Emerald green tofu makes better ballast…..

Posted on August 18, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
All attempts to establish routine are now considered futile; only random acts that resist routine will be allowed. And damn! I wish I could find a comfortable chair in which to sit…. Yes, I know that sounds stilted and pompous, but grammar is grammar, so whattya gonna do?

Any who, back to routine, or lack thereof….. Waking in the middle of the night, sobbing over a dream, is not what I’d call conducive to making a routine. It took me an hour, and two or four solid shots to get back to a state where I could fall asleep again, and consequently gave me a late start this morning…..SIGH…. (That’s a west-county Irish sigh, a long full breath, and slow exhale, accompanied by a sorrowful expression and a sad shake of the head….)

I should probably be getting used to this randomness in my life; not having to work, or to spend any significant time worrying about what other folks need or want, is both the greatest perk, and the most stinging curse of retirement. The outer world no longer has a say in when I do something, or even what I do. I make my own schedule, and thus have no one to blame if it doesn’t suit me…. which, I’m sure you can see, is a reflection of that blessing/curse relationship. Ah well, such is life….

Since I’m late, and will be later, given the upcoming events this morning, we should get to the searching portion of the process, as it is the most time-consuming part. So…. shall we Pearl? Anything has got to be better than what has been happening thus far…..

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao-Tzu, Tao Teh Ching
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The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. — Old Testament — Job i, 21

I don’t know if it actually was Job who first said this particular phrase, but, given what God eventually did to him, all on a bet with Satan, it could have been…. If so, it goes to show, one shouldn’t go too long in the desert sun without finding some shade….

Here we have a statement that purports to provide reason for worship, a justification of why we should bow our heads in prayer to the heavens…. in short it says, “God is unpredictable, and omnipotent; it makes good sense to kowtow to Him…. he likes appeasement.” Well, maybe not, but you get the idea. We are theoretically in the power of a mad God, one who will fuck with his creation at the drop of a hat, just to entertain himself and the Devil over a wager.

He put Job through some outrageous times…. boils, plagues, genocide, hordes of locusts, deformity, God really did a number on Job, trying to see if his mind-conditioning would hold…. Since, according to the story, Job did hold out, and suffered all he did at God’s hand, and still wouldn’t curse him, we see that it did hold fast. What a dolt he must have been! No, I meant Job, but you may be right…. God surely acted like a dickhead in this one….

Sorry, but along about the third time God took everything away from me (had I been his chosen target instead of that stubborn boob, Job…), I would have started trying to figure out some way to fire back a few warning rounds, just to let Him know I’d had enough of that kind of treatment. A certain amount of leeway should be given, of course, but nobody gets more than three, I don’t care who they think they are…. By the act of persecution of Job, in my mind, He gave up any rights to worship, or even belief…. and He ought to know that, as he made me the way I am (according to the theory as given in Genesis).

I’d make this piece longer, but I think I’ve probably offended the Christians out there enough for one day…. also, the next section is a great poem, by my favorite poet, and I’d as soon you read it all, long as it is…. onward…..
___________________________________

This poem is rather long…. but I hope you read it all; it’s a great follow to the previous pearl, and well worth the time it takes….. enjoy!

A Tale Of The Thirteenth Floor

The hands of the clock were reaching high
In an old midtown hotel;
I name no name, but its sordid fame
Is table talk in hell.
I name no name, but hell’s own flame
Illumes the lobby garish,
A gilded snare just off Times Square
For the maidens of the parish.

The revolving door swept the grimy floor
Like a crinoline grotesque,
And a lowly bum from an ancient slum
Crept furtively past the desk.
His footsteps sift into the lift
As a knife in the sheath is slipped,
Stealthy and swift into the lift
As a vampire into a crypt.

Old Maxie, the elevator boy,
Was reading an ode by Shelley,
But he dropped the ode as it were a toad
When the gun jammed into his belly.
There came a whisper as soft as mud
In the bed of an old canal:
“Take me up to the suite of Pinball Pete,
The rat who betrayed my gal.”

The lift doth rise with groans and sighs
Like a duchess for the waltz,
Then in middle shaft, like a duchess daft,
It changes its mind and halts.
The bum bites lip as the landlocked ship
Doth neither fall nor rise,
But Maxie the elevator boy
Regards him with burning eyes.
“First, to explore the thirteenth floor,”
Says Maxie, “would be wise.”

Quoth the bum, “There is moss on your double cross,
I have been this way before,
I have cased the joint at every point,
And there is no thirteenth floor.
The architect he skipped direct
From twelve unto fourteen,
There is twelve below and fourteen above,
And nothing in between,
For the vermin who dwell in this hotel
Could never abide thirteen.”

Said Max, “Thirteen, that floor obscene,
Is hidden from human sight;
But once a year it doth appear,
On this Walpurgis Night.
Ere you peril your soul in murderer’s role,
Heed those who sinned of yore;
The path they trod led away from God,
And onto the thirteenth floor,
Where those they slew, a grisly crew,
Reproach them forevermore.

“We are higher than twelve and below fourteen,”
Said Maxie to the bum,
“And the sickening draft that taints the shaft
Is a whiff of kingdom come.
The sickening draft that taints the shaft
Blows through the devil’s door!”
And he squashed the latch like a fungus patch,
And revealed the thirteenth floor.

It was cheap cigars like lurid scars
That glowed in the rancid gloom,
The murk was a-boil with fusel oil
And the reek of stale perfume.
And round and round there dragged and wound
A loathsome conga chain,
The square and the hep in slow lock step,
The slayer and the slain.
(For the souls of the victims ascend on high,
But their bodies below remain.)

The clean souls fly to their home in the sky,
But their bodies remain below
To pursue the Cain who each has slain
And harry him to and fro.
When life is extinct each corpse is linked
To its gibbering murderer,
As a chicken is bound with wire around
The neck of a killer cur.

Handcuffed to Hate come Doctor Waite
(He tastes the poison now),
And Ruth and Judd and a head of blood
With horns upon its brow.
Up sashays Nan with her feathery fan
From Floradora bright;
She never hung for Caesar Young
But she’s dancing with him tonight.

Here’s the bulging hip and the foam-flecked lip
Of the mad dog, Vincent Coll,
And over there that ill-met pair,
Becker and Rosenthal,
Here’s Legs and Dutch and a dozen such
Of braggart bullies and brutes,
And each one bends ‘neath the weight of friends
Who are wearing concrete suits.

Now the damned make way for the double-damned
Who emerge with shuffling pace
From the nightmare zone of persons unknown,
With neither name nor face.
And poor Dot King to one doth cling,
Joined in a ghastly jig,
While Elwell doth jape at a goblin shape
And tickle it with his wig.

See Rothstein pass like breath on a glass,
The original Black Sox kid;
He riffles the pack, riding piggyback
On the killer whose name he hid.
And smeared like brine on a slavering swine,
Starr Faithful, once so fair,
Drawn from the sea to her debauchee,
With the salt sand in her hair.

And still they come, and from the bum
The icy sweat doth spray;
His white lips scream as in a dream,
“For God’s sake, let’s away!
If ever I meet with Pinball Pete
I will not seek his gore,
Lest a treadmill grim I must trudge with him
On the hideous thirteenth floor.”

“For you I rejoice,” said Maxie’s voice,
“And I bid you go in peace,
But I am late for a dancing date
That nevermore will cease.
So remember, friend, as your way you wend,
That it would have happened to you,
But I turned the heat on Pinball Pete;
You see – I had a daughter, too!”

The bum reached out and he tried to shout,
But the door in his face was slammed,
And silent as stone he rode down alone
From the floor of the double-damned.

Ogden Nash
___________________________________

The following is an old-school pearl, with a specific thought in mind for you to deduce….. for the sake of everyone’s blood pressure, that specific thought will be revealed at the end…. I don’t usually, but thought I’d give a treat, just ’cause I’m a nice guy…. really, I am……

Child: “Supreme Being, why is there evil in the world?”
Supreme Being (Sir John Gielgud in a Savile Row suit): “Oh, dear, I can’t remember, exactly. . . something to do with free will, I believe.”
— Terry Gilliam, _The Time Bandits_

“The character of human life, like the character of the human condition, like the character of all life, is “ambiguity”: the inseparable mixture of good and evil, the true and false, the creative and destructive forces — both individual and social.” — Paul Tillich

Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn’t any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I’m not at the bottom,
I’m not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.
— A.A. Milne

“Belief gets in the way of learning.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“Truth, in the matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.” — Oscar Wilde

“SANTA CLAUS comes down a FIRE ESCAPE wearing bright blue LEG WARMERS. He scrubs the POPE with a mild soap or detergent for 15 minutes, starring JANE FONDA!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

You may be asking yourself at this point, just what have I gotten myself into? Well, relax, it’s no big deal….. all of the foregoing is intended to lead you to the following….. which WILL be on the quiz…..

An it harms none, do what thou will. — Wiccan Credo

Alternate answer, also correct:

There’s little in taking or giving,
There’s little in water or wine:
This living, this living, this living,
Was never a project of mine.
Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is
The gain of the one at the top,
For art is a form of catharsis,
And love is a permanent flop,
And work is the province of cattle,
And rest’s for a clam in a shell,
So I’m thinking of throwing the battle —
Would you kindly direct me to hell?

— Dorothy Parker

“Birth, school, work, death. About sums it up, I think.” — Smart Bee
___________________________________

For a rush job, this didn’t come out too badly…. it will have to do, anyway, so let’s get on with 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!

These statistical triumphs are fabulous!….

Posted on August 17, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
What we have here…. is a failure… to germinate. So sad….. Actually, it’s germinating just fine. Seeds are like that; a bit of dirt, a little water, some sunshine, and voilá, germination! Now, if only there were some seeds germinating in my head, I’d be set for good. Alas, we should be so lucky…..

Sans germinating ideas, this intro section can turn on me at the drop of a simile, and apparently, has already done so. At this point, I have absolutely no idea what is going to come out next…. It could be a BEM (Bug Eyed Monster, to those of you not up on SF slang…). It could be another poem. (No, no, anything but that!….just shoot me now, please…..) It could be a fictional opening to a story. (If any were there to write down….) Or, it could be a series of paragraphs, each just a bit stranger than the last, all leading up to the usual point, where I give up, and we get started…..

I suppose strange is a relative term, and I ought not to consider it as an insult. In fact, given the rest of my life up to this point in time, I should probably consider it as encouragement, or perhaps, justification. For what, I don’t know, but, hey, it’s my party, and I can be ignorant if I want to be, so there…. Okay, now we’ve devolved into childish insults…. it must be time for the throwing up of the hands in disgust…. hold on, I need to step away from the computer to do this….. There, it’s done. I’ve washed my hands of this intro, and shall henceforth consider it as a part of the past, and no longer under my aegis…..

See? I told ya…. it worked out just the way I said it would, and here we are, finally arrived at the point where I look up with all innocence, and say, “Shall we Pearl?”….. you just nod your head, and move on to the next section…. well, go on…. you’d best go now, you’ll be alone if you stay here, and I won’t take responsibility if you get in trouble here on your own….. GO!!!!
___________________________________

If God didn’t make homosexuals, there wouldn’t be any. ~~ Very Smart Bee

Aha! At last! I have found the answer to all those bigoted, so-called Christians, with their strident complaints about gay marriage being a threat to society, and the whole ridiculous skein of unfounded fears rooted in their own ignorance. Just mention the above to them, and watch them turn purple, as they try, over and over, to find some logical way to refute this…. which they can’t.

If they are going to insist on having an omnipotent God, then they can’t be telling him what He should and shouldn’t do, because He’s already done it…. This is a perfectly sound piece of doctrine, which I’m sure any Jesuit would tell you is so obvious, it could be considered dogma. They can’t have it both ways…. either there is a God, and homosexuals are part of the plan he has in place…. or there isn’t, and they need to find a whole new theory of the universe to follow, because this one won’t fly…..

“Do you think God gets stoned? I think so…look at the Platypus.” — Robin Williams

I think it’s a lot more likely that what Robin says here is true; if there is a God, why wouldn’t he get stoned? Of course, those who have experienced the state of being stoned can make an informed judgment on that issue. Anyone who has never done so really has no right to an opinion, do they?

Aside from the simple, irrefutable fact that they, being mortal, cannot fathom God, or anything about Him/Her, how could they possibly have an opinion on something they’ve never experienced? I ask that question rhetorically, of course; they believe they have the right to sound off on anything they don’t understand, since, as they believe, they are the Lords of Creation…. what a crock!

“Faith means intense, usually confident, belief that is not based on evidence sufficient to command assent from every reasonable person.” — Walter Kaufmann

This pearl comes from the old school… it makes a point that logically becomes the next step in this little piece of satire… the point being this: The folks who spend their time fiddling with religion are pursuing a dream, one that has no basis in reality, according to all the evidence.

This kind of blind faith has a name these days, and that name is “delusional”, defined as holding on to a belief after being presented with absolute proof of its falsehood. Couple this delusional frame of mind with a strong sense of denial, and you have an entire segment of the population that is immune to change…. and we all know what the Universe does to any part of it that refuses to change, don’t we?…..

“I guess the rule is, if something’s too good to be true, then it’s probably too good to be true.” — Marshall, The ATM Machine, Eerie Indiana

And that’s the Truth! So, there! Thpppht! ~~ The little girl in the chair… (Lily Tomlin)
___________________________________

Since the last pearl touched on the old school, I think I’ll make this pearl completely old school…. Here are some pearls that together form an idea, one that is always handy to have in one’s arsenal in the fight to hold our place in reality….. or at least to reluctantly accept it as it is…..

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

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never in extremity
It asked a crumb of me.

— Emily Dickinson

“Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just like the roads across the earth. For actually there were no roads to begin with, but when many people pass one way a road is made.” — Lu Hsun

“We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting.” — Kahlil Gibran

“America!! I saw it all!! Vomiting! Waving! JERRY FALWELLING into your void tube of UHF oblivion!! SAFEWAY of the mind –” — Zippy the Pinhead

Lastly, we turn once again to that philosophical genius, Lily T, to bring us home in style……

“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” — Lily Tomlin
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“A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.” — Calvin

Ah, politics! Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes, I believe….) has accurately stated the operating techniques of both parties in this election. I was amazed the other day when the Republican candidates started to harp on how mean and unfair the other side was being. Talk about two kettles calling the pots black!

I also had to laugh when the Democrats got called out for demanding to see the taxes that Romney continues to withhold; he really thinks he is going to get away with not showing them, and doesn’t seem to have a clue as to how much damage it causes his campaign every time he refuses to show them…. I don’t know why, because he reads the polls, and every time he puts it off again, he drops points; it’s a direct correlation, but he doesn’t seem to know, or care….. idiot….

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” — Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Collected Essays

Romney and Ryan keep accusing Obama of stealing money from Social Security, when the Congressional Report on the plan shows this to be completely false. John Sunnunu, governor of something or other, a life-time political hack, got his sails trimmed by a CNN reporter, on air, who kept throwing this falsehood back in his face…. he ended up resorting to name-calling, and continued to try to blame the POTUS for everything. Even when it was pointed out to him that the Ryan Plan and the Romney Plan were the same, and both contained tax cuts for the rich, he tried to say they were different…. another idiot….

“I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends…that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.” — Adlai Stevenson

Or was it Joe Biden who said that? Well, he could have…. What Mr. Stevenson says here is all too true, even today, though he doesn’t quite make it all the way to honesty, as he implies that only the Democrats tell the truth. In fact, BOTH parties are more comfortable telling us lies than they are with the truth; it is fortunate for us that the WWW has provided us with a way to keep the truth at the forefront of any issue, no matter how many times one of the pundits, right or left, tries to convince us that the lies they are telling are truth. For those libertarians to whom truth is more important than personal comfort, the web has been a true gift of the gods…..

“The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt

These are perfect words to bring this to a close…. We, the citizens of this democracy, have the responsibility of making ourselves aware of the truth, and to insist on that truth being acknowledged by the government, whichever party may be incumbent. If we do not take the time to investigate what they tell us, and accept what they say as truth, without checking, then we deserve whatever kind of government we get.

I can’t stress enough that people need to be aware that politicians, of both varieties, DO NOT HAVE OUR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART….. Elected officials only have their own interests at heart; this has been proven over and over, and really isn’t arguable. But, as long as people continue to act as if the pundits care about them, then they will continue to get the shaft…. and deservedly so…..

“TAPPING? You POLITICIANS! Don’t you realize that the END of the “Wash Cycle” is a TREASURED MOMENT for most people?!” — Zippy the Pinhead
___________________________________

I was right in the intro…. it kind of got away from me…. But, I think I managed to pull it all together, with only moderate use of duct tape…. It’s going to have to do, because, well, because it will….. 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!

The Grand Vizier wishes to be disturbed….

Posted on August 16, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Yesterday afternoon, I sat down with the urge to write. A number of fleeting images chased each other around in my head, vying for who would be first to fly…. after some negotiations, I wrote what appeared to be a paragraph of prose in an abstract style, re-read it, scratched my head, and left it alone for the night…..

This morning, when I sat down to start today’s Pearl, the paragraph was still there…. but it had changed somehow in the night…. I don’t know if it is my mind that changed, or the paragraph, but all of a sudden, it wasn’t a paragraph….. a few strokes, a couple of format and structural changes, and voilá, it’s a poem! Completely finished, too, needing nothing more from me…. I’ll call it….

Serendipity Morning

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

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

gigoid

I just love it when a plan comes together…. especially when there is no plan….. 🙂 Shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

“I want to dress you up as TALLULAH BANKHEAD and cover you with VASELINE and WHEAT THINS..” — Zippy the Pinhead

After starting with a poem I wrote myself (a rare occurrence, indeed….), the universal law of dichotomy comes into play, as things will become unbalanced without some alternative, oppositional action, and what better candidate for that than Zippy? Just look at this quote….. absolute nonsense, in terms of the real world, yet you, and I, will both check our supplies of both Vaseline AND Wheat Thins, just to be sure…… You don’t want to let Zippy loose in your cupboards to look for himself, believe me! I did one time, and never did find my coffee maker, or my toaster…..

Zippy has brought many an hour of relaxation, and a grin to my face for as many years as I can remember, which is, sad to say, a lot of years now. After a hard day of dealing with the vicissitudes of life (love that word!…. vicissitudes… it just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?…..), I know I can come home, pull off my shoes and socks, and know that a few minutes of Zippy will soothe and soften my fevered brow, even better than beer….. though not better than bourbon…. but, then, what is? Nothing, that’s what….

Of course, I can’t afford to drink bourbon too often any more, and not just because of finances…. I find myself of late not merely not enjoying the buzz that comes with a couple fingers of the beast, but actively disliking the physical symptoms that go along with any such imbibing…. not to mention the morning after, which nowadays hits me like a runaway train. If I consume more than two cocktails, the headache and body malaise the next morning is like a short visit to Hell, without the extreme heat, but with the pain and anguish, and a heavy feeling of regret…. So, these days, rather than live with either regrets, or hangovers, I’ve pretty much curtailed most of my alcohol consumption, an act for which my liver is probably dancing for joy….

Now that we have meandered down some rather unbeaten paths in my head for a time, I think maybe we should go on to something a bit more constructive… or at least funnier…. I don’t know what it is, but a dose of Zippy brings out my pedagogy, along with a tendency toward pomposity, that shows up in what I write, no matter how silly I get…. but four paragraphs, all about nothing, really, is quite enough for one day…. So, let me leave you with one more Zippyism, and we’ll go on to bigger, better things, or at the very least, something else….

“I’m having BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS about the INSIPID WIVES of smug and wealthy CORPORATE LAWYERS.” — Zippy the Pinhead
___________________________________

Come On In, The Senility Is Fine

People live forever in Jacksonville and St. Petersburg and Tampa,
But you don’t have to live forever to become a grampa.
The entrance requirements for grampahood are comparatively mild,
You only have to live until your child has a child.
From that point on you start looking both ways over your shoulder,
Because sometimes you feel thirty years younger and sometimes
thirty years older.
Now you begin to realize who it was that reached the height of
imbecility,
It was whoever said that grandparents have all the fun and none of
the responsibility.
This is the most enticing spiderwebs of a tarradiddle ever spun,
Because everybody would love to have a baby around who was no
responsibility and lots of fun,
But I can think of no one but a mooncalf or a gaby
Who would trust their own child to raise a baby.
So you have to personally superintend your grandchild from diapers
to pants and from bottle to spoon,
Because you know that your own child hasn’t sense enough to come
in out of a typhoon.
You don’t have to live forever to become a grampa, but if you do
want to live forever,
Don’t try to be clever;
If you wish to reach the end of the trail with an uncut throat,
Don’t go around saying Quote I don’t mind being a grampa but I
hate being married to a gramma Unquote.

Ogden Nash

A little paean to my new age-group…. age appropriate, I’d say, but not yet dead….. Enjoy!……
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“Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.” — Lao-Tzu

Water…. the power of water is unmatched over time; just ask the Grand Canyon. Water ties us to the universe; our physical make-up depends on it for survival, as well as mere existence. It is so soft, and yielding, yet cannot be destroyed at all; one can only cause it to change form, from ice, to water, to steam, all of which hold the same properties as the middle state, though slightly differently interpreted. Most important, to the scholar’s mind, is its nature…. emulating its spirit, becoming like water, is the goal of almost all meditation practice, as well as a goal of the martial artist….

“My writing is like a ten gallon spring. It can issue from the ground anywhere at all. On smooth ground it rushes swiftly on and covers a thousand li in a single day without difficulty. When it twists and turns among mountains and rocks, it fits its form to things it meets: unknowable. What can be known is, it always goes where it must go, always stops where it cannot help stopping — nothing else. More than that, even I cannot know.” — Su Shih

One of the most powerful of concepts in martial arts is the emulation of water. The student is taught to learn how to move like water, to move with the rhythm of the universe as energy flows from one point to another. One of the most valuable techniques I’ve seen to teach this lesson is one where the student stands in a balanced stance, one foot forward; the arms are held in front of the body, as if holding a large ball. The student then moves his weight from the back foot to the front foot, then back again, while moving the ball in a slow circle, pushed away when moving forward, and brought back when the weight shifts to the rear….

The trick to learn is to be like the tide, accepting the water as it flows in to its highest point, then moving with it as it irresistibly flows back into the sea, as the weight moves to the front foot. A smooth shifting of the weight, and finding the correct rhythm teaches both balance, and strength, and the power of moving like water…. Learning to use gravity as an ally, instead of a limitation, gives one an unimaginable advantage over one who does not know how to do so….

In addition to the physical lessons that water has to teach us, it also provides the intellect with a subject of study, to find the nature of water in its most real state. Learning the nature of water brings us closer to an understanding of all nature, and how we may fit into it with the most benevolent, and beneficial attitudes.

The path of least resistance, followed by water as it flows downhill, teaches us to learn to find the same path for ourselves. The immutability of water teaches us how to resist changes to our nature, while remaining in touch with those parts of the universe that are within all of us…. And the flexibility of water teaches us to remain flexible ourselves, to learn to recognize when it is time to be ice, when it is time to be steam, and when it is time to flow like water in its normal state…..

Joshu asked the teacher Nansen, “What is the True Way?”

Nansen answered, “Every way is the true Way.”

Joshu asked, “Can I study it?”

Nansen answered, “The more you study, the further from the Way.”

Joshu asked, “If I don’t study it, how can I know it?”

Nansen answered, “The Way does not belong to things seen: nor to things unseen. It does not belong to things known: nor to things unknown. Do not seek it, study it, or name it. To find yourself on it, open yourself as wide as the sky.”
___________________________________

It’s another fine mess I’ve created here this morning, I think….. It really doesn’t matter, because I’m posting it no matter how it looks from this end; I may even go back to bed afterwards…… 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!

A predictable failure to perpetuate…..

Posted on August 15, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
The hardest part is over, so I can now relax….. I suppose I could apply that statement to my life at large, as well as to my current situation, wherein I have to find a new dwelling… the hardest part is over….. Wow, what a nice feeling that carries with it! I hadn’t really stopped and looked at things exactly like this; it’s a nice little change. Now I can relax….

In so many ways, I am a lucky man…. I was lucky enough to be born in this country, where, regardless of how rigged the game is, there is still ample opportunity for people to make their way, and to succeed in building themselves a comfortable existence…. If it isn’t always easy, well, that is to be expected….

Now, after working for a large portion of my life, I have the opportunity to kick back and enjoy the fruits of my labors, in a manner of speaking. The effort I put in at my jobs, from age 14 to age 60, will, when fully in place, will allow me to support myself without strain… I won’t be affluent, by any stretch of the imagination…. but I’ll have enough to live on, with enough left over to do some of the traveling I’ve always wanted to do…. and you can’t beat that with a stick….

The last two years of living with much less than is called for has taught me, or re-taught me, some valuable lessons on how to live cheaply. One learns fairly quickly which expenses are necessary, and which are not, and, at the same time, one learns to get by without those things we thought we needed, but found we didn’t…. and these lessons will come in handy after my full retirement kicks in, allowing me to live comfortably, while still allowing me to save up to travel. So put away the stick, we won’t be needing it….

It’s good now and again to look on one’s life and reflect upon its events; it keeps life fresh, and like today, one may find that things are much better than they look at first…. It makes that old saw about stopping to smell the roses more attractive, as in those times when you find a huge red one, just bursting with beauty and the smell of springtime….. On that note, shall we Pearl?……
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“It is not the possessions but the desires of mankind which require to be equalized.” — Aristotle

Life is tough, but not as tough as it used to be. It’s been a long time since we humans had to actually go out and be responsible for our own survival, a pastime that, up until about 2500-3000 years ago, was pretty much a full time occupation for the majority of people. Very few folks back then could be spared to sit around doing nothing, using up resources that were acquired by the others of the group; everybody had to pull their own weight, or they starved…..

But once the species figured out farming, and how to produce food more efficiently than having to go out to find it, life got a lot easier, at least from a physical standpoint. Farming kept folks from needing to move around so much to look for food, so cities began to form, and civilization began to organize into its various strata….. beloved ruling class, priestly hierarchy class, warrior class, and, of course, the patsy class, also known as the worker bees, or peons, depending on one’s particular degree of sliminess….

To look at what Aristotle says above, one might think it speaks to the upper classes, suggesting that, perhaps, if they wanted less than they have, which is more than they need, then there might not be as many folks who want only enough to survive, but can’t find even that. It isn’t as if they don’t have enough…..However, thanks to the priestly hierarchies, who act as the protector of the ruling class, the less fortunate are lied to, and are told that THEY are being tested, and not to want more…. The priests have them all convinced that all they should want is just enough, in reward for which they will be compensated IN THE NEXT LIFE! It’s one of the most egregious scams that has ever been perpetrated on the masses, and continues today….

“Most of the dogmatic religions have exhibited a perverse talent for taking the wrong side on the most important concepts in the material universe, from the structure of the solar system to the origin of man.” — George Gaylord Simpson

The problem now is that it has gotten to the point that almost all the available resources of the planet are used up… only by reducing the total number of people drastically can the species continue to survive…. and we all know who is going to get the short end of THAT stick, don’t we?

Once people realize that the available resources needed for the species to survive are being hoarded and manipulated by the powers that be, all to favor themselves, the unwashed masses are going to be, shall we say, less than happy with the beloved ruling class, and even less happy with the priestly hierarchies who prop them up. It will be Mother Nature’s way of saying “you wouldn’t play nicely with others, and now you’ll have to pay the price for that failure….” Of course, she would, and will, probably make it sound less pompous than I do….

Being able to control one’s desires is a very valuable skill, and one worth learning, for certain. But when the desire is the simple desire to survive, it is not one that either can, or should, be eliminated…. For many centuries, the beloved ruling class and the priestly hierarchies who are in league with them have been lying to the general populace for their own benefit; history, even when written by the winners, makes that very clear.

“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” — Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Soon, they will have to come to terms with that treachery, as the planet’s resources, and its ability to support our form of life, are reduced to where we can no longer grow enough food, or breathe the air due to the addition of far too much carbon monoxide…. When the general public realizes that the PTB are the assholes who have put us in this position, I don’t think they are going to be very happy about it…. and my only hope is that they don’t take so long to come to that conclusion that it is too late to make the needed changes…. which is a distinct possibility…. Small hopes are better than none…..

Jesus is coming, everyone look busy. — Bumper Sticker
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À Bas Ben Adhem

My fellow man I do not care for.
I often ask me, What’s he there for?
The only answer I can find
Is, Reproduction of his kind.
If I’m supposed to swallow that,
Winnetka is my habitat.
Isn’t it time to carve Hic Jacet
Above that Reproduction racket?

To make the matter more succinct:
Suppose my fellow man extinct.
Why, who would not approve the plan
Save possibly my fellow man?
Yet with a politician’s voice
He names himself as Nature’s choice.

The finest of the human race
Are bad in figure, worse in face.
Yet just because they have two legs
And come from storks instead of eggs
They count the spacious firmament
As something to be charged and sent.

Though man created cross-town traffic,
The Daily Mirror, News and Graphic,
The pastoral fight and fighting pastor,
And Queen Marie and Lady Astor,
He hails himself with drum and fife
And bullies lower forms of life.

Not that I think much depends
On how we treat our feathered friends,
Or hold the wrinkled elephant
A nobler creature than my aunt.
It’s simply that I’m sure I can
Get on without my fellow man.

Ogden Nash

Serendipity, by definition, is always a surprise, and usually a good one… in this case it was a great surprise…. The poem I posted a couple of days ago by Mr. Nash reminded me that he is one of my all-time favorite poets, because of his masterful use of the language, if nothing else…. But this one seems to have been written while reading my mind, as it complements the previous section perfectly, giving a poetic statement very similar in intent, and content, to the prose above. See, Fate CAN be our friend!…. Enjoy!….
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“Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!

So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.) “

~~ Lazarus Long, “Time Enough for Love” by Robert A. Heinlein

Once or twice a year, I like to pull this out of my old posts and run it again. It is as perfect a description of Duty as I have ever seen, and matches up exactly, point by point, with what I was taught as a young boy by my father…. It is well worth reading, and even more well worth adopting into one’s personal philosophy….
___________________________________

Finding the last Pearl took, seemingly, forever…. well over an hour. But, perseverance paid off, as always…. 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!

Malevolent nannies spotted in Cannes…..

Posted on August 14, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
I lost a day somewhere…. I looked up at my little desk calendar thingie, and noted that the day was wrong…. which always disorients me until I get it right….. I’m also running very late today, and have a bunch of stuff I need to get done toward moving at the end of the month…. meet the new landlord to sign a lease, clean my floors so company coming later in the week won’t puke on sight of it, and a couple other tedious little chores like that….. so I’d best get right to putting this Pearl together…..

Actually, I’ve just now decided to pull an old literary trick out of the hat…. let me check this out…. be right back….. Okay, this will work…. I’m late and in a hurry, and I’ve got over 800 pages of material from the last year here…. so, without further ado, I give you now the Pearl of Virtual Wisdom from January 3, 2012…..

Any Use of This Product, in Any Manner Whatsoever, Will Increase the Amount of Disorder in the Universe. Although No Liability Is Implied Herein, the Consumer Is Warned That This Process Will Ultimately Lead to the Heat Death of the Universe. — PUBLIC NOTICE AS REQUIRED BY LAW

Ffolkes,
I plan on living forever. So far, so good. (It’s a joke, okay? Sheesh…) As of yesterday, however, reaching that goal may become problematic in the relatively near future, especially for those of us who disapprove of the way the government is doing things. They (yes, they…) took away my rights day before yesterday. Yours too. The United States Bill of Rights, comprising the first ten Amendments to the US Constitution, was figuratively vaporized; the rights guaranteed therein were declared null and void by the National Defense Authorization Act, as signed off by the President of the United States, effective January 1, 2012.

Under the provisions of this act, I, and/or essentially every other American citizen (i.e., you…), may legally be taken from their home by the US military, and taken to an undisclosed location to be tortured for whatever information I might possess, merely for being “suspected” of traitorous activities. Which activities are defined as traitorous are not specified; ‘they’ are the only ones to whom it must be justified, they need not report to anyone. Nor are ‘they’ required to tell anyone at all what their suspicions are. No lawyer for the accused, no court of law, no oversight. Just you (or more likely, me), them, and the waterboard. I tell you now, if any of them come for me, I will not go quietly, and that is a plain and simple fact…..let’s go on to more light-hearted matters, shall we?……

“It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.” — Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), U.S. Judge

If the government doesn’t trust us with our guns, why should we trust them with theirs? — Smart Bee (Now, there’s a thought…..)

Ned, draco braz mento; compile 13….command 003: Insert brain, then type…..
___________________________________

“Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man’s task.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxvii

What a wonderfully obtuse little word salad! Epictetus outdid himself here. This takes the mind on a beautifully complex, winding trail of thoughts, stopping here, looking over there, and generally winding about with no seeming purpose. Then, if you can wind your way to the end, it’s all tied together with a cute little bow, and voilá, instant wisdom.

Though its a bit painful to use, this Pearl is one of my favorites. I say painful because you have to exercise mental muscles that don’t often get much of it, and there will be some stiffness and soreness to let you know they don’t appreciate it. You must ignore that, and work them again tomorrow, lest they fall back into apathy, which is easily done; they’re lazy, just like the rest of us. This inherent laziness has its evolutionary purpose; it drives us to find easier ways to do things, and as such can be valuable. But, mostly it just reinforces our genetic tendency to loaf whenever possible…….
___________________________________

I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts.
— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii, Stanza 113

I often feel this way in today’s society. I have all these thoughts running through my head, and when I look around me, I can see that everyone else has their own inner promptings to pay attention to as well. But, when I observe their actions, it becomes clear that what they were thinking, and what was going on in my mind, are two entirely different universes. What did you say was the name of the planet you live on?

It’s a rare day indeed when I encounter anyone whose thoughts run any deeper than wondering what to wear on their date tonight, or how to keep the kids entertained while cooking dinner. I’m not saying that what is going on in my head is any better than what they are considering. Far from it. In fact, in some respects, I am jealous, and wish that I didn’t perceive the evidence all around us that our society is dying.

I wish the leaders of the world weren’t so obviously motivated by avarice, prejudice, and fear. I really do wish I could spend my mental energy on something a bit more comforting. But, I can’t. And I won’t. It’s getting really dangerous out there, folks, for anybody who is the least bit different in their outlook, and I will keep shouting out the warning as long as I have breath to shout….
___________________________________

“Dad, how come old photographs are always black and white? Didn’t they have color film back then?”
“Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs ARE in color. It’s just the WORLD was black and white then.”
“Really?”
“Yep. The world didn’t turn color until sometime in the 1930’s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too.”
“That’s really weird.”
“Well, truth is stranger than fiction.”
“But then why are old PAINTINGS in color?! If the world was black and white, wouldn’t artists have painted it that way?”
“Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane.”
“But… but how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn’t their paints have been shades of gray back then?”
“Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the 30’s.”
“So why didn’t old black and white photos turn color too?”
“Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?” — Calvin and Dad, “Calvin and Hobbes”, 29 October 89

Brilliant! Absolutely, positively, not a damn doubt, ruddy frzlicxz brilliant. If more fathers had the courage to be so creatively honest with their sons, the world would be a far, far different place than it is now, wouldn’t you agree?…….

“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.”– Willie Wonka
___________________________________

“Free people, remember this maxim: We may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.” — Rousseau

I won’t regale you with further long, outrageous reports of today’s menu of political chicanery; there’s plenty enough out there for you to see without having me shove it down your gullet. But these two quotes are important to remember, mainly because, if there is a chance at all to deflect some of the chaos that is coming, it will have to come from us. Those individuals who can think, and do, will need to stand up for our right to do so without censure or threat, and we’ll need all of us to do it. So, please, take heed……

If you wanna be free, keep your eyes open and think for yourself.– Smart Bee
___________________________________

Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment.
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self requires strength.
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Perseverance is a sign of will power.
He who stays where he is endures.
To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.
— Lao-tzu (c604-c531 BC)

Obviously, this requires nothing from me to make it complete. Nor does it request my comments; just as well, I have none, as none are needed…..
___________________________________

Another fine mess I’ve created here, eh? A veritable hodge-podge of mixed metaphors and clever cliches, and colorful to boot! What more could I ask for before breakfast? I suppose I should start cleaning it up….. in the meantime, stay alert. Y’all be careful out there….

___________________________________

In case you are not confused enough by now, this is me again, speaking from the future…. or at least from the present…. it’s only future in relation to the most excellently long Pearl above…. I think it was a pretty good one…. how about y’all?

Tomorrow, I’ll be back, caught up enough to compose a fresh Pearl…. at least, that’s the plan. 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!

Plain as the zit on your face….

Posted on August 13, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
As the sun sets over the western horizon, we bid a fond farewell to another day in paradise….. or would, if a) the sun were setting, instead of rising, and b) we were in paradise….. I guess you can’t have everything. In this case we have nothing, so it would behoove us to try to get serious here….. and we would, if a) we wanted something, and b) gave half a damn…. neither of which is true, so it looks like we’re all out of luck, and ideas, too….

Actually, I’ve got lots of ideas this morning, but most of them are X-rated, and unsuitable for a family blog….. I could send some over to Kyle I guess; he likes to write that sort of stuff…. but he probably wants to use his own, so that’s a wash….. This batch of concepts will just have to go into the scrap pile, as do many, many such useless thoughts of mine….. uh oh, break time…

Okay, I’m back…. Don’t ask…. Once again, picking the material that will best serve to introduce today’s Pearl has become more than a mere search; it is now more of a desperate floundering, and I’m liable to start throwing out all sorts of stuff, just to see if it sticks…. We could write a poem, but we like you all too much. We could stop talking in the royal third person, and take actual responsibility for our words, but it’s so much fun to use the royal “we”, as “Thank you, we are in the pink!” ~~ Lord Peter Wimsey, from Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers….

Or, I could just get on with it, which now seems to be the right thing to do…. shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

“There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable, for in politics there is no honor.” — Benjamin Disraeli

Considering that Mr. Disraeli was a politician himself, this becomes particularly rare; normally politicians won’t reveal their secrets like that, at least not until after the election. But, he’s dead, anyway, so what can he lose? You have to admit, you won’t see Mitt the Twitt, or Lyin’ Ryan admitting to stooping to such tactics… they do it, but they’ll never admit it….. Honesty is not one of Mitt’s strong points, as we’ve already had proven, repeatedly, and often….

It promises to be, if nothing else, a very interesting run-up to the election, now that Romney has used the biggest caliber bullet he could find to shoot his foot this time…. Not one day had passed when he (Romney) was forced to not comment (!!!!) on something his new Veep had said, as his position on that subject was documented elsewhere as in direct opposition to what Ryan had said….

“He’s racist, he’s homophobic, he’s xenophobic, and he’s a sexist. He’s a perfect Republican candidate!” — Commentator Bill Press on Pat Buchanan

Since the advent of the World Wide Web, it has become more difficult for Romney and his ilk, (which includes the Democrats; just because they aren’t as bad doesn’t mean they aren’t lying, too….) to tell their lies without a lot of preparation (otherwise known as “spin”) and denial. Websites such as FactChecker.com post daily reports on the lies that each candidate or politician utters publicly, checking the words against the Truth, as found by research and cross-checking of public records. Exaggerations, misquotes, taking out of context, all the different forms of promoting untruths are now exposed for all to see, if they wish….

Of course, many people don’t WANT to know if they are being lied to; in fact, it often seems to me that the folks who are supporting these idiots (Romney and Ryan in this instance…. the term “idiot” can be applied to almost any politician who opens their mouth..) are deliberately ignoring the truth, for the simple reason that they don’t care… As long as the candidates are white, they want them to get elected, because having a black President is fulfilling their worst nightmares, and making their racism obvious…. Of course, they will claim that they don’t like Obama because of his record, but that generally won’t wash, as much of his record shows that he has actually done them some good, a fact they are completely reluctant to admit….

“How pleasant then to be insane.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

The fact that there are so many racists left in this country is disheartening, but I suppose it’s better to have the issue out in the open, where it can more easily be dealt with in a manner that is dignified; it’s hard to maintain dignity when slinging shit in the dark, a place in which conversations with racists often end up. However, I am still amazed that there are seniors, gays, immigrants, and women who are still supporting the conservative ticket the Republicans have decided to offer the voting public.

These men have made it clear that, if elected, they will send this country back into the middle of the previous century, in terms of societal progress, by eliminating Social Security, Planned Parenthood, making gay and lesbian marriage illegal, and completely eliminating abortion and women’s health rights, as well as curtailing all immigrant’s rights. They have promised to eliminate all of these, but the people who are supporting them seem to be as deeply insane as are their chosen candidates, and are obviously in deep denial….

“You know how dumb the average guy is? Well, by definition, half of them are even dumber than THAT.” — J.R. “Bob” Dobbs (paraphrased from a quote by George Carlin….. everybody plagiarizes sometimes….)

This is obviously a subject that I could rant about for days…. but, there are still over two months until the election, and I should save some energy for the material that I know will be forthcoming on a daily basis…. I think we need some poetry, as a relief from all this curmudgeonry…..
___________________________________

Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer

This is a song to celebrate banks,
Because they are full of money and you go into them and all
you hear is clinks and clanks,
Or maybe a sound like the wind in the trees on the hills,
Which is the rustling of the thousand dollar bills.
Most bankers dwell in marble halls,
Which they get to dwell in because they encourage deposits
and discourage withdrawals,
And particularly because they all observe one rule which woe
betides the banker who fails to heed it,
Which is you must never lend any money to anybody unless
they don’t need it.
I know you, you cautious conservative banks!
If people are worried about their rent it is your duty to deny
them the loan of one nickel, yes, even one copper engraving
of the martyred son of the late Nancy Hanks;
Yes, if they request fifty dollars to pay for a baby you must
look at them like Tarzan looking at an uppity ape in the
jungle,
And tell them what do they think a bank is, anyhow, they had
better go get the money from their wife’s aunt or ungle.
But suppose people come in and they have a million and they
want another million to pile on top of it,
Why, you brim with the milk of human kindness and you
urge them to accept every drop of it,
And you lend them the million so then they have two million
and this gives them the idea that they would be better off
with four,
So they already have two million as security so you have no
hesitation in lending them two more,
And all the vice-presidents nod their heads in rhythm,
And the only question asked is do the borrowers want the
money sent or do they want to take it withm.
Because I think they deserve our appreciation and thanks,
the jackasses who go around saying that health and happi-
ness are everything and money isn’t essential,
Because as soon as they have to borrow some unimportant
money to maintain their health and happiness they starve
to death so they can’t go around any more sneering at good
old money, which is nothing short of providential.

Ogden Nash

Providential indeed…. What better poem to follow a rant about politics, than an ode to Bankers from one of my all time favorite poets….. enjoy!
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Don’t even bother trying to tell me that there is no magic in the world….
    Human diplomats could learn a lot from just watching dogs and cats interact, when given the opportunity…..
    They always seem to come to terms with each other….
    Dogs get along pretty good with people, too….
    In fact, they like people a lot….
    So do cats….
    Sort of…. but, cats like dogs best, as much as they like people, though perhaps not as much as other cats…. it can be close though…..
    Why is it so hard for people to get along with each other, when we have these creatures to provide examples of how to do so? Your guess is as good as mine…..

(All the pictures were found on Facebook….)
___________________________________

Well, that certainly turned into an epic Pearl! And, one with so much effort put into it, that it is going out, no matter how it may or may not live up to my standards, such as they are….. 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!

Abstinence of compassion is considered immoral….

Posted on August 12, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Wasted moments come back to haunt, rattling chains and screaming demons; unrequited dreams of love moan in despair. Yet time passes, and all becomes dust in the end. No pain, no gain, but, the gains are one step forward, three steps back. Silvered memories of golden days shine off in the distance, while the fire of anguish cleanses the soul. No one leaves without singing the blues…

Sometimes, I know what is going to go down when I start typing, other times, such as today, I haven’t a clue, so that what I see on screen is as new to me as it is to you…. not efficient, maybe, but guaranteed fresh. I don’t yet have the patience to stay with one theme for long, probably due to not being able to sit for long without having to move…it’s hard at times to finish one of my more extensive rants, as I tend to lose the driving impetus of outrage when I take a break from writing about whatever it is that affronted me. It’s a delicate line to walk, but hey, like I said above, no pain, no gain…. and I love singing the blues….

Now that you are probably as confused as I am, I think we should go find some pearls…. shall we?….
___________________________________

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country…. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed.” — Former US President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 — letter to Col. William F. Elkins

Uh, oh…. I have a feeling that Abe’s fears have already been realized. The rich have become richer, and even now are making a bid to bring their completely self-centered agenda out into the open, by attempting to put one of the the 1% into the office of the Presidency, supported by a running mate who is a fawning sycophant of the elite, one of their unapologetic myrmidons, who parrots whatever the corporate masters decree with a big smile and a wink, hoping that someday, he, too, will be allowed into the inner circle of the beloved ruling class….

“Our congressmen are the finest body of men money can buy.” — Morey Amsterdam (written for Will Rogers)

If anyone has any remaining doubts about this scenario’s reality, let me point you to a simple set of facts… first, the average man has no representation in Washington, as every Senator in office makes over a million dollars a year; how can they possibly understand the issues important to their constituents, when they live in an entirely different social strata….

Unfortunately, they all send out the message that they are the “champions of the little guy” and know “how the average family feels” (which should set off an alarm right away…. how can they be both at once? They are mutually exclusive societal groups; you can’t be their champion, and be one of them, too….) Members of the House purportedly make less money on average than the Senators, but not by much, and who knows what they are getting from lobbyists?

The three branches of government: lobbyists, media, PAC’s. — Smart Bee

There is the second fact to remember…. more money is spent each year by lobbyists, to bribe and/or influence Congress into voting in their favor, than is spent on ALL domestic programs that aid the populace. The budgets for housing, education, transportation, food and drug administration, Medicare & Medicaid, and all other social programs are dwarfed by what is spent lobbying against them. Even more money is spent to lobby defense and security programs, but those budgets are far larger than they need to be by a factor of at least 10….

Then there is the cost of keeping Congress in perks…. they make a salary reminiscent of a corporate CEO, with medical and pension benefits that make the finest of HMO’s look paltry in comparison. A member of the House, who only serves one term of two years, is retired with a full salary, and full medical benefits for life; same for a Senator who only serves one four year term…. life-long benefits at a yearly rate of income that is larger than over 50% of the people in this country, including those still working. Now, what have any of them done that deserves that?

“The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return.” — Gore Vidal

Aye, indeed, Gore has hit the head of the nail in one sure shot…. Last year, between the federal and state government, I paid about 25% taxes on my income, which is what I’ve had to pay most of my life. If I should work overtime, or make money considered extra to my salary, that rate went up to over 40%….. When I hear about somebody like Mitt the Twitt paying 13%, it pretty much pisses me off about as much as I can be… and that is only the one he let the public see… I’ll bet anything he paid less in other years, and I’ll bet he has more than one year when he didn’t pay any at all…. oh yeah, that’s fair and equitable law, for sure…. NOT!…..

“This is the age in which thin and theoretic minorities can cover and conquer unconscious and untheoretic majorities. — G. K. Chesterton, International League of Nations, 12/20/1919

Don’t forget to get out the vote ffolkes, this time it makes a difference. Not that the Democrats are doing much better, but at least they apologize when they plow into our exposed butts…. and I made that image gross on purpose, because the shafting we get from our government, our beloved ruling class, is an ass-fucking of advanced degree…. Any who, vote, and keep your powder dry….
___________________________________

Below you will find an example of why the powers that be are always trying to suppress free speech, and particularly that of writers and poets…. They, our beloved ruling class, know that such words as these pose the greatest threat to their oppression of the populace… and these are particularly powerful words, worthy of their fear….

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou
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“He who endeavors to serve, to benefit, and improve the world, is like a swimmer, who struggles against a rapid current, in a river lashed into angry waves by the winds. Often they roar over his head, often they beat him back and baffle him. Most men yield to the stress of the current… Only here and there the stout, strong heart and vigorous arms struggle on toward ultimate success.” — Albert Pike (1809-1891)

I like this statement, on several levels…. First, even though it is a bit pompous in its language, the message it delivers is one of great insight into human nature, and manages, in spite of its rather stiff phraseology, to inspire the very actions it describes. Second, it appeals to my old-fashioned views in many areas.

I have no idea who Albert Pike was, but just seeing when he lived, through much of the 19th century, gives us a glimpse of him… He was fortunate to be born at a time when this nation was young, and full of promise, with burgeoning confidence in our nation’s future. In addition, he lived through times that many did not, observing the growth of the country from 13 states to over 40, the Civil War, and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. He seems to have taken a lot of the best qualities he saw in society into his own thoughts, if this one is any indication. Let’s see what Google has to say about Albert….

From http://freedomfighter.co/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=285&Itemid=1

“In 1859, Albert Pike 1809-1891), a lawyer, and leader of the U.S. Scottish Rite Masonry (who was called the “Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry,” the “Prophet of Freemasonry” and the “greatest Freemason of the nineteenth century.”), who was fascinated with the idea of a one-world government, was chosen to coordinate Illuminati activities in the United States. He said they needed to create a political party that would keep the world fighting, until they could bring peace. Pike said it would be done “with tongue and pen, with all our open and secret influences, with the purse, and if need be, with the sword…”

“Pike was born on December 29, 1809, in Boston, went to Harvard, then later served as a Brigadier-General in the Confederate Army. He was appointed by the Confederacy to be the Indian Commissioner in order to create an army of Indian warriors. He became Governor of the Indian territory, and succeeded in creating an army consisting of Chickasaws, Comanches, Creeks, Cherokees, Miamis, Osages, Kansas, and Choctaws. He became known to them as the “faithful pale-face friend and protector.” The savagery of their attacks caused Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy to disband the Indian army. After the Civil War, Pike was found guilty of treason and jailed, only to be pardoned by President Andrew Johnson on April 22, 1866, who met with him the next day at the White House. On June 20, 1867, Scottish Rite officials conferred upon Johnson, the 4th – 32nd degrees, and he later went to Boston to dedicate a Masonic Temple. The only monument to a Confederate general in Washington, D.C. was erected in Pike’s honor, and can be found between the Department of Labor building and the Municipal Building, between 3rd and 4th Streets, on D Street, NW.”

Very interesting man… the web page also listed some correspondence to and from Mr. Pike, and other historical information; it’s worth a few minutes to check it out…..
___________________________________

Well, that was an interesting trip…. I’m done for the day…. 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!

Historically, it’s all a wash…..

Posted on August 11, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
History is being made today. It’s not major history, just minor history…but significant to me. One year ago, on August 11, 2011, I wrote the first Pearl of Virtual Wisdom ever posted on WordPress. I had been publishing them on the social network site at SFGATE, for about 4 to 6 months, (I forget when I started there….), when I heard about WordPress, and came to check it out.

Publishing a blog is as simple as they say it is, and I have enjoyed learning their system, though not as thoroughly as I’d like. But, then, nothing I do is capable of being done as thoroughly as I would like it to be, not anymore. My ever-present back and hip pain makes sure of that…. In spite of this handicap, I have managed to publish a post every day, with numerous occasions of posting more than one, usually when I re-blog someone else’s work…. not bad for an old fart with flat feet and flatulence, eh?

In view of this anniversary, I am very……. wow, surprisingly, relieved is the right word. I guess I wasn’t sure I could write every day, while still keeping it good enough to suit me, and this definitely destroys that fear. Getting it done each day has required some discipline, which I can see is good for staying young when retired. The biggest reason people give up when they get old is they don’t want to make the effort to stay connected to living; it all seems so hard after a while. Writing every day has kept my mind sharp, and gives me plenty of reason to look forward.

As a bonus, interacting with the other WordPress authors gives me human contact, that, given my lack of ability to get around, or go out, has turned out to be extremely important. The people I’ve met on WP have been friendly, supportive, and have definitely kept me entertained, with as many different approaches to life as there are blogs. Every day, on many of the blogs I follow, I find wonderful poetry, beautiful imagery, and quite a few interesting viewpoints. I only wish my physical challenges didn’t make it so hard to spend a lot of time reading those blogs…..

Any who, we’d best get to today’s Pearl; as has previously been proven, I could ramble on here for a long time…. I hope you enjoy today’s effort, it is the anniversary version, and will get my best effort…. Shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

“If the average man is made in God’s image, then such a man as Beethoven or Aristotle is plainly superior to God.” — H. L. Mencken

Ah, curmudgeons….. ya gotta love ’em…. Here is a statement typical of the kind I like to choose for these pearls. Short, succinct in its message, and sure to be, or to generate, controversy, the real meat in a curmudgeon’s diet. For a statement such as this, it is always helpful to point out, for those readers who may disagree vehemently, there is much more tangible evidence of no supernatural beings, than there is for the concept of an omnipotent God….. it gets them going every time…. I am reminded of the quote from Carl Sagan, which has been seen here before, but remains as valid as ever… to wit:

“…Another writer again agreed with all my generalities, but said that as an inveterate skeptic I have closed my mind to the truth. Most notably I have ignored the evidence for an Earth that is six thousand years old. Well, I haven’t ignored it; I considered the purported evidence and *then* rejected it. There is a difference, and this is a difference, we might say, between prejudice and postjudice. Prejudice is making a judgment before you have looked at the facts. Postjudice is making a judgment afterwards. Prejudice is terrible, in the sense that you commit injustices and you make serious mistakes. Postjudice is not terrible. You can’t be perfect of course; you may make mistakes also. But it is permissible to make a judgment after you have examined the evidence. In some circles it is even encouraged.” — Carl Sagan, The Burden of Skepticism, Skeptical Enquirer, Vol. 12, pg. 46

Tongue firmly in cheek, Carl issued a very painful spanking to the faith-based crowd, and did so in a caring, gentle, almost sarcastic way…. I love the little dig at the end; it is an insult, but a very gentle one…. Gentle sarcasm seems to work better with that crowd, which makes sense, as they are often completely unwilling to even listen to the evidence that disproves their beliefs, or at the minimum, puts those beliefs into the “highly unlikely” category. The priestly hierarchies do not encourage independent thought, as those who engage in it usually don’t last long as members of the congregation. To a priest, the perfect believer never questions what they are taught, accepting whatever the authorities say as truth…..

In addition to this area of brainwashing, the priests and preachers show themselves to be in complete collusion with the beloved ruling class, always teaching their constituents to respect authority, and submit…. “render unto Caesar what is Ceasar’s”, you know? Which kind of gives away the whole conspiracy, as we haven’t had any Caesar’s to deal with for over two millennia, yet the saying remains fresh in the language, used all the time.

Between the priestly hierarchies and the beloved ruling class, your average Joe Schmoe never stands a chance…. it is only those whose minds reject such teaching, that do not submit, who are able to put aside the attempted brainwash, and continue to think for themselves…..

Now, in today’s society, we have a new threat to our freedom. The current presumptive candidate for the Republican nomination for President has shown himself to be one of the faith-based crowd, and is firmly on the side of the priestly hierarchies. He sees no danger in this mixing and melding of Church and State, and is completely unaware of his own unsuitability for the office of the Presidency.

It has been said, more than once, by more than one person, that the best sort of President is one who just says what he is told to say, and signs the bills that come before him without examining them at all. His advisers, who could just as easily be called his masters, will tell him what to say, and what to sign. Mitt Romney is just that sort of person…. he is so happy to be counted among the rich and famous that he will literally say and/or do ANYTHING to get elected. He hasn’t a clue as to why, or how he got so far, but he doesn’t believe he did it by cheating, by lying, and by completely giving up his humanity to make money (his real God….)…. but, that is exactly what he did….

So, you decide, ffolkes. Do we want someone in the White House who hasn’t had a creative, or even independent, thought in his head since he was nine years old? Do we want a President who makes his decisions based on Mormon religious principles? Do we want a man in office who has NEVER held a real job, and has absolutely no idea how his whole existence is an insult to the veterans who protect this country, and the people who work so hard to just get by? Do we want a man who tells a lie with every other breath, not just with a straight face, but with no conscience whatsoever? Do we want a puppet of the corporations and bankers in charge of the economy? I can answer NO to all of those questions…. how about you?…..
___________________________________

All Things will Die

All things will die

Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing

Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing

Over the sky.
One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating

Full merrily;
Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All things must die.
Spring will come never more.
O, vanity!
Death waits at the door.
See! our friends are all forsaking
The wine and the merrymaking.
We are call’d–we must go.
Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;
The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.
O, misery!
Hark! death is calling
While I speak to ye,
The jaw is falling,
The red cheek paling,
The strong limbs failing;
Ice with the warm blood mixing;
The eyeballs fixing.
Nine times goes the passing bell:
Ye merry souls, farewell.
The old earth
Had a birth,
As all men know,
Long ago.
And the old earth must die.
So let the warm winds range,
And the blue wave beat the shore;
For even and morn
Ye will never see
Thro’ eternity.
All things were born.
Ye will come never more,
For all things must die.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

And there you have it…. truth in motion…. not particularly uplifting, but true, nonetheless, for that…. Enjoy!
___________________________________

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

gigoid
___________________________________

Well, there you have it; the anniversary issue of gigoid’s Pearls of Virtual Wisdom. It might be a good time to restate the disclaimer….

“Pearls of Virtual Wisdom are not to be confused with real wisdom; gigoid declines any responsibility for any and/or all attempts to use them as such. When it comes to dealing with Consensual Reality, you are on your own…… and that is as it should be.”

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!

Platitudes, coated in platinum…..

Posted on August 10, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Dark, worrisome thoughts chase each other around my brain. My heart trips and stutters, echoing the panic felt in every piece of bone and gristle. Shadowy forms fill the edges of perception, fleeing when I whip my head to see them. My tears flow, unrelieved, filling my head with fluids, and my soul with pain….

Yes, it’s yet another visit from my PTSD, in all its glory. It is now 0150, and I’ve been up, sobbing, for an hour now…. there are times when I come very close to regret, something I swore to never feel, for all my past activities that contributed to how I feel now. Like Albert Einstein said once, “if I had known, I would have become a watchmaker.” Anything would be better than this….

Ah well, since I’m up, and sleep looks like a distant memory for tonight, I may as well go diving for pearls…. When I’m under water, the tears don’t seem like such a big deal…. and who knows? I might find something to help myself feel better…. it wouldn’t take much, believe me, as I feel just about as bad as I can….. Shall we Pearl?….. I think we’d better….
___________________________________

True is suffering; this is true cause;
this is true cessation; this is the true path.

Know the sufferings; give up they causes;
attain the cessation of the suffering; follow the true paths.

Know the sufferings although there is nothing to know;
relinquish the causes of misery although there is nothing to relinquish;
be earnest in cessation although there is nothing to cease;
practice the means of cessation although there is nothing to practice.
— Buddha, The Four Noble Truths

To look at this, one would think that it would be helpful in my current state…. but, y’know what? I could give a shit…. the way my mind is working just now, I look at this, and all I can say is… “BULLSHIT!”

None of this sits lightly on my mind, and would normally sink deep for contemplation. In my current state of mind, though, all I can see is the BS factor; it’s just way too convoluted, and makes the assumption that one is capable of making these types of adjustments to thought patterns.

Well, guess what? I ain’t capable of anything remotely emotionless when I’m in this state… I defy the most advanced yogini or Buddhist to maintain equilibrium under these conditions. Let them face a few days of unrelenting pain, and the mean streets of life when one is poor in money, and see how they do at being serene under those conditions….

I can see now that today’s Pearl is going to end up a bit dark…. I think it’s time for a little poetry…..
___________________________________

A door just opened on a street–
I, lost, was passing by–
An instant’s width of warmth disclosed
And wealth, and company.

The door as sudden shut, and I,
I, lost, was passing by,–
Lost doubly, but by contrast most,
Enlightening misery.

~~ Emily Dickinson

Hmm…. I like it, but it doesn’t do much to relieve the darkness, does it? Ah well, c’est la vie…. we’ll just go on, and do the best we can….

Time passes…..

And our best was just good enough to crawl back into bed at 0345. The PTSD attack seems to be done, but now I am awake again, there is some lingering depression; I can feel it, hanging in the background, just waiting to pounce at the first sign of weakness… In this state, it is much like a predator, hiding in the tall grass, just waiting for me to walk in the wrong direction, and into its waiting jaws. This calls for drastic measures….. Hmm, which shall I use? Bourbon for breakfast? Or a massive injection of humor? Let’s leave it up to Smart Bee, and the first relevant quote I can find will tell me which will work better….
___________________________________

O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies
In the small orb of one particular tear.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Sonnets & other Poetry — A Lover’s Complaint, Line 288

I knew it! I knew if I kept at it long enough, I would find something written by Will Shakespeare that actually makes some sense. And I was right! The above couplet actually does make sense…. not only some sense, but written in an attractive, cohesive manner, in words that all fit together, and point in the same direction. For Will, that is indeed a rare occurrence.

This even has layers of meaning in it, which I’m sure Will didn’t plan; it just came out that way. It does cheer me up a smidgen, though, so it also has that in its favor…. enjoy this little bit of actual writing from mein herr Shakespeare, you won’t see too many like it, no matter how long you search….. I guarantee! (To enjoy the full effect, that last word should be said very loudly, in an Acadian (Cajun) accent…..)

An hour before the worshipp’d sun
Peered forth the golden window of the east.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Romeo and Juliet — Act i, Sc. 1

Look! Look! It’s another one! And just when I thought I was done, this pops up….. I am impressed. Two in one day…. but, then, Romeo and Juliet IS the best work he ever did, so it makes sense that a couplet from its interior would fare better than one from, say, Troilus and Cressida, one of the most impenetrable pieces I ever saw…. Any who, enjoy these while you can, because I already have almost another dozen examples of his normal, terrible stuff saved up for use in the future, when I’m feeling cranky….

“Action is eloquence.” — William Shakespeare

Damn if Smart Bee wasn’t hiding another one…. this one actually could be described as “good”, as well as “deep”….. I’m impressed. But, I must remind you, this is merely three examples of good stuff from Will. I’ve already given at least 10 times as many examples of his normal, terrible stuff, and, at this very moment, have nine examples ready for publication…. the odds aren’t improving much, if these three are the best I can find….
___________________________________

“Here I am in the POSTERIOR OLFACTORY LOBULE but I don’t see CARL SAGAN anywhere!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Ah, Zippy! The true master of language! I genuflect in awe at his many proclamations of intense feeling, and insane, yet haunting, exclamations of joy, nonsensical as they may be. The fact that none of those feelings have anything to do with reality just makes them more charming, to my eye. No matter what he says, it is the kind of statement that makes one think, “Wow. I’ll bet there is a good back story on that!” Well, either that, or, “You lost me again, Zip…..” But, no matter what he says, one must admire him, and his creator, Bill Griffiths, for the unrelenting dedication to absolute chaos and the power of entropy in reality…. Zippy’s adventures are ALWAYS obtuse, and filled with lack of meaning, a real treat to us who are stuck in the real thing….

For those of you out there who would like to enjoy Zippy and his adventures in reality, you might find the following web site to be helpful… it tells how to understand Zippy in Six Easy Lessons…. http://www.zippythepinhead.com/pages/aaaunderstanding.html

I had intended this to be a bonus pearl, having somewhat chopped up the first part due to incipient semi-psychotic behavior, and from a certain viewpoint, it is a bonus. (Remember in Star Wars, when Ben Kenobi tells Luke about his father, he says, “from a certain viewpoint”, to justify his lies to Luke….) Whether the bonus is appreciated, or merely tolerated, is entirely up to you, as always… But, I must ask, before you make your decision, consider the difficulty factor of today’s dive for pearls, hindered and manipulated as it was by my somewhat bedraggled, middle of the night panic attack. Hopefully, that will add a charitable factor to the judging process, and keep the score respectable.

If not, well, then, piss on it…. I’m done here, anyway….
___________________________________

For a treatise that took about seven or eight hours to complete, this has a somewhat unkempt feeling to it, like I didn’t brush my hair, or my teeth, or something. But, it does not matter a whit, as I am NOT going back and starting over. I’ve lost enough sleep today already, and editing would most likely put me right over the edge…. 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!

Mandrake blooms make obscene noises if disturbed…..

Posted on August 9, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Have you seen my mind? It wandered again……SIGH…. I need to get started, so let me know if it shows up….. it probably won’t be missed, anyway…

Such is life for the wicked, as they say. “They” are the bane of my life, seemingly everywhere, the ubiquitous voice of society’s behavioral monitoring system. They talk about the weather, but nothing is ever done about it. They mumble their platitudes about sports, about religion, about politics, about everything under the sun, and none of it ever makes any damn sense…. it’s all just a way to explain why Murphy’s fingers are in everybody’s pies….. and to help keep the rebellious in society frustrated at the mundane nature of society that “they” prefer….

“They” will drive you straight to the crazy house, if you let them, unless, like me, you drive them crazy in return. I try to make a habit of NOT doing whatever “they” say should be done, or at the very least, making sure that they are inundated with my complaints about having to do something so ridiculous….. such as respect authority, or assume that our beloved ruling class is doing right by the people, or that priests are telling the truth…. I am certain and sure that none of those things are true…. I know of no authority in place that has the right of jurisdiction over me. Our beloved ruling class is NOT doing right by the people, and priests do NOT tell the truth…. of course, they believe the nonsense they spout, so it’s hard to convince them that they are doing so…

Hmm, I must be in rant mode….. haven’t even gotten past the intro, and I’m already firing away at the PTB…. it must be the righteous anger I feel at having to move at the end of the month. I wouldn’t have to move, if the economy wasn’t tanking, and THAT is certainly not my fault, or that of my landlord…. That one is all on the shoulders of the banks, and the politicians, so don’t be asking me for any favors for them….. If the economy wasn’t so bad off, I wouldn’t have to move; it is that simple. And it is all because the asshole 1% in this country continues to rape and pillage the rest of us at their whim… It’s enough to make me spend my money on a gun instead of a house to live in….

I believe it would be best if I go on a pearl search now….. if I continue in this vein, my blood pressure will go through the roof…. shall we Pearl?……
___________________________________

Since I have already ranted, I’ll save you from another right away by giving this old school pearl…. These quotations all point in the same direction, and will lead eventually to yet another fine reason to mistrust the beloved ruling class…..

“A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), “The Picture of Dorian Grey”, 1891

Then came the churches,
then came the schools,
then came the lawyers,
then came the rules.
— Mark Knopfler

“People are always talking about tradition, but they forget we have a tradition of a few hundred years of nonsense and stupidity, that
there is a tradition of idiocy, incompetence and crudity.” — Hugo Demartini, in “Contemporary Artists”, 1977

“People are very open-minded about new things — as long as they’re exactly like the old ones.” — Charles F. Kettering

The Government is my shepherd, I shall not work. It maketh me to lie down on good jobs. It leadeth me beside the still factories. It destroyeth my initiative; It leadeth me in the paths of the parasite for politics sake; Yea, though I walk in the valley of Deficit Spending, I will fear no evil, For the Government is with me; its doles and its vote-getters they comfort me. It prepareth an Economic Utopia for me by appropriating the earnings of my grandchildren. It filleth my head with baloney, my inefficiency runneth over; Surely the Government shall care for me all the days of my life And I shall live in a Fool’s Paradise forever. — The Government’s 23rd Psalm

“By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.” — Albert Camus

No matter how you vote, a government still gets elected. — Smart Bee

That should about do it, I think….. if nothing else, one may get a clear picture of how I feel about government…..
___________________________________

In the movie, Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home, Kirk shows off his classical education from Star Fleet Academy when he quotes from the following poem by D.H. Lawrence….. it is well worth reading the entire poem, so….. enjoy!

Whales Weep Not!

They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains
the hottest blood of all, and the wildest, the most urgent.

All the whales in the wider deeps, hot are they, as they urge on and on, and dive beneath the icebergs.
The right whales, the sperm-whales, the hammer-heads, the killers
there they blow, there they blow, hot wild white breath out of the sea!

And they rock, and they rock, through the sensual ageless ages
on the depths of the seven seas,
and through the salt they reel with drunk delight
and in the tropics tremble they with love
and roll with massive, strong desire, like gods.
Then the great bull lies up against his bride
in the blue deep bed of the sea,
as mountain pressing on mountain, in the zest of life:
and out of the inward roaring of the inner red ocean of whale-blood
the long tip reaches strong, intense, like the maelstrom-tip, and comes to rest
in the clasp and the soft, wild clutch of a she-whale’s fathomless body.

And over the bridge of the whale’s strong phallus, linking the wonder of whales
the burning archangels under the sea keep passing, back and forth,
keep passing, archangels of bliss
from him to her, from her to him, great Cherubim
that wait on whales in mid-ocean, suspended in the waves of the sea
great heaven of whales in the waters, old hierarchies.

And enormous mother whales lie dreaming suckling their whale-tender young
and dreaming with strange whale eyes wide open in the waters of the beginning and the end.

And bull-whales gather their women and whale-calves in a ring
when danger threatens, on the surface of the ceaseless flood
and range themselves like great fierce Seraphim facing the threat
encircling their huddled monsters of love.
And all this happens in the sea, in the salt
where God is also love, but without words:
and Aphrodite is the wife of whales
most happy, happy she!

and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin
she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea
she is the female tunny-fish, round and happy among the males
and dense with happy blood, dark rainbow bliss in the sea.

~~D. H. Lawrence
___________________________________

Since I am part Irish, I am allowed to laugh at the characteristics of the culture that I share with the gentlemen in the picture, who are all displaying that wonderful Irish sense of irony in the face of adversity…… plus, the caption just makes me laugh out loud, as we can all see the panic they are trying to conceal…. 🙂

The picture, oddly enough, was found on Craigslist, in a place you wouldn’t believe if I told you…..
___________________________________

I can’t say I think this is the best Pearl ever, but it hits solidly in the middle ranges, so it’s good enough to publish… I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, or do, or whatever…. 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!

gigoid

Ned Moore, aka gigoid, is a 70 year-old, (!!!… When did that happen?….), retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat, most days. His first blog, "gigoid’s folly", has been emailed out to folks he knows for about 18 years now. He still considers it his best defense against angst, and the ever-present specter of sheer insanity..... Due to rigorous curmudgeon training requirements, he has discontinued his Facebook presence, but still indulges in the occasional Twitter session... In essence, he's socialized, but, not overly sociable; all labels and stereotypes are forbidden in his presence... and he doesn't care what anyone thinks about that..... In fact, he doesn't want to talk anymore.... If you feel you MUST contact gigoid, his email address is: alphagigoid@gmail.com You can go read now.... Go on, beat it.... gigoid, the dubious

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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Philosophy

Emerald green tofu makes better ballast…..

The Grand Vizier wishes to be disturbed….

A predictable failure to perpetuate…..

Malevolent nannies spotted in Cannes…..

Plain as the zit on your face….

Abstinence of compassion is considered immoral….

Historically, it’s all a wash…..

Platitudes, coated in platinum…..

Mandrake blooms make obscene noises if disturbed…..

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