples of the duality that IS, with ease…. We see because of the presence, or absence, of light. We hear because of the presence, or absence, of sound. Touch, smell, taste, all the same…. Our perceptions of everything that exists in the physical world is based on this duality of nature, so it seems unnecessary to go further to find the evidence of the veracity of the claim…. Of course, this does not go into the realm of the non-physical world, the world of thought and imagination, but that discussion is worthy of its own time for consideration….. This also does not fully accommodate the concept that the universe may exist in other dimensions, or with other laws, for which we do not have the perceptive ability to comprehend, or even note…. But, then, given that, there’s little point in speculating, now, is there?….

We just need to realize that the world we live in is just fine the way it is…. It is the people in the world who need to make changes…. Now all we have to do is figure out how to convince, or trick, them to make the changes that will help all of us, rather than just the few…. Worth a shot, I think….

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” — Nietzsche
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It’s early days yet, but, I can tell you this much….  I like it.  Here t’is, 2 PM, and I’ve visited with my grandson, son, and daughter, shopped for groceries, taken pictures, written a Pearl, and am now ready to post, so I can take a nap. All I have to say is, it’s about damn time…. Amazing how small things can make a huge difference in our lives….. Long live the internet!  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Somewhere, the moon is flowing….

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Ffolkes,
At long last! So long, it feels good just to use such an ancient cliche such as “at long last”….. If all goes well, this Pearl is the first of many to come that will be published without the need to leave my warm little cave, braving the elements long enough to find a Wi-fi spot out in the Big Blue Room….. The only question now is, did it actually happen? The envelope, please…..  Yes….   No….  Okay, there it is….. There is now no remaining doubt whatsoever that Murphy takes a personal interest in my affairs…. It is now 0600 on the morning of the 12th, and the red light continues to blink on my new modem, indicating there is no connection yet….. SIGH…..

It’s actually okay, in the sense that I halfway expected this to happen. It would have made my life much too simple and comfortable to have had the process go smoothly, and I should know by now that Murphy just isn’t going to allow that to take place on his watch. If it weren’t so damn weird, it might almost be flattering to have a force of nature pay so much attention; hell, the way its going, I could break a record or something, for the worst run of luck in years. With my luck, the prize would be a lifetime supply of peanuts, or popcorn, either of which would kill me, should I choose to eat them au naturel…. them, I mean, not me…. I seldom go au naturel of late, sadly….

Now, I must call to have the network folks, from whom I’m getting the service, deal with the connection issue, but I’ll be polite and wait until 0700. No telling what has to happen, so there is little point in speculating. We’ll just ignore it for the time being, along with the EXTREME ANGER that is hovering right behind my rationality this morning….. If I let that out first, it could delay getting the service started, as everyone would need to go get bandaged up & stop all the bleeding, so as to keep from dripping blood on their keyboard….

So, we’ll take care of some housekeeping, instead….. Yesterday, I spoke about Occam’s Razor, and made a guess as to when William of Occam lived, saying the 12th century…. naturally, I was wrong…..  Correction: William of Occam lived in the 13th and 14th centuries, 1288-1348 or so… different articles gave different birth and death dates, so we’ll go with Wickipedia’s version, as I remember it….  I’ll Google before publishing, of course…. That is, if my service EVER GETS STARTED!…..

Sorry, it’s getting a bit crowded in here, what with all the emotion threatening to burst out into reality…. I can’t afford to let it out yet, or the consequences may even get worse than currently implied…. I’m hoping a bit of pearling will take away at least some of the built-up angst, before it gets to a point where it breaks free of my grasp. It may be the only thing between me and an explosion of some magnitude, so we’d best get to it…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill.” — Sun Tzu

I don’t think its possible to say this too many times, as the truth it speaks only grows more plain with each repetition. I’ve also heard the same concept expressed this way, “The best way to defeat an enemy is to turn him into a friend.” This one, perhaps, is better suited for children to learn from; the warrior’s viewpoint can be learned a bit later in life. This idea, though, is best given to children at a young age, as it is a valuable tool in everyday life, if used consistently…. Those who never learn this valuable lesson suffer a distinct disadvantage in almost every human interaction they have in life, as they don’t know how to proceed in a way that enables them to succeed with the least effort expended.

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

In this blog, I talk a lot about how the world needs to change, if there is to be any hope of our species continued presence on the planet into the foreseeable future. Our lack of concern, as a species, for the effects of our actions will ultimately be our undoing, if it is not changed, and soon. The cumulative effect of our depredations on the environment are eventually going to reach a point of no return, if it has not already done so, and it will be too late for any changes to matter significantly. This is physical fact, not speculation; the evidence is overwhelming, and no intelligent person can deny it, without risk of abandoning their intelligence altogether….

The changes in society that need to happen, sadly, are contingent upon a change in human nature, one that I’m pretty sure I don’t see happening to any great degree. There are just way too many sociopaths who are in positions of power over all of us, people who don’t care at all about others or what happens to them, and they are not willing to give up ANY of what they have to benefit anyone else.

Even the clear evidence that their own actions are going to result in their own demise is denied by them; their sense of entitlement does not allow them to consider that they are subject to the same laws as everyone else, and they believe they will overcome any challenges to that sense, by dint of their secure hold on the resources of the planet, and their long history of being able to do exactly as they wish….

“As soon as you are willing to discard observational data because it conflicts with religion, you are giving up any hope of ever really understanding the  universe.   As soon as you pick religion as the touchstone of reality, then we have to start discussing how one can demonstrate the correctness of one  religion over another when different *religions* disagree.” — Wilson Heydt (whheydt@PacBell.COM)

“The answer is simple: kill the heretics.   History shows us that this is the  actual solution that competing religions apply — trial by combat or trial by  ordeal.  God is the final arbiter.  What a sad waste of human potential it has proven to be.” — Paul Hager (hagerp@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu)

As can be seen by this exchange, religion isn’t the answer to the needed changes in society…. In fact, religion, for the most part, is merely the support system for those in power, encouraging the ignorant masses to obey earthly authority in exchange for the promise of everlasting life in Heaven after dying… a very convenient set of tom-foolery, that has kept much of mankind in thrall for millennia, and allowed the Beloved Ruling Class to go about their business of lying, cheating, and stealing from everyone else with the Church’s full cooperation and approval. Dickheads, all of them….

No, no bitterness here, of course not…. Well, I guess I am a bit bitter about the thousands of years of oppression and slavery that the BRC and the Churches have saddled humanity with for the past 5000 years. But, I try to put it aside, at least long enough to spout off in condemnation of their duplicity in another rant such as this one….. if I get too strident, nobody will listen, or, worse, the wrong people will listen, and come try to convince me of the error of my ways… Ah well, if that happens, it will be interesting to see the effects…. I have a feeling it will be an explosion of some size and duration, and in fact, may touch off a number of events that will draw the attention of, I hope, the right ffolkes…. That’s obscure enough, I think….

I find it interesting to note that my friend, Lou, who blogs about the same kind of stuff at times, has been suspended, again, for something…. Once I’m fully online, I intend to find out why, as it may be an indicator that the BRC, along with those covert minions of the stealthy theft of our rights, the priesthood, are becoming more bold in their attempts to curtail the flow of information…. We’ll see, and I’ll get back to you on that…. In the meantime, I’ve run out of steam here…. Be alert ffolkes, for any way to change the world…. Almost ANY change we make will be better than the way things are heading now, that is for sure, and for certain…..
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..       :
.                  .               .   .  .
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*          .                    ..        .
.             .     . :  .   .    .  .
.                         .   .  .  .   .
. .  *:. . .
.                                 .  .   . .. .         .
.     . .  . …    .    .
.              .  .  . .    . .  . .
.    .     . …   ..   .       .               .
.  .    . *.   . .
.                   :.  .           .
.   .    .    .
.  .  .    ./|\
.  .. :.    . |             .               .
.   … .            |
.    :.  . .   *.        |     .               .
.  *.             You are here.
. .    .               .             *.                         .

🙂    Don’t worry…. I’m right here with you….   😉

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveler in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
‘Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveler in the dark.
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
How I wonder what you are.
How I wonder what you are.

According to Google, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” was written by Jane Taylor, as a poem, and published in 1806.  I’ve always liked it as a lullaby, as it doesn’t speak down to the child, and encourages imagination and wonder, which we all need to have as early in our lives as possible….. Also, it doesn’t contain any scary images common to many other children’s pieces, like falling out of the cradle from the top of a tree in “Rock-a-bye Baby”…. I never did like that one….. How can it help a young primate, with an innate fear of falling, to get to sleep with a song like that?…. Doesn’t compute, in my world….
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What with the enforced waiting time while the internet gods decide whether or not to allow me access to the virtual world, I find myself in an odd mood. I’m resigned to waiting however long it takes, but not with the serenity I had hoped for in my soul. To be honest, I feel like biting someone, hard, and it is arguably a good thing I live alone just now….. So, I’ve gathered a few pearls, that alone are each quite strong, and on another day, might all have been saved for their own pearl. But, I’m feeling lazy, and besides, together, they make a nice little pearl, a picture of the goings-on in my head this morning, sort of…. Well, more like one of those “ghost” images you can use to copy a hard drive from one computer to another…. At any rate, it’s a picture of something, for sure…..  I’ll leave the framing and title for the Gentle Reader to provide out of their own imagination, purely as an exercise….

“There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.” — John Lennon

“He knew that insofar as one denies what is, one is possessed by what is not, the compulsions, the fantasies, the terrors that flock to fill the void.” — Ursula K. LeGuin, _The Lathe of Heaven_
(DEEP insight!…)

“I think the dragon’s asleep.” — Famous Last Words

“I count religion but a childish toy … there is no sin but ignorance.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Once, there was NO fun…  This was before MENU planning, FASHION statements or NAUTILUS equipment… Then, in 1985..  FUN was completely encoded in this tiny MICROCHIP.. It contains 14,768 vaguely amusing SIT-COM pilots!! We had to wait FOUR BILLION years but we finally got JERRY LEWIS, MTV and a large selection of creme-filled snack cakes!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“”Why Not” is in fact an excellent reason.” — Smart Bee

It seemed for a moment or two I wouldn’t find the proper closing pearl, but Smart Bee comes through once again….. Enjoy!
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As a response to the patience I’ve used up this morning, I will now show an act of faith in the inevitability of my eventual access to the online world, and bring this Pearl to a close, minus the two bits of data to be filled in when Google becomes available. I am now just waiting for AT&T to activate the phone/data line in my room, at the behest of the service provider I’m getting the connection from; I can’t do anything but wait for them to finish their dicking around and get it done, so I’m going to go read for a while, since I can’t do any further damage here….. All things being equal, this should be published within a reasonable time, so….

As might be guessed, it took much longer than predicted, or expected, and still isn’t done; it is now 1430 PM…. I do have assurances (verbal, but sincere-sounding….) that it WILL take place…. Well, I’m showing the faith part, but, I’m still waiting to see any results for my patience….. Kind of reminds me of the whole prayer thing, y’know?….. A lot of sweat and effort with no visible effect…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Soon, my child, this will all be toast….

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Reply

Ffolkes,
I hardly know where to begin…. It isn’t every day one rejoins the mainstream, after struggling for about six months to keep posting, busting buns to keep in touch with the Internet world at large, and the blogging world in particular. Not enough time to do either one to my satisfaction, given an average of about 55 minutes of time to get done what is necessary to post, check email, answer email, do any research, banking, etc. Today, provided Murphy doesn’t, or hasn’t stepped in to take a hand, I’ll be connected to the Net at home, by 8 PM latest, again, given no technical glitches are thrown up last minute.

I really am speechless, almost. I don’t know whether to spit, grin, or scratch first, and since it is still, at the time of this writing, speculative fiction, I’ll just leave it alone, and let it all hang loose in that respect…. there will be plenty of options, so I’ll procrastinate later about it….. For now, it will be useful to point out… I didn’t post yesterday, the 10th, because I was too busy with real world activities that couldn’t be put off (more later on that stuff….), and today, same thing again. But, one of the productive things that got done today was the arrival and set up of the new modem, so that all will be in readiness tomorrow when the service is activated…..

What this all boils down to is that the intro, at least these first three paragraphs, are, were, written on the 11th…. after this paragraph is the intro from the 10th, with the material I wrote that day after that….. All of it is being posted either very late on the 11th, or on the 12th early, whenever I can get it done after activation. So, some of it is a bit fresher than the rest, but it is all part of a tough week, and you know what they say about authors and tough weeks… No? I thought you did…. Well, I don’t…. Any who…. onward, or in this case, backward…..

From 1/10/12

Ffolkes,
Far from being inflexible, I like to think I am pretty fluid in my attitudes about change. Any other approach to the matter is useless, as change is going to happen regardless of our take on it, so I’ve always tried to use that to my advantage, rather than spending a lot of time and energy trying to slow it down, or stop it altogether, a pastime certain to be filled with disappointment. This is why we are trying out a new technique today, or, rather, a new schedule for writing this blog when matters in the Big Blue Room require attention during the time set aside for pearling…..

I don’t know if it will work well, or not at all, so it should be a new experience, if nothing else, to find out. I can’t say I’m really enthused about having to go out into the BB Room so early, (gotta catch the 0700 bus, the first one that runs each morn….), as the weather has been nasty, cold, and wet all night, by the sounds of it, and I am feeling wimpy. But, one must do what one must, so I’ll bundle up and trundle off to the hospital to get these x-rays done for the state, so they can quit stalling around with my disability case. I swear, they’re finding every possible way they can to slow the process down, and wait until the last moment to spring them on me, for the most frustrating effect….. Apparently, Murphy works for them as a consultant on time management….

Now that the experiment has begun, I guess we’ll see how well I can write under deadline, which is sort of what I’ve done today, adjusting the schedule to accommodate this trip to Sutter-Solano this morning, and a trip to Kaiser this afternoon…. Hopefully, a trip to the library to post will fit in there between them…. that’s the plan, anyway. Plans, as we know around here, are for other people to depend on, not us…. Here at gigoid-ECR we know better than to tempt Murphy by making them, or, if we do, we don’t tend to get too worked up about having to alter them to suit reality, since we know already we will be suffering the kind attention of that particular icon, no matter what else may happen….

So, I would suggest that today, everyone take advantage of the seat belts that are attached to your seats…. Though we have never had to use them, it’s always a good thing to be prepared, right? Today’s blog could conceivably turn on us, and could conceivably necessitate some rather circuitous flying to get us past any turbulence, which may upset one’s tummy, if nothing else. Just close your eyes….. wait, no, that won’t work…. you can’t read your way out if you do that…. Well, just buckle up, hang on, and hope for the best, I suppose…. all you can do is all you can do, as you know…. Shall we Pearl?…..

P.S. to the intro: I’m rather confusing at times, I know…. it’s a gift. I don’t mean to be, actually, but, in trying to make things clear, I get carried away by details, and, it goes downhill from there…. At this particular point in time, I have no idea where this Pearl fits into real time…. I don’t know when it will be posted, the 11th, or the 12th, so any further attempts to provide any time markers seems futile. Thankfully for all of us, this means there is nothing left now but to go on…. this time it’s for real, no matter what day it is outside…. Shall we Pearl?……
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I don’t think anyone would argue if I said the world needs some work, in order to be the kind of place where everyone has an equal shot at a good life. On the bottom line, that seems to me to be the basic desire of everyone I know of who has any degree of what I’d call common sense, and it really doesn’t seem like a lot to hope for…. until one looks around at the way things are, and realizes that most folks aren’t going to have a chance in hell of spending a lot of time in a contented state….. That is, I’m certain, as confusing as I can put it, but, nonetheless, is perfectly accurate, if a bit pedantic…. The following old school pearl kind of created itself, as the best do, so you’ll need to keep an open mind to catch the point…. but, it’s a good point….

“Brains first and then Hard Work.” — Eeyore, Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“Boys become men by watching men, by standing close to men. Manhood is a ritual passed from generation to generation with precious few spoken instructions. Passing the torch of manhood is a fragile, tedious task. If the rite of passage is successfully completed, the boy-become-man is like an oak of hardwood character. His shade and influence will bless all those who are fortunate enough to lean on him and rest under his canopy.” — Preston Gilham

“People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“At least I thought I was dancing, ’til somebody stepped on my hand.” — J. B. White

“Let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

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

There you go…. Not to worry about grading; this is only on the pass/fail schedule, and won’t be on any quizzes…. But, you should pay attention, anyway, if for no other reason than is given by the Buddha….
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Is It Alive?

Fighting into the light, words push hard to exist
each step closer to real brings another unique twist.
Shedding meaning for meaning, until bright, alone, and right
sculpting useless shapes, yet undefined, in pale morning’s light.

Never knowing the face is part of the lasting charm
bringing elegant focus, before sounding the alarm.
Advantageous time sends out messages, fears finding voice,
mulling options for flexibility, virtually without choice.

Fortunate man, who embraces the power of change;
’tis magical knowledge, bonding common to strange.
Weaving words of wonder, made strong by love and duty,
into a tapestry of life, and everlasting beauty.

~~ gigoid
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“Pluralitas non ponenda est sine necessitate.” (Multiplicity is not to be asserted when it is unnecessary.) — William of Occam [Occam’s Razor]

Sometimes it’s a good thing to look at the original idea, when one is often found to use it in its various historical incarnations. (Huh? What did he say? I’ve gotta tone down the syntax complexity a bit…..) We all use some form of this in our lives; the concept has been common knowledge for many, many years. (William of Occam lived in the 12th century (?)…..) It’s really too bad that in all that time, the idea has never taken root in the general population’s mind, such as it may be. People don’t commonly use this priceless logical rule in their daily lives, and never know they have the opportunity to go through life with much less difficulty than they do in fact…..

The absence of the Razor in the everyday affairs of society is never more heavily felt than in the political arena, as year after year, and century after century, mankind continues to blunder around like a wounded rhinoceros, experimenting with various forms of government designed to keep the people happy and content to NOT kill the ruling class, (and vice versa…), and failing miserably. I can’t think of a single period from our relatively short but busy past that would indicate that we were choosing the most logical or effective forms of getting along as a culture, can you? Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems to me that if even a small amount of logic were applied to any of our governmental formats, they might just work better…. Maybe not, but, since it’s never actually been tried, why not?….

“It is difficult to legislate morality in the absence of moral legislators.” — Smart Bee

This, being absolutely true, shows just how using Occam’s Razor could be of value. The Razor implies that if legislators are not moral, then remove them, with prejudice if necessary (Razors are, after all, for cutting things off, or out, whichever works best….). Allowing them to pursue their immorality in creating laws has already cost our society many steps toward improving the human condition, and there is no room for sentimentality in such instances, not when it affects the entire world, which includes us, and every other living thing. The inanimate world doesn’t need our help at all, protected as it is by natural law from any such attempts by us to make changes to those laws. It has its own way of enforcing those laws, strong enough that compliance on our part is mandatory…..

One of the more useful characteristics of Occam’s Razor is that it can tell us when we are losing our way, so to speak. If we eliminate all the dross, and what is left isn’t working, then we are, culturally speaking, ‘in the weeds’ philosophically, and the ground is bound to get even muddier. I have, unfortunately, reached that point in this discussion…. In other words, I’m lost. When I started it, I had an idea of where to go, and started to go that way… it wandered a bit, then I got interrupted by my morning jaunt to the X-ray department. Now that I’m back, and a poem forced its way onto the screen, I’m lost, and can’t find a way back…. SIGH…. One of the risks of multi-tasking, I guess….


Oh well, just think about Occam’s Razor now and again ffolkes, and see if we can’t figure out how to put it to more use on a societal level…. it couldn’t hurt, right? No worse than what has been going on so far…..

“Th’ MIND is the Pizza Palace of th’ SOUL” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Okay, it will do…. It hasn’t been the most comfortable of Pearls to create, but it seldom is when a poem is involved. Add in the other extras today, and it goes off scale. So be it. I don’t have the time or energy to worry about it now, not if I’m going to get done all I need to do today. I hereby declare this Pearl to be finished…. Gotta go, 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

Kowabunga!

Nightmares on blog street….

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Ffolkes,
    Far in the distance, the deep sounds and fury of artillery fire filled the air, while nearby the screams and moans of the wounded provided horrific counterpoint to the symphony of terror being played by the metal flying overhead. As she watched, a building down the street exploded, as a shell burst through the roof. She thought to herself, “That was Mary’s house… I wonder, was she in it?” Without any real thought of why, she stood and started to walk toward what now remained of the house of her friend, a vague idea of helping in her mind, which seemed to waver in and out of focus as she walked…..

    Well, that is depressing as all get out, isn’t it? I thought a touch of intro into a war novel might be a good way to warm up, but, upon due consideration, I don’t think I’ll be writing anything like that any more, since I didn’t much enjoy it at all. Even trying to keep it marginally real made it too real for me, I guess, with my no-longer-willing-to-fight-with-anyone attitude. I spent too much time dealing with real, dangerous, emotionally intense situations in my life, and I decided long ago not to take myself back into that kind of emotional morass, if I could help it. It’s not fun anymore to get adrenalized, then have to recover from the physical effects of that wonder drug on the body…. and my body is very sensitive to it these days; it can take a whole day or more to come down after a good jolt hits my system….. I really don’t like it at all…..

    I hadn’t realized until now that my sensitivity could extend into what I’m writing like that. That seems a bit odd, but in thinking back, I haven’t really challenged it before, not having sat down to write about anything remotely dangerous, or anything that felt like I needed to feel the feelings of the character to write well, like this felt. It just didn’t come up…. So, now I know, my preference for peace and quiet, over chaos and danger, is not just a preference; it is a demand from my sub-conscious mind to NOT go there, in any way, shape, form, or disguise…..

    Perhaps that makes me a coward, in a sense. You know what? I could care less…. Call me whatever you like, I’m done with the feelings that go along with all that, and have no intention of ever allowing them the control over me that they once had. For a long time, I spent a lot of time feeling bad about what happened, and what was done, and not done in the dangerous times in which I participated back then. I’m done with all that feeling bad about it, because A) it’s in the past, and it can’t be changed, and B) you can’t make me…..

    It took me a long time to reach the point where I could believe the second part…. A big part of being depressed is not knowing how to get out of it, or away from it; taking back the control of one’s feelings is the first, and most important step, to regaining one’s equilibrium in that respect. Now that I have it, I am pretty jealous of giving it up, for anything, or anybody. I’m sure it’s typical of those of us who emerge from the darkness to make sure we don’t step back out of the light we’ve chosen to seek out, to be firmly against the trip, or trips, back into that hole of illusion; it’s no place anyone would want to call home….

    As can be seen by this mini-rant, depression and mental issues are never put aside completely. They tend to jump up and bite at those of us who deal with them occasionally, no matter how well we do what we do to avoid going there. I have an outlet that many don’t have, being able to write what I feel, and get it outside of me, where I can look at it, and take it apart, and even throw it away if needed. Some folks don’t have that, and for them, it can be a miserable time, having to return to those dark feelings we know and hate so much…. For me, well, I just turn to my Pearls, and eventually, I feel better…. after all, I’ve got Zippy, Emily D., Keats, Yeats, and Albert Einstein on my side!…. Who can lose with friends like those?……  Shall we Pearl?……
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“Is this an out-take from the “BRADY BUNCH”?” — Zippy the Pinhead

    I’m rather hoping it is, in sooth…. if not, we all are in serious trouble, up the proverbial creek without a hint of a paddle. Not that it should be anything new or unfamiliar, as most of our history has been spent thus occupied. Of course, previous centuries didn’t have the distinct advantage of having either the Brady’s, or Zippy, in all his insane wisdom, as cultural icons, as well as ethical touchstones….. They had to make do with Socrates, and Plato, and stuffy old guys like that….. Aristotle was practically a rock star in his day, and remains a pretty smart dude, by all evidence, but I still prefer Carlin, I think, for the most cogent philosophy for modern times….

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.” — The Constitution of the United States of America Amendment 6, 1791

    For a moment, I wondered what my unconscious mind was thinking when it made me copy and paste this amendment into the pearl, as a pearl…. especially as it seems to be in conjunction with the Zippy quote…. Here I am, five minutes later, still wondering what the hell I was thinking…. It happens that way sometimes…. just give me a few moments here, and I’ll come up with it…. Aha! Got it! Naturally, I only needed to go back to basics…. The answer to the question of how the two quotes are related is…. Reality….

    Aye, that’s right, reality. It’s what we do here, explore reality, and all its implications, ramifications, and delineations. Also, it’s temperature. Well, perhaps that isn’t the right word, but…. Reality, as is clear and obvious to the most casual observer, exists in varying degrees (hence: temperature…. see?). The degree of reality that is included in an out-take from the Brady Bunch is clearly not the same degree of reality that is implied in the Sixth Amendment. I’d say, the Amendment would hit around 8 or 9 on the real scale, with 10 being the Reality of Amber, where all roads lead. (See Roger Zelazny’s book, The Courts of Amber…..), whereas the highest the Brady’s could hope for would be a 2 or a 3 on that same scale. They’re too oppositional in nature to be rated otherwise, as well as being on opposite ends of the scale of Relative Importance to ME and YOU…..

    Now we get to the meat of this matter…. Of late, there has been a lot of public discourse regarding gun control, as a result of the media’s steadfast love of gore and manipulation. Another school shooting took place a few weeks ago, wherein some crazy idiot got hold of some firearms and used them in an insane manner. This, of course, all morality aside, is still a reprehensible act, and, IMHO, most easily solved by just taking one of his own guns and using it on him, at the time of his crime. Bang, problem solved, and since he’s standing there over the bodies he has made, no question of guilt. In such cases, the why of his guilt should not matter; whatever it is, it is reason enough to put him down, in defense of humanity. The other questions can be answered after the children have been defended….

    Sadly, there are two segments of humanity who don’t agree with this logical outcome. One segment is what I term the humanitarians, a misleading term, since it usually involves the denial of much of human nature. The other, of course, is our old nemesis, the BRC…. our Beloved Ruling Class…. Neither of these groups will agree that allowing people to have guns should be allowed, or that killing the killers is a proper solution for the issue. In both of these positions, they are dead wrong, and, more, they know they are. This serves to make their arguments more shrill, more emotionally based, and, in their eyes, more valid, in some strange form of weird logic….

“Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, so don’t kid yourself…” — Frank Zappa

    One of the most edifying parts of this discussion, for me, is how it makes it so easy to identify those who are wearing the uniforms, and from what camp they are from, according to their colors and insignia. You can tell the humanitarians, they’re the ones wearing the faux-camouflage pants, in support of the troops, they’ll assure you; they want the police to be the only ones who carry guns, believing, for some unknown reason, that police are somehow more moral or ethical than other people. (Of course, they also would have trouble if you asked them to define the words, “moral”, or “ethical”, in any other terms than those used in a philosophy paper they memorized in college, or in seminary….)

    The BRC are always easy to spot, as their sense of entitlement provides them with all the armor against opinion, or law, they ever need. They want guns to be only held by the militia, (which they control), or the police (whom they also control), because it makes them nervous as hell to know there are guns out in the land, in the hands of people who would use them, for certain, if they attempt to perform their illegal lying, cheating, and stealing anywhere in their presence. It also makes them nervous knowing that they would be in danger for real, if the truth about what they do is ever made public with enough evidence to convince the masses to act…. They don’t want to have to worry they will be over-matched in firepower when that day comes along….

    SIGH…. I’ve opened a can of worms, again, I know it….. I’m not going to claim to have all the right answers to the situation we find ourselves in today. Though it is a different world, technologically and culturally, from the time when the Second Amendment was written, deciding to abandon its precepts on that basis is not, and should never be, enough to justify any change in a law that is so important to the common man, the very people for whom the laws were created, to protect them from the self-same usurpation that is now being attempted. Once the law is amended, and weakened, the term “slippery slope” becomes very real, and a valid fear for those people.

    To put a cap on it for now, I’ll say this…. Quite simply, I do not trust those who would take the right to bear arms from the people. I have seen NO evidence, in history, or in recent current events, that ANY governing body, or ANY group, or ANY single person, of ANY persuasion can be trusted to have guns, and use them solely for the benefit of the people, without turning them to their own purposes, first. NONE. You can’t show me any, either…. Go ahead, I’m listening….

    I have studied people every day of my life, and I know too much of human nature to ever believe what I’m told of another person’s intentions; even the best intentions can change in mid-stream, turning its back completely on any commitments made previously. People lie, they cheat, they break in their minds, and they can’t, as a whole, ever be trusted to act rationally on a consistent basis….. at least, not any more rationally than can I myself….

“In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.” — Oscar Wilde

    Such being the case, I’d rather keep my guns, thanks. I’ll accept the risks that go with that freedom, which includes the risk of bad people getting their hands on guns, and doing bad things to others. Don’t worry, if they do it in front of me, I’ll help…. and not by running away and hiding…. Life is dangerous, ffolkes, and one either learns to get along with that idea, or one spends a lot of time worrying about shit that can’t be changed…. A very unhappy state of affairs, to my way of thinking, and not very realistic in the long run….

“When the panorama of human existence becomes chaotic and confused, it is quite soothing to watch the sun rise in the East.” ~~ gigoid
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On A Dream

As Hermes once took to his feathers light
When lulled Argus, baffled, swoon’d and slept,
So on a Delphic reed my idle spright
So play’d, so charm’d, so conquer’d, so bereft
The dragon-world of all its hundred eyes,
And, seeing it asleep, so fled away:
Not to pure Ida with its snow-cold skies,
Nor unto Tempe where Jove griev’d a day;
But to that second circle of sad hell,
Where ‘mid the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw
Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell
Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw,
Pale were the lips I kiss’d, and fair the form
I floated with, about that melancholy storm.

John Keats
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“People who take issue with control of population do not understand that if it  is not done in a graceful way, nature will do it in a brutal fashion.” — H. Kendall

    Considering the several thousand words I’ve already spewed out today on a serious subject, this pearl suggests a way to spare you a repeat performance…. A good thing, too, as this is one of my favorite topics for ranting, and what with the way it is going today, I’d find a lot to say, I’m sure. To forfend any such occurrence, I will merely say this about that…. This is a fact, not a supposition. Nature’s concern with being graceful is far less than its indifference to brutality, though graceful is a part of all it does, ultimately.

    Whatever brutal happenstance Nature uses to cleanse the planet of our depredations will, I’m sure, be quite beautiful in its majesty and simplicity, which comprises to make graceful….. Whether the atmosphere becomes unsuitable to breathe, or the water too polluted to drink, or the crust of the Earth breaks free, or an asteroid the size of Kansas falls into the Moon, Nature has a million ways to choose from to end our pitifully insignificant presence in this corner of the universe, and whatever is chosen promises to be a grander show than we’ve seen to this point….. The one thing we can pretty much count on is that whatever takes place is NOT going to be comfortable for us, to put it as euphemistically as I can.

    Before this goes any further, threatening to actually become a rant, instead of not-a-rant, I’ll let it alone, and just say, think about it, ffolkes. Unless thinking is something that causes you pain, it can’t hurt, metaphorically speaking…..

You only live twice:
 Once when you’re born,
 Once when you look death in the face.

 — Ian Fleming
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    Enough is sometimes more than enough, and I’d say we’ve arrived there…. I guess I had a lot to say this morning. And, boy, I can’t believe I just said that! Could I be any more trite, or obvious? Ah well, it’s probably a good thing I’m done then, but for the poem search. That always settles me down….. Not that I’m anxious, or anything, but, there are only 47 hours now until my internet connection at home is scheduled to be up and running…. and yes, I could tell you how many minutes, but that would be a bit obsessive, don’t you think? I’m doing my best not to think about it at all, to avoid any disappointment should it fail to materialize…. Any who…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Image

We’ll pick one of the lesser valued artichokes, please….

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Ffolkes,

“All statements contained herein may be accurate, but might also be carefully designed lies intended to induce an angry response.” — Mike Chapman, mike@hopper.acs.virginia.edu

I thought you should see this, just so you are aware, it applies here…. There IS a slight problem that is associated with that, which lies in my own  tendency to forget which one is true, or for that matter, which one isn’t true, for both are both true and false, and both are designed to create a response, though anger isn’t always my targeted emotional response…. Just sayin’….. I didn’t wish to make things more muddled than they already are in the natural state for gigoid-ECR, but, it appears that I did, anyway…. Oh well…. Onward….

I find myself at odds this morning, a most complicated affair, given the even nature of the issue. Wait, issue? I didn’t mean to say issue, I meant tissue. Wait, no I didn’t…. Well, this has gone completely to shit, before I even got very far into it. Common sense would dictate just tossing it, applying the delete button, and get on with something new; I’m not a common kind of guy, I guess, because I’m going to try to salvage this paragraph, or at least save the wear and tear on my poor laptop buttons. They’re looking a bit bedraggled, after the 750,000 words I put out last year in Pearls…. the ‘A’ key is now completely blanked out, as are the ‘E’ key, most of the ‘S’ key, and several others showing signs of wear…. not too shabby for an amateur, eh what?

There, saved it….. or saved it from the trash pile, anyway. I won’t comment on the level of expertise it shows, as that would be blowing my own horn. Yeah, yeah, I know, when has that ever stopped me before? Hush, you’re bothering me…. be still, and keep reading, or I’ll report this to the blog police….. Well, I would, if there were any….. It was worth a try, maybe…. It got y’all to quiet down for a moment, didn’t it? Works for me…..

This is rapidly deteriorating, and I don’t seem to have much control over what it is doing, so I’m going to stop trying to amuse myself, and you, any further, and get on with the program. I know there are some delightful pearls out there, just waiting for me to polish them up and set them before swine, er, Gentle Readers….. sorry, no puns intended….. Or implications, either, for that matter…. hey, it’s a JOKE!…. Ah, hell with it…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art.” — Charles McCabe, San Francisco Chronicle

In one sense, one could say that this is what this blog is all about; the search for artistic value in my expression of opinions on Life, and Reality. I figure it is somewhat like Homer Simpson reportedly said one time, “Facts, schmacts…. you can use them to prove almost anything that is remotely true.” In the case of this being so, what I do here can easily be termed artistic…. as much so as can The Simpsons, that is certain….. I never did watch very much of the show; it reminded me too much of All in the Family, that old sitcom with Archie Bunker, and his poor wife Edith, who week after week consistently made Archie look like the world’s worst actor, by the mere example of grace and dignity in her performances as his oh-so-much more intelligent spouse…..

The character of Archie was, in my opinion (see how that works?….  🙂   ), probably one of two things, each of which could be considered to be the ultimate in their category. Either he was the single most ignorant, bigoted American asshole to ever walk the streets of Laredo, or he was a gruffly compassionate, steadfastly loyal American neighborhood hero, with a hard exterior covering a soft heart. Since I don’t consider Mr. O’Connor, the man who played Archie, to be an actor worthy of the title of thespian, much less hack, I’d say the former comes closer to the truth of the matter.

As such, IMHO, the character enters the arena of national tragedy, and can be seen to be actively toxic mental conditioning by the BRC.  For the entire run of the show, I was appalled at the number of people who expressed not just approval of his character, but applauded its victories over the other actors and the situations they created, no matter how egregiously inhuman…. The whole concept CELEBRATED this man’s consistent stupidity and ignorance, making him into an icon, and never even paying any attention to the real acting going on in the show, by his character’s wife…. I’d say the best acting she did was when she said she enjoyed working with her costar….. If one turns off the sound when she says that, her expression doesn’t match the words…. Her face tells a different story about Archie, and the idiot who played him….

Ah well, such is the public’s taste in such matters, I suppose. The entire phenomenon of that show, and others like it (Sherman Blakesly? Helmsley? something like that, got a chance to play the black Archie on the show, “Movin’ Uptown”, a spinoff of All in the Family), just goes to demonstrate how easy it is to fool the American public. I guess, in looking back on it, it makes the phenomenon we saw in the recent election more understandable, to some degree.

Since seeing the results of the election, I’ve had a hard time with the fact that close to 50 million adult Americans voted for the Republican ticket. When one lists the positions they took on the issues, and compares them with what can be easily seen as the public’s opinions on those issues, the contrast is stark and clear. The GOP had NO areas of concern in their platform that matched what the general public believes; their contact with, and understanding of, the Average American, is so completely out of date, one wonders how they still can find their way around town, as they are using maps of the world that have been out of date for a LONG time….

Yet, 50,000,000….. Fifty. Million. That is a lot of ignorance, or just plain weak spirited complacency, to pile up in one spot, and I’m surprised that the voting machines were able to deal with all of the wishful thinking that attached itself to the ballots. How can there be THAT many people out there who refuse to look at the truth? How can that many people make a decision to ignore the blatant lies, the flip-flopping positions, the outright immoral and unethical views on women, and people of color? How can there be that many STUPID people out there, in MY country, breathing MY air, and spreading their miasma of ignorance and bigotry?

It is appalling to me, to think that there are so many people in this country who can not only be fooled into believing lies, but will willingly join in the persecution and discrimination against others because they are different in some way….. To me, THAT is un-American, and worthy of being labeled as traitorous…..

“Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.” — Smart Bee

I considered for a moment going with Zippy as a closing remark for this subject, but my outrage at the cupidity of the massive number of folks who voted GOP is too strong to ignore. Even though all of the above is probably the equivalent of teaching a pig to sing, I figure it can’t hurt to get it off my chest, at least. It’s as appropriate as the other one I planned to use, which had to do with a comment about that fine day in the future we all know will come, when the Great White Hope will save us from the heathens, and darkies, and gays, and all those scary folks in the world… you know, when pigs fly?….
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From Poetryhunter.com, a classic….

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and is tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou
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Finding, and creating, pearls as a part of the process for composing Pearls can be a challenging pastime, which is a big part of why I continue to do so after all this time. It is an odd procedure at times, as there is no set of instructions, or rules to go by. As far as possible, I use as little volitional direction as I can get away with, which, I’ve learned, is the best way to keep things fresh. This pearl is a perfect example of that process, though the full concept is a bit nebulous, and a fine way to end today’s effort.

These pearls were collected over the last three days, one at a time, but for the last two, which came together as the ‘coup de grace’ of the whole shebang. Bonus points if you can figure out which two those are, as they are not in the same order as they were found…. Sheesh, that wouldn’t make any sense, would it? No, they’re just as they should be, and should provide, if nothing else, a mild chuckle at life’s little jokes…..

“No one is fit to be trusted with power. … No one. … Any man who has lived at all knows the follies and wickedness he’s capable of. … And if he does know it, he knows also that neither he nor any man ought to be allowed to decide a single human fate.” — C. P. Snow, The Light and the Dark

“For how much longer can I howl into this wind?” — The Cure “A Thousand Hours”

“I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need.” — Francois-Auguste Rodin, — when asked how he managed to make his remarkable statues

“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.” — Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973)

“It is not a bad little planet, if you know the right people.” — Smart Bee

There you have it, another in a long series of obscure jokes from the mind of gigoid, deep within the confines of his maximally labyrinthine patterns of thought, for what the experience is worth….. Abondanza!
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Well, it’s another fine mess I’ve created here, Ollie…. I’m thinking I’ll make my getaway while the iron is hot, or something like that….. not to mix my cliches with my metaphors but, a man’s gotta do what he’s gotta do, right? Anything less would be dishonest…. and I’d rather not go there, thanks all the same…..  I’m off into 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

Kowabunga!

Saving the pieces for posterity…..

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Ffolkes,
For the first time since starting this blog, I’ve missed posting for two days, which one or two of y’all might have noted. On Saturday, I woke up with a raging head cold, spewing fluids from one chamber in my head to another with every cough and sneeze, and aggravating all my incipient pain. It has been, to be brief, a miserable two days, to be sure. I did write…. enough material, in fact, that today’s post won’t suffer for originality, at minimum. In fact, I’m adding an extra section today, just so I don’t have to sit on this stuff for too long….

Having done virtually nothing in the past two days but sleep, to the tune of about 19 hours a day, I’m feeling fairly rested, if still a bit congested. I’ve decided to acknowledge my age, and not test my limits by trying to act normal yet, so, I’ll get to the library later, to post this, but I’ll probably nap first, and afterward, to make up for the effort I know it will entail….. Another point for foresight, eh?…. It’s times like this I kind of wish I could have afforded to keep my car; it would be nice not to have to try to depend on bus schedules, especially with the cold, wet weather we’ve been having. Makes it hard on us poor folk, don’t ya know?….

I wrote an intro section on Saturday, but, most of it has turned irrelevant in the ensuing time, so it is being done over. I hate to throw out anything already composed, but, it really was whiny, anyway, and isn’t any loss. It’s not as if I ever run out of stuff to write, is it? I can’t seem to shut it off, not that I’d wish to, but, some overt control would be welcome at this late date….

Strangely enough, my head is relatively empty this morning, at least of material I want to put down. It is most likely a good thing I already have enough done for today; last time I wrote too much ahead of real time, I got all lost and confused, if only in my own head, and it was a mess, figuratively speaking. Today, instead, you’re getting everything I did while not posting, just to get it out of my way….. Don’t worry, it’s not bad, and not TOO long….relatively….. Without further ado, Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its one sure defense.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), Notebook, 1888

I’m positive I’ve used this in the past; it’s too good, and too familiar an idea for me to have passed it up. Since I have no idea when I did use it, it’s okay to use it again, according to the loose rules I go by around here…. This idea is one I embraced many years ago, even before the Beatles used the Blue Meanies vs. Laughter & Love as a metaphor for life, in their movie, Yellow Submarine. It seems I’ve always known that things that live and thrive in the dark, things that exist only to cause pain and misery in the world, cannot stand up to the light of laughter, or the power of love. It is almost a sad sight to watch a bully deflate and slink off when laughed at, rather than accommodated….. It might be sad,  if it weren’t so satisfying….

In the twentieth century, George Carlin was probably the best defender of liberty, one of the most adept at using irreverence, and original critical thought, to poke fun at the ruling cadre. He was merciless at exposing the true motives held by those rulers, making it plain for all how the crap that people put up with in life is deliberate on the part of the ruling classes. His biting wit was graphic, clear, and undeniably true, for he never made statements that weren’t drawn from real life experience, with vivid evidence of chicanery on the part of the elite, in support of his assertion of their evil intent. He did all this, and made us laugh about it, and at them, and, most importantly, at ourselves….. Only the very best can do that…..

He took his vorpal sword in hand
Long time the manxom foe he sought
Till rested he by the tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought

— _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)

In today’s world, manxom foes are much easier to find, so thoughtful moments by the tumtum tree aren’t required as often. By this bit of nonsensical reality, I’m trying to make a point, one that escapes me completely, now that I’ve started the process. I really did have a thought that made this verse appropriate, or at least comprehensible from an odd viewpoint, but, for the life of me, I can’t find it anywhere in my head.

It had to do with bullies, and the Beloved Ruling Class (two interchangeable entities, to be sure….), and was actually, according to my memory, quite elegantly powerful in its indictment of the BRC as assholes….. It’s too bad I can’t remember it…. Just go look at a picture of a politician, or the Pope, or somebody of that ilk, and spit at the image…. you’ll get the idea, and feel better, too…..

“The last Christian died on the cross.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Now you’re talking! That’s the way, Friedrich, you tell ’em! I happen to agree with this statement quite strongly, and couldn’t have said it better. Tom Jefferson was of the same opinion, in fact, ….

“But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State.” — Thomas Jefferson, [letter?] To S. Kercheval, 1810

Tom was quite outspoken in his indictment of the entire class of those who lie to others, for power and personal gain…..

“They [preachers] dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversions of the duperies on which they live.” — Thomas Jefferson

Ah me, such rants as these can go on forever, if we let them. There is always more ammunition to fire off, so we don’t have to condemn all of them at once, I guess. We’ll leave some for a later date….. For now, let me leave you with more timeless wisdom from our favorite insane person…..

“I know things about TROY DONAHUE that can’t even be PRINTED!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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” I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear friend, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

This statement, to me, is the modern version of a literary Holy Grail….. Not merely the beauty of the ideas expressed herein, but the elegance of the expression is of such power it is almost magical. “…you will… live along some distant day into the answer.” Even though presented in prose form, this is poetry at its finest. I say it is the Holy Grail because I can only hope to seek such power and grandeur, such obvious compassion, and love for life, in my writing, and wish with all my being that I find it….. Here is a poem from Rainer….. for balance….

Black Cat

A ghost, though invisible, still is like a place
your sight can knock on, echoing; but here
within this thick black pelt, your strongest gaze
will be absorbed and utterly disappear:

just as a raving madman, when nothing else
can ease him, charges into his dark night
howling, pounds on the padded wall, and feels
the rage being taken in and pacified.

She seems to hide all looks that have ever fallen
into her, so that, like an audience,
she can look them over, menacing and sullen,
and curl to sleep with them. But all at once

as if awakened, she turns her face to yours;
and with a shock, you see yourself, tiny,
inside the golden amber of her eyeballs
suspended, like a prehistoric fly.

Rainer Maria Rilke
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“Reality is the flaw in the perfection of nothingness.” — Nyarlathotep, Reed College, Portland, OR –

“So sure are you! Tried have you? Always with you it can’t be done. Hear you nothing that I say? Try not. Do! Do! Or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda [The Empire Strikes Back]

“And I said to myself be still, wait without hope. For hope would be hope of the wrong thing. Wait without love. For love would be love of the wrong thing. Wait without faith. For the faith and the hope and the love are all in the waiting.” — T.S. Eliot

“Food, sleep, fear, propagation; each is the common property of men with brutes. Virtue is really their additional distinction; devoid of virtue, they are equal with brutes.” — The Hitopadesa (600?-1100? A.D.)

O love, could thou and I with fate conspire
To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,
Might we not smash it to bits
And mould it closer to our hearts’ desire?

— Omar Khayyam [tr. FitzGerald]

So, there I was, still in relatively massive discomfort, cruising through Smart Bee, and letting my unconscious mind pick out pearls to make a pearl. (Or are those oysters?…. Never mind….)  Once again, I am unsure of exactly what my unconscious is trying to say, but, damn, it sure said it well, didn’t it? In reality, or as close as we ever approach that state on this blog, it makes a very cogent statement about the structure of human nature, if not exactly claiming to be a complete explanation, or even representation, of that nature. Given my current mental condition, I think it’s the best for which we can hope….. It’s just been one of THOSE days, y’know?….. But, really, this isn’t a BAD pearl, it’s just obscure… so it should fit right in, right? Right?….. Well, maybe not….. Ah, the hell with it…..
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(This is an extra pearl, brought to you by the cold virus, rhinus virusii, and by the word, “plonk”……)

“When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations.  When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence.  When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.” — John F. Kennedy

For a long time now, I’ve been ranting periodically, about a certain flaw in human nature I have observed, a flaw that all of us possess to some degree. This flaw is the tendency to manipulate other people for personal gain, rather than mutual benefit. We all manipulate; if we didn’t, we’d starve. This is a lesson we learn in our first days on Earth, as we find out that our cries will bring attention, food, and comfort. To varying degrees, our lessons in this sort of manipulation of other people continue on to adulthood…. The difference in degree we learn arises from several factors, both environmental and genetic, and is the crux of the problem our species faces now…..

You see, after a certain point, most folks don’t wish to make others do for them what they can do for themselves; it is more satisfying to accomplish something when one knows exactly what one has done to achieve it. But, a certain number of people decide, at an early age, usually, that they enjoy the power of getting others to follow their suggestions, and start finding ways to make their manipulations acceptable to others, even though those ways are immoral and unethical. These folks learn how to lie with a straight face, convincing the naive to allow them to act or think for them, because it is to their advantage. In reality, the entire manipulation is designed to benefit only the perpetrator of the lies…..

So, time passes, and these trained liars become preachers, and politicians, and lawyers, and anyone else in society who learns they can have far more than they ever need, or deserve, by hoarding resources for their own use, by writing laws, by manipulating society in ways that are advantageous to them, rather than being a boon to society. They lie, they cheat, they steal, and they tell everyone they are doing it “for YOU!”  Most insulting of all, they use the pretense of “morality” to disguise their true intentions.

“Morality is the best device of all for leading mankind by the nose.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

These foul flibbertigibbets have their flunkies to make the laws for them in Congress, they have the hawks in the military to protect them from the “heathens”, they have their judges in their pockets to rule in favor of business rather than people. And, they have the preachers proselytizing the great, unwashed masses of humanity to control them, masses who never question anything they do, but continue to put their heads down and slog away, trying to win a game that was fixed from the start…..

When looking at JFK’s statement above, one might believe that he had the public in mind when he said this, and that he was indeed a champion of the people. Myself, I have a hard time seeing anyone worth over a billion dollars as a champion of the people, no matter how sincere they might sound. More likely, what he says above is merely a sop to public opinion, stated as a means of convincing the common man that he has something in common with them…. a tough sell for a boy who grew up in the biggest compound in Hyannisport, the bastion of the truly rich.

He would, by this assertion, have us believe that exposure to poetry will moderate the impulse to cruelty among the powerful, a statement which, if examined critically, is seen to be completely untrue. I haven’t seen ANYTHING in particular that has that effect, not in this world…. Technically, the statement may be true, regarding art as the touchstone of judgment, but asking me to believe that a Kennedy, a person who has never had to suffer any such judgments, actually AGREES with it, well, that’s asking too much….

“As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.” — William Shakespeare, “King Lear”

To my mind, politicians, and anyone else who lives by the insane dictates which they do, are like these gods to whom Will refers; they do what they do to us, just because they feel they can, and don’t give a rat’s ass for what anyone else believes. That may sound like a strong indictment, which, hopefully, it is…. In my own defense, I defy anyone at all to disprove the statement. Show me the evidence, if you have any, of how the government, or the churches, or the corporations, or the police, or the courts are acting in a way that is beneficial to the public. I’m willing to look at whatever anyone may have to show me, though I am quite convinced that nobody will be able to do so, as I don’t believe there is any such evidence……

“Perhaps we are wiser, less selfish and more far-seeing than we were two hundred years ago. But we are still imperfectly all these good things, and since the turn of the century it has been remarked that neither wisdom nor virtue have increased as rapidly as the need for both.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

This is a statement you may confidently place in the “fer shure” column, and forgeddaboutit.  All the wisdom we need is already present in the world, I think, but the amount of virtue, or rather, the amount of influence that virtue commands, is severely limited; it is that lack that our nature shows when put to the test of Reality.

It is unfortunate in the extreme that, in this world, there are those who exhibit the flaw, those who don’t, and literally, billions of folks who don’t know, and don’t have time or energy to care, what we’re talking about. The most unfortunate part of this, is that the former group comprises the Beloved Ruling Class, and will, in all their insane glory, bring the rest of us with them down the path to our inglorious demise, unless we can bestir ourselves to wake up and throw them all out on their asses…..

“Small is the number of them that see with their own eyes, and feel with their own hearts.” — Albert Einstein
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“We have standards and expect you not to exceed them.” — Smart Bee

Plainly, I have succeeded in not exceeding any standards whatsoever…. I am just content that I was able to piece together this Pearl; I wasn’t certain I was going to have the strength of will to push through all the residual pain hanging about. It’s done, though; that’s enough for me….. If all this stuff stays in my head too long, it can cause serious issues, and not just for me…. The rest of the world tends to have to put up with it, too…. Hopefully, it isn’t too whiny, or too self-serving; Yoda’s advice about not trying, but, instead, doing, is always timely, isn’t it?…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!