Ffolkes,
~~ Jean-Luc Picard ~~
Ye Olde Man & Scythe, est. AD 1251
Image from the UK Telegraph, article on the oldest pubs in England, July 2015
Good morning…. I wasn’t entirely sure it would be…. Yesterday morning, I fell into a very Murphy-like trap, no doubt of my own making in some way; most of his work is usually connected somehow to a moment of inattention on our part…. Just because I complain about Murphy’s Law doesn’t mean I don’t also understand karma…. It’s all on me, ultimately. Like most ffolkes, and, for that matter, all folks, we need to vent the frustration of our own stupidity now and again…. Thankfully, my whining never lasts long; then, I can get on with fixing whatever I’ve broken, metaphorically, or literally…
Yesterday’s troublesome issue fell into the latter category. Firefox has been my browser of choice for many years, but, the latest version doesn’t seem to agree with one or more of the security programs I choose to use; essentially, every time I opened it up, it froze up on me, big time…. I was unable to successfully troubleshoot it, so, I had to figure out a workaround, which meant I didn’t get posted until about 0715, much later than usual. The mere fact yesterday’s mess got posted at all should earn me a ‘geek of the week’ award. for finding a quick workaround, that promises to be a better fix than planned…. Essentially, I switched to Opera, as my default browser, and all seems to be well… That works for me, for the nonce, which is way better than not, anachronism or no….
Right. I’ve done it again, haven’t I? I’ve blathered to open up the day’s adventure in folly, thus guaranteeing a certain degree of peretroinyeka, which is an obscure, not to mention non-existent Ukrainian word meaning “nothing at all”. See, my lawyer told me to stop making guarantees, so, well, we have to resort to little tricks like that to keep from breaking any rules that could lead to litigation…. The budget won’t stand it any more….
Okay, we’re lost good and proper now, aren’t we? I may as well just throw my hands up, and be done with it. Nothing else seems likely to get us anywhere at this point…. So, imagine, if you will, me, rolling my eyes, throwing up my hands, and cursing the gods of blogging, whom we know as Norm and Nancy the Nifty…. Okay, okay, I’ll stop. You don’t have to get all weirded out…. Shoot, go back above, & have a pint in the pub, then we’ll get started… Go ahead, we’ll wait…. Ah hell, no we won’t…. Luigi, let’s go; we’ll give them a refund when we get back….
Shall we Pearl?….
“Sigh… Every day I thank my statuette of Wilma Flintstone that I was born normal.” — Zippy the pinhead
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Jack Bruce is one of my favorite old time rockers; he’s remained true to his music, and way of life, since I first heard/saw him, way back in his days with Cream, in the 60’s, of which time I have many good memories….. Contrary to popular belief, not ALL of us were so stoned we don’t remember it…. I will confess to partaking of my share, and possibly more, but, hey, we were all young once, right? Here is a documentary on Jack’s life and work which I think y’all will enjoy…. Besides, it get us down the page with some really good music…. Enjoy….
Jack Bruce – The Man Behind the Bass
(BBC Documentary)
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“Men rattle their chains to show that they are free.”
~~ Smart Bee ~~
“…and so castles made of sand slip into the sea eventually.”
~~ Jimi Hendrix ~~
Though I’m up in plenty of time, I’m not in a ranting mood; I feel better than usual, which causes less angst to accumulate…. It did give me time to find a good rant for today, though. This one is, sort of, a summary of indictments of our Beloved Ruling Class, may their skin itch unbearably…. It’s fairly short, and, I think it’s one of my best…. but, then, I’m biased…. You tell me what you think, if you should feel the urge…. Otherwise, just read, and think about it; I’ll be happy with that….
Written June, 2012; last posted November, 2013:
“….when all government…. in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1821
The framers of the Constitution knew what they were doing when they tried to build in safeguards into the system of government they chose after the revolution against England. They structured it with checks to the balance of power in each section, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, reserving, as well, several rights to the people that had historically been reserved for the governments themselves, including the right to bear arms, one every government in history has tried to restrict for its own use. The right to bear arms, the right to vote, the right to gather to protest, to speak freely, all these have, at one time or another through the last four or five millennia, been restricted by governments, until men like Jefferson, Mason, and Washington took those rights for themselves, supposedly securing the same opportunity to their descendants.
In fact, I regard it as proof of this assertion, to find that the government, not only of this country, but all of them, is STILL trying to restrict the rights of the populace to bear arms. To my way of thinking, the most recent attempts by the government to curtail the public’s ability to obtain the means to protect themselves adequately merely serve to point out how accurate are statements such as the above, showing how little human nature has evolved, or advanced in the intervening years…. I’d be hard pressed to call the changes we’ve seen anything other than a retreat, from achieving a more civilized society. The populace continues to live in fear, most of which is manufactured by that very same government, to distract them from what is going on behind the scenes; for example, observe the data mining and illegal surveillance being carried on by Saint Obama and the current administration….
Sorry to apply the sarcastic epithet to the POTUS, (no, I’m not, but, I AM polite….), but, his recent actions have revealed a lot of stuff that indicates, yes, he IS a politician, and, as such, has been lying to the public on a regular basis since entering office, a habit much practiced by all those who enter those hallowed doors, as it turns out.
Historically, it seems, ever since I’ve been alive, for the last 64 years, each and every man who has been in the White House, with the possible exception of Jimmy Carter, has lied to the public on a regular basis, without qualms, and without apology…. This isn’t news, or new news, at all…. just go back over the headlines and op-ed pages over that period, and the evidence of what I have asserted is plain to see….
This is why I won’t ever consider any alterations to the second Amendment, or the First, or to any of them…. I still regard them as law, and see any attempts to restrict them as being acts of treason against the principles by which they were conceived and enacted. I DON’T trust ANY politician, not one who spends millions to get elected, even if, or especially if, the money isn’t theirs…. The mere act of WANTING to be an elected official implies insanity to me, either of a sociopathic nature, or an evangelical one, either of which is dangerous to allow into any position of authority over others, as they will ALWAYS act to serve their own self-interests first…..
’Nuff said….. gigoid has spoken, and has no more to say on this subject, except….. Leave my Bill of Rights alone, or pay the consequences…..
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde
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Note from 2015:
I’d been working on an old-school pearl for this section, when I found the above & decided to re-use it. As it turns out, what I’d been working on was right in the same vein, so, I just left the needle where it was, and here they are, to finish this section with a bang…. sort of…..
At his own wonders, wondering for his bread.
‘T is pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat,
To peep at such a world,–to see the stir
Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.
~~ William Cowper ~~
~~ The Task, Book iv, The Winter Evening, Line 86 ~~
“It’s possible to fight intolerance, stupidity, and fanaticism when they come separately. When you get all three together it’s probably wiser to get out, if only to preserve one’s sanity.” — Adam Dalgliesh, in Devices and Desires, by P.D. James.
“All governments need enemies. How else to justify their existence?” — Edward Abbey
“We must never forget that if the war in Vietnam is lost… the right of free speech will be extinguished throughout the world.” — Richard Milhouse Nixon, 10/27/65
(Yes, he actually said that, in public…. No, I have no idea what he was thinking….)
How sharper than a hound’s tooth it is to have a thankless serpent.” — Smart Bee
“And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness. But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement. They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer. Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.” — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
(No, I don’t always understand myself…. but, it fits, doesn’t it?….)
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A new poem has been leaking out, a few verses at a time, for several days; it has apparently stalled after two stanzas, & I don’t want to force it, or it could simply disappear altogether…. Here’s a two-fer sublimation, with a couple of my older poems, along the same lines as today’s overall theme, whatever that may be…. Enjoy, please….
Absently casual, memories pester endlessly
leaving only bleeding remnants, amiable and loving.
Coming awake, I cry to still the pain, shamelessly.
Elsewhen, time gives surcease, if only to live,
shoring broken pilings, worn and gray.
Passing on, I laugh at the pain, accept all it will give.
Time will build a shelter, warm and ever safe
save for Fate’s busy hands.
Enduring, I follow the pain, knowing it will chafe.
Fixed against a darkened sky of starry black
such beauty brings us to our knees.
Entranced, I welcome the pain, ’tis all I lack…..
~~ gigoid ~~
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Making Room
Our souls, they say, are like shapeless, infinite bags
in which we put all our pain, all our joyous wonder.
Broken hearts and thrilling love, riches to rags,
endless perceptions of serenity, and thunder.
‘Tisn’t simple, this spiritual journey to peace
memory is fickle, easily led astray;
darkness, ever lurking, without surcease
turning innocence to harm, from simple play.
Balance is the key.
Timing is everything.
Good can change bad, bad can change good.
Pain makes room for more joy in our souls.
The only power we need is the power to change ourselves.
~~ gigoid ~~
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When y’all see Aristotle at the top of this section, it should be clear it’s time to put on your thinking caps. Although this nine-star collection of gems has only one entry by one of Mankind’s earliest polymaths, the point(s) being presented are all well within the sphere of influence of his ideas. One of his sayings was, (not the one included here), in fact, the inspiration for axiom #4 of Peruaosophy, which, as you all know, states, “Excellence is its own reward.” Each of these, then, is a reward to its author, and a gift to all of us…. Enjoy….
Warum bin ich mich, und warum nicht dich?
Warum bin ich hier, und warum nicht dort?
“When the child was a child, there were these questions:
Why am I me, and why not you?
Why am I here, and why not there?”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
“Know, first, who you are; then adorn yourself accordingly.” — Epictetus
“The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next.” — Mignon McLaughlin
“Belief is the death of intelligence.” — Robert Anton Wilson
“… as sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul…” — Aristotle — Nicomachean Ethics, Bl. I, Ch. 6, 10966, lines 29-30
“All I know of love is that Love is all there is.” — Emily Dickinson
“Love withers under constraint: its very essence is liberty: it is compatible neither with obedience, jealousy, nor fear.” — Percy Bysshe Shelley
“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.” — James Stephens
‘T is that I may not weep.
~~ Lord Byron ~~
~~ Don Juan, Canto iv, Stanza 4 ~~
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It can be a challenge to actually determine the quality of each day’s mess around here; it’s all a bit close to home for accurate judgment with an objective eye…. Nonetheless, I’ve spent enough time on this one to ensure a pretty high degree of, if nothing else, relative coherency, if not outright clarity…. both of which would be, no doubt, a refreshing change for y’all…. I do love my obscurity. But, it’s enough; my sanity is intact for another day, so, I’ll take it out into the BBR and give it a test run up against the real deal…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, unless one of you tracks me down, & shoots me… Oh, with a camera, of course…. Bye!….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid, the dubious
The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 