Intricately crafted examples of metaphoric paradox….

Posted on July 13, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Ignorance doesn’t kill you, but it makes you sweat a lot.”

~~ Haitian proverb ~~

Did you say ‘chase paper’?….

Hajime…. I’m posting very late again today, but, not for any bad reason. On the contrary, it’s been a fine morning. I would share it, but, it’s still too intimate an experience to do so; I’m greedy sometimes, & want to savor it for a time. The time I spent will, eventually, be a big part of my personal cache of memories, in the folder simply labeled “joy”. Can’t say exactly why ’tis so, but, gift horse, right? Don’t want to examine it too closely….

Rather than torture all of us by trying to create some grandiose, compelling intro today, I’ll make these two paragraphs do as a sublimation for the real thing. I doubt seriously y’all will miss it, any more than will I. We also will not be discussing any of the personal quirks, and/or mental issues which would tend to complicate matters in the normal course of events. Of course, around here, there is no such thing as a normal course of events, but, we won’t talk about that, either. Instead, we’ll just do this….

Shall we pearl?….

“Get thee down. Be thou funky.”

~~ Retro Bee ~~

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Máiréad Nesbitt

Image from http://www.celticwoman.com via Google Images

Today’s musical selection features an Irish artist, a fiddler, who currently plays with the Celtic Woman group. I’ve seen the group on stage a couple of times; each time, this woman’s performance, for me, made the show as special as it was. Quite simply, her performance is infectiously joyous, sharing her own pleasure at playing her music to such a degree it is tangible…. I hope you enjoy it….

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Celtic Woman

Máiréad – Granuaile’s Dance

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“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~

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“No slave is ever freed, save he freeth himself.”

~~ Bob Marley, paraphrased ~~

Today’s rant is self-directed, as it should be, given the opening quotes…. Enjoy! Oh, and, keep an open mind on this one; you’ll need it….

From 5/6/2015:

Dubiousity, Redux

In the virtual world, I call myself gigoid, the dubious, for specific reasons…. Rather than use my own words to delineate/describe those reasons, here are some of them, in the form of pearls, (naturally….), as collected by Smart Bee, just as an exercise…. It turned out to be a nice, eleven-star pearl, all centered around the concept of doubt as a function of wisdom…. It seems I’m not the only person in history to put my faith in doubt, rather than the other way around, so to speak…. There are a lot of big names here, and, I only went through the first half of the collection….

Pay particular heed today, ffolkes; these little bits of shiny stuff are more subtly important, to you, than you may realize…. Oh, and, ALL of this will be on your final Quiz…. Don’t blame me, I didn’t make it up….

Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.
They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Brahma ~~

“Philosophy, means, first, doubt; and afterwards the consciousness of what knowledge means, the consciousness of uncertainty and of ignorance, the consciousness of limit, shade, degree, possibility. The ordinary man doubts nothing and suspects nothing.” — Henri Frederick Amiel

“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)

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

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is an absurd one.” — Voltaire

Modest doubt is call’d
The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches
To the bottom of the worst.

~~ William Shakespeare ~~

~~ Troilus and Cressida — Act ii, Sc. 2 ~~

Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom. — Smart Bee

“Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.” — Bergen Evans, The Natural History of Nonsense (1946)

“If you understand, or if you don’t. If you believe, or if you doubt. There is a universal justice and the eyes of truth are always watching.” — Enigma

“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.” — H. L. Mencken

My guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglect
deceived me into thinking I had something to protect.
Good and bad I defined these terms, quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then;
I’m younger than that now.

~~ Bob Dylan ~~

Ah, yes, indeed…. I AM younger than that now….. so, there will be more on this subject later…. Ta, then….

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Retrospective, defined in folly….

Yesterday
I wrote a poem.

It bled out of my head,
like I’d been struck with
an axe,
right through the artery,
in the neck,
spraying blood around
everywhere,
like a pulsing garden hose….

It hurt, at first,
then came the feeling,

of quick relief,
of timeless beauty,

of pain avenged,
of lust aroused,

of outrage aflame,
of deep compassion,

of endless empathy,
of truest love….

Now it’s gone, cast away
like pearls before twine.

(Grin…)

You thought
I was going to call you
a pig,
didn’t you?

Hah!

Well, you’re not.
You’re a person.

I know, because
you’re reading this poem…
if that’s what it is.
I think it is,
so,
maybe it is.

Or, maybe,
it will be,
someday, when it
grows up,
and learns to rhyme.
Whew…
Just in time…..

That’s all.
Reality often sucks wind,
y’know?

S’okay, though….
It keeps us busy,
and out of some of the
mischief,
so much part
of our
nature.

We all can do
only what we
do.

Or, don’t.

Two sides, one coin.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/1/2014

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Naked Pearls

Not so obvious truths….

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“I think, therefore I am… dangerous, that is…”

~~ Master Bee ~~

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“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

~~ Anais Nin ~~

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“Do what you love.
Know your own bone;
gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.”

~~ Thoreau ~~

*********

“A man cannot speak but he judges himself…
no man thoroughly understands a truth
until he has contended against it.”

~~ Emerson ~~

*********

“In walking, just walk.
In sitting, just sit.
Above all, don’t wobble.”

~~ Yun-Men ~~

*********

“Really to see the sun rise or go down every day…
would preserve us sane forever.”

~~ Thoreau ~~

*********

“… as sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul…”

~~ Aristotle — Nicomachean Ethics, Bl. I, Ch. 6, 10966, lines 29-30 ~~

*********

“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions,
that they exist in the present,
which is what there is and all there is.”

~~ Alan Watts ~~

*********

“If it had been a bear it would have bit you.”

~~ Jonathan Swift — Polite Conversation, Dialogue i”

*********

********************************

Did it. Down, dirty, done. Moreover, got nothin’ left to say, so, I’ll just say, see y’all tomorrow. I’m as certain of that as I am of anything in the world…. Fair warning, I’d say….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

‘Old Nick’ portrayed by committee….

Posted on July 9, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“You cannot do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

Acting cute….

Hajime…. In the Golden Age of Science Fiction, an author named A. E. Van Vogt wrote books which were, and are, quite popular among aficionados of the genre, whether new, or old, such as myself. Personally, I had read half a small town library full of it, along with my other reading, by the time I graduated from high school, and moved away to attend UC Berkeley, in 1968. Of them, three in particular are in my mind today, as I sit to begin today’s Pearl.

The three books are titled, “The Voyage of the Space Beagle”, “The Weapon Shops of Isher”. and, “The World of Null-A”. Each of them, for me contains a certain idea, or set of ideas, which were, and are, embedded in my world-view, either as basic data/information to be considered in all transactions with reality, or regularly used as a means of ordering my own thoughts for optimal possibilities for positive results, meaning, I will be comfortable with whatever takes place. After all comfort is what we humans are seeking, in the final analysis… It might be more accurate to say we wish to not be uncomfortable. which we do not enjoy, and will go to extreme efforts to avoid.

By this time, you will, no doubt (given my sobriquet, you should realize how significant it is for me to say that….), be wondering just what the hell is going on here, with good reason. I claim to be honest, so, what the hell, I’ll be honest. I’m drunk. Soused might be closer to the exact degree, but, drunk gives y’all the correct flavor of my status. In actuality, the flavor is honey; Jim Beam Honey to be precise. Damn good stuff. I find it to have a flavor requiring no chaser, as well as a pleasantly slow onset of inebriation, enabling the sort of loquacity you are currently witnessing, as I type merrily along, knowing full well I will have to re-read it in the morning, to make sure there isn’t anything too, well, drunk, to make it unworthy of posting.

Of course, if that happens, you’ll never know, will you? Wonderful thing, delete buttons. Okay, where was I? Oh, right. A. E. Van Vogt….. So, to be succinct….

In the “Space Beagle”, the concept of a new field of science, named Nexism, was outlined. The concept was based on the idea of everything in the universe being connected, which, when properly understood, can lead to understanding of how human perceptions can be manipulated, through the connections to the real world, of which most of us humans are not aware. A short example: emotions, such as unreasoning fear, can be stimulated by the application of subsonic sounds, combined with semi-audible propaganda, in conjunction with visual stimuli in strobe pulses.

In the Weapons Shops of Isher, the concept of resisting overwhelming force, in a strategic, tactical sense, was explored through a story which is an obvious metaphor for modern culture. It approached the idea from unusual direction, which of itself taught the lesson to be learned….. This has led me to my recent thoughts and ideas regarding low-tech solutions to high-tech weaponry, with some success, I might add.

Last, The World of Null-A, which refers to a world based on a concept of Non-Aristotelean progression of thought, moving outside the boundaries of order, to the inclusion of chaos. In all three books, the primary story line is fascinating enough to make the extraordinary seem common, making it easier to comprehend without reaction.

Here is where we get to the punch-line. It’s really too bad I’m now at the point where I must either pull this together into a point, or go to bed….. Here is the point. Or, points. All these books, in the world of metaphor, were speaking about human nature, and how that nature is, has, and can act in reality, whether to its advantage, or detriment. All our flaws, as well as all our talents and characteristics of extraordinary capability, are shown in a realistic, in full acknowledgment of our weaknesses, and celebration of our strengths. As such, they fit very well into my own predilection for a universe in which it is possible to be all we are able to be…. and, not in a US Army sort of way…..

Pretty grandiose, eh? Oh, well, chalk it up to the whiskey, if you wish. I certainly did. Hey, it got us to this point on the page, with what turned out to be a rather entertaining little piece of blather. In case y’all didn’t catch the transition, it’s morning, I’m no longer inebriated, & after reading the above, I can honestly say, I won’t be trying to write while drunk any more. While it ain’t bad, and, by gosh there isn’t a single typo I can find, it’s not exactly the finest piece of mental acrobatics of my career. Go figure, right?

Ah, well, such is life in the blogosphere; you never know quite what you might find. Today, you found an epic Pearl, so, why don’t we get on with the slow, by getting it on the toad…..

Shall we pearl?….

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

~~ Mark Twain ~~

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Kate Wolf

Image from www.youtube.com via Google Images

Today’s musical selection is a compilation of most of this artist’s recorded songs, which comprises her body of work, as she passed away several years ago…. Outside California, she isn’t too well known, I think; here, she is an iconic figure, representing what I believe to be the best of folk music….. A voice like a clear bell, and all the compassion and love in the world come through in every word she sings…. Enjoy, ffolkes; it doesn’t get any better….

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Kate Wolf

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“Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its one sure defense.”

~~ Mark Twain, Notebook, 1888 ~~

Today we have a graphic example of what Mr. Twain spoke of so eloquently in the above quote. I often forget to use humor in my ranting, yet it remains our greatest weapon to use against those who would treat the rest of the species as prey. Laughing at them is much more effective than any thousand words of indictment….. Nobody in our time was better at this than George Carlin, so, for today, you get George, instead of me, ranting…. Try to enjoy, let yourself laugh as necessary, and think about it all, for it’s all true as the day is long….. In a few appropriate spots, I have added a pearl or three, to help the thought processed move in the right direction….

Also, at the end of the section, you will find a link, to the site of a friend, where he has put together some excellent memes regarding modern life which I found to be perfectly rational, and good to see. Go check it out, and listen particularly to what is said in the final meme, from an unexpected source….

“A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility”

~~ Aristotle ~~

“It could probably be shown by facts and figures
that there is no distinctly native American criminal class
except Congress.”

~~ Mark Twain Following the Equator (1897) ~~

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”
.
~~ William Shakespeare, “Henry VI”, Part IV ~~

https://talesfromtheloublog.wordpress.com/2016/07/08/memes-in-the-matrix/
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Here is a poem I wrote last year, while living in Hell…. Don’t know why, but, it seems like the right choice for today’s mess….

Infidelia

There’s a certain
panache,
almost a feeling of
glory,
one feels
upon returning

from

Hell

Purgatory.

Or,
so those say,
who say those
sorts of things,
I guess.

I don’t know,

for sure.

I didn’t go

there.

I only went

Hell.

I only live

Purgatory.

But,

I like it.

Right now,

anyway.

Other times,

not

so much.

It’s not bad,
if I don’t
think.

Sigh.

Too bad.
I
do.

~~ gigoid ~~

11/17/2015.

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Naked Pearls

Classic Notes on the Process of Living

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“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

~~ Semisonic’s “Closing Time” ~~

*******

“The best way out is always through.”

~~ Robert Frost ~~

*******

“I never like to think of the future. It comes soon enough.”

~~ Albert Einstein ~~

*******

“But what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry.”

~~ Alfred Tennyson — In Memoriam, liv, Stanza 5 ~~

*******

“Do you agree?” — Blake

“Do I have a choice?” — Avon

“Yes” — Blake

“Then I agree” — Avon

*******

“If a man insisted always on being serious,
and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation,
he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.”

~~ Herodotus ~~

*******

“For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.”

~~ Douglas Adams, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” ~~

*******

********************************

Done. I was a bit unsure if it would ever get this far, apparently, like with most of our fears, without good reason. I could explore that, but, I’ll be good, so I can persuade one or two of y’all to come back tomorrow, when I’ll give this another shot. Until then, let’s all try to be good to each other, okay? Okay! See y’all on the flip side, as we used to say downtown….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Candid portions of soluble soap….

Posted on July 5, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die tomorrow.”

~~ James Dean ~~

Contemplating the inscrutable….

Hajime…. After a full hour of arguing with Leelu, who thought 0430 was late enough to stay in bed, I’m up, once again staring at a blank screen, wondering what the hell to write. As you see, I opted for the easy way, with pointed remarks about the morning, just so I could get started. Naturally, as soon as I get the first sentence typed, my mind goes blank. SIGH…. It’s going to be a long morning, I can tell….

Fortunately, most of the material needed for today is on hand. We have a guest discussion for the ranting section, with a brilliant analysis of modern times by Dean Baker, and a fine set of Naked Pearls with which to finish. The rest shouldn’t take too long, if I can decide on some music without too much waffling. It’s also fortunate I’m not much at waffling; I’ve always found making decisions pretty easy, if I have the information needed to make one. The only trick will be to find something fresh, which is rather a random operation, anyway….

In the interests of efficiency, (not that it’s a particularly popular category around here), we’ll cut the intro short again, in hopes of finding some sort of rhythm further down the page. Fat chance, right? Oh, well. Such is life in the blogosphere. So they say. Me, I’m going to take them at their word, for now, so we can get on with the rest of today’s mess…. Since I said the word ‘efficiency’, I am obligated to make a serious attempt to achieve it, which means this is all you get…. Go figure, eh?….

Shall we pearl?….

“There is no sin except stupidity.”

~~ Oscar Wilde, “The Critic as Artist”, 1891 ~~

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Fare Thee Well, July 5, 2015

Last year on this date, the Grateful Dead celebrated their 50th anniversary as a band, by performing several concerts in the Bay Area, and, on the 4th and 5th of July, in Chicago’s Soldier Field. Here is a recording of one of those shows for your listening enjoyment…. Keep on truckin’, ffolkes….

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Fare Thee Well
The Grateful Dead

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Yesterday, a friend posted the following discussion of the participants in the upcoming presidential election here in the US. Quite frankly, it’s bloody brilliant, and I wish I’d written it… From possibly the best living English language poet, Dean J. Baker…. Links to his work follow the article…. Enjoy, ffolkes; this is telling it like it is….

Pap

How long has it been since you’ve heard this lie: ‘you are never given more than you can take,’ usually preceded by ‘God.’ Even recognizing it is to acknowledge that you’re a victim of positive attitude propaganda. Pap. Or, bullshit if you feel like saying so.

Most people won’t ever come to the point where they will acknowledge the harm being surrounded by cheerful asswipes can do to someone who rightfully so is building a case of rage and pessimism. It could very well be that feeling the burn, so to speak, will provide a manner or method as of that time unformed which will get you through the leveling of degrees of stress and trauma.

As well most people buy into that pap, and thus are crippled into detouring away from a healthy non-murderous rage.

Any trauma endured – and ongoing – is perversely translated into an opportunity to build a stronger self through life’s variable adversities. Post-traumatic stress, or any great stress, is thus deformed into the chance to grow. Lucky fucking you, huh.

You get to imitate Job, or Jonah, from the Bible. If there was a certainty of an afterlife where you could meet up with those responsible for such bullshit stories permeating into false attitudes in daily life, I’d bet there’d be a long line waiting to kick their asses.

It’s part and parcel of the fictive idea that you alone ought to be enough to raise yourself up, and if you aren’t one of those fortunates, then you’re a socialist. An example of the common depth of thought propagated in many countries now, with the exception of those who simply say We are right, kill everyone else.

I can see where that fog of optimism infects the minds and attitudes of many to the degree that actuates in saving possible enemy combatants under the guise of humanitarianism.

‘But they’re not carrying a gun, or explosives, now.’
‘I know. Let’s wait til later when we’re blown up, or strafed with bullets.’ Besides, if it doesn’t happen to us, we can always wail about tragedy to insulate ourselves from the reality of it.

This takes me back to the first statement about not being given more than you can take. It seems innocent. Hopeful. Designed to help.. not a passive aggression against an overwhelming reality in this and other lands of cheery manipulative crap contrived to drive the despair or stress so far underground it manifests itself as illness – at which time you’ll be told that a positive attitude helps.

‘Ok. I am positive that if I could kick you in the head I’d feel better, so come closer, you focking schmoe.’

This is only one example where a pervasive systematic form of denial can work against the overall health of a society and individuals simultaneously.
It can result in Hitlers, or Hillarys.

Now of course there are those of you who will think I planned on getting to that point in order to establish a rant against… Hillbillary. Or her devil’s adversary, T-Rump.

That they are the result of a grand denial is why they’re used as examples. Almost every single possibility for office of the Presidency has been flawed. It’s to be expected… isn’t it? Or have we been culturally conditioned to lower our sights for heaven and for politics?

You do know what’s at the center of it: money. It puts them out there as possibilities.

The crowd is so effectively disarmed into believing the fiction that they have a choice that nowhere is there the question of why exactly are these trouts touting themselves as leaders.

They will say what they’re going to do – which will change once in office, since it always does.

Not one of them shows a subtle understanding of the effective currents that will affect each and everything that even attempts to get done. So in other words, they pander to what they believe the greater number of people want to hear.

Thus, they lie. They give you the Big Happy coming your way.

Want some pie? Here it is. Oh, but you didn’t say you didn’t want it in your face.

That’s the opposite of the spectrum that says they must have flaws. Hey, she’s one big flaw so let’s elect her: we’ll make history. Not the reality of it being that if she’’ a choice you are history.

Is the country so depraved, so un-edicated, that they’ll take to Bubba Gump articulating outrage and fall for the idiocy that if he can articulate what they think he’ll do a good job? Probably on the Presidential throne.

What I’d want – and I think everyone ought to benefit by – is someone who shows a greater depth and understanding of the nuances of power. I believe any thinking person is repelled by the fact that as it stands T-Rump is blatting out euphemistic courage, and few are equating it with the robber barons knowing what’s best for you: da public.

He’s already got the lease, now he’s trying to own the Company Store.

They are all a trauma waiting to occur; inflicting their perversions of ideas of truth and reality upon a people less and less able to think (reading opinions on the internet and being able to vocalize your version is not thinking, it’s wearing Mr. Ed’s hat, or pontificating like Arnold Ziffle).

I’d have hoped that by now once the years of Tricky Dick and/or Liar Bill (ex-rapist, so things are improving) had gone by to the point where a famous novelist I met once might hesitate in stating whenever he’s going to take a dump that he’s “got to take a Nixon.”

As representative metaphors, Hillbillary stands for advancement and individual persistence – if you overlook integrity and other minor things. And T-Rump stands for the voice of the common person, that great articulate, well-learned and compassionate soul.. as long as they got theirs and you don’t jump the fucking line, ok.

They ought to be taken as these are who you don’t vote for, what you run from, what to avoid if you want a healthy country short-term and longer.

Consider that they each know why they aren’t fit for office, but humility prevents them from enumerating their faults since they know that would allow a balanced perspective to be weighed and decided upon.

Nah, they have plenty of humility they want you to share. Good old pusitive attitude propaganda.

The ‘Party’ as it stands is over.

These people are not icons of what or whom to vote for, but plinths of a society where the fall has only to be witnessed out loud: the emperor’s burlesque is what it’s all about on the surface.

#Politicians Vote NO. A crook, or one who’’ got the lease & now wants to own the Company Store. One dimensional caricatures at the expense of the country.

Voting ought to mean you choose someone better than a crook, with greater depth than the slim pickings of public outrage, and the process not resemble a game of Whack-A-Mole.

©Dean J. Baker

Dean’s site: https://tormentingthemonkey.wordpress.com/2016/07/04/pap/

Dean’s books: https://deanjbaker.wordpress.com/awards/all-print-books-links/
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Adjectives of Quality ~~ Bloody Friday

A baleful lump of ironic introspection
sits upon my shoulder today
leaving traces of fey reflection
with a smattering of true dismay.

Resistance may be futile, many have said,
belief didn’t necessarily follow.
Abnegation of fear marks all bills paid,
leaving such empty threats hollow.

Symbolic courage never sleeps so deeply
as when delusion holds sway.
Bartered virtue, sold far too cheaply,
stands in shame, until honor fades away.

Too many culprits exist to count just one;
all of us bear obvious blame.
Evil is as evil does, only, when it’s done,
it begins again, all same-same.

Nobody seems to care enough to deny the lies.
Ignorant fear rules humanity’s masses.
When evil passes unremarked, innocence dies;
silence equals guilt, leaving only hope’s ashes.

Reality screams; tales of terror unfold,
flames fanned with purposeful malice,
insidious dangers hide beneath atrocity untold
as Gaia weeps into an empty chalice.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/3/2015

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Naked Pearls

Subtle Points on Life at Large

*********

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”

~~ Seneca ~~

*********

“Do nothing that insults your soul.”

~~ Walt Whitman ~~

*********

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

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*********

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man
to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.”

~~ Henry David Thoreau ~~

*********

“Without accepting the fact that everything changes,
we cannot find perfect composure.
But unfortunately, although it is true,
it is difficult for us to accept it.
Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer.”

~~ Shunryu Suzuki ~~

*********

“In the bigger scheme of things,
the universe is not asking us to do something,
the universe is asking us to be something.
And that’s a whole different thing.”

~~ Lucille Clifton ~~

*********

“The best thing for being sad, replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow,
is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails.
You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies,
you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins,
you may miss your only love,
you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics,
or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds.
There is only one thing for it then — to learn.
Learn why the world wags and what wags it.
That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust,
never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust,
and never dream of regretting.
Learning is the only thing for you.
Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

~~ T.H. White, The Once and Future King ~~

*********

“I give up, what is the meaning of life?”

~~ Subtle Bee ~~

*********

“Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question…
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

~~ T. S. Eliot, “Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock” ~~

*********

********************************

Amazingly enough, it’s done; strangely enough, it’s relatively on time, and reasonably complete, in a Pearlish sort of way. I’ll take it, and run, with a glad heart and easy mind. Well, as much as I ever do. I’ll also note, tomorrow’s another day, & I plan to be here, though the plan calls for less angst, and more calm, centered behavior. I’ll echo here the fat chance used above. On that note, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; odds on that are, as ever, pretty good….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Substitute candidates from Poughkeepsie….

Posted on June 21, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Since we cannot know all that is to be known of everything,
we ought to know a little about everything.”

~~ Blaise Pascal ~~

Tracy Arm Glacier Melt Runoff, Alaska

Hajime…. In the past five years, my sanity has been somewhat of a hit and miss proposition. Now, for some, this might be an issue, which could conceivably cause difficulties in life. However, I don’t suffer from insanity; I revel in it, so, the process is not the same as it is for anyone else, with a typical view of sanity vs. the opposite side of the coin. In my world, being sane is merely a judgment, usually made by others, for others, using only their own silly rules to make the decision, just as if they actually knew what was real, and what was not. Silly humans….

In my world, we believe in humanity, and reality; we, or, I, since I’m really not a royal, know our body and mind are NOT separate things; neither is our sense of “I” anything more than an illusion, created by the power of our imagination to help us find the sense of order our mind requires, to separate us from our perceptions, so the power of our intelligence can imagine itself as real, rather than merely the resultant outcome of a biological process. poorly understood. In truth, we are not separate from what we perceive; to believe so sets us on a path of delusion, for reality does not actually conform to our imagination, much as we like to believe it does.

This belief has led us into a real mess, but, since we are still in the intro, perhaps we should wait to explore such deep matters. In fact, it’s probably a deep and wide enough of a subject to fill up an entire section, with severely rant-like qualities. We’ll see how it goes. We like to rant, but, we don’t know if we are up to it. Uh oh…. Now we’ve done it; we’re stuck in the royal we again. Shit. We hate when that happens. Oh, ’tisn’t a necessarily bad thing, just weird. We know, we’ll use the old royal coping mechanism, so diligently applied by the real royals we see, to wit: sheer denial. We shall act as if we do not see, or hear….

We shall also end this intro here, before it becomes any more onerous, or moves any further from the confines of true reality. We shall hope to fall out of the ‘we’ mode soon, but, if not, well, so be it. Let us try to shock it out, by using one of the more radical Tardis toys to move us along. We shall push THIS button….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Think of doubt as an invitation to think.”

~~ Dubious Bee ~~

********************************

Image from amazon.com via Google Images

I often retreat into the past when I’m feeling this way, to find those things forgotten over time. I decided, once breaking out of the royal ‘we’, I was in the mood for some class and style. I can’t think of a better example than one of my first crushes…. Miss Peggy Lee….

********************************

Miss Peggy Lee

********************************

https://youtu.be/LCRZZC-DH7M?list=PLAeI1ntmJCZM8Rq6pArnBsNCsN_j-FLRr

********************************

The rant I’m working on isn’t ready; for all the hype and delay, it better turn out pretty damn good, I’d say, but, we’ll see. For now, here is a self-directed rant, with some pointers to take you on a journey through your mind’s interpretation of reality, to look at some of those things in our public life which are part of what I see as humanity’s issues of contention with reality…. In short, if you follow the dots, the picture will show why we’re all wobbly….

*****

“Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves.
Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an audience.”

~~ Diogenes ~~

*****

“You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.”

~~ James Thurber, “The Thurber Carnival”, 1945 ~~

*****

“Every sensible man, every honest man,
must hold the Christian sect in horror.
But what shall we substitute in its place? you say.
What?
A ferocious animal has sucked the blood of my relatives.
I tell you to rid yourselves of this beast
and you ask me what you shall put in its place?”

~~ Voltaire ~~

*****

“Like…If guns are outlawed,
the lawyer population will explode out of control.”

~~ Valley Bee ~~

*****

“JAPAN is a WONDERFUL planet
— I wonder if we’ll ever reach
their level of COMPARATIVE SHOPPING…”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

*****

********************************

Recently, there was yet another insane shooting spree by an idiot. This poem is one I wrote about three years ago, after a similar event…. I hope you enjoy it, though ‘enjoy’ may not the most precise word I’m seeking…. But, I hope you enjoy the process….

Modest sounds of impatient concern….

Crowds converge at the raw and grisly scene,
comatose to compassion, curiosity tugging at the hem
with sharp, oh, sharp tools made obscene,
filing the essence of future hopes in spite of them.

Yet who has won the keys to the treasure,
who whipped up the fear of another brother?
Who spent the dreams of the old in selfish measure,
with such arrogant blindness grave issues to smother?

Fateful decisions may prompt still another pause,
to catch and release collective images of insanity.
Surely legitimate anger arises with ample cause
wallowing in self-made entrepreneurs, fluent in profanity.

A quartet of eternities must pass to guarantee change,
regardless of need, or desire, or autonomous manipulation.
Ancient rules and modern aggression is only passing strange
when golden delusion grasps futilely at its related illusory station.

~~ gigoid ~~

8/18/2013

********************************

Naked Pearls

Random Thoughts on Life at Large

*******

“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 — Moral Essays, Epistle i, Line 115 ~~

*******

“A man cannot speak but he judges himself…
no man thoroughly understands a truth
until he has contended against it.”

~~ Emerson ~~

*******

“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”

~~ Henri Bergson ~~

*******

“Man is not disturbed about things, but by his opinion about things.”

~~ Epictetus ~~

*******

“Happiness is the harvest of a quiet eye.”

~~ Austin O’Malley ~~

*******

“Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;

Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.

It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution’s power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.

It well may be.

I do not think I would.”

— Edna St. Vincent Millay

*******

“And now there is merely silence, silence, silence, saying all we did not know.”

~~ William Rose Benet ~~

*******

********************************

It’s done. I’m way late, and not at all sure I didn’t forget something, but, as we’re fond of saying downtown, oh, well…. Fuck it. That’s another favorite in the places I hang out, so, we’ll go with that, too. At least, we’ll do that until tomorrow, when I’ll try again to reach some sort of coherent plateau, where I might find my center. If not, well, I’ll try again the next day. So be it. See y’all then, if nobody catches me at it….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Unavailable for comments or plastic ducks….

Posted on June 20, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength
which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.”

~~ Marcus Aurelius ~~

Wind Spinner

Hajime…. To avoid getting either maudlin, or whiny, I’ll forgo relating how I’ve spent the past three days, three days in which no Pearl was posted, for the first time in five years. Suffice it to say, I’ve not been having fun, nor have I been frantically writing down the thousands of irreverent, or psychotic, take your pick, thoughts that have paraded past my inner censors, without ever seeing the light of day. No doubt, that sentence will bring beads of sweat to the brow of anyone trying to decipher any real meaning, for it wound its way tortuously to a bad end. This, perhaps, more than anything else, should tell you how its been around here….

Nevertheless, here I am, bad syntax & all. I’m going to post this, come Hell or High Water, so, I suppose it would be best to just get on with it. If I take the time to compose a thorough introductory section, I have a feeling we’d never get out of here, or, get anywhere close to finishing this in time to even post it with today’s date. To make a long story short, I’m pretty frigging off the rails right now, without a clue as to why, or even why not. When I have a clue, I’ll be okay, but, right now, the price for one is out of my range, so, I’ll just have to fake it, as I have been now for three days. So be it.

Since, in spite of all planning I managed to find a somewhat cryptic note, we’ll use it to twist our way down the page, in the interests of fair play, while simultaneously pretending it’s not unusual. How’m I doing? No? Well, okay. We’ll just go on, without any further bullshit…. Hmm. Let’s do this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“If nothing went wrong today, you’re probably dead.”

~~ Murphy’s Last Law ~~

********************************

For a return to routine, default is perfectly appropriate, not to mention, lovely. Enjoy, ffolkes, if you wish. Hard not to with such music….

********************************

Classical Music

********************************

https://youtu.be/09t0twQlPSI

********************************

I’m working on a rant, which, naturally, isn’t done, as I haven’t written at all in three days. To fill in for today, here’s a relatively light piece from a couple years ago…. Enjoy!….

From 3/11/2014:

As iterated above, there will be no rant today…. However, having found the first quote in this group on the very first try today, I believe I can put together an old school variety pearl that will serve as well to take a few telling shots at the dignity of the BRC, as well as pulling as many of their covers as I can grab hold of…. Enjoy…..

“Governments are the world’s real terrorist organizations. They function by means of inducing fear in their victims to gain compliance.” — Westley F. Deitchler

(Now, if that isn’t the most truthful, most logical, and most accurate quote I’ve seen in many moons, then, nothing at all fits that description…. This is the absolute truth, ffolkes, and something EVERYONE ALIVE should be made aware of…. let’s hope the rest of what Smart Bee finds for us is as potent….)

“I could not milk the cow and leave it thirsty.” — Munyawera, current volunteer and former client — of Christian Children’s Fund — on why he donates his time to CCF.

(Now, if only we could find a politician who felt this way….)

“Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.” — Gore Vidal

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

— T. S. Eliot, Choruses from the Rock

(Nowadays, we KNOW where our information is, don’t we? And, if we don’t, we have the NSA, who tracks and collects all of it for us….)

“Is being an idiot like being high all the time?” — Janeane Garofolo

(I’m not sure of the answer, but I figure we could just ask any elected official to find out….)

“No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.” — Jacob Bronowski, in “Encounter”, 1971

And, lastly, just because we can….

“How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.” — Petrarch

Now, THAT’S what I’m talking about…..

********************************

Gently Came a Wounded Child

But you shall not escape my iambics.

Soft, sinuous patterns of unearthly beauty
blithely commune with sinking stars,
as pale shadows of former virtue hover
near, ever clean, ever tolerant.
These unbidden habits are worn with age and care,
ready now for dissolution,
welcoming gladly the kiss of Death’s handmaiden.

Unknown to all, the child stands aside,
weeping for the lost days of youth,
days that now shall never be,
nor yearned for ever after.
Only darkness shall lay upon the landscape,
cold, hard, eternal.

Such then are the signs and portents
as we enter into the unknown future,
they are grave indeed.

Uncertainty will be our sole companion,
as the search for hope yields no result.
The lamentations of the gods
shall sound the elegy for Man,
who never learned to see the gift that was made,
so many echoes ago, in the hopeful past;
thus will we pass this plane of existence
as we came, baffled and afraid….

~~ gigoid ~~

written 2/2/2012

********************************

Naked Pearls

It only seems like a joke….

*******

“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west;
people create distinctions out of their own minds
and then believe them to be true.”

~~ Buddha ~~

*******

“There is no sun without shadow
and it is essential to know the night.”

~~ Albert Camus ~~

*******

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.
Don’t let yourself indulge in vain wishes.”

~~ Rabindranath Tagore ~~

*******

“He who searches for truth must not appease his urge
by giving himself up to the narcotic of belief.”

~~ Hans Reichenbach ~~

*******

“Here is the world,
sound as a nut, perfect,
not the smallest piece of chaos left,
never a stitch nor an end,
not a mark of haste, or botching, or second thought;
but the theory of the world
is a thing of shreds and patches.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“Do not look for all the answers at once.
A path is formed by placing stones one in front of the other.”

~~ The Giant from Twin Peaks ~~

*******

“So this is what it feels like to be potato salad”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

*******

********************************

It’s done. We’ll treat it like a gift horse, & go post it before I can change my mind. I’ll try to do this again tomorrow, but, at this point, I’m not making any guarantees. Most likely, I’ll be here tomorrow; odds are once again in our favor. Until then, be strange, because it’s cool out there….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Close to the padded cloud….

Posted on June 3, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

Dance of the Ferries, Victoria, BC

Hajime…. In an ugly chair, the old man sits, staring morosely at the computer screen before him, eyes fixed on the vast white space upon the screen, empty of all thought or fantasy. To look at him, you might think, “boy, that’s a tough-looking old guy….”, not able to see beneath the rough exterior, to the confusion and deep sense of pain within. As he blinks at the screen, thoughts swirl in his head, none of which translate into any coherent statement worth typing. He shakes his head, slowly, as the tears begin to fall….

I wish thee a good morrow, though I cannot claim to think it so. Today’s Pearl will be, for me, a saving grace, so, the way it looks from the other side, though of some concern, is completely irrelevant, in comparison to how it will seem from here. Since I really don’t much care how well it turns out, as much as I care about getting it done, I won’t make any claims as to the quality, or even the quantity…. Truly, today’s Pearl is WYSIWYG, as much as it is anything else. I am only doing this because, if I don’t, someone will die today who didn’t have to. Quite simple, really, though a bit alarming to those who have never dwelt in the House of Fear for long…..

Don’t worry, ffolkes. I will be fine. Some day. For now, realize this is what keeps me from turning rogue, keeps me from making serious inroads into the population explosion, first-hand. I developed this method of keeping myself under control almost five and a half years ago now, and it’s all I need, or have, that will save innocent lives. So be it. No tricks today, we’re going on now, simply because I’m tired of trying to make this sound reasonably coherent, when all I really want to do is scream epithets and rage…. To save us both from that, I think we should go on. Now….

Shall we Pearl?….

“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” — Albert Einstein

********************************

Regular readers here at ECR will recognize this icon, as our default musical position. Here is a collection of some of humanity’s best music, as proven by its survival over the past several hundred years…. Enjoy, please; it’s quite soothing to the savage breast, of which I have a perfect example to offer today….

********************************

Classical Music

********************************

https://youtu.be/5LXhPbmoHmU

********************************

As might be guessed, there won’t be a fresh rant today; here instead is one from the archives. I tried to make it light, as I am not in a mood for much angst, even if I’ve already expunged it once from my system. This will, hopefully, provide some comic, or, at least, lighter material for your perusal…. Enjoy!….

From 3/7/2014:

Early as it is, I won’t give in to my urges to vent….. The easiest, most efficient way to accomplish that goal is to provide myself with a sublimated task, which will give me the sense of venting, without having to actually create the path for it to be released into the blogosphere…. Well, that’s the plan, anyway…. What this means in a practical sense is, of course, an old-school pearl, with parameters set at “rage against the machines”, otherwise known as Sublimated Rant Mode….. Enjoy!….

“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde

“There are scores of thousands of sects who are ready at a moment’s notice to reveal the will of God on every possible subject.” — Smart Bee

“I’d rather that a bigot mistake me for a lesbian than that a lesbian mistake me for a bigot.” — Tovah Hollander

“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet devised by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” — Thomas Jefferson

“A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.” — Anatole France

“The next best thing to doing something smart is not doing something stupid.” — Flo Capp’s Observation

Truckin’, like the do-dah man
Once told me “Gotta play your hand.
Sometimes your cards ain’t worth a dime
If you don’t lay’em down.”
Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it’s been.

~~ Truckin’ by Garcia, Weir, Lesh, Hunter ~~

Wow…. not bad, not bad at all…. I don’t think a pearl has ever come together so quickly, or so seamlessly as this one…. It took a total of eight minutes, as pearl after pearl jumped up to be included, sandwiched between a very few obviously unsuitable quotes, easily dismissed in jig time…. It was almost as if the universe was rewarding me for having picked the correct venue for this group, which, patently, is an excellent one to highlight such valuable gems as these….

From now on, I think you’ll be able to use this pearl when you want to show someone a real-life example of the definition of the word “eclectic”….. You could probably use it with the same effect to demonstrate the meaning of the word “esoteric”, too, but, that might stretch the minds of those to whom you show it to a point of no return…. It’s entirely conceivable that, upon assimilating the concepts contained herein, they would never be normal again, which, all in all, in today’s world, might not be such a bad thing, eh?…..

********************************

“A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.”

~~William Stafford ~~

Roses for Noses

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

January, 2013

********************************

Our final pearl today is somewhat resistant to categorization; it put itself together, and I haven’t a clue as to what it might mean. It means something, for sure; I just don’t have the wherewithal to figure out what it is. You decide…..

*******

“The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.”

~~ Buddha ~~

*******

“I shut my eyes in order to see.”

~~ Paul Gauguin ~~

*******

“Honesty is the best policy and spinach is the best vegetable.”

~~ Popeye ~~

*******

“It is sometimes expedient to forget who we are.”

~~ Publius Syrus — Maxim 233 ~~

*******

What is there more of in the world than anything else?
Ends.

~~ Carl Sandburg, The People, Yes (1936) ~~

*******

“For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends;
but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will be the greatest enemy.”

~~ Bhagavad Gita ~~

*******

It’s Like This

Even the samurai
have teddy bears,
and even the teddy bears
get drunk.

~~ Linux Songs/Poems ~~

*******

********************************

It’s done. I have less clue about it now than I had when beginning, so, you won’t find me trying to make excuses. Not only do I not have any, I couldn’t honorably use them, or even consider them. Instead, I’ll leave you flat, with the dangerous knowledge of our imminent return, tomorrow morning… I’ll be here if I have to kill myself…. and, no, I know that’s neither advisable, nor possible, Sheesh, even I know, if I’m dead, I can’t write. So, you’ll see me again; count on it. Just don’t expect much other than the fulfillment of the promise; it’s all I may have to offer…. See ya…

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Definite traces of apoplexy….

Posted on May 16, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“All men are created unequal.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

Looking south from La Bufadora, Ensenada, Baja Mexico

Hajime…. Today’s effort, which has already suffered a start-over, is rather eclectic, general, and long enough to choke a horse. But, it’s okay, because it’s all proven material, having come from yet another deep dive into the archives. As noted previously, I’m leaving on a trip tonight, and won’t be posting tomorrow morning, unless I have time to find one to re-blog (yeah, that’s the ticket….). So, I’ve tried to put together a worthy one to hold y’all until I can return to the keyboard with something fresh…..

In order to keep from making it TOO long, I’ll make this intro short, as has been our habit of late. It’s a good habit, I think, especially considering some of the intro sections we’ve created in the past, many of which approached a thousand words or more. But, we’re not going that route today; in fact, now I’ve related that, we’re done here. Let’s go on to the rest of today’s mess, before Murphy notices we’re gone, okay? Okay….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Since everything in life is but an experience perfect in being what it is,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection,
one may well burst out in laughter.”

~~ Long Chen Pa ~~

********************************

We are going with our default today, simply to save time & energy, of much use elsewhere in today’s schedule…. Enjoy!….

********************************

Classical Music

********************************

https://youtu.be/hDhTqF3_JWs

********************************

Today’s rant is a general, all-purpose rant against the Asininnies, from the early part of 2013, while my supply of angst was nearly limitless. It’s a bit lengthy, as I took shots at most all those I consider to be part of the problems we face in today’s world. I hope you enjoy it….

From 3/15/2013:

“Republican views of the world differ from Democratic views of the world. The reason for this is that these views are based on different compilations of misinformation.” — Smart Bee

There are moments, such as this one, when I believe the people, or person, who put together the database known to me as Smart Bee, is perhaps the most intelligent creature on this planet….. I’ve been ranting about politicians for years, trying to show people how dangerous it is to believe ANY of the stuff that either party is slinging at us to try to convince us they are worthy of our votes. Now, in one short aphorism, of two lines, we are given a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of the crap we hear from them…. Essentially, this says that every one of them is full of shit, and everything they say and do is destined to fail, because it is ALL based on incorrect information, or, to be more accurate, on unwarranted assumptions about reality…..

The most important part of this description is its impartiality of indictment. Both parties are brought into scrutiny, and found wanting, of any real knowledge of the truth, because they are both basing all of their premises on false beliefs, just for starters. Add to that, since they are politicians by choice, their genetic predisposition is to self-aggrandizement, and they show an inherent inability to tell the truth. It becomes rather easily seen why our society has become, well, insane…. It’s a short trip to crazy from where they begin the journey…. and they don’t take any detours on the road….

You see, both parties are convinced of a complete falsehood, one that humanity has been struggling with for centuries…. This lie is so basic, it colors and affects everything they do to try to manipulate the world into going the way they wish it to go. As long as they continue to try to do this, our society is doomed to failure in the long run, for the lie goes against the very nature of reality…. Simply put, these people believe they can legislate morality…. They believe that they can make laws, and people will go against their very nature to follow them, in spite of the fact that the law they propose is contrary to what comes naturally to humans, to wit: self-centered, grasping behaviors that only benefit the perpetrator, and no one else…..

We have laws against stealing…. and the most accomplished thieves we see in our culture wear suits and live in Washington D.C. We have laws against killing each other, but, people still get killed, and, if the killers do so while wearing a flag, or a badge, they are considered heroes, no matter how many they kill. We have laws that supposedly protect women, children, and the aged, from suffering abuse, but, just look around you, and you will see no end to the depredations that society allows to be perpetrated upon these three most vulnerable members of our society, all very much within the legal limits of the public morality, as given in the law books….

“[…] For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner […] on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. […] That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that.” — Carl Sagan

The people who get involved in politics, and religion, for much the same reason, believe they are special, and entitled to take all they can from the universe, because they are the be-all, and end-all of the evolutionary ladder. It says so right there in the Bible….. They don’t care that reality says differently, because their sense of denial has been fine-tuned since shortly after they were born, and they are capable of ignoring facts right up until they slap them in the face…. (Witness the Republican melt-down in the last Presidential election, when the Republican party got slapped in the face by their own lack of contact with reality…..)

In spite of all the massive amounts of evidence to the contrary, these folks believe in their own divine entitlement as the lords of creation, chosen by God to do with this planet as we would, without regard for any of the other creatures that live here with us, or for the beauty and balance of the land that sustains us. As far as they are concerned, other people and animals, and natural resources, are theirs to do with as they wish, with God’s blessing…. The fucking assholes…..

I apologize for the vulgarity, to my readers, but not to those at whom it is directed…. To them, I say, fuck you, and fuck you again…. I regard all politicians, priests, preachers, police, lawyers, judges, and corporate misogynists of all shapes and sizes to be INSANE…. floridly, and viciously insane, without any of the moral standards that the rest of mankind embraces. These assholes are responsible for our imminent demise through environmental destruction of the ecosphere, as well as for the endless preying on the weak and vulnerable to suit their own depravity, and lack of moral fiber.

“All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.” — Joseph Conrad

Sexual slavery, corporate collusion to fix wages and prices, legislative corruption and oppression, judicial malfeasance and more corruption, governmental incompetence, religious repression and collusion with politicians, all serve the purposes of the ruling class to a T, no matter how much suffering it causes to others…. As long as they have what they want, nothing anyone else says or does matters at all….

I hate to be a harbinger of bad news, but, I call ’em as I see ’em, and I see what is real…. None of what is wrong in the world will change, until the major portion of mankind makes a change of spirit, and the people, as a whole, decide that the few among us who are bold enough to act must, in fact, act. The evil among us will not go away, or stop, of its own accord, and waiting for them to come around to a more amenable state of mind isn’t going to work, as that just isn’t going to happen.

If we wish to survive, they have to go, and mankind must find a new way to get along with each other than the out-dated ways we have been trying for millennia… Those old ways leave too much power in the hands of people who will give in to the temptation that goes along with such power over others, and must not be allowed to happen any more, not if we wish to survive to see any future at all….. The universe doesn’t care one way or another, so we’ll have to be responsible for our own actions…. as we have always been, and have always been afraid to admit….

“If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will not produce food either.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

********************************

Today’s poem is from a poet who has graced our pages before. Simply put, she’s one of Mankind’s treasures, though she was a broken spirit, with a lost soul, who finally ended her own pain. Before she left us, she gave us the power of her genius; it wasn’t enough to save herself, but, what she wrote gave it all to the world….. I hope you enjoy this example of that genius….

Insomniac

The night is only a sort of carbon paper,
Blueblack, with the much-poked periods of stars
Letting in the light, peephole after peephole . . .
A bonewhite light, like death, behind all things.
Under the eyes of the stars and the moon’s rictus
He suffers his desert pillow, sleeplessness
Stretching its fine, irritating sand in all directions.

Over and over the old, granular movie
Exposes embarrassments—the mizzling days
Of childhood and adolescence, sticky with dreams,
Parental faces on tall stalks, alternately stern and tearful,
A garden of buggy rose that made him cry.
His forehead is bumpy as a sack of rocks.
Memories jostle each other for face-room like obsolete film stars.

He is immune to pills: red, purple, blue . . .
How they lit the tedium of the protracted evening!
Those sugary planets whose influence won for him
A life baptized in no-life for a while,
And the sweet, drugged waking of a forgetful baby.
Now the pills are worn-out and silly, like classical gods.
Their poppy-sleepy colors do him no good.

His head is a little interior of grey mirrors.
Each gesture flees immediately down an alley
Of diminishing perspectives, and its significance
Drains like water out the hole at the far end.
He lives without privacy in a lidless room,
The bald slots of his eyes stiffened wide-open
On the incessant heat-lightning flicker of situations.

Nightlong, in the granite yard, invisible cats
Have been howling like women, or damaged instruments.
Already he can feel daylight, his white disease,
Creeping up with her hatful of trivial repetitions.
The city is a map of cheerful twitters now,
And everywhere people, eyes mica-silver and blank,
Are riding to work in rows, as if recently brainwashed.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

********************************

Our final pearl of the day is a short, five-star statement which speaks of some of the more subtle, but, important points about how to live life well. Short it is, but, I guarantee, it’s long on wisdom…. Sometimes, it’s the shorter pearls that pack the most punch….

*******

“It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person,
“Always do what you are afraid to do.””

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair,
but manifestations of strength and resolution.”

~~ Kahlil Gibran ~~

*******

“It is not good for man to achieve all they wish.”

~~ Heraclitus ~~

*******

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
~~- Aristotle ~~

*******

“How admirable, he who thinks not,
Life is fleeting,
When he sees the lightning!”

~~ Basho ~~

*******

********************************

Oddly, for a change, today’s thrown-together-in-a-rush Pearl came together smoothly; so smoothly, I’m caught without much to say here at the end. I’m not going to predict its quality, any more than I would ever do so, but, it feels okay, and we’ll let it fly solo, just as it is. So be it. Hopefully, I’ll have time to find a re-blog for tomorrow; after that, it’s all up in the air as to what may occur. But, then, that’s pretty much always the case, and not just here on ECR. See y’all down the road a piece, ffolkes. I may be late, but, I’ll be here, come what may….. See ya…..

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Unbaked pies as currency….

Posted on May 9, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”

~~ George Santayana ~~

Entrance to Portobello Road, London

Hajime…. A week from tomorrow, I’ll be taking a trip, which is the activity I most enjoy in life. This may be a result of being raised as an Army brat, moving from base to place to base for much of my first ten years. We lived in Fort Ord, Fort Lewis, Japan, and Southern California in those times we visited relatives, all by my tenth birthday, when my father retired from the Army. Since leaving home, I’ve traveled as often as possible, for I feel I am fulfilling all my own dreams when I do. I enjoy having a base from which to go, but, for me, the journey is the thing, not the destination, or the beginning point.

In this case, I’ll be traveling for only about six days, to go see a friend get married. I have volunteered my services as a caterer for the reception, which is my usual gift to the bride and groom, as it takes a large burden from them during the time leading to the ceremony. It should be an interesting challenge, as it will be my first event since reaching an age where I cannot count on being able to do much of the actual work myself. Instead, I’ll be coordinating everyone else’s efforts, to make sure the event come off without a hitch. I’m looking forward to all of it, with great anticipation, and a small degree of fear, which will serve to keep me sharp, focused on working smart, instead of hard.

All that said, I’ll add there seems to be some lingering effect on my creativity, or, my angst, which drives it. In any case, these Pearls, for the first time in ages, will be a secondary concern; this means I’m going to fake it, a lot. We’ll begin that today, with a rant from the archives, instead of anything fresh in that section, as it takes the most focus and time to create a worthwhile rant. So be it. I’ll try to keep the rest fresh, but, no promises, as my head is already in Texas, organizing a work crew and space. In twelve days, I’ll be back home, probably ready to collapse for a few days, but, also, ready to write….. I hope.

At any rate, speaking of it gave us a grand opening for today, if naught else, so, we’ll take it, and run. In fact, we’ll break into a sprint, by using one of our standard tricks, to keep y’all fooled , er, occupied while I push this hidden button over here…. See how that works?…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“Even a fool knows that you can’t touch the stars,
but it doesn’t stop a wise man from trying.

~~ Judge Harry T. Stone ~~

********************************

Image from redmp3.su via Google Images

I feel like the blues today, so, here is the King of the Electric Blues, himself…. Live in Dortmund, Germany in 1976, he does his thing, and does it in style…. Abondanza!….

********************************

Muddy Waters

********************************

https://youtu.be/ltLHsD_A9I4

********************************

As promised, here is one from the archives…. Not to worry, it’s short, and not at all serious-minded…. Enjoy!

From 10/21/2012:

Okay, so there I was, cruising through Smart Bee, and these little gems popped up. Each one tempted me to begin a rant, or a discussion, but, none of them completely grabbed my attention enough to do the trick. They are all much too valuable to throw out, so I had this idea to include them as a “new-school” pearl….. Y’all can take the ideas herein described, and formulate them into your own pearl of virtual wisdom…. there is plenty here to work with; I’ve used many similar pearls myself to create unforgettable rants, or brilliantly funny forays into nonsense. (Sure I have….. trust me….)

“The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: “Of course it is none of my business, but –” is to place a period after the word “but.” Don’t use excessive force in supplying such a moron with a period. Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

“In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.” — Mark Twain

“In regard to disagreeable and formidable things, prudence does not consist in evasion, or in flight, but in courage. He who wishes to walk in the most peaceful parts of life with any serenity must screw himself up to resolution. Let him front the object of his worst apprehension, and his stoutness will commonly make his fear groundless” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, _Essays_, Prudence

“I figure that if God actually does exist, He’s big enough to understand an honest difference of opinion.” – Isaac Asimov

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat, but there ain’t no way to make the cat enjoy it.” — Jed Clampett

“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

“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

So, you should find it reasonably simple to do the same yourselves (creating a pearl, that is, not wearing plaid…) …. and if not, well, they are all fairly strong stand-alone dribbles of good advice/good observations, so you aren’t completely without recourse…. No refunds, though, we’re not completely without shame…. Remember, you get what you pay for in this world, right? TANSTAAFL….. (for the uninitiated, that is, There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch….)
********************************

Vague Glimpses of a Rainbow

All the sad notions of propriety had fled,
Screaming their anger for pausing in song,
Until late came the rabid fog, colored in red,
As serenity cried, unafraid to live so strong.

Fallow fields in faithful patience set free,
Dragged from birth, by their own nature cast
Saving each moment against fear yet to be,
Carved into silence, by ignorance held fast.

Historical forces plod slowly ’tis often said
Anxieties streaming stiffly, one epoch to the next.
Cultural mania stands nonchalant in its stead
No sadder epitaph has such bittersweet context.

Patterned bags of forgotten virtue lie in wait
Blessed by reminders whose souls value affinity
Frozen webs surround the fields in gravid state
Grasping passionately within obvious opportunity.

Passage to future realities isn’t guaranteed
Small favors for deities was left off the menu
No roses, nor manna, nor gallant aerial steed
Left traces of fatal, yet originally gracious venue.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/6/2012

*******************************

Naked Pearls

Rare Thoughts

*********

“God, to me, it seems
is a verb
not a noun
proper or improper.”

~~ R. Buckminster Fuller ~~

*********

“One should always be a little improbable.”

~~ Oscar Wilde ~~

*********

“We do not walk on our legs, but on our Will.”

~~ Sufi proverb ~~

*********

“Time is but the stream I go a-fishin in.
I drink at it, but while I drink
I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is.
It’s thin current slides away, but eternity remains.”

~~ Henry David Thoreau ~~

*********

“We have art that we do not die of the truth.”

~~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~~

*********

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

~~ Anais Nin ~~

*********

“To teach is to learn.”

~~ Japanese Proverb ~~

*********

“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 ~~

*********

********************************

Well, it’s done. Again. Today, I can only thank my sense of duty; without it, this doesn’t get done. Since it is, I’ll forgo any further torture, or, for that matter, possible entertainment value, and merely say, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. There doesn’t seem to be any way to get out of it….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Gravy made with drippings….

Posted on May 2, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.”

~~ Agent Rogersz, Repo Man ~~

No, it’s not a myth. It’s melting….

Hajime…. Our opening quote is quite appropriate, especially since it happened, to me. Well, not quite an explosion; more like a strong earthquake in my head. I’m not exactly certain of the details, as, for some reason, I seem to have lost my reason. Wait. That isn’t accurate; I still have it, but, it seems so pointless, and I can’t find the emotional energy to persuade it to even try to put a couple simple factoids together, just for fun, with no mention of profit or loss. If it doesn’t come back soon, I may have to go mundane, & start eating Cheetos, or something. I HATE Cheetos, too….

Okay, I’ll stop. I had thought perhaps a bit of nonsense might loosen up the old grey cells, but, nothing doing. It’s a conundrum, to be sure. Here I am, prepared to create a Pearl, and there is so much nothing in my mind, it’s just plain scary in there. I mean, a full paragraph to lead up to a punch line, and all I can come up with is Cheetos. Pathetic, even if I do hate them. To tell the truth, I used to eat ’em a lot, but, something about the orange glow-in-the-dark color of the tongue after just two of them started to make my eyes water… That & the sharp, bitter taste of chemicals they leave behind, after the faux-cheesy flavor goes wherever a fake flavor goes, started to make me think about just what was in them…. I don’t recommend it…. or them…

Since there’s nothing useful in my head, we’ll have to cheat again, as I’m up late, and starting even later. So be it. At least it will be all be fresh cheating, performed this morning for your reading pleasure. Or, a close approximation of same. We’ll take what we can get. In order to do so, I think, given our essentially useless mental state, we’ll just forgo further idiocy in this section, & use what little wherewithal we have to go look for some coherence further down the page. As justification, I will retreat into a pearl, with a strong statement on the efficacy of personal choice from a surprising, if not completely unlikely source, to wit: “Did you ever notice how ‘why not?’ is always the right decision?” — Marilyn Monroe

Shall we Pearl?….

“I have been a stranger in a strange land.”

~~ Old Testament, Exodus ii, 22 ~~

~~ gigoid, April 2016 ~~

********************************

royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

I’m cheating today. That, of course, means we go to default for today’s music. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt….. Try to enjoy it, anyway, okay?…. Hey, if nothing else, know I pick the one with the coolest picture, so, at least you can look at that while you listen….

********************************

Classical Music

********************************

https://youtu.be/Y4xRlnO7-Ps

********************************

Everybody knows, and, apparently, loves Winnie the Pooh. And, why not, I may ask? Well, let me tell ya…. Pooh’s got a darker side, one A.A. Milne never suspected. It has recently been discovered Pooh had another life, one the public was never allowed to see. I’ve managed to collect some of the things he’s said, and/or done, that might give you an idea of what Pooh is REALLY like…. Enjoy!….

From 10/24/2012:

WARNING: X-Rated Material below…. If the following offends you, well, hey, don’t read it…. I happen to think it’s funny, so, deal with it…. *wink*

I know I’ve spoken to you before about the darker side of Pooh…. He’s actually, for a Bear with Very Little Brains, a pretty swinging guy, and stays active in a part of town that I’m don’t even go to…. In fact, he has been caught en flagrante delecto on numerous occasions, and has never shown a bit of regret, or a shred of remorse. He is an incorrigible sex addict, which is, when you stop to think about it, really, really sick…. I give you now more examples of just how nasty he has been known to be….

— Bother! said Pooh, as he lured the young girl into the bushes.

— Bother! said Pooh, with a sexy grin, as he tied up his favorite redhead!!

— Bother! said Pooh, as Macgyver ran to him with his pants down.

— Bother! said Pooh, when Christopher Robin came in his mouth.

— Bother! said Pooh, as Piglet pulled out the Anal Intruder.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he rolled over and lit a cigarette.

And, worst of all…..

— Bother! said Pooh, as he flashed a group of nuns.

I wouldn’t have believed it, if I didn’t see them there in black and white….. Hey, it’s not any harder to believe this, than it is to believe some of the shit coming out of Mitt the Twitt’s mouth, now, is it?….

********************************

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

9/27/2012

********************************

Naked Pearls

Stuff to Remember

*******

“Happiness is the only good,
reason the only torch, justice the only worship,
humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.”

~~ Robert G. Ingersoll ~~

*******

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”

~~ William Shakespeare ~~

*******

“Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.”

~~ Cynthia Nelms ~~

*******

“Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.”

~~ Juvenal, Satires ~~

*******

“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”

~~ Elrond ~~

*******

“One final paragraph of advice:
Do not burn yourselves out.
Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast…
a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic.
Save the other half of yourselves
and your lives for pleasure and adventure.
It is not enough to fight for the land;
it is even more important to enjoy it.
While you can.
While it’s still here.
So get out there and hunt and fish
and mess around with your friends,
ramble out yonder and explore the forests,
encounter the grizz, climb the mountains,
bag the peaks, run the rivers,
breathe deep of that yet sweet and lurid air,
sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness,
that lovely, mysterious and awesome space.
Enjoy yourselves,
keep you brain in you head and your head firmly attached to the body,
the body active and alive,
and I promise you this much:
I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies,
over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safety deposit box
and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators.
I promise you this:
You will outlive the bastards.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

********************************

I did it. That, in and of itself, is a minor miracle. At this point, trying to explain or justify such a remark would be foolish, and, I can tell you, for sure and for certain, Sarge & Mom didn’t raise no fool. Okay, honesty rules here, so, y’all should know I just had to delete three lines of BS that might have kept us here for much too long. After all, this IS the closing paragraph, and, by golly, we’re gonna close this thing, and, now… See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; if I don’t stop now, we’ll be here until then. Don’t fret, I’ll be back, and so will you…. See ya….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Too shy to prance….

Posted on April 29, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.”

~~ James Russell Lowell, Shakespeare Once More ~~

“It all moves ~~ nothing stands still.” — Heraclitus

Sonoma Creek, Spring 2016

Hajime…. Today’s Pearl will be another truncated version of the usual post. Reality continues to demand my attention during the time when I generally put together these pieces; since trying to change reality is a rather fruitless pastime, we’ll go with what we can do, and be done with it. Moreover, I don’t feel I can even spend the time to be silly, or tricky, or even odd, to any significant degree, so, I’m also cutting this intro off at one paragraph, at whose end we have already arrived. What you will see below will be all we can do; as you well know, around here, we are firm believers in doing all we can do, for, after all, all you can do, is all you can do….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The deadliest bullshit is odorless and transparent.”

~~ William Gibson ~~

********************************

Y’all must have known, after seeing the intro, what kind of music we’d have today. Obviously, we’re going to our default on that, so, enjoy!….

********************************

Classical Music

********************************

https://youtu.be/1rlU2WQ_Wf4

********************************

“I remember now.
I remember how it started.”

~~ Queensryche ~~

In truth, I do remember…. But, this rant grew on me, until, at the last, it fell apart on me. I suppose I got too ambitious, but, I can explain. You see, I found the pearls you will find below, which seemed to me to be a fine outline for an ultimate rant, one that would cover all the ideas I hold regarding human nature, and how it has contributed to the problems we face in the world today…. That, apparently, was too much to put together…. So, I decided to trust the process again, since I’m short of time and material for today, and go with the pearls themselves, in old-school style, and let the Gentle Readers create their own rant in the comfort and safety of their own mind…. Slick eh?

So, here are the pearls; it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what I would have written; they’re pretty clear to me…. I hope you enjoy this little cheat. Hey, it’s better than a thousand more of my words on what is essentially ‘bad stuff’, right? Right…. Let’s do this, ffolkes, and get on to the poem for today…..

“You are a slave!”

~~ Morpheus, The Matrix ~~

*******

“There’s nothing more demoralizing than money.”

~~ Sophocles ~~

*******

“… men say the gods have a king
because they themselves either are or were
in ancient times under the rule of a king,
For they imagine not only the form of the gods,
but their ways of life to be like their own.”

~~ Aristotle, Politics ~~

*******

“In God We Trust.”
I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

*******

“Security is the individual’s responsibility.”

~~ Reality Bee ~~

*******

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

*******

“Hardly a pure science, history is closer to animal husbandry than it is to mathematics, in that it involves selective breeding. The principal difference between the husbandryman and the historian is that the former breeds sheep or cows or such, and the latter breeds (assumed) facts. The husbandryman uses his skills to enrich the future; the historian uses his to enrich the past. Both are usually up to their ankles in bullshit.” — Tom Robbins

********************************

Platitudes for Attitudes

Platitudes shake us, attitudes break us.
Life can be a real pain, y’know?
Still, if we don’t fight where it takes us,
it’s a pretty straight row to hoe..

A lot of what we see and hear
isn’t always in the best of taste.
Life at large can be one long frisson of fear.
Making an effort often seems a huge waste.

Pundits, dogma dogs, myrmidons, oligarchs & pimps;
assholes and predators every one.
Twisted, sick, anti-humans; anomalous, ignorant wimps.
Logic says, every time, lobotomize ’em, & be done.

Illusions, delusions, confusions, a dedicated data dump,
bilious, divisive, spicy with hatred and fears.
Inflation, immigration, promises from the clownish Trump
Leaving even our basest survival heavy with tears.

Ancient sages left signs on the path to peace,
for those with wit to see.
No need for undue effort, no quest for golden fleece.
All we ever need to do, is be.

~~ gigoid ~~

8/29/2015

********************************

Naked Pearls

Thoughts on Life at Large

*******

“There is no wealth but life.”

~~ John Ruskin ~~

*******

“A propensity to hope and joy is real riches;
one to fear and sorrow real poverty.”

~~ Hume ~~

*******

“To laugh often and love much,
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give of oneself;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sing with exultation;
to know even one life has breathed easier:
this is to have succeeded.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“One doesn’t discover new lands
without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”

~~ Andre Gide ~~

*******

“It is never too early or too late to care for the well-being of the soul.”

~~ Epicurus ~~

*******

“How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those
who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful
than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?”

~~ Kahlil Gibran ~~

*******

“It can’t rain all the time
The sky won’t fall forever
And though the night seems long
Your tears won’t fall forever.”

~~ The Crow ~~

*******

********************************

Well, I did it, in spite of myself. Don’t ask, & I won’t be compelled to tell an untruth to protect my ego, okay? It’s silly enough without garnering attention for such indulgence. I’m thinking, given our state of mind, it’s time to shut this down, & try again tomorrow. Maybe I’ll find some wherewithal, or perhaps bit of coherent thought hiding in a far corner of my mind to share. If not, well, we’ll see what we can do. In any case, we’re done for today, which I am sure is a great relief to all. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should reality fail to stop me, again….

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

À bientôt, mon cherí….

gigoid

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

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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Ralph Waldo Emerson

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