Tag Archives: Reality

Twelve reasons to spit, rather than swallow….

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Ffolkes,

“Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.”

~~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, vi, 3 ~~

11-8-2014 002 (2)

    To look at this piece of furniture, you wouldn’t believe it to have any particularly extraordinary qualities, beyond a simple functionality and inoffensive appearance…. By using Marcus Aurelius’ advice, however, we find a peculiar aspect of its existence which may not be explainable by any normal means…. I got the chair at a thrift store, as part of my thus-far-never-ending quest to find a chair that is suitable to sit in for the time I need to be in front of this computer, to compose, to read, and to otherwise multi-task, in short bursts when I can sit for a while without having to squirm, or get stiff… In trying it out in the store, it seemed to be a bit low, but, otherwise might work well for a time….

Well, as it turns out, it IS too low to type comfortably, but, is quite comfortable for watching a video, such as one of my Sherlock Holmes stories, or for reading the news, if no great amount of mouse work is needed…. Unfortunately, the chair also seems to be so comfortable, whenever I’ve sat in it for more than 5 minutes, I start falling asleep, sitting up, which will always give me a stiff neck, from dropping my head forward when I drowse…. This has happened five times now, without fail…. It’s getting to the point I’m beginning to believe the chair has been infused with some kind of magic cannabis cream, or just plain magic, to cause it to turn into a sleep chair, rather than an office chair…

It’s okay, though, I don’t mind having one spot where I know I can get drowsy; the way my sleep pattern goes, I can use all the spots like that I can find…. It’s also given me another intro section, without the need to go off on anyone’s religion, or take a side trip to the land of Odd, (which isn’t far away, in my head…), or even find some actual introductory remarks of a literary nature…. All I had to do is engage in some minor hyperbole, with a dash of stretching the truth of its effect on me, and there we were, two paragraphs down, and running strong….

Of course, right about HERE, we will start to see it fall apart, as my imagination begins to tire, having not yet consumed sufficient coffee, or sugar, to fuel such a complicated, stressful task as this has turned out to be…. I also suspect, if I want to be able to finish this out, without resorting to marginally legal acrobatics, I’m going to have to end it now, before it grows any hair…. The fuzz is already too thick for scissors, and my lopping shears are all dull from using them on my cacti….

It is, no doubt, a good thing the opening to the real world is right over there; we seem to have made good time…. This is what happens when we are lucky enough to start with a decent run at the wall; it doesn’t draw any blood, and we get where we need to go with less fuss, and less chance of litigation, which always pleases my lawyers….. Oops, sorry, got to talking and almost missed the turn…. Hold on ffolkes…. today’s missive could be a bit of a tough roe to hoe…. not to mention the possibility of cloning that is always a risk on Sundays…. (bet you didn’t expect me to remember, did ya?….)

For now, though, it is enough to know, we’re on our way, and nothing the government can do will stop us now….

Shall we Pearl?

“I was contemplating the immortal words of Socrates, who said… I drank what?” —  Shared by Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), Real Genius

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

Today’s video is a political cartoon from Mark Fiore, who makes brilliant short animated videos commenting on current world and national events…. I could not figure out how to embed the video, without joining a web streaming site, which I didn’t wish to join…. But, just follow the link below, and you can see this one, which is another outstanding observation regarding the recent midterm elections…. I won’t ask you to enjoy it, but, I will ask you to watch, and reflect on the information it has to impart….

Oh, heck…. Here, here’s a video for your morning laugh….

Adults Taste Baby Food

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

“For some reason the little Senators make us laugh.” — Smart Bee

“But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing t heir oppressors in Church and State.” — Thomas Jefferson, [letter?] To S. Kercheval, 1810


Oops…. It seems there is a bit of snark going on between the delusional leaders of one of the more delusional religious organizations, and the political representative their particular group managed to land in the Senate…. It all makes a pretty good example, for me, of how the separation of church and state has been quietly eroded to the point the religious group feels comfortable in making public their influence over their flock members who inhabit the halls of government, using the blackmail of guilt and threat of excommunication to try to force their desires to the forefront of the political agenda.

Now, the bishop of the church, in this case, is in trouble, for bringing it all into the light of day, more than any other reason…. I doubt very much the other church elders had intended for their influence to be outed in that manner, so, they will publicly chastise him, but, in the end, won’t really do much to him, other than muzzling his mouth by moving him to some position not accessible to the media for comment…. Having the Senate majority leader as a church member is a position those leaders will NOT jeopardize for any minor bishop’s cluelessness…. They’ll sacrifice him faster than Pontius Pilate gave up Jesus…

“I have short-term memory loss, though I like to think of it as Presidential eligibility.” — Paula Poundstone


I think I’ve become more angry at this president than any other since, well, I guess the Junior shrub made me maddest, but, then, Bill Clinton was a Bozoid of major proportion, too…. In fact, I think, in my entire life, there is only one man who was elected to the presidency who managed to garner my respect, without making me angry for having to listen to constant, unrelieved lying, or plain stupidity…. and that President (the ONLY one for whom I will capitalize the title….) was probably the LEAST effective of all the twentieth century office-holders, because he spent his entire time in office being neutralized by a Congress held by the opposing party….

His name was Jimmy Carter, and though I don’t usually admire preachers, he is the only HONEST politician I’ve ever seen at that level… the ONLY one…. and, he is the only president in the last century who didn’t made a career out of dishonesty, cheating, and public theft… and I mean the ONLY one…. Every other president, from the beginning of the last century, to the latest rogues elected in this century, has lied to the American public, almost without pause, from the first time they opened their mouths on national TV….

I had hope when Barry was elected; I didn’t know much about him, and some of what he said promised some hope of reform, in at least some areas…. But, he has been one of the greatest of my disappointments, as he has lied the MOST, of any president in recent memory, which is quite a feat, given the past few presidents…. It was unexpected that Obama would be a worse liar than either of the two Shrubs, but, he has proven time and again he is NOT going to tell the entire truth to the American people, especially about his clandestine activities, spying on his own citizens without compunction, and with impunity, thus far…..

“A politician is a man who stands for what he thinks the voters will fall for.” — Smart Bee

If I were the type to use religious expressions, I’d thank God for Edward Snowden, a man I believe future generations will regard on the same level as Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and Nathan Hale, as one of our greatest patriots…. It pisses me off no end that Barry the O continues to bad-mouth him, as well as refusing to acknowledge his own culpability, as do the rest of the 455 kidnappers of the American Dream, who inhabit the halls of Congress, the White House, and the Federal courthouses…. I accuse them all of treason, not lightly, and not in fun…. Assholes, every damn one of them, only concerned with increasing their personal power, and lining their pockets with our money…..

I know this is the ranting section, so such vituperation isn’t out of place here…. However, this morning I’m a bit on edge, and typing is getting harder every day, so, I’ll leave my rant at that point, which, some would say is quite enough…. It isn’t every day that I accuse the entire government of the US of treason…. but, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not one to keep from calling a spade a spade, nor am I one to suffer fools gladly….

But we, who name ourselves its sovereigns, we,
Half dust, half deity, alike unfit
To sink or soar.

~~ Lord Byron (1788-1824) ~~

~~ Manfred, Act i, Sc. 2 ~~


Our government, long ago stolen by corporate and religious influence, to work the will of those who prey on the weak and ignorant, depending on their gullible trust in authority to allow them to lie, cheat, and steal without consequence, has now gotten to a point where they don’t even bother to hide what they’re doing very hard…. They don’t care any more, as they know that nobody has the means, or the wit, to turn against them…. They have fooled 98% of the population into believing them, in whatever they say, and know they won’t be disturbed during their cleaning out of the public’s pockets…..

Bah, humbug! I’m pissed….. and there isn’t much I can do, except this…. So, having done this for today, I’ll leave it here for now…. Stay alert, ffolkes, and call them a liar when they lie… Maybe there is still a chance, if a couple more Ed Snowdens come forth, and tell the people how much they are being fooled, and screwed….. Until then, I’ll keep yelling at them, and about them, as often as I can….

Who could imagine
That they could freak out in Kansas
Who could imagine
That they could freak out in Washington D.C.
Everybody’s clean, it can’t happen here, no, no
And they thought it couldn’t happen here
They were so sure it couldn’t happen here
It can’t happen here

 ~~ Frank Zappa ~~

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On a day such as this, it’s gotta be Bukowski…. He’s the only one real enough to suit my crusty mood….

hello, how are you?

this fear of being what they are:
dead.

at least they are not out on the street, they
are careful to stay indoors, those
pasty mad who sit alone before their tv sets,
their lives full of canned, mutilated laughter.

their ideal neighborhood
of parked cars
of little green lawns
of little homes
the little doors that open and close
as their relatives visit
throughout the holidays
the doors closing
behind the dying who die so slowly
behind the dead who are still alive
in your quiet average neighborhood
of winding streets
of agony
of confusion
of horror
of fear
of ignorance.

a dog standing behind a fence.

a man silent at the window.

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~


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Today’s old-school pearl came together in a rather fractured fashion; nonetheless, it came out well…. Well, it came out, anyway…. I’m not altogether certain the point it is trying to make is one of particular import, other than to each of us on an individual level…. I guess you should just let it flow over you, and if it feels right, let it flow through…. Otherwise, just take it all as good advice for living a life that makes some kind of sense, on a larger scale than the merely personal…. Hmm…. I suppose that may be asking a bit much of an obscure seven-star pearl, but, we’re like that around here….

“Integrity has no need for rules.” — Albert Camus

“When the need arises — and it does — you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don’t farm it out — that doesn’t make it nicer, it makes it worse.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s  “Time Enough For Love”

“In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.” — Aristotle

“As a rule, there is no surer way to the dislike of men than to behave well where they have behaved badly.” — Lew Wallace

“Lampis the shipowner, on being asked how he acquired his great wealth, replied, “My great wealth was acquired with no difficulty, but my small wealth, my first gains, with much labor.” — Epictetus (c. 55-135 A.D.)

“The world has taken on a thickness of vulgarity that raises a spiritual man’s contempt to the violence of a passion.” — Charles Baudelaire

How lov’d, how honour’d once avails thee not,
To whom related, or by whom begot;
A heap of dust alone remains of thee:
‘T is all thou art, and all the proud shall be!

~~ Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady, Line 71 ~~


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Once more, I’ve pushed beyond my zone of comfort to get this done…. Oh, don’t worry, I’m not saying it makes me special, or that any admiration is due; I’m just glad it isn’t toxic, or overtly offensive to anyone but a preacher, a politician, a corporate snakehead, a pimp, or a myrmidon…. They, of course, may choke on it, as far as I am concerned…. For now, I’ll just bid thee adieu, until tomorrow….

See ya, ffolkes, and remember what Tommy Toilet always says… “Always wipe thoroughly, kids! Rectal itch is NO PICNIC!”© (R. Crumb, 1966, or so….)

Sorry, couldn’t help myself….

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….


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
A Hound is on the scent…

			
						

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Ffolkes,


 


“The very flower of youth.”~~ Terence (185-159 BC) ~~~~ Act ii, Sc. 3, 28, (319.) ~~


surviving munchkins




     In the “very flower of youth”,  we find these seven people, who are, quite obviously, the surviving members of the Munchkins, of Munchkin Land, in Oz…. They had come, at great expense and effort, to Earth to be honored at the 75th anniversary of the release of The Wizard of Oz, the iconic movie with a young Judy Garland, and a cast of amazing versatility (the woman who played the Wicked Witch remains to this day the most well-known example of an evil witch in our culture…. no other comes close….). The surviving Munchkins, among them one of the Lollipop Guild, and the Lord Mayor of Munchkin Town, still appear to be enjoying life to the maximum…


Well, I guess the guy on the extreme left end does appear to be a bit constipated, but, hey, at their age, I can testify, and relate…. But, then, he’s also wearing what appears to be the costume of a religious figure, (note the bishop’s mitre on his head…), I suppose he’s a right to be bummed out…. or, maybe he’s just got some bad gas…. I’ll also note the huge grin on the Lollipop kid’s face should bring the old fella around; who can resist a face with such happy camaraderie in it? He certainly is enjoying being in the limelight again, even if only for a moment…. (The picture itself was taken from sfgate, but, I saw it all over the news at the time of the event…..)


Maintaining a happy outlook on life, when one stops to consider, is a very good attitude with which to approach getting old, especially if one is a Munchkin, or a dwarf in a society that places a premium on physical normalcy. I have no doubt that all of those actors spent many years struggling to make a living, at anything, much less acting; our society is not known for the morality, or the gentle hand, with which it treats the weaker members of the common group…. They would, no doubt, have suffered discrimination at the hands of those they probably call the Bigs, all of their lives, from the time it first became apparent they weren’t “normal”….


Having taken a vow to stop ranting in the intro section, I’ll stop that discussion there, before I’m tempted to speak further on the subject of societal morality, which, as we all know by now, is what might be called a shadow, in that it has little substance in the minds of most of society, and as much influence as the images we make when blocking the light, i.e., none to speak of…. That little blurb right there is edging too close to ranting, so, I’ll just use this opportunity to change the subject, before I get caught with my words down…..


That decision, sadly, leaves me no choice but to turn to my new-found, and newly established protocol of ruthlessness, which I’ve learned to embrace, at least for the times we encounter here, attempting to end these intro sections…. I’ve discovered such a hard line is completely necessary, and should have been instituted the first time it came before the board…. But, I’m stubborn, and hate to give up any right, even if the exercise of it is less than productive…. It’s just a bad habit to accept the abrogation of a right, any right at all, something those in our government would do well to remember….


Since I AM now a relatively ruthless person (compared to previously, anyway….), I will assume the stance, and proclaim the hour…. ‘Tis time to get on with this mess, or it will again take over, and we’ll never be able to show any influence over where we end up…. No telling where that might be, either. Since I see an opening, right over there, we’re going for it….. Sit back, and enjoy, ffolkes…. it looks like it will only take a triple-loop to get through the opening, so your seat belts should keep you safe….


Shall we Pearl?….


“If you understand, things are as they are. If you do not understand, things are as they are.” — Gensha, Zen Master


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


I’m in the mood today for a bit of Sherlock and Watson….. Here is a good one, another story with horse racing as a basic element of the story….. Enjoy, ffolkes…. It’s a really relaxing way to spend an hour, and, it has NO commercials…. though there are pauses written in that indicate where they once were shoved upon the gentle viewer….


 


Sherlock Holmes – Season 5 episode 3 – Shoscombe Old Place





















 


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


“I am quite sure that (bar one) I have no race prejudices, and I think I have no color prejudices or caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. Indeed I know it. I can stand any society. all that I care to know is that a man is a human being – that is enough for me; he can’t be any worse.” — Mark Twain — Harper’s Magazine, September, 1899


After reading the following, it will be a good test of how alert, and informed, the Gentle Reader may be, to ask them if they are at all surprised by the information contained…. It’s a rather long article, as it covers a lot of obfuscation and chicanery by the corporate and governmental assholes involved; clarifying such murky waters can take a bit of care, and the article is quite thorough in presenting its arguments….. Read it, and weep….


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/06/intelligence-agencies-lawyer-client-abdel-hakim-belhaj-mi5-mi6-gchq?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2


In the article, you will find an embedded .pdf document, which, if all goes aright, you will see below, a scanned copy of the legal complaint against the spy agencies in the UK, where the suit against them is being pursued…. It clearly states which privileged legal communications between plaintiffs and their counsel were intercepted, and used (illegally) to build cases against those plaintiffs…. It’s pretty damning evidence, showing clearly the sheer disdain the governments of the US and the UK have for the privacy rights of the individuals who make up the population of their countries…..


 


 



 


Can you believe the sheer effrontery of the spies who cleared this shit? Sorry, vulgarity and expletives are necessary adjuncts to a rant like this one will be…. I’m relating, with evidence, the criminal acts of the very people who are supposed to protect our rights, and they are NOT going to like any of it…. They are creatures of the darkness; any light shone upon them hurts them, making them want to lie even louder, and scuttle off into the nearest crack in the wall or floor, to regain the shadowy confines of darkness, where they may plot, and plan their next round of abuse, and/or, theft….


I’m sick of these assholes…. Let’s go around the ‘Net, & see what else they’ve been up to, or into…. I’ll make a short comment on each, just below the links….


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/06/1342689/-South-Carolina-exit-poll-asks-whether-blacks-are-getting-too-demanding-over-equal-rights?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29


Once my mouth closed from it’s fully dropped-open-in-disbelief-and-shock position, all I could think when I saw this was, “Are you shitting me?”…. That was yesterday, when I first saw it; as I look upon it today, that is STILL my only reaction….


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/06/1342646/-Alabama-passes-law-banning-sharia-law-because-of-course-they-did?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29



As the title says, of course they did….. I think there must be a law on the books in Alabama that prohibits anyone with an IQ over 75 to live in the state…. which, if you think about it, is a good thing, as it keeps a large number of them all in one place, where they’ll be easier to keep an eye on, so they can be monitored for self-harm through ignorance….


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/06/1342626/-Intensive-anti-voter-fraud-effort-finds-no-instance-of-actual-voter-fraud?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29


Yep…. out of more than a hundred MILLION votes cast at this election, the paranoid hate group monitoring the voting areas for fraud were planning to prove their pet theory, that the level of voting fraud was rampant, and a huge problem, which would justify both their paranoia, and their insistent efforts to take away the voting rights of the poor and disenfranchised citizens among us…. Working as hard as they could, they were able to come up, nation-wide, with eight instances they classified as fraud, five of which were a bit specious, as they dealt with broken voting machines, not fraud by any individual…. But, that was ALL they could find….


Let’s just look at that fractionally, which would be 8/120,000,000…. If we figure the percentage of occurrence of this HUGE problem, it comes out to a figure many thousands of times smaller than a single percent…. Boy, what a humongous problem THAT turned out to be….


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/06/1341593/-Cartoon-Christie-Cuomo-s-guide-nbsp-to-nbsp-Ebola?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29


The Cuomo/Christie fiasco surrounding “THE EBOLA CRISIS” explained, and made fun of quite well…


http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29950946


This article makes clear the police and intelligence agencies of the governments are working as hard as they can to penetrate the ‘Dark Net’, upon which the Tor Network is operated. The Tor Network (whose operation is explained in the article) is designed to be able to keep government snoops, hackers, or anyone wishing to look at private communications, from knowing where those communications come from, and where they go…. Naturally, this upsets the police. who want access to EVERYONE’s data, and computers…. They are apparently making progress, as this article relates how their latest attempts have gained them some ground in the quest to find a way to get into the dark net to follow all those who use it, so they can invade their privacy in their quest of complete power….



http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/07/us-binladen-seals-idUSKBN0IQ2RC20141107?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews


I have to be honest. I didn’t read the last listed article, from the Reuters news feed, re: two ex-Marines, both of whom claim to be the one who killed bin Laden, simply because I didn’t wish to subject myself to the sheer ignorance, and complete cluelessness of the people involved in such a ridiculous argument… and, if I need to explain WHY, y’all haven’t been paying attention….


This is, perhaps, the single greatest public display of stupidity, not to mention amorality, EVER. Ever…. No body, in my extensive memory, or in my no less extensive store of  knowledge derived from reading, in history, has ever made such a completely asinine fool of themselves, right out where everyone can see and hear….


SIGH….. I believe I’ve made my point, ffolkes, so, let’s go on to something not so depressing…. Oh, shoot…. by saying that, I won’t be able to use one of MY poems!…. Oh well, I’ll cheat…. it’s easy, and y’all can’t see what I’m doing anyway….. or, can you?…. Hmm, I’ll have to think on that….. Meanwhile, onward….


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


If you’ve been here a time or two, you’ll already know who today’s poet will be…. Since these are small, but chewy, we’ll have two….


 


A Cloud withdrew from the Sky

Superior Glory be

But that Cloud and its Auxiliaries

Are forever lost to meHad I but further scanned

Had I secured the Glow

In an Hermetic Memory

It had availed me now.Never to pass the Angel

With a glance and a Bow

Till I am firm in Heaven

Is my intention now. 


~~ Emily Dickinson ~~


——————————————


A Dying Tiger—moaned for Drink—

I hunted all the Sand—

I caught the Dripping of a Rock

And bore it in my Hand—


His Mighty Balls—in death were thick—

But searching—I could see

A Vision on the Retina

Of Water—and of me—


‘Twas not my blame—who sped too slow—

‘Twas not his blame—who died

While I was reaching him—

But ’twas—the fact that He was dead— 


~~ Emily Dickinson ~~






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Today’s old-school pearl came together yesterday afternoon, and it makes no apologies for any misconceptions regarding human nature it may puncture like the soap bubble they so closely resemble…..


“There was, I think, never any reason to  believe in any innate superiority of the male, except his superior muscle.” — Bertrand Russell, Ideas That Have Harmed Mankind (1950)


“I am further of opinion that it would be better for us to have [no laws] at all than to have them in so prodigious numbers as we have.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book iii, Chap. xiii


“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain


“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” — J.K. Rowling, Padfoot Returns, — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, spoken by the character Sirius Black


“A skunk is better company than a person who prides himself on being “frank.” — Smart Bee


“The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.” — Edmund Burke, letter, April 3, 1777, to the Sheriffs of Bristol


INCOMPOSSIBLE, adj.  Unable to exist if something else exists.  Two things are incompossible when the world of being has scope enough for one of them, but not enough for both — as Walt Whitman’s poetry and God’s mercy to man.  Incompossibility, it will be seen, is only incompatibility let loose.  Instead of such low language as “Go heel yourself — I mean to kill you on sight,” the words, “Sir, we are incompossible,” would convey and equally significant intimation and in stately courtesy are altogether superior. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”


Well, of course it would….


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Some days, this process goes better than others; this one wasn’t bad at all, considering….. In any case, it seems to be done, except for the final part, where I go through and miss all the errors…. I’ll do that, and get it right out…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided nobody comes after me with a warrant, in which case, it is conceivable I could disappear for a while, until I can find safe haven…. For now, though, enough is enough….


 


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….







		
	
					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Is it Bastille Day yet?….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




But ‘midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men,

To hear, to see, to feel, and to possess,

And roam along, the world’s tired denizen,

With none who bless us, none whom we can bless.


~~ Lord Byron (1788-1824) ~~


~ Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto ii, Stanza 26 ~~


day2 London 008


     Of late, I’ve been using some of my older pictures, taken on a trip to Europe last year, as the opening for this…. whatever it is. It is simpler for me, as I don’t have to worry about giving proper attribution, and can use any pic at all to demonstrate whatever point or idea I’m planning to utilize for material…. Sound’s highfalutin, I know, but, it works for me…. and, here in the intro section, ‘anything that works’ is our motto….


Of course, I can always go with, or comment upon the opening quote, too…. But, both of those bonus qualities are by design, though it may appear that there isn’t any such thing going on…. I got so frustrated of trying to come up with something worthwhile to start with, I began to use those two objects to give myself a running start, so to speak, with the opportunity to use either, or both, or neither as part of the beginning lines, which, in the process, can reveal the best direction to take…. Or, as often happens around here, it can confuse things even more than usual, in which case, I generally retreat into silliness, or weirdness, whichever jumps up first….


The picture was taken in an alley off Portobello Road in London, and serves to provide me with good memories of a fine day exploring the endless marketplace on that Road…. As the saying in the British Empire went, “You can find anything you want on Portobello Road.”….. It also served as a one-stop shopping center for all the necessary souvenirs and gifts I brought back to friends and family from London, and gave me that priceless photo for my collection of memories, of me and Charlie Chaplin, in identical poses, in front of a house on Portobello Road…. Any of these pix can take me back there in my head, so, it’s like being able to go anytime I wish….


It also provides me with ample material to fill in this big hole that forms each day at the top of this page, one I often fill with incomprehensible nattering, or with nonsense, or even outright humor (though the latter may be a subjective judgment….). That, in itself, is enough to make it a worthwhile decision, which allows me some space in my head, before having to go on to the next section, to deal with all the angst and turmoil that goes on in my head for each separate section…. SIGH…. If only someone was paying me for all of this, it might seem a bit more, I don’t know,…. justifiable? Maybe….


Ah well, it’s all moot now, as we’ve reached the jumping off point again…. In fact, we’re moving so fast this morning, I think I’d just better give out the warning, and trust to our run of luck to get us through the opening intact…. Wish me luck; the insurance won’t stretch to cover another mass payout…. Here we go, so, please, HOLD ON!….


Shall we Pearl?


“A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” — Mark Twain


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


A friend of mine is fond of internet memes, and funny/strange You Tube videos posted by some of our society’s fringe elements…. She was showing me some of her favorites, which includes this video…. I will give fair warning, ffolkes…. Don’t drink anything while watching this, as the choking and aspiration that could occur…. If you began gut-busting laughter with a mouthful of cola or milk, it’s going to either choke you, or it will come out as a wide-angle spray you’ll be cleaning off the walls for days…. Enjoy!…. Oh, and the link has a bunch more odd, funny videos for your entertainment, as well….




 


Americans Taste Test Australian Food

































 


 


 


 


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


“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” — Abraham Lincoln


http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-9-billion-witness-20141106?utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=110614_16&utm_medium=email&ea=YWxwaGFnaWdvaWRAZ21haWwuY29t



Ffolkes…. This article is a must-read for any American citizen who is concerned about the banks’ and government’s collusion in the last few years…. The bailout, the recession, all deliberately caused by immoral assholes, who managed to make money out of their whole supposed fines, by charging their customers for paying them…. And, the lengths to which they’ve gone to keep the witnesses to their criminality quiet are astoundingly brash, showing complete disdain for the public, or for any rule of law….. They believe, and are encouraged to believe by the complicity of politicians, that their money will buy off any such litigation against them for their theft….


I’m not quite ready to rant as much as this article’s revelations deserve…. But, I have an older rant, from early this year, that will cover much of what is needed, with some comments and thoughts on the same issue, from February of this year….. It’s a long one, but, not too shabby, if I do say so myself…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. They deserve every name we call them….


“A government that fears it’s people is a government that should be feared.” — Smart Bee


From 2/25/2014:


If you would please read this article, the arguments that follow will make a lot more sense; if you don’t, it may take you a bit longer to figure out the gist of it….    😉     Plus, you’ll know, for sure, I’m not making this stuff up, just so I have something to write about….


http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-help-from-russians-193641893.html


In the time of Pythagoras that proverbial phrase “Ipse dixit” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Pythagoras, xxv


Ipse Dixit. [Latin, “He himself said it.”]  An unsupported statement whose veracity rests solely on the authority of the individual who makes it.


And so it begins….. All of a sudden, many months AFTER the fact, several high-ranking officials from the administration all come out with the same story-line, IMPLYING that Eric Snowden was influenced and/or helped by Russian spies to do what he did…. This statement by Mikey-boy Rogers, U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman, R-Mich., Senator Feinstein’s cohort (she’s his counterpart in the Senate, who put out her office’s lies about this issue yesterday….), is the newest step in the ongoing attempt by the administration to paint Mr. Snowden’s actions with the brush of treason, when, in fact, they KNOW he is not a traitor, but, rather, a patriotic American, caught in the web of intrigue THEY created with their clandestine, illegal activities….


As soon as I saw this headline today, my highly-trained, delicately-honed, automatic political crap detector SCREAMED at me….. “LIES, LIES, MADE UP LIES!!”, it said, without much doubt implied (accuracy factor of the detection meter said it was 99.9% likely to be lies…. which makes it pretty certain, as I’ve programmed it to never say that it is completely sure; it defaults to that number when it is…)….. This is SO obviously a campaign to smear Snowden, it positively REEKS! They are introducing doubt of his character into the dialogue, which, come to think of it, is only a monologue, because, hey, he’s not here to defend himself, is he?


This, of course, is typical political posturing, reminiscent of any other campaign, such as an election run, when they need to direct the public’s attention toward certain areas, away from others, so they can control the conversation…. In his speech, Obama admitted to responding to a public dialogue called for by the leak of information, while never admitting any wrongdoing for having committed the spying initially. Yet, this conversation, this debate, has only shown them to be more secretive than we knew, and they are pulling out all the stops to stop any further investigation into, or outcry about what is REALLY going on…. Naturally, since they are politicians, they will approach this as a campaign to be won; the first step in any campaign is to decrease the viability, the believability of the opposition…. Hence, unproved, unfounded, and untrue accusations, out of nowhere, to try to demonize Eric Snowden….


They say first, it’s beyond his abilities to have done this…. Well, hell, even the most thick-headed fool can see this is a total fabrication…. If this is true, would it mean that the NSA made a habit of hiring programmers that couldn’t understand what they were being tasked to do? Doesn’t make any sense to me…. This man was part of the program, a programmer, and KNOWS how to read data, as well as write the programs that would do so…. Hell, I’m only a high powered user, and I understand what is being done, and what WAS done…. This statement is an obvious lie, an attempt to demean Snowden, so he looks more like a villain, or, at best, the dupe of master spies….


The second thing to note about this claim, is that it is introduced by a politician, who obviously is NOT capable of judging what a programmer is capable of doing with a computer…. Mikey-boy probably has to ask his admin how to use his smart-phone, which is, arguably, smarter than he is, technically speaking… Yet, this idiot, in his power suit and tie, makes this claim unequivocally, thereby implying that one of the most competent programmers alive (look who hired him to begin with!….) isn’t capable of doing something he was trained to do, but, had to be helped by a foreign power…. A pretty far-fetched stretch, to my way of looking at it….


The one professional spy they quoted, from the CIA, it should be noted, said, in his statement, right off, so he couldn’t be accused later of any prevarications…. “I don’t have any particular evidence”, but, then goes on to agree with the outrageous claims made by a politician, one with NO FUCKING CLUE about the glaringly obvious untruth of what he proposes, or, indeed, of how much truth any of what he said might have contain…. Rogers’ job, which he performed perfectly, was, simply, to put in the minds of the public a single idea, one small but important lie, that Snowden was made to do what he did, by coercion, by trickery, or by duplicity; they don’t say which, nor do they have to…. They merely imply, without directly accusing, so that the lies they intend to bring out later, as seeds for further doubt, will find fertile soil in the simple minds of the public….


None of the truth, or any actual connection to reality of the claims he was making concerned him; he was strictly a talking head, on a major TV show; his mission was to plant in the public awareness the idea that Eric Snowden didn’t act alone, and that the very act of his doing what he did, regardless of ANY evidence to the contrary, should be viewed as proof of his having had help from another country…. The fact that this isn’t remotely true was not an issue; the message was delivered, and supported by the other actors in the play…. Throw in the claim about him being technically unable to do what he did, and you’ve got some juice to keep the story going, even though all of it is a complete fabrication….


Ffolkes, if you can’t see that this is true, that you were deliberately lied to, and manipulated in an attempt to make you think what the government wants you to think, well, I guess I should just use THEIR justification and tell you…. You, too, are an idiot, and the fact is, if you believe any of what this man says about this subject, that, in itself, can be considered as PROOF of your idiocy….. incontrovertible, undeniable PROOF. (After all, that’s the same method of proof they’re offering for THEIR assertions…..) If the timing, and the words themselves, don’t make your crap-detector go off like it was on fire, then I’m afraid there isn’t much hope for you in the real world….


These statements were merely the latest tactic to be applied by the White House political strategists, all without having to bring out their big gun, the president, with his down-home, I’m-so-sincere, boyish face, and, the now-famous, good-ol-boy, aw-shucks grin, both of which are political tools of great value to him, but only if not over-used….. Right now, they’ve got a few of the sidekicks out in the limelight, after his speech over the weekend, making up stuff and carrying on with all the talking points and deliberate manipulations, all orchestrated in Mr. Snowden’s absence….. one I hope he continues to maintain, as it is the ONLY hope he has of surviving the future (….Ironically enough, in a case of Life imitating Life, this is a problem ALL OF US are going to have in the very near future…. that of running out of any hope of surviving the future, when the very air we breathe will be toxic to us….)


After seeing this story, and taking into account the other stories in response to the president’s speech about the nonexistent changes he claims he wants to make to the NSA mission (I mean, look closely at what he said…. He isn’t changing ANYTHING of any significance…..), I think it would be safe to predict that in the next few days and weeks, we will hear more fabrications and implications, with or without any actual evidence, about Mr. Snowden, as the administration continues to distract and defuse, hoping that if they stall long enough, something else will come up to take the public’s awareness from their spying, and put it back in the closet, or sweep it under the rug, where they keep all the other stuff they don’t want us to see or know, about what they are REALLY doing behind our backs….


(Note from February…. I personally think they’re hoping for another idiot to steal a gun and shoot up a mall, or a school somewhere, which always takes all the public’s attention and focuses it on their unreasonable fears for a couple of weeks….But, then, I’m pretty convinced of their complete lack of any human compassion, anyway, so, my concerns reflect my belief in their human nature, and their lack of any sort of virtue that would make them tell the truth, or espouse an agenda that benefits anyone but themselves….)


You can bet on that, ffolkes, for sure…. They’re not going to stop lying, just because they’ve been caught at it…. They’ll only get more bold with it…. It’s the way they’re built, they can’t, and won’t, help it…. There’s no profit in it for them to give up, is there? And, profit is what they are all about, when it comes down to the bottom line…. Profit for their self-interests, which are, to them, more important than the whole rest of the human race…..


As Lily Tomlin’s character, Edith Ann, used to say, when she was done making her brilliantly simple observations of people’s foibles…., “And that’s the Truth! THPPPPT!”


“Plausibility is the morality of fiction.” — Edith Mirrilees


Monthly update: The administration’s silence on the NSA spying issues continues to this date…. I’ve seen only one article in the past month on the subject, and it was merely a rehash of this information, with no real new developments reported…. They’re letting it go as long as they can without bringing any of it up themselves, so as to give the public, which has a notoriously SHORT attention span, a chance to forget all about it….. Good luck on that, dudes….


😉


I’ll be here, and I’ll be reprinting this, or a fresher version, either in a month, or, before that, if and/or when new statements are forthcoming from the potUS, or one of his myrmidons….. (Unless, of course, they decide to stop me…. That would be the ONLY reason I wouldn’t be posting a month from now…. in which case, you’d no doubt read about all the dead feds in the news, if they can count that high…. I don’t intend to go, shall we say, quietly? We shall say it….)


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


I am going with a poem of my own, simply because I’m too lazy to go find one by somebody else…. Deal with it…. Here is one I wrote not so long ago that came out pretty well….




A dream, weeping….


“Never a dull moment to spare”, he said

with a crooked grin, and a broad wink.

“Can’t keep Reality hanging by a thread….

what would Chaos, or Entropy think?”


So, we plucked up our dreams of old,

to carry us on, in dutiful, strong arms,

stuffed a candle in the remaining fold,

for luck, and perfect proof against charms.


Storms follow the sun,  but, never stay; 

lessons round every corner, all free.

Past fleeting doubts, in a sad disarray,

the journey becomes the reason to be.


Simple kindness manifests untold riches,

in defiance of common cause’s demise.

Bold courage, hanging in stitches,

mends wounds that come as no surprise.


Still, waters run deep, ’tis said by many.

Too much pain cannot apprehend

the salient, sharp points of epiphany,

nor, plainly, to wisdom aspire to pretend.


Folly dogs even the simplest truth,

fumes of toxic ignorance and bile,

alienated as a loose rotten tooth;

it often hides itself, for a long while.


Sought after eons ago, we cried out,

to believe, to suffer no more doubt.

But found instead good reason,

for love, and truth, from season, to season.


~~ gigoid ~~




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


What we have here is a somewhat loose old-school pearl, without a single parameter one could put their finger on…. But, it still manages to leave one with the feeling they’ve learned SOMETHING, so, I guess it works okay…. Just don’t use this one for any treatises or essays, as it isn’t definite enough in its sincerity to provide unassailable proof, of anything other than my own strangeness….


“Both Empedocles and Heraclitus held it for a truth that man could not be altogether cleared from injustice in dealing with beasts as he now does.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Which are the most crafty, Water or Land Animals? 7


“Let yourself be open and life will be easier.  A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable.  A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.” — Buddha


“Each time that Americans hold another election, about the only thing they learn is that they did not learn much from the last election.” — Smart Bee


“Goodness is beauty in its best estate.” — Marlowe


“The bear and Carl lived together in the cave for several years until, one day, the true savagery of Nature being unleashed, Carl killed the bear and ate him.” — Gary Larson


“How many northern Californians does it take to change a light bulb?” “None of your f***ing business and have a nice day.” — Smart Bee


“Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted counts.” — Albert Einstein


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


Okay, that will do. If not, well, we’ll just go to plan B, and make our way to the nearest transit station, where we will board the next shuttle to Mars, or Venus, or the Asteroid Colonies, there to drown our disappointment and sorrows in a ration of their homemade whiskey…. Or, I may just go on back to bed, and try this again tomorrow…. Yeah, that sounds like the ticket…. 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….



					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Look Hilly! A red tie, a flag pin, a fake smile, & a ready lie…. It’s one of them rogue politicians!…

			
						

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				Reply			

					


				

			
Ffolkes,




“Live so that you can at least get the benefit of the doubt.”


~~ Kin Hubbard ~~


mantra against fear

The Litany Against Fear


~~ Bene Gesserit Mantra ~~


From “Dune” by Frank Herbert




The world we live in, because of a serious flaw in our nature, is a dangerous place…. As Albert Einstein once observed, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” The nature of our inherent flaw has been the subject of inquiry since the beginning of recorded history, and before; it has been examined, analyzed, dissected, and discussed innumerable times, and ways, with no real solution to the problem ever becoming apparent…. To this day, this…. weakness, prevalent in a large percentage of the species, continues to cause difficulties for the entire planet, not only for ourselves….


However, we, or I, won’t rant about it, not yet…. But, I’d like to point out the basic nature of the flaw that is so common it has proved to be nearly impossible to delete from our internal file systems, (Perhaps it may be said to be not so ‘nearly’…. nothing we’ve tried has ever helped much, so, it may just BE completely impossible to eradicate the root cause from our lives…. simply because it is a root part of our nature….). I like to describe the flaw by calling it by it’s most common name, to wit: deliberate ignorance…. This is not to say that those who possess the flaw are stupid, necessarily…. Stupid can’t help being stupid; ignorance is a choice, one made by those who wish never to feel, or, in their own eyes, have any responsibility for their actions, and, especially regarding how those actions affect those around them….


This, of course, a long winded way to say they are plain and simple, selfish, narcisstic assholes, who consistently choose to use their abilities and talents solely for their own benefit…. They have no compassion, for they don’t acknowledge the innate worth of anyone but themselves…. This attitude arises out of our most basic emotional reaction to what the world does around us, i.e., fear…. The asinine buttheads who prey on other people for their own benefit are, quite simply, cowards…. All of what they see and perceive about the world frightens them to death, because they do not have the courage to ever admit their own ignorance…. Without admitting one does not know, one can never learn anything at all, including anything that would reduce their overriding fears….


The Litany Against Fear, from the book, Dune, is one man’s attempt to offer a partial solution, to the extent that if one has the wit to study themselves, and use the ideas of others to help them understand both themselves and the world around them, affirmations such as the Litany help to train the mind, into one with true knowledge of the universe, and their place in it…. This knowledge, and the qualities one must develop to obtain it, have the net result of removing the power of the fear which is our most common reaction to things we don’t understand… When one has come to understand their own fears, those fears have no more power to control or influence one’s actions….


What I can tell you for sure is that it works…. I first read the book when I was about fourteen, and I found that, prior to that time when I studied the arts of war more thoroughly, and trained myself to be as dangerous as the world I inhabit, it helped to control the power of fear in me, to where I controlled IT, rather than the other way around. The knowledge I sought and found later served to supply me with even greater resistance to those fears, until it no longer was of any great concern…. Having had the advantage of knowing, and using, the Litany was of immense help….


There, now, that wasn’t so bad, was it? We managed to complete enough chatty conversational discussion to qualify as a proper intro section, so, if nothing else is true, that worked just fine…. I can’t say I’m any more impressed than usual, but, it works well enough to get on with the rest of today’s messiness…. which is, no doubt, a good thing, as my hands are all weirded out this morning, giving me fits if I type too long…. Before it gets so bad I can’t hit the right keys at all, I’d best use that hole right there, and get us out of here…. Hang on, ffolkes…


Shall we Pearl?


“When a man has pity on all living creatures then only is he noble.” — Buddha


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


In today’s digital world, becoming famous to much of the world isn’t necessarily difficult; what is difficult is maintaining the same degree of fame over time…. The world mostly has a very short attention span…. This comedian/social critic/self-styled revolutionary, Russell Brand, has managed, by publishing his thoughts and public interviews on You Tube, to keep society’s attention, if not completely focused on him at all times, still in their awareness to compel their attention, after a couple of years….


His ideas and words become news in no time, as the media finds him to be a ratings booster, due to his unique style, and the attractiveness of his ideas to a large portion of humanity….. If nothing else, he’s a kick to listen to, especially if one examines his ideas more deeply, to find they are, generally, right on the mark…. Enjoy, ffolkes, there is a lot of stuff at the link you might find either amusing, or astounding, or offensive…. but, mostly, you won’t dismiss any of it as nonsense, because it’s pretty obvious the stuff he spouts off about is mostly all true….




Russell Brand on David Letterman – October 13th 2014 – Full Interview






































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




“The punishment suffered by the wise who refuse to take part in the government, 


is to live under the government of bad men.” 


~~ Plato ~~




http://time.com/3558263/mitch-mcconnell-shutdown-obamacare-majority-leader/


In an interview that brings new meaning to the phrase, “mealy-mouthed”, Mitch McConnell lives up to his reputation as one of the most dishonest, amoral politicians alive today, a true disciple of the master of evil, one of his predecessors as the third or fourth most powerful flunkie on the continent, the demon Cheney, and the newest example of the obvious lack of connection to the REAL demographic diversity of the citizens of the United States. Even though he actually says nothing in the interview that could be in any way construed as a promise, or a commitment to any position at all, he still managed to demonstrate his complete ignorance of anything that is of real importance to any of those citizens, beyond the now small minority of rich, white Caucasians, and those who believe all their bigoted, racist nonsense.


“It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.” — H. L. Mencken


Mr. Mencken has, sadly, hit upon what gives all the appearance of a universal truth, when applied to Mankind…. Well, perhaps only in specific cases, rather than universal, but the great majority do have problems resisting evil impulses, or display a distressing lack of will regarding evil influences…. In short, strangely enough, a lot of people, especially those who end up as politicians, or preachers, or police, or mercenaries, or snakeheads, or bankers (to wit: that part of Man that preys upon the rest, acting solely out of motivations based on personal gain….) are those who make the decision to embrace darkness, rather than resisting its seductive call….


But then, the darkness promises one need never feel personally responsible for any acts of evil, or have any compassion for others, especially for their victims, whom they typically view with great disdain….. all while consistently presenting a different face to those victims, a face they are seduced into believing is one to be trusted to think for them….


Yes, it sounds rather far-fetched to me, also, that ANYONE would fall for this load of crap, but, they do, time after time, generation after generation…. To view the patterns of human history is to wonder if the tendency to be forced into slavery is a congenital failing, peculiar to a portion of the human race, as opposed to others who are congenitally predisposed to prey on their own kind….


SIGH…. Bummer. I find myself, at this point, unable to carry on this rant, due to physical constraints…. (Hmm? Oh, no. nothing life-threatening… it’s just that my hands seem to be turning into bricks….). Rather than just abandoning our indictment of the asininnies we’ve hauled into the limelight, allowing them to scatter off into the cracks in the walls, like a herd of the vermin they resemble so closely, without at least hearing the indictment against them, we’ll try something else…


I know, I’ll ask SB to put together a short pearl to accomplish for us some of the poking of their dignity, and pulling of their covers we so enjoy…. Let’s see what it can find for us, shall we?….


“At a convention of biological scientists one researcher remarks to another, “Did you know that in our lab we have switched from mice to lawyers for our experiments?” “Really?”, the other replied, “Why did you switch?” “Well, for two reasons.  First we found that lawyers are far more plentiful, and second, the lab assistants don’t get so attached to them.” — Smart Bee


“Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order.” — John Lindsay


“Money is wrong. It’s the means whereby man enslaves his brother.” — Finny


“Government, today, is growing too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world; there are only subjects.  They work day in and day out for their masters;  they are bound to die for their masters at call.  Out of this working and dying they tend to get less and less.” — H.L. Mencken




“When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: ‘Whose?'” — Don Marquis


“He is useless on top of the ground; he aught to be under it, inspiring the cabbages.” — Mark Twain


“A guilty conscience never feels secure.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 617


“A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedaemonian, “I do not believe you can do as much.” “True,” said he, “but every goose can.”

— Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Remarkable Speeches


Basta! We all probably can find something more productive on which to spend our time…. Onward….


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


Here is a poem by one of my favorite modern poets; his work is gritty, real, and straight to the point…. It’s very powerful stuff, written from the vantage point of a man who spent most of his life on the streets…. which made him an excellent voice of the people…. Plus, what he writes seems to often complement the subjects on which I choose to rant, such as today….




Challenge To The Dark



shot in the eye 

shot in the brain 

shot in the **** 

shot like a flower in the dance 


amazing how death wins hands down 

amazing how much credence is given to idiot forms of life 


amazing how laughter has been drowned out 

amazing how viciousness is such a constant 


I must soon declare my own war on their war 

I must hold to my last piece of ground 

I must protect the small space I have made that has allowed me life 


my life not their death 

my death not their death…


~~ Charles Bukowski ~~ 




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


Smart Bee seems to think I have nothing better to do this morning than sit here and patiently wait for it to get off its ass & give me what I need to finish…. This took forfuckingever…. Wow. I must have used that word before, because Spell Checker didn’t even blink at it…. Okay, so, that bodes well for the rest of this group…. May as well get started…. but, I’d suggest you hook the safety line to the hook by the doorway, so as not to fall out of the plane if we have to make any sudden flight adjustments due to confusion….


Actually, this begins strongly, and in some way, brings us where we would otherwise wish to be…. I guess….




Happily may I walk.

May it be beautiful before me.

May it be beautiful behind me.

May it be beautiful below me.

May it be beautiful above me.

May it be beautiful all around me.

In beauty it is finished.


 — Navajo Night Chant




“When man learns to understand and control his own behavior as well as he is learning to understand and control the behavior of crop plants and domestic animals, he may be justified in believing that he has become civilized.” — E. C. Stakman


“Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself, for he shall never cease to be entertained.” — John Powell


“Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” — Mahatma Gandhi


“As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.” — Ursula K. LeGuin


“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” — H.P. Lovecraft, ‘Supernatural Horror in Literature’


“You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.” — Erica Jong


Hmm…. I’m not sure about this one, but, it seems to make some sense, sort of…. Ah well, each individual pearl is enough to work with, and, now, we’re done….


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


No doubt, I’ve done better…. But, since the last line of the last section pretty much says it all, I think I’ll take my chances, & take my leave while the possibility of arrest is still speculation, not a certainty…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!




 À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Excessive salivation won’t help, or hinder….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“All the troubles of man come from his not knowing how to sit still.”


~~ Pascal ~~


whales jumping


     Filafa zobrino…. Cantano prodilli, comedaren porsovolo. Sellente fortuita pregente forse. Sile voncuba sekrateike, grabeesee soltranito…. Pesce sagua?


Coolness…. It seems I have another language in my head, ready to deploy for releasing all of that really vulgar, insulting, and probably illegal stuff that comes out of my emotional holding area into the atmosphere, where it won’t harm anyone, and so far, is not affecting the already scary situation with climate change…. it’s too toxic for even us to use in any meaningful way…. But, then, what would we know of meaningful around here, eh? Not much, I can assure you…. It’s okay, though, the meaning of the above is such that, if I told you, not only would I have to kill you, but, you’d probably want to kill yourself…


No, I have no idea what language it is; it was probably beamed down to me from the mother-ship, sometime during the night while my software was rebooting… It DOES seem to have some sort of resemblance to Italian, but, with some spillover out of, or into, Greek…. Hell, maybe it came from Saturn’s moon, Titan…. Lately, there have been some indications of stuff going on down on the surface of that moon that indicates possible intelligent actions…. or, they could be just anomalies in the telescope. It’s a bit hard to determine from Earth; the camera on the telescope that took the pictures we’re receiving are several hundred million miles away now, on one of our probe satellites, launched years ago, and just now completing its mission around Saturn…


But, it DOES trip off the tongue rather elegantly, don’t you think? No? Well, I do, and it’s my blog, so there….


As you can see, some days around here are more organized than others….. This particular day is such that I’m not sure how to proceed; it all could change on me in a heartbeat, and there I’d be, still trying to translate a language nobody’s ever heard or seen before into some kind of meaningful, or, at least, a partially honest, yet condescending episode of parenthetical ideation. Works for me, but, not everyone has my degree of tolerance, or my panache at making shit up….


On that rather silly note, I think I’ll wrap this up, and go see what other kind of crap I can come up with today…. I’m feeling good, (well, as good as it gets these days…), and hopeful for a reasonably pain-free hour, if not day…. Meantime, I see an opportunity to take us out of here without any serious bloodshed coming up, so, we’ll take this slow on the road, and see if it will float…. And, yes, I paid good money for those cliches; I’m damned if I’ll let them go to waste…. Hang on, ffolkes…


Shall we Pearl?


“The makers of fortunes have a second love of money as a creation of their own, resembling the affection of authors for their poems, or of parents for their children … and hence they are very bad company, for they talk of nothing but the praises of wealth.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)


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


I’m in the mood for something cerebral today, (that’s cerebral, not cereal….), so, here is a mix of classical pieces put together by a You Tube downloader, designed to stimulate and relax the mind at once, to enhance study habits and retention…. I like the little text that pops up at the start…. “Keep Calm And Study Hard” with a royal crown above it…. the icon of the Queen’s wisdom, as it is portrayed, with affectionate cheekiness, on souvenir cups, key chains, and clothing all over London, starting during her Golden Jubilee Celebration a few years ago….







 


3 HOURS of Classical Music




































 


 




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




“You are not a fool just because you have done something foolish; 


only if the folly of it escapes you.”


~~ Jim Fiebig ~~




Headlines from the UK Guardian, 11/4/2014:



Fresh Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone raises fears of new infection chain 


I’ll bet the Guardian wouldn’t cop to the idea they are contributing to the problems faced by trumpeting the latest inducements for panic released by official information sources…. Every little dangerous new piece of speculation about what the disease MIGHT do, or how bad the situation COULD POSSIBLY become is reports like this, with the explicit use of the phrase, “… X raises fears of new….”….


By analyzing the sub textual meaning of this, it becomes crystal clear they are engaging in speculation, making an unwarranted assumption of the ubiquitous veracity of Murphy’s laws, which, though powerful, are not omnipotent…. It is entirely possible the newest information means something entirely different than their predictions of imminent doom; the reality of it will most likely settle somewhere in between the best and worst potential scenarios…. But, bland reports of technical information doesn’t sell any papers or ads….


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prompt RSPCA warning


The charity group RSPCA has raised their best Monty Python silly voice in protest over the possible effects this more than just a little silly movie has had on the baby terrapins of the world… They’ve seen an upsurge in “abandoned turtles” since it came out, a number which has grown beyond the point of reason, as the owners tire of the turtles, when they are no longer “cute”….


SIGH….. No… It isn’t a joke I put here; it’s a real headline, and story, and actual events acted out in the real world, by, who else, people who haven’t a clue as to what life is all about, or, their own place in reality…. I think this headline, along with the others below, and above, will give a very clear portrait of just how STUPID people are, in general, as well as providing more evidence in support of yesterday’s rant, concerning the same issue, to wit: rampant ignorance and stupidity, at work in the real world….


Let’s see what else we can find, to give y’all an idea of how dim is our candle of hope….


From the 11/4/2014 UK Guardian Book Review:



Benjamin Zephaniah: people all over the world are living in fear and to me all those people are being terrorised


“In the second part of an interview by group members DG Readers, the Terror Kid author talks about terrorism, governments, why it’s really important to be an activist and how the revolution starts with chocolate cake”


Oh, yeah, that’ll do it…. We’ll either bribe, or threaten the corporate masters of the world to stop preying on mankind, by offering them chocolate cake…. or, by eating it ourselves (maybe in front of them, without sharing?…. It would piss ME off, for sure….) Sure, that’ll do it….


Ffolkes, do I really need to tell you why this is so stupid? If so, I think the effort most likely would fall into the category of “sheer unadulterated futility”…. for what, to me, is a patently obvious reason… I’ll give you a five-word-clue…. Pollyanna is a FICTIONAL character….


From Think Progress, 11/4/2014:



IPCC Scientists Emphasize Immorality Of Inaction By Focusing On ‘Irreversible Impacts’


Excerpted from the article:


What do the world’s leading scientists mean by “irreversible impacts”?


“Warming will continue beyond 2100 under all RCP scenarios except RCP2.6. Surface temperatures will remain approximately constant at elevated levels for many centuries after a complete cessation of net anthropogenic CO2 emissions. A large fraction of anthropogenic climate change resulting from CO2 emissions is irreversible on a multi-century to millennial time scale, except in the case of a large net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere over a sustained period….


It is virtually certain that global mean sea-level rise will continue for many centuries beyond 2100, with the amount of rise dependent on future emissions. ”


The report by the International Panel on Climate Change was released a week or so ago…. Since it came out, there has been an almost deafening silence on what is reported by the agency from ALL public sources, such as the government, a silence that extends into ALL its branches…. Very few public figures, pundits, talking heads, or even news anchors. are saying much about this at all….


This article is one of only a couple I saw in my morning cruise through the news reader…. which tells me, the most important report about our future that exists is being treated just like any other unwelcome piece of news, with complete and utter denial, by well OVER 99% of the people who will be most affected by it….


Now, I don’t know about y’all, but, to me. that is really, really, REALLY STUPID…. (sorry for the redundant descriptive adjectives…)


From the Associated Press:


Shy bladder group protests DirecTV ad


I decided, after perusing the first couple sentences of this article, to not read any further…. Quite frankly, I do NOT want to know anything about this issue, or the ad, or the group that is complaining….


In fact, I think, since we are talking about the power of human stupidity, we’ve pretty well provided all the evidence required, and have proved the point to a degree of massive certainty… So, I’ll let it go, and go on to something else…. I will leave you with the following thought….


“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” — Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength of Love, 1963


Snicker…. As if a preacher hadn’t known that since the first class in seminary school…. One might think it shows a bit of hypocrisy, but, to mention anything so critical of MLK Jr. is to take one’s life in their hands, for the criticism and vituperation pours out from those who have already canonized him…. As if he weren’t a human being, with the flaws and misconceptions each and every member of the species possesses, as part of their genetic legacy…. Oh, well… since he’s right, we’ll let all that go, to get us out of here….


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


Today’s effort, thus far, seems to fall into that category where nobody else should be required to take any of the blame for it…. hence a poem of mine from the archives…. Hmm… Let’s just take a little trip overseas, and let it go at that….




Days and Nights of Eire


Comforting, a dream creeps oft into my mind

On the elven hills of Eire lives the vision I find.

Elegant, gracious, everlastingly draped in beauty 

Just payment of simple homage lives as joyous duty.


Fairies and druids walk abroad in ghostly parade

Gracing each hearth with its own welcoming shade.

Castles and heroes yet live in tale and song

Proving love for the land in each heart strong.


From cold of winter into glorious young spring

Brown, and gray, to emerald green songs to sing

Soft rains always follow winter’s great tempest

Eire dons its emerald coat from east to west.


Old and strong, connections call out in dreams

Nothing that was known remains as it seems.

Immersion in ancient runes and battle hymns

Offering sanity in place of grievous whims.


Time and place can tell a much different tale

Judgment should never be a final sale.

Yet something solid and real calls me to go see

Where dreams of loving beauty may actually be….


~~ gigoid ~~


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


This turned out to be an odd little pearl, which should serve well to highlight the overall oddity of the entire Pearl…. When I started to collect the entries in SB, I hadn’t quite decided on the parameters to use, so, it came out a bit random (See the third entry below, by Seneca the Younger, to understand how that happens…)…. 


But, all in all, and to carry that metaphor a bit further, the current seems to have made any skill at sailing, or knowing where to go, a moot point, as it brought us to a pretty cool destination, where some pretty cogent observations, and, some decent advice, were to be found, all around the subject of being human, always a challenge, while trying to deal with Life at Large….


” For others do I wait…for higher ones, stronger ones, more triumphant ones, merrier ones, for such as are built squarely in body and soul: laughing lions must come.” — Friedrich Nietzsche


“The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts  to fit their views…which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to  be one of the facts that needs altering.” — Doctor Who, “Face of Evil”


“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” — Seneca (the Younger)


— Bother! said Pooh, for no apparent reason.


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


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




To each his suff’rings; all are men,

  Condemn’d alike to groan,–

The tender for another’s pain,

  Th’ unfeeling for his own.

Yet ah! why should they know their fate,

Since sorrow never comes too late,

  And happiness too swiftly flies?

  Thought would destroy their paradise.

No more; where ignorance is bliss,

  ‘T is folly to be wise.


~~ Thomas Gray (1716-1771) ~~


~~ On a Distant Prospect of Eton College, Stanza 10 ~~




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


Okay, so, this went pretty well, (Well, okay, you’re correct; I didn’t count the first few sentences as part of the stats for today….), which is a good thing, as I’m pretty sure anything I might have tried to do wouldn’t have worked so well…


In any case, it’s DONE, our only REAL requirement…. Having completed my chosen Duty, I shall bid thee adieu…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….



					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Ten superlative reasons to cease and desist….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“Be not diverted from your duty by any idle reflections the silly world may make upon you, 


for their censures are not in your power, 


and consequently should not be any part of your concern.”


~~ Epictetus ~~



potd-saturn_3089926k


A Moon of Saturn Throws Its Shadow on the Great Red Spot




Life’s a funny business, isn’t it? We humans have a cultural icon, whom we have named Murphy. This force of nature, representing the power of Entropy in our lives, is common to all cultures on our planet, as a result of our perceptions, which are based on the the principle of the symmetrical balance of force that exists throughout reality; in short, everything exists as part of a universe in which every action has a reaction, every dark a light, every down an up, every yes a no. Our very organs of perception are designed to notice those differences in the substances we perceive, to give us information from the surrounding environs which will enable us to survive…. That is the intent, anyway….


Bit, given the power of stupidity that rules most people’s lives, most of them not only never realize how their senses work… much less what their perceptions MEAN. They also haven’t a clue as to what that might MEAN to them, in a larger sense, as applied to how their own actions affect that universe in which we all reside. This lack of understanding leads to a number of issues that have conspired to delay human advancement over the centuries, especially in terms of the development of the human mind, and cultural advancement…. In truth, we haven’t really gone too far from our origins, as savages, huddling in the cold around a fire we found by accident…


Truth be told, most of the people alive today would be perfectly comfortable living in a cave, with a fire for light and heat, wearing the skins of dead animals to cover them in the cold; those same people are uncomfortable living in today’s world, which asks them to actually USE their brain, rather than just following along behind it, scratching their ass and mumbling about being late for dinner…. Emotionally, we react to the world much the same as those cave dwellers, becoming angry to cover our fear, living with superstitions and delusions as to how the big, scary world out there is so incomprehensible…. So, we make up these supernatural entities who are responsible for all that stuff, and we don’t have to think about it….


I am NOT ranting. I’m not. It may SOUND as if I am, but, let me assure you, I am not…. That will come later, in section two…. I am laying out a premise, which, if reflected upon for a time, can be of use to us…. You don’t have to take it, and put it to use, but, it CAN help in dealing with others, to understand that, most of the people you meet in the world are clueless, and afraid, all the time… They don’t understand why they have to work so hard, just to get by, and never really get anywhere…. They don’t understand the stuff going on around them, so, TV becomes their source for all their opinions, or thoughts of any kind beyond what comprises their next meal…


You may think this discussion shows me as one who does not like people much; in that you’d be perfectly wrong. I love everyone; I also realize most of them don’t have the wit to understand much of what is happening in the world; what is more, some of them are plainly assholes. Those two groups generally end up in conflict, as the assholes try to take all the others have, and push them around unmercifully, while the group being bullied isn’t even aware they are operating in a Stygian darkness, out of which they will never climb to see the light…..


Ah well, that’s life, as they say…. I’m not sure just WHO says it, but, I’ve heard it said, so, that will have to do…. I see I’ve managed to wander around in my own head long enough to call this an intro, so, I’m going to take the money and run…. (What money? Oh, ffolkes, do I really have to explain?…. Sheesh….) Any who, I’d suggest you grab the closest stanchion, or other method of securing your position, because we’re going in, and it could get bumpy….


Shall we Pearl?


“I reject that philosophy. The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.” — Douglas Adams through Dirk Gently


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


Today, or, rather, yesterday, while working ahead on this Pearl, I was feeling a bit curmudgeonly, with a side of sardonicism…. hence, the rant you see below, about the current circus on the public stage around the Ebola virus outbreak…. To counter the sobriety of the piece, while simultaneously providing supportive argumentation for the rant, here is a video that should bring a smile to your face…. Well, unless you have no sense of humor at all, it will…. Plus, if you aren’t careful, this guy will also make you think….




The Best of George Carlin: Exposing our government and fall of humanity one joke at a time



















































 


 


 


 




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




“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” 


~~ from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long ~~




http://time.com/3554336/ebola-poll-quarantine-health-workers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29


The article I wish you to read today, which you may find by following the above link, concerns a poll taken regarding the subject of the Ebola virus, and its visible effects on the American psyche…. Quite simply, I was surprised, nay, astounded beyond belief, at the quantity of SHEER FUCKING STUPIDITY displayed by the American public in this poll… Seven out of ten IDIOTS in this country believe that healthcare workers should have their rights taken away, just because they had the compassion to go to Africa, to help protect THOSE SAME FUCKING IDIOTS from the disease, by treating it there….


As a reward for their compassion, patriotism, and selflessness, seventy-one percent of the Americans polled thought it was okay to confine the workers in quarantine for 21 days, EVEN IF THEY WERE TESTED, AND WERE NOT CARRYING THE VIRUS!  This number clearly indicates how the average American mistrusts science, (because they refuse to spend the energy to understand any of it….), and will do, or agree to ANYTHING, no matter how it affects anyone else, in order to feel safe behind the massive wall of their ignorance….


“In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”


The dreaded sea-change, so feared by our founding fathers, has happened…. The American public has been brainwashed to a degree where they will surrender every right they used to have, if only they don’t have to think, or take responsibility for the consequences of their STUPIDITY!


“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.  Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise.” — Tom Paine


The Ebola virus, as I have determined (How? Oh, it wasn’t hard; there is a shitload of information already on file on the ‘Net….), by the evidence we have, is no more dangerous to us than is the virus that causes the common cold, or the yearly flu strains we all are encouraged to be afraid of….as if it were someone else’s planet we live on…. Sure, it’s a nasty little bug, and, it can kill, but, so can a cold, or the flu, if not treated, and allowed to take over the body’s systems, to its detriment…. But, with treatment, the victim has a very good chance of survival, as medical technology has advanced to a point where most people, no matter how ill they become with a viral or bacterial disease, can at least be supported enough to be able to survive, if uncomfortably during the course of the treatment….


But, comparing the number of people who catch it, and those who die, reveals a mortality rate no more disturbing than that of those who have contracted the AIDS virus… which we have learned to fight to a draw in many cases, with hope for future breakthroughs in treatment. This Ebola virus is made more dangerous than it actually is by the reaction of the political leaders of the “civilized” world, who look at the issue as a tool to use to solidify their hold on power, a perfect opportunity for Public Relations posturing; by the media, who use the issue to sell more papers & ads; and by the public, who are too stupid to investigate on their own, allowing the government and media flunkies to blow their fears completely out of proportion, so they can more easily be manipulated…


“How come you never see a politician laugh? Because they know what they’re getting away with, and if they started laughing, they’d never stop.” — Smart Bee


I was extremely proud of that nurse, Kaci Hickox, who has so courageously flipped the finger to all of those stupid people who would, if they could, turn her into another victim, this time at the hands of HER OWN PEOPLE…. The very people for whom she braved the wilds of Africa, to fight their battles at the front line of defense…. For this, that stupid lot of bloody gits turns on her, taking her rights, and trying to make her the victim of their fears and ignorance…. Good on her!….


That’s enough; y’all get the point…. Don’t listen to the idiots, ffolkes…. Let the doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals deal with it, and tell the Beloved Ruling Class, the Preachers, Priests, Imams, and all the other Asininnies who would live their lives in the darkness, if only they can feel safe and protected, without the need to think, or show courage, or, live with any dignity….. well, just tell them to go fuck themselves, hard, in the most inconvenient orifice they possess…. No lubricants allowed….


Now I’ve been vulgar, it must be time to draw to a close…. I’ll leave you with this final thought, with the caveat that you use it as intended….


“Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but habituate yourself to something else.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — How the Semblances of Things are to be combated, — Discourses, Book ii, Chap. xviii


Obviously, too many people assumed Epictetus was speaking of “thinking”, and decided to habituate themselves to something else…. In which case, they would do well to remember the following, and apply it, instead, to their approach….




Step with care and great tact

And remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft

And never mix up your right foot with your left.


~~ Dr. Suess, Oh, the Places You’ll Go ~~




In short….THINK!


So be it….


gigoid has spoken.


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


It’s an Emily day….. In fact, let’s do double-duty; they’re small…. at least, if all one considers is the number of words…. The images and ideas thereby produced can hardly be judged by the same standard….




Delight becomes pictorial

When viewed through pain,–

More fair, because impossible

That any gain.


The mountain at a given distance

In amber lies;

Approached, the amber flits a little,–

And that’s the skies!


~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

—————————————————————-


I died for beauty but was scarce

Adjusted in the tomb,

When one who died for truth was lain

In an adjoining room.


He questioned softly why I failed?

“For beauty,” I replied.

“And I for truth,–the two are one;

We brethren are,” he said.


And so, as kinsmen met a night,

We talked between the rooms,

Until the moss had reached our lips,

And covered up our names. 


~~ Emily Dickinson ~~




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


Today’s fresh, old-school pearl was compiled mostly by Smart Bee…. I am a bit distracted, all in all, (no, I don’t know why, and don’t have the time or inclination to worry about it right now….), but, I think it came out okay, as long as one has a healthy tolerance for nonsense, and/or, implied sardonicism…. That may be so because, for the most part, they are comments about common human behaviors, to some degree… In any case, I should think that virtually anyone can find a chuckle or two in the grouping, and, if lucky, possibly even a chortle….




Col Mustard: “How many husbands have you had?”

Mrs White: “Mine, or others?”


 — Clue —




Apparently heard at a public lecture by the famous C. Northcote Parkinson at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras:  Government’s handling of a difficult matter by appointing a Commission of Enquiry is just like a person going to the toilet — there is a sitting, a report, and then the matter is dropped. — Smart Bee


“I was born by Caesarian section…but not so you’d notice.  It’s just that when I leave a house, I go out through the window.” — Steven Wright


“If you use a waffle iron for a pillow, be sure it is unplugged.” — Gary Owens


“Any man, in the right situation, is capable of murder.  But not any man is  capable of being a good camper.  So, murder and camping are not as similar as you might think.” — Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey


“I love to go down to the schoolyard and watch all the little children jump up and down and run around yelling and screaming…They don’t know I’m only using blanks.” — Emo Phillips




Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow;

The rest is all but leather or prunello.


~~- Alexander Pope — Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 203 ~~




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


For a morning rife with reasons for things to go badly, today’s effort went well…. I guess that’s karma in action for ya; one never knows how one’s karmic balance stands, do one? Sometimes, I think it’s a bit difficult, because it never seems to match my figures…. I suppose that means that our karma is like a checkbook…. hard to keep in balance…. On that singularly silly note, I’m outta here…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…..




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!






À bientôt, mon cherí….



					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
“Banging” seems popular this season….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“Friends are needed both for joy and for sorrow.”


~~ Yiddish Proverb ~~


fuzzy Albert


     With a brilliant smile, and a pithy remark for the kids, the Samurai baking enthusiast shouldered his pack, took up his walking stick, and left the building with Elvis…. They didn’t know where they were going, but, they sang happily as the strode along, down the wide pathway leading from the city to the river’s edge. When they came to the water’s edge, they kept walking, straight into the swiftly flowing stream, step by step, until the water covered their heads. A couple of moments later, both men emerged, head-first from the water, as they continued their stroll up the far side of the river’s bed, to the roadway above….


Sliding into the multi-colored VW bug parked at the side of the road, the Samurai baker, turning to Elvis as he turned the key in the ancient car’s ignition, remarked, “Well, do you think any of them bought our story?” “They must have,” replied the King. “They didn’t hassle us about leaving, and if they’d known the whole story, we’d be locked up right and tight!” “You’re right, I guess,” sighed the Samurai, picking a bit of flour from his eyebrows. ” I wonder if they’ll ever get that stuff out of their town fountain’s filter?” “Who cares?”, Elvis grinned, “we’ll be on Mars by then!”


Hmm… a bit cheeky, but, not bad. I suppose, one of these days, I’m going to have to take this process a bit more seriously, by finishing at least a short story based on one of the introductory paragraphs I’ve created here over the years…. If I had any interest at all in ever making any money at this, I’d do that…. but, I don’t, so, if I were y’all, I wouldn’t hold my breath too long….


Speaking of which, I’m not going to make y’all wait too long today to get going. I’ve got a lot to do out in the BBR today, all of which promises to be a lot of fun, and very satisfying, to boot. One is allowed to hope, at least, so, I will. What I will NOT do is belabor any more points, or keep us wandering around in this section. Instead, I’m going to take advantage of that opening right THERE…. and get us out of here…. Hang on, it’ll be another bumpy ride, but, should get us where we need to go…..


Shall we Pearl?


“If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxv


Very good question, Epi…. We’ll get to that….


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


Today’s video selection is another blast from my past… James Taylor’s album titled after one of his biggest hits, is probably one of the all-time best selling albums from that era, so much so, it can be considered to have achieved icon status… I know that it is one of the most fondly remembered albums of my youth, and still manages to hit all the sweet spots…. Enjoy, please…. I did, and am….






 


James Taylor – Sweet Baby James (1970) (Full Album) HD





























































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


“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” — Isaac Asimov


In the upcoming days/months/years, you’ll see a change in the articles I’ll be using to supplement my arguments, on those subjects about which I rant. I am really tired of depending on just one, or three, or even four news purveyors, as they have all become sycophantically similar in the weight of their computing footprint; loading their pages can take forever, even at current speeds, because they like to include as many photos, videos, and income producing ads as they can… This is an example of how businesses pander to the stupid; they have determined that most of the people on the ‘Net, especially those who will click on anything bright, shiny, or lurid, prefer pix and vids, because they don’t have to read, or think; that’s all done for them…


SFGATE, the New York Times, even the UK Guardian, all have gone to a format heavy on less than challenging materials, though some in-depth, text-heavy reporting can be found on the Guardian, with a bit of digging. Other, internet based companies, like Huff post, and Bloomberg, etc. were already more like People magazine than a hard-line news reporting outlet…. Many of them now also want the reader to register on the site before being allowed to read anything other than headlines; this is so they can obtain your profile data, allowing them to sell that information, opening the registered reader to copious amounts of spam emails, all wanting to sell something, or seduce more data out of the victim…


Rather than spending my time to search far and wide every day for interesting material, both to read, and to use to discuss current affairs, I downloaded a RSS feed aggregate program, from Source Forge, the open source software development organization online, a clearinghouse for programmers working to develop new and more powerful tools, free to all, each one written in open source programming language(s), making them open to being improved by all who use them….


Now, any time I wish, I can open the RSS Owl, and find the latest news from virtually, and literally, any number of sources I wish, including all those I used to have to visit on my own…. The aggregate organizes all of it into appropriate categories, so I can find just the type of news I wish to explore, from all over the world… It starts with several thousand RSS feeds, from all over the internet, and the world, and can filter the results to fit any key words, or types of stories I want it to focus on, giving me just those in the categories I choose…. Pretty nifty, eh? Any time I find a new source of information with an RSS feed, I can add those to my reader, and see whatever they post, within seconds of it going online….


With the national, state, and local midterm elections coming up in a couple of days, I thought it would be good to start the new format/source utilization with a report on some of the issues being decided on Tuesday, all over the country… It’s a pretty good summary piece, and pretty fair-minded for a progressive site like the Daily Kos…. Other examples of new material will follow, as sort of a new kind of pearl…. I’ll see you at the end, hopefully not a bitter one….


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/02/1340952/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Round-up-Fear-and-lying-edition?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29


Well, there you go, ffolkes… This is how the new format, for this section, will look… or, knowing me, by tomorrow it may be completely different… But, rather than keep you now, glazing your eyes over with a rant on the upcoming election tomorrow, I’ll wait until AFTER the election, which promises to provide a wealth of material upon which to rant, as the Democrats and Republicans continue their battle for control of America’s wallet…. I’ll leave y’all with an appropriate thought, or two, as identified by our resident dB, Smart Bee….


“You are all depending for your spirituality on someone else, for your happiness on someone else, for your enlightenment on someone else…. You have been accustomed to being told how far you have advanced, what is your spiritual status. How childish! Who but yourself can tell you if you are incorruptible?… I desire those, who seek to understand me, to be free … from the fear of religion, from the fear of salvation, from the fear of spirituality, from the fear of love, from the fear of death, from the fear of life itself…. You can form other organizations and expect someone else. With that I am not concerned, nor with creating new cages, new decorations for those cages. My only concern is to set men absolutely, unconditionally free.” — Krishnamurti (1895-1986) From his last speech to the Theosophical Society


Me, too….


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


One of the blogs I follow is that of a poetess of great talent, who writes under her own name, Mari Sanchez Cayuso…. She posted a blog with a short paean to Ms. Plath, which reminded me it had been a while since we’ve used her poems…. Here, then, is one of my favorites of hers, though all of what she wrote is pretty amazing…. Loosen up any resident constraints upon your imagination, ffolkes, you’ll need it to read Sylvia….




Witch Burning


In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.

A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit

The wax image of myself, a doll’s body.

Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.

Only the devil can eat the devil out.

In the month of red leaves I climb to a bed of fire.


It is easy to blame the dark: the mouth of a door,

The cellar’s belly. They’ve blown my sparkler out.

A black-sharded lady keeps me in parrot cage.

What large eyes the dead have!

I am intimate with a hairy spirit.

Smoke wheels from the beak of this empty jar.


If I am a little one, I can do no harm.

If I don’t move about, I’ll knock nothing over. So I said,

Sitting under a potlid, tiny and inert as a rice grain.

They are turning the burners up, ring after ring.

We are full of starch, my small white fellows. We grow.

It hurts at first. The red tongues will teach the truth.


Mother of beetles, only unclench your hand:

I’ll fly through the candle’s mouth like a singeless moth.

Give me back my shape. I am ready to construe the days

I coupled with dust in the shadow of a stone.

My ankles brighten. Brightness ascends my thighs.

I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light. 


~~ Sylvia Plath ~~




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


Y’all have been here before (unless you’re a virgin Gentle Reader…), you know what to do…. So, do it…. Today, we are, once again, talking about LIFE AT LARGE, as it applies to us naked apes….


“Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 19


“The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind.” — Albert Camus


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


“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free.” — Nikos Kazantzakis


“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will.” — George Bernard Shaw


“Sometimes I think we’re alone. Sometimes I think we’re not. In either case, the thought is quite staggering.” — R. Buckminster Fuller




Pity this busy monster, manunkind, not.

Progress is a comfortable disease.


~~ e.e. cummings, One Times One ~~




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


Today’s Pearl is now in that state in which I am able to pronounce it done… or, close enough for our purposes…. Since the BBR is calling me, I shall be off…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!




 À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Born at sea, he gets nauseous on land….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“I sometimes think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.”


~~ Oscar Wilde ~~


10-8-2014 016


     While I cannot fully agree with Oscar’s premise, as it is in opposition to a certain set of my strongest beliefs, I can certainly say he is accurate in his assessment of the nature of Man…. Whoever is responsible for human nature has a lot of explaining to do…. We are a sorry lot, to be sure, rife with neuroses, idiosyncrasies unique to each one of us, irrational fears, and superstitious delusions that continually give us fits we haven’t the wit to comprehend, or avoid… SIGH…. Sometimes, I feel as if it was a mistake for us to come down out of the trees….


Ah well, such is life, as they say…. I never was able to find out WHO says, or said it, but, supposedly, the DO say that, and I believe it, if for no other reason than to get that person to stop subjecting us to their mundane cliches… a feeling you are probably sharing at this very moment…. I can’t help it sometimes; the nonsense just starts flowing, as soon as I sit down & start typing…. I can’t seem to figure out if it is a gift, a curse, or both, but, I know this, it does help pad these intro sections, and with a bit of class, don’t you think? Well, okay, so it’s more like confusion, but, they both start with a “c”, right?


Well, I think so, anyway, so there…. As you might be able to tell, my mind is in a better place today, even if that place is not one we will ever understand, or hope to visit regularly…. As long as it gets me far enough down the page to call it a legal intro, what do I care about that, anyway? It empties no larder, nor picks any pocket, to paraphrase Tom Jefferson, so I have no quarrel with such…. I do have my opinion, but, no quarrel…. I find quarreling to be unproductive, for the most part, and refuse categorically to engage in it without some sort of guarantee of non-prosecution…. and, my lawyer says that is good….. We all know what THAT means….


I don’t, but, you do, so, hush now, and we will hunker down in these bushes right here, to await our chance to observe the local wildlife in its natural state, thus fulfilling, or attempting to fill, the promise made on the back of your tickets…. That promise, by the way, isn’t my fault…. The damn printer got my order mixed up with that of another business; their product line and certain promises by them were printed on the back of MY tickets, in spite of the most excellent disclaimer I wrote, which DIDN’T get put there…. Now I have to live up to those, while the other guy gets to use MY disclaimer…. it ain’t fair! Even if he did cut the price in half, making it impossible to refuse to use them… Not fair at all…


Nor is any of it true…. It was kind of fun, though, and got us to this point…. a perfect jumping-off point, as is patently obvious…. Hold on to your hats, gentlemen…. Ladies, if you would kindly hold on to your gentlemen/partner, firmly grasping hold of the most non-detachable, and handiest of his/her body parts… We’re going all in, and it’s a VERY sharp turn….


Shall we Pearl?


“As for courage and will – we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead.” — Andre Norton


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


A bit of history…. This artist, whom many of you will not know, is, in my mind, the father of rap, hip-hop, dub reggae, and much of the current musical trends followed by some parts of our culture, most significantly Generation X, and the denizens of inner cities, with its origins in the poverty and societal disenchantment that is a characteristic of the genre….


I remember seeing him occasionally when living in Berkeley during the late 60’s, when he was what could be called a improvisational poet, voicing his angry, brilliantly insightful verse, with blues, jazz, or R&B sometimes playing as background, to amazed young audiences of students, jazz, blues, & R&B fans, and street people…. What he performed, and the tone, style, and attitude of his art, have played a huge part in the development of today’s music scene, as part of its historical roots…. He can be hard to listen to, because his words strike deep into the inner conflicts we all experience in our interactions with modern culture…. His words remain, however, no less true, or less compelling for that….




Gil Scott-Heron – ‘Me And The Devil’ (Official HD Video)



















































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


Although I found this posted under the date you see below, I think it was actually written prior to that…. but, what date that might be, I haven’t a clue…. not that we need one. It’s a rather classic religirant…. enjoy…. Oh, why aren’t I ranting afresh?…. TMB syndrome, ffolkes, it’s that simple…. Any ranting today would cause my skull to explode all over the screen…. Messy business, to be sure; brain matter dries quickly, and is especially hard to clean up when dead….


From 1/29/2013:


Delusional material, very dangerous…. Believe at your peril…..




I asked God for strength, that I might achieve;

I was made weak, that I may learn humbly to obey.


I asked God for health, that I may do greater things;

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.


I asked for riches, that I may be happy;

I was given poverty, that I might be wise.


I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.


I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.


I got nothing I asked for but everything I hoped for.

I am, among all men, most richly blessed.


— unattributed, even by Smart Bee

(I don’t blame them for not wanting to take credit for this….)




From the time we are small, our minds are programmed with the ideas and beliefs our parents and families held as truth, regardless of whether or not there is any actual truth to be found in them. We have little, or no, defense against these ideas, as we are naturally inclined to believe what our care givers tell us. While I can understand the way it works, it seems to me to be a shame, that we don’t come with a built in truth detector, to protect us before we are able to reason for ourselves. Until our minds have been trained, we tend to accept whatever someone in a position of authority tells us, which may keep us safe in a physical sense when we are small and vulnerable, but is a dangerous habit to develop when grown.


The above is an example of how churches and the priestly hierarchies attempt to befuddle people into obedience and acceptance of their credos, aimed at those adults who have carried over their trust in authority into their adult views. On the surface, the statements seem to imply a certain morality, one of patience, compassion, and beneficence; but, underneath, they are merely designed to reinforce the ideas they wish to espouse, of obedience, humility, and subservience to authority.


If one is to believe the priestly hierarchies, we humans don’t really stand a chance against the universe…. In their minds, God has it all worked out, and it isn’t our place to question any of His prerogatives; we are here only to do His (translates as: their….) will, and to sing His praises (keeps us busy NOT thinking….). We are weak, bumbling, foolish creatures whose only claim to fame is that God loves us… according to dogma. It occurs to me to ask, “So, which one of y’all is the one to whom God spoke, when he laid down all this specious crap? When y’all talked with God, how long had it been since you last took your medication?”


I know, I know, not very friendly approach, but, sheesh, give me a break…. I mean, these people are responsible for a great deal of the suffering and trouble mankind has endured over the last 2000 years or so, and don’t even have the courtesy to take credit, or apologize. In their minds, all that stuff they do to maintain their status quo is justified by their holiness, or whatever it is they claim makes them special. And, all the time, in reality, everything they do is designed, ultimately, to bring coins to their purses, and food to their tables, at the expense of the ignorant mass of believers…..


I feel a nasty rant coming on…. Sometimes, when I write one of these rips at religion, I just get SO ANGRY…. I’m mad at the preachers and priests, and those who support them, for their willingness to prey on the public using the pretension of religious fervor and worship to justify their narcissism, and for the thousands of years of suffering that mankind has endured by their hand. I am also angry at those people who buy into their bullshit, for not having the courage to use their minds, to blithely accept anything told to them by an authority figure, and never even considering that there might be more to life than they are seeing….. It is all such a waste, and my anger knows no bounds….


“Civilization is fun!  Anyway, it keeps me busy!!” — Zippy the Pinhead


Well, it would keep me busy if I could find any….. I had to include this little side-trip from Zippy in order to bring my anger level down. I was feeling the urge to let out ALL of the vulgar curses I could think of, to express how I feel about all the assholes who perpetrate this entire fallacy on the rest of humanity, knowing how gullible they are, and how little effort it takes to fool them into believing the most incredible bullshit.


I mean, how hard can it be to fool someone who would believe that the recent spate of cold weather means that global warming is a myth? How hard is it to fool someone who will gladly trade their freedom in this life for the promised reward in the next life? It’s so damn easy that the fools actually come asking for it, to be made into puppets, just so they can believe they are beloved of God, and guaranteed a spot in Heaven…. I often wonder just how fit to survive our species really is, when we can’t even come to terms with our own sense of self, or learn to accept the responsibility for our own actions….


Most folks are so scared to think for themselves that they gladly surrender that chore to the priests and politicians, apparently not even caring how often they lie to them. Even when the lies are exposed, and even proved, people will hang on to their prejudices and belief in supernatural beings that control our every move; they are quite unwilling to let go of what they’ve bought into all their lives, even when it’s clear that none of it is true. Most of the time, they are unwilling to even look at any arguments against what they hold to be true, preferring the solid comfort of their ignorance. Makes me want to puke, it does….


Ah well, I’ve spilled enough bile and venom for one morning. It would probably be best to move on to another section, and let this one die a natural death. If nothing else, I got some angst and pressure relieved, for the time being. It is almost a comfort to know that the politicians and preachers will be providing more ammunition in the coming days, as they continue their campaign of oppression against the people of the Earth; that means I’ll always have plenty about which to rant…. Happy Days!….


“Those who won’t think will have it done for them.” —  Smart Bee


Note from 2014: Just in case it’s driving anyone crazy trying to figure it out with no overt clues, TMB, the acronym above, stands for Too Much Birthday….


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


Today, you get one of mine, simply because they are handy…. Well, it’s usually best to not let anyone else share the blame for any of this mess, too… I do try to think of that sort of thing, when I remember to do so…. which is, obviously, a hit and miss proposition…. nonetheless… Here is one I wrote a few years back, on a rainy day in winter….




An Old Man, Snoring….


Winter arrives with gusts of wind and rain,

  clover spreads green amongst the hedges.

Urban gardens quiver, and dream of spring again,

  gargoyles stoically crouch on corniced ledges.


Umbrellas sprout over heads shrouded and hatted,

  dotting the sidewalks in colorful profusion.

Urban denizens pose sketches, framed and matted,

  adding casual beauty to fill the illusion.


Hissing tires, swishing along with the wipers

  join nature’s orchestra smoothly, as percussion.

Dripping gutters sound gong tones, true pipers,

  a sudden roar of wind hushes all discussion.


Dreams of summer heat form the crux of desire

  as winter chills our souls from without.

Sitting in warmth, gazing into an imaginary fire;

  content to know spring will come, no doubt.


~~ gigoid ~~




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


TMB leaves me a bit foggy, so, I gave Smart Bee its head today, to see what came washing up on shore…. This is the result, which I shall make no attempt to classify, quantify, or explain…. You’re on your own today, ffolkes…. Don’t worry, they’re only words; they can hurt, but, not in this configuration…. Just handle them with your usual care, and you should be able to avoid any bloodshed……


“There is nothing so asinine that governments will not proclaim it as official doctrine.” — Nolan’s Observation


“In Response to the Heavy Mail Department: I did not say that Dan Quayle was so dumb he flunked his blood test. I know for a fact that his grade was D+, so I did not say that. Please do not accuse me of saying things I did not say.” — Smart Bee


HONESTY:  Honesty cannot be undervalued. And while I’m on the subject of honesty, have I told you about an exciting business opportunity that could make you thousands of dollars without hard work or expensive capital investment? Yes, bank robbery is an exciting new idea, and you could be one of the first to buy an exclusive franchise in your area. For just $30,000, we’ll provide a fully detailed instruction manual on how to do a bank robbery. Ring today and we’ll include two luxury pure wool dry-cleanable balaclavas, perfect for those anonymous jobs when you just don’t want to be identified on the News. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA


“And if I said a year ago that these [social] programs weren’t working, perhaps I have been vindicated.” — President George Bush, on how Lyndon Johnson was to blame for the LA riots


“1935 will go down in History! For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient and the world will follow our lead to the future!” — Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), prior to confiscating all civilian firearms


“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” — Douglas Adams, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”


“Isn’t this my STOP?”! — Zippy the Pinhead


Why, yes, Zippy, I believe it is! It seems SB had a few leftover hard feelings about the events of the last few decades, watching the ugly, ugly show that has been running on the public stage, for longer than anyone is willing to admit…. SIGH, I hate it when he’s right….


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


It’s a Sunday, and I’m taking the rest of the day OFF…. In fact, I’m going to get an early start…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!




 À bientôt, mon cherí….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
And another one bites the dust, dubiously….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“Life is the sum of all your choices.”


~~ Albert Camus ~~





It might look like as spoked wheel or even a "Chakram" circular weapon wielded by television's fictional warrior Xena, but this ringed galaxy is actually a vast place of stellar life. A newly released image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the ga

NGC 1291, through NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope


Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 




The Beatles first major international hit song was “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, with Paul belting out the high notes in that pure Scottish tenor, as yet untrained to any great degree, but, showing the promise of his later efforts. That song came out in 1963, before my birthday, so I was still 12 years old…. A few years later, they released another song, about aging, from the point of view of a twenty-something, titled, “When I’m 64”. That song became one of their biggest hits, off one of their best selling albums, and to this day remains an iconic number, that McCartney still plays at his concerts, now and then….


A few days ago, I explained its relevance, but, my site hasn’t had a lot of traffic lately, so I’ll reiterate for those who’ve been avoiding my incredibly long rants, or have been otherwise busily occupied…. Today is my 64th birthday. I had hoped to have a good day, but, it isn’t looking promising at this point. Without going into tedious details, let it suffice to say I’ll be continuing my battle with an incredibly huge, incredibly evil HMO corporation…. They’ve won the last couple of battles, thanks to some support from their equally evil co-conspirators against the public good, to wit: the government….


Both of them are working at their usual stand, doing all they can to make life less comfortable, and much less profitable for the public, while simultaneously continuing to rip off every penny they can from the public treasury, and the pockets of their so-called “members”, with their selfish padding of every salable item they offer as a ‘service’…. Really? Each tissue one uses in a hospital stay is worth $12 a box? A pill taken by a patient costs $2 or more EACH, when it is impossible for the cost of production to exceed a percentage of ONE PENNY…. Those are typical price points in the healthcare field, and are NOT an exaggeration, so, they are making a profit, hand over fist, on everything they charge for, an endless list….


I see I have indulged myself already, by making a good start on a rant here in the intro, as is my bad habit…. In the interests of efficiency, we’ll call that an intro, but, we won’t be proud of it, okay? I AM trying to rant here less often, but, there are so many targets in our world, they seem to jump up while I’m writing, to insist on being discussed, or included in the day’s subject matter listings, with such piteous expressions of sincerity and purpose, I can’t resist…. Ah well, at least it brought us to this point, where we may do this…. Hang on tight….


Shall we Pearl?…..


“It is as useless to argue with those that have renounced the use and authority of reason as to administer medication to the dead.” — Thomas Paine


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


As mentioned, it’s my birthday, so, today’s selection is a nod to my status as a hippie, since the age of seventeen, when I went off to college at UC Berkeley, where I found a city full of like-minded young, inquiring minds…. This band, if any musical group could be said to do so, epitomized the ambiance and philosophy of the time….. Enjoy, and especially enjoy some of the concerts listed on the same page you find this sound track…. When you learn to ignore the occasional miscue in tuning of guitars, and the weak voices of young artists still reaching for their potential, you can see, and hear, the improvisational genius  that was this band’s legacy….. Abondanza!




The Grateful Dead: American Beauty – Full Album



















































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


Since it’s a special day for me, I don’t much feel like putting myself into ranting mode, though, if the intro is any indication, it wouldn’t be too difficult to get there in my head…. But, let’s do this instead…. Nearly a couple years ago, I wrote some pretty good rants, one of which I will reproduce this morning, as the subject matter, i.e., Sun Tzu’s Art of War, has been much on my mind of late, due to my ongoing battles with HMO organizations… Rather than work myself up this morning, here is a good sublimation to fill in this section…. As most of my rants are, it is still very relevant to today’s issues in our society…. or, what passes for society amongst the humans on this planet….


From 1/29/2013:




In difficult ground, press on;

In encircled ground, devise stratagems;

In death ground, fight.


~~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War (circa 400 B.C.) ~~




The Art of War is still considered by military experts to be one of the definitive books on warfare and strategy, after more than 2000 years. I’m not certain, but would certainly be surprised if it is not still used as a reference at West Point, Annapolis, The Citadel, and the Air Force Academy in classes on tactics and strategy in battle, and in peace time. In the book, which is actually quite short, Sun Tzu gives the basic tenets for success in war, and was so perfectly correct that it remains valid today, even though the landscape of war has grown much larger, and more complex. The issues that can decide victory or defeat remain the same……


One of the most surprising features of the book is the idea that Sun Tzu presents regarding the perfect warrior. In his mind, warriors came in a number of types, each of which required a different method of leadership. The surprise lies in his choice of the type of warrior that he considers to be the most valuable; oddly enough, on the surface he chose… the Spy…..


Not the weapons master, not the brilliant tactician, not the engineer… the spy. According to Sun Tzu, a properly trained and experienced agent provocateur was, by far, the most valuable type of warrior, for, with the proper application of truth and lies, and the correct timing, battles might be won without loss of life or property, or with a minimum of effort, due to the efforts before the battle by the spy. This choice indicates that Sun Tzu recognized the true battle that is waging at all times when people interact with each other…. the battle between truth and lies…..


We see this battle raging in our own society every day, as the politicians vie with each other to see which one can get the furthest from the truth and still convince people they aren’t full of shit. When we see priests telling us that we aren’t the masters of our own bodies or minds, and expect us to not even ask why, we are witnessing the constant struggle for control of our minds… and our pocketbooks…. The former, of course, will always lead to the latter, and you can bet your booties that it is the pocketbooks that the preachers and politicians are concerned with, not just our minds, or our souls….. You betcha, compadre…




She was a wight, if ever such wight were,–

Des. To do what?

Iago. To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.

Des. O most lame and impotent conclusion!


~~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Othello — Act ii, Sc. 1 ~~




Normally, or as close as we get to normally, I wouldn’t use a Shakespeare quote, and this one probably shows why, very well… I can’t for the life of me figure out what the hell any of it means, but the last line struck home for this discussion… Before what I am saying reaches the point where the last line might apply, I will refer you to the book itself…..  The Art of War, by Sun Tzu;  copies of it are available at any bookstore, and probably online in a number of places.


It is a fairly quick read, (though there are points that do require some thought and pondering), being less than a hundred pages in most of the versions I’ve seen. As I said above, it’s pretty simply written, but covers all that is needed to get his point across, which has to do with winning, not just at war, but in life. As with many things in Chinese culture, there is more to the subject than may be apparent on first view, and it is worth the time to look more deeply into what Sun Tzu has told us….




But war ‘s a game which were their subjects wise

Kings would not play at.


~~ William Cowper (1731-1800)  ~~


~~The Task, Book v, The Winter Morning Walk, Line 187 ~~




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


While perusing old Pearls to find material for today, this came up, a poem which fits today’s general theme too perfectly to resist….


From 2/7/2013:


Of late, I’ve been writing quite a bit on aging, and it’s effect on me…  an occupational hazard, I suppose, for us retirees. Last night, I was reading some WordPress blogs, and was introduced to this Australian contemporary poet, David Lewis Paget. In looking through his poems on PoemHunter.com, I found this one, which speaks very eloquently of this period of life, and beyond, and I’m happy to include it here as part of the ongoing discussion…. It’s a bit long, but worth it…. Enjoy!….




Age Rage


I was wandering through the Nursing Home

In the town of Morton Rise, 

Seeking an old and weathered face 

That I’d known in another guise, 

For Richard Spratt was my father’s friend

That I hadn’t seen for years, 

I was going to let him know his friend

Had taken a turn for the worse.


The eyes that stared from the armchairs there

Were blank, and devoid of pain, 

They’d taken the pills that dulled them down

So they wouldn’t be restrained, 

The nurses treated them all as fools

This gross humanity, 

Whose only sin was they’d given in

To age, and infirmity.


It was all so very depressing, I

Imagined my future there, 

Staring in immobility

From the prison of one of their chairs, 

Waiting my turn to be spoon-fed

By a very impatient nurse, 

Who shovelled the food all over my chin

As I sat, and inwardly cursed.


I wandered the home there, room by room

In search of his friendly face, 

This Richard Spratt in a cricketer’s hat

I remembered from Ambergate, 

He’d batted a decent fifty, while

My father polished the ball, 

And took five wickets alone that day

In his bowling, over all.


It was nigh on forty years before

That I’d watched them play as a child, 

Out on the green at Ambergate

With the weather, warm and mild, 

But the years dismay as they pass away

And my father grew so old, 

Now he lay in bed in a kind of dread

As the bell of his lifetime tolled.


I said that I’d find his friend for him

And let him know, at the last, 

That he was remembered, thick and thin

For a friendship, forged in the past, 

There were days when they both had sunny skies

And met each day with a grin, 

But time drew shrouds like storm-filled clouds

And the end was looking grim.


I heard a shout from a private room

And went to investigate, 

Quite a commotion in the gloom, 

I hoped I wasn’t too late, 

And there was a nurse stood over him

In a wheelchair, Richard Spratt, 

He’d thrown his meds all over the room

And sat in his cricketer’s hat.


‘You know what to do with your pills, you witch, ‘

He shouted, and turned to see

Just who was stood in the doorway, I

Was grinning from ear to ear, 

‘Well I’ll be… You can get out of here! ‘

He said to the wayward nurse, 

Who said, ‘If you’re going to be like that…’

And left the room, with a curse.


I told the news of my father then

And I swear, he sat and cried, 

Just a couple of tears escaped

That he hid, he still had pride, 

‘Life is a trail of sorrow, son, 

But we’re all on the same long train, 

Your dad and I in the tunnel, while

Your carriage is still on the plain.’


‘What do you value of life the most? ‘

I saw the pain in his eyes, 

‘Youth was that great and precious thing

That with age, you realise! 

I’d give it all for an hour to spend

In the glow of my lady’s eyes, 

The touch of her skin and a hint of sin

But the thing that we love, it dies! ‘


‘I’ve often thought of those balmy days

On the green in our cricket whites, 

And think I hear the crack of the ball

On the willow of sweet delight, 

I remember your father’s terse ‘Howzat! ‘

When he scattered another’s bails, 

Now I sit in this prisoning wheelchair, here

And all I can hear are wails.’


‘Wails from the ones who want to die, 

Wails that they want to live, 

The future is lost to the best of us

We have but the past to give.

You’d like to know how I feel right now, 

Like a leopard, caught in a cage, 

If only I could be young once more…

But all that I feel is rage!’


David Lewis Paget  


4 October 2012


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


Other than the intro and closing sections, this is the freshest part of today’s Pearl…. It’s an abstruse little group, commenting, it seems, once again, on the vagaries and idiosyncrasies that occur as part of being human, focusing, as always, on how live a full life, in an ethical fashion that preserves honor, rather than destroying it….


“A man’s true wealth is the good he does in the world.” — Mohammed (570-632 A.D.)


“One cannot play chess if one becomes aware of the pieces as living souls and of the fact that the Whites and the Blacks have more in common with each other than with the players. Suddenly one loses all interest in who will be champion.” — Anatol Rapoport


“… denn da ist keine Stelle, die dich nicht sieht. Du musst dein Leben andern.” ~~ (… for there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life.) — Rainer Maria Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo”


“Nobody does good to man with impunity.” — Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)


“A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart, his next to escape the censures of the world.” — English Proverb


“Why, then, do you walk as if you had swallowed a ramrod?” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxi




I have known noble ones who lost their highest hope,

and then they disparaged all high hopes.

They lived shamelessly in temporary pleasures,

and hardly had an aim beyond the day.

“Spirit is also voluptuousness,” they said.

Then they broke the wings of their spirit;

it now creeps about, and defiles whatever it gnaws at.

Once they thought of becoming heroes,

but they have become sensualists.

A trouble and a terror is the hero to them.

By my love and hope, I implore you:

do not cast away the hero in your soul.

Maintain holy your highest hope.

Thus spoke Zarathustra.


~~ Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” ~~




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


I have yet to go back over this, to see how it turned out…. I will say this, though…. I’m pretty sure it isn’t too bad, and is certainly more than I intended when I began today…. In any case, it’s done, so, I’ll get it posted, then go see if I can find some kind of mischief to get into that will help me feel a bit younger, if only for a short time….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. I have high hopes of that, anyway….. Maybe I can find that hero in my soul….




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….





					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Belatedly, he removed the tags….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“What pretty lights!”


~~ Any deer, any highway, late at night ~~


hummingbird warriors


     Halloween. All Hallows Eve. Hmph…. Okay…. I suppose y’all would like me to make some comment, or acknowledgment of the day…. Well, if I must….




    BOO!….




There…. No one can say I didn’t acknowledge the holiday. And, just so it’s done, the picture came from the Animal Pictures of the Week in the London Daily Telegraph, last week. I am seriously hoping I don’t see any kids in costumes tonight, as my inner curmudgeon isn’t in the mood for frivolity just now…. An episode of SS/b (Screaming skeleton/bones…. severe arthritic pain in my hips shoulders, joints, and neck…. i.e., everywhere there is a bone, it hurts….), which built up yesterday, near the end of the day, stimulated the inner curmudgeon sufficiently, he was able to take over the wheel of this bus…


In fact, it was a miserable night, and the day promises to be a long one. The pain is better, but, still above normal, so, I’ll be spending the day doing all I can to avoid making it worse, and, essentially, trying to drug meself into oblivion…. the only place to hide. There are times when it gets harder than usual, and, in spite of reconnecting yesterday with a friend I hadn’t heard from in a while, gives today’s hope for some peace a grim visage….


Ah well, I can’t spend the entire day whining, so, I may as well get on with the rest of this, which promises to be a relatively short Pearl…. Aren’t you lucky?…. Yep…. Oh, look, it’s a way out…. We’re taking it; hold on tight….


Shall we Pearl?….


“Think of doubt as an invitation to think.” — Genius Bee


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


It’s been a long time since I even THOUGHT about Chicago…. the city OR the band…. I found this a week or two ago, but, I’ve waited to listen to this, so I could use it sort of as a birthday present to myself, but, I’m gonna listen to it today, a day early…. I can’t wait…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. this band was a part of many people’s youth, a big part, mine included, because they had, and have, a unique style of music, all their own….




Chicago – Live at Tanglewood (07/21/1970) [Full Concert]





































 


 


 


 




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


“But the greatest of all reformers of the depraved religion of his own country was Jesus of Nazareth.  Abstracting what is really his from the rubbish in which it is buried, easily distinguished by its lustre from the dross of his biographers, and as separable as the diamond from the dunghill, we have the outlines of a system of the most sublime morality which has ever fallen from the lips of man; outlines which it is lamentable he did not live to fill up…  The establishment of the innocent and genuine character of this benevolent moralist, and the rescuing it from the imputation of imposture, which has resulted from artificial systems*, invented by ultra-Christian sects, unauthorized by a single word ever uttered by him, is a most desirable object…  *eg.  The immaculate conception of Jesus, his deification, the creation of the world by him, his miraculous powers, his resurrection and visible ascension, his corporeal presence in the Eucharist, the Trinity; original sin, atonement, regeneration, election, orders of Hierarchy, etc.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Short, October 31 (Halloween), 1819


Note the date on the quoted letter, and you’ll understand its presence here in the ranting section today…. As indicated, I’m not in much of a place to write well just now, so, I’m going with something I had done for tomorrow, a birthday present designed for this section of tomorrow’s Pearl…. It goes along with what I started here, as it pokes fun at the Asininnies, of which the clergy are card-carrying members…. I’ll even leave in the introductory remarks, which relates the original, intended publication date…. It’s a good pearl, so, enjoy, and please excuse my disorganization today….


From tomorrow’s Pearl…..


Since today IS my birthday, I’ll give y’all a present, as is the custom of Hobbits…. Not to say I’m a Hobbit; I just like their customs regarding  birthdays…. Here is an old-school pearl, in lieu of a rant, just for y’all….


I have sublimated the urge to rant by setting the parameters for SB, or any searches, at a flexible level designed to scoop up any, and/or all comments I can find, to either stimulate thought in my Gentle Readers, or cause actual bleeding to any Asininny who happens to read it…. If nothing else, such a search is fun for me… All I have to do is click the button, and make a decision about how vulgar, or pointed, or downright cruel we should allow ourselves to be…. which, in the case of the latter, is pretty cruel, given the chosen field of targets…. Have fun, ffolkes, I intend to….


SIGH…. Since it’s my day, I may make a comment or two between pearls, if I think it’s warranted…. I’m allowed to indulge my whimsy today, without fear of penalty…. It’s in the rule book, I’ve seen it….


“The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if the people are in ignorance.” — Thomas Jefferson


(It seems the intention was good, but the application was flawed… The American public is woefully ignorant….)


“If the King’s English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me!” — Ma Ferguson, Governor of Texas (circa 1920)


(It’s like Mama Gump says… Stupid is as stupid does…..)


“Gun Control – the belief that government, with its great wisdom and moral superiority, can be trusted with a monopoly on deadly force.” — Smart Bee, as pointed out by gigoid


“The treacherous are ever distrustful.” — Gandalf


(Which explains the NSA, FBI, CIA, etc….)


“Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.” — The Beatles


“As war and government prove, insanity is the most contagious of diseases.” — Edward Abbey


“Demosthenes told Phocion, “The Athenians will kill you some day when they once are in a rage.” “And you,” said he, “if they are once in their senses.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Phocion


I could do this forever, but, I’m being nice today…. I even refrained from adding TOO many of my thoughts to the above group, comprised of an elegantly balanced collection of not-too-shabby darts, which we have dutifully thrown in the direction of the top of the societal heap…..


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


I wrote this poem in 2011, I believe, after retiring, but before I had even applied for my Social Security…. My head was in a deep funk those days, which is reflected, if a bit murkily, in this poem….




A Failure to Germinate


Marking the days in elements of sad disarray

only holds me thrall, as I laugh while I may.

With cold, hard hands so impatient and cruel

pulling me to this vale of tears, a pathetic old fool.


Feelings sit silent, cast in shadows and light

breaking forth to implicate such vengeful might.

Just below the surface they patiently hide

to sally forth bravely, colors bright as they ride.


Tears and pain transform valued assets in hand

while comfort and serenity retreat to a far land.

Bold, bright patterns of hope garnish my ruinous state

until reality enters, full of disdainful portions of hate.


I sort out the illustrious measures of vision gone mild

only to find them transformed, now vicious and wild.

In my deepest desires I find myself calloused and cold

with faithless advocates whose souls have been sold.


My search finds little to support any hope of relief

far too much time has passed to bolster such belief.

The sad becomes real, and real becomes unfounded

until flights of such fancy are all dead, and grounded.


Nature has informed me of the newly hatched crime

of which reality boasted, proudly, time after time.

The last answer we think of is always the best

as we come to terms with fate, our hope at rest.


~~ gigoid ~~




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


I am writing this at the point in time at which I found two of the quotes included in the pearl you see below, several days prior to writing this Pearl…. Those two quotes, the first and the last, consist of two of our society’s most well-known ideas, in the actual prose/poetry structure they were first expressed; if not first, then, the best, for sure…. How the middle will come out has yet to be determined, but, if it continues in this vein, it will end up as one of the all-time best ever pearls of virtual wisdom…. Let’s see what we can come up with to make that happen…. with some help from SB, of course….


The subject upon which we are expounding, is one of my personal favorite subjects for a pearl, to wit: A Life Well-Lived…..


“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.  With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Essays: First Series (1841) “Self-Reliance”


“People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.” — Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin


“Let everything be allowed to do what it naturally does, so that its nature will be satisfied.” — Chuang Tzu


“It is an open question whether any behavior based on fear of eternal punishment can be regarded as ethical or should be regarded as merely cowardly.” — Margaret Mead


“Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no

way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.” — Lao-Tzu


“Hmph! Seriousness.  Hmph! Sobriety.  A Jedi craves them not.” — Yoda




For forms of government let fools contest;

Whate’er is best administer’d is best.

For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;

His can’t be wrong whose life is in the right.

In faith and hope the world will disagree,

But all mankind’s concern is charity.


~~ Alexander Pope (1688-1744)~~



~~ Essay on Man, Epistle iii, Line 303 ~~




Perfect!


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


Well, that went fairly well, and it’s a damn good thing; that’s all I’ve got to say on the matter. In fact, given my handicap today, and my status, I have nothing more to say on any matter…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, hopefully in a bit better state of mind….




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….