Tag Archives: Reality

Damn fine socks, mister….

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Ffolkes,

“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”

~~ Socrates ~~

Animal Pictures of the Week London Daily Telegraph

Animal Pictures of the Week
London Daily Telegraph

    “I am especially grateful to Saint-Expury for bringing out a paradoxical truth which seems to me of great psychological import: that man’s happiness lies not in freedom but in his acceptance of a duty.” — Andre Gidet, 1931, in the preface to Saint-Expury’s “Night Flight”, called “Flight to Arras” in the English version.

Serendipity can be of great help when one is floundering, if one is able to put aside any confusion to notice its presence…. I am in a deep funk, one brought on by a resurgence of PTSD symptoms, in reaction to some stressful issues with which I’ve been dealing over the last few weeks…. The details are not important; nor is any real discussion of my own neurotic/psychotic tendencies of any help that I can see….

However, the process of finding one’s center, and the inner balance to maintain one’s position there, is often helpful to discuss, if only to point out those ideas that may bring some relief, to myself, or anyone else, from the issues at hand…. In this case, the above quote from Mssr. Gide reminded me of something I already knew, but, lost track of in my floundering around in my head…. Easy to do, methinks, especially for those of us who dwell in our inner spaces a lot….

How does all this relate to a Pearl? Well, the fact is, I’m seriously considering NOT Pearling for a while…. The duty I have in life now is not one of my own choosing, in one sense, though there is, of course, another sense which always knows that ALL of what we do, and all of what happens TO US, is all our choice…. But, right now, I’m dealing with more pain and misery, for reasons found in the state of my own physique, than I ever imagined, much less thought to feel; having been healthy all my life, I didn’t imagine ever having my own body betray me…. I suppose that goes to show how little we actually know, and how much we need to learn to pay closer attention….

In any case, it seems to me that I’ve become too sedentary; my whole life these days revolves around the process of creating these Pearls…. The routines I’ve built up all are centered on the early morning period when I write; the rest of my day is generally taken up by methods of passing the time without increasing my pain…. In fact, my entire existence, including the writing of Pearls, is designed to keep my pain at a level that can be managed…. By pain, I am referring to both the physical pains I feel, from arthritis, diverticulosis, and the aftereffects of a life spent in hard labor (so to speak….), and the internal, mental pain that plagues me when my PTSD flares up….

It’s hard to say which is more debilitating; the physical pain is tough, especially when it all kicks in together, but, I can usually push past it to do stuff…. The mental pain is, perhaps, a bit harder to deal with, as when it strikes, I don’t want to do ANYTHING, not even think…. The chemical means I use to manage both types of pain are helpful, but, there are times when the pain pretty much IGNORES anything I take, and will push through all chemical barriers to make itself known…. Those times, while illuminating in terms of what one learns about one’s self, are NOT pleasant…. a word which, in this case, may be termed as reverse hyperbole….

As can be seen, today, my hands and joints are better; I’m typing without a need for long breaks, and the magic cream is working fine. Hence, this long, wordy, wandering intro section, all just to say that this may be the last Pearl you see for a time…. I am not sure. but, the statement above, re; duty, has caused some deep resonance in my spirit, and I feel I may be taking a hiatus from writing to go find my duty…. It’s that simple for me, you see…. I’ve always known that I am duty-driven, as any man worth his salt is…. Whether we like it or not, it’s the way we’re built, and we don’t do well without a purpose, one we have chosen to fulfill….

So, bear with me, ffolkes…. This could get maudlin, or it could get brilliant (less likely, I’m sure, in my current frame of mind….); what it WILL get is DONE, one last time, if it kills me….

Shall we Pearl?

“A hug is a heart to heart talk.” — Bobby Matherne (American writer, 1940-)

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In order to keep with the theme today, here is some gorgeous music from a brilliant artist, playing music designed for the instrument he plays…. Enjoy!….


 

Yo Yo Ma… The Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach

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I definitely don’t have a rant in me today, other than one against reality, which is totally useless…. So, here is a discussion from the archives, that takes life down to a pretty simple level….

From 9/15/2012:

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

See? There, now, I’ve been saying this for years, and here’s old Marcus Aurelius, that Roman cogitator extraordinaire, putting it straight out there, way back around the time of J.C.’s failed attempt at societal reform. A very cogent, yet poignant description of human nature and the preponderance of Ego that drives most of humanity to act out of their own ignorance, rather than consider the veracity or usefulness of someone else’s ideas. This format for stating this answer to one of the great questions is one that all the best philosophers choose when creating aphorisms; clear, simple language and brutally honest self-examination provide us with true wisdom, like it or not……

What particularly gets me about people at large is the high percentage of folks who fall into the trap that Ego sets; for some reason, people seem to prefer the cozy blindness with which ignorance can cover them to the cold, harsh light of self-knowledge. The very ego that sets them apart from the rest of the animals who inhabit this planet becomes also the greatest threat to survival, when it is allowed to dictate how one views reality.

The state of society in today’s world rests on the brink of total collapse; any number of issues currently in play in the world can lead us to upheaval unseen since the last Ice Age. Pollution, created by mankind, is pumping tons of carbon monoxide into the air every minute, and all those precipitates are eventually bound to cause changes to climate that we will have no power to stop, or reverse.

The economy of the world is constantly on the verge of collapse in these times, due mostly to the unacknowledged crimes of the 1% of mankind who controls 99% of the money and resources. These crimes arise, again, out of Ego, as the elite of the world believe that they are “different” from the rest of humanity, and deserve to make all the decisions, which oddly enough, are only beneficial to themselves….. again, the power of Ego trumps virtue…..

I’m a smart guy, pretty much, but this is a problem for which even I cannot find a solution, other than the age-old, time-worn, and always ineffective war between the classes. That solution has been tried innumerable times throughout history, and each time the same structure of society re-settles into the same old shape, with a few people at the top, making all the important decisions for the rest of humanity. All because we, as individuals, and as a species, cannot learn to control our ego, to persuade it to act for the benefit of all, rather than just looking out for itself….. I figure that whatever happens will be what we deserve, and I can’t say that I think it will be very pretty, for the species….. or for a lot of individuals…..

Maybe there is a solution…. as a matter of fact, there is one that has been around for as long as mankind has been writing stuff down…. and it’s always the same little piece of advice, a little idea that can change one’s entire life and world-view….. but only if it is accepted, and believed, and applied to reality…… Everybody knows this, but, how many actually live it?…..

“Do unto all as you would wish to have done unto you, and reject for others what you would reject for yourself.” — Mohammed

That’s right, the Golden Rule…. a basic tenet of EVERY philosophy that Mankind has ever formulated; even most religions will acknowledge the wisdom of this, though it doesn’t serve their interests as well as they would wish. But, throughout history, we have always known what is the right way to act…. we’ve just always chosen not to apply the principle in interacting with others…. Instead, we allow our ego to dictate how we behave, thus bringing us to the current world, with all of its problems and dangers…..

SIGH….. It’s really quite easy, and it’s the only answer that will work, in the long run. It really is too bad that most of humanity isn’t buying into it, isn’t it?……

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I’ve been inundating y’all with my own poetry, so, here is one we all have seen before, at one time or another, from a poet who needs no introduction from me….

The Arrow and the Song

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~~


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Above, I stated I don’t have a rant in me…. but, that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything about which I want to rant. It only means I don’t believe I’ve got the mental acuity to do it right…. Smart Bee, however, seems to be in fine fettle, now that it has gotten over whatever snit it was pursuing there for a while….

This pearl speaks about modern society, in this country specifically, but with relevance to the entire gamut of human culture today…. Follow the bouncing idea ball to the perfect resolution to the issues brought forth by this most excellent indictment…. I couldn’t have done better if I’d tried….

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

“Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. In democracy, what you get generally is bad government by a bully, tempered by the pen of several newspaper editors.” — George Bernard Shaw — Man and Superman (1903) Maxims for Revolutionists: Democracy

“But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.” — Frederic Bastiat, The Law

“It doesn’t require any particular bravery to stand on the floor of the Senate and urge our boys in Vietnam to fight harder, and if this war mushrooms into a major conflict and a hundred thousand young Americans are killed, it won’t be U. S. Senators who die. It will be American soldiers who are too young to qualify for the senate.” — George McGovern

“The history of most countries has been that of majorities – mounted majorities, clad in iron, armed with death, treading down the tenfold more numerous minorities.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes poet, novelist, physician 1809-1894

“Capitalism did not arise because capitalists stole the land, but because it was more efficient than feudalism. It will perish because it is not merely less efficient than socialism, but actually self-destructive.” — J. B. S. Haldane

“We’ve got to end this foolishness.” — Smart Bee

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“So as this only point among the rest remaineth sure and certain, namely, that nothing is certain. . .” — Pliny The Elder

Pliny the Elder, in many of his works, tended to lean a bit toward the fantastic, especially when it came to biology, a science of which he knew very little, but said much… The above, however, is perfectly true, and is a good place to end today’s missive, as it fits right in with my mood…. Most days, at this point, I would say, see y’all tomorrow…. Today, all I will say is, be real, and wish me luck, in finding some peace of mind…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Pushing back on all fronts….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“To conquer the enemy without resorting to war is the most desirable.


The highest form of generalship is to conquer the enemy by strategy.”


~~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War ~~


12-23-2013 003


 “My greatest fear in life is that no-one will remember me after I’m dead.” — Anonymous


Too often, this blog begins with the word “I”…. Well, in sooth, I say, “too often”, when what I actually mean is, “too often for my comfort.” This, of course, is the natural result of a person who wishes to write, but, really doesn’t wish to indulge in much of the ego-driven parts of writing that are necessary to achieve any sort of prominence…. 


Ambition is required, if one wishes to become popular, whether in the blogosphere, or in the mainstream media venues, such as newspapers, radio, & TV; ambition; this is unfortunate, at least, for those of us who’d rather remain on a path with oh, let’s just say, a higher degree of spiritualism, or perhaps just less ego-driven….


But, then one must consider two things…. One, it’s MY blog, and we are often dealing with MY issues, so, using “I” becomes nearly impossible to avoid…. Second, being a pretty smart guy, with a fairly accurate sense of how smart I am compared to the average joe, I try to avoid either shoving that in people’s faces, or dwelling upon it, as I don’t view it as necessarily anything to be proud about…. 


All it does, actually, is saddle me with more perceptions than most, to my way of seeing it, and, that particular ability, for certain, is both a blessing, AND a curse. Factor in the simple FACT that smartness, or intelligence, has NO PROVEN SURVIVAL VALUE, and you can begin to see why I try to avoid overt egotism…. It really isn’t very nice, not to mention self-defeating….


In the past five or six days, since right before Christmas, I’ve been climbing out of a deep hole, which my mind seems to have fallen into without me even noticing I was off balance; that’s what comes from depending on vertigo to do that…. it’s unreliable, as is now patently clear…. SIGH…. 


Whatever the failure in my early warning system happens to be, I found myself in a position where I was bursting into tears rather frequently, due to some stressful issues I’m dealing with, which seem to have triggered some unknown, and certainly unwanted, unresolved feelings of sadness and emotional pain, left over from one of the many instances in my life where I experienced far more of them than I ever thought possible, and, apparently, stored up for later use…. Go figure…


I’m finally starting to see some light, and, I’m hoping this morning’s events will help, as I get to go do something that SHOULD shore up some of my feelings of inner conflict…. Of course, I have another appointment tomorrow morning, wherein I expect to have to fire the opening salvo of what promises to be a quite bloody battle with my HMO, and the modern medical society they manipulate and corrupt at every turn…. That, however will be, I’m sure, food for a future rant, not for now…. 


Ha! Thought I’d fall into that one, didn’t you?…. Nope. In fact, it would be a good idea for y’all to hold on, because, I’ve blathered and bitched enough for one morning…. We’re goin’ in, and goin’ in hard!…. Not only that, but, we’re doin’ it NOW!….


Shall we Pearl?


“Avoid making irrevocable decisions while tired or hungry (NB: Circumstances can force your hand. So think ahead!)” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”


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I am all about quickness today, so what you get is another day of chill-out music, from the classical music genre…. This kind is nice to play while reading, and can provide a bit of armor against splashing, after a fashion…. The page to which I am linking is one with 112 selections of various pieces by various artists, and looks like a beautiful group to pass the time with…. enjoy…..




Classical Music Playlist







































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To fill in the space quickly, here is a short rant with an attached old-school pearl as augmentation…. It is from a period when I was apparently writing better than other times; I’ve found some excellent stuff in the period’s archives…. including this one, one of several from this month… If nothing else, you can enjoy its brevity….


From 9/18/2012:


Religion has never attracted me as a pastime that led to any particularly desirable activities. From the very first, even as a small child, I always thought the people at church were trying to get me to believe something that was not only hard to believe, but they wanted me to believe it, just on their word that it was true….. What they were saying wasn’t anything like what I perceived to be true about the world at large; none of it sounded like common sense, if you get my drift…. Plus, the more I resisted what they said, and asked questions that they couldn’t answer, the more insistent they became….. Most kids have a pretty good crap detector, and the whole church thing seemed based on fluff and wishes to me…..


Any who, it seems a lot of my saved up oysters have been on that very subject, i.e., religious dogma, and alternative ways of looking at the universe, and how it works, and what it means…. (you know, all the good stuff….), so I thought an old-school grouping would perhaps help ffolkes get a clue about what I do believe….. which can, I have to admit, change from one day to the next….. gotta keep room for new data, y’know…… shall we Pearl a bit?…..


“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would seem more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.” — Thomas Paine — The Age of Reason


“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)


“I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.” — Albert Einstein


God:  What one human uses to persecute another. — Anonymous


The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.– Robert Heinlein, “Job”, 1984


“No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.  Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my own constitution; the only wrong what is against it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)


“If the lord had meant us to have faith, he’d have given us lobotomies.” — Zlatko


“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 have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in     youth.  I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”–Albert Einstein


“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.” — Buddha


Well, there you go…. a complete mish-mash of different philosophies and outlooks, each with its own little piece to contribute to the whole, all ended perfectly with a piece of profoundly simple wisdom… not the virtual kind that is common around here, but real wisdom, that you can put in your pocket, take away with you, and use as needed…..


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I’m using mine, only because it’s quicker, and I’m lazier than the average joe…. goes along with the smarter part…. Yep, I am aware that intelligence is merely a FACTOR of laziness in humans; one of the primary motivating factors for using our imagination is to find an easier, or quicker route to achieving our ends, whatever they are…. Think about it, ffolkes, you’ll see what I mean…. Meanwhile…. Here is one of my personal favorite poems…






Ah Ain’t Sho, but Mebbe So….


Fried eggs got nuthin’ on me

Ah’m not even sure of mah name,

or how Ah come to be;

no idea from where Ah came.


Ah does like a mystery tho’,

puzzlin’ things out so’s Ah knows,

good from bad fo sho,

Ah sho don’t want no rock pillows.


If’n Ah cain’t figure out what’s best,

Ah just falls back on mah Daddy’s words,

seems he knowed just whut’d stand the test,

‘n how to gentle the scaredest birds.


‘Course, he’d lived a good long time,

‘n had lots of stuff go on by;

Went to a war, n’ lost a piece or two,

never once used it fer an alibi.


He tol’ me once Ah’d best learn to learn,

school’s only cool if ya ain’t already a fool.

Yer own good measure you can earn,

by startin’ yer learnin’ with the Golden Rule.


Always seemed to me as Ah growed up,

he mostly only spoke if it wuz true,

‘n by doin’ that clued me to what’s up,

kept me from stuff that’d a made me blue.


Without ever sayin’ the word itself,

Ah learned ’bout honor, ‘n helpin’ others

not some fake stuff from some shelf,

but, knowin’ whut’s right, ‘n that we’re all brothers.


Ah’ve been around long enough now, Ah think

to get around the block at least two times.

I s’pose long as my head don’t shrink

Ah’ll keep on doin’ right, ‘n makin’ these rhymes…..


~~ gigoid ~~




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Smart Bee seems to have gotten over its snit, this pearl came together in jig time, with a nice little group of pears all pointing in one direction…. Well, close enough for pearls, anyway; my Gentle Readers have seen enough of them to see what point we’re trying to make without undue difficulty. Any newbies will find it reasonably clear, as well, I think, for it’s a simple idea being promoted today…. See if you don’t agree….


“Each man is the smith of his own fortune.” — Appius Claudius Caecus


“It is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the future, and impossible to live in the past.  Nothing is as far away as one minute ago.” — Jim Bishop


“All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific.” — Jane Wagner, _The Search For Intelligent Life In The Universe_  — [Performed by Lily Tomlin]


“Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.” — William Saroyan


“All time in all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all bugs in amber.” — Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Slaughter-House 5


“Whatever we learn to do, we learn by actually doing it: men come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players by playing the harp. In the same way, by doing just acts, we come to be just; by doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled; and by doing brave acts, we come to be brave.” — Aristotle


“Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: “I’m with you kid. Let’s go.”” — Maya Angelou


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“This tagline is dedicated to my bird friend- Fred” — gigoid


Well…. considering that I’m currently in a state of mind I wouldn’t wish on an enemy, this didn’t come out too badly…. It’s also nice to have a little space from pain, which, thanks to the rain stopping for a few days, has been relatively manageable for two days now…. But, then, all is relative, is it not? I’m outta here, ffolkes… I’m gonna go see my grandson, and, for the first time in his life, be allowed to give him a Christmas present…. Now, THAT should make me feel better…. In fact, I’m counting on it…. See y’all later, ffolkes…. maybe even tomorrow….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….







		
	
					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Arguing the salient points is thirsty work….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“There aren’t many times in your life when your body has absolutely nothing wrong with it.”


~~ Smart Bee ~~


thats some cold shit


     The quote, a rather poignant, yet perfectly accurate comment, which you see sitting right above my picture of The Tracy Arm Fjord/Glacier (Damn! That’s a LOT of COLD-looking water, ain’t it?…. Yet, this was taken from the deck of a ship, in July!….), struck me very hard, right between the eyes…. It seems so perfectly apt, when applied to my current physical condition, I couldn’t leave it be….


You see, the statement speaks the truth, from an overall view taken from this end of life…. However, for much of my earlier life, until the age of forty, I was perfectly healthy, in every respect, never suffering much from having some part of my body not feel good, beyond the minor pains involved in activities of a sporting nature…. 


It was only in the underlying habits I pursued during all those years, of extreme physical activity, (sports, martial arts, work of a physical nature…), combined with the average American’s poor eating habits, foisted upon all of us from a young age, along with the use of information, (supplied by society, which, as it turned out, was completely false)…. these factors led to the way I feel most days in the present…


Without going into a long, detailed examination of WHY the above statement is true, I’ll just summarize, by saying, if I’d known back then what I know now, I’d have done some things differently, for sure…. But, as we all know, we don’t have that ability, to change the past, even if we don’t always act like it…. Therefore, it does me no good whatsoever to complain, even less to worry about it… The effects of the past’s miscues still must be endured, and dealt with to the best of my knowledge and experience… In other words…. So Be It….


Normally, I wouldn’t comment on this, in this particular way, but, it hit me so strongly, I had to react, if only to verbalize the insight I came to perceive, which stated most simply, is this…. I miss my old body, and the way I could depend on it to do anything I asked of it, no matter how difficult…. But, going back to that is not going to happen, realistically, so, learning how to avoid, and/or overcome, days such as yesterday becomes more of a direct challenge.


Yesterday, you see, (the day I started this originally…. it’s been a work in progress since then….), was Christmas, and I felt so much pain, from stuff that just won’t go away, I was reduced to taking massive quantities of drugs, of every description, to knock myself relatively unconscious…. This, of course, meant losing most of an entire day…. I could go for the cheap laugh, & say, “what a pain in the ass”, but, what I felt was, by no means, confined simply to my ass; such a mild epithet wouldn’t be accurate, nor convey the proper degree of irrational anger that accompanies such experiences….


Nor would it suit the pompous style this intro has fallen into… damn it! Just when I was hoping for a break-out of weird nonsense, too…. I really wanted some nonsense, but NOOOO, my mind comes up with pompous, instead…. I swear, some days, all I get is shit for breakfast, and from myself, to boot…. Whattyagonnado, eh? I know what WE’RE going to do, and, since we’re going to do it NOW, I’d hang on, if I were you…..


Shall we Pearl?


“Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else.” — Smart Bee


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Yesterday, I posted a video of the Sally Field version of Gidget…. Here is another beach movie from the same era, with a different cast of characters, but, based on the same basic plot…. Of course, it’s the same plot used in every movie in the genre…. It was movies like this that determined my hair style for several years….




Muscle Beach Party (1964) full movie



































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“Liberty and freedom have to be more than just words.” — Kirk, “The Omega Glory,” stardate unknown.


It has long been my opinion, since before going to college, that nobody with a degree in law, or political science, or criminology, or any other professional governance subject should ever be allowed to participate in any way in government, or police, or any sort of position of authority over others in society…. Once that happens, we end up with a mess like we have today, where those with the authority to make, and break the laws are NOT interested, or invested, in doing ANYTHING to improve the lot of the common man….


The concept isn’t new with me; Arthur C. Clarke once wrote a novel about the 500th anniversary of the United States, i.e., it takes place in the year 2276, being the story of one representative’s trip, from a moon of Saturn, to Earth, to attend the celebration for the Fourth of July 2276. One of the government officials he is to meet during the trip is the current President of the United States, elected in 2276, by the, then, usual method of being picked by a computer as the most qualified citizen in the country. The primary quality looked for by the computer was a person who did NOT want to be President; they had to be dragged, kicking and complaining, to do the job at all, and, could only be persuaded to do so if promised they were to be allowed to leave in four years, if they did a good job….


This, of course, ensured that anyone in government had the best interests of the PUBLIC in the front of their minds, not their own self-interest, as is the case with, no doubt, over 90% of the current crop of elected bozos…. The 455 mostly white millionaires who run this country’s government demonstrate consistently how little little they care about the public, other than as a source of income for them, and their corporate cronies/masters…. When was the last time you heard about a Congressman being threatened with having their gas shut off for not paying their bill? Or any of the myriad of other problems common to all of us in the lower branches of society? That would be never, I should think….


But, to be honest, I really don’t feel like ranting, (any more than I already have, anyway…), so, we’ll leave it to an old-school variety of pearl to bring the point home, or, somewhere close enough to find…. Said point, it may be noted, is a direct pirated version of the real point, which was first noted by Fred, the Bird, when he said so aptly…. “Politics is poopadoodle.”….. Please note: in this pearl only, the initial pearl consists of the first TWO statements, indicated by a short dividing line from the other six stars…


“If we are to survive, this nation must end its love affair with guns.” — U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.


“If we are to survive, this nation must end its love affair with big brother government and individuals must relearn what it means to be free.” — Jeff Chan, chan@shell.portal.com


~~~~


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


“George Bush shot JFK.” — Liberal history revision, but, only held to be true in Texas…. and, patently, in metaphor….


“I think grown-ups just act like they know what they’re doing.” — Calvin & Hobbes


“He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth.” — Goethe


“Since when is “public safety” the root password to the Constitution?” — C. D. Tavares


“Being good at being stupid doesn’t count.” — Smart Bee


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


The following poem is another of those I lost for a time…. Back in 2012, in September, I wrote several poems, during the first breakout of poetry I had written in over 40 years…. This one was one of the first couple I wrote, which I found in the archives just a few days ago…. Enjoy, ffolkes… This one, I believe, describes the process, as well as some of the aftermath, of how PTSD feels…. from the inside…. That makes it a particularly appropriate poem for today’s post….






Visible life


Forty-two days of pressure and internal rain,

leave marks of salvation, often in pain.

Such sharp reminders of yesterday’s remorse

fight heavily to keep a straight course.

Rash moments, bright, and routinely immense

Give us pleasure, bereft of common sense.


Still the night comes soft and eternally dear

to bring out wishful dreams so vitally clear.

Life’s myrmidons give freely in protest

lifting with skill, soul pieces first to infest,

Loudly brash, with no such voices to remain

Sealed in infamy, branded ugliness all too plain.


Now come brave signs of chapter and verse

Shielded by ignorance, irritable and terse.

Gravid portions of in-between retaliation

leave only pale marks of initial gestation

With hope even pallid warriors grow brave

Leading all humanity, to a warm, stale grave.


Hope never falters, nor leaves any trace

Yet lingers forever in a welcoming space.

Cheerful faces yet shine out of time

for tricking and fumbling sweet melody sublime.

Fill in the spaces with a long, strong retort

life is ever visible, if only as last resort.


~~ gigoid ~~




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


This is what I’d call a classic pearl; clear, directed, and useful, as long as one allows such activities in their head…. It’s pretty fresh, too, considering none of them were picked out before yesterday…. and, all were examined and formatted this morning, to assure freshness, in packaging, if not content… Here is a pretty decent remark, once all the dross is trimmed away from the essence, about one of our favorite subjects, to wit: Life at Large…. The final pearl is one of the finest gems I’ve ever come across, especially as the perfect closing line in this venue….




To each is given a bag of tools,

A shapeless mass and a book of rules,

And each must make, ere life is flown,

A stumbling-block or a stepping stone.


~~ R. L. Sharpe, Stumbling Block or Stepping Stone ~~




“No legacy is so rich as honesty.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), All’s Well that Ends Well — Act iii, Sc. 5


“Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.” — Aristotle


“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around.” — G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1908


“By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iv, 3


“There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.” — James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) — Democracy and Other Addresses




The fastest draw is when the sword never leaves the scabbard.

The strongest way to block is never to provoke a blow.

And the cleanest cut is the one withheld.


~~ “Kensho”, by Dennis Schmidt ~~




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


Easiest Pearl ever, no doubt…. Of course, most of it was done yesterday, put together during moments of peace between bouts of either joint pain, or emotional pain, both of which have been my constant companion for a couple of days now…. This is not good, but, it will, hopefully, pass off soon…. In the meantime, if y’all don’t see a post here tomorrow, well, you’ll know why…. See ya, ffolkes, maybe even tomorrow…. but, maybe not, too…. Right now, I couldn’t make a firm commitment to either one….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….



					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
She smiles a lot, for a Vulcan….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“Ordinary people know little of the time and effort it takes to learn to read.


I have been eighty years at it, and have not reached my goal.”


~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) ~~


potd-canyon-1_3136286k


     The picture is one almost everyone has seen by now; I got this copy from the London Daily Yell (Telegraph), in their Pictures of the Day feature. It shows the Grand Canyon, filled up by a fog that completely covers the floor of the canyon, as seen from one of the vantage points somewhere in Arizona, or Colorado…. Great shot, but, I couldn’t help thinking about how strange it must be to be on the floor of the canyon when it happens…. Talk about eerie!…. I bet the Indian ghosts who live there have a great time, running about, scaring the tourists….


There…. I’ve started a Pearl with an intro that doesn’t rant…. In addition, it never comes close to anything resembling nonsense…. At the same time, I managed to fulfill attribution requirements, and still get a mild joke in there…. Not bad for a totally new concept for me…. an introduction that actually starts the day out with some relatively common sense, rather than the usual nonsense, or, the overflowing angst that often takes over my fingers on the keyboard. I doubt it comes up to any of the more popular blogs out there, but, it’s a change for here, so, I can deal…. Not that it matters if I don’t, but, like anyone, I don’t like to look foolish any more than necessary….


Probably a little late on that, aren’t I? Oh well, it goes right along with how my week has gone, overall…. There have been some moments of grace and pleasure, such as when my kids came over to visit, and I talked to a friend on the phone, but, mostly, it’s been a week of agonizing pain, leading to the consumption of so much chemical help, my mind turns to mush, or I get sleepy, or just plain can’t think…. For me, THAT is terror…. Yesterday, Christmas, I spent sleeping, or sitting at the comp, staring at the screen, wondering if I had the wherewithal to even watch a movie, or wandering around, trying not to fall into a stupor….


Not my most productive day, though I did manage to get some of this Pearl finished, which will help this morning go faster…. I’m hoping I didn’t annoy anyone out there, by my absence, or any inadvertent failure to fulfill a given promise…. I don’t remember if I gave any, but, I couldn’t be sure of anything I did, or didn’t do that I said I would, so, mea apologia, to anyone to whom I displayed unintentional disrespect…. I can only plead temporary insanity (clinically speaking, severe pain can cause such….), and hope for forgiveness….


On that pathetic little note, I think it’s best if I get on with today’s mess; I have a feeling much of it shows how badly my PTSD has been affecting me this week; it always manages to rear its ugly head when I’m having this much pain…. I suppose it just wants to feel like it’s part of the party, but, I could do without a lot of the tears, and the sudden onset of deep emotional reaction to rather mild stimuli…. such as bursting into tears over a passage in a book that speaks of some powerful interaction between people…. Nobody is here to see, but, it is embarrassing, nonetheless for that….


Ah well, the hell with it…. Be aware, ffolkes, this one may have a few bits of smearing, from the tears getting into the ink, so, if watching someone display inner conflict is disturbing to you, maybe you should just watch the video, (picked, in part, for its ‘lightness’….), and call it a day…. It’s bound to be different tomorrow, right? Right…. Well, we hope so…. No…. It’s too important, and more than mere hope is needed…. We are counting on it being different tomorrow, because today, quite frankly, sucks….


Shall we Pearl?


“All things are the same,–familiar in enterprise, momentary in endurance, coarse in substance. All things now are as they were in the day of those whom we have buried.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 14


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


One of the sure signs I’m getting old seems to be how much time I spend in thinking of past events, and bygone years; one of the sure symptoms of that is the old material I’ve been putting here, as blasts from my past…. If y’all are at all perceptive regarding psychological motivation, the shows I put here will tell you a lot about my inner workings, and what I find important in life….


How can that be surmised from all this? Easy…. remember that each of these shows I have termed my favorites are part of what I grew up believing, or, at least, the stuff society WANTED me to believe…. so, it all makes up a part of my inner picture…. In my case, it’s a pretty esoteric, exotic picture, but, hey, somebody has to exist at the fringes of society, right?…. Right…. Enjoy!….






gidget








Gidget’s Summer Reunion 




























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


Yesterday, for me, was a wash, in almost every respect…. I felt absolutely miserable for the best part of the day, with various body parts, and brain sections trading painful cries for attention; I was reduced to coping by cutting myself off from all human contact, (lest I do, or say, or not say, or not do, something I’d regret at a later date….), and, consuming large amounts of pain relieving substances, of various strengths and chemical compositions, necessitating the use of a variety of methods of ingestion/consumption…. a long winded way to say I drugged myself into insensibility for the entire day. The only computer time I spent was to search for material to fill in Pearls for a while, as I know this onset of my PTSD is one that may last a while; I fell into a pretty deep hole, and I’m not yet all the way out….


Much of that time was spent in a state of introspection re: my life, and the darkest moments in the past; this, naturally, leads to thoughts of how those times contributed to my present state of affairs….  The following is an older piece I wrote, during a period when many of the same issues were circling in my head… It’s a bit of a self-confession, so, if honest feelings dismay you, feel free to go on without reading….


From 9/18/2012:


Often of late, I find myself staring at the screen with a vacant expression, listening to the patter that passes for thoughts in my head. I can sit like this for a long time, just meandering here and there in my memory, re-living good and bad moments from what has turned out to be a lot more years than I ever thought about, really. Until I became 60, I had never thought about how it would feel to be that age, a discovery that surprised me to a certain degree. 


But, as I thought about it just now, I realized that I really had not considered what I might be doing in my 60’s, either as a career, or as a person. Part of the surprise, I know, is connected to the fact that I am currently without a life-partner, as the one(s) I chose as my supposed mate(s) seem to have chosen to be elsewhere. This state, of living alone, was not part of my plan……


I had thought to be sharing all the joy, and all the pain that my life has brought me, with a person who I thought was as committed to that as I. Instead, I am left wondering, as Tom Robbins put it in “Skinny Legs and All”,  “How do you make Love stay?” His premise is is based on the idea that love is easy to find, but impossible to keep, given the craziness of the modern world, and the state of confusion and angst that seems to be the legacy of everyone these days. 


I’m not sure I completely agree with his final assessment, but I can see how it came to him, having had many similar experiences in my years. I hope he is wrong, and there are still people out there who can actually give their word to someone else, and mean to keep it….. If not, then the world is beyond hope, to my way of thinking, and we may as well just give up….


Of course, there is still that small part of me that won’t do that; I’m not sure if I should call it being stubborn, or stupid. Maybe it is what Emily calls Hope, that will not die easily. Whatever it is, it keeps me getting out of bed every day, with the view in mind to see what the world has to offer, whether it is more BS like I’ve been putting up with now for a few years, or whether there is some sort of justice to the world, and I’ll soon meet, or get together with, a person with whom I can share all of what I have inside me to give, and who will live up to whatever promises we can make to each other. 


And if not, well, I guess I’ll just keep flirting with the young lady at the coffee shop, and listen to her talk about her boyfriends, smiling to myself, grieving for might have been, and hoping for what might yet be…..




Leave the past behind;

leave the future behind;

leave the present behind.

Thou are then ready to go to the other shore.

Never more shalt thou return to a life that ends in death.


~~ The Dhammapada (c. B.C. 300) ~~




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


I also found this, a poem that fits in with the theme above like they were made to go together….


From 9/21/2012:






Playing by the Rules


All my days I looked for love, 

And found it everywhere I looked.

The years were joyous and fully booked

Seemingly by command from Above.


In return for all of the beauty in Life I found

I played life by the Rules that we all know,

It was from my father I learned the how,

Honest love, given freely, hand-fasted, gladly bound.


It seemed a while as if it were all real,

that fulfillment and contentment could be 

as real as the children given us to oversee,

to teach them of Life and Love, and how to feel.


Then storm clouds of grievous change arrived, unbidden

Insidious, deceitful, three steps forward, then one back.

Tearing holes in our beautiful cloth, a heart heard to crack,

Gleeful demons eating life’s bounty, fangs dirty, and hidden.


Pain and sorrow grew, in defiance of all I tried,

Sanctuary turned into a reluctant scene of ritual battle,

Love still lives, but is herded like doomed and pitiful cattle,

While the keening of my soul sounds as if I’d cried.


Betrayal in love is, allow me to assure, no small pain to take.

Time has no power to reduce its place in my heart or soul.

My truest love became a stranger, a powerfully sharp toll,

Solitude has become my lot, no killing time for necessity’s sake.


Love yet surrounds me, everywhere; I’m not one of those fools…

Children are forgiving, I’m glad to be able to say,

They show me life’s solid purpose, the old, right way,

I guess I don’t know any other, than to Play it by the Rules.


~~ gigoid ~~




Okay, ffolkes, this one hurt, a lot, but it had to come out…. I’ve been in tears for an hour now, first drowning in feeling that arose from inside, unasked, then letting those feelings out onto the screen, and they’re not going to stop anytime soon, I can tell. This is an old, old pain, and apparently has been hiding for a while, buried much deeper than I had previously given credence to; it fucking HURTS!….. It’s a damn  good thing that I’m an optimist, and too bloody stubborn to give up believing in Life, and all that is good and beautiful in it…. that’s all I can say…. otherwise, I’d be damned depressed right now….. I  gotta go…..


Short note from 2014: Sadly, yesterday was a repeat performance of all this implies… and, as for the last paragraph, well, all I can say is, ditto….


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


I often compose pearls of virtual wisdom with the intention of helping others live life according to their own best potential, according to what I have learned in my life…. None of the pearls I’ve ever composed gives more good, solid advice on how to accomplish that purpose, to live life with dignity, and honor, than the following list…. If you don’t believe me, just compare this to how YOU live, and see which one makes more sense….


(The simplest way to test the validity of each piece of advice? As you read each suggestion, ask yourself, a) is it good advice?, and b) how often do I do this?….)…







~~ Things We Can Learn from a Dog ~~


  1. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.


  2. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.


  3. When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.


  4. When it’s in your best interest, always practice obedience.


  5. Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.


  6. Take naps and always stretch before rising.


  7. Run, romp, and play daily.


  8. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.


  9. Be loyal.


 10. Never pretend to be something you’re not.


 11. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.


 12. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.


 13. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.


 14. Thrive on attention and let people touch you.


 15. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.


 16. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.


 17. When you are happy, dance around and wag your entire body.


 18. No matter how often you are criticized, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout. 


Run right back and make friends.


all better


     It all sounds pretty sensible to me…. Also, I defy ANYONE to look at this picture, (stolen from Facebook, many moons ago….), and NOT say “Awwww”…..


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


Okay, well, it’s done. Beyond that, I make no implied promises. In fact, I’m going to take this opportunity to take my leave. while I still have a neuron or two working; maybe I can get something done today, other than sleep, or moan…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if only to make another futile attempt to save my sanity…. Maybe, tonight, if I work it right, I might actually sleep past 2 AM….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Oh, Jim, where’s your squeegee?….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“Work is not an end in itself; there must always be time enough for love.” 


~~ Robert Heinlein ~~




test shotss 002


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                      o*****o

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                     o*********o

                      |***********|

                      o*************o

                      |***************|

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                       |||

                       |||




Oh, right. Christmas…. which means most everyone in this country is on holiday mode, and most likely won’t be dropping in to spend a lot of time reading my nonsense, or even my somewhat better than nonsense prose. This is probably a good thing, as I’m feeling pretty lazy myself, though not for the same reasons, obviously. I’ve made no bones about how I feel about Christianity, and the people who go in for such delusional systems; in my mind, they are all living a lie, one they’ve chosen to believe in, rather than having the courage to face up to those parts of reality they don’t understand, and, thus, fear…. In short, they are living in fear, allowing fear to control their every decision in life….


What a waste! But, nobody wants to listen, especially to the kind of real wisdom that means they would have to actually think for themselves, such as the quote at the end of this section…. Such insight into human nature, sadly, presupposes the one using it will have the courage to become lost; in my experience, the greatest proportion of humanity does not wish to ever become lost in this way. They would rather buy into a set of beliefs someone else has told them is true, in spite on never once being able to present any physical, or even logical, reasons to do so…. But, that is the way of the world, the same way it has been wobbling along for over 5000 years….


Ah well, it doesn’t do me any good to rant here in the intro; it’s just so hard NOT to say what I see as real…. I spent most of my life keeping these thoughts to myself, as they always tended to cause difficulties with other folks; after a while in Life, I decided, if they WANT to live in a delusional state, who am I to stop them? So, I said nothing, and allowed people to wander through their lives, in the dark, never realizing there is an entire universe of beauty and grandeur out there, just waiting for them to see it, if only they would take off the blinders they put on at age 5…. I guess that silence was my own adjustment to compensate; in short, it’s my way of giving in to expediency, a very bad habit, and one I no longer cultivate.


This probably explains why there are only about 20 people who come by to read this on a regular basis…. and, since I have over 463 followers on WordPress, and another hundred or so on Twitter, that number is a good representation of the breakdown of humanity’s state of mind re: laziness, and wisdom…. I know that reading this blog take time, and effort, and I know it isn’t the easiest task to take on, not on a daily basis…. Hell, it’s hard enough writing it all; it CAN’T be much easier to read it all every day….. But, I don’t worry about it; I just appreciate the ffolkes who come by regularly, a lot….


That is no doubt enough rambling and complaining for one day…. I did manage to cut off the rant, but, this still grew beyond its original intended size, so, I’ll break out the ol’ ruthless bone, and hit myself over the head with it, so we can get on with the rest of this mess…. Hold on, while I smack the pilot on the head with this ruthless bone, so he’ll take this next exit point, okay? Here now, stay in your seats! We’re going in!….


Shall we Pearl?




“For a man needs only to be turned around not once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost…. 


Not ’till we are lost…. do we begin to find ourselves.”


~~ Thoreau, Walden ~~




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


Since we’ve started the day so soberly, let’s move to an entirely different domain, shall we? Here is some of the finest nonsense ever to come out of Hollywood, with four of the world’s greatest comedians filling the screen with their particular brand of sarcasm and wit…. Speaking of wit, we’re referring, naturally, to the one, the only, Marx Brothers, ffolkes…. Enjoy….







A Day at the Races (1937) 


































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


“Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.” — Demosthenes


Boy, what a great opening for a rant! I sure wish I had the wherewithal to write this one; it could take me a long way…. But, I don’t have such, so, we’ll have to go with an archived piece…. Enjoy, ffolkes, I tried to find a good one; it’s definitely worth a read….


From January 20, 2013:


“Nothing unreal exists.” — Kiri-Kin-Tha’s Law of Metaphysics


For the uninitiated, this is from Star Trek, a line from the fourth movie, The Voyage Home. It is the answer, and question, posed to Spock by the computer, near the beginning of the movie, just before it asks him, “How do you feel?” Though the quote, and its author, are part of a fictional story, and do not, as far as I know, exist in real life, the idea is nonetheless a potent philosophical assertion, and deserving of some meditation upon its implications, and ramifications. I like it, as it creates a series of doorways, one after another opening for welcome, inviting me to come in and examine its furnishings for their value…. A bit fanciful, perhaps, but then, it IS from Star Trek….


“Trekkies” have always taken the concept behind the show and movies much more seriously than most of us, and have created an entire panorama of alternate universe stories, legends, and characters as an adjunct to the original tales. I am certain that some fan, somewhere in the world, has put together a book that lays out Kiri-Kin-Tha’s philosophy for study, complete with Laws, Axioms, and Arguments. They probably even included material from other fictional works from the ST venue, weaving them into a coherent treatise, all of which is completely fabricated…. People can be pretty amazing when they are obsessed, indeed….


“Nothing unreal exists.”….. fascinating, as Spock would say. It is reminiscent, in a backwards fashion, of the question posed by the door to Ravenclaw Tower, in the final Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows, when Professor McGonagall is queried, “Where do Vanished objects go?” by the door, in order to gain entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. “Into non being, which is to say, everything.”, she answers immediately. “Nicely phrased”, replied the door…. I say backwards only because the ST movie came first in real time, by about 25 years or so…. As can be seen, however, the concepts involved in the two similar episodes are more than mere ideological throw-aways, but have some valid basis for their existence….


This is the power of Imagination at its finest, in my mind. People will take a good idea, and run with it into landscapes where it has never before been conceived, turning it into passionate variations on the original theme whose quality rivals that of it progenitor. At the height of the frenzy over the Harry Potter movies, a few years ago, I visited a site called MuggleNet.com, curious as to what the fans of the movie and stories were doing.


I was completely astounded by the prolific writings by fans, who wrote entire novels, short stories, and alternative plots by the dozens, all populated by the characters from the books by J.K. Rowling. Romances between the various characters abounded in the imagination of the fans, as well as the creation of new characters, and inventive new kinds of magical spells, objects, and creatures. The variety and depth of talent displayed is incredible, and goes to show how powerful is the influence of obsession on our imagination.




And hence one master-passion in the breast,

Like Aaron’s serpent, swallows up the rest.


~~ Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 131 ~~




Of course, obsession has the unfortunate tendency to go beyond the bounds of reasonable action in pursuit of its object of attention. It can easily consume all of the mind’s available store of common sense, submerging it in the raging river of passionate belief in whatever idea has emerged as the passion of choice. Pope was speaking no more than simple truth when he wrote these lines, which point again to the same fatal flaw that exists in other areas of human nature, the weakness of will that makes us choose paths that are self-destructive in their intensity, or in their ultimate logical end. Too many of us tend to make our choices in life without using even the most basic of mental tools we have, including imagination; the use of those tools can be hard, in the sense that it is harder to think than it is to allow others to think for you….


Thus, we come to another point where the subject under discussion can be expanded, and further explored. Or, we can leave it here, with the ideas already discussed as a springboard for private consideration. I have a feeling it could get a bit esoteric from this juncture, and I’d lose a lot of ffolkes to the fatigue factor. I am feeling that a bit meself, having now been sparring with this Pearl for a bit over three hours. I should have eaten some philosophical oatmeal, to increase the fiber content of my output, I guess….


Rather than go any further down that road, we’ll bring this pearl to a close…. Perhaps you can take a bit of what we discussed with you, and chew on it later…. it doesn’t seem to get any less crunchy over time, so it can’t hurt…. Fewer calories than jerky, and it won’t require flossing afterward….


“You can get anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant (‘ceptin’ Alice).” — Arlo Guthrie


Note from the future, i.e. 12/25/2014: Since it’s Christmas, I’ll be nice and only say this, in support of the above, and, as a final word on the subject for the day….


“A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in a fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician treats a patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.” — Seneca


That is EXACTLY how I feel when writing these rants….


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


As mentioned, laziness is the order of business today; hence, a bit of whimsy, as it were, from a poet OTHER than me…. Enjoy!…






The Loser


Mama said I’d lose my head

if it wasn’t fastened on.

Today I guess it wasn’t

’cause while playing with my cousin

it fell off and rolled away

and now it’s gone.


And I can’t look for it

’cause my eyes are in it,

and I can’t call to it

’cause my mouth is on it

(couldn’t hear me anyway

’cause my ears are on it),

can’t even think about it

’cause my brain is in it.

So I guess I’ll sit down

on this rock

and rest for just a minute…


~~ Shel Silverstein ~~




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


Okay, so, what we have here is a fresh pearl, with some strange parameters…. Looking in general for comments on Life at Large, SB gave me the following seven stars, which seem to hold together well, with some flexibility on your part…. Along with these it served up five or six other pearls which were perfect for other pieces, either planned, or completed… I guess it’s Smart Bee’s way of apologizing for the recalcitrance shown over the last week or so…. Whatever, it works for me, as it gets this done…. Yay!….


“One should always prefer the probable impossible to the improbable possible.” — Aristotles Dictum.


“Good generally conquers evil. Unless, of course, good is stupid.” — Smart Bee


“Books aren’t written to be believed in, but to be questioned.” — Umberto Eco


Narim: What your mind doesn’t know, your heart fills in.

Carter: I don’t know what that means, exactly, but it’s beautiful.

Narim: Which is exactly what it means.


— from Stargate


“The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make.” — Smart Bee


“A good reputation is more valuable than money.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 108


“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” — H. L. Mencken


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


Well, there you have it…. Time has become the enemy, for the moment, so, we’ll leave it as it is, and get on with the day…. See y’all after the holiday, ffolkes….. Hope you have a good one….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Maybe. Maybe not….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, 


but they’ve always worked for me.” 


~~ Hunter S. Thompson ~~


potd-panda-1_3134810k


     When Hunter S. Thompson’s most famous quote adorns the opening, you know it’s going to be a day in the trenches…. so be it…. We’ll open with a bit of legerdemain, then go on to find some sort of reason to continue, whether we wish it, or not…. Here, let’s go the obvious route, shall we?….


Isn’t that a great face? I sure wish I knew what the little bear is looking at; whatever it is, he’s not sure he wants to know about it at all…. Well, that, or, he’s in a psycho-cub state, much akin to the one cats display at times, usually at 3 AM, by running around the house at full speed, knocking into walls and jumping off furniture from great heights, just because…. The picture, btw, is of one of the three triplet panda cubs born in China a couple of months ago, a very rare occurrence, especially to pandas in captivity…. They’ve been the subject of close scrutiny by the entire world, as most such sets of triplets have not survived long…. This one looks spunky enough to make it, for sure….


He sure looks spunkier than I’m feeling, but, nothing new there…. The only new item I see today is the new deep ache in my left arm, between the elbow and shoulder; sleeping appears to have annoyed it somehow…. Oh, joy…. It must be time for a ritual slathering of the magic cream…. I’ll take a few minutes to go take care of that, & maybe when I come back to this, I’ll have a bit of inspiration at hand…. Hope springs eternal….


Well…. all I can say is, that stuff is magic…. Sadly, it doesn’t come with inspiration included, and the clock is still ticking…. I suppose I could do some nonsense… Let’s see… Nope…. Nothing resembling that anywhere in there…. How ’bout a quick rant? No, too early, and, no angst currently available, unless we count that which hangs about with the pain…. The poem I’ve been cultivating somewhere in the back of my mind isn’t ripe yet, either; I can tell by the craw stuck in my throat…. Damn! I bet y’all know what THIS means, don’t you?


Yep. It’s another failure of imagination, classically displayed right out here where all may see…. Chalk it up to my Bozoid Tendencies, and we’ll call it an intro… We have to at this point…. we’ve already used up any other alternative methods, so, ruthless dumping is all we have left to get us out of this mess, which my blathering has landed us in, again…. Some day, I’ll find an intro, but, by then, I won’t know what to do with it anyway…. SIGH….. It’s a good thing for all of us I used Hunter S. Thompson to bracket the intro; with such brutal honesty at play, nothing can harm us on our way to immortality, or a reasonable facsimile….


Huh?…. Ah, fuck it, let’s be on our way…. Coherency is a lost cause, at this point….


Shall we Pearl?


“The time has come to kick ass.” — Hunter S. Thompson


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


Time is a function of human perception; in reality, all there is, is NOW.  We have no control over the past, and the future is only under control according to what we choose to do NOW…. Right NOW, I am not sure this will ever get posted….


Early morning ambivalence is the order of the day, apparently; combined with the dysfunctional body with which I am now saddled, there is some doubt as to future events ever taking place according to my wishes…. SIGH… Oh well, for the nonce, we’ll pretend we do have some sort of choice, and pick out a video…. How ’bout some Blues?….







Chicago Blues, Live Vol. 1

































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


Yep, you guessed it…. another rant from the archives…. If you are a regular, you’ve seen this before. If not, have no fear, it’s a good read…. well, I think so, anyway….


From 4/9/2013:


Here’s the deal…. I still don’t have a rant ready, but I feel like ranting…. so, I’ll sublimate…. This is an article that I posted on Triond, another web site where I’ve published some of my work, in the latter part of 2012, near the election that took place in November….. All of it is still pretty valid, discounting the date-related issues…. all the rest, I stand by…..




Absence of Honor: The Untimely Death of The US Constitution




“Ignorance can be compounded, made denser, until the light of our spirits is smothered.” — Deng Ming-Dao


As I read this pearl, my immediate thought was that it is a very clear, very accurate take on the 2012 election process that is currently unfolding before us in the daily news. The end of the political scale that is represented so raggedly by what is left of the Republican Party, and the mislabeled liberal end of the scale who claim to be Democrats, are both engaging in ongoing battles to see who can display the deepest ignorance.


The leading candidate for the “loyal opposition” to the party in power, Mr. Romney, seems to have a proclivity for alienating the very people from whom he is trying to win votes; women, immigrants and Hispanics, animal lovers, seniors, teachers and students, all have been told, in no uncertain terms, that they matter not at all to him. His plan? We’ll stop taxing the rich altogether, and that will fix everything…. Sometimes I wonder if he is getting all of his information on voter wants and issues of importance from old newspapers from the 1980’s, because he certainly hasn’t a clue as to what is happening out in America in this decade….


The other party, led by our first Black President, is busy hiding what the left hand is doing by distracting everyone with the tax and healthcare issues, to keep them unaware of how few of the Bill of Rights are left to us. “Executive Orders” signed by the POTUS this year, beginning on New Year’s Eve, while the voters were all busy celebrating the advent of the new year, include provisions that allow police to stop, search, and arrest any citizen of this country whom they suspect of any form of terrorism, or even of protest against the provisions of those orders.


These same police who are arresting their ostensible fellow-citizens are not required to tell ANYONE that they have arrested and imprisoned a citizen, nor are they ever required to provide any evidence of their suspicions in a court of law. Even though there may be no evidence, they can subject these CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY to torture to obtain a confession, or whatever it is they are after. There is no oversight to these orders; they don’t go before Congress to be approved, nor are they reviewed by the courts. Both of those particular checks on the power of the Executive Branch are completely out of the loop on this…. and they aren’t even complaining about it!


Does it physically hurt to be that stupid? — Smart Bee


My guess at the answer to this is, No. It can’t hurt very much to be that stupid, as we continue to go out each time there is an election and vote these same lying, cheating, avaricious assholes back into the same positions from which they have been oppressing the American people for oh, a hundred or so years now. I’d say that around the time of the Depression was when the first real strangle-hold on the national throat was first achieved…. the pure bullshit the government was spewing back then can be seen to have been the first real time that the government’s outrageous lies were swallowed whole by a reluctant public, who had nothing else to eat, and thus nothing else to risk…


“He was born stupid, and greatly increased his birthright.” — Samuel Butler


So, how does it feel? Does it physically hurt to be so stupid, as to be part of the crowd that continues to buy into all the bullshit lies that our own government heaps upon us every day? To keep going to the polls, just as if it really matters who gets elected? Get real, folks. You will not find a name on the ballot that belongs to someone who is not a willing tool of the powers of oppression, the money-changers who are the power behind the scenes of every government in the world. Not going to happen; they’ve been the real power in the world for centuries, and they’re not about to give up all they have, just to be nice, or because they’ve, all of a sudden, grown a heart.


I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty fucking tired of being lied to, and cheated, and looked at as just another idiot for them to shit on….. and I’m not going to put up with it for much longer, without some kind of return fire….. Believe it…. I don’t think I am alone in this, either…. No way to tell for sure, but I find it hard to believe that EVERYONE is falling for all of it…. but, even if I’m alone in this, I refuse to knuckle under any further, and can only say that I will do all I can to see things turn in a direction that will return my Rights, and those of the rest of the American people…. or at least those not stupid enough to hand them over without a fight….


“He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.


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


Since I’ve shamelessly raided the archives already, here is another of mine, just because…




Savory 



Blown across steppes of imagination, a spore

   finds a niche, takes root,

tries to live longer than now, before

   chaos/peace descends, and desire is moot.


Feathered into fecundity, another possibility

   builds a nest, hatches kin,

aims at immortality, sans responsibility,

   chance manifests, as it does, again.


Leading toward peril, entropy saves creativity,

   making tools, and lazy time;

solid signs imply such simple nativity,

   as another snitch drops his dime.


Subtle compassion billows, passion to unfold,

   covering hearts bloodied by time,

burning flesh made valid, unwaveringly bold,

   turning love to brilliant rhyme.


Years weigh lightly, supported by youth,

   gaining weight with each year,

only the old men know the actual truth,

   peace comes only when we lose our fear.


~~ gigoid ~~




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


Smart Bee seems to be on strike, so, we’ll have to go with an old-school pearl from the archives today…. Here’s a pretty good one, from 2013….


From 4/4/2013:


Well, it seems clear that my fresh material isn’t up to snuff today…. it seems so to me, anyway, and I’m the one who has to stomach it first….. Which means I’m going into the past yet again, but with fresh material…. This will be a random chosen old-school Pearl, the best I can do on short notice…… The point may or may not be apparent, but, what else is new?….


“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave…” — Ernest Hemingway, “A Farewell to Arms”


“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.” — William Arthur Ward


“In a mad world, only the mad are sane.” — Akiro Kurosawa


“A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson


“Man’s many desires are like the small metal coins he carries about in his pocket. The more he has the more they weigh him down.” — Satya Sai Baba


“Whoever has even once become notorious by base fraud, even if he speaks the truth, gains no belief.” — Phaedrus (c. 8 A.D.) — Book i, Fable 10, 1




    I feel like one

    Who treads alone

Some banquet-hall deserted,

    Whose lights are fled,

    Whose garlands dead,

And all but he departed.


 ~~ Thomas Moore (1779-1852) — Oft in the Stilly Night ~~




“And thereby hangs a tale.” — Francis Rabelais (1495-1553) — Works, Book v, Chap. iv


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


Bah! Humbug!…. There, y’all don’t have to say it; I said it for you…. and, I don’t blame you, either…. But, in spite of how any of us may feel about it, it’s done, and I’m not going to look a gift horse, etc….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. maybe, maybe not….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Twistin’ the night away….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.” 


~~ J.R.R. Tolkien ~~


andromeda-meteor-james


     Today’s picture is from Space.com, one of their Astronomy Picture of the Day features, a gorgeous shot of the Milky Way, meteors, and the Andromeda Galaxy (small but clear in the upper right quadrant…), all in one huge photo, taken as a panorama, I believe. All I know is it was so big, it took about eight adjustments to get it small enough to fit onto the screen…. At the larger size, it’s pretty incredible in detail, almost like being outside, looking at it directly…. The photographer was, no doubt, a photographic wizard, along the lines of the quote from Tolkien….


Or, maybe he/she just got lucky, timing it so perfectly by chance…. Unlikely, with a panoramic photo, but, one never knows, nor would one ever speculate, not so early in the morning, before the second sip of coffee has been taken…. On sip only ensures no one will die; the second sip provides a certain degree of coherency, which doesn’t extend to the keyboard, sadly…. Nor does it preclude the hands from screaming at me for typing, which, unfortunately, they seem to want to do today…. Bogus, really, and it sure makes this part difficult…. Break time, ffolkes…


Now that the tenor of today’s post has been set, and, just as quickly destroyed, by the not-totally-unexpected display of bozoid candor, perhaps we can get on with this with no more detours. That would be a nice change, wouldn’t it? Sure it would…. but, as you may have guessed, it ain’t gonna happen here. I believe we may have reached a point that would otherwise be called a nexus, or, just as accurately, a bloody mess; some sort of decision must be made as to where we are going today, if anywhere at all…. Wait!….


That’s the best idea I’ve had yet…. I’m going to end this right here, right now, and get on with it, just as if it were made that way…. Perhaps, if we pretend it’s supposed to work like that, we can slip past the censors, and get this done in some sort of timely fashion…. Or, alternately, some sort of approximation of timely would be acceptable, whatever that may mean in such a situation…. Your guess is as good as mine, in this case… So….


Shall we Pearl?


“The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.” — Henry L. Mencken


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


An old Grateful Dead tune has been running around my mind all morning, ever since I first booted up…. It’s from their song, “Sugar Magnolia”, and goes, “Head’s all empty, and I don’t care….” However, rather than the Dead, let’s go with a live concert by Jerry, and his old friend, David Grisman, his mandolin-playin’ genius buddy, from 12/8/1991….  Enjoy!…. No video on this one, but, great music….




Jerry Garcia & David Grisman – San Francisco 12 8 91



































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


I’m still saving my hands for other stuff, so, here is an archived rant, of fairly typical size and content….


From 2/25/2013:


“I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair.  Then I thought, wouldn’t it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?  So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.”– Marcus, Babylon 5


Marcus brings up an interesting point here, when he talks of the general hostility of the universe. I don’t think he quite has a handle on the actual shape of Reality, though, and in his desire to avoid responsibility for his own cupidity, he assigns the universe as villain in his play. Our universe isn’t hostile to us, as he would like to think. Unfair? Yes. Hostile? No…. The universe really doesn’t give a crap about us, one way or another. Things seem unfair, not because they are stacked against us, but rather because they are not stacked in our favor, a slight but distinct difference…..


Reality plays no favorites, beyond a tendency to allow itself to be adjusted by those who have an understanding of how it works, without granting them any dispensation, but rather rewarding their cleverness and wit. Those who believe the universe is out to get them are defenseless against the trials and tribulations that are a natural part of living, because they begin from an attitude of helplessness. Those who at least have the confidence to act in their own behalf are much more able to achieve their goals, than anyone who allows Reality to push them wherever they end up, without any direction made by choice…..


Thus, we can see that courage, as well as knowledge, is necessary to being able to confront Reality on its own terms. Not only is it necessary to pay attention to the way the universe works, and how it interacts among all its parts, but necessary to have the courage to act on what is known, and what the person believes to be right, in a moral sense. Of course, the universe doesn’t care one way or another if we are moral; it rewards those who act out of immorality as well, if they are bold enough to act. We just feel better about ourselves if we act from right thought, and we make it easier for others to do the same. Acting immorally only benefits the one who is doing the acting…..


But, cowardice is also rewarded by the universe; it just isn’t a very palatable reward, to have our every wish denied, and our every act dismissed, as incompetent, illegal, or just plain dumb….. Lack of courage, and lack of knowledge thus become their own rewards, and the person’s misguided views about reality lead them into issue after issue of conflict with the rest of reality. In this way, they continually reinforce their own misapprehensions, and will only more firmly believe that the universe is out to get them, and everyone else…. This, in spite of the fact that they are looking at, and dealing with, the same Reality as everyone else, who don’t all seem to have the same problem…. Instead of giving them a clue that maybe they should do things differently, they merely assume that the other people have cheated them somehow…. because that is what they would do….


It’s really too bad in some ways, that so large a percentage of humanity is so lacking in courage and wit as to find the view stated above to be congruent with their own view of the way the universe operates; it’s part of what makes it so easy for those in the BRC and the 1% to control them, and to pull the wool over their eyes. These folks are so convinced of their own helplessness in the face of all they don’t understand, they will latch onto almost anything someone tells them, if it soothes their fears, and gives them someone or something other than themselves to blame for their misfortunes…. Sad, but true, and a perfect description of what has transpired in society for several thousand years now, as the BRC keeps the majority of humanity in the proverbial dark about what is true, and what is real….. They’ve had a lot of practice, and they’re very good at it….


But, then, it isn’t hard to control someone who is brainwashed to believe that it is the way reality is, so I can’t say it is due to any particularly large degree of wit or talent that allows them to do so…. It is more that the folks who they control are so stupid, they ask to be controlled, because they can’t, and more importantly, won’t, trust themselves to do it….. Sad, but true….


At his point in this narrative, I am becoming a bit enraged, a not uncommon reaction to a rant about the BRC and the 1%…. Heck, this time, I didn’t even have to mention the papists or preachers who are their shock troops, on the front lines of the brainwashing process, in order to get upset and angry over their machinations…. until now. My rage is growing, as it always tends to do when I start to rant on this subject, and I’m not ready to deal with the consequences of letting it get any bigger right now…. too much other stuff to get to today. But, just let me say this…..


Those in our society who deliberately control others for their own benefit are my enemies. I believe them to be responsible for virtually ALL of the social ills we have, as well as the global and environmental issues that are threatening our very survival as a species. They are, for their own personal benefit, hoarding the resources of the planet, and refusing to share them with the remainder of humanity, all because they can, and they want to. The welfare of others is of no concern to them, so they automatically become my foes, in my battle to try to make a world my children, and grandchild, can have the opportunity to live a full and complete life of their own, without being oppressed and controlled by assholes who don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves….. As my old martial arts instructor used to say…. “Fuck ’em….. hard.”…..


— “Bother!”, said Pooh, as he dropped his bombs.


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


Today’s poem is another I found in the archives, which hadn’t been brought into the Poetry folder…. bonus! Enjoy!


From 8/21/2012:




Unwrapped Morning


A jewel of deepest green, sparkles by firelight

Held fast by time, and space

Leaves only passive passion, pale and bright

Naught but grief, yet but a trace.


In morning’s bright parlor, burning for hate

Unspent moments fall, seeking pain

Spilling blood forlornly, cowed by fate

Left with nothing, life in vain.


Pallid purpose calls, to that fallow ground

In bold fashions, aflame

Conscience falls aside, value unbound

Death calls, forever lost, the game……


~~ gigoid ~~




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


Today’s final pearl was constructed in spite of some rather stiff resistance from SB…. I swear, it’s been a complete butthead of late, making me go through several hundred useless phrases and quotes, just to find a couple of mediocre pearls…. Ah well, at least we squeezed one last batch out for today…. It was looking a bit grim there for a while, but it came out just fine… a real old-school pearl, with a nice little twist to make it palatable for even the neuronically challenged reader…. Just don’t grit your teeth, or your dentist won’t like it….


“For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children


“The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.” — Chuang Tzu


“The young know the rules, the old know the exceptions.” — Smart Bee


“The important thing is not to stop questioning.  Curiosity has its own reason for existing.  One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.  It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.” — Albert Einstein


“A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)


“Don’t take life too seriously; you won’t get out of it alive.” — Hubbard’s Law


“Imagine the Creator as a low comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)


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


If all things in the world were equal, this would be considered as not eligible for judgment. I’m not entirely certain just how it got done, but, there it sits, with all the correct categories covered, and each section filled with (relatively) appropriate material…. As we are fond of saying, in the back rooms, where nobody can hear us, “It’s done”…. We say that with a reverent air, closing our eyes in respect, while genuflecting vaguely in the direction of Patagonia….


The appearance at this point of such nonsense is a clear indication it’s time to stop for the day, lest we splash…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should the Universe still be here….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
With music playing in the background….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“When Thales was asked what was difficult, he said, “To know one’s self.” 


And what was easy, “To advise another.”


~~  Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Thales, ix ~~


Alaska Grand Adventure 102


     I suppose bass ackwards is as good as our normal format. Due to the constraints placed upon me by the loss of function in my hands for much of the day, these Pearls have been going through a series of changes in how they are constructed….. The new technique involves a break, to rest my hands, or shoulder, or back, or hip, until it stops complaining, about every five to ten minutes…. Even now, as I type this, my left arm is growing numb, thus forcing an adjustment in content and structure….


From your viewpoint, this is probably a good thing, as it keeps my ranting to a minimum, thus shortening these Pearls by a significant margin. That’s okay by me, they’ve been growing too large for even my taste, and I’ve been looking for ways to cut it all back a bit…. I didn’t, however, think that would be accomplished by forcing me to experience enough pain to alter my habits…. So much for my vaunted intelligence, eh, what?….


Ah well, such is life, and it goes on, and on, and on, regardless of our reaction to it…. Whining about it won’t help, so, I’ll stop right here, resolving to, instead, jump right into today’s effort, just to see if there is any way to get it done in this frame of mind…. I’m all about new adventures, though I think I’d prefer a bit less pain involved in whatever happens…. just a personal preference, which, I’m sure, Murphy and his myrmidons will be happy to ignore….


That’s it…. that’s all I’ve got, ffolkes…. This, choppy and sparse as it may be, is all there is going to be in the intro today…. I’m giving in, after a fashion, to expediency, just like a well-trained consumer should do at this time of year, during the annual commercial frenzy held each year’s end to stimulate the economy, so all the corporate entities can start off the new year with a solid profit margin….


Yawn…. there he goes again…. Never mind, ffolkes, let’s get on with it, okay?….


Shall we Pearl?


“Don’t be confused by surfaces; in the depths everything becomes law. What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. Walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours–that is what you must be able to attain.” — Rainer Maria Rilke


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


Today’s video offering is a lead-in for the rant to follow, in section three of today’s post. This will give y’all a solid batch of supporting evidence, as well as a taste of the proper attitude to assume when speaking of our beloved ruling classes, to wit: disdain, bordering on disgust….. At least George was able to make us laugh about it; I suppose it’s better than crying, which would be just as appropriate, under the circumstances….







GEORGE CARLIN – Upper Class Pays No Taxes



































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


“It seems a little silly now, but this country was founded as a protest against taxation.” — Smart Bee


This rant has been percolating for some time; the quotes you will see scattered throughout the text were collected over the course of several days, during Smart Bee sessions looking for other material to support different sections. These all had some connection to the same politireligirant, the same one I’ve been working on so long, my spell checker doesn’t even blink at the word any more….


The pertinence of the opening quote struck me with considerable force, as it coincided with receiving a bill from one of the huge corporate entities so familiar to us all today; the logo of this particular fake person closely resembles the Death Star, strangely enough, which is probably enough for you to identify it…. In this bill, I noted that the figures quoted to me, as pertaining to a service I ordered, had been inflated in the final tally by a number of taxes, from local, state, and federal agencies, none of which had been mentioned as part of the price…. This didn’t count the “surcharges”, or the mandatory “monthly equipment rental fee”, also added on to the price without mention.


I once read a blog post by another person which tallied up all the different taxes to which we, as American citizens, are required to pay at one time or another during our lives…. There were well over a HUNDRED taxes listed, such as Death taxes, (we get taxed for dying?….), Inheritance taxes, (a tax on the survivors of those who have died….), Sales taxes, Use taxes, from every level of government, and a host of others, some of which I’d never heard of, but, are on the books…. It’s astounding to see how we Americans have BECOME the very people our ancestors warned us against becoming, to wit: slaves of the corporations and churches….


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


Here we see, perhaps, part of the reason for the apathy most Americans display regarding the responsibility for governing their own lives; it is easier for them to just accept all the lies. Finding truth can be a difficult task, which most people learn to avoid early in life, thus giving control of those lives into the hands of any who will manipulate them…. Plus, there is a large percentage of our species who not only don’t like to think, but, spend a large portion of their time on this planet ensuring that nobody else does so, either….


“A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.” — Eric Hoffer


For the most part, though, people just don’t care, because they don’t have the time or energy to spare for anything other than the bare essentials of living; finding shelter, food, and companionship takes up 99% of their minds and attention, leaving little time to wonder about whether or not any of what they do is helpful, or will actually do anything to make their lives better…. So, they listen to anyone who will tell them what they want to hear, who will fulfill that need to have someone else do the worrying about the future…. This, of course, only gives the predators more control….


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


I’ve been pounding this point for a couple years now, with little effect, beyond the release I feel for getting it out of my head. That’s a big help to me, but, it isn’t having much of an effect on the overall picture, nor will it, until human nature itself undergoes some radical changes…. If I weren’t such a realist, I’d hold out some hope for that, but, quite frankly, I don’t see it happening….


I’ve run out of steam; the combination of futility plus pain plus dying hope makes any further comments I might relate completely superfluous…. not that they were ever critical in any sense…. other than in their essential truthfulness. But, this is already long enough, so, I’ll just dump y’all right here, and finish off the rant with a short set of pearls to drive the point home…. IF it strikes y’all, feel free to spread the point around… It can’t hurt, and it just might help. One never knows, do one?….


“Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, so don’t kid yourself…’ — Frank Zappa


“A statesman is what politicians call themselves.” — Smart Bee


“No matter how often a lie is shown to be false, there will remain a percentage of people who believe it is true.” — Law of the Lie


“Will Rogers never met Rush Limbaugh.”– Smart Bee


“When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.” — Max Lerner


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




My life is light, waiting for the death wind, 

Like a feather on the back of my hand.”


~~ T.S. Eliot ~~




I’m not sure, but, it seems to me that I’ve seen more little phrases like this one, perfect in almost every way, with T.S. Eliot’s name appended to them, than I have seen from just about any other poet I know. It demonstrates the kind of beauty, power, and simplicity of expression I strive to achieve, whenever I open up one of my veins to allow a poem to leak out of my imagination…. Here is one wherein I came somewhat closer, than in most of what I write….


From August of 2012:




Dreaming, I wait…


In the most patient moments of rationality

kindness flows smoothly in a special milieu,

fallow thoughts speed first from equality

to give no anxious fever, anger to eschew.


Indignant mothers and step-sons in-law

shall fade simply from brilliant to grey,

intoning ritual dogma, fresh, avid, and raw,

falling, falling, in massive pastoral disarray.


Safety lives not, save brightly in ignorant bliss,

it follows us all, silent and infinitely frail,

foremost too often, soft as a virgin kiss,

alive, always eager, willing, and pale.


Intimate knowledge finds only the bold few

with courage and virtue to gift, unbidden.

No solemn royal version may pass in review,

true love for man, never to remain unhidden.


Sweet feathers of Emily’s hope uplift,

calm, drowsy episodes bursting with light,

With final glad cries we set ourselves adrift,

swimming in the oceans of natural delight.


When sorrow is banished, in ages yet to come,

roots solidly anchored, cold and remote,

Ample supplies of kindness sit silent and dumb,

and the old stranger shrugs on his faded coat.


Dreaming, then, I wait with shadows in the night

aspiring to inspire, a message from the muse’s heart

Never forgotten images, framed in color bright,

tempt me only, grieving, steeped in serenity’s arcane art.


~~ gigoid ~~




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


Life sure does seem like a crap game sometimes, doesn’t it? This pearl took almost an entire day of wrangling with SB, who, for some reason, has been reluctant to cooperate very much of late…. Ah well, it’s done, and came out fairly well…. Enjoy…. or not. Your choice, as always….


“We never reflect how pleasant it is to ask for nothing.” — Seneca


“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” — Socrates


“Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth.  When perfect sincerity is expected, perfect freedom must be allowed;  nor has anyone who is apt

to be angry when he hears the truth, any cause to wonder that he does not hear it.” — Tacitus


“Think of your ancestors and your posterity.” — Tacitus (54-119 AD) — Agricola, 32


“Believe me, a thousand friends suffice thee not; In a single enemy thou hast more than enough.” — Ali Ben Abi Taleb


“What is man’s chief enemy? Each man is his own.” — Anacharsis (f1. c. 600 B.C.), Scythian philosopher — Quoted in Stobaeus, Flor., II, 43




Ain’t no time to hate

— barely time to wait. 

Whoa ho, what I want to know:

— where does the time go?


~~ Robert Hunter ~~




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


If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect myself of cheating…. Nonetheless, it’s done, and just in time for me to explode into inaction…. On that cryptic note, I shall leave you for another day…. According to the plan, as it now exists, I will see y’all tomorrow…. Keep in mind, however, what ‘they’ always say about the best laid plans…. Oh, boy, ffolkes, NOW I’m scared….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Soap? That won’t float?…..

			
						

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12/21/2014

Ffolkes,




“Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.” 


~~ Things We Can Learn From Dogs ~~


DSCN0027


     Today’s Pearl will be an unusual offering, even for THIS blog…. I’m using almost ALL archived material, which includes this opening section… I found such a fine intro in a post from 2012, I’m using it, along with some other material I found there which meets today’s requirements, all of which are designed to give my hands a break from typing…. Cut and paste is about all I’ve got in me today…. But, it’s all good stuff, so, please, sit back, enjoy an adult beverage, and lose yourself for a while in the Adventures of gigoid in Consensual Reality….


Ffolkes,

I am damned. In fact, I am damned by God Himself…. he told me, back when we were kids together in Jerusalem, oh, two or so thousand years ago…. You see, we didn’t get along very well. Our families lived in different parts of town; his was from the Golan Heights district, up there where all the priests, and political figures, and all the other rich folks lived. Mine lived downtown as far as you could go; the river was my backyard…… He called himself Yeshua back then; what I am called doesn’t matter any more…. but you can call me by the name I am known by in history books…. you can call me Judas…..


Well, that would certainly make for a decent story…. easy to write, too, as a lot of the action has already been covered by history and religious books, so I could pick and choose what stories to include…. all of course, looked at through my mind’s filter, and twisted just right to fit into the story line….. It would probably be fun to write, but it might not be the best activity I could choose from a karmic standpoint…. Many ffolkes consider it rude to make fun of religions, and, concurrently, making fun of their constituents.


Me, I enjoy it. The stiff, prudish people who make such complaints are, in my mind, the perfect targets for such barbed humor, as they have chosen to have no sense of humor, and are a pain in the ass to be around, for anyone with more than two functional brain cells….. But, that’s all just camouflage, this morning, anyway….


The truth is, I’m out of material…. can’t think of a damn thing to write about, and Smart Bee isn’t cooperating. I spent a half-hour last night searching for some pearls for this morning, and could only come up with more Shakespeare BS couplets for my growing collection. It’s beginning to look as if I’ll have to break down and use….. no, I won’t do it. I won’t go to my last resort….. It can’t be THAT bad yet. I refuse to go there….


Instead, we’ll just go diving, and hope for the best…. shall we Pearl?…..


Yes, indeed….    Shall we Pearl?


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


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


Since we are spending so much time in the past today, here is another of my favorite TV shows from the 60’s…. A true classic….




My Favorite Martian The Matchmakers season 1 episode 2































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


“It is human nature that rules the world, not governments and regimes.” — Svetlana Alliluyeva


From 8/20/2012:


“We are inclined to confuse freedom and democracy, which we regard as moral principles, with the way in which these are practiced in America — with capitalism, federalism and the two-party system, which are not moral principles, but simply the accepted practices of the American people.” — Sen. James J. William Fulbright


I remember this Fullbright guy…. he was still spouting off when I was a teenager. I don’t recall any particularly strong feelings of approval at what I heard then from him, other than the normal disdain with which I greeted almost all politics back then. But, what he says here appeals to my current self much more than what I remember from back then. This is a very accurate description of reality in American politics, and the condition of the world in which we now find ourselves can be attributed in large part to this observation’s veracity….


The beloved ruling class has been pounding the minds of the public with manipulative lies for a very long time, and it can be a difficult task to separate the truth and the lies they put out at such an alarming rate. In addition, even doing so is made more difficult by the derisive attacks they make on anyone who dares to question their lies. It’s typical for them to call anyone who questions them a Communist, or a Socialist, or some other -ist which they think is evil whenever their lies are exposed. Or, like dear Mitt the Twitt said the other day, the people who want to see his taxes are “small minded”… the names they use don’t matter, as they are only calculated to draw attention away from the lies that are being exposed to the light of day….


“The liberal of any species is always more dangerous — because he always seems so much more rational.” — Solomon Short


This statement from Mr. Short is also perceptive, describing accurately the danger of listening to ANY politician…. even the most liberal pundit, by the act of seeking office, gives away their true purpose, not to help the downtrodden, but to gain power and influence for themselves…. They are more dangerous because their lies are designed to make the public believe that they are acting in their interests, looking out for the little guy, when in reality, they are just picking the little guy’s pocket…..


Reduce taxes on rich = trickle down prosperity. — Conservative idea #4


Never cooperate with conservatives. — Liberal Rule #34


Taken together, these two little aphorisms show why, or rather, how, it can be a confusing task to sort the truth from the lies that are served up on a daily basis. Both of these are true, in at least one sense, yet both are also outright lies, made up to demean the opposing party’s position and reputation. It’s kind of funny actually, because not only are these lies, but they are lies that can be fitted to either side like a tailor-made suit. To my way of thinking, both liberals and conservatives are wrong, so it’s easier for me to tell when they are lying…. quite easy, in fact…. if their mouth is open, they’re lying, count on it…..


“Humankind cannot stand very much reality.” — T.S. Eliot


This, from our old friend T.S., can be considered to be a fact, even a natural law, and for proof, just go back and read any historical treatise from any century. It has always been clear, especially to the beloved ruling class, that most folks have no real desire to deal with reality as it is…. they would much rather have it behave as they would like it to do. This tendency toward mental sloth is well-known to our rulers, and they exploit it mercilessly….


The political pundits are constantly telling the public what they want to hear, even though that has nothing to do with what will really take place when they are elected. The weird, sad part for me is that the public falls for it all so easily, and the rapacious and the greedy are constantly rewarded with new terms in Washington D.C., or London, or Sydney, or wherever in the world the election may take place…. If it weren’t so damn depressing, it might be entertaining….


“George Washington said to his father, “If I never tell a lie, how can I get to be President?” — Red Buttons


In any culture, one can ascertain the true state of the society by listening to the comedians…. Red Buttons wasn’t known particularly for his political humor, but with this one he struck closer to home than he knew. Right from the very start of this country, the bankers and the rich have conspired to control the government, and have been singularly effective in that quest. Even the stated fears of the founding fathers were not sufficient to keep them from insinuating themselves into the political process at every level, manipulating the laws, and the courts, to establish themselves as the true rulers of this country. Nobody gets elected who isn’t supposed to be, for they won’t willingly give away any of the control they have gained over time, and the surest way to guarantee that control is to control the elections….


“There cannot be a nation of millionaires, and there never has been a nation of Utopian comrades; but there have been any number of nations of tolerably contented peasants.” — G. K. Chesterton, Outline of Sanity CW. V. 192


SIGH…. I don’t know…. it’s all so tacky! G.K. has probably got it right, but I don’t think I want to settle for tolerable contentment. I can stand a bit more excitement than that, I hope. I’m just so tired of having to watch, as society dumbs itself down further and further with every election, sending the worst possible candidates into the spotlight, and making all of us who want more from life nervous at having to spend another four to eight years keeping our heads down and our defensive strategies up-to-date… I know I am, and I don’t even care much about politics (you wouldn’t know it, by how much I write about it….). Ah well, at least we’ve got cable TV…..


“Politics is poopadoodle!” — Fred the Bird, from Odds Bodkins


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


Recently, while perusing old Pearls in the archives, I found a poem I wrote which never made it into the Poetry folder…. Here it is, unseen, by anyone, since the day it was written…. ‘Tisn’t bad, either….


From 8/23/2012:




Lamenting Empathy, No Grace


Strange, strong, passions burn from within

Selling nothing short, nor out.

Consumed, loudly, failing to mark the spin

Sad, resigned, in singular redoubt.


Fallow grounds for twisted seed

Become fated, grow, and die.

Experience never fills critical need

Save perhaps once, in ages gone by.


Shouting in severe, dulcet tone

Brittle, flaking, destiny floats away.

Making noise, rattling the bone

Simply ageless fears held at bay.


We mask our illusions in faux belief

Tied to reality by matter of rote.

Send them postcards, without relief

Consecrated time, forever remote.


~~ gigoid ~~




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


As a small treat, here is a classic pearl, taken from a post a couple years old. It’s a fine example of a nearly-perfect five star pearl, old-school variety…. Enjoy….


From 8/24/2012:


Yesterday, I sat down in the afternoon to do some pearl diving, as my stash was getting low. Out of the first ten pearls offered up for my perusal, the following entries, all, but one, from Smart Bee itself, popped up one after another, just as if they were meant to be together. Upon rearranging the order slightly, I found this to be a correct judgment; together they make a fine little old-school pearl. With no further ado, follow the bouncing thought bubble to the ending point, where you will find yourself in possession of a valuable piece of virtual wisdom…. or possibly, a great deal of confusion…. Your choice, both are free of charge….


Although everyone is entitled to be stupid, some abuse this privilege. — Smart Bee


Keep the pointy end forward and the dirty side down. — Smart Bee


I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it, my lad.  It’s dead! — Smart Bee


Tomorrow & tomorrow & tomorrow creeps in this rutabaga… — Smart Bee


Ignorance of one’s ignorance is the greatest ignorance.– Smart Bee


“YOW!!  I’m in a very clever and adorable INSANE ASYLUM!!” — Zippy the Pinhead


I think the final line from Zippy punctuates the idea very well, ending not only with wisdom, but with two exclamation points to drive it home!!…. Such courteous service, you won’t find just anywhere…. Most bloggers would just abandon you, leaving you to figure stuff out on your own. But, not here at gigoid’s house.. we’re all about customer service….. I hope you enjoyed the ride; you may now go on to the next section…..


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


Well…. This is a first, for sure…. I don’t believe I’ve typed more than a hundred or so words, to fill in the spaces between the older pieces of work…. All in all, it came out fairly well; good enough I’m not going to fuss with it at all…. So be it…. Maybe this way, I’ll get some use from my hands today, other than as a source of unrelieved agony, offered up as a counterpoint to the sharp knife sitting in my left shoulder…. SIGH…. Life goes on, ffolkes, until we’re done with it…. I’m far from done, so I wish it would ease up a little on the age-related crap…. Ah well, complaining doesn’t help, obviously, so, I’ll just try again tomorrow…. See y’all then, ffolkes….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Why, it’s homemade acorn brandy!….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“Illegitimus non carborundum!” 


(Don’t let the bastards wear you down!) 


~~ Latin for Everyday Occasions ~~


Alaska Grand Adventure 014

Sitka Slim, Singing in Ketchikan




‘Twas not so long ago, in cosmic terms, I could type for hours, without ever reaching a point where pain kept me from continuing…. The past few weeks, since the advent here in NorCal of an actual winter pattern of weather, have necessitated a new policy, to wit: I type until I can’t, about five minutes, max, then I must rest my hands for a while, in order to continue. It makes the composition process somewhat choppy, as I’m only able to discuss any particular idea for about one paragraph before taking a break…


As you may imagine, this is less than an optimum method of composing. It is, however, reality, and, thus, there’s no getting around it. So, I type, I rest, I type some more, all the while fighting off any drowsiness from the extra meds I take…. At this point, it will occur to you to ask WHY am I relating all this to y’all? The answer is simple…. it’s all I could think of…. again.


You see, I’ve been doing this so long now, I’m also running out of ideas for this intro (well, that actually happened long ago, but, the effect is getting worse all the time….), which makes each morning a new fight to find a way to open up with something that will draw readers in, not turn them away from the over-abundance of sharing of personal information, which nobody probably cares much about…. It’s gotten so bad, I’m not even trying to hide it behind nonsense, or ranting, as has  been my habit in the past….


Ah well, I suppose there’s nothing that can be done about it; the conditions which have created the issue are not going away, so, it will manifest itself, no matter what I do…. In today’s case, we’ll just have to take what we have, and run with it…. not that we’ll be running far, as I can’t type for shit today…. These four paragraphs have taken five breaks, and over twenty minutes, and there is NOTHING in it…. SIGH….


So much for compelling literature for today…. I guess I’ll just have to try to make the rest of the Pearl somewhat more elegant, or, at the very least, somewhat more entertaining…. You’ll note I say that just as if it happened here regularly…. Nonetheless, I see we are now in reach of one of our escape routes, so, if y’all will kindly tighten up your belts, we’ll dive in for the day….. Hang on, ffolkes….


Shall we Pearl?


“Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing.” — Oscar Wilde


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


Since I cannot type enough to rant, and, my mood is such that humor is well out of reach, here is a large bite of both, from the sharpest mind of the twentieth century…. (IMHO…)   Enjoy!….







Geogre Carlin – It’s Bad For Ya – Full Comedy 2014





































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


Here is one of my most powerful rants, first posted in August of 2012…..


“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” — James Madison




The Anti-trafficking Movement Needs Survivor Voices:  Why Are We Ignored?




From all I can tell from here, this has already happened. When? Why, the very day that the Two Towers were brought down by terrorists, using our own complacency as a weapon. Within hours of that event, politicians of all varieties were screaming for revenge, and the groundwork was laid for the true purpose behind those attacks….. That purpose had nothing to do with what the terrorists want. I am of the opinion that the entire charade was perpetrated by elements of the CIA, at the behest of their former chief, GWB the First. I’m sorry if that sounds unpatriotic, but I believe it to be true; if it is, it kinda makes them the bad guy, now, doesn’t it?…..


The timing of the attacks are what always bothered me. The day before, September 10th, you may recall, there was an effort to bring to light the voter suppression and vote manipulation in Florida during the election, which had the votes from that state changing from supporting Gore to being in favor of GWB the Junior. There was evidence of mischief in the handling of the votes, and the idea of an investigation into the election was gaining strength, as it should. But, that whole idea was forgotten in the heat of the moment when the terrorists struck….


Funny, isn’t it, how that event changed the face of American politics, putting the fear of “others” into the populace? That fire was immediately stoked until white hot, and the people were made afraid. Of precisely what was never made very clear, but we were supposed to be afraid, at least according to all our brave pundits in Washington. And what was the end result of all that hooraw? The Homeland Security Act, which was the first blatant, and successful attempt to abridge the civil rights guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights.


Searches, seizures, snooping, all without warrant or cause, were made legal, and the rest of the Bill of Rights were restricted. The public not only did not object, they supported this abrogation of duty, all from the fear engendered on 9/11. The right to assemble in peaceful protest was severely restricted, and the forces of evil, in the guise of police, were given carte blanche to roust the citizenry of this country, without having to answer to anyone, even if they proved to be wrong. And did we hear any complaints from the public? None that were publicized….


Which brings us to the other culprits in this whole charade; the media. The media has jumped right onto the fear bandwagon, reporting the terrorist acts in the harshest, screaming headlines they could manage, whipping up the public’s fears with stories of horror and vicious inhumanity. Any voices that objected to the abridgment of rights, or questioned the reactions of the political pundits, were labeled as unpatriotic, and drowned out in the fear-mongering and public paroxysms of terror that blared from the papers and televisions.


“The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.” — Edith Sitwell


People tend to forget that the media outlets are all owned by members of the 1%, and are not really interested in presenting unbiased, informational stories. Those don’t sell very well, and they don’t feed into the fear that the beloved ruling class wants the public to feel when they think of other countries. The pundits keep telling the public that the rest of the Third World is jealous, and are out to get us, and by their actions, they are making absolutely sure that is true. The media does NOT present a fair and unbiased version of ANYTHING, much less of the political scene, and people need to remember that…. Just because someone on TV, wearing a nice tie, an American flag pinned to the lapel of their $1000 suit, and an ingratiating smirk, tells you that someone from another country is evil, doesn’t make it so…..


The opinion I expressed above regarding who is actually responsible for the mess we are in is so far unchallenged by anyone with any direct evidence. But then, nobody wants to hear that they’ve been fooled again by the powers that be; it’s embarrassing, if one considers themselves to be a free man. to realize that they are actually an ignorant slave of the beloved ruling class. Most folks will pretend that they agree with whatever comes out of the mouths of the pundits, just so they don’t have to look at how stupid they are really being, and how far from reality they actually reside. Nobody likes to feel like a fool. But, to my way of thinking, I’d rather feel the fool, than feel my freedom slip away, all because some asshole in a suit decided his son needed some help to nail down his theft of the election….


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


So be it….. feel free to comment on this theory, should the urge strike…..


“It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole country isn’t in flames, that there are people in the country besides politicians, entertainers, and criminals.” — Charles Kuralt


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




“A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,

And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,

And the dry stone no sound of water. Only

There is shadow under this red rock,

(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),

And I will show you something different from either

Your shadow in the morning striding behind you

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”


~~  T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land ~~




There are times writing reveals itself as a daunting prospect, given the quality of what has already been written; the above excerpt from T.S. Eliot’s classic is a perfect demonstration of this principle. It takes a fair bit of ego, and some courage, to place one’s own work alongside such genius…. but, none of us here in the world of blogging would be doing this, unless we had a fair bit of ego in the first place, would we?…. Of course, it also takes a bit more than the average self-awareness, and honesty, to admit such, but, hey, if you’re going to play the game, it’s best to play by the rules…. or, so I’ve found, in my experience….


In spite of all that, here is a poem of my own…. I’m not comparing it with The Waste Land…. It just happens to be here, on a day when my powers of introspection are stronger than usual, enough so to force me into such brutal honesty…. Actually, it’s more like a bit of personal incentive, to push myself to connect more strongly with that spark inside, from which all poetry flows…. This one flowed out of me, from some vein or other, on the day I posted the rant in the section above; it is apparently a reaction to the rant…. It is also another poem I had missed in gathering my poems together, bringing the total to 81 poems in three years…. Not bad for an old fart with flat feet…. Enjoy!….




Premises, premises….


Tricked, I stumble, and I fall

   dreaming, through an abandoned palace.

Frightened and wary, unheard my call

   fading into memory, no cup, no argent chalice.


The people, crushed, cry out to be freed

   asking only to take part, or travel.

Nascent oaths spotlight such bursting need

   fed by treachery, deep from our well.


Only the wicked shall find their way blocked

   justice seeks them, snug in their hole.

Faint praises never touched, but naked, stalked

   singing no gospel, no soul, no rock and roll.


Only the promised will remember the way

   from unforgiven trails of sorrow.

To live life, and give death no sway,

   saving grace for our only tomorrow.


~~~ gigoid ~~




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


In  recent times, Smart Bee has been acting funny, in the sense of repeating itself frequently, in spite of the depth and breadth of its database…. So, to gain some time, so as to tickle it back into a good mood, here is another old-school pearl from the archives…. In fact, it’s from the same post that produced another old-school pearl of great value…. It must have been a good day, relatively speaking…. Any who, here ’tis….


From 8/24/2012:


My search for pearls today keeps coming up with stuff more appropriate to the old style; nothing to rant about so far. But the following group of pearls does have a conclusion in mind, and for bonus points, you can tell me your thoughts on that in the comments section below…. good hunting!…. and don’t hurt yourself looking for the point; it won’t be on the quiz……


“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” — Stephen Roberts




There is no ornament like virtue,

There is no misery like worry,

There is no protection like patience,

There is no friend equal to generosity.


~~ Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.) ~~




When an Agnostic dies, does he go to the Great Perhaps? — Smart Bee, in sardonic mode, tongue firmly planted in cheek….


The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.

Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise?

Then I said in my heart, that this is also vanity.

For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten.

And how dieth the wise man?  As the fool. — Ecclesiastes 2:14-16




“Is this bullshit or fertilizer?” 


~~ Smart Bee ~~




There you go….. hope you have as much fun with it as I did….. and, sorry, if my over-enthusiastic handling of the various parts has caused them to appear somewhat bedraggled…. they’ll fluff out in the sunshine….


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I’ve probably used more shortcuts (also known as “cheating”, in some circles….) today than I’ve used in six previous Pearls…. which doesn’t concern y’all, at all…. I just thought I’d mention it, since we’re done, and there’s not going back now…. In fact, I’m not even going to proof today, just post it, and have faith…. Wait, that’s not right…. Okay, so, I’ll fulfill my duties…. Sheesh, a guy can’t even get lazy on his own blog…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I ever get done with this….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….