Is late REALLY better than never?….

Posted on December 18, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“You can never beat anything that fights laying on its back.”

~~ Sifu Bee ~~

The Huntress Returns Home with her Prey….

Hajime…. This is going to posted late; my body is making up for lost sleep time these days, I guess. I’m sleeping a lot, which is by no means a complaint. I’ll testify, anytime, anywhere, ’tis far better than the alternative of no sleep at all…. It means I’ll again have to adjust my hours of operation, which will annoy Leelu; cats are not good with changes to their environment, or routines, as we know. Ah well, what’s a few more scratches among the multitude, eh?

Golly, (and, isn’t THAT a fine old expression!), now I’m lost, both already and again. If it were a novelty, I could claim ignorance; since it’s not, I’ll just cop to it, and get on with the rest of today’s mess, such as it is. I spent much of the day yesterday thinking it was today; I guess all the Tardis use has gotten my time sense a bit skewed. Since that’s so, I’ll cut today’s intro short (Leelu is also demanding attention, which will slow this process a bit….)

I fired Luigi, and Guido, & sold the plane. We’re going to go with tech toys from now on, so, you may not notice the transitions so much; there is much less turbulence when traveling as molecular particles, though there IS always the (slight) risk of them not re-coalescing into the correct configuration; if you nose ends up where your belly button used to be, well, just file the forms when we get back, and it shouldn’t take more than a day of two for the charms to return you to normal….

That said, let’s get this slow on the toad….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.” — Socrates

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

I’m late, and, grumpy, for unknown reasons, so, we’re going with something soothing. Don’t know exactly what, but, it WILL be a classical piece. So be it.

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Symphony # 40 in G minor
W.A. Mozart

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https://youtu.be/2HbMzu1aQW8

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What you own is your own kingdom
What you do is your own glory
What you love is your own power
What you live is your own story…

You don’t get something for nothing
You can’t have freedom for free
You won’t get wise
with the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dream might be.

— N. Peart

I decided last night to spare y’all the burden of another rant. The world, as we know it, has gone to shit, but, I don’t feel like talking about it today…. Instead, I am reposting two items which are related. The first is a picture of The Desiderata, (Google is still there, if you don’t recognize it…. for the history of the document; you’ll see it below), to which I was first exposed during my first year of college, the same year I was introduced to the Tao Teh Ching, and the very great pleasure of wine-tasting and appreciation. At 17, and a long-time, voracious reader, all three had a very deep effect on me, and my future….

I’ve read, at times, and heard people say The Desiderata is not all its made out to be; it was only written in the first part of the twentieth century, AD, but, they say, it pretends to a much older wisdom, by its tone of positive assertion in all its pronouncements. To that I say, so what? As far as I know, the author never made a big deal about it; he admitted it was a summary of all humanity had learned about living, from one viewpoint only. I don’t give a shit what ‘they’ say; if it is merely a compendium, so the fuck what? Claiming it is so doesn’t alter the truth, or the wisdom, of any part of it I remember reading, so, I say it is the truth, verified by my own experience, in living a full life for 65 years, so far….

The second item is related because everything in it is a result of my experience, my reading, and, any degree of understanding I may have achieved about Life, and being human…. It’s Peruaosophy, of course, my own philosophy of what Doug Adams calls 42…. Life, the Universe, and Everything. I first wrote it at age 20 or 30, and have added only one axiom since that time. Regardless of any humorous expressions in it you may find, I am serious as a dead baby about trying to live according to these precepts….

Enjoy, ffolkes; if there is anything in Life that isn’t covered in one of these two documents, well, I just plain don’t know what it is…. Let me know if y’all think of anything, and, we’ll see if we can adjust it as needed…. You tell me. First, the Desiderata……

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Peruaosophy

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

Axioms

1) I think I am; that’s close enough.

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

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

4) Excellence is its own reward.

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

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

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

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

gigoid

For the record, upon re-reading, and in light of recent strengthening of a certain class of evidence, two letters in the above statements have been changed from previous versions, to make it more closely reflect my current thoughts on all of this….. Anyone spotting it, shh. Anyone who wishes to ask about which letters, may do so in the comment section below. Doesn’t mean I’ll tell you, but, it doesn’t really matter, as it won’t be going back to the way it was, and, if you REALLY must know, it’s been posted before, so, eventually, Google would find it for you, somewhere in the four years of my archives….

So be it.

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I’m tired of my own poetry. Here is somebody else’s…. Don’t worry, I just wrote it so brusquely because I wrote it before picking anything…. Rather than putting on your metaphorical smarty-pants, though, put on the real ones…. You may need them….

The Statesman’s Holiday

I LIVED among great houses,
Riches drove out rank,
Base drove out the better blood,
And mind and body shrank.
No Oscar ruled the table,
But I’d a troop of friends
That knowing better talk had gone
Talked of odds and ends.
Some knew what ailed the world
But never said a thing,
So I have picked a better trade
And night and morning sing:
Tall dames go walking in grass-green Avalon.

Am I a great Lord Chancellor
That slept upon the Sack?
Commanding officer that tore
The khaki from his back?
Or am I de Valera,
Or the King of Greece,
Or the man that made the motors?
Ach, call me what you please!
Here’s a Montenegrin lute,
And its old sole string
Makes me sweet music
And I delight to sing:
Tall dames go walking in grass-green Avalon.

With boys and girls about him.
With any sort of clothes,
With a hat out of fashion,
With Old patched shoes,
With a ragged bandit cloak,
With an eye like a hawk,
With a stiff straight back,
With a strutting turkey walk.
With a bag full of pennies,
With a monkey on a chain,
With a great cock’s feather,
With an old foul tune.
Tall dames go walking in grass-green Avalon.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

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This pearl is about mindfulness…. Trust me. Or, not; your choice. You are, after all, human, and that is the one and only power we have in this universe…. On that, trust isn’t required; it’s in your contract.

“Friends should be preferred to kings.”

~~ Voltaire ~~

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“There are two ways of teaching people:
You can teach them how to think, or you can teach them what to think.
Socrates taught people how to think,
Jesus taught people what to think….
and look what happened to them.”

~~ Mindful Bee ~~

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“It happens in an hour, that happens not in seven years.”

~~ Proverb ~~

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“Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you.”

~~ Ancient Sage Bee ~~

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“Descartes thought an animal,
that couldn’t talk couldn’t think,
or so he taught,
but to surmise,
my cat thinks otherwise.”

~~ sig of Glyn Hanton ~~

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“I can do a score of things that can’t be done.
I can find a thing I cannot see, and see a thing I cannot find.
The first is time, and the second is spots before my eyes.
I can touch a thing I cannot feel, and feel a thing I cannot touch.
The first is your heart, and the second is sad and sorry.”

~~James Thurber, “The Thirteen Clocks” ~~

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“On the whole human beings want to be good,
but not too good and not quite all the time.”

~~ George Orwell, collected essays ~~

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“Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.”

~~ Baltasar Gracian ~~

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“Don’t let the same dog bite you twice.”

~~ Chuck Berry ~~

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Boy, do I need a cat trainer! Ah, well, soon enough is soon, so, we’ll just take our leave now, so I can go treat these wounds from my rather annoyed 7-pound Princess/familiar…. See y’ll tomorrow, ffolkes, come what may…..

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….

Isles of Langerhans? No flights from here….

Posted on December 16, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.”

~~ Erasmus ~~

Leelu, playing with her prey….

Hajime…. ‘Tisn’t often I forgo fooling around when I write. Hell, the whole idea of me writing is fooling around, if it comes to that. Which it has. Come to that, I mean. Therefore, and hence, today, I’m going to do the next best thing to promising NOT to do so, which is to just go ahead and fool around all I frigging want. See, I’m retired, and, as a retired American, old-fashioned variety, I can do whatever the fuck I please, as long as I keep what I do either legal, hidden, or, (for my own benefit), ethically sound. So, gird your grids, ffolkes, we’re goin’ in….

How was that? Any better than the usual crap? Ah, well, I kinda thought so myself….. It isn’t easy to do this EVERY DAY, you know. Perhaps, Y’ALL might try it someday; come up with an interesting opening, bright and charming enough, or compelling enough, to create the desire to keep reading in whomever may stop in to read. Only then can one realize they have completely fucked up, and have locked themselves into an activity which is pretty much guaranteed to drive one absolutely, fucking crazy, trying to do the nearly impossible….. No wonder daily newspaper columnists are considered the elite of the news rooms…

However, I’m the one who chose to do this, and, since the act of giving up isn’t an option for me, due to the strength of my earliest conditioning by the Sergeant and the Mom, (no, I don’t think of him like that; that’s what all the men he worked with in the Army called him, if no officers were around….), neither of whom would approve of abrogating a chosen duty. So, I’ll keep on muddling along, until a good reason to stop presents itself, whereupon I will have to go this entire process again…. Oh, joy….

Since I’ve now depressed even myself. perhaps we should just get on with the rest of today’s messiness….. That seems, to my limited perception, the only way to save this…. In fact, no Luigi, no Guido; I’ll just teleport all of us over to the oyster beds, and be done with it…. No need to hang on, or even put down your beverage; you won’t even notice, as I’ll use the newest toy in the Tardis to get us there; it’s pretty cool…. Watch this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential — for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints; possibility never.” — Soren Kierkegaard

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Today’s musical selection is in the Classical genre, with a composer whose works comprise possibly the largest number of works, of every category, as anyone who ever composed misic. His music is familiar to almost everyone who has watched movies made since before his death in 1921, as many movements from his symphonies were, and are, used as background for many scenes in dramatic and comedic films. I’ve included below a link to his biography on Brittanica.com; he was an interesting man, who led a very full life, adding much to the best art and thought of humanity…. Hopefully, what I’ve embedded will be a collection of his music in 50 You Tube versions, which should play automatically once begun…. Enjoy!….

http://www.britannica.com/biography/Camille-Saint-Saens

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Camille Saint-Saëns

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https://youtu.be/PXAlznKcJvA?list=RDPXAlznKcJvA

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I don’t have the chutzpah, or, any angst to speak of today, to write a rant/discussion, . Can’t say why; might have a lot to do with feeling decent for a change. Nor do I wish to burden y’all with another archived piece…. Whatever the reasoning, or reasons, I will, instead, limit this section to ONE graphic pearl, which just happens to be my favorite of all the memes and little pictures with sayings I’ve collected off the Net over the years…. This one is both a rant, and a discussion, all rolled up into one picture, and, a short verse from the Tao Teh Ching…. It’s all it needs, believe me….

Q.E.D.

Lao Tzu has spoken.

So be it.

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I was looking through my poetry files, wherein I found one I haven’t used since 2013. It’s not bad, so, to allow my bones time to make more blood, after the new poem leaked out the day before yesterday (posted yesterday), I’ll use it today…. I hope you enjoy it. To some extent, it’s a metaphoric summary of my life, as it existed, so to speak, in that particular time….

Honorable Request

Days, filled to a brim with fluff and time, pass
dimly into memory, bit by combative bit;
ever mournful, yet loud with life and sass,
only in dream do we meet, and dance, and flit.

Souls, spinning ’round in gleeful wonder, comply
as they must, never given a reason;
somberly proper, yet limber and quite spry,
dancing on to greet each bright new season.

Storms, angered by apathetic care, rage
proceeding into ministerial glare, unknown;
clothed in colors, purified solely with sage,
past an infinite future, already flown.

Life, plumbed to its depths and secrets, keeps
flowing with currents, strong and fairly found;
love stands, asking release, as it slowly weeps,
seeking refuge unasked, to stay honor bound.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/13/2012

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My only possible comment on this pearl is “Wow”. You’ll note, please, I used that exclamation without the usual exclamation point; that is simply because it’s not THAT important. It is, however, a damn fine pearl, of, perhaps, my favorite sort, a random, harlequin pearl that created itself…. No apologies, but, you will definitely need to be on your mental toes for this one, ffolkes.

It’s strange, as it wanders into distant realms of thought, filled to the borders with truth and beauty; it also dives into the depths of human nature, where darkness, too often, has its way. But, it’s all fucking true, so, fucking pay attention, please?…. Besides, if you get it, you’ll also get a big surprise; something you were not expecting, but, will enjoy immensely…. Promise…. and, you know I don’t use that word lightly, ever…..

“But first, are you experienced?”

~~ Jimi Hendrix ~~

“Real life is, to most men, a long second-best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible; but the world of pure reason knows no compromise, no practical limitations, no barrier to the creative activity.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967)

“Do not be afraid of enemies; the worst they can do is to kill you. Do not be afraid of friends; the worst they can do is betray you. Be afraid of the indifferent; they do not kill or betray. Yet only because of their silent agreement, betrayal and murder exist on earth.” — Bruno Yasienski, contemporary Soviet novelist

“As every thread of gold is valuable, so is every minute of time.” — John Mason

“Little girls, like butterflies, need no excuse.” — Lazarus Long, “Time Enough For Love”

“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” — African proverb

“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” — Frank Lloyd Wright

“In endowing us with memory, nature has revealed to us a truth utterly unimaginable to the unreflective creation, the truth of immortality….The most ideal human passion is love, which is also the most absolute and animal and one of the most ephemeral.” — George Santayana, Reason in Religion

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

“A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.” — Michael de Montaigne — Essays, Book i, Chap. xxxviii, Of Solitude

“Hospes, ad hunc tumulum ne meias.

Visitors, kindly do not piss on these bones.”

~~ Anonymous Roman epitaph ~~

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Done, in spite of several complicating factors. So complicated, the act of completing this missive became more than just a small challenge. Having successfully navigated the winding course to bring us this far, I’ll perform now my best act of compassion of the day. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if the Internet is still functioning…. Odds are 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….

Laughing at faces in the dark….

Posted on December 15, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“(Someone once said) …time is the fire in which we burn.”

~~ Soran, Star Trek: Generations ~~

Leelu, casting protective enchantments….

Hajime…. Today’s mess is pretty messy, but, at least it’s all freshly made; it will take longer to begin to decay. Now, don’t go thinking that’s a dig at my own ‘stuff’; it’s just realistic. Everything decays with time; that’s how existence in this universe works. Nothing escapes the changes made mandatory by nature’s duality; light cannot exist without the dark. Nor can there be life without death. Or, as Yul Brynner once said, “Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera….”

If you had never been dead, how would you know you are alive?…. Answer that, and, you will understand…. Change is the one thing in this universe that will NOT change; entropy exists, and will not be denied. Moreover, no matter what any religious philosopher tells you, a supernatural creator is NOT necessary to explain any part of how the entire universe behaves, even if we don’t fully comprehend how it works…. Why should it be? Everything there is to perceive, that we CAN perceive with our meager five senses, is right out there, just there, waiting for us to perceive it…..

Okay, so, now we’ve eliminated the logical justification for most of the religions in the world, how should we round out the morning? Maybe a shot or two at the insane fallacies inherent in believing, as humans, we need a government? I’m not entirely sure I can come up with quite so damning an indictment as the one in the first two paragraphs; not in as few words, anyway. I think it’s pretty fair to say it isn’t easy to dismiss the relevance of the belief systems of 90% of the world’s population in under a hundred words; I’m positive I won’t be able to do it twice in a row, especially since, now, this paragraph has gotten involved in the whole issue, adding way too many useless, irrelevant words, in support of, (or, more likely, in search of….) rational thinking.

That said, to little purpose, as is our habit, I suppose we ought to think about wandering down to the meat of today’s material; it may not be lobster, but, it ain’t chicken!

Hmm…. Okay, it’s worse than I thought, ffolkes. We’d best be on our way, before anything untoward takes place….. I mean, other than merely being here, being weird, etc….. You know what I mean, and, if you don’t, so much the better for me and Luigi, who is driving today….

Luigi… Luigi! Damn it, he’s drunk again! Oh, well, it was probably Guido who got him that way; Guido loves to fly, and he’s not above screwing a friend (not my definition, his….) to get a chance to fly this bucket o’bolts…. Something about hours on retro planes, & his rep….. Any who, he’s already boarded, and going through the checklist, so, we’ll be on our way tout suite…. if my French is correct. If not, well, that’s okay; the only place I’ve ever spoken it is in the kitchen…. There’s the no-smoking light, so, see ya at the oyster beds, if we all live through it again….

Shall we Pearl?….

“We must become new people or be satisfied the way we are.
Either way we risk tragedy.
But by the first we choose life.
By the second we choose death.”

~~ Corita Kent ~~

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Stevie Ray Vaughan

Image from guitarworld.com via Google Images

Today’s video selection isn’t very long; considering the quality of what you’ll hear and see, I can’t help wishing it were longer. However, since Stevie plays just about the hottest licks I’ve ever heard, as he totally KILLS this song, we’re gonna play it anyway…. Any true fan of guitar work will be jazzed at this one….. By following the link to the page where I found it, you can hear lots more of Stevie, along with a number of other most excellent performers, with whom he played prior to his unfortunate early demise…. This, as we are wont to say ’round here, be some good shit, ffolkes….

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STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN
VOODOO CHILE

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https://youtu.be/OEJh2FFUUoU

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“All history shows that every man who has authority is led to abuse it; he does not stop until he comes up against limitations…Things must be so arranged that one authority checks another.” — Montesquieu

The men who founded this country, based upon the ideas brought forth in the document you see above, obviously knew the principle, and flaw in human nature, outlined so clearly in this statement by Mssr. Montesquieu. The government they formed was designed in such a way, each of the three parts, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, acts as a check to the power and authority of the other segments. It is an excellent design, with only one flaw, which the oligarchs spotted immediately…. That flaw can be most simply stated thus: The success of the system designed will fail if even one segment falls under the influence of outside interests. If ever one branch of the triad becomes corrupted, that corruption WILL spread to the others.

Guess what, ffolkes….. This process, corruption of the US governing bodies, began within HOURS of the signing of the final copy of the Constitution. Jefferson, Paine, Franklin, and others, took note, and wrote letters showing they were concerned at how banking interests had already made inroads into the corruption of elected officials…. In short, the battle between the people, and the oligarchy, began more than merely 200 years ago; the cause of its continued presence in our lives can be laid at the feet of the people themselves, as far, far too many of them never paid attention to the single most critical factor in assuring the defense of their legacy of freedom. They did not, and still do not, keep themselves informed as to what their leaders are up to….

“If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be … If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.” — Thomas Jefferson

Oh, it’ not all their fault, of course. The people who have usurped the halls of government are quite adept, having long experience, at keeping the general public unaware of their activities, in back rooms and alley ways, behind the curtains and closed doors, where they do their best work at corrupting officials. They have the complete assistance of every religious organization, too, all of which preach obedience to authority, whether it be secular, or religious….

From the cradle, people are conditioned to accept the words and ideas of their ‘elders’ and ‘teachers’, and ‘leaders, none of whom ever even KNEW the truth of Reality, but, have blindly passed on their own brainwashing to their children, without ever having looked at any of the concepts upon which they have based their lives, to see if it has any actual truth…. Those who do know the truth behind the lies, and tell them anyway, are, in my consideration, the very scum of the earth….

“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” — Thomas Paine

“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” — Thomas Jefferson

When these two entities work together, as they have throughout the greater part of human history, most people really don’t stand a chance. Their brainwashing begins the moment they are born, as their own parents begin teaching them the delusions upon which their entire lives are based, to wit: money exists as more than just an idea, and is more important than people; second, they are taught there is a supernatural authority, which insists all of us believe whatever we are told, about it, or the world, without ever testing those ideas against reality, and what we actually know inside ourselves….

It’s small wonder the world we live in is in the state we find it today; the hairless apes have been having running around the planet for millennia, making a mess of things, as they have attempted to reconcile the bestiality of their nature, with the potentially civilizing power of their intellect and imagination. It is becoming increasingly obvious, every attempt made has been more than just a little disappointing…. As Arthur C. Clarke once observed, their is no evidence available which proves there is ANY survival advantage attached to intelligence…. not as we have employed it…. Now, it is just about time to pay the piper, and, sadly, almost nobody has even read the contract.

I think that’s probably enough for one morning; the people who need to see this will never do so, which leaves the only reason to keep on ranting as the desire to indulge my own need to purge my mind of this dross and drivel. I believe I’ve gotten enough onto the page to defray the cost of any angst built up…. I’ll finish this with a short set of pearls, a bracelet, as it were, all of which will have something to say on these matters….

See ya down the page a ways, ffolkes; please, if you take nothing else away with you today, let it be the resolution to wear your thinking caps all the time, and, encourage others to do the same. It may be the only chance we all have to see in the next century, as a species….

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“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”

~~ Euripides ~~

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“He who is bent on doing evil can never want occasion.”

~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 459 ~~

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“It is wrong always, everywhere and for everyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”

~~ W. K. Clifford, British philosopher, circa 1876 ~~

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“Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth,
so Truth be in the field, we do ingloriously,
by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength.
Let her and Falsehood grapple:
who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?”

~~ John Milton (1608-1674) — Areopagitica ~~

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“Human beings don’t live like this.”

~~ Humanist Bee ~~

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Measures of Intent

Hell is never far away; it slips in, then out,
like a ninja, bent on stealth, and death.
Life metamorphoses, in the space of a breath,
sordid entropy fills us, within, and without.

Tide turns again; back and forth it tumbles,
like those little wind up toys, yet never stays.
All our efforts, all our silly little ways,
disappear like seaweed, as sanity crumbles.

The duality of reality in which we are firmly caught,
seems to inhabit every part of our natural selves.
Nothing is ever still, nor can it be placed on shelves;
we are dark, and light; balance must be taught.

Life is lived only one moment at a time,
past and future have no power to alter this at all.
We can choose to fly, or choose to fall;
finding truth, and beauty, can never be a crime.

~~ gigoid ~~

12/14/2015

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Today’s final offering brings most welcome balance to the entire Pearl; note, please, we began in Fire; now, we end, in Fire….. Not bad for serendipity, eh? Not that we’d wish to come to depend on it, but, it is certainly most welcome when it appears…. Enjoy this one, ffolkes, I did, and do, strange as it is. I forget where exactly I got the picture, though I’m pretty sure it was stolen from Facebook long ago; it is here today because, well, it just works….

Oh Rose, thou art sick;
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy;
And his dark, secret love
Does thy life destroy.

~~ William Blake, “Songs of Innocence” ~~

“Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors and miss.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

“As you are, so shall you wish. As you wish, so shall it be.” — Pensive Bee

“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“There is no greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity on self-examination.” — Confucius Analects

“If anything is certain, it is that change is certain. The world we are planning for today will not exist in this form tomorrow.” — Philip Crosby, Reflections on Quality

“PRESENT, n. That part of eternity dividing the domain of disappointment from the realm of hope.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

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

Avarice, envy, pride,
Three fatal sparks, have set the hearts of all
On Fire.

~~ Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy ~~

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

Well, as Ollie used to say to Stan, a lot, “This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into!” It is, no doubt, a good thing, from more vantage points than I care to contemplate just now. In fact, it is also, no doubt, a good idea we are at the close, else, we would be in more of a mess than we are now.

I believe that statement can only be followed by a Q.E.D. So be it. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; mark it down, if you don’t trust your memory, because, I like people to have a little warning before I mess with their heads…..

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….

Apocalyptic party favors, on toast….

Posted on December 14, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“A religious conservative is a fanatic about a dead radical.”

~~ Observant Bee ~~

I DON’T want to know….

Leelu in Denial

Hajime…. One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned in my life, as it must be in every life, is to be willing to be patient, when a desired goal, or the completion of a chosen duty, requires us to wait for more than a little while to achieve our desire…. A fancy psychiatrist would label such a task as “delayed gratification”, and would charge you outrageous prices to listen to you while you explore your own psyche to find the key to making it one of your skills. Or, one may, as I found to be useful, learn to watch, and observe the world without judging what I saw, until there was some sort of clear result I could identify, and use for myself, if warranted.

In short, by the age of, oh, four, or five, I had figured out it’s a better thing to be patient, say, to get somewhere where a wall is in the way, rather than get angry at the wall. By waiting, and watching I could learn how others dealt with the wall…. I found, every time, one of them would know a good way around, or over, or through the wall without any difficulty…. The waiting part was filled up watching most people bang their heads against the wall, thinking, by doing so, it would move out of their way…. The wall won that argument every time…. No brainer, even for a four-year-old hairless ape….

Over the years, the patience begun to learn then was often reinforced by other life-lessons, always with the same results, as well as the same average number of people who never learned the lesson…. Not all do, by any means…. Many who do, don’t use the skill for good reasons; it is nonetheless effective for them than it is for those who do use it honorably….. But, sadly, many people, whom I would consider to be more cunning than intelligent, become patient, and crafty, and thus are successful in taking advantage of the less so…. Far too many of them become lawyers, or preachers, or politicians, or ‘cops’, or/and other categories of human activity which attract those who have more ego than integrity…..

Now, at this point, you may predictably and appropriately ask, what the devil does all this have to do with Pearls of Virtual Wisdom?…. Good grief, ffolkes! Y’all have been here enough to know better; it doesn’t have a damn thing to do with any of that. It was just me, wandering around on the keyboard, following a train of thought, to take up this space so I don’t really have to think up anything new….. How’m I doin’?…

Good. Speechless is exactly what I was shooting for…. Now that’s done, we can get this slow on the toad, and, leave, too, for the oyster beds, where, hopefully, I will/have/wouldn’t dare find some damn fine pearls for our morning, or whenever, consumption, digestion, and, well, the rest of that alimentary shit….

Hah! Guido! Fire it up and get me/us out of here; I don’t think we should wait for anyone who isn’t on board already. We won’t have time to frisk them….

Shall we Pearl?….

“You mean now I can SHOOT YOU in the back and further BLUR th’ distinction between FANTASY and REALITY?” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

Jerry & David

Image from YouTube.com via Google Images

Back in the day, after CSN&Y stopped playing as a band exclusively, David Crosby started a project, recording sessions with a number of rock musicians/songwriters/performers of the era…. The band/project was named PERRO, an acronym for the Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra…. This is one of the sessions, with at least one, and, no doubt, more than one, of the best of the best playing along…. I listened to the beginning, which is an instrumental piece showing off some pretty hot licks and outbursts of joyous noise…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

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

Jerry Garcia & David Crosby The Perro Sessions – circa 1971

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

https://youtu.be/WELRag-wuwo

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

“Humanity has in the course of time had to endure from the hands of science two great outrages upon its naive self-love. The first was when it realized that our earth was not the center of the universe, but only a speck in a world-system of a magnitude hardly conceivable… The second was when biological research robbed man of his particular privilege of having been specially created, and relegated him to a descent from the animal world.” — Sigmund Freud

Dr. Siggy makes a good point in this; like much of what he said, it was, and is, ignored by most people. Some of his thoughts, on human nature, and, psychiatry, were dead wrong, but, mostly, he was a minutely accurate observer of people’s behaviors, and, an astute analyst of the flaws in the nature expressed by those acts. The blow to the human ego that all men felt when the knowledge of which he speaks became public, was so deep, our society is still reeling from the impact. The human ego is so powerfully motivated by belief, it finds it extremely difficult to NOT protect the ego’s delusions, of which it has many, by using the imagination, or, simple denial, to keep the truth of reality from ever entering the consciousness….

This, naturally, has, for a long time, caused numerous problems for people, which continue to the present; problems in their relations with each other on both a personal level, and, on a societal level…. It is clear, obviously so, to me, this flaw in our nature, the inability to put aside ego in favor of reality’s demands, is at the root of practically every issue we face today…. However, I am not in the mood to explore that flaw, or its implications, at this time. So, we’ll go back about a year and a half to a discussion of the effects of this on society, as it exists today, written fresh (mostly) on that date…. It’s a pretty good one, so, bear with the length, if you will….

From 4/17/2014:

“A government that fears its people is a government that should be feared.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10769041/The-US-is-an-oligarchy-study-concludes.html

“The US government does not represent the interests of the majority of the country’s citizens, but is instead ruled by those of the rich and powerful, a new study from Princeton and Northwestern Universities has concluded.”

My initial reaction to this opening line from the article to which the link leads was, “Oh. Really? How droll….” In case it’s unclear, that is sarcasm….
My second thought was, “Duh…”, because, well, hey, no-brainer, right? It’s only obvious, and has been since the 1850’s, when the “military-industrial complex” became a real person, at least in the courts….. The third thought that went through my mind was, “Why did I have to read this on the front page of a BRITISH news paper, while never having seen a single article on the report from an American news outlet?”

But, then, hey, oligarchy, right? That means the elite, the rich, the BRC, or, as I’m fond of calling them, the Asininnies, don’t want to hear about it, so, none of the news outlets THEY control will ever show that report, or, if they do, it certainly won’t be on the front page…. Any more than they wish to have ANY of their shenanigans paraded in front of the public eye; they’re well aware of how badly the rest of the country would react to that, if the notion that they were oppressing the rest of us, and worse, shamelessly lying about it all, ever became a common perception….

I could spend a few paragraphs here, detailing to you just how they lie, or relating just how often, and how completely these assholes are fucking over the rest of society…. but, it isn’t necessary, when such a plain and obvious indictment is right there in front of me, a report that does nothing if not confirm what I’ve been trying to get across to the people out there who need to know, for a long time now….

“Elections amount to little more than choosing between the scum that floats to the top of the barrel and the dregs that settle to the bottom.” — L. Neil Smith

The perverted masters of society, consisting of that 1% who control the money and resources of our planet, usurped our system of government within DAYS of the signing of the Constitution, and have continued to solidify their control for the last 240 years since that event…. Their biggest victories have come from their purchases, which gave them exclusive possession of the souls and loyalty of the judges in the federal court system, first in the early 1800’s, then, later, to the huge win in the middle of that century, when corporations were first declared to have the same rights as real people, a decision which ensures the establishment in society of the legal precedents that ensure their complete control….

What normal, real person, with merely their own skills and efforts as resources, can compete, monetarily, or time-wise, with a corporation, to buy the loyalty of congress and the courts? Only its owners, or the owners of other governments, er, corporations, who have the resources to contest what they wish, can hope to supply any restraint upon what they desire…. No average person has the time or resources to spend on any issue that a corporation can bring to bear, thus guaranteeing the common man’s views will NEVER take precedence in the courts….

It ain’t a particularly pretty picture, ffolkes, but, it IS an accurate description of modern reality…. more than we could hope, and certainly more than we could ever need, or want…. but, accurate, nonetheless….

Enough so to thoroughly disgust me, to the point I’m not going to rant any more…. I’m getting too worked up…. I can feel my blood pressure going up as I type, never a good thing….. So, we’ll switch modes, and go find some pearls with which to round out this discussion, hopefully with some humor, or at the very least, some bloodthirsty accusations of perversion against those assholes who think we are not on to them….. Enjoy!….

“Hope is very dangerous….” — Servalan

(In our society, it is not merely dangerous, it is toxic….)

“After 2% of the vote is in, the networks tell us who won. It makes the other 99% of us feel a bit unnecessary… How come the networks are so good at picking the presidential winner, and so bad at picking hit shows?” — Smart Bee

(You don’t think they have information they’re not sharing with us, do you? Nah…. of course not…. Why would they do that?….)

(If you believe that, I have a wonderful opportunity for you, a chance to own the biggest bridge in New York, for a very nominal price…. Cash only, no checks….)

“When neither their poverty nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content.” — Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

(This is required learning in the schools that produce the fleets of lawyers who inhabit the halls of government…. Check it out sometime, how ALL the actions our leaders take are designed to keep from arousing the public’s ire, by avoiding the stimulation implied in this rule codified by The Prince….)

“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.” — Bob Dylan

“All military type firearms are to be handed in immediately… The SS, SA and Stahlhelm give every respectable German man the opportunity of campaigning with them. Therefore anyone who does not belong to one of the above named organisations and who unjustifiably nevertheless keeps his weapon… must be regarded as an enemy of the national government.” — SA Oberfuhrer of Bad Tolz, March, 1933

(I keep expecting to see a bill with this wording hit the floor of the House any time now, with a few minor changes to reflect the passage of time…. Every time there is another random shooting in this country, the pundits break out something like this to put through Congress, in the deluded hope that it might change something, which they refuse to believe cannot be changed, without changing human nature….)

“All you have to do is… Spot The Looney!” — Monty Python

(A very apt description of the voting process here in ‘murrica….) (Addendum from2015: Everywhere else. too, it seems…)

“Being against torture ought to be sort of a bipartisan thing.” — Karl Lehenbauer

(One would think this is true, until you actually look at what they are DOING, instead of what they are SAYING….)

“Faith: not wanting to know what is true.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)

(Another fine delineation of how the voting process works in the oligarchy we call home…. Plus, do you see how smoothly this dovetails in with what the preachers preach from their pulpits?…. Funny how that works, eh?….)

Okay, so that’s eight pearls, an even number, which will never do…. We’ll go with one last pearl, in what I know to be a futile attempt to bring one of them down for good…. I’ll try to make it a good one, a fitting finish to an epic melding of irritated ranting and old school pearling….

“For in religion as in friendship, they who profess most are ever the least sincere.” — Sheridan

(I probably don’t need to make this suggestion, but, since when do I listen or pay attention to crap like that? You can substitute the word “politics” for “friendship” in this, without changing or reducing its validity…. which is why it’s here….)

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

Fatal Supplication

But what becomes of our deepest dangerous dreams?
Does fantasy rescue any part of life’s imperiled favor?
Reality becomes but silvery pairs of mismatched teams,
Dining with affable elegance, such diffident waste to savor.

Who decides what sorrows to carry bravely to term?
Will fragrant moments of sanity make hasty manifestation?
Only Time’s patient mutability sends messages so firm,
Yet salient impersonal vexation lends credence to ripe imagination.

Can folly bring out sadness and rampant visions of beauty?
What kindness can be found in distant open relations?
With countless faces the dead disturb with dire impunity,
From separate caches of wisdom come simple stylish privations.

Shall shallow emotion serve to provide such explanations?
When does avaricious intensity assume primary focus?
Plain answers slide softly through with multiple mitigations,
While conceptually indignant concepts engage a fatally personal locus.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/12/2012

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

Snoopy’s Dance of Joy

Image from pinterest.com via Google Images

Today’s final, old-school pearl is rather special, in a way…. I chose a new icon for this kind of pearl, which I can only call unique. The message, to me, is perfectly clear, as the choice of icon will be, once you have begun the process. If it isn’t clear to you, don’t worry. Just read them all, let them roll around in your head a while, and you’ll begin the dance…..

“Every creature has within him the wild, uncontrollable urge to PUNT.”– Snoopy, aka Charles Schultz (Some sources say this is Unknown; trust me, I know
Snoopy….)

“What I like is when you’re looking and thinking and looking and thinking… and suddenly you wake up.” — Hobbes

“All I can say is that if, whenever you are asked where you live, you seize yourself by the throat and start choking, it is apt to cause comment” — R. Hull

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

“With one long breath, caught and held in his chest, he fought his sadness over his solitary life. Don’t cry you idiot! Live or die, but don’t poison everything…” — Saul Bellow

A process which led from amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously progress, though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known.” — Bertrand Russell

“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.” — Mark Twain

“How infinitely superior to our physical senses are those of the mind! The spiritual eye sees not only rivers of water but of air. It sees the crystals of the rock in rapid sympathetic motion, giving enthusiastic obedience to the sun’s rays, then sinking back to rest in the night. The whole world is in motion to the center. So also sounds. We hear only woodpeckers and squirrels and the rush of turbulent streams. But imagination gives us the sweet music of tiniest insect wings, enables us to hear, all around the world, the vibration of every needle, the waving of every bole and branch, the sound of stars in circulation like particles in the blood. The Sierra canyons are full of avalanche debris – we hear them boom again, and we read the past sounds from present conditions. Again we hear the earthquake rock-falls. Imagination is usually regarded as a synonym for the unreal. Yet is true imagination healthful and real, no more likely to mislead than the coarse senses. Indeed, the power of imagination makes us infinite.” — John Muir, American Naturalist (1838-1914)

“All poets are mad.”

~~ Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy ~~

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

All I can say, ffolkes, is, Whew! I’m almost not glad I’m done today; it all came out just how I like it best. Ugly and real, yet, with a certain charm one is forced to acknowledge, only due in small part to the (small caliber) weapons pointed at you…. Think of it as more like fungus; it grows on one.

Okay, I’ll stop. It was just too much fun; cathartic, even purgative, in a gentle way (ALWAYS preferable, trust me; I know. No shit. Well, not currently, but, oh, well never mind. I said I’d stop….).

SIGH. I’m done now. I’ll go. Really, I will, just as soon as I get this one last, traditional failure-guaranteed, final attempt to get ANYONE at all to at least smile out of my head; it’s best, believe me. Would I lie? That way, I don’t let it out on some poor sap on the street, when they aren’t expecting it….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I have to hack into somebody’s server farm…. Hah!…. (Boy, that was bad. Can I have another one? No? Oh, okay. Bye for now….)

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….

Use all the teflon you can find….

Posted on December 13, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“A man is not aware of his virtues (if any).

Nevertheless, one hopes that they exist.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

Artist rendition of possible Superearth planet found in far reaches of Sol System

Image from:

http://nerdreactor.com/2015/12/11/scientists-discover-a-new-planet-theyve-deemed-as-a-super-earth-in-our-solar-system/

Hajime…. At 0500 this morning, I was given a reminder of the newest duty I’ve chosen. I was awakened at that time by whiskers tickling my nose, followed by a loud purring, as Leelu sniffed at my face to wake me. The purr began when I opened my eyes to see what tickled me…. Thus notified she was ready to be up, and training. Heaving a great SIGH, I arose, & stumbled to the coffee maker to switch it on, as she mewled madly for the morning play time, dropping her crumpled paper at my feet, and looking at me expectantly…. What can one do?….

She got hungry after a few tosses & returns, and is eating, so, I’m going to cut this short, so we can, maybe, get this posted before she requires further attention…. Trust me, it’s not easy being at the beck and call of a 7 lb. princess…. But, she picked me, out of seven billion people, so, whattayagonnado, eh?….. Let’s go to the oyster beds, while we can….

Shall we Pearl?….

“We’re not talking about the same thing,” he said. “For you the world is weird because if you’re not bored with it you’re at odds with it. For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must accept responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.” — Don Juan

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

Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young in 1970

Image from en.wikipedia.com via Google Images

Probably, nobody alive hasn’t heard of this group…. Four of the best singer-songwriters alive who got together for a time, to make music still unequaled in quality and impact by any one of them individually…. Their innate harmonic blend of voices created songs no one who heard them will ever forget…. Let’s enjoy some of it, live from Golden Gate Park, their old stomping grounds in SF…. Abondanza, ffolkes!….

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

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 11/03/91 – Golden Gate Park

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

https://youtu.be/OPe-bqSXPaM

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

SOCIALISM:
You have two cows.
Give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM:
You have two cows.
Give both to the government.
The government gives you milk.

CAPITALISM:

You sell one cow and buy a bull.

FASCISM:
You have two cows.
Give milk to the government.
The government sells it.

NAZISM:
The government shoots you and takes the cows.

NEW DEALISM:
The government shoots one cow,
milks the other,
and pours the milk down the sink.

ANARCHISM:
Keep the cows.
Steal another one.
Shoot the government.

CONSERVATISM:
Freeze the milk.
Embalm the cows.

~~ Polly Sye Bee ~~

This was yesterday’s third offering from Smart Bee, and by the time I finished reading the list, and could catch my breath from laughing uproariously, I knew I’d found today’s opening lines for this section…. Since laughing so hard put me in too good a mood to rant, we’ll go with the following two most excellent pieces from an archived Pearl, suggested a day or two ago, at the bottom of the page on ECR…. They go together, as it happened to occur that day…I think you’ll enjoy them; I know I did…. It isn’t exactly about the quoted subject, but, rather about those who must deal with the governments as described…. We do lead off with a statement from a politician, though….

Both pearls from 12/1/2012:

From Section the First:

“I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics but for our contributions to the human spirit.” — former US President John F. Kennedy

At last! A worthy pearl! JFK, like the current President, was a superb public speaker, “Ich bin ein Berliner” notwithstanding, and whether he wrote his own words, or relied on his speech writers, he delivered, arguably, some of the most memorable, and insightful, aphorisms in US political and social history. The above statement is a perfect example, as he expresses a sentiment that can only be applauded, if not verified. I say verified because there is not a lot of verification from the past that history remembers anything BUT the battles. But, one can hope….

Actually, I believe what Jack said here very strongly, in the sense that there are different histories that are remembered, most of which become altered in some way over time, as does all memory. The great teachers and philosophers who have lived have left their mark on the world in more ways than always show, in spite of the records of their deeds not always surviving intact. But, throughout history, there have been men, and women, who have done much to advance the human condition, whose words and deeds were never seen, and never recorded, but, nonetheless. whose effects still ripple down the river of time.

Some of the great minds in history, such as Lao Tzu, Zoroaster, Genghis Khan, Gautama Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth, Mohammed, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, and many others, all made such advances in the human spirit, and their ideas keep proving their worth every day by their relativity to modern society. Men like Leonardo da Vinci, whose genius was so bright it shines even today, and modern philosopher/scientists such as Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking, have advanced that human spirit as much as anyone.

I’m not being as eloquent as I’d wish for such a deep subject…. What I’m trying to get to here is that we all, each and every one of us, have the power and opportunity to do the same as these historical figures, to advance the human spirit, just by the way we live our lives. What the philosophers say, and write, and the wisdom they pass on, is all very good, and a lesson to the rest of us…. But, what the average person does every day in their lives is just as important to the future as any scientific breakthrough, because what they do will determine what their children learn, and THAT is where the advancement really takes place, in the moments of teaching that happens every moment for children, and their adult teachers.

Living a life of integrity, with honesty and duty as the watchwords for action, is the best teaching method there is; to provide a good example for a child holds no less promise for mankind than all the work of all the genius’ of all time. How each one of us approaches life will, in the end, determine what happens to our species as a whole. It isn’t easy, especially given all of the people in society who do NOT wish to have any part of advancing anything but their own interests…. and especially when so many of those kinds of people are in positions of authority. But, it can be done, and is done, every day, by millions of men and women of good spirit…. They are truly the future of mankind, and, if there is any hope for survival, it lies in their honest hands….

“So live that you can look any man in the eye and tell him to go to hell.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

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

From Section the Third:

“The sage wears clothes of coarse cloth but carries jewels in his bosom; He knows himself but does not display himself; He loves himself but does not hold himself in high esteem. Thus he rejects the latter and takes the former.” — Lao-Tzu

In spite of how it must appear, there is a small degree of organization to this blog’s contents. Most days I try to make sure that the first and third sections, while possibly related, are essentially about different concepts. The second section is, of course, reserved for whatever poetry strikes my fancy that day, whether classic, humorous, or original (Though it does seem that my recent outpouring of original poems has run dry, I don’t think I’m done with that, yet…..). It seems to work for me…. well enough, at least, to keep my internal critics quiet most of the time.

Today, it seems that most of what I’m seeing for pearls are related somehow to what I spoke of peripherally in today’s first section, to wit: the importance of integrity in human life. Integrity…. hmm…. not the precise word, or the characteristic I am thinking of, actually; it’s more than merely integrity. I suppose one could say the concept to which I’m referring is too mystical an idea to be presented clearly, and not be too far off the mark….

However, not being one to ignore a challenge to my vocabulary, I’ll take a few unseen moments here and find the correct word to facilitate further discussion, because, hey, if I can’t, no discussion, right? Right…. Be right back…. instantly, by all you will know and see….. Well, the challenge is a strong one, and I think best answered with more than one word to describe what I’m trying to say. Those words are all contained in Axiom #7 of Peruaosophy, to wit:

“Do your Duty. Honor the Truth. Respect Life. Share your Love. “

I know that it is my own philosophy, and some may think that is cheating, but, not so. All that I hold to be true is in that axiom, and it represents the four cornerstones of my personal foundation. I find that when I am able to live up to all of these concepts, able to use their direction in guiding my actions, my life is much smoother, and my moments of joy are plentiful, to balance the pain that life brings all of us in turn. This, to me, is the best way to advance the human condition, little by little, with the efforts of each man and woman adding its weight to the forward momentum.

Yes, the actions and discoveries that the best of history’s minds bring to us are wonderful, and work to make the lives of every human better…. It is the everyday efforts of each man, though, that takes that wisdom and turns it into reality, by using ideas, and integrity, to add their experience to that of the rest of society. Since there is a large number of folks who do NOT subscribe to this kind of ethical behavior, choosing to make their own self-interest their primary concern, it is the duty of those who do believe in these ideas to carry them out as best they may, so that the world can retain some semblance of harmony. It doesn’t always work, and, in fact, is in constant jeopardy of not working at all, but, it is the only way that will make the changes our society needs to survive…. which is another discussion for another time…..

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

~~ William Rose Benet ~~

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

~~ Haiku ~~

Often I don’t see
any reason to exist.
Still, I’m glad I do.

~~ gigoid ~~

12/12/15

Blithely Untitled

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

2/7/2014

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

Sunrise ~~ Sunset

Just as with the photo (my own, taken somewhere off the coast of Scotland), I don’t really know, nor can I tell from what I see, exactly what is happening here…. I do know when the photo was taken, since I was the only one there at the time, but, unless one is enough of a polymath to have already totaled up the available clues to know, it can’t be known for sure which time of day it was taken…. The same issue applies to today’s final, old-school pearl, as I don’t have a single clue as to what it all means…. The process of choosing them was rather unconscious; I just clicked on each as it appeared, and fitted it into whatever weird shape my mind was creating…. It works, and I still don’t know why; though beginning and ending with some elegance, most of them are just weird, if as true as the day is long enough…. If y’all have any ideas, feel free to tell me, as it can only help….

“There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.”

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

“If you take something apart and put it back together often enough, you will eventually have two of them.” — Rap’s Law of Inanimate Reproduction

“Feeling good about government is like looking on the bright side of any catastrophe. When you quit looking on the bright side, the catastrophe is still there.” — P. J. O’Rourke, Parliament of Whores (1991)

“Being a politician is like being a football coach: you have to be smart enough to understand the game, but dumb enough to think it’s important.” — Eugene McCarthy ( I get this one; he WAS a politician….)

“Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex. You thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did.” — James Baldwin (1924-1987)

“The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, ‘Is there a meaning to music?’ My answer would be, ‘Yes.’ And ‘Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?” My answer to that would be, ‘No.’ — Aaron Copland

:FUBAR: n. The Failed UniBus Address Register in a VAX. A good example of how jargon can occasionally be snuck past the {suit}s; see {foobar}, and {foo} for a fuller etymology.” — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423 (For those with access to the File, the original FUBAR was a military term, probably originally from the Army Corps of Engineers, meaning, precisely, “fucked up beyond all repair”….)

“Gentleman: A man who knows how to play bagpipes — and refrains.” — Fred Tart

“Dum vivimus, vivamus.”

While we live, let us live.

~~ Latin, originally from the coat of arms of one Philip Doddering, D.D ~~

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dum_vivimus_vivamus),

with other instances noted in literature.

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

Hmm…. Later than usual, but, not bad, given the extra duties I must now perform while trying to get posted…. No complaints, because, hey, chosen duty, right? Besides, it’s done. So, I’ll follow the example set in the intro, and get us out of here in an efficient manner. That works like this: See ya, tomorrow, ffolkes, rain or shine….

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….

Oddly decorated with fleurettes of aubergine paraffin….

Posted on December 12, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong.”

~~ Mencken’s Metalaw ~~

~~ H. L. Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy ~~

I see meat….

Image from Twitter; @DESPERADO #AmazedbyAnimals

Hajime…. There is now no reason for doing any of this; the whole purpose here, beyond the stated exploration we are compelled to pursue, is to afford me an outlet to purge the dross and drivel from my mind, so it doesn’t sit in there and rot, as it did for many years…. But, if I’m bonkers, as they say, it isn’t working, is it? I mean, if that’s the case, what’s the point? I bet Daffy would know….

But, we don’t have him at hand to ask, so, we’ll have to struggle on, while actively resisting the urge to howl the fire and spit the wind. For sure, and for certain, that would drive off any remaining Gentle Readers I may have accumulated in the recent past…. It probably wouldn’t fret some of them, but, they’re old hands at this, and expect these outbursts of angst in the intro on occasion…. It’s a well-known factoid one can, in time, get used to the volcano in the back yard; one acclimates, so to speak. But, for any newbies, or those who worry, try not to do so for long, as it will wear you out long before I return to any sort of coherency…..

But, then, you knew that, didn’t you? Sure, you did. Don’t try to kid me; I’ve been around the block more than twice; I know what a pile of doggy doo-doo smells like. So, wipe your shoes, and come on in; it won’t hurt, I promise. If you know anything about me, if I can’t keep a promise, I won’t make it. Even in the deepest depths of my darkest dreams of personal hell, that wouldn’t change. My personal critic/teacher, who still watches over my shoulder in my mind, would NOT have allowed any such abrogation of duty…. Dad was tough, but fair. Didn’t say much, but, never had to, to get his point across….

Now I’ve wandered around in my own head, rather indiscriminately, I’m afraid, perhaps we should wander down the page a bit further, to a point we can gracefully slide out of this reality, where weird shit seems to pour out of my head, into our alternate, temporary fantasy reality, where Guido just happens to be waiting, politely, as always, for us to get ourselves organized, choose our beverage, and take our seats. Since all that is checked off, we can be on our way to, well, who the fuck knows? If I did, I’d probably have mentioned it some time ago….. Oh, well; hang on, it’s gonna be one of THOSE days. ffolkes….

Shall we Pearl?….

“History has the relation to truth that theology has to religion;

i.e., none to speak of.

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

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

Eric Burdon & The Animals, circa 1975

Image from music.naiji.com via Google Images

Eric Burdon & The Animals, 2015

Image from wallyingram.com via Google Images

In 2011, it was, apparently, the 50th anniversary of the recording release of “House Of The Rising Sun”, by Eric Burdon & The Animals, a British band who followed in the wake of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc. (My memory says 40-some years, but, it’s hazy for that period…. go figure….) The band became something of an icon of the era, with around 15 or 20 #1 hits….

I’ve embedded the 2011 performance by the band commemorating the song, and, I can honestly say, it rocks. The second link is to a play list with most of their hits on it, with a number of other excellent video selections, not all from the 60’s & 70’s, & not all this band…. I hope you enjoy this retrospective of an iconic tune, which scandalized all the politically correct of that era, by speaking/singing about the perils of those who frequented the the finest brothel in New Orleans during its heyday…. with all the attendant emotional impact such music can carry…. Let’s see how the boys have held up over the years, shall we?….

You know what? They only got better…. The lead guitar player kills the opening solo performance, exhibiting some incredible licks and brilliant improvisation….. and, what a great guitar!…. It (the guitar) looks as old as I am, but, has one of the best TONES I’ve been privileged to hear….. Every note it makes justs swells with beauty and the joy of simply existing…. the true heart of music…. He and that guitar have made a lot of music together, for a long time…. Don’t miss it….

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

Eric Burdon & The Animals
House of the Rising Sun

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

https://youtu.be/X6DVwql1E-g

https://youtu.be/X6DVwql1E-g?list=RDX6DVwql1E-g

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

“I’m pretty good with people on an individual basis, but in groups, I really can’t stand the bastards!”

~~ George Carlin ~~

Trust George to put his finger directly on a feeling common to all of us, at times. It’s what the greatest comedians, who are the jesters, the bards, the conscience of society, do best; expose our own nature for us to observe, in irony, in jest, in Truth…. As a practicing curmudgeon, this statement appeals on many levels, aside from the merely annoying necessity of dealing with mundanes on a daily basis…. In fact, of late, I’ve taken to NOT arming myself so heavily when leaving the house; I’m too tempted to use one of my hidden, lethal toys, just to get the satisfaction of wasting some idiot who is probably better off dead, than annoying the general public…. Not to mention the bonus of removing at least one irritation from our consensual existence….

Ah well, such is life in Amurrica today…. I’m tired of ranting about all that has gone wrong in this country, and in the world at large. Rather than harp on it any further today, I’ve collected a nine-star pearl for your perusal, with a graphic meme from the internet to close the grouping, each of which can be seen as an expression which defines for us most of the reason(s) WHY our national persona has turned into an asshole of such immense proportions…. Some are forthright, clear statements of obvious truths; some require some thought (go figure, eh?). All of them have contributed some way to the mess we now observe, all around us…..

If you disagree with any of them, feel free to say so…. That’s what a true Patriot of this nation does, you know…..

“The discovery of America was the occasion of the greatest outburst of cruelty and reckless greed known in history.” — Joseph Conrad

“Money by right means if you can; if not, by any means.” — Horace (65-8 B.C.)

“I … reject the argument put forth by many fundamentalists that science has nothing to do with religion because God is not among the things making up the universe in which we live. Surely if a necessity for a god-concept in the universe ever turns up, that necessity will become evident to the scientist.” — physicist Ralph Alpher, Theology of the Big Bang, Religious Humanism, Vol. XVII, No. 1 (Winter 1983), pg. 12

“St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great who asked him “how he dares molest the sea.” “How dare you molest the whole world?” the pirate replied: “Because I do it with a little ship only, I am called a thief; you, doing it with a great navy, are called an Emperor.” — Noam Chomsky, Pirates and Emperors.

” In truth, there never was any remarkable lawgiver amongst any people who did not resort to divine authority, as otherwise his laws would not have been accepted by the people; for there are many good laws, the importance of which is known to be the sagacious lawgiver, but the reasons for which are not sufficiently evident to enable him to persuade others to submit to them; and therefore do wise men, for the purpose of removing this difficulty, resort to divine authority.” — Niccolo Machiavelli

“Law stands mute in the midst of arms.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

“Most legislators are so dumb that they couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel.” — Savvy Bee

“I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it’s a limit that’s very seldom mentioned. It’s the point where free speech begins to collide with the right to privacy. I don’t think there are any other conditions to free speech. I’ve got a right to say and believe anything I please, but I haven’t got a right to press it on anybody else….. Nobody’s got a right to be a nuisance to his neighbors.” — H.L. Mencken

(Hint: Think Main-Stream Media…. Fox, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc.)

“War is good business – invest your sons.” — Corporate Bee

For those who choose to respond, in any fashion, I’ll point out there is a comment section at the bottom of this page…..

Hmph…..

gigoid has spoken

So be it.

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

Recently, the dark days with which my life was filled came to an end. Well, for now, anyway….. There are, and will be, still times when I hurt, everyfuckingwhere, it seems…. But, they are fewer, and further between, and I can deal with that…. Here is a poem I wrote one time, late last year, when it was particularly noisome being me…..

Elemental, dear Watson….

Don’t worry,
it’s not
me
you hear
screaming.

It is
only
my bones,
giving in,
to
cowardly,
pathologically,
repetitive,
fucking,’
complaints
of
past abuse,
and
all the fun
we had.
playing,
hard.

I don’t mind
too much;
I can spend my
TIME
in another space
in my head,
pretending
my bones
don’t
exist….

It
is,
indeed,
a shame
they
always
come
back….

Fuck.

It
hurts.

More proof,
I guess,
either
God isn’t,
or,
He is.

He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….

Ante up.
Deal.

He is?
Then,
I don’t fucking care
who
doesn’t like it,

I say,

He
is
a bully,
a coward,
a hypocrite,
and,
truly,
an enormous asshole.

I suppose,
God
is
what comes,
to,
and
from,
People,

because

they
feel
a need,
for
someone
to
blame,
for
a
Universe
they
cannot
understand
or
accept.

I
will
take the complaints.

After all,
they
are
my bones.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/14/2014

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

What we have today is what I would call a side-view pearl, due to the point of view from which each of the statements was created, and expressed. Some of the quotes you will see will touch on subjects which are part of everyone’s life, but, very few ever really consider. Others will be familiar… All of it, I assure you, will be on your own Final Quiz, when it is time for you to take it…..

“He that fears not the future may enjoy the present”

~~ Thomas Fuller ~~

“How do we come to think of things, rather than of processes in this absolute flux? By shutting our eyes to the successive events. It is an artificial attitude that makes sections in the stream change, and calls them things… When we shall know the truth of things, we shall realise how absurd it is for us to worship isolated products of the incessant series of transformations as though they were eternal and real. Life is no thing or state of a thing, but a continuous movement or change.” — S. Radhakrishnan

“A detective story generally describes six living men discussing how it is that a man is dead. A modern philosophic story generally describes six dead men discussing how any man can possible be alive.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men

“He knew that insofar as one denies what is, one is possessed by what is not, the compulsions, the fantasies, the terrors that flock to fill the void.” — Ursula K. LeGuin, _The Lathe of Heaven_

“The work of an unknown good man is like a vein of water flowing hidden in the underground, secretly making the ground greener.” — Thomas Carlyle

“He made one of Antipater’s recommendation a judge; and perceiving afterwards that his hair and beard were coloured, he removed him, saying, “I could not think one that was faithless in his hair could be trusty in his deeds.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Philip

“Almost everything you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” — Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

“Time is only an illusion produced by the succession of our states of consciousness as we travel through eternal duration, and it does not exist where no consciousness exists in which the illusion can be produced; but “lies asleep.” — H. P. Blavatsky (1831-1891)

Ros: Do you think death could possibly be a boat?

Guil: No, no, no…Death is…not. Death isn’t. You take my meaning.
Death is the ultimate negative.
Not-being. You can’t not-be on a boat.

Ros: I’ve frequently not been on boats.

Guil: No, no, no—what you’ve been is not on boats.

~~ Tom Stoppard ~~

There you go. As I’ve always tried to relate to y’all, timing is everything, and, balance is the key…. Stay alert out there, ffolkes. It’s getting strange out there in the Big Room….

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

Okay, then. Thanks to the Tardis I have on loan from the Doctor, it’s done. Since it is, I had this idea I should go post it. I wonder why I didn’t think of that before? Ah well, I guess I was busy. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; it’s just one of those things we’ll all have to deal with, as it happens….

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….

Fifty-seven shades of brown….

Posted on December 11, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“If I had my life to live over again, I’d be a plumber.”

~~ Albert Einstein ~~

The Innocent, Earnestly Sincere Face

Hajime…. Today, in section 2 or 3 (I get confused, because this is the intro, so I never know whether or not to count it… Wishy-washy, I know…. Let it be, or we’ll never get anywhere today.), we’ll begin a new direction for ECR. It may or may not end up as a permanent fixture; if it works well enough, maybe I’ll just start another blog page for it. I DO own the domain, and I can have as many as I want, I believe, so, we’ll see…. I think you’ll enjoy it, mainly because I have to think that, or I couldn’t post it…. Duh.

But, who doesn’t like Leelu? How could you not like such a face? But, that’s enough about her. Let’s get back to talking about me, er, uh, blogging.

Okay, busted. But, if I go too far, it won’t work, and Leelu, I know, wouldn’t like that. Since she’s in charge, now, (or, so she believes, anyway….), I try to keep her happy. So, you’ll just have to wait…. We all must learn, at some point, to accept disappointment in life; you may as well get used to it…. No, I’m not going off on a tangential rant, I’m speaking generally, and pontifically, to distract you from the fact I’m not really saying anything either important, or prophetic…. Thank something for that….

Where now? Hmm…. Should I use some literary sleight-of-hand? Perhaps the old…. no, I’ve used that too much. Maybe the…. no, just did that two days ago. How about that….. maybe. I think though,what might work best would be for me to just stop asking myself, and y’all, these silly questions, to which only I know the answers, anyway. If I just clear my head for a moment, I think the proper method will present itself….. Just too much Sturgeon’s Law in my head today, so far, anyway…. Okay, OOOOOMMM MAANNE PAAADME HUUUUUUM!…

Ah, got it! I knew that would do it. It was quick, mainly because it was right there in front of me the whole time. Plus, it’s simple, sustainable (a new PC catch-word), and, no tools or special items needed. Here’s how it works…. watch closely, now….

Shall we Pearl?….

“He was once asked what a friend is, and his answer was, “One soul abiding in two bodies.”” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi

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

Image from jambase.com via Google Images

I’ve never listened to Phish; I only know the bassist sat in for an acoustic session with one of the best guitarists alive, (Eric Clapton, or Leo Kottke, or somebody of their level of expertise…. I forget just now, and I’m too lazy to go look…), so, they must be pretty good. (SIGH…. I looked. It was the bass player, Mike Gordon, sitting in with Leo Kottke…. See my memory isn’t so bad…. and, Gordon is an outstanding bassist, for sure….) If the first cut is any indication, I’ve found a new modern band I can actually enjoy. I hope you do, as well; a lot of folks apparently like their music, so, hey, why not, eh?….. Let’s have a listen, shall we?…..

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

Phish Live
Austin, Texas 7/28/2015

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

https://youtu.be/no9alXlStts

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

Addendum to the above: I checked this out last night…. This be some good shit, ffolkes…. These guys know how to rock…. and boogie…. and blue notes, too….

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

The Astounding Adventures of Leelu and gigoid on Earth

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Welcome, fellow travelers…. Leelu wanted me to begin today by giving you the background behind these…. Well, there’s just no other word for them but adventures. You see, it started like this…..

As the voice announced the delayed arrival of the next flight to Paris at SFO airport, Leelu Magicat materialized quietly in an unobtrusive corner of the room of private phone booths. Knowing instinctively where she had arrived, she temporarily became transparent to other minds/eyes on this plane of existence, allowing her the freedom to move about without hindrance from any of the numerous humans blundering around the airport facility.

Walking through the crowds, her intuitive vision picked out a human who was going where she knew she needed to be, so she simply followed him, as he walked through the terminal to the BART station, boarding the first train going to Richmond from SFO. She had picked a good time to arrive, late at night/early morning, which thinned the crowds once the train passed San Francisco, allowing her to relax at the proximity to so many minds, intruding rudely and loudly on her own, as their confusion and illusions cried out in gibberish…. It got to be uncomfortable after a time, unless she chose to listen with mindfulness to only one, which was more effort than it was usually worth.

Once leaving the train, the human boarded a bus, to a town called Vallejo, situated on the northeast shore of the Bay, behind an island which had formerly been a US Naval Base, until the Cold War supposedly ended in the latter half of the twentieth century. As the bus came off the freeway, to head toward the central part of town, she had the urge to depart the bus, so, got off before arriving downtown….

As soon as the bus pulled away, she walked in the direction intuited, about two blocks, & saw her destination. As she approached, she assumed the shape she intended to use to train her companion to understand her, to learn from her what he would need in the coming events, and, most important, to her, to him, and to the Universe, to love her….

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

What you have read above is what I have realized, reasoning from perceptions received below my level of consciousness; the information was found in my mind, though I have no idea from whence or where it came to be there…. I figure Leelu has been practicing her telepathy; it’s the only thing that makes sense, given how we met, and how our learning to live together became not merely an obligation from the Universe, but, a chosen duty, making it, for me, impossible to ignore, or abrogate….. I’m funny that way; my father would be appalled if I’d made any other choice…. I’d hate to even think of what my mother might have said, had I chosen to chase her away….

That said, here is what occurred: I arose one morning, to find myself out of milk/half& half for my coffee. This is, for me, a minor disaster, not to mention a pain in the nether regions; nevertheless, I sucked it up, dressed, and took off on the four blocks to the store…. As I returned home, climbing the first couple steps of the stairs leading up to my door, I heard a soft mewling, like a cat calling a kitten…. When I got to the fourth step, the sound clarified into what was obviously a kitten, not a full grown cat, which I could now see sitting on the rug before my door….

The wee beastie, small but sturdy and, cat clean, heard my steps, immediately striding toward me, mewling madly, as I were late. I topped the stairs, whereupon she began winding in and out between my feet, putting both of us in danger of tumbling down the 14 feet into the yard. I asked her to calm down, so I could get the door open. She sat, looked at me, and waited as I unlocked the screen, then, opened the door for her to enter…. She strode in, as if she had always lived there, politely turning to wait for me to shut the door. When shut, she put her paws as high on my ankle as she could reach, and mewled piteously to be picked up….

What was I to do? I picked her up, whereupon she began purring loudly, snuggling into my hold, and gazing with a direct, clear expression of confidence, trust, and, obvious love shining from them like a beacon, making it perfectly obvious I had been adopted by one of the descendants of Bastet, with whom our species has had an agreement since the dawn of time….

We are now companions; I don’t own her. She is, most likely, what would have been known, in elder days, as my familiar…. To me, she is partner, best bud, and teacher/student…. She has already given me more love, compassion, and lessons about LIFE, just by showing me again how to approach it with passion, verve, style, and gusto…. “Fortune favors the bold”, is one I’ve seen attributed to many sages/kings/warriors throughout history; she is living proof of that ancient adage.

Only Noah, my old heeler/shepherd buddy, who died at age 18 in 2012, taught me as Leelu has begun to show me…. It’s kind of funny, in an ironic way, because, here I am, a 65 year-old self-professed philosopher/scholar/warrior, who is, most happily, back in school, with a teacher who is, as far as I can tell, about five months old…. Go figure, eh?

By observation, confirmed by the veterinarian I had check her out, and give her the necessary inoculations to protect her, she is half Siamese, half Tortoiseshell Calico, a truly magical combination…. As the pictures I’ve included thus far show, she is, and will be, a gorgeous cat, strong, fast, smart as a whip, and, with mental and metaphysical powers we humans not only do not possess, but, often cannot even comprehend…. I’ve counted, and at this age, she already has 40 whiskers, many more than usual even for an older cat…. When she stares at things, alive or inanimate, they KNOW it…. I can feel it through the bathroom door sometimes, if I’m in there too long…

Needless to say, new magical things happen every day; I’ve already related how she saved the Universe once already. She has planted in my mind that she wishes to accompany me when I leave, and wants a halter and leash, so we can practice walking together…. She also wants a carrier she can see out of, so she can travel with me when I feel the wanderlust with which I am blessed/cursed….. It seems she refuses to consider being left alone for very long. If I have to walk four blocks to the store, I always find her, sitting right in front of it when I return, staring holes through it….. and looking at me with disappointment in her eyes…. which she always drops to run forward to greet me….

It’s going to be interesting, in much more than just the Oriental meaning. Life has become more interesting, more challenging, more…. well, just more…. And, I’m pretty sure it’s only going to get more interesting, as Leelu continues to reveal her powers, and tell me more of our actual work here on Earth…. You see, she is on a mission, and we have things we will need to do in the coming years to prepare to take up that challenge…. I can’t wait….

gigoid, the dubious

Leelu’s companion…..

12/11/2015

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

Justifiable Insanity

An incredibly insane, vivid abhorrence fills me up today,
because of a thought which occurred to me.
I was merely thinking about what all the headlines have to say,
when I was pushed onto a train of thought, you see.

I began to ride the train, resigned to wherever I went, as it willed.
I was directed by imagination, to consider for a moment or two,
to seek how many reasons a Man has given for when he killed,
count them, count them, curiosity demanded, or, suffer, you…..

So, I tried to count the words I’d seen, or read, or heard,
in the reports we see all over the news and TV’s.
I had to grab a dictionary, to check off each word,
my memory is good, but, not for such numbers as these.

It seemed so simple, when I began my chosen task,
how many could there possibly be?
I probably should have known better than to ask,
for every page had an example; look for yourself, and see.

How many did I come up with, many might ask?
Too many to count, as it turns out,
at least, for anyone of flesh and bone to complete the task.
Even a computer would simply freak out.

If you think I’m being funny, well, you are dead wrong.
Just like all the people who die each day, for ideas, principles, or religion,
or any of the tens of thousands who die each hour, because of delusion so strong,
Mankind’s entire history consists of little more than perverted contagion.

~~ gigoid ~~

12/10/2015

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

This may seem like an odd assortment of pearls; it doesn’t SEEM to have any direction, or purpose, or much of a message, other than, perhaps, “huh?”…. ‘S okay, we’ve been here before; trust the process, ffolkes. Just let your mind drift through with each quote as it presents itself; when you reach the end, it will all be clear…. And, if not, you can have every penny you paid for it refunded…. Not a bad deal, all in all…..

“Be ruled by time, the wisest counselor of all.”

~~ Plutarch ~~

~~ Life of Pericles (B.C. 495-429) ~~

“It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.” — Henry David Thoreau

“It was the saying of Bion, that though the boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest.” — Plutarch — Which are the most crafty, Water or Land Animals?

“He alone is an acute observer who can observe minutely without being observed.” — Lavater

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.” — Johann Wolfgan von Goethe

“An ass is but an ass, though laden with gold.” — Romanian Proverb

“Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, viii, 22

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

“Would I lie?”

~~ gigoid, the dubious ~~

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

Okay, I did it. Leelu seems to approve, as she is sitting calmly, watching me type this closing paragraph. Since other duty calls, and she now wants to play, I’d best be about the rest of today…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; who knows? Maybe there’ll be another chapter, or another new poem…. Never can tell around here….. As a blogger friend is fond of signing off…. I love you! Sappy, I know, but, hey, true enough, so, deal…. Ta, then….

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….

Sneering in bafflement, he punted….

Posted on December 10, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The cat would eate fish, and would not wet her feete.”

~~ John Heywood (c. 1565) ~~

~~ Proverbes, Part i, Chap. xi ~~

Leelu in Berserker Mode

Hajime…. Life sure can be funny. Since I’m a complex sorta guy, that’s actually a complex statement, as the word ‘funny’ can be construed to mean a lot of different sorts of things about life, not all of which are at all funny, or fun. It’s also why English is such a powerful tool for communicating, as well as a barrier to the same communication. Two people with a different understanding of, and, skill in using the language, may very well not be able to understand each other, at all, though they both share intimate knowledge of it, having grown up using it. Environment, background, education, intelligence, imagination, all can play a part in how the language is used by anyone, and, no two people share the exact same degree of similarity in ANY of those categories.

All of which being said, I am compelled by my own nature to wonder, how the fuck we ever wandered this far out of the trees? C.S. Lewis, I believe, once made the lament,

“Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than minority of them – never become conscious of them all. How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?” — C. S. Lewis

Add in this most-accurate assessment of the human mind’s ability to perceive the universe, and one has to feel a sense of astonished surprise, not only that we have created a world-wide society, but, have done so without ever achieving any sort of world-wide understanding of our own nature….. To observe the antics of the naked apes who infest the surface of this planet, is very similar, in “look and feel”, to watching an old Roadrunner cartoon on Saturday morning. In fact, watching the Roadrunner makes much more sense than much of what I see passing as socio-political activity around the world….

Did y’all ever wonder, as I did, about the two most puzzling things to me about Wile E. Coyote? First, why, when he was obviously the stupidest creature on the planet, was he called “wily”, a word which, even at age four, I understood couldn’t possibly apply to the stupid beast….. I mean, even if he WAS indestructible, (our first lesson in the fiction vs. reality issue…. How many of US could live through a 5000 foot fall, followed by the arrival of a five ton rock on our head? Hell, it would give Superman a moment of pain, if he couldn’t fly….

Second… Why didn’t the idiot ever just start ordering FOOD from the Acme Co.? It seemed to me, as a young, already half-trained consumer, if the company made that many different products, of such amazing variety and complexity, how easy would it be for them to deliver some fried chicken, or even fried rattlesnake, which, I am told, tastes like chicken… But, then, doesn’t everything but beef and lamb taste like chicken?….

But, NOOOO…. Mr. Smart Guy Coyote keeps ordering weapon after weapon, none of which ever worked the way he expected. Which comprised our second lesson in reality vs. fiction, though, as it turns out, that’s pretty much how ANY corporation operates….. S’trewth, swear to god….

SIGH…. I’m doing it again, aren’t I? Ranting in the intro, when I tried to start out looking for ironic humor…. See where good intentions will get you? Oh, well, next I’d have to move on to more lamentations about human nature, and how virtue has all but disappeared from the public arena… Hell, I even found the perfect pearl to go with such a discussion, showing EXACTLY what happened, at least, here in the US…. It is also from C.S. Lewis, one of the more flexible-minded, and, honest Christians to ever pick up a pen… He said, regarding virtue, this:

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful until it became risky.” — C.S. Lewis _The Screwtape Letters_

But, that’s a rant for another day, unless, of course, we pick this up in the third section. Who knows at this point? If I did, well, I’d say so; that means simply that I haven’t decided yet. Nonetheless, and, notwithstanding, such is now moot, as Guido has entered the cockpit (don’t even think it….), and we’ll be taking off any moment…. Let’s just do so quietly, and calmly, just as if we knew what we were doing here, okay?….

Shall we Pearl?….

“A gentleman is one who doesn’t demand a lady prove that she is.”

~~ Solomon Short ~~

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

Though I have plenty of energy, I’m lazy. Since that is true, I’m going with my own default choice of music, which, if you’ve been reading here for any time, you’ll know what that means; you’re gonna hear some classical music…. It was about twenty or more years ago I got fed up with the current crop of music bombarding the airwaves and musical venues. I began to listen to classical music, and have felt the rightness of the decision ever since. Rather than listening to the last 65-plus years of what has been produced (some of which is good, but, mostly, it’s crap…. see Sturgeon’s Law….), I now have several centuries worth of music to explore, from all over the world….. Sturgeon’s law still applies, but, the statistical universe of available music has been filtered for quality for a LONG time; what’s left is a much higher percentage of the good stuff….

Bonus!….. Enjoy, ffolkes…. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt, even if you have perfect pitch…… As is my habit, the compilation I picked simply had the most attractive picture, for my taste….

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

gigoid’s Musical Default

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

https://youtu.be/R0kl9xFVSnI

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

What do we do? We have lost our way.
From afar, the Demon cries out,
He is leading us astray.
…
Skyward soar the whirling demons,
Shrouded by the falling snow,
And then the plaintive, awful howling
Fills my heart with dread and woe.

~~ Alexander Pushkin ~~

Gee…. I wonder if that means more ranting about the present state of world affairs? What do you think? Should we continue in the vein in which I began today’s Pearl, or veer off in another direction? Hmm… Let’s see what the magic 8-ball says….

Oops. Forgot; broke my 8-ball a long time ago. Oh, well. I think I’m not in a mood to rant at the moment. Hang on, & I’ll go see if I can find something to tip the scale in one direction, or another… Don’t worry, I’ve got a Tardis, and this isn’t real…. so, it’s like, you’ll never notice I was gone….

Okay, got it. That actually didn’t take long at all…. Of course, I COULD be lying, but, we wouldn’t want to pick up any bad habits…. It took only a moment, to find this:

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

Now, if THAT isn’t a great start to pick up where we left off above, I don’t know an oyster from a mussel. And, I do. Know the difference, I mean. In fact, I also know, being a chef, while mussels, steamed in white wine, fish stock, garlic, and a bit of butter, lemon juice, & parsley, is as close as people ever really get to heaven, only oysters, those ugly, yet somehow noble bivalves, can make pearls. Besides, the only way the oysters themselves are REALLY edible, is breaded, deep fried, and smothered with a LOT of Tartar, or seafood cocktail sauce. Otherwise they’re a lot like eating old shoe leather, unless eaten at ONE specific moment upon cooking. Before, or after that moment, they are virtually inedible… Even for those with ALL their teeth…

But, hey, pearls, you know? Which brings us back to the completion of this section today. I’ll quit fooling around, amusing as it may be, (or not; not my call….), and get to the meat of today’s piece. I’ll start with an old graphic pearl from one of my most consistent sources for wise, witty comments, to wit:

This statement is possibly the clearest I know, to describe WHY our world is the way it is today. Albert put his finger on the root cause of every problem we face today, i.e., courage in the face of evil. Personally, I have given up any hope of making enough changes in society to protect us from ourselves…. Hope, as Emily D. pointed out, is something that, being human, never goes away…. But, my hope is about gone, for I don’t see us humans finding the understanding which can save us before the planet itself kills us for our effrontery……

Rather than expose y’all to any more of my own negative conclusions, I’d like y’all to read the following article, which my news reader provided to me, and with which I can only agree wholeheartedly. It’s brilliant, to be honest, and, if there is any justice in the world, will go viral quite soon…… It’s by an author named Elizabeth West, and she has hit upon some strong truths…. Don’t try to decide from reading the title; just trust me, & go read it. You won’t regret it…. Not even if I close out the section with my own take/interpretation, (though voiced with a power of expression I can only dream of achieving some day….) of the most probable, ultimately final decision Reality is going to make about the human race… Ms. West might convince you otherwise…..

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/04/abandon-all-hope/

This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
Not with a bang but with a whimper.

~~ T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men” ~~

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

Choosing a Theme

Powerful words playing hide and seek in my mind,
teasing with subtle cruelty, pretending to be kind.
Grand visions and flowery verses of beauty and truth
evaded my inner eye all through the days of my youth.

Affable interludes interspersed with allegorical wit
softened the crimes, against all reason, to finally acquit.
Time became at once an enemy, and an ally
Never once compelled to provide an answer why.

Giving gifts of simple kindness are their own pay,
spreading ripples of compassion are felt far and away.
Love given freely is precious, we are ever told,
increasing love received, more than a hundred fold.

Living long and with passion has centered my soul,
allowing me room, and time, to choose my own goal.
Now I’ve gone past any need to pretend
I love everything in life, even knowing it will end.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/21/2012

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

Naked Pearls IV

*********

“Everything you know is wrong.”

~~ The Firesign Theater ~~

*********

“Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.”

~~ Edwin Hubbel Chapin ~~

*********

“Virtue is beauty.”

~~ Shakespeare ~~

*********

“There are two kinds of egotists: 1) Those who admit it; 2) The rest of us.”

~~ Psyche Bee ~~

*********

“Half the failures in life arise from pulling in one’s horse as it is leaping.”

~~ Julius Hare ~~

*********

“In war and life, either fight to win or don’t fight.”

~~ Warrior Bee ~~

*********

“She [virtue] requires a rough and stormy passage; she will have either outward difficulties to wrestle with, …. or, internal difficulties.”

~~ Michel de Montaigne — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xi, Of Cruelty ~~

*********

“A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer.”

~~ Joseph Addison ~~

*********

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.”

~~ Hugh Downs ~~

*********

“Don’t worry about a thing because every little thing is gonna be alright.”

~~ Bob Marley ~~

*********

However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you
If you do not act on upon them?

~~ Buddha ~~

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

Well, it’s done. All that remains is to go post it, which will be harder than usual today…. I put a lot into this one, even though the poem isn’t new, and the major rant belongs to another author. Nonetheless, I don’t believe I can do this any better than this turned out, so, I hope y’all enjoyed consuming it as much as I enjoyed putting it together…. I’ll be back tomorrow, to see if I can do it this well one more time….Why not? That would make a total of at least four, over four years…. Not bad, for an amateur…

Spoiler alert: Things ’round here may change some in the near future…. Y’all stay alert, y’hear?…. It could mean your sanity, and mine…. Oops. Maybe not yours…. really. I mean that, or, rather, I didn’t mean that…. Well, never mind, you’ll see….. Just, be careful, okay?…. C 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….

Pollinated twisty bread, nicely packaged….

Posted on December 9, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~

Laser-eye Leelu

Hajime…. ‘Tis indeed unusual for me to feel energetic, or, for that matter, less than homicidal, at this time of day. That’s a simple, obvious direct result of the severe insomnia I experienced for about 3-4 months. Now, after a night of 10 solid hours, again, I find myself feeling almost normal in the mornings, if with a bit more pain than in previous times in life. Hey, I accept, now, I’m 65, not 25; for a long time, like, I think, all of us, we try to deny the passage of time; that feeling of immortality we maintain for much of our youth carries over into middle and elder stages, unfortunately…. Then, something brings us up short, realizing, hey, that hurts! And, it’s something that never hurt before…. and, we realize, our life will never be quite the same….

THAT is, I believe, a moment which must come to us all, like it or not. Oh, we can continue to deny the effects of the passage of time on our bodies and minds; in my opinion, there’s a word for folks who try that…. corpses. Yep, that’s one of those really STUPID things we humans tend to do, and, every time, it will kill us, because, hey, the Universe just doesn’t give a shit about how we feel, about anything, much less a force of nature like aging, and dying…. After all, the process IS merely another example of how our lives are so connected to reality, for all of reality experiences the same aging process…. The Universe, however, doesn’t seem to have a problem with it, as we seem to do….

Ah well, maybe if we’d try, as a species, to understand a bit more about death, perhaps we would handle living with a bit more style and elegance. As it is, much of humanity dies hard, and afraid; it’s considered a lucky man or woman who dies at an old age, in bed, with friends and family at their side. The major portion of life is spent trying to arrange a comfortable death, with the greater part of us failing miserably at that…. Or, at least, that’s the way I see it. I guess maybe I’m getting cynical in my old age, for I see the ever-present battle in Reality being won by Chaos and Entropy, while the Order and Reason attempted by Man, falls into disuse and ill repute.

At this point in this narrative, I see it has already fallen into ranting mode, which is always dangerous here….. Y’know what else. I’m tired of all the doom and gloom I see all over the fucking world, including right here where I live, where every day I see falsely-entitled police forces hassling homeless and poor people, just because they can. I’m tired of the assholes who run this world thinking they can lie, cheat, and steal from everyone else, and get away with it. And, I’m tired of being lied to…. especially that. The so-called leaders of this country, and of every country in the world I read about, in their own words, suffers the same issue; the world is being raped, and pillaged, by just a small percentage, while the rest of us try to get by in a world gone mad….

Fuck it, let’s go find some pearls, to help get rid of some of this angst, and, maybe, in the process, find a bit of humor, and maybe even some hope….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Life is the childhood of our immortality.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~

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

The Grateful Dead

Images from an email from Dead.net

Last night I was listening to some of the music I’ve downloaded from You Tube. Specifically, I was checking out some of the bands who played covers of Dead music for the Dead Covers Project in 2014. The Project started in 2013, I believe, and has produced some of the finest home-grown, home-made music one can find anywhere. I listened to the one I’ve included, and can tell you, you HAVE to see, and hear the lead guitar solo in this song. About three or four minutes in, the band breaks into some solo breaks. The lead guitar player, like most of the band, is an obvious O.O.F., apparently about 70-75 years old….

I swear, the old fart NAILS the solo; not only does he nail it, he kills it! Fast, clean, and rockin’, he, and the other old farts in this particular band, rocked the house where they played, back East sometime in 2014…. It’s well worth seeing, as are any number of the other covers that amateurs sent in each year…. Check them out; there are a lot of surprises. Some are really bad, but, some, like this one, will amaze you at the musicianship of the players…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. It’s a blast from the past, right here in the future….

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

BEGGARS TOMB
New Minglewood Blues
Dead Covers Project 2014

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

https://youtu.be/KoALTQNFL7Y

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

“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” — Joseph Conrad, “Under Western Eyes”

What a wonderful beginning for a rant! Too bad I’m not up to writing one… Plus, I’m in too good a mood to go there, so, instead, we’ll go with this discussion from a very good early Pearl, about a year after coming to WP. I hope you enjoy it; I did…. and, hell, I wrote it, and I’m a harsh self-critic….

From 10/21/2012:

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.~~ Rudyard Kipling ~~

~~ Just So Stories (1902) “The Elephant’s Child” ~~

I first read the phrase “feeding the Elephant’s Child” in a Robert Heinlein novel, many years ago, and enjoyed it as a metaphor for reading/learning, before I knew from whence it originally came. Once I did know (a moment of illumination whose exact placement in time is hazy….), I liked it even more, from an aesthetic standpoint. The above little ditty is brilliant doggerel, astute observation, and deep insight, all presented in a simple, straightforward style, with a powerful, basic lesson for any would-be philosopher, or any one who wishes to encompass reason as their modus operandi, so to speak. Besides which, I find that another piece of Bob’s advice fits well with this one, to wit: “Life tastes better in big bites….”

“Never wear anything that panics the cat.” — P. J. O’Rourke

I like this, a lot. It summarizes perhaps one of the most elemental rules of getting along in the Universe, in essence saying, “You can learn a lot by watching what happens around you…” It is the perfect companion to the concept of learning as presented above, as it contrives to speak to both sides of Reality, i.e., how you approach reality (the clothing you choose to show to the cat….) and how reality will change to react to your approach (the cat’s opinion of your clothing….) It also gives one a subtle warning about how the wrong clothing can produce unwanted consequences, and we all know how an offended cat is likely to respond…. as Mark Twain once remarked…. “A man who carries a cat by the tail is learning valuable things. He will never again be dim or doubtful. Chances are he’ll not carry the cat that way again, but, I say, if he wants to, let him!” You can’t say fairer than that….

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” — Buddha

One can always trust the Buddha to state the most profound thoughts in the simplest way…. I often wonder how he came to such a complete understanding of Murphy, whose presence is acknowledged in all of what the Buddha stated, but whose ministrations seem to have passed by the Buddha’s existence…. either that, or Murphy shows him a lot more respect than he does anyone else alive. At times, it seems that what the Buddha states, such as in this statement, is, in at least one respect, an answer to a question that is raised when Murphy intervenes in our lives…. in simpler words, he explains why Murphy is able to affect us as he does, by cutting through the bullshite we perceive to the truth of what is real….. SIGH…. one of these days, enlightenment will slap me upside the head, and I’ll be able to see Murphy coming…. I hope…

There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.” — Bob Dylan

Often I feel as if not only is life a joke, but it is our duty and purpose on this plane of existence to codify that joke, to put it down on paper, or on screen/disc, to free ourselves from the prison of sobriety, achieving an understanding that everything in this silly universe is here for our amusement, and we have been taking it, and ourselves, seriously for entirely too long….. So seriously, we have begun to offend those parts of the universe that just want us to relax and enjoy ourselves, and the time is growing nearer when we will have to admit that the joke is on us, for not being able to change our inner selves enough to be able to handle the humor of our situation…. See, the universe thinks death is funny…. not because it is cruel, but because death is just another part of life, and it doesn’t care about one more than the other…. See, now, isn’t it funny how you never noticed that?…..

I once read a science fiction novel, whose title and author escape me completely; in all it was very poorly written, with prose that did not live up to the good ideas contained in the plot line. However, it was a great plot line, in all….Specifically, there was one chapter I liked, which had a super-genius taking on the task of finding the solution to a mathematical treatise, an equation so complex and advanced that no civilization in the galaxy had ever been able to completely solve it.

The genius/hero of the book shut himself up in his room for three weeks, working on the problem. At the end, he was thinking so hard he entered a trance-like state, computing while nearly dead…. after a week of this, he suddenly opened his eyes, gave a look of astonishment, and burst into uncontrollable laughter for approximately 25 minutes. When he could finally control himself, he simply said, “It’s a joke….” and would never discuss it again….

In a pearl such as this one has grown to be, there comes a time when I have to decide whether to continue on, to try to reach the conclusion that was nebulously hovering somewhere in my mind as I began, or to admit that I have once again wandered into uncharted territory, and might find it a bit tricky to find my way back to clarity. This is that time…. and I’m leaving it up to Smart Bee, as always…. If I don’t find a proper pearl to carry on the tenuous chain of thought I’ve created, then we’ll take the first one that will appropriately wrap it up as a lost cause….. all within a specified number of attempts…. so, here we go… You’ll know in a moment what will happen….

“In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap xi

There, see?…. That didn’t take long at all…. and I managed to find the perfect pearl to cover both bases…. In this case, we will use it as an ending quote, since it sort of summarizes a lot of the discussion, after a fashion. It could conceivably also be used as a springboard for further discussion, but this has gone on long enough, and I wouldn’t want to lose anybody due to an injudicious application of excess verbiage, culminating in tedium…. Of course, we may have reached that point some time ago, but, hey, who’s counting?…. At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this little foray into not very much….

🙂

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

Today’s poetry choice is here simply for the final line; it fits perfectly with my mood, and, tells us everything we need to know to have life just the way we want it, if we are smart enough to take it….

Dreaming of Calliope

La belle dame sans merci speaks aloud through endless night,
torturing dreams, with powerful words and stentorian phrases.
Manifest visions bathed in unbearable grace and light,
destroying all direction, standing lost, in unfathomable mazes.

Fate plays a part, one that will never face denial,
as fear and courage eternally vie for ascendancy.
Conflict becomes valid, gifting strength in open trial,
but honest emotion wears no costume so fancy.

Blood, sweat, and tears stroll on avenues of gold,
unlikely heroines heralding as in ancient lore;
Sharp, competent knives cut through tales untold,
eternally shifting reality past the naked shore.

Drifting toward origin, bereft of mandate or cause,
finished, nay, abandoned, tied with a figurative bow.
No simple gift from muses to give comfort or pause,
save that all we need to know, we already know…..

~~ gigoid ~~

12/13/2012

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

Naked Pearls III

“To know and to act are one and the same.”

~~ Samurai Proverb ~~

~~~~~~~~~

“Happiness follows sorrow,
sorrow follows happiness,
but when one no longer discriminates
between happiness and sorrow,
a good deal and a bad deed,
one is able to realize freedom.”

~~ Buddha ~~

~~~~~~~~~

“Do not eat your heart.”

~~ Pythagoras ~~

~~~~~~~~~

“Truth is the summit of being,
justice is the application of it to affairs.”

~~ Emerson ~~

~~~~~~~~~

“Learn or die.”

~~ Reality ~~

~~~~~~~~~

“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.”

~~ Salvor Hardin, in Foundation by Isaac Asimov ~~

~~~~~~~~~

“Adversity is the first path to truth.”

~~ Lord Byron ~~

~~~~~~~~~

“Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.”

~~ Josh Billings ~~

~~~~~~~~~

‘Tis written: ‘In the beginning was the word.’
Already I stick, and who shall help afford?
The ‘word’ at such high rate I may not tender;
The passage I must elsewhere render,
If rightly by the Spirit I am taught,
‘Tis written: ‘In the beginning was the Thought.’ By the first line a moment tarry,
Let not thine eager pen itself o’er-hurry!
Does ‘thought’ work all and fashion outright?
It should stand: ‘In the beginning was the Might.’
Yet even as my pen the sentence traces,
A warning hint the half-writ word effaces.

The Spirit helps me – from all doubting freed,
Thus write I: ‘In the beginning was the Deed.’

~~ Dr. Faustus, Wolfgang Goethe, “Faust” ~~

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

Well, gosh. It’s done, and I’m NOT exhausted. What a nice way to start the day! Without my usual mistrust of such good feelings, I’m going to take the money and run. Should be easy, as the money doesn’t exist. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. I’m afraid there’s just no way to avoid it; it seems to be written in stone…..

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….

Just the fax, Sam….

Posted on December 8, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Solitude makes a wonderful mistress but a terrible wife.”

~~ Emerson ~~

Three Moons over Vallejo

Hajime…. Over the course of time, Pearls of Virtual Wisdom/Exploring Consensual Reality, as a blog, has evolved in structure and appearance, as I became more accustomed to using the WP platform, until settling on the five-sections for each subject we use today. In the past two or three months, it’s shown itself to be flexible enough for me to use even when I am not completely whole, either physically, or mentally. Thus my luck with serendipity is made clear once again, as I chose better than I knew. Thanks, Me!

Oh! That hurt! I should know better than to pat myself on the back; with my shoulder’s arthritis, such a movement comes with a high price in pain…. Oops. Ah well, even the simplest literary trick can be, well, tricky, eh? That will teach me not to try those sorts of literary shenanigans before I’ve started on my second cuppa; I just don’t have the chops until then to make it work as it should. Now I’m stuck here, talking in real time, exposing my own ignorance, again…. As we who have lived on the street are fond of saying in such situations, FUCK!

Oh, well, sorry if I’ve offended anyone. That particular venting vessel is one that has probably kept me off the WP Freshly Pressed list ever since I began…. It seems even ONE word that MIGHT be offensive will keep a post off that page, so, I’ve never been there, even if I was ever nominated (a fact of which I have absolutely no clue…. especially as it doesn’t matter, since it’ll never happen…. I refuse to edit for PC in any form…). I don’t care, as I don’t write for fame, or money, merely for sanity…. or as close to it as I can get….

All that being said, in such honest, if boring fashion, I suppose we can just get on with today’s mess, and probably be better off for it. I won’t even pretend Luigi, or Guido is here today, nor that we are off to anywhere other than my imagination and ego trips. That’s okay, too…. at least it’s real, which I find to be always a good thing to observe…. really, I do…. So, without further ado, or adon’t, we’ll be off to the nether portions of the blog for today…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“”There’s nothing an agnostic can’t do if he really doesn’t know whether he believes in anything or not.” — Monty Python

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The Irish Rovers in 2010

Image from kpbs.org via Google Images

I hesitate to pull the covers of anyone, but, I remember listening to these lads when I was a lad myself. My parents had an album they enjoyed playing sometimes when I was young; I remember specifically listening to them, often during Christmas when relatives were over…. I still enjoy their music, so, here they are, for your enjoyment as well… If you don’t enjoy traditional Irish music, perhaps you’re ready for the ranting section….. Fair warning; you’d best be so. Ready, that is…. Section three can be a bit of a challenge if you’re not ready for it…… Why don’t you listen to the music while reading; it might help….

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The Irish Rovers

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https://youtu.be/cf0E_PJtJWg?list=PL86CC0AB0FBFD2CDF

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“The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be; all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them.” — Socrates (BC 469-399)

In more modern language, the concepts Socrates has presented in this statement could be summarized thus: “The more you practice being honorable and real, the more real and honorable you become.” I’ve stated it thus, so simply, because, it seems to me, the modern person’s mind has not grasped the concept of virtue, or honor, or even reality, with any degree of actual understanding. This, of course, is just the way the people who govern the world, and those in their service, to wit: churches, politicians, lawyers, police, and military myrmidons, want the public to be, that is to say, as ignorant of their true nature as they can make them…..

Now, this sounds like a rant in the making, and, in the normal course of events, you’d be correct. But, I find myself exhausted, still, after my recent long physical ordeal; quite frankly, it’s all I can do in a day to write this blog. Any further activity is confined to keeping Leelu entertained, which takes up more time than one might think; she considers herself in training, and me to be her personal trainer. And, she’s really, really serious about it, so, whenever I pause in my typing, I find her sitting at my chair-side, mewling and crawling into my lap to ask me to play…. like right now….

Okay… I managed to distract her by opening her window, from where she can watch the birds and traffic on the street; it can keep her fascinated for a good twenty minutes, so, I’ll try to get this done before I’m once again summoned to throw crumpled paper about the house. We’ll sublimate my urge to purge my angst with a series of statements from various smart ffolkes, on the subject at hand, to wit, the Asininnies, and our Beloved Ruling Class, including the Dogma Dogs, the Highly Conditioned Uniformed Myrmidons, and the eternal butt of everyone’s favorite jokes, the scum of society, lawyers of practically every ilk…. Let’s see what Smart Bee comes up with today, shall we?…..

“The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called an ‘equalizer’ Eqalite implies liberte. And always will. Let us hope our weapons are never needed — but do not forget what the common people knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government — and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws.” — Edward Abbey (1927-1989)

(On a personal note, me, too, Ed….)

“A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vain, then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system?” — Robert A. Heinlein

“I honestly believe that the doctrine of hell was born in the glittering eyes of snakes that run in frightful coils watching for their prey. I believe it was born with the yelping, howling, growling and snarling of wild beasts… I despise it, I defy it, and I hate it.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

“– Bother!”, said Pooh, as he found a politician in his honey pot.” — Twisted Bee

“A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man. In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.” — H.L. Mencken

“An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.” — Simon Cameron (1799-1889)

CORSAIR, n. A politician of the seas. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.” — Charles de Gaulle

“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love (1972)

“The doctor is to be feared more than the disease.” — Latin Proverb

Okay, so, it’s a little light on shots against Big Pharma, the AMA, etc…. the last one summarizes that issue quite well, I think…. Okay, off we go, to something a bit more entertaining…. Well, I think so….

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For those Gentle Readers from around the world, who may not know who Joe Friday is, allow me to explain…. Joe Friday was a character in a TV cop show, called Dragnet, which played here in the US in the 1950’s to 60’s. It was, I believe, the first cop show of its kind, fictional, but trying to portray true-to-life situations. The lead actor, whose name I forgot until now, was Jack Webb, and he had absolutely NO acting ability, at all. He played Joe Friday as an emotionless, flat-voiced asshole, (a rather prophetic portrayal, given that the biggest percentage of modern ‘cops’ are quite simply, ignorant assholes with a badge….), whose favorite and completely over-used phrase was “Just the facts, ma’am.”…. Hence, the title of today’s lament re: the illusion upon which Western society is based….

Joe Friday’s lament

Life is short, and though I’m odd, they say
it really doesn’t bother me
to realize there is no God, per se.

Though other folks will disagree
and tell me I’m wrong
I won’t believe it, with naught to see.

Liars called padre tell me, have humility,
and do as the authorities say,
then fondle little boys with facility.

They also tell me to share the wealth
and give them a 10% tithe
so they don’t have get it by stealth.

So spare me the delusions, please
don’t bother with such a tale;
I’m nobody that needs such a tease.

Keep your fantasies under your hat
and out of my face;
I don’t need them, they’ll make me fat….. headed.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/6/2012

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“So then, these are the foundations, as they call them,
of all mixt bodies, and of all wonderful operations:
and whatsoever experiments they proved,
the causes hereof rested
(as they supposed)
and were to be found
in the Elements and their qualities.”

~~ Giambattista Della Porta ~~

~~ Natural Magick ~~

Today’s final old-school pearl is special. Why? Hell, I don’t know. It’s just the way it turned out. Those who are at all familiar with pearls here on ECR received a clue; there is seldom a quote above the picture in this section. Today, the statement from Natural Magick serves perfectly as both warning, and disclaimer…. Enjoy ffolkes, this will take your mind and turn it around so it looks you right in the eyes…. Are you ready to see?….

“All that we see or seem, “

is but a dream within a dream.

~~ Edgar Allen Poe ~~

~~ from “A Dream Within a Dream” ~~

~~~~~~~

“Are you the dreamer or just the dream?” — Alan Edgar Bee

~~~~~~~

“I do not want to die…
until I have faithfully made the most of my talent
and cultivated the seed that was placed in me
until the last small twig has grown.”

~~ Kathe Kollwitz ~~

~~~~~~~

“If a pessimist is always right, is he a realist?”

~~ Cynical Bee ~~

~~~~~~~

“Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them.”

~~ Suzanne Necker ~~

~~~~~~~

“In this world, you have to be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.
I spent years being smart.
I recommend pleasant.”

~~ Elwood P. Dowd ~~

~~ played by James Stewart in “Harvey” ~~

~~~~~~~

“Silence is argument carried out by other means.”

~~ Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928-1967) ~~

~~~~~~~

“Loosen up; the unaimed arrow never misses.”

~~- Zen Bee ~~

~~~~~~~

“Here pigs will fly, lightning will strike twice,

hell will freeze over, and eventually,

things will get really interesting…”

~~ Prophetic Bee ~~

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It’s done. Whew! Boy, Leelu will be glad; she’s been staring holes through me for twenty minutes. I’d best just close this out, and be off to make it up to her…. I shall see y’all tomorrow, I would hope in good spirits, as I am these days, much more often. True freedom is the release from pain…. believe it. I’ll be back, as Hollywood’s favorite assbite has said more than once…. but, I won’t try to eradicate the human race….. Ta, then, luvs…..

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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