Tag Archives: Plutarch

Destiny won’t manifest on demand…..

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Ffolkes,

As further proof of the universal nature of bozoid tendencies, I offer up my own sweet self, for spouting off in a most bozo-like fashion a couple of weeks or so ago, talking completely through my ass, to make statements that, while not exactly stupid, were based on a false assumption, thereby guaranteeing they were wrong from the start…. As a result, naturally, my nose began to grow round and bulbous, and take on a deeper red shade…. Most embarrassing, or, would be, if it didn’t happen all the damn time…. I must be getting accustomed to all the funny looks and pitying expressions….

SIGH… It was really dumb, too, but, to save face, I am choosing to believe to be the result of an eye hitch…. I said that in a few days I’d be posting my 1000th blog here on Exploring Consensual Reality, having reached 997 on the count…. Well, it’s going to be a while yet until I hit that high a number, because what my eye saw as 997 was actually 937, a matter of a mere 60 Pearls difference…. about 8 WEEKS difference, not an inconsiderable number….

Oh well, sorry ’bout that…. scratch anything I said earlier, and forget it altogether if you wish…. I’m going to, right up to the time it actually happens…. THEN, I’ll worry about it… That way, no more embarrassing need to admit to my own bozoid nature, any more than I already do as a matter of course….

Since even I don’t want to go there, not without severe need, we’ll try to change direction here, to see if there is anywhere more interesting to hang…. Hmm, how ’bout them Warriors, eh? Oh, right, nobody cares about basketball until the playoffs…. I think, any more, a lot of people do that with almost every sport, which is to say, not follow it closely until the end of the season, when it becomes clearer who will be in the championship games…..

For me, most sports, even baseball, are becoming difficult to sit through; it’s easier to tune in about in the last quarter, or the last few innings, and see who wins…. Usually, in that amount of time, most of the broadcast teams will summarize the rest of the game anyway, complete with video replays, so it’s like seeing only the highlights of the game, without sitting through the whole thing….

There, that was just about as boring a subject that I could possibly have thought of to discuss…. That makes it a perfect paragraph for one of these intros, even if I did, nearly, put everyone right into a self-induced coma, in a frantic attempt to protect themselves from the sheer boredom threatening to overcome their senses…. I think it’s a masterpiece of distraction, completely charming in both its apparent, but false connection to reality, and for its sheer effrontery….. Who else do you know who would make you think about that kind of thing so early in the day? Nobody, I’m guessing…

Plus, after a paragraph THAT unsettling, the law allows me to forgo any further attempts to maintain control; I can let this puppy off the leash now, since I’ve already let it get out of hand. That’s a new law here in 2014… If you screw up badly enough in the introduction of a blog, you’re allowed to remove all restrictions from the rest of the blog, in regards to how it is expected to behave…

In other words, I can let it go wherever it wants, and y’all don’t have any choice but to get dragged along, once you’re strapped into your seat…. Therefore, since the future is set in stone….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If God hadn’t wanted me to be paranoid, He wouldn’t have given me such a vivid imagination.” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

“I wouldn’t recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they’ve always worked for me.” — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), journalist

So, this is going to be fun…. I think. I have no idea what to put here today. I’m not ready to rant; besides which, there’s nothing particularly rantable on tap… Oh, there’s stuff to talk about, silly stuff, bad stuff, even some good stuff…. but, none of it tickles my rant bone…. So, I’m just going to use some links to subject matter, as well as links to today’s headlines, to make short, hopefully pithy comments, infused with with and wisdom, (well, insofar as I am capable of doing so…you can never tell just how that will work out….), thereby defusing the otherwise potentially explosive possibilities that arise when I don’t rant….

First, one of my gentle readers left me a link yesterday, that led to some rather interesting information, about a concept that, oddly enough, I’d never before encountered in all my reading…. though, come to think of it now, I did read the book in which the the first appearance of the idea appeared, according to the article, a tome by Philip K. Dick…. I must have passed over the concept as part of the book’s plot, because it is a deep one, and deserves some thought….

Pronoia.… the belief that there is a conspiracy on the part of the universe to make my life better…. It is the exact reverse state of mind of paranoia, the belief in a conspiracy by reality to do us harm; as such, the concept offers the best sort of contrast to that, contrast that outlines and reveals the true state of mind we need, in order to see ALL the picture that Reality presents to us… The state of mind that shows us how to be aware of the true nature of Reality, that of duality….

It’s also a very nice way to think about living, as one of the natural results of following this train of thought is to become more compassionate, and more tolerant of others…. more able to love, and be loved… If you need an example of someone who displays the characteristics of a pronoiac, think of Elwood P. Dowd, the character played by Jimmy Stewart in the movie, “Harvey”….. Elwood believed in acting just as if the world was a place that had no other purpose than to give him different opportunities to find happiness, and, as a result of his beliefs, he found it, everywhere he looked….

Read the article, ffolkes, it will give you something to think about other than the gloom and doom that is our usual fare, if nothing else….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronoia_%28psychology%29

In another example of how frigging CRAZY this world is, and just how little respect for the public the BRC has, I offer the following, which, though it appears to be encouraging, is actually quite scary, and I’ll tell you why…. after you read what he said….

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Obama-I-care-deeply-about-net-neutrality-5193864.php

While Barry claims to value net neutrality, his minions at the NSA and the US Cyber Security Forces are actively pursuing complete CONTROL of that internet, seeking to find ways to be able to access ANY computer ANYWHERE on the planet, as long as it is connected to the Net. When he was first elected, I sent an email to the White House, in answer to a call for opinions on some subject or another…. My hope, though small, was that someone would actually READ what I sent, and possibly, a response from an actual person would be elicited….

No such luck… I never have received anything from them via this contact other than obvious form letters, asking for donations, telling me I should join this movement, or support the president in some project or another…. Since sending that ONE email, I have been inundated with two, and sometimes three or four emails a day from the White House…. That’s every day, since 2009…. I get begging letters, letters to try to engage me enough to click on links to send me to places where they can present more attempts to brainwash me…. This administration has embrace the internet, social media, and email as marketing tools of the highest order, and obviously, have learned a lot from the spam industry about how to use email as a marketing tool…

Not only that, they are definitely mining me for whatever data they can find…. They know my name, and that I’ve never responded, because I keep getting emails from them telling me my name isn’t on their list as a supporter or a donor…. I would opt out of getting them, but, I believe in the old adage about keeping one’s enemies close enough to know what they’re up to, at least on the surface….

Immediately upon emailing the WH, I also got new, begging-type emails from a number of liberal causes, all of whom are big supporters of the pOTUS’s agenda…. Even Al Franken, a smart comedian turned Senator, started hitting me up for donations, along with the Human Rights Commission, MoveOn.org, Causes, Greenpeace, etc….. all are dunning me to get my spare dollars, and put my name, and computer address, into their database….

No, thanks…. I’ll keep accepting the emails, because it gives me a fair idea of what’s up in those arenas, but, I won’t ever respond again to them, even though I have no fear of the delete button, and can get rid of them without mercy, or regret…. which I do, every day…. But, damn, I wish I was a good enough hacker to be able to send back an email bomb, that would explode their database when my data got entered…. That would be too cool for words….

I see this statement by the president as a self-serving one, designed to make people believe he has the same concerns they have; but, at the same time, he is actively working to make the internet completely his to control…. and THAT’s dangerous, because, people are BELIEVING him….

Lastly today, here is an article which I am including, even though I won’t read it…. If this project gets passed, it will be a significant victory for the Asininnies in the fight to save the Arctic (Oh, yeah, I get emails about that, too…) from the oil companies’ limitless avarice. I have a feeling, though, even if passed, it will never get built, due to eco-terrorist sabotage…..Though not one of them, per se, I know there are a LOT of people out there who are VERY committed to stopping this pipeline, and won’t give up….

Seems to me, though I’ve never studied those particular warfare techniques in great detail, it wouldn’t be all that difficult to stop the pipeline from being built, considering the vulnerability of the areas through which it must pass…..Time will tell, but, I think the shadowy corporate masters may have bitten off a bite from a very bitter apple, which may end up being more than they can chew, this time….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Keystone-XL-oil-pipeline-clears-significant-hurdle-5193660.php

Such articles tend to depress me, so I’m going to give this a rest now…. This will have to suffice as today’s rant, because, ffolkes, that’s all I’ve got in me today…. I’m pretty sure that most ffolkes would say it’s enough…. I’ll finish up with this short, five-star pearl, which seems appropriate to the above discussions….

“According to Descartes, Rush Limbaugh doesn’t exist.” — Smart Bee

“If good intentions are combined with stupidity, it is impossible to outthink them.” — Marion J. Levy, Jr.

“Prefer loss to the wealth of dishonest gain; the former vexes you for a time; the latter will bring you lasting remorse.” — Chilo

“Remember: it’s only American television.” — David Letterman

“Life, as we know it, does not exist.” — Smart Bee
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Again, to avoid splashing any of the blame over onto any other entity, I am posting one of my older poems, this one a nod to my current opinion of the BRC and this administration, in light of the failure of hope that has been laid upon our doorstep….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors, normal folks, or their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks;
Though they talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.

“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.

Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
take careful aim, and piss.

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Oh boy! Now, it’s MY turn…. Well, I suppose you could say that it’s always my turn here, but, that’s okay, I like to show my enthusiasm now and again, and, it would be really rude of me to shut myself off when I’m trying to be so positive…. Besides, now I get to let Smart Bee pick out some pearls, the kind I can use to create a pearl of great wisdom and beauty….

I probably should say, though, that it’s a distinct possibility we’ll just get whatever we get….  We’ll like it, or we’ll lump it, and Smart Bee won’t give a rat’s ass one way or the other…. It can be an asshole that way, sometimes, but, I don’t think we’ll have that issue today…. it seems in a good space…. Let’s get on with it, shall we?….

“There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method.” — Herman Melville, Moby Dick

— Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road? Ernest Hemingway: “To die. In the rain.”

“Pompey bade Sylla recollect that more worshiped the rising than the setting sun.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Pompey

“Can there be a republic that does not slump under the weight of so much human desire?” — Michael Scully

“Above all, we must abolish hope in the heart of man. A calm despair, without angry convulsions, without reproaches to Heaven, is the essence of wisdom.” — Alfred Victor Vigny

“I don’t feel it is necessary to know exactly what I am. The main interest in life and work is to become something else that you were not in the beginning. If you knew when you began a book what you would say at the end, do you think you would have the courage to write it? What is true for writing and for a love relationship is also true for life. The game is worthwhile insofar as we don’t know what will be the end.” — Michel Foucault, interviewed by Rux Martin

“Go softly, for you tread on my dreams.” — Yeats
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Ffolkes, THIS is a Pearl…. I won’t make a value judgment as to its quality, but, I’ll say this… It’s done, it’s all fresh, and, it’s all the truth, as far as I can tell…. I’ve been known to be wrong, but, not this time, I think…. See ya….

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

dozer3

Tiny, torn pieces of once proud menu items….

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Ffolkes,

With a last, silent slide down the slippery sky, the nearly-full moon fell behind the mountain to the west, filling the valley below with darkness complete….. Instantly, twelve silent shadows moved as one, filing through the forest, to pass the edge of the clearing where they had lain hidden, near the darker line of trees, swiftly making their way to where the moon was last seen. No curious animals stirred in the now Stygian night, as the line of warriors, weapons in hand, passed through, below the silent nests of sleeping birds; no rasp of scraping leather, or clack of loosely packed arrows escaped the troop, no wheezing breath betrayed their position….. The twelve warriors moved like ghosts through the forest night, making their way to their destined fate.

As they made their silent way toward the mountain, their destination loomed, a darker mass against the bulk of trees…. Massive, with small twinkling lights at the highest corners of the crenelated walls, the castle spread itself higher and higher up the mountain, to where sentries could just be made out, marching past the lights as they worked their way around the castle’s outer walls. At a hand-signal, the troop stopped, looking to the front of the line to where the leader, gazing up at the walls, stood at the edge of trees leading up to the castle’s moat, and bridge gate…. Discipline had them standing silent, waiting for the next step to be ordered…. Before this night was over, the world would change; many innocents would die, and a new world would greet the surviving few….

Fortunately for us, we won’t be around when they get into the castle…. It’s been quite a while since I  began a daily Pearl with a fictional story opening… It felt pretty good, actually, and, from the look of it, might be one I should put away to work on later, as it could conceivably work itself into a nice little tale…. So far, I’ve never finished one, but, hey, ya never know, do ya? Even I sometimes manage to do something right, so, hey, why not? In the meantime, here we are, already a good, solid two and bit of paragraphs into this, and it’s all good, and all fresh…. Bonus!

Of course, now we come to the conundrum of this type of opening section…. To wit: Now what? I suppose I could just jump in and start the dive, but, would that satisfy all the legal issues? Don’t know, & don’t want to pay the fines to find out…. Hmm, I could….. no, better not. Last time I tried that, it didn’t work out so well, and took me three days to recover my chutzpah…. Well, we could always…. wait, no, the automatic blender we’d need for that is broken…. Damn, well, shoot, what ARE we going to do? I can’t recall ever being precisely in this particular position before, but, that doesn’t mean we haven’t been here… I mean, even MY excellent memory has a few gaps in it….

Well, I guess there’s no other option; we’ll have to go back to method #4, which, in spite of its stark, ugly nature, remains the most effective choice to get this process unstuck at times like this…. I suppose if Reality weren’t quite so exquisitely diverse, there wouldn’t be as many choices, and making the right one would be easier…. Since it isn’t like that, we’ll have to go on with this, and hope for the best…..

Shall we Pearl?

“Being normal isn’t one of my strengths.” — gigoid
_____________________________

Other than the intro section, whose level of creativity needed for production has never been calculated (thankfully…), most of today’s Pearl is from 2012…. so, I’m creating a fresh pearl here, just so we can say it isn’t ALL old and possibly stale…. I’m not sure exactly what the parameters for this may end up as, so, I’d keep my safety harness hooked, at least loosely, if it were me….

“The farther you go, the less you know.” — Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching”

“Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. . . . the human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.” — Frank Herbert, Dune

“Antiphanes said merrily, that in a certain city the cold was so intense that words were congealed as soon as spoken, but that after some time they thawed and became audible; so that the words spoken in winter were articulated next summer.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Man’s Progress in Virtue

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” — The Wizard Of Oz

“Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xii, Apology for Raimond Sebond

“On with the dance, let joy be unconfined” is my motto, whether there’s any dance to dance or joy to unconfine.” — Mark Twain

“Being about to pitch his camp in a likely place, and hearing there was no hay to be had for the cattle, “What a life,” said he, “is ours, since we must live according to the convenience of asses!” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Philip

This, if you haven’t noticed, is quite possibly a perfect pearl, seven star random style, with a good set of ideas that add up to a pretty formidable lesson, if one has the wit to find it…. If not, it’s all still good advice, or, good thoughts with which to live life, so…. Any who, such perfection requires a finishing quote, one that reflects the useful nature of pearls, while still offering some actually useful information…. In those respects, this is as iterated…. perfect….

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total oblivion. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me and turn my inner eye to follow its path. When the fear is gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” — The Litany Against Fear (Frank Herbert, -Dune-, 1965)
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To avoid any potential lawsuits, here is one of my own poems, from some time in 2012….

Seeing is Conducive to Belief

Folly sits so comfortably upon my fevered brow
one would easily believe that I would know how
to look at Life with a jaded, weary eye
seeing enough, and more, to know Why.

Such seems the case, as I will it to be,
an open book of a face, it looks so like me;
what’s known to be so, needs no close attention
familiar sights require no minding, nor mention.

The eye is drawn at once to the stark and new,
and sent back to sleep by successful review.
Once we find evidence we feel we understand,
curiosity languishes, dismissed at command.

Ancient sages knew the insidious value of illusion,
preachers and pundits know the power of confusion.
Each pair of eyes contains its own point of reference,
each mind sets its own standards of preference.

Seeing is believing, for those who live in thrall,
accepting what is perceived is all they ever recall.
Unknown to them, reality follows another set of rules,
Deeper, more dangerous, and no place for fools.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Below this line you will find one of my most well-put together, and well-written pieces of work…. It’s a long rant, covering several issues, from way back in 2012 sometime…. I’m impressed, and so will you be…. I’m also lazy, and there’s just no cure for that…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. long as it is, it’s a pretty good read, I think….

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

It’s not every day I’m compelled to write about religion, politics, philosophy, and the Unified Field Theory, unless in separate pearls…. Taking them all on together might seem a bit egocentric of me, but I’ve never been one to dismiss a challenge, unless it was one that didn’t interest me…. This one definitely hits all the high points of my particular bent, or bents, so, what the hell, let’s see what happens…..

“Each religion, by the help of more or less myth which it takes more or less seriously, proposes some method of fortifying the human soul and enabling it to make its peace with its destiny.” — George Santayana

This idea is one that makes it possible for me to get through a lot of days without becoming homicidal toward a lot of people who bandy their religious beliefs about as if I were at all interested in them. I am aware that there have been a lot of good people throughout history, including current times, who are devout believers in one religion or another; they are sincere in their beliefs, and in their efforts to live their lives according to the precepts of their religions.

Some of them are even preachers, or priests of one sort or another, but the percentage in those categories of sincere belief is most certainly smaller than in the general public…. Let’s face it, most of those who go into the business do it because they aren’t any good at anything else, and the work is pretty easy…. Being a preacher is only hard if it gets taken seriously enough to try to help other folks, but most of the ones I’ve met are more concerned with convincing everyone of their piety than they are with actually helping…. and to most of them, the process of proving their own piety is accomplished by challenging everyone else’s beliefs, and sticking their noses into other people’s business….

One of the most insidious attractions of religion to many people, sad to say, is that it provides such a convenient vehicle for going through life without ever having to come up with an original thought or feeling. Every system of religious dogma, from no matter what cult, or division, or schism, or whatever it maybe called, is designed to give people answers to their questions about life and all the things that happen that they don’t understand, thus creating a sense of dependency. This is very convenient for political pundits, who manage to take advantage every time the preachers pull another scam on the public….

Unfortunately, those answers, comforting as they may be, seldom reflect reality very well, but are based rather on how that particular sect views the issue at hand…. and you can rest assured that those answers are designed to benefit the sect, and the preacher, in rather more ways than they will benefit the person with the questions…. But, I’m sure it is very comforting to know that if you just go along with what they say, you are somehow guaranteed something…. I never could understand that part very well, as there was nobody who could tell me just what was being promised…. other than I’d have to wait until I was dead in order to see it…. (The politicians like this one as well, because it gets people used to being told something,  i.e. campaign promises, then having those promises unfulfilled…. )

“There are so many ways that we sabotage our own divinity, our own possibilities. and the mythologies of race and gender may well head the list.” — Callan Williams

Ah yes, the mythologies of race and gender…. Consider this…. each of us who are of the genus homo sapiens is a unique individual, no matter what color our skin, or whether we are male or female. Unique in our own right, beginning with the pattern of DNA that dictates and defines the characteristics of the organism that is each one of us. Unique. This is indisputable scientific fact.

And yet, there are still people who choose to believe that there are characteristics shared by certain groups of homo sapiens that make them somehow superior or inferior to another group. Which of those characteristics they claim as exclusive is always based on articles of faith, and never on any physical evidence. The basis for these articles of faith are outlined in the myths, myths that ignorance breeds, born out of fear of the unknown….

These fears are pretty formless, as the people who have them don’t like to think about them. First, because then they feel uncomfortable, and being comfortable is preferable to thinking, no matter how much it may alleviate the fear.  Second, it is also hard to clearly define something that one rejects all evidence of knowing about; the fear is a known factor, and knowledge is not.

These behaviors are a very childish reaction to serious adult issues, but then, a large number of people never learn to deal with life after a certain age; the techniques of denial and avoidance that children rely on are hard for some to give up, especially in matters of emotional or psychological import.

“The ability to accept responsibility is the measure of the man.”  — Roy L. Smith

This is very true, and actually would be claimed as their own by many folks who make a habit of refusing to even consider being responsible for anything outside their own little world. The flaw in their world-view is their intractable belief that what THEY perceive is the only true way that the world CAN be perceived; they seem to be constitutionally unable to entertain any idea to the contrary.

This makes compromise with them somewhat of a difficult proposition, as their unfounded, but unshakeable belief in their own rightness gives them a feeling of entitlement, of believing that they can lie to and cheat others without consequence, because the “others” are, as unbelievers, not worthy of honorable treatment. (Hmm, I can’t decide if this sounds more like a fundamentalist Christian, a ruthless business man, or a politician…. since it fits all three, I guess it fits Romney like a second skin….)

“It is a great advantage for a system of philosophy to be substantially true.” — George Santayana

This second quote from Mssr. Santayana points out another flaw in the philosophy held by those who follow many religions, under their own interpretations of the scriptures that are used by them. This flaw is obviously based on the relatively inarguable fact that all of them are faith-based philosophies…. grand, well considered, beautifully constructed philosophies, whose basic premise is an entity whose existence cannot be evidenced in the physical world.

There are innumerable thoughtful and elegant “proofs” of the existence of these entities, all of which, again, are constructed entirely of words and ideas. Some use logic, some history, some use hope, some use delusion, and some use an amorphous idea that cannot be pinned down…. none of them have actual pieces of physical evidence that incontrovertibly points to the existence of such an entity. If anyone knows of one, or two, or more, please let me know of it/them; I would be very interested in the information, and its provenance, to be sure….

I have wandered far afield today, indeed, into the most distant realms of human thought, and I’ll bet you thought I’d forget about the Unified Field Theory…. For those unfamiliar with the phrase, let me explain as succinctly as I can; this has gone on a long time, and I’m sure we all have better stuff to do, but, hey, I’m here, you’re here, so….

Any who, the Unified Field theory is a mathematical model of the universe that, in essence of its yet-to-exist-theory, explains and describes all the different types of energy that we know to exist in the Universe; Gravitational energy, Magnetic energy, Electric energy, Electromagnetic energy, Kinetic energy, Biochemical energy, life energy…. All are known to us; we can identify and measure them all, but we do not understand, even minimally, how they interact, or how they are all inter-related as part of the Universe at large…. hence the need for a unified theory, to connect our understanding of them all. It hasn’t been written yet; it is still just a concept for the future of scientific endeavor, though Stephen Hawking is said to be working on coming up with one before he dies…. if anyone can, then, he is certainly the most promising candidate.

In short, we are trying to discover and codify the one theory that explain how it all works, how everything fits into the larger picture…. There are many, including Mr. Hawking, who believe that knowing this can possibly lead us to a closer idea of the answer to the Why it all works the way it does…. by design, or by chance? Did God lose a bet, or win one? Or is there some as yet unknown reason beyond our current ability to understand? Being able to SEE and KNOW how it all works can only give us clues about the origins of it all.  Even if it doesn’t give us all the answers we seek, we will have a better understanding of the Universe, and ourselves, and thus, perhaps, a better idea of our true place in all of what we see….

Whew! If you made it to here, you are indeed worthy…. as well as, most likely, tired, confused, and a bit troubled, with doubts as to my sanity….  It’s okay, I understand…. and I don’t blame you. I should have handed out warning notices at the beginning…. Ah well, ’twas fun for me, and that will do…. Stop me, please, I can’t seem to shut up…. wait, don’t pull that pl….
_____________________________

I’m pretty certain that this one will NOT make it to the Pulitzer short list, but, it’s done, and around here, that’s what we’re shooting for, first of all…. Any issues of quality should be taken up with the literary committee, which meets on alternate leap years in the main library conference room downtown…. Feel free to join them at their next meeting, in January of 2016, I believe…. For the nonce, you’re on your own….. See ya….

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

dozer3

One final set of twins to discombobulate….

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1

Ffolkes,

I’ve still to come to terms with Reality today;  this is a particularly trying issue just now, as it hits right at a very critical function…. Our argument began the moment my eyes opened, at about 0430 or so…. It seems Murphy, or some other iconic force of nature with similar asshole tendencies, wanted me to arise earlier, but, in my blissful ignorance, so blessedly bestowed upon me last night by the gods of sleep, with the aid of some beaudacious drugs, I completely blew him off, from about 3:15 until I finally arose….

He was pissed, (a minor piece of enjoyment for me….) but I was only mildly amused by that, since he didn’t fire off any of his usual fireworks upon my upheaval…. (I think that’s a good word to describe my process of getting out of bed these days…. between the stiff hips, back, generally painful movement, and the usual degree of morning lethargy, the act of arising can turn into quite a little ordeal these days…)

Any who, having gone to ground early last night, with some major pain from a minor back tweak, I wouldn’t have minded too much, but, damn, it sure felt good….. Not only to get to sleep easily, but to be able to turn over and go BACK to sleep as I wished…. The latter is a particularly nice bonus, as that is the worst part of being old and in pain, the not being able to sleep comfortably, or consistently, part….. Not sleeping well, or easily, or often, only adds to all the other difficulties involved in aging, sort of like how synergy flows, and builds up with resonant feedback…. Oh, damn!  What’s the word I’m looking for? Aha! Heterodyne!…. That’s it…. not sleeping causes a heterodyne effect in other problematic issues, making them bigger, and harder to deal with….

Okay, then!…. Now that the morning medical issues chat is out of the way, and I’m thoroughly embarrassed by my own inadvertent release of TMI, I suppose I should look for some other, less revealing way to get on with today’s business… It is, after all, my purpose in being here at all…. I hadn’t actually thought about how to open up today at all, and this diving right in, though it seems to have produced a sufficient amount of material, also seems a bit too much like the usual method of getting the intro done, i.e., mindless rambling around the back hallways in my head, until we find our way out into the light of the day….. Not that those intro sections aren’t legal, but, they’re still not what I’d prefer to see here every day…. Until I can figure out some sort of feasible method, though, it’ll have to do….

Oh, goodie…. Look! It’s happened again! Four to five completely worthless paragraphs, chock full of stuff that doesn’t mean anything to anybody…. Well, it could POSSIBLY mean something to me, but, I don’t wouldn’t have it with a warranty…. Any who, it’s street legal, obviously, so we’re going to bail on this whole intro thing, and get on with today’s dive and/or rant…. It can’t be any more difficult than this has proven to be, to be sure….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.” — Terry Pratchett.
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Today, the order of events has undergone some alterations, and the old-school pearl will be in this section…. No particular reason, other than I pasted the necessary rantable material in the other section without looking first, and I’m too lazy to move it now….. Here, then, for your delectation and elucidation, a harlequin, randomly chosen pearl of lustrous quality, complete with burgeoning hints of wisdom…. Enjoy!….

Better stop short than fill to the brim.
Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.
Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Claim wealth and titles, and disaster will follow.
Retire when the work is done.
This is the way of heaven.

— Tao Te Ching

“Consider well what your strength is equal to, and what exceeds your ability.” — Horace

“After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. “Your advice,” said Cicero, “were good if we were to fight jackdaws.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Cicero

“You take the lies out of him, and he’ll shrink to the size of your hat; you take the malice out of him, and he’ll disappear.” — Mark Twain

“With the neutron bomb, which destroys life but not property, capitalism has found the weapon of its dreams.” — Edward Abbey

“A lot of people voting for Pat Buchanan say they are doing so to send a message. Apparently that message is, Hey, look at me, I’m an idiot.” — Dennis Miller

“While the gentleman cherishes benign rule, the small man cherishes his native land.  While the gentleman cherishes a respect for the law, the small man cherishes generous treatment.” — Confucius, Analects, IV.11

Wow…. I guess today’s theme got into Smart Bee’s head, and turned that pearl in a direction that causes it to fit right in with today’s rant, below in section three…. If it isn’t clear, when reading the above pearls, think Beloved Ruling Class, and the antidote for society’s ills, to wit: Reason….
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I love it when serendipity becomes subject to the influence of a good plan… I received this poem via email, from a poetry web site… Though I’ve read quite a few of this man’s poems, this is one I’d missed, or not gotten to yet….  My jaw dropped, and I was struck momentarily dumb as a statue, at the sheer, unadulterated power of metaphor (Metaphorse?) displayed, in this poem, and by the author…. one of a long line of crazy Irishmen…

A Coat

I MADE my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world’s eyes
As though they’d wrought it.
Song, let them take it,
For there’s more enterprise
In walking naked.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

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So, below here, you’ll find a bit of art, which I fell would help to show the point I’m going to attempt to make today…. The first photo goes hand in hand with the first link, which is an article that gives us the patina of lies from Senator Feinstein’s office, a statement that fully supports the mealy-mouthed lies and distortions put out by the President yesterday, in his oh-so-highly-anticipated, and oh-so-disappointingly-asinine speech regarding the leak of information by Eric Snowden that exposed the spying being done by the NSA….

The speech itself was a masterful litany of garbage, from all I can tell, a political masterpiece for its obscurity and ability to ignore completely any real sense of being in the wrong…. He never once admitted any wrongdoing, either by the agency, or his administration, and made no concessions toward any clemency for the whistleblower who began the debate, by making this information so distressingly (distressing for the administration, for having been caught, both in the spying, and in the lies they told about it….) public.

The constraints the president (no capital on purpose; remember, he’s got to EARN it….) recommends do not even go as far as his own self-appointed committee recommended, and, in reality, do absolutely NOTHING to put any REAL restraints on the spying that the NSA is doing, nor on what they PLAN on doing, which is to gain access to every computer on the planet…. Mrs. Feinstein (who happens to be the wealthiest Senator on record, with a net worth of about a half a BILLION dollars….), who is the co-chairman (with the other stone-faced pundit in the photo below…) of the Senate Committee on Intelligence, in her own speech, managed to blow off every bit of public opinion her constituency has shown her, and backed the president right down the line…..

Here, read the articles for yourself…..
di and her ilk(Suggested caption: ” Dianne, I’m a power-crazed psychopath – I don’t WANT inner peace!!!!” )

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/01/17/dianne-feinstein-praises-prez-on-nsa/

The photo below is one of the congressional members who sat to listen to the president’s speech yesterday…. Have you ever seen a group of more self-satisfied, sleekly rapacious, avaricious political pundits anywhere? Not to mention how well it points out how the majority of the Beloved Ruling Class is made up of older RICH, MISOGYNISTIC WHITE MALES, who are, by far, the largest demographic represented in Washington, D.C., even though this country no longer reflects that demographic in any way….

What amazes me about the article below, in some ways, is the media’s straight-faced reporting of this speech, as if it really had any meaning…. The title of the article itself implies that some sort of restraints are to be applied, but, if one really looks at what he has proposed, there really aren’t any changes being made…. Oh, they’re making it LOOK as if there are, but, the system in place is not going to be shut down, or altered in any way from its current format…. they’re only making what appears to be a cosmetic change in the way the paperwork gets done, with no mention at all of any of the real concerns the public has, in spite of anything Feinstein, or anyone else said….

They all look pretty happy about all this, don’t they? That’s because they all know that they’re exempt, (as far as they know….) from being treated like one of the public…. These men, and a few misguided, broken women who join them in the BRC, believe they’re different than the public, and are not being spied upon as we are….. HAH! Let them think so…. Do they really believe that these agencies will stop at spying on just the public?….. If so, they’re even stupider than they look….
a room full of...(Suggested caption: ” Dianne, I’m a power-crazed psychopath – I don’t WANT inner peace!!!!” )

(P.S. Both captions are the same, deliberately…. think about it….)

(Both photos are from the SFGATE website….)

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Obama-tightens-reins-on-surveillance-programs-5151532.php

Once again, as I have at almost every turn for the last six years, I am disappointed in the president’s response to this issue. Every time I build up some hope that just once, someone in the political arena will show some real intelligence, instead of continuing to maintain the standard government policies of entitlement in their attitudes toward the public, ignorance and denial of the actual wishes of the public, and prevarication as their method for communicating with that public…. In essence, I wish the public would WAKE THE FUCK UP, and get on with the business of throwing these idiots back into the gene pool….

Sorry, didn’t mean to shout at y’all…. I get pretty frustrated at times, looking out at the world, and watching it slowly, inexorably exploding…. A study recently showed that those films of buildings that are demolished by explosions are one of mankind’s most fascinating visions, harder to pull away from watching than pornography…. I guess there’s a reason for that, as watching that complete destruction probably gives our unconscious minds the feeling of observing one’s own future….

The asininnies you see in the picture above have already placed the dynamite in all of the points required to bring down the building in which we all live, ffolkes….. you can bet your bottom dollar that is true. Oh, they have no clue as to what they’ve done, or continue to do…. Evil doesn’t think of itself as evil…. They just refuse to listen to, or look at, any sort of evidence that what they think may not be true…. One can only learn when one admits to not knowing, and they’ll never admit they’re wrong at all…

But, their ignorance and denial doesn’t alter the FACT of global warming…. Of the people you see in that picture, most of whom are involved in running this country, approximately half don’t believe it is real; that belief, or lack of belief, still doesn’t alter the FACT that the temperature of the planet continues to rise, and that the planet’s entire supply of permafrost, a naturally occurring substance that lies in the Arctic, and Antarctic, in conjunction with the ice, and under the oceans, on the sea beds, which contains the most lethal gas we know, is rapidly melting, releasing that methane gas into the air at a rate that will kill them, and us, in a shorter time than any of us want to believe….

I’m tired…. This subject is one I’ve been ranting about for what seems like ages, but, in actuality, is only a couple of years, at least, in print…. I’ve been talking about this for many years, to mostly deaf ears…. Nobody WANTS to hear such bad tidings, so, their solution is denial, and/or avoidance…. Well, so be it…. I hate to say it, ffolkes, but, if that particularly human habit, of hiding from reality when it gets unpalatable, continues, well, then, we are all going to die much sooner than anyone thinks…. plain and simple…..

Whereas: Since our primary source of cultural advice and supposedly wise actions is seen by most people to reside in the churches and religions of     the world…., and,

Whereas: no church or religion will admit to global warming, or evolution, or any other scientific FACT that questions dogma…., and

Whereas: almost everyone believes the churches….

Whereas: the churches tell people to respect the government’s authority…., and

Whereas: as explained above, governments are worse than the churches when it comes to ignorance, denial, and prevarication…., then

Conclusion: You may as well just bend over, and kiss your sorry ass goodbye…..

“I’m RELIGIOUS!!  I love a man with a HAIRPIECE!! Equip me with MISSILES!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Well, ffolkes, this one’s got a bit of it all! Links, art, research, rant, old-school, classic poetry, innuendo, nonsense, and, for a kicker, some down and dirty depression….. What more could one ask for, I ask you? Oh, really…. hmm…. Well, I’ll think about that, and let you know…. See ya….

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

dozer3

Seduced by the smell of onions….

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Ffolkes,

So much for routine…. Whatever routine I had developed over time is now kaput. (A word old as your granny, yet with a powerful connotation as a word to describe anything that is finished, or no longer in context) And, there I go, getting distracted, going off on a tangent before I’m out of the first paragraph…. Hell, look at this! I didn’t even get to the third sentence before pulling myself into a separate trail of thought…. SIGH….. Being a polymath isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be….

Most of us tend to rely on routines to get us started each day…. Each of us figures out the most efficient methods for us to arise, groom, dress, and head out to meet the day; I don’t know about y’all, but my methods tend to rely heavily on those actions that can be performed without any conscious thought or effort, as it takes me until after several hits of coffee before I’m able to see past the end of my nose, or, for that matter, before I even WANT to see any further…. For me, the coffee, with condiments, of course, is the central issue, the one factor that can screw up the rest of whatever happens, if it doesn’t happen as it is supposed to….

Without coffee, I have no real idea what the world is like, nor do I wish to know. I don’t CARE how anyone else feels about it, either. Until I have downed at least a half a cup, talking with people, or interacting with them in any way, is an activity fraught with danger, for both of us, but, mainly for the other person…. Not that I’m totally dangerous (though I can be….), but, it’s not a fair fight when one persons level of grump is so much higher than another’s….. A certain level of grump is required to overcome it in another, and there’s just no way to soften that reality, so, I just have to be careful not to see, or interact with, anyone before I’ve had my brew….

At this point, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that I’ve again lost track…. I mean, I know what I’m talking about…. I just haven’t a clue about how I got here, or why I should continue in this direction, when it so obviously leads nowhere in particular….. Though that is a destination we are quite familiar with here at ECR, it isn’t where I’d planned to end up today…. Ah well, that’s what I get for meandering through my own head for inspiration…. I have to take whatever comes up, and deal with it…. and, in this case, so do you….

To mitigate any difficulties you may be experiencing with that particular issue, I’ll bring this to a crashing halt here…. Getting on with our business of the day seems like the best thing to do now, since I’ve again written myself to a point where I can do nothing else…. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Shall we Pearl?

“I, for my own part, had much rather people should say of me that there neither is nor ever was such a man as Plutarch, than that they should say, “Plutarch is an unsteady, fickle, froward, vindictive, and touchy fellow.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Superstition
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Well, they’ve done it again…. I thought when I began today I would not have a rantable subject, since the BRC’s Asininnies seem to have taken some time off here in the beginning of the year….. But, then I found this article, tucked way down the front page of the news site at SFGATE…. I imagine the story’s placement has a little to do with who the story is about…. The shadowy corporate masters of society don’t like to see this kind of stuff up on the main part of the page; they don’t like to spotlight anything they do, and this one is one they’ll not wish people to hear about too quickly, before they’ve secured the position the ruling below gives them…..

Yes, ffolkes, another federal judge, handily in the pocket of big money, has ruled in favor of Verizon, a shadowy corporate master if ever there was one, on their suit to be able to charge what they want, and restrict what they want, from the Internet services they provide, thus giving them the ability to, essentially, control the flow of data and information that goes over the ‘Net, and charge people however much they want for it…..

This judge, in a ruling that echoes the corruption of the original ruling that gave corporations “personhood”, once again ruled that the corporation was entitled to rights and privileges over their network, even though previously, the FCC had ruled the request to be discriminatory, thus spotlighting it as a proprietary attempt by Verizon to monopolize the Internet for its own use….

“Judges said although the FCC has oversight of how Internet providers manage traffic, its regulations were overreaching considering the agency classified broadband providers as “information services” companies rather than telecom companies, which “exempts them from treatment as common carriers.”

“exempts them from treatment as common carriers.”….. In and of itself, this doesn’t LOOK like the insane viewpoint it really is… I mean, is it sane to define a corporation as a person, and give them not just the same rights, but a version of those rights that actually favors them, as they can now perform actions, as a corporation, that would earn a real person a jail cell?…. NOBODY IS SUPPOSED TO BE “EXEMPT” FROM THE LAW!

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Will-net-neutrality-ruling-make-Web-like-cable-TV-5143669.php

“Verizon, which brought the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, argued that because it built its network, it has the right to manage its costs and services as it pleases.”

Here we have the basic statement of purpose, the one that shows just exactly how avaricious these assholes are…. “as it pleases”….. In other words, the company, because it has legal standing as a “person”, is thus given the right to do “as it pleases” with the Internet, or, that part of it that it can control (which, since they own much of the actual machinery over which the Internet users travel, means they would control ALL of it….)….

If that is NOT a statement of outright greed and selfishness, then my parents had no clue as what those words meant, because I was taught the exact opposite of what they are expressing…. As members of a society, we all have certain limits on what we can do “as we please”, limits that are connected to our own connection to other people, and the fact that those people have rights as well…

It seems to me that whenever a corporate person, and a real person end up in court, the ruling always seems to favor the corporation…. Now, why is that, do you think? Would it, perhaps, just maybe, be a result of who has the most money? Why, yes, I believe it would…. and has been that way since the mid-1800’s, when the Federal Appeals Courts first gave corporations their legal advantage over the rest of us…. That decision created today’s imbalanced situation, where it doesn’t matter at all that the agencies who fought against this presented very cogent, powerful arguments; the judge ruled the only way he could, and still preserve his position as one of the flunkies….

Those agencies who fought this suit included the FCC itself, which made this statement telling why it had resisted the suit brought by Verizon…. The agency, even though a federal bureaucracy itself, is well aware of what is at stake, and took the side of consumers for a change…..

“(FCC Chairman) Tom Wheeler said his agency is mulling a Supreme Court appeal, and insisted the FCC will not “abandon its responsibility to oversee that broadband networks operate in the public interest. (The FCC) will not disregard the possibility that exercises of economic power or of ideological preference by dominant network firms will diminish the value of the Internet to some or all segments of our society,” he wrote in a blog post.”

Other organizations with a stake also joined in to resist the suit in court…. The American Library Association said this, in describing the danger of giving up this power to the corporate world….

“Now that the Internet has become the primary mechanism for delivering information, services and applications to the general public, it is especially important that commercial Internet service providers are not able to control or manipulate the content of these communications,” said Barbara Stripling, president of the American Library Association. ”

Other organizations chimed in as well, in an effort to defend the FCC policies at stake….

“Rashad Robinson, executive director of the African American advocacy group ColorOfChange.org, fears that large private companies may start to squeeze out public discourse online.  “Our communities rely on the Internet to speak without a corporate filter, to access information and connect to the world, and to be able to organize and hold public officials and corporations accountable.”

The corporation, of course, had their slimy, young, personable snakes out in full force, issuing press statements, to counter any public discourse with assurances that the company wouldn’t make any real changes to internet services…. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, the spin doctor who made this statement even believes this, in spite of the FACT that the company has never once shown any sort of morality when it comes to its business practices…. He says, assuring us of the company’s good intentions….

“Verizon has been and remains committed to the open Internet which provides consumers with competitive choices and unblocked access to lawful websites and content when, where and how they want,” a spokesman said in a statement. “This will not change in light of the court’s decision.”

Sure, mister…. all that will be true, at the same moment when the pigs take off to fly from the White House lawn, and the weather notices from Hell are mentioning snow….. How do these assholes convince themselves to say things like that in public, when not only does everyone listening know they’re lying, but, they can barely keep a straight face, due to their own knowledge of just how dishonest they’re being?….

I find it interesting to note, this statement contains 3 assertions, all 3 of which can be shown to be bald-faced lies…. This company does NOT show any commitment to an open Internet, does NOT provide competitive choices, or unblocked access (unless forced to….), and, in truth, you can be very sure they have every intention of changing the prices and controls over their network to suit themselves, and their insane avarice for profit by any means….

Okay, ffolkes, now you know…. The assholes who decide for us how much we are to have, have now decided, and it is, once again, far less than we wanted, or needed…. In fact, this whole issue, to me, is just another good example to show folks about how screwed up the world is, and not have to look far for evidence…. Of course, that assumes those folks have left their ears, and their minds, open enough to hear it, and possess the wit to understand…. Sadly, I’m afraid there aren’t enough ffolkes out there who can do that, or, at least, not enough to make a difference any more….

This decision by the Appeals Court, and the ensuing circus to come when society reacts to it, in my mind, is just another sign, among many, that our world is winding itself down to the end…. The corporations keep on securing all the resources and power over others that they can, never knowing that, by doing so, by continuing the insanity in which they’ve engaged for centuries, they are sealing their own fate….. while the rest of us have only to watch in fascination as the scenario unfolds in all its mad glory…..

In truth, I’m kind of starting to look forward to all of the end-time shenanigans that will no doubt ensue when these idiots finally realize what is happening, and what they’ve done…. The expressions on their faces will be priceless, and their contortions of despair, as they go about dying in agony, will only bring a smile to my own face….. A little something to look forward to, in a situation where such gems are scarce…. SIGH….

People are strange, aren’t they?

“Gee, I feel kind of LIGHT in the head now, knowing I can’t make my satellite dish PAYMENTS!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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When I began this morning, I had not intended to rant about anything…. Then, while looking through the headlines, I found the article under discussion above, and my outrage flared alarmingly…. So, I ended up with a fairly long rant, on a subject I will no doubt visit again…. Unexpected as it was, I am now a bit fatigued…. Writing from the position of outrage is not as easy as it looks; the emotional investment seems to suck energy as one types, due to the intense mental effort, and the concomitant emotional content that is connected…. All this is just to say, I got tired, and don’t want to work hard any more today…. Days such as this, Emily is the only poet that will do for me….

The feet of people walking home
With gayer sandals go –
The Crocus – til she rises
The Vassal of the snow –
The lips at Hallelujah
Long years of practice bore
Till bye and bye these Bargemen
Walked singing on the shore.

Pearls are the Diver’s farthings
Extorted from the Sea –
Pinions – the Seraph’s wagon
Pedestrian once – as we –

Night is the morning’s Canvas
Larceny – legacy –
Death, but our rapt attention
To Immortality.

My figures fail to tell me
How far the Village lies –
Whose peasants are the Angels –
Whose Cantons dot the skies –
My Classics veil their faces –
My faith that Dark adores –
Which from its solemn abbeys
Such resurrection pours.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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I’m definitely ready for this…. Below you will find a random harlequin pearl, sans directed parameters…. After a rant, and the rest of this morning’s solitary pursuits, this will be a cake walk…. Theoretically….

“I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.” — Thomas Jefferson

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” — Soren Kierkegaard

“Individuality seems to be Nature’s whole aim — and she cares nothing for individuals.” — Goethe

“That’s right, yes, you’re going, you’re gone for ages, already gone, you’re still here, just arrived, haven’t even met you yet.  It all depends on who you are and how you look at it.  Strange business, time.” — Doctor, Dragonfire

“We are in no danger, since we have realized we are condemned.” — Andrei Siniavski, Sudden Thoughts

” Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.” — H. L. Mencken

“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness, and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” — Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
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All things considered, this one went fairly well…. It’s done, and that’s the primary characteristic we look for around here…. In fact, it’s so done, it’s getting dry…. Before I abuse the language any further, I’m outta here…. See you tomorrow….

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

dozer3

Parabolic patterns, majestically arranged on tiles….

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Ffolkes,

We read of a certain Roman emperor who built a magnificent palace.  In digging the foundation, the workmen discovered a golden sarcophagus ornamented with three circlets, on which were inscribed, “I have expended; I have given; I have kept; I have possessed; I do possess; I have lost; I am punished. What I formerly expended, I have; what I gave away, I have.” — Gesta Romanorum — Tale xvi

I have decided, again, to make a change, of at least a temporary nature…. Here is a beginning pearl for your perusal, one that shows well in the early light, and not merely because it is a tale from old Rome…. those always go over well with the breakfast crowd….. This is also a fine way to show off a very old format for Pearls, from the very Dark Ages, before computers were available to the public, and we all had to write stuff down with real pencils, or one of those other actual writing utensils…. Never mind all that, though, and look at the pearl more closely…. You’ll see that there is actually a real-life lesson in there, just waiting for us to learn it….

Of course, we must then assume one is capable of learning, capable, moreover, of learning such an ethical lesson this early in the day…. Not everyone can, you know…. There are a lot of people who can’t learn ethical lessons at all, but, we try to keep them confined to the political arena where  we can keep better track of them…. Hah! I wish it were that simple…. No, there’s actually a good little parable in the above little tale, all about big fish, little fish, etc., compassionate living, ethics, and the pointlessness of arguing with reality, but, in sooth, I just included it there to show y’all how pearls used to be constructed, back in the days before the digital hegemony became extant…. Can we be done now? Okay….

So, yesterday, I made a really dumb statement, and though that isn’t all that unusual, it IS unusual for me to resort to hyperbole when I’m writing, even when being sardonic, or sarcastic…. Part of the trouble with hyperbole is its unfortunate habit of always coming back to bite later on… Yesterday, I spoke of being one of the richest single men in the world, referring to a fortune in the neighborhood of several hundred million dollars….. which, of course, isn’t anywhere NEAR the richest…. The men and/or women who inhabit THAT short list have fortunes approximating several BILLION dollars, a figure they cannot envision any better than the rest of us, in the final analysis…. nor can they take a single penny more than we can with them wherever any of us are going, after we’re done fooling around on this plane of existence….

There…. now that I’ve cleared up that little misunderstanding, I can honestly say that I’ve completely screwed the pooch, in a manner of speaking…. I’ve written myself into another damn corner, and the only way out is to just bail…. I hate to do that, it gets my cardigan all wrinkled from the dive, and it’s always such a hassle to retie all the knots, and restock all the snacks…. But, it does get us to the next section, without having to go back and do any of this over, and without having to resort to sheepish, apologetic shuffling while you look magnanimous and kindly…. Thanks for THAT!….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I am ignorant of absolute truth. But I am humble before my ignorance, and therein lies my honour and my reward.” — Kahlil Gibran
_____________________________

[7/16/89] “I’ve had no indication from home, nor have we picked up any here that they felt that the US economy was going to move towards a recession.” [10/4/91] “The economy is moving in the right direction.” [10/25/91] “I don’t want to buy into the predicate about [the US being in] another recession. I don’t feel that way.”  [10/31/91] The economy’s turned the corner, headed for recovery.”  [11/8/91] I’m not prepared to say we are in a recession.”  [1/4/92] It will not be a deep recession.”  [1/15/92] Look, this economy is in free fall.”  — President George Bush

Perfect, eh? I think this little collection of quotes from the news is an excellent way to demonstrate my point about the lies that politicians tell on a regular basis…. This group of quotes could arguably be reproduced for just about ANY politician alive, and look almost exactly the same, whether the subject is the economy, gun control, foreign policy, the war on (drugs, poverty, illiteracy, hunger, disease, cancer, the middle class…. pick one, they’re all current….), or just their own cupidity…. It’s clear from each and every of the above statements, at each and every time he was queried, this man had absolutely no clue as to what was actually going on with the economy…. and had no intention of ever admitting any such thing….

To be honest, I don’t expect him to have a clue about the economy….. That is a subject of which no one alive has any real understanding; the economy of this nation, and of the world at large, is too big, too astronomically huge and amorphous, with so much inertia inherent in its workings, the effects of ANY kind of cause are delayed, and perverted (which merely means altered unexpectedly…. get your mind out of the gutter, please….) by that inertia, making the behavior of the entire entity rather completely unpredictable by any normal means, and certainly by no means of which we are capable at this point in our mental development…. Even cloud-computing won’t resolve such huge numbers….

The economy of the world, as an outgrowth of the society which engages in it, is suffering in the throes of unbridled, undisciplined growth… The number of people on the planet is bumping right up against the total number of those it is POSSIBLE for the planet to support, in a real, physical sense…. That fact, not factoid, is, of course, calmly being ignored by society at large, and we continue to produce alarming numbers of people, along with the alarming amount of grunge that each person seems to require, every second of every day….. If it were a medical issue, we would call what is happening in the world of money, and society in general, “cancerous”, as it is steadily, unflinchingly, irrevocably eating itself alive from the inside…..

I’m going to set myself a small task… As a finishing exercise for this small rant against the general stupidity of our species, I’m going to go perform a quick data mining expedition on the front pages of the news… I’ll bet I can come up with at least four or five examples from this morning’s batch of headlines that will serve as examples of some part of what I’ve outlined above…. Let’s see what the world is up to, eh?….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Judge-orders-removal-of-San-Diego-war-cross-5059879.php

(Oooh, politics AND religion, in one article…. How many opinion-based arguments will we hear on this one, do you think?….)

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Sunnyvale-car-dealer-pleads-no-contest-to-sales-5060326.php

(Apparently, the urge to lie, cheat, and steal extends into every level, and every corner of society, not merely the government….)

http://blog.sfgate.com/fiore/2013/12/11/im-an-internet-company-im-the-government/

(Another brilliant observation from Mark Fiore, Pulitzer-winning journalist, exposing at least one or two of the falsehoods out there….)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/House-GOP-conservatives-help-propel-budget-bill-5060806.php

(Congress…. Senate…. budget…. Now, how many of these people would you guess are lying, to you, to each other, and to themselves? Can you say, “ALL OF THEM”?…..)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/UN-inspectors-confirm-Syria-chemical-attack-5059352.php

(As noted above, the incidence of diseased ethics is not limited to the government of this country alone…..)

There you go…. easy money, if I was getting paid. The five articles I found were all right there on the front page… didn’t have to search beyond there to find enough examples to complete my self-imposed task. I find that both encouraging, and disheartening at the same time…. So much so, I’m done with this for now…. We’re all goin’ to Hell in a Hand Basket, ffolkes, so, we may as well enjoy the ride…..

Then farewell Horace, whom I hated so,–
Not for thy faults, but mine.

— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iv, Stanza 77
_____________________________

One’s solace, from tasting the fruit of the tree of knowledge, at times, can only be found in the arms of genius…. and serendipity…. Such is the joy of finding this at just this moment, when I needed it most….

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

~~ Dylan Thomas ~~

_____________________________

As a practicing hedonist, finding one’s self overwhelmed is an occupational hazard, in a manner of speaking. We’re told our whole lives that there is a price to pay when we over-indulge; at one time or another, all of us have experienced a graphic example of the truth of that little fillip from the gods of laughter, usually bestowed upon us to bring a bit of humor to our lives, at those moments when we least wish to laugh, and most need to…. In short, there’s always a come-uppance when we piss on our own shoes, and crying about it won’t help….

In accepting the truth of that, one doesn’t always give in completely, and learn to “like it”, but, we can learn to live with it, and live with it we must, so, it’s usually best to just do so, and get on with it…. This means, in one respect, at least, that I’m done being sick…. I’ve taken my turn, it’s over now, so can someone else please get on this bus and drive it away? I’m through with it….. Thank you….

Now that’s settled, I can see I have a lot of work to do, in my head, and on this blog…. I’ve managed to write so damn much that most people give up, I think…. Not that I’m writing for other ffolkes, but, it’s nice to know they’re out there, and that I’m not talking to the wall…. Any who, I’m coming to terms with having traveled over 50,000 miles in the past nine months, more than I’ve covered in the previous 12 years, or more, and my body needs to take a break…. This will mean I’m online more, so, we’ll see if I can’t get around to see more of other ffolkes’s blogs, which I do miss being able to get to…. As John Carter of Mars said, “While I live, there is hope….”

Here’s a pearl, composed of random pearls, to finish off this Pearl…..   😆

“How ridiculous and unrealistic is the man who is astonished at anything that happens in life.” — Marcus Aurelius

“Reality is a much bigger concept than I thought.” — Smart Bee

“Education never ends… It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last.” — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“The most common sort of lie is the one uttered to one’s self.” — Nietzsche

He only earns his freedom and his life
Who takes them every day by storm.

— Goethe, from Faust

“What is the first business of one who studies philosophy? To part with self-conceit. For it is impossible for any one to begin to learn what he thinks that he already knows.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — How to apply general Principles to particular Cases, — Discourses, Book ii, Chap. xvii

“I grow old ever learning many things.”– Solon 630 – 555 BC

Serendipity, indeed! John Carter was right! Seven perfect, matching pearls, all of great age and luster, but for one, one that serves as an exact counterpoint to the rest, providing the perfect balance…. God, I love this job…. oh, wait….. shoot….. Oh, well, still fun….
_____________________________

Euripides was wont to say, “Silence is an answer to a wise man.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Bashfulness

Another outburst of egotistical meanderings, just as if anyone cared, or was even listening…. If nothing else, one must give points for persistence, eh? And proofing, I’m good at the proofing, generally…. Let’s try that for a moment or two… I’m really not sure what to think about this…. so, I won’t. I’m outta here, ffolkes, and there’s nothing any of us can do about it now…. See you tomorrow, I think…..

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

dozer3

Fields of nascent cogitation, fallow in the morning sun….

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Ffolkes,

Feedle farble fristible farum! Or, as we’ve been known to say downtown, with no small degree of intensity, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK! If that isn’t clear enough, I can get more graphic, in a heartbeat….. Sorry, ffolkes, but, nothing relieves built up stress quite as well as a good curse, and, after the four days just passed in my world, relieving stress is the paramount task at hand…. “How can this be?”, you may well ask, as the last time y’all heard from me I was headed off to the indulgently hedonistic country of cruise ships, there to once again soothe my troubled spirit with the balm of overt consumerism, as is my wont….

That was then, this is now….. I should have noted at the outset of the trip, the very first item of note on the trip list failed to meet expectations, indicating a certain lack of cooperation on the part of the universe in falling in with my plans for a nice little four-day getaway….. a failure soon followed by a massive outpouring of chaotic events, along with some covert cosmic interference, with Murphy starring in the leading role, that of the consummate asshole…. Suffice to say at this point, the entire trip was one disappointment and problematic issue after another, compounded at the last by my body’s own frailty, to the tune of a $2000 medical emergency on the final night of the cruise…. and a lovely time was had by all…. NOT!

For the moment, that is all I’ll say on that subject; I am saving the details, and the major part of the angst, to put into letters yet-to-be-written, one to the cruise ship company, and one to my medical insurance company, outlining the series of events that brought home to me the futility of all of Mankind’s hopes and dreams, when the universe has other plans for us…. For four days, one thing after another went badly, to be followed almost immediately by something else going wrong…. which would be immediately prior to spilling something on myself in an embarrassing place, even if it was only something as simple as my own body fluids going astray…. Most excruciatingly upsetting, to be sure!….

I’m really glad to be home, and sleeping, as much as I ever do anymore, in my own bed, with my little computer here to absorb my overwrought feelings, and help me to transform them into some kind of acceptance, thereby regaining some of my hard-won serenity of spirit…. At the least, here at home, there is some chance of success in that venture…. For four days I’ve had every attempt at successful living thrown back in my face, burning hot…..

Okay, all done whining…. I’m sure y’all are somewhat less than riveted by my travails, so I’ll get on with something more entertaining, I hope, as soon as I can wrap up this intro section…. which, I see by the drivel above, has reached a minimum legal limit…. As such, I can actually just stop here…. so, I will….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It matters not how long you live, but how well.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 829
_____________________________

Any ranting that I do today will be related to the above subject, in order to keep the details fresh in what is left of my mind…. Plus, I haven’t kept up with what is happening out in the Big Blue Room, which tends to keep me from picking a current event to rag upon, more’s the pity….. That does mean a bonus for y’all, as I’ll naturally fall back into the default position here at ECR when this happens….

Yes, you know what it means, ffolkes, another old-school pearl, a group of small but tasty pearls, all in a certain direction, or implying a certain theme…. Sure, those themes may not be immediately apparent, even to the most discriminating of Gentle Readers, but, more often, they simply bash one over the brows, driving home the desired point with all the delicacy of a professional wrestler….

I am, as is already obvious, more than just a little verbose this morning, having not written ANYTHING for over four days…. but, I don’t think that will hurt this section, since I’m going to segue right into the remainder of this section’s contents by using the old magical phrase, “slick as Natty Bumpo’s Chevrolet sedan!”…. Or, as we like to say here on ECR… let’s dive…. Ooh, ooh, let’s go really old school, too, with poetry brackets and everything all mellow….

I knew, by the smoke that so gracefully curl’d
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near;
And I said, “If there ‘s peace to be found in the world,
A heart that was humble might hope for it here.”

— Thomas Moore (1779-1852) — Ballad Stanzas

“I readily relapse into my reflections on the uselessness of our education.  Its aim has been to make us not good and wise, but learned; and in this it has succeeded. It has not taught us to follow and embrace virtue and wisdom, but has imprinted their derivations and etymologies on our minds. We are able
to decline ‘virtue’ even if we are unable to love it; if we do not know what wisdom is in fact and by experience, we are familiar with it as a jargon learned by heart.” — Michael de Montaigne, Essays

In the vacant places, we will build with new bricks.” — T.S. Eliot

“As long as we’re going insane, we might as well go the whole way. A mere shred of sanity is of no value.” — Smart Bee

“Be not ashamed of thy virtues; honor’s a good brooch to wear in a man’s hat at all times.” — Ben Johnson

“We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch
Beware the jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious bandersnatch

— _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)
_____________________________

As with many of the classical offerings I include, this needs no adornment from my direction…. just enjoy….

A Thing of Beauty (Endymion)

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its lovliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkn’d ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
‘Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.

~~John Keats ~~

_____________________________

Having stated above there would be no rant today, I feel obligated to keep it light… Plus, I’m still not quite feeling as well as I’d like, and need to finish this up, so I can get on with the rest of the day…. So, we again dip into the archives, for a pearl the was fresh the day it was posted, which was in May of this year…. enjoy!….

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

This last pearl for today will be fresh, or as fresh as I can make it from old, unused pearls, that have been lounging around in my stash for some years now…. It should be okay, it’s all straight out of Smart Bee, back when I could trust it to run…. The point of today’s old-school effort will be as obvious as I can make it, but, I’m not giving that a lot of credence, and neither should you…. I would suggest you take notes, as it could be to your advantage later on….

“I have the simplest tastes.  I am always satisfied with the best.” — Oscar Wilde

“One might define adulthood as the age at which a person learns he must die and accepts his sentence undismayed. ” — Robert Heinlein

“Principles have no real force except when one is well fed.” — Mark Twain

40. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck. — Instructions for life

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

All things good to know are difficult to learn. — Greek Proverb

“Was mir nicht umbringt macht mir streng!”  {What does not kill me, makes me strong!”} — Friederich Nietzsche
_____________________________

Okay, ffolkes, I’ve done what I can do, and don’t have any more in me, so I’m going to send this out to the email group, and get it posted before heading back to bed…. Whoops, better proof….  Not bad for a first effort after a lay-off; I’m going to press my luck, and let if fly with no further ado…. See ya….

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

dozer3

Lock up the dahlias, I’ll get the peonies…

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Ffolkes,

There’s a new airline company to choose, next time you plan on traveling a long way from home…. It’s called Porcine Air, because pigs CAN fly, you know?!!! I know for a fact we are all prepared to believe in such a company, as long as the natural laws of our universe have been altered, and the weather reports from Hell are calling for ice and snow…. How else to explain three days of semi-natural sleep, for anyone with the physical conditions that plague me? I have no explanation, or any rational idea as to why or how it might have happened…. and, at this point, I don’t think I ever will, because I don’t care….. Why should I look such a nice horse in the mouth, eh? That would be ungrateful, not to mention tactless; let no one ever say I wore those hats!…..

Joking, or, more accurately in this case, an approximation of joking, aside, I am, once again, flabbergasted, and pleased, I think, to have awakened at what has to be the most normal time to arise that I’ve seen, in, oh, these many moons…. It is now just 0550, military time, meaning this is the AM…. which makes this the latest start for a Pearl in well over six months…. Oh, wait, maybe a bit less than that… I DID get that cold last month, & spent a lot of time in bed; I may have been up later one of those days…. Other than that, which we can blame on exigent circumstances, it’s been a very long time since I got so much sleep in one period, so, I’m not sure just how to react…..

I suppose I could show some remotely professional behavior, ignoring the time of day altogether, but, I don’t think I could carry off the arrogant entitlement such behavior would demand, not this late in the day, and not without my curmudgeon hat….. Becoming one of the BRC, in that respect at least, has always been difficult for me…. I just can’t bring myself to the point where I can allow myself to treat other people like dirt, just as a matter of course, a behavioral trend which seems to be the net result when almost anyone assumes the position of ‘beloved ruler’ in our society…. It’s as if it is assumed, by everyone, that getting elected gives one the right to start acting like an asshole, with the concomitant arrogance that seems to blossom in those who put on that new hat….

Don’t fret, though, ffolkes, this doesn’t signal the beginning of a rant here in the intro section, again…. I’m being quite careful NOT to start one of those this morning; I have one, already on tap & ready to go for section three, and don’t need, or want, to go into that mode here….. This is an event for which, I am quite sure, y’all are immensely grateful, or, at minimum, moderately relieved, at having dodged that particular bullet today…..

In fact, I’ve done so well at blathering so far today, in what is effectively a stealth mode, it is suddenly apparent that I’ve already reached one of the legal minimums for introductory statements, and can abandon all attempts to stretch this any further than it already has been…. That’s arguably a good thing, actually, as I’ve been finding recently, when I do too much stretching of peripheral phrases in these missives, far too many wrinkles show up in the final version, after they’ve dried off, and have been consumed a few times…. So, we’ll surprise y’all again, and stop,… right….. here….

Shall we Pearl?….

“You may not be able to change the whole world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty.” — Katha Pollitt

Well…. THERE’s good news!….. I’ll say it again….. Shall we Pearl?….
_____________________________

The little pearl that I put just above has just assumed favored status among pearls…. I love it! It expresses so well the approach we take here at ECR, in our almost daily battle against complacency and foolishness among the populace…. I often, far TOO often, feel as if it is a futile task, this trying to educate the unwashed masses as to how they are allowing themselves to be screwed over on such a regular basis….

Either I am preaching to the choir, as I think I am, far too often, or I’m shouting into the wind, with no one listening at all… It can be a frustrating feeling, until I remember that I do this not to save others, but to save myself, from sheer insanity….. If I dwell on reality for long, it can lead to outright despair, based on all-too-real issues in the all-too-real world….

In order to maintain a more productive attitude, by eloquently embarrassing as many of the BRC as possible in the fewest number of words, I will now go old-school, which I’ve found to be not merely the easiest way to poke fun at them, but the most effective, by delivering an accurate message to those who are reading what I’ve put before them….

Pictures, even if painted with words, show what is needed to be known far better than words alone, so, I try to use these pearls to create inner visions in the mind of the Gentle Reader, visions that will show them exactly whom to fear, and whom to revile, without as much chance of miscommunication…. Enjoy!….

“You cannot run away from a weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand.” — Robert Louis Stevenson,  _The Amateur Emigrant_

“I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not understand. Nevertheless, with what I am, I can reflect light into the black places of this world – into the dark places in the hearts of men – and maybe help change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am . . . this is the meaning of my life.” — Alexander Papaderos

“As those persons who despair of ever being rich make little account of small expenses, thinking that little added to a little will never make any great sum.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Man’s Progress in Virtue

“Among what he called his precepts were such as these: Do not stir the fire with a sword. Do not sit down on a bushel. Do not devour thy heart.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Pythagoras, xvii

“How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.” — Spanish proverb

BRAIN, n. An apparatus with which we think what we think.  That which distinguishes the man who is content to _be_ something from the man who wishes to _do_ something.  A man of great wealth, or one who has been pitchforked into high station, has commonly such a headful of brain that his neighbors cannot keep their hats on.  In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, brain is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“And THAT’S the TRUTH! THPPPPPT” — Lily Tomlin’s “Lily Anne”
_____________________________

Genius needs no adornment….

Finisterre

This was the land’s end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic,
Cramped on nothing. Black
Admonitory cliffs, and the sea exploding
With no bottom, or anything on the other side of it,
Whitened by the faces of the drowned.
Now it is only gloomy, a dump of rocks —-
Leftover soldiers from old, messy wars.
The sea cannons into their ear, but they don’t budge.
Other rocks hide their grudges under the water.

The cliffs are edged with trefoils, stars and bells
Such as fingers might embroider, close to death,
Almost too small for the mists to bother with.
The mists are part of the ancient paraphernalia —-
Souls, rolled in the doom-noise of the sea.
They bruise the rocks out of existence, then resurrect them.
They go up without hope, like sighs.
I walk among them, and they stuff my mouth with cotton.
When they free me, I am beaded with tears.

Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is striding toward the horizon,
Her marble skirts blown back in two pink wings.
A marble sailor kneels at her foot distractedly, and at his foot
A peasant woman in black
Is praying to the monument of the sailor praying.
Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is three times life size,
Her lips sweet with divinity.
She does not hear what the sailor or the peasant is saying —-
She is in love with the beautiful formlessness of the sea.

Gull-colored laces flap in the sea drafts
Beside the postcard stalls.
The peasants anchor them with conches. One is told:
“These are the pretty trinkets the sea hides,
Little shells made up into necklaces and toy ladies.
They do not come from the Bay of the Dead down there,
But from another place, tropical and blue,
We have never been to.
These are our crêpes. Eat them before they blow cold.”

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

As I noted above, in the introduction, I had this ready to go…. It is an old rant, sort of, from early this year, but, as might be assumed, it remains relevant today….. else I wouldn’t have used it here…. It’s one of my better rants, too, which is another reason I’ve put it here…. I just don’t feel like I could equal this kind of output today…. Regardless, it’s worth paying attention to, for certain, especially for those who would believe that everything that happens in Washington D.C. is happening for their benefit…..

From January 21, 2013…..

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” — Justice Louis D. Brandeis, dissenting, Olmstead v. United States, 277 — U.S. 479 (1928)

Finding pearls is sometimes frustrating, but then I find one like this, which is just a perfect representation of what I want to say, and it all seems worthwhile again…. This statement, though written in 1928, could not be more relevant to the present if it were written yesterday. We are observing this principle in action, as the POTUS and Congress thrash around, trying to convince the public they are responding intelligently to the furor over gun control. Of course, there IS no intelligent response possible, but they’ve never let that stop them before, so…..

Gun control will always be a hot-button issue, even after they’ve been taken away. And, you can bet your booties that day is coming, as the BRC and the unseen manipulators who control society will continue to create conditions that produce the mad ones, the ones who ultimately break free of their insanity, to let it loose on the world. This scenario suits the purposes of the ruling class very well, as it allows them to keep the populace stirred up in fear, making them easily led to the place they wish them to go. It is always easier to take away a right, when the people clamor for the government to take it away, out of unreasonable fear…..

A mighty pain to love it is,
And ‘t is a pain that pain to miss;
But of all pains, the greatest pain
It is to love, but love in vain.

— Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) — From Anacreon, vii, Gold

This is often how I feel about my country. I consider myself to be a patriot, in the classic sense; I support the idea of my country, but do not necessarily support the government. I love the idea of America…. a place where men and women are free to work out their own destiny, without the interference of the system they have created to oversee the necessary societal issues, i.e., without being persecuted for their beliefs, whatever they are…. The concept is an ideal, and one that the world has never actually seen before, not in practice. There have been attempts in history, but none so bold as the one made by our forefathers, who managed to create a system with the potential to create a veritable utopia….

But, within moments of the signing of the Constitution, the bankers, the preachers, and the lawyers were all taking their shots at the system, trying to find ways to amend its protections, and weaken the defenses against the very things they are trying to do. Since the Bill of Rights became law, there have been members of the Beloved Ruling Class trying to dismantle them, and reduce the protective qualities they possess. Much of the time they don’t even bother to hide it, but just couch it in terms that distracts the public from examining their claims too closely…

That struggle, to maintain the purity and intent of the original Bill of Rights, continues to this day, and is now undergoing its most fearful threat since the initial days of this country, more dangerous even than the Communist Purge in the 1950’s, during the McCarthy era of our political history. Once again, events have been manipulated to make it appear as if there is great danger, to the public, and most significantly to our children. Emphasizing this danger to our progeny is the most powerful weapon the BRC possesses, and they are making full use of it in the media, you can be certain…. Manifest a threat to children, and the ire of the public is yours to control….. much like Pavlov’s dogs….

I also think that Justice Brandeis was being nice, when he mentions that the BRC may be acting with good intentions, but lack of understanding. I think that the BRC knows EXACTLY what it is doing when it pursues legislation such as the current limits to gun ownership, and I don’t think they care at all that people don’t really NEED their protection or their help to protect themselves from the evil in the world. What the citizens DO NEED is less intrusion by the BRC into their private, or even public, lives.

I don’t care how ethical a government official SAYS they are, I don’t think they are more ethical than me, or the average Joe….. Nor can they be trusted to act in a manner that is beneficial to me, or to any other private citizen; their actions are only concerned with their own private agenda, and anything they say to the contrary is a BIG, FAT LIE! (Sorry, don’t mean to shout at you….)….. This, I think, is an assertion that doesn’t even need me to point out the proof, as it jumps up in everyone’s face on a daily basis…. The BRC LIES TO US, every day, and it isn’t hard to catch them at it, as it happens virtually every time they open their mouths to speak….. What amazes me is that they get away with it so easily….

“I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.” — William Henry Harrison

As is obvious, I’m not the only one who is dissatisfied with the BRC, or as some say, the Government. I like to use the BRC, because then I can supply the defined parameters to include ALL of the various types of assholes who are part of that group; lawyers, preachers/priests, bankers, Senators, Congressmen, judges, elected officials, all are charter members of the BRC, and the targets of my ire, as well as the meat for my consumption here on ERC. I guess it would be accurate to say that the BRC consists of all those who seek power over others for their own personal gain, and just let it go at that….

“One of the most difficult of the philosopher’s tasks is to find out where the shoe pinches.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein

There is the pinch-point, ffolkes…. There are essentially two types of humans…. those who seek to have power over other people, and those who seek power over themselves. Anyone who doesn’t fit into those two categories is not living up to their full potential as a human being, and will not in any way have any say in what happens in the world. They are the cannon fodder, the unwashed masses of folks who go through life without ever directing their conscious mind anywhere but right in front of themselves, oblivious to all the evil that occurs around them, as well as unaware of all the beauty that exists.

That is their choice, and I cannot fault them for their lack of courage; it’s a scary world out there…. but, as human beings, I believe we have a duty to our fellow man, and that duty means NOT keeping quiet, NOT letting those who would do evil act with impunity. In my position, all I can do is speak up when I see injustice, or immorality, and issue my objections to what I observe…. It’s all I can do, so I’ll do it all I can… because, as Albert sez…..
Albert E & true sin_____________________________

The old saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding”, and though I’ve never known exactly what that means, other than speculatively, it sounds good, and I’m hungry, so, we’ll go proof this, and see if the converse is true at all…. If you followed that logical train, you may have been here too often, but, it’s okay, it’s all tax -free, and tax-deductible, if you’ve got the chutzpah to claim it….. I’ll be right back, hopefully…..

I seem to have completely forgotten an entire range of expressions I once had in my mind to cover situations such as this…. But, since we’re here at the end of today’s effort, rather than the beginning, it shouldn’t be such a problem as it might have been, earlier…. Now that I’ve reestablished connection with blather mode, it’s time to go, before I get started again, which could delay posting another couple of hours… Besides, I’m done here, and having done worse, I’m outta here….. See ya….   🙂

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

Kowabunga!

The cost of implementing the Rules for Sanitary Operation are included in the quoted price…..

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Ffolkes,

Although my fear of the blank white screen is no longer as debilitating as it was in the past, I still feel some pangs on mornings such as this, when I awake, fully rested, but with a mind as foggy as a San Francisco summer’s day….. So far, my daily dose of coffee is working, albeit slowly, and I should probably wait to begin…. In fact, I will… I’ll be right back…

There, that’s a bit better…. Not so much on my mind, so to speak, after a session of worship at the porcelain throne….  😉   If that isn’t delicate enough for you, well, my apologies, and here are the directions to Disney World…. It’s the best you’ll get today, around here, anyway…. I’m not in the best of moods, I guess, so I’ll apologize in advance for any curmudgeonly statements, or rough language you may encounter today….. Not that I really give a shit whether or not you’re offended…. Most of the time, I’m TRYING to offend people, to stimulate some kind of reaction…. But, today, given my fogginess, and my incipient gruffness,  which is struggling to break free and dump on somebody, well, it’s probably for the best to tender my regrets ahead of any potential issues….

Now that we have that out of the way, what shall we do for an encore? It shouldn’t be too hard to top the above two paragraphs, ensconced as they are in such mundane mediocrity…. Hell, I could have done as well while still on the throne…. But, protocol calls for some kind of chatty discussion of future events at this juncture, and protocols MUST be followed, or chaos ensues…. Hmm…. Chaos, eh? That actually sounds like fun; maybe we should try…. No, no, that’s being indulgent, and liable to lead us all into places we can’t easily back out of…. especially around here, where there are so many forces of nature just bursting with anticipation of being allowed to jump and dump on some unsuspecting visitor…. No, we’ll leave the chaos for another day….

But, since we’re not going to head down that path, where should we go? I’m at somewhat of a loss, having already handed over the reins of responsibility for how this turns out, placing it firmly in the hands of the Gentle Readership, back there in paragraph 3…. Didn’t you notice? I did, for sure, as it makes it easier on me, not having to make those decisions while my brain is still functioning at around 40% efficiency….. Maybe AFTER my first cup is down, I’d be able to make such decisions with alacrity, but, for now, I’m leaving it up to y’all…. Oh, wait….

I just realized I can’t do that…. I have to finish the Pearl FIRST, then post, and only then can the Gentle Readers tell me what THEY think…. No way to get that input at this point in the process…. Oh well, I tried… Since it is now back in my court to decide what to do, I’m going to go limp on y’all…. Cosmic judo, so to speak…. I see that I’ve managed, again, to wander around without any visible purpose for almost five paragraphs…… and THAT is a legal intro, ffolkes, by every legal requirement that exists….. That means I can be done with this, and go find some other kind of trouble to cause…. Yay!…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Find time still to be learning somewhat good, and give up being desultory.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ii, 7
_____________________________

You can’t blame me for this one…. Below you’ll find a seven-star pearl, but I didn’t put it together…. Each of the following quotations picked itself; I didn’t want ANY of them, but, when I went to paste, there they were…. When Smart Bee does that, I’m helpless to make any changes; I’ve tried in the past, and it just doesn’t work out…. So, I’ve learned to just let them be, let say what they’re going to say, and get on with the rest of the Pearl…. Such is the case today… For the life of me, I’m having trouble figuring out what the point(s) is/are for this, but, as I said, it wasn’t up to me to decide, so…. just deal with it, okay? We’ll go on as soon as y’all are done….

“As Meander says, “For our mind is God;” and as Heraclitus, “Man’s genius is a deity.”” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Platonic Questions, i

“The treacherous are ever distrustful.” — Gandalf

“And Man said: ‘Let there be God,’ and there was God!” –Smart Bee

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/30

“Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.” — Eric Hoffer

“A lie isn’t a lie if it’s in reply to a question the questioner has no right to ask.” — Rex Stout

“The purpose is to identify not with the body which is falling away, but with  the consciousness of which it is a vehicle.  This is something I learned from my myths.  Am I the bulb that carries the light, or am I the light of which  the bulb is the vehicle?  If you can identify with consciousness, you can watch this thing go like an old car. There goes a fender, etc. But it’s expected; and then gradually the whole thing drops off and consciousness rejoins consciousness. I live with these myths — and they tell me to do this, to identify with the Christ or the Shiva in me.  And that doesn’t die, it resurrects.  It is an essential experience of any mystical realization that you die in your flesh and are born to your spirit.  You identify with the consciousness in life — and that is the god.” — Joseph Campbell

Okay, so, I can sort of see where it’s going, or where it went…. which isn’t too bad, considering…. In the interests of time-management, we’ll STILL go on….
_____________________________

This poem is a contribution from milady Patricia, my partner, my roomie, my current love…. It was written by the father of her son, in days gone by…. I think it’s lovely, and hope you enjoy it, as well….

Woman of the Night

Soft dawn
Summer light on snowy skin
Her presence, her body
warm as ocean sand and salty air,
Hard night
Winter moon caught in infinite eyes
We share the warmth, physical love.
For her winter eyes
lure her lovers
into the indifferent labyrinths
under her star-white flesh,
And she leaves them
Quickly as twilight’s slipping softly away
from a seagull’s pleading cry
echoing in the still Sierra vastness.

~~ Ryan Miller ~~

_____________________________

Below you’ll find a short, but concise, religirant, another blast from the past, as I continue to mine my archives for material I can use today, to save me a bit of time, and mental energy, which I can always use to decide where I’m going for my next trip to…. ANYWHERE!…. Any who, all personal idiosyncrasies aside, this one is pretty good, I think, so pay attention, if you please, and take heed of what it says, for it is good advice, if naught else….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From April 27, 2012

“He that doubteth is damned.” — Romans 14:23

It took a while, but it was worth the time spent searching…. This is a perfect example of how, if we let them, all those folks who would have us believe that the Bible, (or any other sacred books inspired by alleged supernatural entities), is a direct line of information from God, will go to almost any lengths, trying to trick us into doing exactly what that book tells us to do. In this case, they apply both guilt and fear of retribution in the next life if we question any of what we are told by that book, or any of what we are taught by those who hold it as truth….

I have previously written here as to the value that Doubt possesses, in the bag of tools people have to get by in this complex, confusing universe we inhabit. It is our only defense against information or events that can cause, or even intend, us harm, rather than good; such information invariably is given to us by other people, whose only intent in doing so is to achieve some sort of power or control over us. I don’t think this is a particularly hard concept to understand; its proof lies in almost every interaction we have when faced with organized religions. Anyone who has studied the psychology of humans can point out the techniques of behavioral modification used by the religious hierarchies to assert their will upon the public….

The above short little warning/threat, drawn directly from the Christian Bible, (Old Testament, if memory serves….), implies that anyone who does not bend over in submission to its decree will spend eternity in Hell. Hmm, a bit harsh, don’t you think? For merely entertaining a question regarding the accuracy of a concept presented, one with no evidence that proves its reliability? The Universe at large presents us with such false information regularly; anyone who doesn’t learn caution in such instances is liable for the consequences, which can be severe, such as in the case of being confronted by an apparently friendly, but in reality, rabid dog. Rabies is no picnic, from all reports, so, Doubt, used as a tool in such instances, is very appropriate, patently a valuable one.

However, in the minds of the folks who are selling faith-based products, Doubt is the last thing they want people to have in mind when considering what they say. It tends to cause their arguments to fall apart right in front of their eyes, and they cannot make the sale that way. If they can’t convince people to accept what they say without questioning it, their entire house of cards will come tumbling down around their ears, and they would have to give up all those nice little perks that go along with having everyone believe everything they say, like having poor people willingly give up 10% of their earnings in tithe, or getting to reside, with no rent, in a house built by the labor of others…. Did you think they would give that up easily?…. Well, then you’ve lost your strongest ally against such degradations to your sensibilities…. a healthy sense of Doubt….

“Fear not, for I have given you authority to do so.” — Smart Bee, via some random preacher’s King James version….
_____________________________

I suppose it is no big surprise that I should be done already this morning…. Having utilized a poem from home, already done, and something from the archives, putting the rest of this Pearl together wasn’t bound to take up a lot of time, unless I really, really tried to procrastinate heavily…. which, fortunately, I didn’t…. I could have, but, what would be the point? It’s MY blog, so procrastinating only harms ME, and I haven’t reached the point of self-abuse for fun, or even for profit, since there is none to be had for that….. SIGH…. blather… It’s a bane, and a gift, I suppose…. Let’s see how this all holds up under scrutiny….

I should have known…. Every time I create a Pearl without using any forethought as to direction, it seems to end up as a pretty good Pearl…. I’m not sure I even WANT to know what that means, either about me, or about the Pearls…. I guess that’s why it was extra smart of me to call them Virtual Wisdom, rather than insisting on people taking them for real wisdom…. Whatever it was, this one will do, so…. See ya….

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

dozer3

Would a bit of irony be of assistance?….

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Ffolkes,

Many days, when I wake up to begin writing this blog, I’m struck by how egotistical it must appear, from the other side. Day after day of relating what goes on in my head, all for what? Many would think that it is to stroke that ego, making it stronger and even bigger than it was….. which was plenty big, believe me…. I’ve never felt that denying reality was of any help to anyone, so I’ve never bothered to try to be too humble about my own abilities….. I’m smarter than the average bear, and have a lot of physical skills that many don’t ever acquire….. However, I have always tried to be patient with those who don’t quite understand as much as I do, and have never taken advantage of anyone less skilled, or less of anything… That would be dishonorable, and I was raised to put honor before need, or desire, always….

Also, let us not confuse that strength of ego with conceit, or with lack of humility; I don’t believe I make the grade in being conceited, as I’ve never let my own abilities keep me from appreciating those abilities that others possess, and I don’t….. There are a LOT of these skills and/or abilities I don’t possess, that others have; this is NOT a problem for me, as I am content with all I have.  I also don’t believe that my own  somewhat extensive talents make me any better, or worse, than anyone else; I believe as the Dalai Lama has expressed, that what makes a person valuable is how much compassion for others they feel, and express…. Unfortunately, this effort to keep from allowing myself to take advantage of others doesn’t keep me from showing my abilities, and that often brings censure from people who automatically assume that such displays are ego-driven, never thinking, or understanding, that it can also be motivated by altruism….

Hell, sometimes it’s hard for ME to believe in altruism, but, there it is, and there isn’t anything I can do about it at this point. My father drilled into me a code of ethics that leaves no room for any actions that can cause dishonor, and I believe, firmly, that those ethical mores are what make me different from many others, others who DO use their abilities for their own benefit, to the exclusion of others. That sort of amoral folk are rife in the fields of politics, religion, law, and the paramilitary; I’m not sure just what the attraction is, other than the ultimate freedom that comes with not giving a shit about other people…. I suppose, to that sort of mind, or emotional makeup, such debauchery is attractive as a lifestyle….

Myself, I can’t handle it; when I think about how much the pundits and preachers take advantage of their positions, it makes me ill, and I want to go out to buy a gun…. which would then put me into the same category as them, as I’d be forced by my own sanity to use it on them, forgoing all my father’s teaching…. It’s a conundrum to be sure…. Fortunately for me, though not necessarily for all of you, I have this blog, to sublimate the urge to kill that passes through me almost every day, when I read about the latest lies and chicanery they’ve been up to out in the BBR….. It’s almost enough to put one off reading the news…..

So, I’ll continue to rant, and write my pearls of virtual wisdom, in my own little attempt to bring some reason and stability to the world, if only for the time spent here reading…. Whether or not that is approved of by others is moot, as it makes me feel better, and that is all any of us are really concerned with…. If we have anything left over when we feel good, then we might share it, but, mostly, we are all looking out for ourselves, and doing our best not to sink under the waves…. and that’s okay….

Me, I gotta write, and get some of this stuff out of my head, before it sits in there and turns into something that could drive me to go buy a gun…. If that ever happens, look for a lot of politicians, preachers, bankers, and otherwise useless people to die, one after another, until they catch me…. That IS a joke, you know…. I’d never do any of that, in reality; too much work, and I’m retired from working… Besides, I haven’t let myself give in like that, for 63 years now, and I’m tougher now than when I started this journey….

On that pleasant note, Shall we Pearl?….

“Live a life worthy of the things that will be said of you when you’re dead.” — Ambidextrous Rex
_____________________________

Today’s intro section turned a bit stodgy on me; it’s a good discussion, but, feels a bit like wearing a suit and tie…. a bit stiff and constricting, no doubt pinching in the tight spots….. So, I’m going immediately to a harlequin old-school pearl, to loosen things up a bit, and hopefully, lighten the mood at the same time…. I’m hoping that Smart Bee’s natural sense of whimsy will come through to bring that about…. let’s see what it’s got for us, shall we?…..

“To sing the same tune, as the saying is, is in everything cloying and offensive; but men are generally pleased with variety.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children

“The present is the only thing that has no end.” — Erwin Schrödinger

“I readily relapse into my reflections on the uselessness of our education. Its aim has been to make us not good and wise, but learned; and in this it has succeeded. It has not taught us to follow and embrace virtue and wisdom, but has imprinted their derivations and etymologies on our minds. We are able
to decline ‘virtue’ even if we are unable to love it; if we do not know what wisdom is in fact and by experience, we are familiar with it as a jargon learned by heart.  — Michel de Montaigne, Essays

“Bow to no patron’s insolence. Rely on no frail hopes; in freedom live and die.” — Seneca

“A man is average when he can see the other man’s faults; he becomes above average only when he can also see his own.” — Smart Bee

“Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

“Always store beer in a dark place.” — Lazarus Long

Yep…. I think that should do it….
_____________________________

Today’s Pearl is all fresh so far…. in keeping with that theme, albeit with older material, here are two of my own poems, for better or for worse….

Haiku XII

 I called an old friend
a few days ago, or so.
Old friends are the best.

~~ gigoid ~~

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 ~~

_____________________________

“Without God, everything is possible.” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

When first observed, this little aphorism seems contradictory, but, I’m sure that is only because it stands in stark contrast to all we’ve been told since we first began to hear about the concept of God…. If one stops to actually THINK about what it implies, the contrast disappears, to be subsumed by the sheer elegance of the reasoning that prompts such a statement…..

I am not sure, however, that my current state of mind is capable of doing justice to such a discussion just now; one must be in touch with all of one’s reasoning powers to live up to such a topic of such complexity, and to sustain the effort through enough time to overcome the natural resistance that is thrown up whenever such blasphemous concepts come under scrutiny…. Considering the cold I’ve been fighting all week, the hour (it’s not even 0530 yet…. & I’ve been up for almost two hours already….), and the overall state of my psyche, I’d rather save any such discussion until I can respond with a bit more vigor than is currently on tap….

That being said, I think that a small reminder of what John Lennon proposed in his song “Imagine” is appropriate as a sublimation for the absent discussion; the song can be viewed as an almost perfect statement of how it might feel to consider a universe without the constricting concept of an overbearing God watching over us, judging all we do…. sort of like Mrs. Grundy, the ever-present nosy neighbor, or your disapproving maiden aunt, who has nothing better to do than to sit in judgment of others, even though their own experience of life is confined to their own sad existence, based on what they read in ONE book, of dubious authorage….

Along with the lyrics of the song, I’ll also substitute an old-school pearl at this point, saving the rant itself for another day…. That is, if SB will cooperate…. worth a shot, don’t you think?…. And, I don’t think God will mind, as He doesn’t really exist in the way most folks think….

“Always make allowances for the “duh” factor.” — Smart Bee

“Some things don’t need the thought people give them.” — Calvin

If you want to sing out, sing out,
and if you want to be free, be free,
’cause there’s a million ways to be,
you know that there are…

— Cat Stevens, from a song lyric

“Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.” — Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

“If I had a large amount of money I should found a hospital for those whose grip upon the world is so tenuous that they can be severely offended by words and phrases yet remain all unoffended by the injustice, violence and oppression that howls daily about our ears.” — Stephen Fry

“A lizard ran out on a rock and looked up, listening no doubt to the sounding of the spheres. And what a dandy fellow! the right toss of a chin for you and swirl of a tail!  If men were as much men as lizards are lizards they’d be worth looking at.” — D. H. Lawrence (1928)

“Clay is moulded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing. … Thus, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.” — Lao Tzu
_____________________________

On a normal day, at 0542 in the AM, I’d prefer to be sleeping, but, that event, having NOT happened in many a year, thus takes on the shape and desirability of a dream quest, a chimera, beckoning me to chase it down the halls of Time…. like a fool. Since the day isn’t normal, and neither am I, I suppose it shouldn’t shock me to be done already with today’s Pearl. I DID get up at 0330 or so….. Any who, let’s see how it turned out….

Well, it’s a Pearl…. More than this, deponent sayeth naught, with good cause…. Which is, I’ve probably said enough, and more than….. See ya…

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

dozer3

Fighting by the Duke’s rules….

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Ffolkes,

I am forced by law, and by custom, at this point, to give fair warning to all who stop in to read today…..  Lack of inspiration, though it is a constant companion to me, troubling my existence every day, has yet to keep me from creating these Pearls, in spite of the fact I’ve yet to discover a logical, or, for that matter, an illogical reason why that should be…. Nonetheless, it won’t keep me from writing today, either, even if it IS the most daunting lack I’ve yet encountered, in the going-on-three-years I’ve been putting myself, and y’all, through this exhausting, yet completely enervating process, each and every morning (minus a handful…).

Such lack has never kept me from producing, (one could even say over-producing), episode after episode of Pearls of Virtual Wisdom, with nary a repeat among them, aside from the occasional trip to the archives that all blogs rely on in times of material shortages, or, perhaps, the sometimes redundant subject matter….. I’ve only had to resort to archive/dumpster-diving a couple of times, usually when I’m physically under the weather, so, I’m happy about that….

My warning is this…. on days like today, when the freshness of what I write is suspect, due to the absence of any kind of creative spark, you may literally see just about anything at all show up here, with or without taco sauce, and certainly without salsa. I mean, I COULD supply the salsa, but, the tomato crop this year was terrible…. I wouldn’t feel too badly about this, if I were you; there’s really no downside to it…. I don’t have to make salsa, or taco sauce, and y’all don’t have to put up with any of my usual boring blather…. Of course, you DO have to put up with THIS boring blather, but, hey, a guy’s got to live, right? Right….

So, with said warning delivered, thus making it no longer implied, but expressed, I could legally go on into the Pearl’s body, and start tattooing for all I’m worth. That is, if I could tattoo at all…. Sadly, the most complex drawing (sketching, painting, whatever, it’s all a mystery to me….) I can do involves a simple tree, from a distance, so there aren’t any particular details to supply, with some mountain shapes in the background, for perspective, as it were….. It’s pretty primitive, believe me; I’ll never get a job as a police artist, drawing faces…. All of my faces look like the smiley face we see everywhere these days…. just a round circle, with two dots for eyes, and a curved line for the nose and mouth. Maybe a couple of half-circles if I want ears, or a crown of squiggly lines for hair….. It looks a lot like Charlie Brown’s head, wearing a bowl of spaghetti, to be honest, but without the detail….

Wait a minute! What if I broke precedent, and started a piece here that is full of dignity, and decorum, with just the right amount of reasoned discourse, all pointing to a logical, beneficial idea that everyone can appreciate and enjoy, using the concepts to improve their lives, and the lives of others?…. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?…. Now, if I could only find some dignity, or decorum, or reasonable ideas, I’d be good to go. Instead, I’m reduced to this, just babbling away, putting down as many useless words as I do words that mean something, just to take up the space needed to call this a legal intro….

Which, you will please note, we have once again done, and done quite well…. I’ve managed to put out five entire paragraphs of inane, chatty, intimate, yet meaningless prose, full of bad jokes and worse analogies, all for the purpose of filling in space. What can I say? It’s a gift….

Shall we Pearl?…. Have no fear, we shall, we shall, indeed, pearl our little hearts out…… In fact, here is an excellent pearl to start the day….

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, Who are you not to be?  You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.  It is not just some of us. It’s in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  as we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” — Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love — (widely mis-attributed to Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural speech)   

All true, but, remember, you are not a child of God…. Thou art God…. It all remains the same….
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There are times, such as today, when a pearl will write itself, over all my objections…. When I began to collect this group, I saw right away it would be troublesome, from a logical, reasonable point of view. Then it really went south, but by that time, I could see where it was trying to go, so I let it have its head…. This is the resulting mess, for which I refuse to take full responsibility…. It’s not my fault! The dog ate my homework! The cat puked on my notes! I got married!…. Well, none of that actually happened, but, I’m not sure I want the responsibility for this one anyway…. Oh well, so be it… It’s really not bad, if you keep your eyes screwed up with the correct degree of silliness….

“Alexander [the Great] asked Diogenes if there was anything in the world he wanted. Diogenes, without looking up, replied: `Yes. Get out of my light.'” — Plutarch

“I am a traffic light, and Alan Ginzberg kidnapped my laundry in 1927!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“A State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands — even for beneficial purposes — will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished.” — John Stuart Mill (1806 to 1873, English philosopher and reformer)

“Now the trumpet summons us again — not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as a call to battle, though embattled we are — but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation” — a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.” — John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963)

“If you can’t fight and you can’t flee…FLOW” — Smart Bee

“Everybody has something to conceal.” — Humphrey Bogart

Who combats bravely is not therefore brave,
He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave:
Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise,–
His pride in reasoning, not in acting lies.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Moral Essays, Epistle i, Line 115

See what I meant? Sheesh, it’s not as if we were TOTALLY obstreperous to the Pope, or to our Vatican chaperons…. and they got a good tip, didn’t they? They did, so you can’t blame me if it all fell apart….. I’m not sure, but, we may be nearing some sort of black hole in time and space…. I’m starting to feel a bit of cosmic twisting….
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Whom to pick, in the face of cosmic upheaval?….. In such times, I enjoy the way this poet points me in the right direction, toward the center….

Alone Looking at the Mountain

All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other –
Only the mountain and I.

~~ Li Po ~~

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According to my usual modus operandi, this section would, and may yet be, a rant of some nature. It’s been a while since I took any real shots at the churches, but, then, they are a bit less of a worthy target than are the politicians of the world.

Let us not even begin to think about how the shadowy master class of corporate vampires deserve all the disdain, vituperation, and vicious criticism we can heap upon their nasty little heads; whatever we do will never be enough to pay them back for the damage they’ve done to others, and to our world in general….

No, I’d say I have no real lack of usual targets for my critical regard…. What I have is a lack of angst and/or emotional drama to drive that big ol’ truck…. The one I’d like to flatten them with, as they cross my road to the future….

It would be simple to cruise over to a news site, and pick up a current headline or two to work with; there’s no lack of material there, for sure. Even that doesn’t attract my interest; I guess my birthday gave me a good enough chance to get a lot of that out, and there’s not enough left today to drive any further attempts at ranting….

Too bad, actually, as I did have some rather interesting introspective moments yesterday, as the import of my increasing age grew in my thoughts, taking on a deeper meaning than is usual for me during my day…. I love when that happens, though, even if the contentment and serenity it brings me is such that I don’t want to write about it…. It feels too good to talk about it…. Kind of how a joke is like a frog; if you take either one apart to try to figure it out, they both die….

Since I wouldn’t want anyone with the discrete sensibilities of my Gentle Readers to be confronted with that kind of issue, I’ll just fade back ten yards, and punt…. Here is another old-school pearl for your delectation…. Since I’m not ranting about anything today, I’ll let Smart Bee pick out which pearls it thinks should be included, with, possibly, a few comments of my own, in parentheses to avoid any further confusion….. Remember, ffolkes, this is VIRTUAL wisdom…. don’t try to use it as if it were real….

“If you dig a deep enough hole, someone will want to jump in.” — Smart Bee

(It’s always good to start off strong….)

“My indignation, like th’ imprisoned fire, pent in the troubled breast of Aetna, burnt deep and silent.” — Thomson

(SIGH…. if only it had, we’d have a rant today…..  😦    )   😆

“The silence drew off, baring the pebbles and shells and all the tatty wreckage of my life. Then, at the rim of vision, it gathered itself, and in one sweeping tide, rushed me to sleep.” — Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

(At first I thought this was here just because it’s so bloody brilliant, in both content and style of execution… Astounding imagery, and powerful yet simple language, expressed with such beauty, the heart aches with it….. It also stretches beyond that, into the outer reaches of credibility and connection, to form a tenuous bond with reality, right here in this pearl…. Amazing, isn’t it?….)

“When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong.  The minority are right.” — Eugene V. Debs

(Mr. Debs, a political activist and reformer in the early twentieth century, had a lot of interesting things to say, many of them equally as true as this one…. If you have the time, look him up; smart guy…..)

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” — C. G. Jung

(Yep….)

“We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme.  It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are more concerned with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent, nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today.  Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive.  We are sorry if this impression has come across.” — Monty Python

(Actually, this sums up my opinion of 99% of the politicians I see in public, with incredible accuracy….)

(No apology from me is, or ever will be, tendered for making these assertions, either…. fuck ’em all……)

(When I say, “fuck them all”, I’d like to be clear that I don’t intend that in any positive way at all…. What I mean is, FUCK THEM ALL!!!…. and the white horse they say they rode in on, too…..)

“And never, ever cut a deal with a dragon.” — Smart Bee

(I’m with SB on this one…. The last pearl brings all the rest together perfectly, while at the same time reminding us that we already know the important stuff… I mean, it’s just common sense, right? Any dragon master knows this…..)
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What we have here, today, is living proof that age does NOT imply sanity, or vice versa…. Nor does it imply having enough sense to keep one’s mouth shut, once it has begun spewing…. Nevertheless, it’s finished…. let’s see if it’s done….

Boy, is it ever! I wouldn’t touch that with someone else’s hands, even with gloves…. Not toxic, I’d say, but definitely subversive, in its own little way…. Good enough for my loose standards, so, we’ll get on with the rest of the day now, and let this die a natural death…. See ya….

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

dozer3