NOTHING begins until AFTER coffee….

Posted on May 25, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

As a matter of both policy and custom, the title of these Pearls each day has nothing to do with what is inside; that is a deliberate act on my part, from the early days of Pearling, when I made the decision to not connect the title and text. This decision, of course, gave me license to make up titles out of my head, willy-nilly, without being constrained by the subject matter…. If you watch my titles closely, you will have noted this quality, I’m sure, as they are ALWAYS a bit strange, and (almost) never have anything to do, directly, with the text of the blog…. Oh, once in a Blue Moon, the title will reflect some part of the body subject, but, 99.99% of them are not connected, at all, at all…

Today, of course, is one of the exceptions, at least in the sense that the title makes sense, AND is connected to the material inside… indirectly, but, connected…. Any who, I just wanted to clear that up, as it sometimes will confuse the Gentle Reader, especially the newbies, who are not yet accustomed to the idiosyncrasies that abound on this site… Well, there was that…. plus, it got me this far down the page, without ever suffering any angst, or upset at not having anything to put here…. Bonus!….

Of course, NOW I’m stuck with it, at this painfully awkward point, where I again try to come up with something more than just nonsense to get this started…. Now, I know that nonsense is useful, and is well-used around here, for sure…. but, somehow, it just doesn’t seem appropriate this morning…. I haven’t a clue as to why that may be; it’s not as if nonsense isn’t well-known in this venue. Maybe I’m being too stringent this morning; that has been known to happen, especially before I’ve sucked down enough coffee…. If that were actually the case, though, I probably would have found a body or two on the way to my chair….

I don’t know, ffolkes…. it all seems so futile some mornings…. I write, and write, and spout off about stuff that should be important to many people, yet, nothing changes out in the BBR, not in any significant way…. If I weren’t so damn concerned about the state of the world, and about how long that world is going to last, I wouldn’t be writing at all… I’d be traveling, and making sure I see all those places on this beautiful old planet I’ve always wished to see, before it is all sent down the proverbial tubes by our common stupidity, inflicting upon us the near-certain species extinction we have courted with our ignorance, an event that is now all-but-unavoidable, according to all the evidence….

Well, that was fun…. NOT!

Having thus put myself into a semi-deep depressive state with that mild diatribe, I think I’d better get on with today’s Pearl…. I’m not certain exactly how I got myself to this point so quickly…. I didn’t start out to be so depressive, or feel such a depth of futility…. but, within five paragraphs, I managed to kill any good mood I had going, from having slept fairly well for the third day in a row…. I think, in fact, I’m going to forgo any further attempts to rant, or be serious…. I feel more like having fun today, so, from this point forward, there will be no further ranting allowed…. Instead, we’ll go seek out some fun….. gigoid-style……

That means, of course, that y’all will need to make sure your seat belts are well-secured, and that all of the provided safety devices are deployed (that includes the Kevlar vests, and the emergency stash of Valium included in the first aid kits…. In fact, if I were you, I’d just swallow the Valium now….); we’ve been known to use ALL of them on such days as this… and THAT includes the transgender disguises….

Oh, stop worrying; usually we only need to use about half the included protective devices; it’s not as if we seek out those carnivorous predators…. It’s just that they live nearby, and have learned the signs that we are going to be there, thus giving them ample warning to plan surprises for us….

But, not to worry, nobody has ever died on one of our nonsensical quests for a lightened spirit; it’s come close a few times, but, those were the times we had a replacement pilot, who didn’t know all the ropes…. Also, this is all a load of crap, so, all you really need is your earplugs, to be able to ignore the tour guides spiel when it gets tiring, or actively boring… a state of affairs that this intro is approaching rapidly…. Hmm, maybe we should go for a dive…. In fact, I believe that is becoming imperative….

Shall we Pearl?….

If you want to get the plain truth,
Be not concerned with right and wrong.
The conflict between right and wrong
Is the sickness of the mind.

— Seng-T’san

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Since this Pearl, and these pearls, are dedicated to fun stuff, here is something I found yesterday on a random mouse-click, an interactive web site that is really neat…. and that phrase just gave everyone a big clue as to my age, I’m sure…. Any who, here is a link to the site, so, check it out, and enjoy… then we’ll go into an old-school pearl with parameters set to nonsense, or, funny, or whatever SB thinks might fit in with those concepts….

Really cool website and picture from a project completed by NASA, with the help of the people of the world…. ….. http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/155294

“I resolved no to be offended easily by human nature, but I think I blew it.” — Hobbes

“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.”– George Bernard Shaw

“Puritanism — The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” — H. L. Mencken

(Well, I think it’s funny….)

“Although war is cruel and brutal, it is also dangerous and stupid.” — Yakko Warner

(I know, marginally funny…. but, it stays, because it’s all-too-true…)

Brutha: “What could I say?”
Om: “Believe in the Great God Om.”
Brutha: “And then what?”
Om: “What do you mean, and then what?”
Brutha: “…Believe in the Great God Om or be stricken with thunderbolts.”
Om: “Sounds good to me.”

— How to be a prophet (Terry Pratchett, “Small Gods”)

AND NOW ANOTHER WORD FROM THE PENTAGON: “Oh, and by the way… about those 45,000 body-bags we had shipped to Saudi Arabia. They’re actually going to be used to smuggle booze in to our troops; otherwise we couldn’t get it to them. Honest. We’re not really sure what we’ll carry back in them though. Any ideas?” — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA.

Lister: Love is what separates us from animals.

Rimmer: No, Lister — what separates us from animals is that we don’t use our tongues to clean our own genitals.

— Red Dwarf – ‘Confidence and Paranoia’

Okay, well, that was…. well, that was…. okay, I have no idea what that was…. I thought it was funny, though, so, it will have to do for now…. Let’s go on, & see what happens…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When one wishes for light hearted poetry, Ogden Nash, or Shel Silverstein will always come through for you…. But, I’m going to go with one of my own today, just because I can…. I’ll try to make it as light-hearted as I can…. In fact, I’ll try twice, as one is really short….

Striking Gold

Madness comes and goes, it’s true,
whenever it chooses to do so.
Living’s much like wearing a shoe,
when all you are is a toe.
~~ gigoid ~~

Roses for Noses

I have a bozoid personality, of the first degree;
nobody, I mean nobody, knows that better than me.
I often wonder, as the world goes around, and around
how many others have realized just what I’ve found….

I know for a fact, I’m not the only bozoid one;
too many people laughing out there, having fun.
Is their laughter, though, at themselves first?
Or is it some other impulse, like purple liverwurst?….

I’ve always loved to make others laugh and giggle,
since my tender youth, when my ears began to wiggle.
The world is full of humor, but not always easy to find
so laughing at myself I learned never to mind….

We bozos know each other, here, there, and everywhere
there’s no hiding such joy, it just wouldn’t be fair.
We all have one feature, our great bulbous nose,
and there’s no doubt at all, cuz it just grows….

There’s nothing like a good, big mistake, a disaster,
to show us the folly of living life faster and faster.
Nothing in the world can ever take the place,
of seeing in the mirror, a happy, smiling face….

Don’t be shy, just let it all hang out;
we bozos have more fun, there’s no doubt.
Life’s too somber and gray if we let it get on top
if we don’t stay loose, the pain won’t ever stop….

My advice to all of you, out there in the world,
let noses grow round & red, keep hair tightly curled.
Find a way to let your spirit out often to play,
you’ll never once regret any price you pay.

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found this the other day, and put it here…. without any clue it would be perfectly appropriate for the day’s theme… (which is because I don’t generally have a theme….)…. Any who, it fits right in, so, it can stay, too…. By the date, this was written just before leaving on our trip to Alaska, so, I must have been in a pretty good mood, if a bit hyper…. not an unusual state for me, at least, not in my head….

From 6/28/2013:

I confess to feeling too hyped to write…. I have a lot in there that wants to come out, but, a bigger part of me just wants to dance, or fall asleep to pass the time until we leave, tomorrow in the early afternoon….. So, I’ll cheat again, and dip into the archives…. This is a short little piece I wrote the day before Halloween in 2011, as part of a pearl created using a really old format, one that encouraged ranting a bit too much…. History aside, I like this one, just because, and it’s a good one to finish with on a day like today…..

_____________________________

“His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools: the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans – and summed up all three of them in his famous phrase, ‘You can’t trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there’s nothing you can do about it, so let’s have a drink.'” — Terry Pratchett, ‘Small Gods’

Laughter is probably my favorite part of Life; I can’t think of a single time in my life when laughter was unwelcome. Conversely, I can think of any number of times when it was not only welcome, but life-saving, or at the very least life-preserving. In its way, it also affirms life; it lets you know that you are alive, and that life is good.

The sound of a child’s laughter can bring a smile to the grimmest curmudgeon, and the laughter of a beautiful woman can be either joyous, or cruel. Laughing is our best defense against the tyranny of repressive thought; it can bring a tyrant to his knees, for tyranny lives in fear of ridicule. Laughter cannot cure pain, but can ease it, and make it more bearable.

In its way, laughter prolongs life, actually reversing many of the effects of time. When laughter is in our lives, everything is more colorful; vision, hearing, touch, smell, all are more acute when under its influence. And, when it is long absent, the world turns dreary, washed of all color. Without laughter, our lives become drudgery, merely a time to survive, in silence and despair.

The Universe is one huge joke, and the punch line has yet to come. We can spend our lives in black and white, trudging along the dusty road of Time with head hanging down and steps heavy as sorrow. Or, we can look for the brighter side of Life, and laugh at ourselves and everything around us, marching ahead with eyes up and seeking new vistas, hopeful for the dawn of each new day.

Your choice…..

“Excuse me, but didn’t I tell you there’s NO HOPE for the survival of OFFSET PRINTING?” — Zippy the Pinhead

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m not sure what to think about this one; it FEELS as if it got away from me, but, it LOOKS okay…. Maybe I’ll read it, to see how it came through the ordeal…. Be back in a few….

Okay, so, it must be okay, because I’ve read it, and STILL don’t have a clue as to its value, or even its nature…. which makes it completely typical…. That, of course, means I’m outta here, having done all the damage I can do for one day…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Sifting metadata for tidbits of information…. priceless….

Posted on May 24, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Well, this is strange…. For the second day in a row, I slept well, for almost eight straight hours, and woke up feeling a feeling I had not felt in a very long time…. I felt good. No major pain to speak of, no major stiffness, just a normal drowsiness while throwing off the effects of sleep. Coffee’s already on, and I’m sitting here, as ready as I ever am, to dive into another Pearl…. Now all I need to do is find an intro somewhere in the vast, empty reaches of my mind….

For an opening paragraph, that one doesn’t suck…. It doesn’t really impress me all that much with brilliance, but, hey, not sucking is good, it’s okay, right? And, boy, do I sound pathetically codependent, or what? (If I hear ANYONE say “what”, I’ll cry, so, please refrain for the moment…. it’s a cheap laugh anyway….) I suppose I could have found a bit more compelling secondary opening line, but, to be honest, I thought the ‘doesn’t suck’ part to be pretty cool… I smiled when I wrote it, so irony or no irony, it stays, and y’all can go to hell…

Just kidding; if y’all took off for the nether regions, who’d read the Pearl? I’m just thrashing about in random turns, trying to land on a spot from which I can actually get a grip on this…. I’m not sure if it is going to happen, but, if I keep looking, at least I’ll have an excuse when the boss gets here…. Oh, wait, no boss…. Sorry, sometimes I forget I’m retired…. I sit here composing a Pearl, which I did each day for the last five years I worked, and I can slip backwards in time, & believe myself to be sitting in the E.D.’s office at NSH, putting the daily Pearl together, before anyone else arrives…. It’s weird, but comforting…

I know, I’m weird, too…. But, you see, that’s one of the selling points I use when I actually do make a sale on one of these….. Of course, nobody has ever bought one, but, I’ve been trying so long, and the fantasy of actually selling one has been dreamed so many times, it almost seems real…. SIGH…. Someday, somebody will pay me to do this, and my life will be complete….

Until then, though, it would probably be best if I stopped spouting sheer nonsense, just so I can fill up space in an introduction that, once again, has gone terribly wrong…. No organization, no logic, and almost no humor, though not without a large number of attempts…. sad, sad, sad….

Oh well, it DID get me this far down the page, so, I’m going to invoke the subsidiary emergency clause, and declare this a legal, if odd, introduction, and get on with the rest of today’s effort…. It will be for the best, I’m sure, since THIS can go nowhere interesting, or important…. not from here, anyway…. Maybe from over there….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Think hard now! Which one is Shinola?” — Smart Bee, tongue firmly in cheek….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don’t about y’all, but, I about busted a gut, and literally almost fell out of my chair laughing when I saw the pearl above, that closes the intro…. I haven’t heard that expression in damn near thirty years, and it was so perfectly apt as a closing pearl for that section, it made it even funnier…. Whew! My tummy is all stiff and trembling, from the almost four minutes of hard laughter…. It may be hard to start to rant now, but, I think the following links should bring me right back into that mode…. Please read these, so you will catch any references in the comments I’ve included….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/nsa-reform-bill-usa-freedom-act-passes-house?CMP=ema_565

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/pentagon-report-snowden-leaks-national-security?CMP=ema_565

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/22/pentagon-report-snowden-grave-threat-overblown?CMP=ema_565

Okay, so we have two separate issues here… actually three, and it is the third I wish to rant on the worst…. We’ll take them one at a time….

First, as to the so-called “reform” bill passed in the House, it seems to be merely a sop to the public, more than any real reform. It doesn’t make any real changes to the way the NSA collects data; it makes only superficial changes to how the data is handled once stolen, er, collected…. And, none of it addressed the real issue, of how illegal, and immoral it is to spy on one’s own citizens…. The entire subject is one that irks me like a burr under a saddle irks a horse; it’s a constant irritation, all because the administration refuses to acknowledge the illegal nature of the process at all, and the public is allowing them to do that without any reaction… they’re just watching in resignation…

Second, we have two views of the same issue, to wit: the Snowden revelations, and the effect it has had on the American Unintelligence programs…. Sorry, just can’t use the word Intelligence to describe people who don’t show any…. Any who, these articles show, first, just how badly the government feels the need to lie, when the pentagon issues a whine, er, report, that doesn’t even address the actual effects of the information that Snowden took, but looks instead at what MIGHT happen, IF he took certain things, but, they don’t know for sure exactly WHAT he took, so it’s all a guess, anyway….

The third article is an opinion column, by a British columnist, explaining how the Pentagon report is, well, useless as a means of transmitting any actual information… It’s merely a long, detailed (with information that doesn’t apply to the issue) WHINE by the idiots who want to keep all they do out of the public eye, and are upset because this American Hero, Eric Snowden, was brave enough to stand up to the entire US government to bring the truth to the public…. If he DOESN’T win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, there is no justice in the world anymore…

Wow, almost forgot the third issue, which is this: I found these articles in a news outlet from the UK, (that’s Great Britain, to the geographically challenged). When I looked in the US news sites, I found ONE report, a video report by the Bloomberg network, a relatively new internet news outlet…. None of the US papers or outlets had anything on either of these two stories….

Now, why do you think that is? A lot of very disturbing reasons come to my mind, but, I’m a cynic… what do y’all think? I am certain, whatever the reason, it can’t be any good news for the American public, as any reason to NOT discuss it can only mean the spread of more ignorance among the unwashed masses of Americans, who already operate in an informational blackout, what with their ingrained preference for lies, delusions, and whatever nonsensical crap they are fed by anyone on TV with a nice smile, a blue suit, with a white shirt, a red tie, and a flag pin on their lapel….

I could rant on this for a very long time, but, good as I feel today, it’s not that simple, or easy… Plus, rather than take the chance of boring some of my less politically minded readers, I’ll switch this pearl in mid-stream, going old-school…. Here, then, is a five-star pearl, with parameters set to give us some pearlish comments on these issues, and the base issue, the corruption and fall of western civilization as we know it….

“I’m glad you asked me that. This gives me the perfect opportunity to talk about the problems with this Congress…” — Vice President Dan Quayle responding to reporter’s — questions about his use of Air force 2 to — go on golf trips at the cost of $26,000/hour

“When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see persons of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.” — Confucius

“Following the Noble Path is like entering a dark room with a light in the hand; the darkness will all be cleared away, and the room will be filled with light.” — Buddha

“One lie does not cost you one truth, but the truth.” — Friedrich Hebbel

“If it weren’t for politicians, who would fashion disorder out of chaos?” — Smart Bee

I love it when a ~~plot~~ plan comes together….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One more time, I’m using my own poetry, for the simplest of reasons, to wit: if I do, nobody else can get blamed for this…. Besides, it’s all of a kind, today, poking at those assholes in Washington D.C., who keep themselves busy trying to fulfill the paranoid delusions under which they suffer….

Terror at Constitution Hall

Standing quiet, waiting on hope’s bright wing,
a stranger heralds the gift of Time.
Lyrical, spherical melodies we sing,
yet with silence, as a mime.
If fortune favors the bold and free,
truth may be spoken with courage unveiled.
But fortune oft is capricious and cruel,
and truth is naught but cold, with freedom failed.
Humanity has rights, ’tis often said,
if courage and truth can prevail.
If fear and ignorance are the diet we’re fed,
Life without liberty will be the end to this tale.

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having used up both my rant and my old-school pearl in section one, I’m going into the archives again to fill in this last section…. It’s about time to go over one of our only remaining rights, to make sure everyone knows the importance of protecting it as long as we can…. I forget exactly how long ago I wrote this, but, no doubt, there is a clue somewhere in the text to locate us in time… If not, well, it’s as valid today as it was two or three years ago, when it first appeared…. Enjoy, ffolkes, and, please, remember to put on your thinking caps….

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” — James Madison

I found this yesterday; I’d seen it before, and it seemed serendipitous that it showed up just in time for the event today (psst!…. go vote!….). (Aha! I told you…. so, this was written on election day in 2012….) In my mind, a good standard for figuring out if a person is a true patriot is to get their take on the Second Amendment, and the idea of gun control by the government. As I’ve stated before, I believe the risk of letting the government restrict our rights in this regard, IN ANY WAY, can only lead to the eventual loss of the right altogether, and that is an event that is completely unacceptable to me.

Yes, it means that the world will be a dangerous place, but, guess what, ffolkes? That is something that happened a long time before guns. Taking them away from the general populace is not going to stop mass killings, or unjust, insane use of guns against innocent people. That occurs on a daily basis, anyway, but with the guns in the hands of police officers; that is a fact…. So, don’t tell me that the government is more qualified to use guns than I am, because that is just stupid….

Now that I’ve insulted many of you, we’ll try to go on to the election…. didn’t mean to get off into a rant on that, but, wanted to get it out of the way, so that the discussion may go on to other ways that the government is, quite simply, fucking us left and right…. George Carlin had a lot of good points about the corporate masters and their lackeys, the beloved ruling classes, and the priestly hierarchies. He often pointed out that the world has turned into a massive corporate conglomerate, with all the world governments at the mercy of those few individuals who actually control all the resources, and money. Those are people you never hear about, or see in the news, unless it is by intent…. they don’t allow accidents like that to happen….. But rest assured, they exist, and are perfectly content to let the world believe whatever it wants, as long as their profits, their power, and their control over others continues to grow….

“The rifle and handgun are “equalizers” – the weapons of a democracy. Tanks and bombers represent dictatorship.” — Edward Abbey

But, the invisible rulers don’t like the Second Amendment…. it leaves too much chance for independence in the hands of the people, and in case the people ever find out what they have been up to, they want to be able to know where all the guns are that might threaten them…. Having the general populace of this country continue to have access to any significant firepower is not in their best interests, so they work behind the scenes to get people to believe the nonsense about gun control, and how keeping guns from the hands of the citizenry will make life safer…. which is just so much bullshit, plain and simple. Ultimately, the only real effect of making guns illegal will be to make a large percentage of the American people outlaws, because I don’t think any of us will give them up without resistance, whether overt, or covert….

“The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.” — A. E. Van Vogt, The Weapon Shops, — in Astounding Science Fiction, December 1942

How, you may ask, does this relate to the election? Well, it doesn’t, directly…. it’s just a pet peeve of mine, and an example of another of our basic rights that are being eroded by politicians, preachers, and those who ignorantly buy into their lies. I don’t trust the Democrats any more than I do the Republicans; perhaps even less, because the Republicans seem to be far more open about their lack of concern with the rights of the people. In that sense, they are easier to spot, and to resist. The Dems are being more subtle, but that doesn’t make them trustworthy; they do, after all, seek that power over others as well. There just seem to be more of them who are motivated to do so out of some community feeling, and concern for others, and those are trying to encompass reforms that are sorely needed.

“A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation.” — James Clarke

The difference between the two parties that have the only chance at the seats of power is extreme in this election; very seldom has the choice that needs to be made been clearer (even though it continues to be a choice between the lesser of two evils….). One can choose to move forward into a future with a chance for some change, or one can try to return society to the middle ages, with all of its injustice, and misery. It is that simple, and anyone who wishes to argue with that is welcome to present their views…. I’ll knock them down easily, with headlines from the daily news that, although not exactly unbiased or always true, are nonetheless balanced out by the outrageousness of each side’s contributions.

“Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.” — H.L. Mencken

The facts are all our there to see, and they clearly show one candidate whose only interest is in increasing his own power and wealth, and protecting his cronies on Wall Street, his cultish church, and the ruling class; he cares noting about the common man, and makes his disdain obvious. The other is, well, definitely the lesser of two evils…. on the apparent surface he is a dedicated, honest man, seeking reform and change, but, there are indications of less than stellar activity in his administration, too.

But, he obviously cares about the common man much more than his opponent, and since the common man is the one who will be affected the most by what happens this time, the choice is clear. If you don’t want to have to take up regular use of Vaseline and Preparation H, then vote the incumbent…. If you really want to get a good screwing in the nether regions, then vote the opposition…. it is that simple ffolkes….

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

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Well, it’s long, it’s complicated, and it might make someone think about something other than their oatmeal…. I’ll take it. All those qualifications make for what I consider an excellent Pearl, no matter what anyone else may believe…. Deal….. (Just kidding…. there’s a bit of humor in all of this, in spots, so, it’s not ALL heavy and depressing…. only most of it….. Oh, well, tomorrow’s another day, and I’ll be here, to try again…. See ya, ffolkes, from just another ffoole on the hill….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Decorated with marzipan fleurettes…..

Posted on May 23, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Yesterday, I was struck by an idea…. Well, actually, it was a fairly tall, agitated Armenian street vendor who struck me, but, it made me think of something, so, considering that he caused me no damage (which, sad to say, he cannot say of me…. I DID respond to his attentions in kind, with a greater degree of efficiency than he showed, to his regret….), I’m ignoring his part in the formation of the concept that came to me….

All of which is a long-winded way to bring out the idea that came to me, after dealing with the minor annoyance…. and, I still don’t know why he got mad…. unless it’s an Armenian insult to wear plaid….

I mean, it WAS a rather loud plaid, but, that’s not usually enough to bother most ffolkes, even in today’s insane world…. Or, it could have been the way his eyes were rotating in their sockets in opposite directions…. When I noticed that, I figured he might be somewhat less than fully cognizant of reality, which is why I was prepared when his fist came flying out of nowhere….

It only grazed my shoulder, having been easily misdirected with a backhand block, followed by ippon seoi nage, the classic Judo technique, a hip-throw, which puts the opponent right on his back, with enough force to guarantee he was no longer interested in hurting me…. Instead he was probably thinking to himself, “What the fuck have I gotten myself into now, and how do I keep him from hurting ME?”

Okay, that’s all…. I can’t do this any more…. All of the above, as might be suspected, is a load of BS, a complete fabrication, only there because I couldn’t think of a damn thing else to write…. There was no angry Armenian, and no ‘ippon seoi nage’, which IS a hip-throw I learned in Judo, many years ago, but, it’s also one I haven’t used in twenty years or more, having grown out of bar altercations, and given up working in violent jobs….

None of what I wrote in either of the first paragraphs was drawn from reality; it’s all straight out of my tortured head, and, upon reflection, not very good…. I was trying to make it light, and maybe even funny, but, for some reason, just couldn’t quite get there….. SIGH, oh well, I tried, and I’m well aware that not everything I write will be good….

I just wish SOMETHING would come out the way I want it…. ANYTHING….. Ah well, no worries…. the Universe hates us all, and shits on us regularly…. What makes a difference is the way we deal with that…. for the moment, I’m going to go wash off some of this smelly stuff, then come back, and finish putting together this morning’s effort…. I helped myself out by doing a bit of it yesterday, so, it shouldn’t take long, and I think I can keep the blood loss to a minimum….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Socrates was in the right to insinuate, in his elegant Greek expression, that what is got over the Devil’s back is spent under his belly.” — Alain Rene Le Sage (1668-1747) — Gil Blas, Book viii, Chap. ix

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“It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Cleveland Press, 3/1/21

I was planning to rant here this morning, but, for some reason, the urge has passed, or gone into hiding for the moment, so, we’ll go with this, instead…. Here’s a picture, of some lovely young people, graduating from the Coast Guard Academy (wherever that may be…. Oh, right, Connecticut…), complete with the caption I found with it, giving attribution, as well as a very, very ominous piece of information, that, were it not for my sharp eye and suspicious nature, would have passed me, and everyone else, right by (as it was no doubt intended to do….)…. Here, look at this…. the caption is right underneath….

Caps are tossed into the air as newly commissioned Coast Guard ensigns divest themselves of all symbols of cadet life at the conclusion of their commencement exercises at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Wednesday, May 21, 2014, in New London, Conn. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who assumed command of the coast guard during a ceremony at the start of the exercises, delivered the commencement address to the cadets. (AP Photo/The Day, Sean D. Elliot) MANDATORY CREDIT.

Very uplifting, yes? Well, it might be, were it not for this little snippet, added in as apparent afterthought…. to wit: “Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who assumed command of the coast guard during a ceremony at the start of the exercises” ….. !!!!!

Does it bother anyone else that the new Department of Homeland Security now has it’s own military force, with the Secretary of the Department as its commander? Well, it bothers me, a lot….. and, I guess I AM going to rant….

This new department, of Homeland Security (What a crock! Even the name is blatant pandering to paranoia…. Very Goebbels-like…. You remember Goebbels, don’t you? The Nazi military genius, responsible for creating and running the SS?) which our beloved leaders foisted upon us after the hullabaloo on 9/11/2001, already has the force of executive privilege behind it, as part of the government that was never included as even an imaginary part of the original Constitution.

By executive privilege, I mean that the power of Executive Orders (not the law, just the president’s idea of how things should be….) already allows them to spy on, arrest, and lie to the American public, all without any judicial, congressional or public/private oversight… Why do they need their own navy/army/military police force?

Could it be that they foresee a need to police the public? Do they see a need, or future plan, to use the threat of force, or actual force, to control or intimidate the people of their own country, to force compliance with any new ~~oppressive, illegal~~ regulations they plan to issue? Or, are they just setting themselves up for the future, when they will be the equivalent of Hitler’s SS, running around the US digging out terrorists (translation; private citizens of this country, who refuse to engage in their paranoid delusional behavior….), and making them disappear into one of the detention centers they already have in place around the country….

Now, some people might think the above paragraphs indicate some paranoia on MY part…. but, I’ve had a LOT of experience dealing with paranoiacs in my time, and I can honestly, and professionally say, none of what is in the above paragraphs meets the criteria for paranoid delusional material….

You see, for any of the above to be a delusion, by definition, there must be NO basis for the belief in reality…. whereas, I can easily point out very real evidence of every accusation I made…. They ARE arresting people, and locking them away, without any oversight…. and if you don’t believe that, well, you are definitely bordering on delusional belief, because, ffolkes, these assholes are already doing most of what they are denying they do….

If you don’t believe me, how do you explain the Snowden papers? For more than ten years the NSA has been spying on its own countrymen, and the administration STILL has the gall to deny it; they are doing everything in their power to hide that process from the public eye, lying through their teeth at every turn, and generally acting exactly like the people they say we should be afraid of…. Guess what? I’m afraid, but it isn’t fear of terrorists…. it is fear of my own government, which has been stolen by the forces of darkness, the same forces that own and control all the other governments in the world…..

Now, in addition to the cyber spying going on by the government’s pet hackers at the NSA, as well as having the services of agencies such as the FBI, and the CIA, and the other federal agencies that deal with security, the NSA has a completely established, nation-wide military service at their command…. What the hell are they going to do with them? And don’t try to tell me they will ONLY be used to patrol our borders…. Please, don’t insult my intelligence, as they are doing to the public….

Step by step, the forces of the corporate snakeheads who control the governments of the world are solidifying their power base, right under the noses of the people they wish to control…. To be honest? They already have all the controls they need; this is all merely a process of maintaining that control, by extending it into every walk of life….

Ffolkes, none of what I’ve said is arguable; it’s all based on what can be seen right out there in the public eye…. Maybe I look at it all with a bit more clarity, and more skepticism than some, but, I don’t think I’m unique, by any means…. All I can say at this point is, stay alert, and keep your powder dry….

So be it…. gigoid has spoken….

“It is the duty of all persons, when affairs are the most prosperous, then in especial to reflect within themselves in what way they are to endure adversity. ” — Publius Terentius Afer (195/185–159 BC), more commonly referred to as Terence, Phormio, Act II, scene 1, line 11 (241).

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Over the past few days I’ve had a lot of pain, some of which I’ve shared with my Gentle Readers; some might say it’s TMI, and they’d no doubt be correct…. but, no longer…. I’m here to say, now, I will NOT allow it to rule my life, not for another single day…. or multiples, either….

I’m tired of being so focused on bad stuff, that I forget about all the good stuff in life there is to see and do…. So, I’m going to do my best to put it on a back burner, where it belongs…. This is an older poem, from April of 2013, on the subject that has plagued me this past week, from which I can gain some small perspective, I think, and hopefully, you can gain a moment’s enjoyment….

Momentary Terror

Absently casual, memories pester endlessly
leaving only bleeding remnants, amiable and loving.
Coming awake, I cry to still the pain, shamelessly.

Elsewhen, time gives surcease, if only to live,
shoring broken pilings, worn and gray.
Passing on, I laugh at the pain, accept all it will give.

Time will build a shelter, warm and ever safe
save for Fate’s busy hands.
Enduring, I follow the pain, knowing it will chafe.

Fixed against a darkened sky of starry black
such beauty brings us to our knees.
Entranced, I welcome the pain, ’tis all I lack…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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Possibly the best old school pearl I’ve done…. ever…. From 4/22/2013:

So, there I was, cruising around Smart Bee, looking for pearls, when it occurred to me, I was engaged in a futile pastime, from the standpoint of the Universe…. I mean, what do I hope to accomplish with this stuff I write?…. Nobody’s mind will be changed, nobody will stop the carbon monoxide from getting pumped into the air, nobody is going to get mad enough to throw out all the assholes who are screwing us all….

This makes what I’m doing an exercise in mental masturbation, essentially, with as much hope of changing society as….. well, there is no hope for society, so I can’t think of a metaphor for it…. Nor is there much hope of anybody taking any of this seriously, even if read…

Having thus determined the absolute uselessness of our pastime, I shall, nonetheless, continue, fully cognizant of how lame it is…. I’m calling this a Pearl of Forlorn Lost Hope….

Actually, it’s a subliminal pearl, and will worm its way into your head, where it will work on your attitudes, polishing and brightening them without you ever noticing…. By late this afternoon, you will have done a complete 180 from wherever you were, and will enjoy the rest of the day (that’s a subliminal post-hypnotic suggestion….) Enjoy…..

“Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that’s too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.” — Julian Barnes

“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“But whether there’s some grand design really matters little to me. My only hope was this: to see what might be, to believe that it should be, and then to do all I could to bring it to pass, whatever the cost. When a life spins out as joyfully as mine has done, then the price, once paid so painfully, is now recalled in gladness. I have received full value. Here among the shepherds, my cup is filled with the water of life; it overflows.” — Orson Scott Card, “Treason”

But sure the eye of time beholds no name
So blest as thine in all the rolls of fame.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xi, Line 591

” It is now some years since I detected how many were the false beliefs that I had believed to be true since my earliest youth. And since that time, I have been convinced that I must once and for all seriously try to rid myself of all the opinions which I had formerly accepted, and begin to build anew, if I wanted to establish any firm and permanent structure for my beliefs.” — Rene Descartes, Meditations

The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed.

— Charlotte Bronte

“There is no cure for birth and death other than to enjoy the interval.” — George Santayana (1863-1952)

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Today’s Pearl is done, thank goodness…. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get it done today, but, my decision to put aside the issue that I’ve been fighting has been of good use, so, I’m content, for the nonce…. That said, superfluously, I’m sure, I’m outta here…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Don’t push that envelope; stick a stamp on & mail it….

Posted on May 22, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

It took a while, but, I finally figured out a way to defeat the lack of creativity with which I awoke today….. It’s a busy day, with early appointments and lots of activity going on, so it’s not a good day for my head to take a break…. but, it doesn’t care about any of that, and has issued enough evidence to let me know it isn’t going to do any REAL work today…. So, I’m filling in from the archives today, shamelessly, as I found some good stuff, which will work for this Pearl nicely….

I’m so happy with what I’ve found, which is going to keep me from having to strain myself to come up with new material, I’m not even going to blather here in the intro any more than is necessary to get us on down the page a ways, so I can cut and paste the chosen archived material to my heart’s content…..

Some out there might think I’m being lazy, but, given the way I’ve felt for the last week or so, pain-wise, y’all are free to think anything you want; I simply don’t give a rat’s ass, and will do what I want anyway….. I’m not very likable sometimes, I suppose, when I’ve been in pain for several days…. and can’t bring meself to care much at all, at all…. I’m sure you’ll understand, and if not, oh well….

Hmm…. I hope I didn’t drive anyone off with that sort of curmudgeonry; if so, well, so much for honesty, eh? S’alright, I’m good with solitude, as long as I know I have been truthful, and not deliberately cruel…. I mean, I AM an American, and we can be real assholes, given half a chance, right? That is certainly our reputation over much of the rest of the world, a reputation that has been, I’m afraid, well-earned, though not by the average American…. No, our rep around the world is based strictly on what the assholes in our government do in their international relations, which is, mostly, bomb the shit out of little brown people….

Oops! Almost started in on the BRC there, and it won’t be necessary today, and certainly isn’t needed in the intro, much as it may fit in there sometimes…. Today, we’re looking for something a bit more rational, and, by golly, I think we’ve got what we need right here, right now… which is a damn good thing, as my wrists and fingers are beginning to become painful enough to cause some serious difficulties typing…. Thank goodness this is now legal…. even if not what could be called “good”…..

Shall we Pearl? Yes, yes, we shall…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had intended to put something else here, but, I found this while looking for the one I’d chosen…. It’s equally appropriate, and more on point than the other, so, you get this, instead…. This diatribe was first included in the Pearl posted on 6/16/13:

“Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” — William Pitt (1759-1806) speech on the India Bill, Nov. 18, 1783

I had not intended to start with a political rant, but this just came up, so here we go…. This is as true today as it was in 1783, perhaps even more so. Since 9/11/01, when those fanatic idiots carried out their insane delusions of grandeur on the world stage, the “necessity” for Homeland Security has been the watchword of the political pundits who, unfortunately, are in charge of the legislative and executive branches of our government. Bill after bill after bill keeps coming down the pike, bulling their way through into becoming law, or even worse, created by executive order, without the benefit of review by Congress, useless as that may be.

The entire incident that happened that day was blown completely out of proportion by the media. Yes, it was a terrible tragedy, in which something over 3000 American lives were lost, in three separate incidents. The videos of those planes hitting the buildings in New York must have been replayed a thousand times before noon, all over the country, until every American who had access to a TV was informed of what had occurred….

The American media, and the political machinery that manipulates it so effectively, then proceeded to flood every channel with the after-effects, making sure that the sorrow and fear of every person they could find willing to speak of it on camera was put on the evening news, and ensuring that no rational, dispassionate examination of the events would take place. Before the first day had passed, the national reaction had been whipped to a frenzy, stirring the fears of every paranoid in society, and making it seem as if the entire nation was filled with anger and vengeful righteousness. Though I didn’t join in the paranoia, I could feel it happening all around me, as normally intelligent people became so angry they lost all sense of proportion, or for that matter, all sense of truth.

In the ensuing years, whenever the politicians have wanted to distract the nation from what they were actually doing, all they have needed to do was mention the word terrorism, or national security, to immediately put attention off of them, and onto the pitiful group of fanatical Muslims they blamed for the attacks (completely ignoring all the reasons those same politicians had provided those fanatics in the first place, with the justifiable reasons that were, in truth, actually designed just for that purpose, to stimulate an attack….). And thus, the Hunt for Osama bin Laden was on!

In this country, as a result of those attacks, approximately 5000 American lives were lost (that figure is larger than the actual number, purposely…. it is near enough to correct to make the point…). At this time, in the quest to find Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, over 50,000 Afghani civilians have been killed. In Iraq, which we somehow decided to invade, even though they had nothing to do with 9/11, well over 250,000 civilians have died to soothe our national pride.

In that same period, we lost another 1000 or so soldiers in fighting and bombings, not counting those allies we convinced to support us in our insane paranoia. And, as a side effect, the US Bill of Rights has been effectively eliminated, by Executive Order, disguised as Homeland Security (June, 2013 — Now, the abrogation of those rights are authorized by what is so laughingly called the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012…. signed by President Obama on New Year’s Eve of 2011, while everyone was partying, not paying any attention to their so-called “rights”…..).

“Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated” — George Bernard Shaw

So, what is my point here? My point is this…. those pathetic fanatics killed more Americans than they had ever been able to kill before, once…. yep, one time. Since that one time, our country has killed over 300,000 civilians in retaliation; you can call it what you like, I call it schoolyard revenge by bullies. It has caused every politician in this country to wrap themselves in the flag, not to proclaim their patriotism, but to manipulate the unreasonable fear they created in the public to keep them from realizing the truth of the matter.

That truth is this: we are in no real danger from Al Qaeda, or Qaida, or whatever, or from any other splinter faction terrorist group, nor have we ever been in any real danger from any of them. They may be able to pull off stunts such as this one occasionally, but for the most part, the world has gotten pretty good at either catching them in hiding, or stopping their plots before they actually carry them out. Governments have a LOT more resources than terrorists, no matter how rich they may be personally.

No, the pathetic, desperate people who become terrorists are created by those same political pundits who are reviling them and hunting them down. They are not a real threat to anyone, as they don’t have the wherewithal to perform more than one act of violence at a time; they cannot wage a war, they can only try to act as guerrilla forces, at best. Mostly, they are just sad schemers, planning glorious deaths, that ultimately have no meaning, other than to provide the Western politicos another unreasonable fear to use against the American public, in order to continue their raping and pillaging among their own people.

The entire issue is one that is repugnant to me; I have watched in horror, not as terrorists have been hunted, but as the rights of the American people have been taken away in the name of “security”. Security from what? We don’t need more security from terrorists; those techniques for dealing with it are well-established, and effective, as they employ the very same methods used by the fanatics to achieve their ends. No, we need more security from our own pundits, who have utilized this tragic events for their own benefit, to the everlasting regret of every true patriot….. bloody assholes, every one of them…..

“I have formed a very clear conception of patriotism. I have generally found it thrust into the foreground by some fellow who has something to hide in the background. I have seen a great deal of patriotism; and I have generally found it the last refuge of the scoundrel.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Judgement of Dr. Johnson, Act III

So be it…. gigoid has spoken….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since today’s material came from past Pearls, here is a poem of mine, one of the last I wrote in 2013…. I hope you enjoy it….

Fine and Good, Good and Fine

A pig in a poke’s got nothing on me,
cuz I’m as confused as a man can be.
This ol’ world’s got me spinnin’ around
cussin’ and spittin’, a penny for a pound.

Forty ‘leven times since I was a kid, well,
I’ve fallen in love, ‘least too close to tell.
Every damn time, it all went to crap,
Forty ‘leven times I’ve felt like a sap.

‘Course, each time it happens, I forget the last;
why not? I’m havin’ such a blast….
Livin’ in each moment, filled with joie de vivre,
’til it’s all gone away again, nothin’ left up my sleeve.

Don’t want y’all to think I’m sad or blue,
life’s full of sorrow, lots for me, and/or you..
T’other side of that coin, we can be glad,
is joyful love, and that ain’t at all bad.

My road’s been littered with parts o’my heart,
each one colored with trust, which ain’t always smart.
Yet, long as I don’t lose my connection to joy,
I’ll find my own true love, and be a happy boy.

It’s been some kinda fun, even when I’d take a fall,
and doin’ it over makes no sense at all, at all
Day after day, I keep on keepin’ on, as it’s said;
Guess I’ll keep on doin’ that ’til I’m dead.

‘Nuff said….

~~ gigoid ~~
tongue firmly in cheek….

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Exactly a month after creating the above rant, in section one, I wrote this, a piece I re-post periodically, to keep things honest….. This was LAST posted on 7/16/2013:

I’m not feeling lazy, but, I AM feeling lazy, so I’m dipping into the past to come up with today’s third section…. It has been some time since I posted this, which I try to do at least once a year, to keep new ffolkes apprised of my history, and provide some background for the stuff I write here…. some of the back story, as it were…. So, here is my philosophy of Life, and some of the rationalizations that prompted its creation….. Though Peruaosophy originally was composed in the 1980’s, this article was posted on the site, GoodBlogs.com, sometime in early 2011, prior to starting this blog on WordPress….

Birds Do It, Bees Do It
So Do I…

In the dim, dark past, when I was, sort of, attending college at UC Berkeley, (1968-70) discussing philosophy was standard in many of the BS sessions in which I participated. In order to not be thought of as someone who was ignorant in the field, I naturally read the classic tomes by such philosophers as Friedrich Nietzsche, Soren Kierkegaard, Aristotle, Plutarch, Plato, Socrates, Epicurus, Solon, and Jung, as well as more modern folks, such as Bucky Fuller, Sartre, and John Lennon (yes, him too…his philosophy tends to lean way to the left…).

One day later on, sometime in the 80’s, I was involved in learning to raise kids, deal with a wife, and in general going quietly crazy trying to balance all the balls one must keep in the air to get by in today’s world. As I sat this particular day, it struck me how long it had been since I stretched my mind. It seemed as if I’d been buried in mundane details forever, and upon examination & reflection I decided I wanted to expand my consciousness, using the flight of imagination to lift me above the everyday cares and woes to which I had fallen prey. And I found, as well, that I had been unconsciously acting according to many of the precepts that I had learned in those halcyon days of my youth.

Encouraged by this revelation, I went one step further, and made the decision to codify my own personal philosophy, to put down in writing those things that I consider to be essential to becoming a well-grounded, well-rounded, productive and contented member of society. The process went more quickly than I had imagined, and I came up with seven basic concepts, all of which I hold to be an integral part of what I believe. Axiom #4 was added later as a necessary part of the whole, overlooked in the initial version, bringing the total number of axioms to eight.

The word I coined to describe this philosophy is Greek; “perua” means “pearl”, and of course, “osophy” is “the study of”. Thus I give you Peruaosophy, the study of pearls of wisdom. Each axiom stands alone, and together they describe fairly well how I approach Life…..

Peruaosophy

The wisdom of pearls…
(The world is my oyster; which way to the pearls?)

Axioms

1) I think I am; that’s close enough.

2) The nature of the Universe is Change. Unpredictable, innovative
transformation of Reality is the Norm. If you have a problem with this, you’re in for a rough ride in Life.

3) Thou art God, you know. Let’s do lunch.

4) Excellence is its own reward.

5) Girls think differently. So do boys. Don’t fight it.

6) Axiom #2 X axiom #5 = And God so loved the world, He said,
“Quit whining!”

7) Do your Duty. Respect Life. Honor the Truth. Share your Love.

8) Go back. Everything you need to know is in the first seven axioms.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Regardless of how it may seem from your side, this was NOT an easy Pearl to put together…. It’s done though, so, I’m content, if not happy. Enough so I will now post this, and be done with it…. The Big Blue Room is calling…. See ya, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Save the tangerines for Uncle Micah….

Posted on May 21, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Must have coffee….. ugh….. Go away…. No, wait, I’ll do that, you stay here a minute….

Alright, I’m back…. but, I’m still not sure if I should be doing this…. Mama told me when I was in this kind of mood I should avoid people, lest I be tempted to break my vow not to kill anyone before breakfast each day….. Mama had a lot of good advice, and this one has helped me a lot, what with the fuss modern society makes when one leaves too many bodies lying about the landscape…. Hell, they get upset at ONE; I should know…. I’ve had to avoid their silly implications a number of times, and you’d think I had done something wrong, or something, when all I really did was bring justice to the universe….

Of course, authorities and official types never like to be told they are fools, which seems to happen all too frequently during our encounters…. Maybe that’s why I get a bit of a return favor, when they ignore me much of the time, having learned NOT to fuck with me over their silly corpses…. If I had wanted to be held responsible for them, I’d have left some evidence, now, wouldn’t I? Sure I would; I’m not mean…. I just hate inefficiency, and that’s all I see whenever they come around, so, I figure it’s better for everyone if they continue to be clueless…

Of course, they DO look at me funny, but, they’re welcome to that…. I haven’t worried about stuff like that for years, ever since I decided to stop paying attention to their silly laws and regulations….. I feel much better, now that I don’t, even if I have to disappear one of their asshole myrmidons now and again…. It keeps my hand in, and keeps me in practice in case they ever send more than oh, say, a dozen or so at once…. I tend to get a bit harsh when that happens, so, it’s good to keep my skills at peak…. It’s just better for everybody….

If you couldn’t tell, I’m indulging myself this morning, painting my fantasy of how I would LIKE to deal with reality…. If I had my druthers, I’d probably ace one or two of them on a daily basis, just to practice, as I said above…. But, it would be too much of a hassle at this stage, and might even lead to my own demise….. those who live by the sword, etc….

But, I wouldn’t mind, if it gave me the chance to remove a significant number of them from this plane of existence; I would guess it would be rather cathartic for me…. As I said, though, too much hassle for now, so, I sublimate by writing about it when I can… It sort of relieves a bit of the pressure that can build up, and can cause me to actually bite one of them…. which I’d love to do, even if I only have the two teeth on top….

This isn’t getting me much of anywhere, though, so I think I’ll bring it to a crashing halt, & get on with the rest of this mess…. I may as well, since I keep talking myself out of going hunting…. and, I ain’t talking about hunting snarks, or boojums, or other fictional creatures, either….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Character is that which can do without success.” — Emerson (I’m assuming that is Ralph Waldo….)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today’s rant comes to you courtesy of several news articles, to which you will find links below…. It helps me if y’all read the article first, then my comments make more sense…. I also have to comment here, to say that I find it very disturbing, though not particularly surprising, that many of the articles about the chicanery and illegal, immoral activities in which our government and police forces are engaged, are to be found only in foreign news sites… The sites in this country seem to ignore/pass over much of what is obvious to other countries, tending to softball any criticism about the people in power here…. I’m assuming that is because they are afraid of retribution; else why keep silent? It certainly is not to their advantage to do so….

Any who, read, then I’ll show some excerpts, upon which I’ll comment, as the key points to be found…. Hopefully, my comments will make themselves obvious, but, to be clear, the excerpts will be indicated with quotation marks; my comments have none….

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/19/cecily-mcmillan-three-months-jail-occupy-future-protest?CMP=ema_565

“On Monday, Occupy Wall Street activist Cecily McMillan was sentenced to three months in jail and five years of probation, after she faced down a maximum sentence of seven years in prison for her conviction of assaulting a police officer. Her supporters, unsurprisingly, feel the sentencing is excessive – especially given her testimony that the officer in question first grabbed her breast – but it’s also clearer than ever that McMillan’s conviction will have a chilling effect on the future of serious activism.”

“The most famous example of this is probably NYPD deputy inspector Anthony Bologna, who pepper-sprayed peaceful female protesters during an OWS march. In 2013, the district attorney’s office announced that it would not prosecute Bologna – and the NYPD docked him just ten vacation days and reassigned him to Staten Island.”

A large number of people are surprised when they see articles such as this, as they are really, really stupid, (sorry, I calls ’em as I sees ’em….) due to their implicit trust in the police forces in this country, assuming, in complete error, that they are dedicated professionals with integrity and compassion for others; they actually believe that bullshit. They have a hard time when an article like this comes out, which, if they only paid attention, they would see happens pretty much every fucking day….

Yep, every damn day, I go through the news, and there is ALWAYS at least one, and often more, articles that report another cop gone rogue, or some piece of corruption exposed, or another forcible rape by a sheriff deputy, or some other example of one of the BRC’s faceless myrmidons abusing the power of authority that comes with their job…. EVERY DAY ffolkes, and that is NOT an exaggeration; look at it yourself…. If I can find at least one article about a corrupt cop every day, how many do you think there actually ARE? A LOT, wouldn’t you guess? I would….

Except, it’s not a guess… My estimate is that at least half, & most likely more than half, of the assholes wearing a badge in this country are totally unqualified to carry a gun to enforce the law, because they are they type of person who will abuse that power…. Way, way more than half is my actual gut feeling, but, we’ll be conservative, & keep the estimate there at 50%…. Believe me, when it comes to corrupt cops, half of them is MORE than enough….

My question is: how can any intelligent citizen think that these people could be trusted to use their weapons ONLY in defense of the law, if they were the only ones allowed to carry them? Do you think that most police would show integrity, or would they abuse their position, using their weapons to control and intimidate citizens, rather than protecting them? I’m sorry, but, I just don’t think they are any more trustworthy than the average citizen; in fact, I would wager serious money on them being far less honest, and far less honorable than the average joe on the street, and that is a fact….. Hell, they can’t even bring themselves to use their turn signals…. what makes people think they’ll not pull the trigger?….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Ex-aide-set-to-testify-in-Christie-bridge-scandal-5490758.php

“Christie, who says he is still considering running for president and will decide his political future later, recently said the lane closings would be “a footnote” by 2016. But his prediction last week came the same day his former campaign manager contradicted Christie’s timeline of the bridge scandal…..Political operative Bill Stepien said Christie misspoke Dec. 13 when he told reporters he had received assurances that no one close to him knew about the lane closings.”

Misspoke? Misspoke? What the fuck does that mean, if not “he lied”? As far as I can see, it can’t mean anything but that, but, this guy, Stepien, remember, is a “political operative”, and, as such, has been extensively trained to use the English language in ways no other sane person would think to do…. He is obviously pissed off at Christie for making him fall on his sword, but manages to still try to minimize the key fact of the matter, to wit: Christie was involved…. his governing style encouraged that sort of thing; it’s clear that he knew about it, and he lied about it….

This particular brouhaha, in fact, is one of the easiest issues to understand, as history has shown us that we can, for sure and for certain, count on one characteristic of politicians to be a fact…. WHATEVER a major politician says. especially regarding their own guilt or innocence, about ANYTHING, is going be an outright lie…. It’s knee jerk for them; they have no other behavioral response to fall back on, so, in such instances, when they are accused of ANY wrongdoing, they deny, deny, deny…. If pushed to the wall, they will say that the person they ~~scapegoated~~, er, fired, had lied to them, which, as we know, is a crock of shit….. If they hadn’t trusted the idiots, they wouldn’t be where they were….

Two things bother me about issues of this nature…. One, the lies that are told by the perpetrators of such acts are reported as if they have validity; the media doesn’t even TRY to point out any discrepancy in fact, or suggest any alternatives to accepting it as truth…. when, in truth, they KNOW it all to be a crock…. Second, people in the public read this crap, and believe it…. They have no clue, and are unwilling to believe, that they are being lied to at every turn…. If they do that, they would have to first admit their own FUCKING STUPIDITY….

Sorry, I get a bit worked up when I think of how gullible the average American is; it makes me ashamed of what the forefathers foresaw for this country, to see that the corporate assholes have won…. They’ve taken over all three branches of the government, and the majority of people in this country have no clue that they are nothing more than slaves….

The average American is no longer an educated, honorable citizen of a democracy, who watches the government with cautious regard…. Mostly they are grossly overweight couch potatoes, carrying fifty extra pounds from eating all the crap the corporations want them to eat, locked into their own brand of indulgent stupidly, believing everything a talking head on their TV tells them, making them extremely easy to lead around by the nose, as they give up their legacy of rights to unprincipled, immoral, INSANE assholes with more money than common sense, or compassion, ignoring and/or denying as much of what goes on around them as they can…. It’s a wonder we aren’t all wearing collars….

Just wait, though, that day will come, if the monied elite have their way…. They sure as hell haven’t shown any inclination to either share any of what they’ve usurped from everyone else, or to change their nature from being predatory, so, I’d wager they’ll just keep on doing what they’ve been doing, and continue to do, which is lie, cheat, and steal to and from everyone else, always seeking to maintain their control over the rest of the world…. while the sociopathic assholes they have trained as their puppets and myrmidons, that we call politicians and preachers and policemen, continue to run roughshod over the rest of society….

So be it…. gigoid has spoken….

“Jesus died too soon. If he had lived to my age he would have repudiated his doctrine.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)

The cartoon was reproduced, without permission, but with full attribution, from the UK Guardian news site….. If it’s too small, you can find it there, under yesterday’s date….I hope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m having a bit of trouble today, trying to keep my head from exploding; it’s making it hard to get anything done…. The rant above is actually the result of a short period, yesterday afternoon, when I found the articles, and was stimulated to rant by the sheer effrontery of our talking heads and societal myrmidons, who parade their ignorance and stupidity all over the public stage…. I just used the angst therefrom to edit this morning, punching it up where necessary…

My mood, however, such as it is, is making it hard for me to accomplish any of my real goals…. such as here, where I would like to put a nice poem by some classical or contemporary poet, but, due to the way my head, and my lower back feel, finding one like that would be an impossible task….

Intelligent searching takes too much attention, which is rather broken apart right now, so I don’t feel capable of that much focus for so long…. Which means, of course, you’ll have to put up with another of my old ones, because, they’re right here, and require very little of my attention to pick one out….. I do hope it’s a good one, or alternately, that you enjoy it, such as it is….

A Failure to Germinate

Marking the days in elements of sad disarray
only holds me thrall, as I laugh while I may.
With cold, hard hands so impatient and cruel
pulling me to this vale of tears, a pathetic old fool.

Feelings sit silent, cast in shadows and light
breaking forth to implicate such vengeful might.
Just below the surface they patiently hide
to sally forth bravely, colors bright as they ride.

Tears and pain transform valued assets in hand
while comfort and serenity retreat to a far land.
Bold, bright patterns of hope garnish my ruinous state
until reality enters, full of disdainful portions of hate.

I sort out the illustrious measures of vision gone mild
only to find them transformed, now vicious and wild.
In my deepest desires I find myself calloused and cold
with faithless advocates whose souls have been sold.

My search finds little to support any hope of relief
far too much time has passed to bolster such belief.
The sad becomes real, and real becomes unfounded
until flights of such fancy are all dead, and grounded.

Nature has informed me of the newly hatched crime
that reality has boasted of proudly, time after time.
The last answer we think of is always the best
as we come to terms with fate, our hope at rest.

~~ gigoid ~~

“I see no reason for calling my work poetry except that there is no other category in which to put it.” — Marianne Moore

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh boy! Old school!….. Yay!….. Have fun, ffolkes, I intend to…..

“The dismaying thing about man is not where he descended from, but what he is willing to descend to in the course of living life.” — Smart Bee

IDIOT, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. The Idiot’s activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action, but “pervades and regulates the whole.” He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable. He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it… This is the condition of children and barbarians, in whom instinct has learned nothing from experience.” — George Santayana, _Life of Reason_, — vol. 1, chap. 12, p. 284 (1905)

“As long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it.” — Dick Cavett, in “Playboy”, 1971

“No matter how much cynicism you have, it is never enough to keep up.” — Lily Tomlin

“My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” — Clarence Buddinton Kelland

“Baby, after considerable thought I’ve reached the conclusion that the only conceivable legitimate answer to the Universe as constituted is a peal of hysterical laughter.” — Keith Laumer, _Night of Delusions_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I look back on these Pearls upon finishing each one, I am almost always surprised to find it nothing like what I’d imagined at the start…. Today, that’s probably a good thing…..

I see from my post-creative perusal that some of the pearls are old, in the sense that they’ve been here before…. That’s okay, I’ve been at this long enough now that was bound to happen; there are only a finite number of aphorisms, even if that finite number is large….

Any who, I hope you enjoyed today’s effort…. to my way of looking at it, it didn’t come out too badly…. It’s all me, for sure…. Well, all of it not otherwise attributed, anyway…. See ya, ffolkes, I’m starting to babble now….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Bursting with possibility, the newest day dawns, as ever, in shades of grey….

Posted on May 20, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I’m certain, if not completely unsure, I’ve never experienced such a long-term tweak…. Usually, it takes a day, maybe two to get the ol’ back to calm down enough to return to relative normalcy…. This time, it keeps relapsing, so to speak, with each morning’s level of pain in the lower part competing to see which day will get the prize…. which means, given that my back and its pain are NOT being nice, NONE of the prior six or seven days will ever be called a winner…. No prizes will be awarded, unless I get one for not killing anyone, in spite of numerous episodes of encountering people who gave every impression of WANTING to become martyrs at the throne of stupid….

The above paragraph, however, is all the whining you’ll see…. (Trust me…) I’ve decided that today’s Pearl WILL be fresh, even if somebody must die…. Well, not me, of course; if I die, who’ll write the Pearl? But, if anyone gets in my way, or even in my vicinity, I’m taking them down, and that’s a promise…. I’m tired of Mr. Nice Guy…. Whether it’s me, or somebody else assuming that guise, I’m done with it….

That being said, there will be no rant, unless you consider this ill-mannered outburst as such….. There WILL be two old-school pearls, and a poem…. but, that’s ALL there will be today, and hell, if I find something better looking than what I feel SB can do today, then what you get will be from the archives…. Deal with it….

That is all I have today, ffolkes…. I’m not even sure I can follow my own rules today, and play nice with others…. We’ll see, I guess… In the meantime….

Shall we Pearl?….

“I’m PROUD to be a CARBON-BASED life form!”– gigoid, asb SB

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have yet to begin searching through Smart Bee for some appropriate aphorisms, because I wanted to issue a warning, to both Smart Bee, and to y’all, to protect your sensibilities…. To SB, I say this…. DO NOT FUCK WITH ME TODAY. That’s it….. and, it had better be enough….

Oh, and, Smart Bee? If I were you, today, I would pay close attention to that warning, too…. To the Gentle Reader, my warning is this… if SB doesn’t behave, I will ask you to please avert your eyes; nobody should HAVE to see what I will do to the damn thing, as it will be guaranteed to cause nightmares, in both the recipient of the thrashing, and in anyone careless enough to watch…. Otherwise, enjoy, yes?…..

“Don’t overestimate the decency of the human race.” — H.L. Mencken

“Every event that one would master must be mounted on the run, and no one ever caught the reins of a thought except as it galloped past.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.” — Smart Bee

“In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.” — Hubert H. Humphrey (1911-78)

“As a computer, I find your faith in technology amusing!” — Arthur, my laptop

“Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.” — John Selden (1584-1654) — Humility

“Anything that is good and useful is made of chocolate.” — Smart Bee

Okay, well, I like it….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To avoid any accusations (or worse, litigation…) of cruelty to a poet, here is another one of mine, so nobody else gets blamed for this… I wrote this some time in the latter half of 2012…. It’s about Pearling, or, Life as We Know It….

When life calls, ready or not….

Memories are all we have sometimes
to keep our sanity intact,
with learned phrases and subtle rhymes
lessening life’s vicious, vibrant impact.

Presently all seems composed and intent
in stark contrast to hollow day,
forlorn patchwork emotions of unheralded bent,
fill up night’s bower, leaving hell to pay.

Such vigorous and elevated temper
brings us rare moments to ponder,
filled with lessons all need to remember
lest base perception lose valued wonder.

Laugh loud when entropy sticks fast
leaving shameless anger in its wake.
Let bygones pass quietly into the past
reaping only what is left to take.

Final words of wise imagination
tell us living well’s the best revenge, it appears
ever eluding choirs and congregations
finally finding home, never buried in tears.

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not too shabby so far; nobody’s dead, and no injuries requiring stitches…. bonus! In keeping with today’s pattern of insanity, here is another old-school pearl, fresh from SB’s database of virtual wisdom, hacker-style….. This one may be a bit loose, so don’t try to hang on to any of it too tight; just an easy grip, enough to allow you to follow it to where it leads….

“Happiness is the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.” — Robert G. Ingersoll (American lawyer and orator)

“The land of the free! This is the land of the free! Why, if I say anything that displeases them, the free mob will lynch me, and that’s my freedom. Free? Why I have never been in any country where the individual has such an abject fear of his fellow countrymen. Because, as I say, they are free to lynch him the moment he shows he is not one of them.” — D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)

“Ignorance is never out of style. It was in fashion yesterday, it is the rage today, and it will set the pace tomorrow.” — Franklin K. Dane

“How do you know that electrons are political? Because you can never determine their exact position.” — Smart Bee

“Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” — Langston Hughes, Dreams

“An it harm none,
Do what ye will.” — This is the core belief in Wicca, upon which all the rest of their philosophy of life is based….

“Unknowingly, we plow the dust of stars, blown about us by the wind, and drink the universe in a glass of rain.” — Ihab Hassan

Ooh, nice finish! There you have it, ffolkes…. THIS is a pearl of virtual wisdom, clearly….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I did it…. In the interests of not hurting myself, though, I don’t think I’ll pat myself on the back just yet…. Instead, I’ll just trust in my instincts, and put this out for consumption, sans further attention or editing…. See you tomorrow, ffolkes, most likely…. Considering my record, the odds are good….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Further remonstrances should be unnecessary….

Posted on May 19, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Realizing such an overreaction would draw attention, I put away my weapon, and proceeded to thrash the idiot with my bare hands….. Having thus protected the next poor slob who tried to buy one of the asshole’s fake watches, (The fool didn’t even bother to put works in them, or set them to the right time….. just tried to foist off a fake Rolex on me, without any real idea of what a watch like that would cost, or look like…. What an idiot….), I walked out of the alley where I left his groaning carcass, giving him the opportunity for a leisurely introspection, wherein he could contemplate the error of his ways…. I turned south, toward the waterfront, where the ship that would carry me on the next leg of my journey only waited for me to board….

As I strolled down the Avenida del Revolucion, other, more honest vendors hawked their wares, to the early tourists and locals who crowded the narrow sidewalks, jostling each other in the crowded spaces between the shops and the street-side displays for each….. All the stalls were colorfully crammed with hundreds of items for sale, handy to the cars that crawled past, filled with other tourist groups and possible buyers…. The street vendors, each hawking the wares of the shop in front of which they stood, joined their cries to each other’s, almost a sing-song of prices and salutations, a commercial music that blended with and through the noise of the cars, and the blaring mariachi music from the speakers every fifty feet….

Then, of course, I woke up, and lost all sense of proportion, staring into the darkened room, wondering whether I was still in Mexico, shivering slightly in the cold air from the open window, behind me…. Pulling on a t-shirt, I arose, grabbed the essentials, and came out to try to start this Pearl….. The above two paragraphs are the best I can do, ffolkes; on looking it over, it’s not bad, but, it isn’t the best I’ve ever done, either….. Given the handicap under which I’m operating, I’m fairly content, as it is better than I’d hoped, given the level of spasming and pain I’m currently ignoring….. well, as best as I can….

Regardless of that, I’m not going to whine…. What I WILL do is try to put out a complete Pearl, fresh, (other than poetically…. I’m afraid I don’t have THAT in me right now…. but, I’ll pick something worthwhile to make up for any lack of freshness or originality on MY part….), and as compelling as I can make it…. It may not be quite up to snuff, but, it will have to do, because, well, it will….

On that note, I’m going to forgo any further folderol, or nonsense from my darker side, & jump into the rest of today’s effort….. which, as I can already tell y’all, is an effort, indeed….

Shall we Pearl?….

Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions are all based upon that large defect in your race — the individual’s distrust of his neighbor, and his desire, for safety’s or comfort’s sake, to stand well in his neighbor’s eye. These institutions will always remain, and always flourish, and always oppress you, affront you, and degrade you, because you will always be and remain slaves of minorities. There was never a country where the majority of people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), “The Mysterious Stranger”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/17/government-lies-nsa-justice-department-supreme-court

Is there any more question? Can it be laid out any clearer? It’s pretty clear to me….. Our world has been usurped, pirated by the myrmidons of the paranoid übermensch, the sociopathic monied elite, who seek to control every aspect of life on this planet, to further their own pathetic need to control and manipulate the rest of mankind for their insane personal ends….

Now, some might think that’s a long stretch of the imagination, to extrapolate such dire accusations from the shenanigans of one federal agency, or even two, apparently turning it all around into blaming the poor, faceless gazillionaires who control the resources of the planet; after all, most people now are inured to being lied to, stolen from, and getting their fannies reamed by those in charge of society, having endured that sort of treatment their entire lives.

Given that sort of background, what could be LESS surprising than to hear that someone in the government had lied, to protect someone else in another governmental branch?…. (Please note: both the liars, and those they lie about, are UN-elected officials, having been appointed to their positions….) Or that the Justice (?) Department was no longer bound by the Constitution, or, apparently, any other laws that are contrary to their purpose, thus giving them the legal right to lie, to the public, and to the SUPREME FUCKING COURT?….

Sadly, I’m not sure they needed to lie to the Supremes; that particular batch of lawyers, who, after first indicating which path to glory they preferred, mutated into judges, of such obvious degrees of corruption they became worthy of the attention of one or more of the Shrubs, those blatant corporate/spook soldiers who appointed them…. (Notice again how voting doesn’t come into this picture?…)…..

This particular current batch of Supremes seems to be more than ready to fuck things up all by themselves, casually casting aside numerous laws set, over time, as legal precedents by previous Supremes, laws designed to guard against societal discrimination, as being “no longer an issue of law”…. meaning, they are changing the law themselves, sans any need to ask for, or receive, approval from anyone else, such as Congress, the Executive Branch, or god forbid, the people of this country….

It’s pretty clear in this case, it all connects at a deeper level, where the inner workings of a clandestine organization are merely the tip of the iceberg, compared to how the ice is being used….. which is, begad, a terrible metaphor. But, I think it’s clear that ALL of the branches of our government are now corrupted by this attitude, of entitlement and the absolute belief that whatever rights we, the people, may have had, are not relevant to their goals…. all of which, in their eyes, makes those ‘rights’ immaterial, pathetic obstacles to be brushed aside, in the interests of expediency and paranoia….

Ffolkes, I don’t like to join hands with the ranks of those who believe in all sorts of conspiracies; most of the time the evil that we see is not a matter of conspiring to take over the world…. there’s no need for that, because it has already happened. It actually happened thousands of years ago; the problem has always been that not many people are willing to look directly at the evidence, or able to accept the FACTS…. which are, to me, relatively clear.

“By all means, let’s not confuse the issue with facts.”– Smart Bee

The 1% (which, actually, is a misnomer; 1% of the total number of humans alive is actually a rather large number, in relation to the small number of people who actually have real control of the resources of the entire planet…. 1% of 7 Billion is actually 70 Million people; there are many times many fewer people than that who are the actual masters of this society…. Planet wide, the true figure of people who are in the true ruling elite is probably closer to 7000, or perhaps, 70,000, not millions…. Sorry, ffolkes, but, numbers CAN’T lie…. and, remember, these people DON’T share…..), are perfectly aware they don’t NEED a conspiracy, when the controls they require have been in place for centuries…. As long as people are susceptible to money, or power over others, as long as they are subject to their own fear and ignorance, no real planning is required, as people will, all-too-often, freely give their freedom away, to those who promise to remove their fear…..

This has always been true, ffolkes…. The weak and ignorant, of which there are so many, spend their lives in fear of not being able to succeed, of being confronted with the harsh realities of life without the means to deal with any of it. The unprincipled rulers of mankind, with the willing and able assistance of the religious fanatics who support them, don’t actually conspire against the rest of humanity….

They merely live up to their own standards, which are based on expediency and self-promotion, and the ignorant masses fall right into line, giving their allegiance and obedience to temporal authority, while both the church and the rulers steadily, and thoroughly, empty their pockets of all they don’t require for basic living…. and more, if they feel they can get away with it….

I don’t profess to have any special knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes; all of my opinions are based on what can be seen right out in the public arena, based on what I read, what I see, and what I can deduce from that data. Everyone alive has the same opportunity as I do to see what is going on….

Sadly, most people don’t seem to have, or, to use if they do have, the simple intelligence required to put the pieces together, into a picture they can understand…. which, in turn, means they cannot control their own destiny…. Nor will they ever be able to do so, as long as they continue to give up the right to control their own minds, to the Beloved Ruling Classes, including the priestly hierarchies, and all the faceless myrmidons (police and military…), who do the bidding of the powered elite, the corporate snakes/monied assholes, (sorry, I decided elegant doesn’t work when describing these pricks, but, short, pithy Anglo-Saxon slang works just fine….), who prey on the rest of mankind….

I think, personally, it’s time for me to buy a gun…. and lots and lots of ammunition…. As an American citizen, I can only say that, I’m tired of my ass being continuously threatened with impalement, on the shaft of government indifference, or corporate immorality, and, I don’t intend to have it go on that way forever…. I’m sure we can find something that will work better, and won’t constantly be a pain in our collective ass….

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” — Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) — Churchill’s Commentary on Man

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There are times when the mere act of reading a poem, if done honestly, paying attention & trying to put oneself into the author’s mind, to fully understand the metaphor of life being portrayed, is a worthy experience in and of itself, with no more justification needed, or required, by either the universe, or the monitors of this blog, who are, as we know, non-existent…. Well, I know it; if y’all still have doubts, just submit another claim….

In the meantime, here is a poem, which long-time prisoners, er, readers, will probably recognize as having been seen here previously…. That’s just because it’s a good one, and, because I can…. Enjoy, please, as millions of history’s readers have done for a long time…..

A Dialogue of Self and Soul

{My Soul} I summon to the winding ancient stair;
Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,
Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,
Upon the breathless starlit air,
‘Upon the star that marks the hidden pole;
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done:
Who can distinguish darkness from the soul
i{My Self}. The consecretes blade upon my knees
Is Sato’s ancient blade, still as it was,
Still razor-keen, still like a looking-glass
Unspotted by the centuries;
That flowering, silken, old embroidery, torn
From some court-lady’s dress and round
The wodden scabbard bound and wound
Can, tattered, still protect, faded adorn
i{My Soul.} Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?
Think of ancestral night that can,
If but imagination scorn the earth
And interllect is wandering
To this and that and t’other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth.
i{My self.} Montashigi, third of his family, fashioned it
Five hundred years ago, about it lie
Flowers from I know not what embroidery —
Heart’s purple — and all these I set
For emblems of the day against the tower
Emblematical of the night,
And claim as by a soldier’s right
A charter to commit the crime once more.
i{My Soul.} Such fullness in that quarter overflows
And falls into the basin of the mind
That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind,
For intellect no longer knows
i{Is} from the i{Ought,} or i{knower} from the i{Known — }
That is to say, ascends to Heaven;
Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue’s a stone.
i{My Self.} A living man is blind and drinks his drop.
What matter if the ditches are impure?
What matter if I live it all once more?
Endure that toil of growing up;
The ignominy of boyhood; the distress
Of boyhood changing into man;
The unfinished man and his pain
Brought face to face with his own clumsiness;
The finished man among his enemies? —
How in the name of Heaven can he escape
That defiling and disfigured shape
The mirror of malicious eyes
Casts upon his eyes until at last
He thinks that shape must be his shape?
And what’s the good of an escape
If honour find him in the wintry blast?
I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch,
A blind man battering blind men;
Or into that most fecund ditch of all,
The folly that man does
Or must suffer, if he woos
A proud woman not kindred of his soul.
I am content to follow to its source
Every event in action or in thought;
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.

~ William Butler Yeats ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, finally, a bit of fun for us all…. I’ve been working hard to get this done before the pain gets to the point where someone has to die, and it’s going fairly well, all things considered…. Let’s see if Smart Bee is up to a bit of cooperation this morning, shall we? I’ve got my wet suit on, and my scuba tank is full…. Let’s dive, ffolkes…. Oh, yeah, take your knife; no parameters today….

Hug O’ War

I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

~~ Shel Silverstein ~~

“A little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Madison, 1787

“To think contrary to one’s era is heroism. But to speak against it is madness.” — Eugene Ionesco

“One must never precede any maneuver by a comment more predictive than, “Watch this!” (Keep ’em guessing.) — The Third Commandment of Frisbee — Dan Roddick

“Fear is the lock and laughter the key to your heart.” — Steven Stills

“That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

“What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?” — Ursula K. LeGuin

I really love this job….. too bad nobody will pay me to do it…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, ffolkes, (and that’s a deep subject….) (Sorry, really…. I’m an incorrigible punster, so, don’t incorrige me…) (Okay, sorry, I’m done….), here we are again…. I’m still uncertain as to whether or not I’ll continue to try to keep myself unblooded today; I suppose it will depend on how much pain I’m fighting when some idiot tests my resolve. But, at my age, I don’t really give much of a shit whether it does, or not, and if things get out of hand, I’ll just blame Murphy…. it’s about time he took some of the heat he dishes out…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Cats don’t do intangible….

Posted on May 17, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Yesterday, for me, was pretty well trashed from the beginning, and today is looking not much better; I’m not going to whine, which is, I’m sure, a relief to all…. I am, however, going to go ahead and let y’all know today isn’t going to be much better…. The pain I felt yesterday hasn’t gotten better by any appreciable degree, so I’ll be spending another day in a drugged stupor, if I have anything to say about it….

I decided today’s Pearl could be a re-blog, but, rather than do it the normal way, I’m going to reproduce one of my oldest works, in five sections instead of the three we have in today’s format…. This is from December of 2011, near the end of my first year in retirement, and my first year of learning to live in near-poverty…. At the time of this writing, I was in a minor funk (depression, to the uninitiated among you….), due to having NO money, with Christmas fast approaching….

This Pearl was created, fresh out of my head, the day before my son’s 32nd birthday…. I hope you enjoy it; it’s a good picture of my mind during that period, such as it was…. Minor editing has been performed to make the whole thing more readable, given my current understanding of how that works, without changing any of the content significantly… i.e., I’ve added spaces, and adjusted an adjective, or a punctuation mark, at various points throughout, that’s all….

Shall we Pearl? Yes, we shall, and more than merely old-school…..

“If you are near the enemy, make him believe you are far from him. If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.” — Sun-Tzu, The Art of War

(I keep trying, but, my worst enemy, pain, never pays any attention….)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12/16/11

Ffolkes,

Another day dawns, and I’m fairly certain that I left my mind in one of my dreams last night. Disconcerting, to say the least; I’m operating on extreme autopilot mode. This could make for some very interesting Pearls, as my mind is where I keep almost all of my restraint. In this condition, I could say damn near anything, and not give a whit for how it sounds to other folks. Oh well, we’ll just have to dive in, and takes our chances…….

(Shall we Pearl?…..)
___________________________________

“Violence accomplishes nothing.” “What a contemptible lie! Raw, naked violence has settled more issues throughout history than any other method ever employed. Perhaps the city fathers of Carthage could debate the issue, with Hitler and Alexander as judges?”–attribution not given, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this with Robert Heinlein’s name behind it.

Our planet is rife with violence of many sorts. It’s only to be expected when a goodly number of the creatures who live on this planet use other creatures as their source of food. Those other creatures are not always amenable to that, and will put up a pretty good argument for an animal that otherwise does not fight. This can lead to some rather spirited discussions over dietary preferences…….

There is, however, another effect of using force to obtain food, one that can be problematic to use at best. The use of force can be easily applied to the process of obtaining other desired objects, such as a better cave, a prettier mate, more food, etc. Humans very quickly adapted to this system, as violence is part of our nature. (Anyone who does not agree with this is not paying enough attention, or is in deep denial) We tend to use the threat of force a lot as we go about our business; it is one of our most universally adaptable tools, able to be applied to almost any situation as a means of achieving one’s goals.

But there is a price for the use of this tool, and it is a heavy one. Each time a person uses violent means to achieve their ends, a little bit more Grace is carved out of their karma. They devolve, instead of evolving, and become more and more unable to use any other tools they may have, more bestial in their demeanor. The more violent a person becomes, the further they remove themselves from the rest of society, eventually coming into conflict with society at large, as being a danger to others.

As with just about anything, society as a whole is much more effective at violence than any single entity can be, just because of numbers, if naught else. Breaking the habit of assuming a violent stance in response to life’s vicissitudes is extremely difficult; people don’t give up their primary behaviors without a great deal of resistance. But society has little patience with rogue citizens, and will have its way, irrespective of our wishes.

This is why we have prisons, and an entire system of law to protect each citizen from suffering violence at the hands of another citizen. If we were truly moral creatures, we wouldn’t need any of that….but we are not, and violence will be an issue for society to deal with as long as human nature remains resistant to change…..
___________________________________

“Pessimism is only the name that men of weak nerve give to wisdom.” — Mark Twain

I always enjoy good advice in the form of an aphorism. Short, sweet, and sharp as a scalpel, a good aphorism cuts right through any preconceptions or perceptive fog, and arrows straight to the rational corner of the mind. This one from Mr. Clemens is a perfect example of the venue, and how it pulls the mind along with it, out of the darkness of ignorance, and into the light of knowledge.

I consider aphorisms, or axioms, or anecdotes, or any other word that describes this form of communication to be peerless in their usefulness, especially as a teaching tool. Hell, they are the backbone of this entire process; if I didn’t rely on them for subject matter, I’d have to actually sit down and think up what to write, instead of just commenting on what others have said, and that would bear far too much resemblance to actual work…….
___________________________________

If money is the root of all evil, I’ve been uprooted.

True enough, but not accurate in its original sense. The quote actually reads “The love of money is the root of all evil”, and is misquoted a lot, probably because it makes the same kind of sense the original possessed, and people, in my experience, are pretty lazy. The sad part of this in my estimation is that everyone knows this, and just about everyone totally ignores it. People still spend most of their waking hours in employing various and sundry methods to increase how much money they possess. Everybody wants more, and more, and more, and will say and do almost anything to achieve that end.

I’ve never wanted any more of it than I need to get by, to be able to do the things I like to do, with possibly some extra to give to folks who need some. That’s all. Perhaps my lack of ambition in this respect makes me seem strange, but I’ve never understood why folks would want to burden themselves with so much stuff that they have to worry about others trying to take it away.

It’s much more fulfilling to use only what one needs, and be happy with that, and then use the rest for helping others to achieve the same…..and you don’t have to worry that it will be taken away, just like it was taken from someone else. I prefer to not become a target……
___________________________________

“That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

I’m always amazed at how accurate the statement “there’s nothing new under the sun” can be. According to this little gem, mankind has been struggling with the same philosophical questions for a long time, in this case about two thousand years. And from what I can see, we’re not making a lot of progress. This concept is as true today as it was in Greece two millenia ago; mankind continues to use whatever means they have at hand to manipulate others, even if those means are degrading to all who participate.

The urge to control other folks, in order to set ourselves up as being superior, has never been comprehensible to me; I believe that the impulse to do so is indicative of a sickness in the soul, and that the folks who indulge in such actions are mentally ill. And I should know; I spent close to twenty years caring for the mentally ill, and have seen the outcome of every maladaptive behavior known to science.

In my humble opinion, anyone who actively wants to be President of this country is seriously mentally ill. The job is impossible for one man to do well, what with all the roadblocks to reform and/or progress that are thrown up in their path by the opposing political party. But, as absolute power corrupts absolutely, there is always some dickhead out there ready to foist their own particular madness on the rest of us.

I’m looking forward to the election next year, if only because the political arena has been so frigging insane this year. Next year promises to provide even more stuff to write about every day, as one pundit after another parades their ignorance before the unwashed masses…..
___________________________________

“Honor isn’t about making the right choices. It’s about dealing with the consequences.” — Midori Koto

This is a good point to make, as I see a lot of folks in today’s world who really don’t have any idea of what honor really means. It is rare to even find someone these days who even thinks about their honor, and even more rare to find a truly honorable person. The whole concept has fallen out of favor in general society; expedience has become more acceptable, no matter how dishonorable it may be.

To my way of thinking, society has reached a point where people’s sense of entitlement has grown completely out of control. A person’s personal desires are considered sacrosanct, no matter how badly achieving those desires may affect others. It doesn’t matter that acting in such a fashion places others in danger, or demeans them, or merely inconveniences them; people don’t care, because they’ve been led to believe that what they want is what they deserve, by corporate entities who feed into this, because it plays right into their hands.

It’s easy to get someone to buy something, when they believe they have the right to it. What is hard is doing so in an honorable fashion, and we all know how most folks feel about doing hard stuff…..
___________________________________

It’s probably a good thing to stop here. This was threatening to grow by another thousand words, so it’s just as well I cut it off here; you probably have other stuff to do, and I know I certainly have a plate full of problematic tasks. We’d all best be getting to it…..y’all take care out there…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just realized this old Pearl has no poem…. We can’t have THAT….. Since I’m being egotistical today, anyway, here is another of my old ones, which speaks about my reason for not writing today….

Gauges of Pain

Consciousness devolves in pools of gripping fears
holding hostage any hope of serenity,
sharp stabbing motions and greedy tears
nary a moment passes without common calamity.

Always a surprise, nothing soothing ever found,
leaving only breathless clinging pain,
salvation seemingly absent, it muffles all sound,
bringing ever more sadness and rain.

Solitude is ever present to claim my time,
lonely hours and relentlessly long days,
no radio plays such music in secular rhyme
happy, vibrant voices belong to elder ways.

Life can be justified it seems to say,
by hopeful favored moments of pleasure,
seemingly friendly, pointing out the only way,
to bring back happiness in minimal measure.

Days of horror and embarrassing tears
serve ever to drive wretched hours to withhold
promising naught but sorrow in coming years,
black, bitter memories that never grow old.

Cold, cold the days fly by,
can it really be our only token?
Never to say, or know just why
the pain never stops, even when spoken…

~~ gigoid ~~

(Yes, yesterday was NOT a good day…. why do you ask?…..)

Griefe brought to numbers cannot be so fierce,
For, he tames it, that fetters it in verse.

— John Donne

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, ffolkes, if this Pearl is any evidence, my propensity for divulging opinion isn’t anything new…. I DO feel I’ve made some good progress, in terms of my writing; I am much better now, I think, at many of the small, yet important details that make a piece more readable. Even the few structural changes I made to this piece improved the flow, and made it easier to consume…. Plus, it’s done, which, today, is the most important factor of all…. I’m going to post this as quickly as I can, then go let some hot water beat me into submission, while I wait for my latest round of consumable cannabis to take effect…. I’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully in a better frame of mind, and body….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Precious moments of subtle grandeur…..

Posted on May 16, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

You probably can’t tell by looking, but, in this space, earlier today, three complete fictional beginnings to a story were composed, then edited to the point of deletion, each one being rather LESS acceptable than the one before…. I can’t recall ever coming up with so much CRAP so early in the day, unless of course, we count that time in Phoenix, of which, the binding documents of non-disclosure I signed then preclude any mention…. That’s okay by me, I wouldn’t want stuff like that to ever be associated with my name, if I can help it….

Unfortunately for TODAY’s Pearl, that leaves me here, too deep in to back out, but with not a damn thing to go here….. at least, nothing I’d allow past my inner censor. Hell, at this point, it’s all I can do to blink both eyes in unison; I’m that discombobulated this morning…. My eyes are giving me fits, trying to focus; my thumb aches like crazy, telling me it’s time to stop ignoring it, & go see the Doc about it…..

I just hate thinking of the probable treatment, a shot of cortisone…. it works great, but, I’m not real sanguine about using steroids, for anything, even the stuff for which it is commonly prescribed…. Just because we’ve used something for a while doesn’t mean they know what the long term effects are…. the medical profession has too many priors in that respect for me to ever trust them completely…. Remember the time they x-rayed some guy in the ER, & found he had a surgical tool, a pair of forceps, to be exact, still inside his abdomen, left there by a forgetful surgeon a few weeks previously?…. I do….

But, that’s all just avoiding the issue, which is the lack of stimulation/inspiration I’m experiencing today, that is keeping this intro in “Inanity Mode”, with long, wandering discussions of not very much, stretched, padded, and stuffed full of useless verbiage, all designed to take us just a little further down the page, until we find ourselves in an area where we can stop a moment, catch our breath, look around, and make the self-serving, but appropriate decision to bring this section to a close, having reached a point where such a decision becomes practicable….

Why, look! We’ve reached just such a point now! How about that, ffolkes? I even fooled myself today, into thinking this might work…. which it did, I’ll point out…. Here we are, five full paragraphs in, and we’re ready to cut loose with whatever is to take place today…. It’s always a surprise to me, and should be for y’all, as well…. Hope springs eternal…. as does my chutzpah…. though, to be honest, it doesn’t really spring, so much as creep, but, hey, it SOUNDS good, right?

Shall we Pearl?…. I think it would be for the best if we did….

In lazy apathy let stoics boast
Their virtue fix’d: ‘t is fix’d as in a frost;
Contracted all, retiring to the breast;
But strength of mind is exercise, not rest.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 101

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m in a lot of pain this morning…. but, I also decided not to complain about it; instead we have the above nonsense, while here, in section one, I’ll go with an older rant, on a subject that never goes out of style…. not here, anyway….

From 9/19/2012, I offer the following pearl, for your viewing enjoyment:

A while back, I wrote a comment regarding another a post on another blog, concerning the proposal made in that blog of writing some new amendments to the Constitution. Most of the suggested amendments made good sense, as they would remove many of the entitlements that Congress has awarded itself over the years. However, there was one suggested change with which I wholeheartedly disagree…. This is the response to that suggestion… The address of the original blog is included, in case you want to read it first….. To wit:

In Response to a Proposed 35th Amendment

From the blog site at:

http://lennemi.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/a-proposal-for-a-new-bill-of-rights/#comment-234

After reading the above blog, I posted the following comment:

Sir, or madam,

Excellent post, well reasoned and presented…. I have a few comments, if I may….

It has long been a delusion in human society that morality can be enforced, or induced at all, by legislation. This is an idea, as proven time and time again throughout thousands of years of human history, that is doomed to fail, every time it is attempted. That is not speculation, or guesswork. Look it up…..

Therefore, it is my suggestion that you forget #35, in favor of the Second Amendment already in place in the Bill of Rights; this concept is based on a false assumption, and making a flat statement of what (YOU believe) my rights are, or should be, is not acceptable to me as a citizen of this republic, or as a human being responsible for my own actions. Bearing arms is not a privilege, nor will I, and most likely at least 150 million, or more, other people in this country, accept that idea for a moment, a fact that should be obvious to any one with practical understanding of reality.

I do not, nor will I ever believe that Federal, State, or Local jurisdiction have either the right, or the authority to say differently, and I doubt seriously that there are very many in this country who do believe that. I reject utterly the statement that they, or you, or anyone else, has the right to decide for me what I will or will not own, or keep, or use in my defense. After guns, free speech would be the next to go….any bets?

That, my friend, is a fact of life, and of human nature. We only have those rights we can defend…. and this is merely another doomed attempt to legislate morality into human nature. Violence exists. Period. Get used to it, because you are not going to remove it from people’s core nature, or from reality, any more than attempting to remove guns will stop crime, or killing, or the tendency toward violence that is part of the nature of Man. Better to understand the impulse, and work toward educating people in how to cope with that part of themselves constructively, rather than destructively…..

The rest of your amendments are perfectly in alignment with what I believe is needed to improve the conditions of inequality and elitism so prevalent in today’s society, and would receive my full support.

To be honest, up to recently, I never owned, or saw a need to own a gun. As one who has followed the Warrior’s Path since my early teens (and probably before; I was raised on army posts from birth to age 10), and a long-time student of martial arts, and the theories of war, I learned how to deal with violence in many ways, with many techniques, a large number of which I had to apply in my work for years, physically controlling out-of-control psychotic mental patients, without hurting them, or getting hurt.

I got pretty good at dealing with violent people, especially in recognizing such outbursts before they manifested fully, and diverting it as needed. I am very familiar with violence, in a great many of its guises. That said, it seems clear that I have generally been able to deal with whatever physical violence may occur in my immediate vicinity.

Now, however, I’m not as fast as I once was, nor as well-conditioned; I’m better at foresight, it comes with age. And I can foresee a time when I could conceivably need the equalizing factor of a weapon like a gun, in order to live up to my standard of handling events without injury, as far as I can…..so, I’m probably going to buy one or two…

Because of that, and even more, because of insane (sorry, don’t mean to flame; but, it isn’t fully sane to attempt to change human nature) talk such as this, of watching society willingly slip on their slave collars…This is NOT going to happen in my world…. or, at least, not in the little piece of it I can control….

If anyone, or anyone’s brother, or anyone else, tries to take away the Second Amendment rights I now have, well, I can only say, good luck with that….. and bring lots of well-armed, battle-tested friends…you’ll need them….

Oh, and I’d keep in mind…. those folks, like the police in Sanford, Florida, who were complicit in covering up the murder there, aren’t going to disarm themselves, now are they?…. How far will you trust them to behave with honor, and respect for YOUR rights? Get real…..and I don’t mean that disrespectfully, but in hope that you will open your eyes to what is plainly there to see….

Note from 2014:

“Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice than they are compelled to do by their situation.” — Thucydides

Now, if only there were ANYONE left in our society who fit this description, we might be able to hold on to some hope…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since I’m using archived material today, I’m going with this older poem of mine, which seems to fit in with the tone, if not the exact same tune we are singing today….

Rhyming is better than lying….

It’s all too, too much, he cried
I can take no more!
It’s all crazy, my brain is fried,
battered, bloody, and sore.

Talking heads shout out hatred and fear
jam for my morning toast.
Pointing fingers far, middle, and near
enemies everywhere, almost.

Women, gays, and seniors fall prey,
easy targets, slow and weak.
Convenient fools, wanting only to play,
used, and abused, even as we speak.

It enough to drive me floridly insane,
or want to buy a gun.
I may end up in jail, or in massive pain,
but, oh, it would be fun….

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don’t know how, but, I seem to have tweaked my lower back in my sleep last night; it’s giving me fits this morning…. But, I think I’ve got enough in me to finish this off, as long as I go old-school here in section three…. which I shall proceed to do…. Enjoy! This is all the fresh stuff you’ll get today….

“How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.” — Thomas Jefferson, “Writings” Vol. XVI

“No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor.” — Andrew Carnegie

“Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness; on the confines of two everlasting hostile empires, Necessity and Freewill.” — Carlyle (1795-1881)

“Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.” — Robert Lindner

“Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.” — John Adams (1735-1826)

“There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.” — Seneca

“For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will be the greatest enemy.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

I love it when a plan comes together…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today’s Pearl has been brought to you by the word “stubborn”, and the number 13, which has always been my favorite of all the prime numbers…. and, no, I don’t know what that means about me, nor do I care….. This is done, and for now, that’s all I do care about, as I’m about to go obliviate my consciousness with large quantities of drugs…. See y’all tomorrow, one way or another….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

That’s right; now sprinkle thoroughly with the powdered milk flakes….

Posted on May 15, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

The power of paradox has been entered into the equation, ffolkes, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it; our skills, as humans, do not yet extend to being able to alter the forces of nature, or reality, beyond the confines of our own minds…. Not only is this statement true, it’s true in and of itself, indicating by that its own sense of paradox, for, ultimately, how can the truth be paradoxical? Only by the most elegant of reasoning can we, as humans, ever come to understand this principle, a happenstance unlikely to occur very often, not in THIS species…. It is only by the grace of reality we have the opportunity to even try….

What the hell was that? Well…. by all appearances, it’s a statement of belief, but, it seems to be lacking something, something that would give it the relevance it now lacks…. But, then, these days, I think we’re all a little tired of being relevant; I know I could use a bit of irrelevance in MY life, that’s for sure…. Unfortunately, reality itself has a hard time with that; since it doesn’t care one way or the other about relevance, other than how things may be relevant to its own existence…. and, I think we, or I, am now entering an area of discussion from which we may never find our way back….

I know for a fact, right now, that I’m completely lost. Whatever it was I had in mind when I started this, two paragraphs back, this isn’t it. I hate when that happens; losing one’s train of thought is actually not a matter of losing it, so much as the train runs itself off the tracks, which makes for a tough row to hoe, both for the train, and for the place where the train ends up, while running off the rails… Plus, I have not a single clue as to what any of this means, or how I got here, or how I can save this intro….

I suppose I COULD resort to emergency method #4, which always works to get us past this section; in fact, I am going to do that, as I simply can’t think of anything else that might work at this point…. I’m totally clueless right now, so, after using #4, I’ll need to take a break, to reboot my head for a few minutes…. Otherwise, I can’t be held responsible for what may happen in any of the other parts of today’s Pearl…. I’m thinking you might want to stand back a foot or two, while I do this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“After many years of study, scientists have determined that dogs bark just for the hell of it.” — Smithsonian

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Existing order thrives upon ignorance and lies. Objective truth and individual reason are feared above all.”– Smart Bee

For several years now, here, and in my conversations with other people, I’ve been talking about how little time we have left to fix the damage we’ve done to the Earth, with our complete disregard for the harm we are perpetrating…. we, of course, being the human race, the largest example on the planet, of a life-form commonly classified as “slime”….. Of course, all the other forms of slime are, in some way, beneficial in their relationship with the Earth; ours is the only species, out of MILLIONS of forms of life, which has deliberately chosen to foul our own nest, and, in the process, destroy the very tree in which we have chosen to build that nest….

I’ve ranted on this subject often, and don’t feel as if I’ve pulled any punches in stating the severity of the issue, or in stating the facts about how quickly it will all be upon us; it’s really too bad that nobody ever hears me, other than the few regular Gentle Readers who are kind, and fortunate, enough to come by often…. Those twenty or thirty ffolkes can be considered members of the choir, anyway, as almost all of them know of this issue, and agree with my assessment….. From an efficiency standpoint, I’d say that’s a wash…

None of my rants, however, have hit the main points involved in the issue as well as the following two of three articles; the columns are by two authors whose work I have touted previously…. Both of these men are clear-sighted, erudite, and logical in their assessment of what is going on, and though they have two completely diametric styles of writing, and reasoning, they both end up at the same point in this discussion, driving their points home with excellent accuracy, poignancy, and elegance…. The third link included is one you saw yesterday; this report from NASA on the state of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is what stimulated both columns….

I’m being nice again today, which, given the mess I made in the intro section, is probably a wise decision; I’m NOT going to rant on this, but, instead, will just ask you to read these two columns, and the report that caused them to be written…. I’ll also ask you to THINK about it, and try to decide how we, that’s you, and me, and everyone else, are going to go about dealing with this….

There will be a lot of tough decisions to make in coming years, not the least of which will be whether or not to place the blame for all of this where it belongs, smack in the lap of the corporate snakeheads, the BRC, and the priestly hierarchies, who have usurped society for their own selfish ends, thus bringing us to this impasse; I for one think we should figure out a way to use them as some kind of alternative fuel, to replace the carbon based oil products we are now codependent with, thus helping solve the energy crisis…. But, that’s me; I don’t have much sympathy for them, and would just as soon see them melted by a Klingon disruptor….

Read the following, ffolkes, it will scare you, and piss you off, if you have ANY sense at all…. Just remember, I can point you to the people who put us here, whenever you’re ready to deal with them as they need to be dealt with…. I’ll help, I promise…. I’ll also note that promises, being sacrosanct to me, are something I don’t offer lightly….

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/It-is-not-hard-to-follow-the-money-5475550.php

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/05/13/heart-attack-of-the-world/

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/NASA-spots-worrisome-Antarctic-ice-sheet-melt-5471531.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

“Why not try peace? If we find war is better, it will not be difficult to fight again.” — Smart Bee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m using a poem of my own today, mainly because I’m too lazy to go find one by someone else; these are right here in a folder, so they’re easy to find…. I like this one, (well, I suppose that’s not a surprise, since I wrote it…), and not just because it’s one of my latest…. I think it’s one of my better ones, but, then, I’m no judge, other than for what I like…. Hopefully, you’ll like it, too…. If not, well, just skip on down to the third section….

Blithely Untitled

A poem came to me today, willy, nilly,
along with a sharp blow to the head.
Since it left me feeling just a bit silly,
anything that rhymes should lessen the dread.

Manifesting destiny into a small, insidious group
we push on toward sanity, concentrating hard.
Full engaging moments spent navigating the loop
shall ever make a difference to victims found in the yard.

Still corpses of creatures, straight out of nightmare
fill up the corners of our tortured minds.
While ever saddened, the iconic male, most debonair,
gazes softly, ironically, at all the mutual interest he finds.

Moronic public statutes compel outbreaks of sanity,
responding to momentary impulses toward inducing peace.
Still, the motions get completed, in fertile stages of inanity
while the bulk of our inmates can find no surcease.

Reluctant motivation to continue is unbound,
striving to ascertain how far there yet remains to go.
No precognitive guesswork will make any less of a sound
to soften the final strains, to teach us to really know.

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y’all know what’s coming now, don’t you? I knew I couldn’t fool you; not in the state I’m in today…. I’m feeling lucky just to still be able to type, at this point; even that is getting problematic, as my thumb continues to throb and complain at each movement…. Ah well, such is life, and pain is no stranger…. I think, to avoid whining, or spewing, or any further blathering, we should go for a dive…. Shall we?….. No parameters, ffolkes, so wear something expendable, or that you at least don’t mind getting soiled…..

“Solon gave the following advice: “Consider your honour, as a gentleman, of more weight than an oath. Never tell a lie. Pay attention to matters of importance.”” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Solon, xii

“If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.” — Confucius (B.C. 551-479)

“All cruelty springs from weakness.” — Seneca

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

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” — Lucius Anneaus Seneca

“There is something inside all of us that yearns not for reason but for mystery… not for penetrating clear thought but for the whisperings of the irrational… not for science but for wizardry disguised as science.. not for rationally founded influence but for magic.” — Karl Jaspers

You will note that there are only six pearls here…. about which it may be said, there is good reason aphorisms such as these are called “ancient wisdom”. Each of these certainly qualifies, though the one from G.B. Shaw may only be old, not quite ancient…. There are only six because I could NOT find the right one to finish it off…. However, I DO know exactly what will fit, and provide the proper finishing touch…. a certain picture I have in mind, to wit:
And there you have it….such as it is…..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today’s Pearl is one that you can chalk up to sheer stubbornness; if I wasn’t so damn stubborn, I’d have given up on this one long ago…. As it is, I’m done with it, so much so, I don’t even want to go back to edit and/or proof it…. Unfortunately for me, my intransigence extends into all areas of my existence…. So….

Well…. I suppose, given my state of mind (melted, mostly….), I’ll have to admit it’s not bad…. None of it seems toxic, anyway, so, I’m letting it go without any further fuss or bother…. Y’all will, like me, just have to take your chances…. If it helps, remember how much you paid to do this…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

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

NOTHING begins until AFTER coffee….

Sifting metadata for tidbits of information…. priceless….

Decorated with marzipan fleurettes…..

Don’t push that envelope; stick a stamp on & mail it….

Save the tangerines for Uncle Micah….

Bursting with possibility, the newest day dawns, as ever, in shades of grey….

Further remonstrances should be unnecessary….

Cats don’t do intangible….

Precious moments of subtle grandeur…..

That’s right; now sprinkle thoroughly with the powdered milk flakes….

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