Tag Archives: Quintus Ennius

Truck stop pastries for lunch & dinner….

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Ffolkes,

“In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it.”

~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~

Ireland 083

The Spanish Arch ~ Galway, Ireland


Hajime…. Bilious clouds of noxious fumes rose up to obscure the hallway, as Perry Gomes carefully passed by the broken pipes, from which the gases were leaking. Perry thought to himself it wasn’t surprising, when two buses full of commuters crashed into each other, then bounced into the pumping station; a bit of damage was to be expected. Perry, who worked for the company which maintained the gas lines, was tasked with going into the mess to assess the damage. As he peered down the hallway, in the light of the near-useless flash, he could see something moving, thrashing about against the walls, smashing all in its path. “My God,” he thought, “it’s an intro to a Pearl! How will we ever fix that!”

No telling, actually. Perry’s obviously got his work cut out for him, and, since we are responsible for his being in the situation in the first place,  we abandon him to his fate with some reluctance. However, should we wish to get today’s mess on the toad, we’ll need to ignore any and all distractions, just to find the wherewithal within to do so. Not an easy task when one is still wandering around in a creative daze, having just come up with yet another way to NOT write an actual introduction…. It’s a gift.

That said, and, thankfully, done, we’ll make our usual executive decision, and put the slow on the toad. We have no regrets, other than having again fallen into the royal ‘we’, just as if we had time to deal with it. Fuck it. I’m done with this. We are outta here, now…. Watch this!….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The psychic task which a person can and must set for himself
is not to feel secure,
but to be able to tolerate insecurity.”

~~ Erich Fromm ~~


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    Today’s music is a nod to one of my blogging friends, who prefers to listen to his classical music played on the guitar. Here is the man who single-handedly brought this kind of music to the world’s awareness, back in the mid-twentieth century…. Considered to be the Master of the guitar, his expertise and artistry are legendary, for good reason…. Enjoy!….


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Andres Segovia
Classical Guitar

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Plato-Aristotle

    Not only do I not have a rant ready, I don’t even feel like ranting. Go figure. At least, this way, I get to use my new icon again…. Here’s a short discussion & old-school pearl about the wisdom mankind pretty much ignores….

From 6/27/2014:

“Waste not the remnant of thy life in those imaginations touching other folk, whereby thou contributest not to the common weal.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iii, 4

I end up using a lot of quotes from Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, all of which seem to me to be pretty well-reasoned and insightful re: human nature, and ethical/moral behavior….. In fact, I find there are as many, or more, insightful, reasoned philosophers who lived before Christ was born… (not that I care that much, but, it’s the point in time our society has agreed upon to use as the basis for our calendar, thus making it the obvious, most convenient, and expedient, choice as a marker, in order to organize people into their time periods for reference and identification)…..

Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, Plato, Plutarch, Aristotle, Cato, the Elder and the Younger, Gautama Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius, and a host of others from all cultures in the world, passed their wisdom to us throughout the ages, and have always seemed to me to be superior in their reasoning to any of the more modern philosophers to whom I’ve been exposed….. which you will see reflected in the quotes you see here…. I have no apology for that, and don’t plan to change it, so, I hope y’all enjoy them, because they’re not going away…. In fact, I’m going to put together a pearl with parameters limiting it to quotes over 1500 years old, or more…. I would suggest you enjoy it, but, it’s not necessary with such classical wisdom to offer….

“Before enlightenment, one carries water and chops wood. After enlightenment, one carries water and chops wood.” — Zen Proverb

“Whatever you can lose, you should reckon of no account.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 191

“…for the most part happiness consists in being willing to be what you are.” — Erasmus

“As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for cases requiring immediate treatment, so shouldst thou have thy thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that unites the two.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iii, 13

“Nothing made the horse so fat as the king’s eye.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children

“He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Garrulity

“The trouble with Nixon is that he’s a serious politics junkie. He’s totally hooked… and like any other junkie, he’s a bummer to have around: especially as President.” — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), journalist — The Great Shark Hunt, Jacket Copy for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1979)

(Oops! Sorry, that slipped in there due to appending to the clipboard, rather than overwriting…. but, it’s kinda cool, I think, so, it can stay…. just ignore it after reading, and go on to the final pearl, which you see in its designated place, right down there on the line below this….)

“It behooves a prudent person to make trial of everything before arms.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act iv, Sc. 7, 19, (789.)

Since we were so rudely interrupted by Hunter’s oh-so-poignant observation of reality, I’ll add one more, to show that the ancients possessed as subtle a sense of humor as any modern pundit, for sure and for certain….

“Anaximander used to assert that the primary cause of all things was the Infinite,–not defining exactly whether he meant air or water or anything else.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Anaximander, ii

Well, a bit disjointed, but, it works for me…. So be it…. gigoid has spoken

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Comedy_Tragedy

Off the proverbial cuff….

I never meant to kill that period of time,
it didn’t give me any choice.
It tried to hem me in without reason, or rhyme,
refused me any vote, or any voice.

You have to admit, I buried it deep and fast,
just as if I cared.
I knew, though, it would never last,
or ever be fully repaired.

No news, no pictures can bring it back,
once is all we get.
No pleas of public good, or even public lack;
in stone the past is set.

Futuristic visions now occupy my dreams,
I’m ready to go on.
Look! It fills up the screen, and it gleams!
Where’s the moment I’m sitting on?

Now, I remembered, at long, long last,
is all we really can hold.
Every moment goes by so bloody fast,
we’d best fill them all with beauty, warm and bold.

~~ gigoid ~~

4/30/2013


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pearls_3

    It’s old-school, and, classic; seven stars of virtual wisdom, all about being human…. such as we are….

“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.” — Vernon Sanders Law

“‘Casting Out Fear’ ought to be the motto over every school door.” — A.S. Neill

“Don’t ask of your friends what you yourself can do.’ — Quintus Ennius

“I exist as I am, that is enough.” — Walt Whitman

“Anacharsis said a man’s felicity consists not in the outward and visible favours and blessings of Fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind.” — Plutarch, The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, 11

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

“Though nothing can bring back the moments of splendor in the grass, of glory of the flower, we will grieve not . . .” — Wordsworth “Intimations of Immortality”

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I have fulfilled my chosen duty. I’m tired, and Leelu wants her play time, in her new cat tower. Therefore, without further nonsense, I shall bid thee adieu for another day. Hope yours goes well; I’m planning on hiding today, so I can avoid any jail time. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, as long as the warrants don’t come through….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

Dozer


À bientôt, mon cherí….



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Ffolkes,




“Do you believe in reason?” 


~~ Smart Bee ~~


july-8-2015-pluto-heart-new-horizons


Pluto 



Image by NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft, on flyby of Pluto 7/14/2015






Good morning…. Gird your grids for a big one, ffolkes…. This one got away from me…


Yesterday, in the afternoon, I had a period of what I call F.T.D. time, (fuck the doctor) in which my attention required distraction from physical issues… In short, I went pearling, to keep from giving in to screaming bones and twitching muscles, (courtesy of 2 ignorant Kaiser employees who mistakenly call themselves doctors…), which generally makes me want to hurt things…. Any who, I found an old intro that was, to be frank, amazingly strange and wonderful, for some reason… It’s long, and it wanders around unmercifully…. but, it got where it meant to go, and did it with some aplomb… I like it so much, I’m going to subject you to it again, and I don’t even care I may lose half my readers in the process…


Here, then, is the intro section from 6/24/2014….


Ffolkes,


Seemingly, my ego knows no bounds…. or, I’m becoming too much a blogger, having lost track of what is important in the search for material about which to write EVERY DAY…. I also figured out it’s the ‘every’ part that makes the difference; once one has committed to a fresh post each day, there is no more leniency allowed…. or so it seems to me….


Ego, though, is NOT allowed to be the driving force behind all I do; that particular battle has been waging inside me for most of my life, ever since I learned allowing ego to drive one’s bus is to court a life full of misery and pain, not always my own…. which only makes it worse. So, I try to focus on duty, instead, which may have elements of ego in it, from the process of choosing, but, duty, by its nature, and by what I was taught about it, does not lend itself well to ego driven choices. As one who accepts the entire concept of duty, as well as what it means, one realizes duty to others is the only one that counts toward earning self-respect….


I suppose all that’s a pretty high-falutin’ chain of reasoning, basically amounting to an outburst of well, bullshite, ostensibly lamenting my lateness, which, today, is great, indeed…. Having slept an hour past my normal time to arise, the coffee, while ready, has been cooking for all that time, and should make up the difference in time by loading me up with a truly massive dose of caffeine in the first cup…. I can attest, actually, as I can feel my typing speed increasing as I type this sentence…. Not bad, eh? Another couple blathering, wandering paragraphs, and this will look just like a Pearl that started on time…. whatever that may be…..


Face it now, ffolkes…. when I’m this late, there’s no telling what may happen; this process is already about as random as I can make it…. When fate steps in to fuss with the timing, or the layout, or any of the interior furnishings, the degree of randomness only increases, not arithmetically, but, worse, hyperbolically…. which, though, perhaps, a bit canny, is NOT in itself hyperbole…. Besides, I really meant to write the word, “parabolic”, which is the correct word for my meaning…. hyperbolic merely describes the end result better, as it’s meaning implies a parabola with a slope approaching infinity…..


I should know…. hyperbole is one of my favorite tools as a writer, especially when writing about politicians, or preachers, who both have made the use of hyperbole a part of their everyday patterns of communication…. If you don’t believe me, just go listen to a sermon, or a political speech some day, counting the number of times the pastor-person employs it in their speech; it might just amaze you….. Me, I got tired of it, so I don’t much listen any more…. Of course, in my case, that started at about age 4, so I’ve had lots of practice at ignoring their nonsense….


Look, it’s an intro! Not just ANY intro, either…. It’s got a mini-rant flavor to it, and actually sets the stage for what MAY come after…. I can guarantee no fresh rant today; there isn’t time to go further into that sort of byplay with my targets with what is left of my morning. But, that’s okay, I’ve got a good one on tap from the archives, as mentioned earlier this week…. The Wise Old Pine Cone is gone for a day or two, attending a tournament down south with his paduan…. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go with them, so I won’t have any pictures of that…. The old one has promised me I could take some shots of an upcoming lesson when he returns, so, that will be good…. For now….


Shall we Pearl?…..


“A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.” — Oscar Wilde, “Oscariana”


Not too shabby, I’d say…. Let’s get right on with today’s mess….


Shall we Pearl?….




Call any vegetable,

Call any vegetable,

And the chances are good

That the vegetable

Will respond to you.


~~ Frank Zappa, Lyrics in “Absolutely Free” ~~




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chicago


Image from free-covers.org via Google Images




Recently, one of my Gentle Readers commented on how often I retreated to the past for this video section…. My primary response was to go “Thtptptptpt!”, but, since it was a friend, I merely said I’d see what I could do…. To show I was listening, here’s a band we’ve all listened to for a very long time, since they began back in the 60’s…. On the page where I found this video, of a show in 2013, there are videos of live concerts by this band dating from 1969, right up to 2015…. Ffolkes, I give you one of the finest musical groups to ever sit down to play….. Chicago….




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Chicago Live














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A-laughing-girl-and-her-camel


“Well, O.K.  I’ll compromise with my principles because of EXISTENTIAL DESPAIR!


~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~




Of late, my level of angst seems to have dropped below the level necessary to produce a rant of sufficient vitriol to cause some damage. I’m still having some issues there, so, I’m cheating again, with a fairly cogent, reasonably short little diatribe from a couple years ago…. It will have to do….


From 3/17/2013:


“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever.  Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time–a tremendous whack.” — Sir Winston Churchill


I’ve used this quote previously, usually as part of a group of pearls leading to some point or another; it’s a very good quote, strong, positive, with a solid essence of meaning. It’s also damn good advice, which I try to heed at every opportunity I give myself to rant…. Winnie had a very good point here, mainly because he had the task of getting an entire island full of asses who believe themselves to be independent minded to work together to save those selfsame asses from the Germans, who were themselves displaying their own form of assholiness…. A bloody disgusting task, if you ask me, but, he was obviously the man for the job, as he seldom gave a shit about what anyone else thought, about much of anything….


The insight shown in this statement, however, is much deeper than is at first apparent…. Winnie understood that the average Englishman, as is true for the whole planet, as a rule of thumb, is pretty stupid, and stubborn to boot, being mostly unwilling to listen to anything they don’t wish to hear, whether smart or dumb, much less see any need to act on it. This, as might be clear to others, as it is to me, is NOT a particularly valuable frame of mind if one wishes to survive, and Winnie, knowing his people, was quite willing to use a two-by-four as his primary teaching tool to get his points across to the idiots he was forced to deal with during WWII….


Sad to say, this stupidity on the part of the larger part of humanity continues to this day…. Witness, if you will, the current crop of movies, if you wish to get a clue as to where the mind of humanity is focused…. It may amaze you, and will most likely depress you, to see that there is not a single movie about anything more serious than adolescent acne anywhere to be seen… Oh, there are what are termed psychological thrillers, but, they are mostly just shock literature, designed to make a good screenplay more than to explore the human psyche…. Nothing out there is remotely intelligent, because there just isn’t a market for it…..


I’m not proposing any solutions here; this is strictly a gripe session, for my benefit only. I get so tired of watching the parade of human events, because it so often turns sad, and depressing, to see how stupid and ignorant people can be…. and how cowardly most people are in asserting morality in public…. You know a society is going downhill when the police drive around acting as if they are under siege, and the people do not trust them at all to show either fairness, or restraint. In the town where I live, the worst traffic offenders I see on a daily basis are the police, who set the worst possible example for other drivers, even, and especially, when they are NOT responding to calls….


And the government wonders why nobody trusts them? Our society is sick, ffolkes, and I’m out here with my pile driver to hit that point again. That last paragraph was my second hit, and now, the tremendous whack of which Winnie spoke….


We are all responsible for the sorry state of the world, equally…. Those of us who are not actively engaged in actions which are destructive, are guilty of not speaking up often enough to get the attention of those who are, nor are we engaged in doing anything which will stop their deliberate depredations. They are guilty of being assholes, yes…. but we are all guilty of complicity in that, and can claim no less responsibility for when we fall down the hole we’ve been digging for ourselves…. And, that is the TRUTH….


“I’m amoral, and it’s been bothering my conscience.” — Smart Bee


“To escape criticism — do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” — Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)


“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” — Romans 2:1


(I’ve always maintained there is a lot of good advice in the Bible, as long as one doesn’t go all fanatic about its origin…. this is a perfect example of that contention….)


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Comedy_Tragedy




Funny Bones


Dreaming the way home, lost, unseen,

from the dance, where

he felt so free, and clean.

Sorrow couldn’t find him there.


Waiting, filling up the hours, hoping,

some connection can be found

keeping busy as bees, coping.

Love creeps in, without a sound.


Fat days, skinny nights, passionate

visions of semi-conscious entities,

cannot seem to fully illuminate

or hide our innermost frailties.


Resolute, find the perfect sense, codify

simple rules with every breath

never waiting, anxious to modify.

fear nothing in life, not even Death.


~~ gigoid ~~




Written 5/13/2013.


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lao




    Those Gentle Readers who come here often will recognize today’s picture for this section. It’s Lao Tzu, of course, author of the Tao Teh Ching, the Taoist Master I consider as one of my mentors, as far as any ancient sage can be. The pearls you will find below are typical of the ideas Lao Tzu concerned himself with in speaking of the Tao, all of which are representations of the Reality he saw, and knew he could not fully describe…. In short, these are rules for living, any of which, when applied to one’s approach to life, can be of great comfort and value, bringing serenity, and joy, to balance the pain and strife with which the Universe presents us to cope with as a matter of course….


The most significant part for me is that all of these gems were given to me by SB in one swell foop…. Yep, the first seven pearls I looked at were these…. I think that says something about synchronicity, as well as serendipity, two of the nicer manifestations of the forces of entropy in our world…. Enjoy!….


“No one regards what is before his feet; we all gaze at the stars.” — Quintus Ennius


“Do not turn back when you are just at the goal.” — Publius Syrus — Maxim 580


“Je plie et ne romrs pas. (I bend and do not break.)” — Jean de la Fontaine


“I am defeated, and I know it, if I meet any human being from whom I find myself unable to learn anything.” — George Herbert Palmer


“…the wise man looks into space, and does not regard the small as too little, nor the great as too big; for he knows that there is not limit to dimensions.” — Lao Tzu


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


“What is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads.” — Albert Camus


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Given the circumstances under which today’s Pearl was constructed, the mere fact it is done should be noted for historical relevance; few instances in the long history of mankind will demonstrate the degree of silliness, and sheer irrelevance, shown here today. Not only that, but, it was completed completely in the nude!


Not really; it’s a bit chilly for that; but, I was nude under my clothes; does that count? Yes, I’m a bit punchy. It may not look like it, but, this one took a lot out of me, in spite of the lack of fresh material…. Oh well, enough whining; we’ve all got better stuff to do, now this is out of the way. Y’all should go do that, and so shall I…. I’ll be back tomorrow, ffolkes; that’s the only warning you’ll get…..




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch








dozer3




À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Doling out a measure of peace….

			
						

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Ffolkes,


Always be curmudgeonly. Don’t ever forgive. Go home infrequently. Just keep loose. Mostly, never opine. Pick quirky relatives. Stay tough underneath. Vote. Watch xenophobia, you zealot.


There…. my version of alphabetical alliteration….  Pretty cool, eh? I don’t think I missed any letters, or got any out of sequence…. If I did, I’m sure you’ll….  What? Hell, I don’t have a clue what it MEANS. I just wrote it. Come to think of it, I probably shouldn’t be so quick to claim authorship; who knows? Somebody else might have already done this, and I’m plagiarizing, for all I know….. Somehow, though, it’s a bit hard to believe that anyone else would take credit for something as lame as this…. not if they intended for anyone to have any respect for them as a writer….


Me, I gave up on that a long time ago…. I’ll settle for what I got yesterday, which was a comment stating one reader always enjoys my work as a change of pace from the news…. Yes, he’s a bit strange, too, but, it still feels good to know I’m achieving at least part of what I wish with my efforts…. To know someone is enjoying it, that it gives someone pleasure, is enough for me….


Of course, that may not continue, should I keep making up crap such as the first few lines today…. I DID think it was fairly cool in one respect, at least…. It was fun…. The challenge I set myself, to write something at least marginally humorous, using words that begin with each successive letter in the English alphabet, was accomplished with ease, so much so I was a trifle suspicious it would be good enough…. Sure enough, it’s not what I’d call classical in nature or style, but, there is a point or two in there where it approaches funny…. I particularly enjoyed the WXYZ sentence….


Wow! Now THERE is an eye-opener…. It isn’t apparent from where you are sitting, but, I have been gone for the past four and a half minutes, unable to breathe or talk, or type…. Being a bozoid personality does have its risks, which can, and did, strike anytime…. As I took a sip of coffee just a few moments ago, I got a tickle in my throat just as I started to swallow…. This caused a major disruption in my metabolism, with the most immediate result being that I damn near choked on the coffee, as it made every effort to go into my lungs, rather than down the hatch to the stomach….


Preventing that threw my whole throat and chest into massive turmoil, coughing, choking, and generally looking like the world’s biggest bozo for a while, as I attempted to regain my composure…. SIGH…. One of the things that they forgot, or deliberately omitted, from the manual is this aging stuff… A lot of the small little hassles that our bodies present to us as we age are things we’ve never heard about…. I can’t believe I’m the first old fart to have these difficulties with the aging process, yet we never hear about them when we are younger…. but, I know why…


It’s revenge, for being young…. None of the old-timers say anything about any of this stuff, except to each other…. We all complain about our aches and pains, when we are with our peers…. But, we never got warned, so we aren’t going to give those young whippersnappers any kind of help WE didn’t get…. It wouldn’t be fair to tell them, and let them write it down so it eventually ends up in the manual…. Fair to whom, you ask? Well, to all of us who are already suffering from the indignities of advancing age, and all those oldsters who have gone before, pioneering the way for us…. THEY had no warning, and neither did we…. why should we be any kinder?….


Okay, this meandering is getting a bit out of bounds…. I’m starting to fantasize and make stuff up again, which is fine, but, won’t get this Pearl done…. Today’s intro, in my attempts at trying a new approach, seems to have grown past all boundaries of good taste, or at least, good sense…. That, of course, isn’t anything out of the ordinary for us, but, it IS making this intro a bit longer than is handy… In fact, I’m going to have to…. Oh, wait, look! There’s the ending right there…. Good, now we can get on with this….


Shall we Pearl?…..


Will change the pebbles of our puddly thought

To orient pearls.


— Du Bartas (1544-1590) — Divine Weekes and Workes, Second Week, Third Day, Part i


[dignified silence]……


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Here, for your early morning viewing pleasure, is a classical, ancient pearl, whose contributing authors all lived prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, who, though not my own particular candidate for basing a calendar on, remains the agreed upon point of reference for the modern version of time…. essentially, all of these wise ffolkes were born more than two thousand years ago, yet their words have survived, intact, to this day…. Enjoy!….


“Human life nearly resembles iron. When you use it, it wears out. When you don’t, rust consumes it.” — Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BC) — Carmen de moribus


“The most virtuous of all men is he that contents himself with being virtuous without seeking to appear so.” — Plato (B.C. 427?-347?)


“Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit.” There is no great genius without a tincture of madness. — Seneca (8 BC) — De Tranquillitate Animi, 17


“It is a difficult thing for a man to resist the natural necessity of mortal passions.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of those whom God is slow to punish


“Neither make thy friend equal to a brother; but if thou shalt have made him so, be not the first to do him wrong.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 707


“Time cancels young pain.” — Euripides (431 BC)


“In the land of the dark, the Ship of the Sun is driven by the Grateful Dead.” — Egyptian Book of the Dead


Okay, so the last one isn’t so much of a pearl as it is a small revelation about the past…. and where a certain band got their name…. Okay, fine, here is one last pearl to finish this off correctly…. I hope you enjoyed this little trip back in time with me, to gather a small harvest of the wisdom of the ages….


“No sooner said than done — so acts your man of worth.” — Quintus Ennius


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It’s a haiku day, I can feel it…. so, here is one fresh one, and a couple more from the archives….




Food for thought


Savory phrases

seem to surface from the depths

of hidden hungers.


~~ gigoid ~~


7/13/2014


A Moment of Haiku


Bare is the soul

   who will not see the truth,

even when the truth sees them.


~~ gigoid ~~


2/9/2012


Haiku IV


Time and circumstance;

all of us who are alive,

must pay heed, or else.


~~ gigoid ~~


4/19/2013


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“It’s awfully hard work doing nothing. However, I don’t mind hard work when there is no definite object of any kind.” — Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest


This morning, Oscar’s ironic curmudgeonry from his most popular play hits me where I live, to paraphrase my blogging friend, Jerry Doby…. I had a rant subject all picked out for this section, but find myself unwilling to carry out my intent…. No idea why, just don’t feel like ranting just now…. All the emotional content necessary to produce one is present, and accounted for, but, I haven’t been able to find a proper headline to pick at thus far, and I’m not in the correct frame of mind to persevere….. Oh, well, too bad, so sad…. for me, not for you… for you, it means yet another old-school pearl, as fresh as I can make it, sans parameters to help speed the process, and widen our options…. Have a care with this one, ffolkes, it could get a little rowdy….


“If you live long enough, it WILL kill you…” — Smart Bee


“It is important to do what you don’t know how to do. It is important to see your skills as keeping you from learning what is deepest and most mysterious. If you know how to focus, unfocus.  If your tendency is to make sense out of chaos, start chaos.” — Carlos Casteneda


“Caesar had his Brutus; Charles the First, his Cromwell; and George the Third [“Treason!” cried the Speaker]–may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.” — Patrick Henry (1736-1799) — Speech in the Virginia Convention, 1765


(Okay, so this doesn’t exactly fit in with a parameterless pearl…. but, it was there and it’s always a good time to remind all you bloggers out there of our duty as American writers…. Socrates set the example, with his belief in the concept of the societal gadfly; I see it as every American’s duty to challenge the authority of the establishment, and these inspirational words from Patrick Henry serve perfectly as the proper and appropriate credo for all of us who believe in this country, and the dream of freedom and peace upon which it was founded…. There, I ranted, are you happy?…. I am….)


“…the value of the constitution depends on the good will of government itself.   If the Supreme Court rules that the Bill of Rights should not interfere with the important business of government (which they have done on at least two occasions), then the constitution is meaningless.” — John Kormylo


(It’s always good to follow a credo/disclaimer with a warning…. Keep a sharp eye on this Supreme Court, ffolkes. They’re beginning to show their colors somewhat, since way too many of them were nominated by Shrubs…. Those assholes, the Shrubs, and all those misogynistic zombies (think Dick Cheney, the Lizard King), or any of the other closet anti-Americans who support them, have a very funny idea of constitutional law, one that has very little, if anything, in common with the one we already have in place…. If you don’t believe me, ask them…. they’ve stated, in the papers, how they’d like to see certain parts of the Constitution repealed, specifically, certain entries in the Bill of Rights, and the junior Shrub is on record as mentioning his belief that the framers of the Constitution “went too far” in handing out freedoms to the people…. See, I told you I had all the makings  for a rant in here…..)


“Yes, there is Nirvana; it is in leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and writing the last line of your poem.” — Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), Sand and Foam


“The majority is never right.” — Lazarus Long  (1912-)


“There’s a tendency today to absolve individuals from moral responsibility and treat them as victims of social circumstance.  You buy that, you pay with your soul.  It’s not men who limit women, it’s not straights who limit gays, it’s not whites who limit blacks.  What limits people is lack of character.  What limits people is that they don’t have the fucking nerve or imagination to star in their own movie, let alone direct it.” — Bernard Mickey Wrangle


Apparent disorder is a product of control.

Apparent fear is a product of courage.

Apparent vulnerability is a product of possession.


Control or disorder is a matter of Analysis.

Courage or fear is a matter of Direction.

Possession or vulnerability is a matter of Positioning.


— Sun Tzu “The Art of War,” translation by R.L. Wing


“May you grow so rich you never have to eat, drink, piss, crap, wash, or walk by yourself, God forbid.” — Smart Bee


This is why I love the process of making pearls…. It started out parameter free, picked out its own theme, then stretched itself into the rarest form of pearl, a nine-star, with comments that add up to a mini-rant…. Bonus!


Man, I love this job!….


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


I especially enjoy it when I finish in a timely manner, having created a completely fresh, original product…. other than the quotes themselves, anyway…. It must be the shoes…. If not, well, that’s okay, too, because I need new ones…. Your guess as to what that may mean is as good as mine; since it has NOTHING to do with anything that has gone before, or with anything being planned, I’m not going to even acknowledge its absolute irrelevance to the present situation…. In other words, what a load of crap! Hah! Gotcha!….. 


Having thus disposed of the final piece of childish behavior I had left to get out today, I’ll leave you in peace… Well, once I’m gone, you’ll THINK it’s peace, anyway, because of the relative quiet and calm…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


—

Sometimes I sits and thinks,

and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid the dubious


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