Anecdotal scenes from the Ugly Bug Ball….

Posted on August 5, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for.”

~~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky ~~

Rorschach Rock

What do YOU see?

Some of y’all may note today’s opening looks slightly different than it has been lately. Good eye….. Not that it means much, there’s no prize or anything, but, hey, credit where credit’s due, I always say. What may not be as apparent is the reason for the change, but, I doubt you’re going to want to spend a long time trying to figure it out, as I’m not going to say, and, we have to go on almost immediately, so, no time for questions…. How ’bout that? Funny how that works, eh?….

S’okay, we’re all used to being ignored, or abused, & expected to just swallow it; our society finds a way to do that to each and every one of us each and every day…. But, I digress…. Ranting in the intro is no longer allowed, as we know, yet, somehow, the rage I’m feeling right now has grown past my ability to sublimate, or repress, or even understand…. I’m very close, emotionally, at least, to my limit. I’m a tough old coot, but, even I must have a limit to how long I can keep myself from firing back at the assholes who make our lives so difficult, in a way that gets their attention….

“I am grim… and harsh… and ripe with fury! I fight and kill and howl and get *all bloody*! I go bowling whenever I want!” — The Carrot’s statements on life…

I promised myself (during the FIRST time I was up last night…) I wouldn’t whine, no matter what. So, instead I’ll be aggressively vituperative, in a figurative sense, toward all things asinine, a word which, as we know, forms the basis of our name for our Beloved Ruling Class, and their Masters, those premier assholes of humanity, those servants of evil….. Yes, it’s the Asininnies, those small-spirited, egotistic, misogynistic, buttheads we know and love so little…. I suppose merely verbal, or, in this case, written vitriol won’t really kill the urge, (or, them, sadly…), but, it will help by not spilling it on anything or anyone undeserving of such honors, and help me keep my word to myself, thus abusing y’all less…. It can’t lose, as long as I can keep myself under control….

To assist myself in that task, it would be best to get on with the rest of today’s mess….

This introduction has been brought to you by the makers of tardive dyskinesia, medical science’s most annoying side effect, and, by Insomniacs International…. They’re ALWAYS up, for something or other…. All insults, accusations, indictments, assertions, founded, or unfounded, and, of course, all ridicule, is intentional, and, patently, well-deserved.

No spitting allowed without a permit; limit of three victims, all must be of different category…. snakehead, pundit, dogma dog, or myrmidon, which regulations require be clearly marked on the identification-toe-tags included in your kit. Please provide the caliber of your weapon to the stewardess, and ammunition will be provided….

Let’s do this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Laugh, and the world ignores you. Crying doesn’t help either.”

~~ Smart Bee, the Realist ~~

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

At the risk of being accused of living in the past, I’m going there anyway, for a specific reason…. I’m in the mood, as mentioned, for some serious ass-kicking. This is the kind of music one should have playing, at full volume, (the level should threaten eardrums for a quarter-mile….), while laying about with one’s weapon of choice…. Mine is a katana, or, perhaps, a staff…. Hell, a bag of rocks will do in a pinch….

As the old mountain-man hard-ass, (Brian Keith, in a BRILLIANT cameo appearance), in “Young Guns”, who rode slowly, sleepily up to the group of gunslingers on his donkey, stepped down, grinned, and, said, as he opened fire with both guns,

“Let’s dance!”….

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

Boston Live 7/29/2014

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

https://youtu.be/G0UU4yyKmyI

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

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

“If any man have an ear, let him hear.”

~~ Revelations 13:9 ~~

Today’s rant will be of a slightly different format, simply because it’s all I could handle at 0330, (the SECOND time I got up last night…). I’ve got a lot of angst (translation: RAGE) built up in me, thanks to insomnia, dramatically increased pain level, and the living hell of tardive dyskinesia q4h like fucking clockwork, all thanks to the kind ministrations and completely asshole nature of my doctors, thank you very much. Assholes.

That said, my need to blame is assuaged, but, the rage is not. I’m not sure I could produce a coherent rant in this state; too many conflicting images of a homicidal nature keep intruding whenever I think about any of the issues I normally choose as the outlet for my dreaded outbursts (dreaded by me, for the adrenalin rush…. I don’t mind the energy, or the anger so much; it’s the hours of coming down that is an ordeal…. almost as bad as the TD….). So, we’ll go with a method I developed a couple years ago, but, never used much. It will work today; the comments I make are shorter….

Here then is the result of my attempt to get all the dross and drivel out of my head, and onto the screen, where it doesn’t cause so much trouble for me….

“Whenever, therefore, the profession of arms becomes a distinct order in the state….the end of the social compact is defeated… No free government was ever founded, or ever preserved its liberty without uniting the characters of the citizen and soldier in those destined for the defense of the state…Such are a well regulated militia, composed of the freeholders, citizen and husbandman, who take up arms to preserve their property, as individuals, and their rights as freemen.” — Richard Henry Lee

Can there be any doubt, in any reasonable mind, our social contract has been dissolved?…. Not only have our armed forces become organizations of professionals, run by hereditary families of warriors, and career students of War, loyal only to their sworn superior officers, not to the people of this country…. Even the National Guard has become a tool of government against the people; remember Kent State, back in the 60’s?

In addition, this professional militarism has spread to the no-longer-civilian police forces in every state, county, and town in this country, even going so far as having the government armed forces share equipment of war with those police forces, spreading their older, unused weaponry and accessories around to those departments, which now view the public as their enemies, not their neighbors…. The people now fear the government, rather than the other way around, as our system was designed to work….

“Deceit in the conduct of war outweighs valor and is worthy of merit.” — Niccolo Machiavelli

Can you think of a better example of how the political mind works differently than that of the public? This, to me, demonstrates perfectly how little the needs of the common man concern those who seek power; it doesn’t even enter into their calculations at all. Why would it, when their ethical/moral model of reality is the exact opposite of that espoused by our most revered scholars and sages, who regard Truth as an inviolable habit for the honorable man….

“Unfortunately, the people of Louisiana are not racists.” — Vice President Dan Quayle, regarding David Duke’s candidacy, 10/12/90, (reported in Esquire, 8/92)

No need for much comment here; Dan speaks for himself. This is included primarily for a bit of comic relief, much needed, I assure you…. Gad! He was/is SO stupid! It makes me cringe, every time I think of how close he was at times to being the President of this country…. I mean, what if the Junior Shrub had choked on some broccoli, or something? Wouldn’t THAT have been perfect irony?…

“Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant or an enemy, must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.” — Aesop

Another way of reminding ourselves we only have ourselves to blame for all of this…. Sad, hard to swallow, but, true….

“The truest wild beasts live in the most populous places.” — Baltasar Gracian, “The Art of Worldly Wisdom” 1647

I would suppose it’s becoming more than clear I’m feeling a bit snarky today…. All I can say is, so fucking what? Whenever I think of all of the SHIT that flows out of Washington D.C., the truer the above statement becomes to me. I regard all politicians at the national level to be psychopaths, clinically insane, as proven by the mere act of running for an office at that level. Only insane persons WANT that sort of power over others, so, I regard their ambition as concrete proof of their lack of morality, ethics, or standard levels or intelligence, for that matter, all of which goes along perfectly with their incredibly delusional view of Reality….

Damn! I got so hyped up typing that last paragraph, my left hand fell asleep, from typing too fast for too long, as all that vitriol poured out without pause. I’d hoped to carry on for a bit longer, to at least seven pearls, but, it looks like five will have to do….

I’m pissed, ffolkes, if it wasn’t made clear. Just thought you should know…. I guess I’m done for now. I know I didn’t accomplish much, but, I think I got enough crap cleared out to at least get something done today along more constructive lines…. If nothing else, having thus completed this ugly, but, necessary self-imposed duty, it gives me the wherewithal, and the authority, to finish this pearl in the approved manner, with a short statement in summary….

“I came, I saw, I went back into the house.”

~~ gigoid ~~

~~ Wednesday 2015 ~~

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

Here is one of the first poems I wrote back in 2012, during the period of time my 35 year hiatus at writing in verse came to an end…. Even now, I still think it’s one of my best…. It’s certainly one of the most personal….

Raging at Aging

As old as you feel, we are told, is old as you are,
custom assures such vision will carry us far.
Reality begs to differ, may it be so bold
it is really quite painful, and very, very cold.

The power and strength felt in our halcyon youth
desert us with age, yet another unwelcome truth.
Irony rules our time here on this bountiful earth
as we reflect the changes over time since our birth.

As physical powers fade from this fragile shell,
we learn our mind can serve us quite as well.
The strength that once filled our bones and hearts
is now applied by our will, to more arcane arts.

Life’s greatest gift is our freedom of choice
no matter how often we forget, we still get a voice.
Energy, or apathy, by our will we may choose,
failing to do so, our only way to lose.

Each of us lives in the grip of time and space,
always seeking our balance, our own chosen place.
One must accept reality, for it is true at the core,
all we can do, is all we can do, and nothing more.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 10/17/2012.

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

Relatively Consensual Reality

Image from 123rf.com via Google Images

This pearl came together in a rather odd fashion; in the end, it’s a pretty good range of concepts, all of which have to do with some of the more important parts of Life as we know it…. Well, I guess a qualifier is called for…. That would be Life as we dubioids know it; don’t worry, if you are one, you’d know (the big, round, honking nose is a dead giveaway). If you don’t, (know, that is…), that’s fine, too, because, hey, you’re a dubioid, and, thus, protected from the worst vicissitudes of Life by your very nature….

See how that works? No? Ah, well….

“If you shut up truth, and bury it underground, it will but grow.” — Emile Zola

“The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.” — George Bernard Shaw

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom, in the pursuit of truth as in the endeavour after a worthy manner of life.” — Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”

“The laugh of a child will make the holiest day more sacred still.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” — Albert Einstein

“Courage conquers all things.” — Ovid

“To teach is to learn.” — Japanese Proverb

“The deed is everything, the glory is naught.” — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“Surely every human being ought to attain to the dignity of the unit. Surely it is worth while to be one, and to feel that the census of the universe would be incomplete without counting you. Surely there is grandeur in knowing that in the realm of thought you are without a chain; that you have the right to explore all heights and all depths; that there are no walls or fences, or prohibited places, or sacred corners in all the vast expanse of thought; that your intellect owes no allegiance to any being, human or divine; that you hold all in fee, and upon no condition, and by no tenure, whatsoever; that in the world of mind you are relieved from all personal dictation, and from the ignorant tyranny of majorities. Surely it is worth something to feel that there are no priests, no popes, no parties, no governments, no kings, no gods, to whom your intellect can be compelled to pay a reluctant homage. Surely it is a joy to know that all the cruel ingenuity of bigotry can devise no prison, no dungeon, no cell in which for one instant to confine a thought; that ideas cannot be dislocated by racks, nor crushed in iron boots, nor burned with fire. Surely it is sublime to think that the brain is a castle, and that within its curious bastions and winding halls the soul, in spite of all worlds and all beings, is the supreme sovereign of itself.” — Robert Green Ingersoll, “The Free Soul”

There you go…. I’m pretty sure I can’t make it any clearer than that, which is too bad, because that’s pretty obscure, isn’t it? Oh, well, c’est la vie, as they say in Paris…. That’s in France, which is why…. oh, never mind…..

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

Difficult as it may be to believe, I’m done. For a bit there, it looked as if I might never get enough out to save my ass from another f’d up day in paradise; fortunately for all of us, I did. Y’know what? I’m gonna go buy some champagne, bring it home, pour it in a glass, and toss it down the sink… I HATE champagne! Hmm, maybe I won’t. Maybe, instead, I’ll just go on with the day, and see what happens…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; I don’t seem to be able to find a way to keep it from happening….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

We need less paleolithic data!….

Posted on July 27, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Our subjectivity

Is a mirrored,

Spiked casket.

~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~

Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem

Image from the UK Telegraph, 7/18/2015

Good morning…. In sooth, I really can’t tell whether the morning is of either category today. Having lost all sense of routine in my sleep habits, it is clear I actually have no habits in that regard. Tried hard to time my lie-down to maximize the chances to fall asleep quickly, but, found myself unable to come anywhere close, as pain and twitching hit as soon as I lay down…. Up for two hours again, then down again, to arise almost an hour after expected…

SIGH… Oh well, so much for plans, eh? Let’s go throw together a really fast Pearl, so I can get on with whatever today’s particular battle with Reality may bring….

Shall we Pearl?….

“We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.” — Helen Keller

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

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

Speed is of the essence today, so, we’ll go with our default selection…. Enjoy!…

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

Classical Music

Mozart – Symphony No. 40 in G minor

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

https://youtu.be/JTc1mDieQI8

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

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

C’mon! You KNEW this was coming…. Better grab some trail mix and a beverage; it’s a big one….

Originally posted in January, 2013:

“Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.” — Oscar Wilde

One may always trust Oscar Wilde to be both elegantly witty and intelligently insightful, though, to be sure, many of his most closely held views were somewhat divergent with what was commonly held to be true, philosophically. This divergence was, I believe, mostly deliberate on his part, as he tended to mock that which he did not respect, and he never had much respect for…. well, anything to do with human nature vs. reason and rationality. He mistrusted most people to act morally, and was unafraid of saying so; this, of course, made him both famous, and infamous….. His infamy, I’m sure, ultimately was his undoing, much to society’s loss; as is said so often about our brightest minds, “only the good die young….”

I often wonder, (well, maybe not so often, as much as I’m wondering now…) what the world today would be like, if somehow, some of those bright stars in history had lived to an age where their accomplishments, in relation to the advancement of human thought, and the betterment of the human condition, had a broader, and more lasting effect than their absence has left us. What if Keats had written poetry until he was 85? How many more inventions would have come to us from Nicolas Tesla, had he lived long enough for the rest of the scientific world to catch up to him, instead of hounding him to an early grave? How much more good music, and art, and literature would be available to all of us, if not for this tendency for the best of us to live as a burning meteor, flaming brightly through the sky, until burned out and lifeless?

It is a sad commentary for society to know that it is often the very brilliance of these people that brings about their downfall, at the hands of the ignorant, and the avaricious…. What is even sadder, to me, is that this demonstrates another part of human nature that is responsible for almost every issue in human history, and current society, that causes people to suffer pain, oppression, perpetual struggle, and will most certainly ultimately lead to the extinction of our species, on this planet, at minimum, if not completely…..

That piece of our nature is the unfortunate characteristic, in a number of humans, to be able to put aside all conscience, and act solely in their own self interest. All of us, of course, possess this to some degree; it is an outgrowth of having a will to survive. To these few others, it is their primary modus operandi; they simply do not take other people, or their concerns, into account when deciding what they are going to do, and are not hampered by the consideration of any suffering they may cause other people, animals, or things.

As is patently obvious, to my mind, every elected official, every high level preacher, every corporate magnate, and a great many lawyers, are all of this ilk, and have, for nearly 230 years now, been quietly and efficiently plundering the pockets and rights of the American people (and those of every other country in the world, for that matter…. it is a HUMAN condition, not just American…. Ours are just some of the most obvious about it….), while simultaneously lying, cheating, and otherwise acting to secure their stranglehold on society.

Anyone who disagrees with this assessment, quite simply, isn’t paying enough attention to the world around them….. Sorry to be so blunt, but the facts are all laid out, right there, almost every day in the news media, if one knows how to look at the larger picture it presents, rather than the individual facets of that picture. Focusing on the little shit is just what those in power wish for people to do…. it keeps them busy not noticing other, more incriminating stuff they are carrying out, in the darkness where they mostly live….

“… change depends on individual acts of courage and commitment. Most such acts are private, invisible, and uncelebrated. But some find a place in the public spotlight; and their influence goes far beyond mere example.” — Arthur C. Clarke & Michael Kube-McDowell, The Trigger, 1999

Each and every one of us, in the face of what we know about reality, is responsible in some way, and to some degree, for both the way things are, and the way they will be in the future. If you don’t believe that, well, discussion is, for you, probably useless, and little hope remains. For anyone with moderate insight, however, this is plain, clear truth, and we all need to accept it before any significant progress can be expected against those who are sociopathic, which I define, and hereby name, as homo suicidus, those who would kill us all…. But, it is imperative that we act soon, for the damage we have done, and continue to do to our world, is at a point where the effects are nearly irreversible, and even if we manage to wrest control from the beloved ruling class,it may be too late to save our lives….

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

It is my hope, small and pale though it be, that we WILL speak up, that the rational among us will rise up, and take back the control of our destiny from the hands of those who would see us all die, rather than give up their own control. It will only happen when men of courage, as defined by Mr. Emerson, stand up to those who would render us all impotent, for their own benefit. The only hope that exists for the rest of us lies in enough of us showing this kind of courage, and overcoming the fear that keeps us in thrall…..

“I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.” — John Milton (1608-1674) — Areopagitica

Myself, I don’t want to die ignominiously, gasping for breath, because I didn’t have the courage to speak up, and to fight back against the immoral, avaricious assholes who dominate society….. Instead, let’s create a whole new world, without a beloved ruling class, at all….. Who knows? We might just find out that anarchy works!….. Worth a try, I think….. And, if it doesn’t work, well, we can always try a technocracy, which we have yet to do in history….. With a bit of foresight and planning, it might just be what we need to survive our own foolishness… Maybe, Richard Brautigan had the truest prophetic vision, when he wrote “All watched over, by machines of loving grace….”

“Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.”

~~ Pablo Picasso ~~

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

~~ Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning” ~~

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

Again with the archives, already!…. Ah, hell, what’s a poor white rabbit to do?….

Rhyming is better than lying….

It’s all too, too much, he cried
I can take no more!
It’s all crazy, my brain is fried,
battered, bloody, and sore.

Talking heads shout out hatred and fear
jam for my morning toast.
Pointing fingers far, middle, and near
enemies everywhere, almost.

Women, gays, and seniors fall prey,
easy targets, slow and weak.
Convenient fools, wanting only to play,
used, and abused, even as we speak.

It enough to drive me floridly insane,
or want to buy a gun.
I may end up in jail, or in massive pain,
but, oh, it would be fun….

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 4/1/2013.

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

Here is today’s only fresh section, outside the intro & closing statements, you will see today. Happily, it’s a good one, which speaks about Life, Love, Death, and all that cool stuff…. Enjoy!….

“There is serenity in Chaos.

Seek ye the Eye of the Hurricane.”

~~ I Ching ~~

“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” — Aristotle

“Not he who has little, but he who wishes more, is poor.” — Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.)

“We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.” — George Bernard Shaw, English playwriter

“The little girl expects no declaration of tenderness from her doll. She loves it – and that’s all. It is thus that we should love.” — DeGourmont

“I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

“Truth never hurts the teller.” — Robert Browning

“The mind covers more ground than the heart but goes less far.” — Chinese proverb

“Death in itself is nothing; but we fear

To be we know not what, we know not where.”

~~ John Dryden — Aurengzebe, Act iv, Sc. 1 ~~

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

I’m not even going to think about what it took to get this done; if I did, I’d have to shoot myself. Since I’m not, I suppose I should close this down, so we can all get on to bigger & better things, should we have any of those on tap…. Why don’t y’all go see, while I do the same?…. See y’all tomorrow, unless you, and I, can learn to zig, instead of zag….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

It’s June; we’ll use the shaved version….

Posted on June 8, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

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

~~ Henry David Thoreau, “Walden” ~~

Rock Spire on Mars

Image by NASA’s Rover Opportunity

Good morning…. I love pictures taken by the Mars Rovers, Opportunity, and Curiosity; it always gives me a little thrill to realize the picture I’m looking at was taken, not long ago, on a planet more than 50 million miles from Earth…. THIS, ffolkes, this is what we humans were made for. Anyone who doesn’t understand that, really, is not in touch with their own humanity. Nothing fascinates us more than wondering what is up there, and nothing, in my mind, will stop us from going there, unless it is ourselves, and our own flaws…. If anything in this Universe exists which can be called a destiny, for any living creature, it is my belief the destiny of humanity is to go to the stars…. Not to conquer, not to control, but, to understand, to wonder, to find out…. Maybe, when we get there, we’ll find what we’ve always been looking for, which we cannot even name….

Those among my Gentle Readers with sharp eyes and memories will note the first, opening pearl today is the same one with which yesterday’s final pearl ended. I seldom resort to such tactics, but, the chance to carry on an idea like that was too hard to resist…. It’s a perfect pearl; short, pithy, to the point, and versatile, so, why not use it?…. But, then, much of “Walden” is like that, isn’t it?….

Any who, that’s all for now, just had to get that out…. I’ll be courteous today, by not subjecting y’all to any further attempts at humor, or even ill-conceived and executed attempts at coherence here in the intro; instead, we’ll use those newly-acquired, useful, ruthlessness and executive decision-making skills to get us on down the page….

Shall we Pearl?

“Belief is not the beginning but the end of all knowledge.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

Image from hulu.com via Google Images

From about 1957 to 1968, until I left for college, my family spent every Sunday evening in front of the TV, with much of the rest of the country, to watch this show. Although today I wouldn’t be caught dead listening to accordion music, I still have a fondness for good big bands…. Larry brought good music to people who otherwise would have had NONE in their life, even if they didn’t really appreciate it much…. And, he’s got such a smarmy smile, he’s cute, as well as, patently, harmless….

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

Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music

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

https://youtu.be/ezvPBINJcAY

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

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

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” — C. S. Lewis

I find C.S. Lewis an interesting character…. He lived during the mid-twentieth century, in England. His works include a number of fantasies, including the Narnia series, a thinly disguised series of stories with a heavily Christian world-view, composed as morality tales for the modern world, in almost complete euphemist style…. But, he had, in my mind, one of the more inventive philosophical bents of many of the modern thinkers, producing a number of very excellent observations about life, politics, religion, and how they all interact, such as the one with which we’ve begun today’s discussion….

I had intended to speak about that entire set of combined subjects today, but, while researching one bit, I found the following rant from last year, which immediately proved to be serendipitous, as it speaks to the subject at hand perfectly…. Below this paragraph, you’ll find what I consider my finest rant EVER. I read it for the first time since writing and posting it yesterday, & realized it fit in exactly with today’s discussion…. So, to get to the point I’ve been circling for a while now, here is a pretty complete summary of how I view today’s modern world of the future, and, my opinion as to its most likely outcome….

From 9/3/2014:

“It is up with you; all is over; you are ruined.”

~~ Terence — Act i, Sc. 1, 9, (54.) ~~

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/US-military-targets-Islamic-extremists-in-Somalia-5727512.php

Oh… why, look there! It’s us, bombing people again, without a declaration of war from Congress. I don’t know about you, but, I’m getting more than just a little perturbed, not to say infuriated, by the American public’s acceptance of these completely illegal (under our own laws….), immoral, unethical, and fucking useless in any humanitarian, or practical respect, completely unwarranted attacks, on whomever we decide is a threat to our…… our what? What were these, no doubt, evil people doing that threatened us, here in our big houses, across the big ocean, with our big airplanes ready to bomb anyone foolish enough to annoy our corporate masters?….

Oh, right, didn’t I mention? I have no doubt whatsoever that, whomever we’re bombing now, if we examine the expressed reasoning closely, we will find that, somehow, in some way, these people were disrupting the smooth flow of money into the coffers of one, or more, of our corporate masters, er, patriotic businesses… It wouldn’t be supportive of the government to NOT protect the interests of those paying for the bombs, now would it? Of course not…. Naturally, since it costs about $75 million/day to bomb them, at least the arms makers are showing a good profit, yes?….

Did you detect a smidgeon of smarmy disdain in the above? If you did, you got it; if not, you’re not paying attention… Not unsurprising, given the brainwashing from which most Americans suffer; the media has helped the Beloved Ruling Class, and their employers, the corporate snakeheads, to spread their manipulations and distractions… oh, hell, let’s just call them what they are…. the lies they use on a regular basis, to distract the public from examining any true facts of what they’re up to, to manipulate the public and the media into believing those lies, as well as believing the other lies they tell, just because they can’t help themselves… just as if it were true, or legal, or had anything to do with helping the common man….

“I wish everybody would have to have an electric thing implanted in our heads that gave us a shock whenever we did something to disobey the president. Then somehow I get myself elected president.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

Hmm… the New American Dream, I’d say…. already half-true….

You may be certain of this… whatever spun-sugar the administration, which (who?) ordered and carried out this bombing, (An act which, again, was initiated without informing either Congress, or the public, anything about it beforehand….), in their Olympian fashion, deigns to tell us in this instance, about why we must bomb the Somalians, whatever THEY are up to, (oh, right… the article explains, they are “extremists”…), will NOT be anything resembling the actual truth, or anything that would help to resolve any real issues…. It will merely be whatever their information spin doctors have told them will fool the public into backing them, and fool the media into reporting all of it as if it were legitimate in any respect…. Count on it….

“The NY Times is read by the people who run the country. The Washington Post is read by the people who think they run the country. The National Enquirer is read by the people who think Elvis is alive and running the country…” — Robert J Woodhead

You may also count on the fact that, most likely, this is all about somebody’s profit line, and protecting a small group of “corporate persons”, aka “the men who would be kings”, who tend to feel that the money flowing into their pockets is theirs by right of entitlement; they firmly believe they are entitled to make a profit, no matter the cost to anyone else… Accept that, believe that, and you’ll have made a start, at finding out the actual truth behind most of what our government does, in any situation that comes to the attention of the public, and the media…. It’s all about covering the corporate ass, you betcha….

Now, you may think I’m being an obsessive conspiracy-monger, but, I doubt that, seriously. I don’t think it is a conspiracy; it’s simply the way it is…. The assholes to whom I refer are the same assholes who have had this country, and, for that matter, the world, in a stranglehold since the dawn of the concept of money…. They are just men, canny, strongly self-centered, and completely amoral, who have made it their habit, and lifestyle, for millennia, to take advantage of the way the system works, which is exactly how they have arranged it to work, with them as the only people in a position to control the whole shebang, from the shadows, where they are safe from those upon whom they prey….

Now, the system has grown to be so ponderous, so huge and unmanageable, that, while still protecting their identities by the very size of the system, it’s getting away from them a bit; a lot of information is now floating around out there on the Web they would rather stuff back into the box…But, sadly, not enough, yet, to make a difference in how things work, or, to change where we are headed, as a direct result of the insane machinations of mankind’s most amoral members… It may be too late altogether, to prevent their deliberate perpetration of the inequities they’ve built into our culture from leading all of us, them included, down that path followed already by so many failed species that have lived, and died, on this ball of mud over the last few epochs, since life began here on Earth….

I have a suspicion that we Humans won’t make much more of a splash, or have any more effect on reality, than did the passing of the Dodo, when Homo horriblus’s (our) voracious appetite for destructive insanity, and our failure to live up to our potential , led us to killing the last of the defenseless birds, just a couple hundred, or so, years ago…. When we have, in our turn, passed into memory, the Earth will, with a resigned sigh, in sorrow for the potential beauty that will never be, shrug its mountainous shoulders, shift around some basic elements, and begin the long slow process of healing the wounds we will have left behind us, in the final cataclysmic throes of our death-song…..

“As Caesar was at supper the discourse was of death, -which sort was the best. “That,” said he, “which is unexpected.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Caesar

—————————-

Final note from 2015: Though I really don’t have anything more to say, Zippy does, in re: the ultimate meaning of being human…. Well, TRYING to be human in an insane world, anyway….

“America!! I saw it all!! Vomiting! Waving! JERRY FALWELLING into your void tube of UHF oblivion!! SAFEWAY of the mind –” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

Emily, if y’all hadn’t noticed, is my favorite poet, and, some days, she is necessary for my sanity to maintain any semblance of normalcy…. Today is one of those days…. Fortunately, her work isn’t hard to find….

The duties of the Wind are few

The duties of the Wind are few,
To cast the ships, at Sea,
Establish March, the Floods escort,
And usher Liberty.

The pleasures of the Wind are broad,
To dwell Extent among,
Remain, or wander,
Speculate, or Forests entertain.

The kinsmen of the Wind are Peaks
Azof – the Equinox,
Also with Bird and Asteroid
A bowing intercourse.

The limitations of the Wind
Do he exist, or die,
Too wise he seems for Wakelessness,
However, know not i.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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

Today’s final, old-school pearl is one of those tough ones; persuading Smart Bee to give up anything useful can be a challenge of major proportions, and, today was no less so than it ever has been…. I’m actually sweating from the effort…. Since I can’t shower off until I’m done, I suppose I’d best get it posted, so there won’t be any further guilt amassed for no good reason…. The pearl itself is a collection of comments on how to approach certain aspects of Life at Large, should you desire something more than a slavish, miserable period of time on this planet…. Take heed, ffolkes, it’s all good stuff, if a bit murky….

“Cease to be ruled by dogmas and authorities; look at the world!” — H.G. Wells paraphrase of Roger Bacon’s works

“History is a lie commonly agreed upon.” — Nietzsche

“Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue.” — Confucius

“There’s more to living than not dying.” — Smart Bee

“The laugh of a child will make the holiest day more sacred still.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

“It is not length of life, but depth of life.’ — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“When one burns one’s bridges, what a very nice fire it makes.’ — Dylan Thomas

“I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.” — Cicero, De Oratore

“You may not, cannot, appropriate beauty. It is the wealth of the eye, and a cat may gaze upon the king.” — Theodore Parker

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

Well, there you go…. Today’s Pearl has been brought to you by sheer stubborn obsessiveness, with a side of confusion. But, don’t worry, neither is toxic, merely inconveniently wearisome. We’ll all get over it. That being the case, I can take my leave without further rigmarole, in the full belief in our own rightness, or, at minimum, sheer effrontery…. Whatever, as they say downtown…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, so long as nobody catches on….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Three portions of the marinated calamari tubes, please….

Posted on April 23, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“A man reveals his character even in the simplest things he does.”

~~ Jean de La Bruyere ~~

The Shelbourne Public House

Cork, Ireland

A close look at today’s picture, (click to enlarge), will reveal a perfect pint of Guinness, sitting under the tap on the the right of the bar; it was built, at my request, in the traditional manner, filling the glass straight down from the tap, until foam reaches the top. At that point, the glass is allowed to rest, until the foam retreats down a sufficient amount, at which time the glass is again filled. If necessary, this will go on until it is just right, with about 1/2″ to 3/4″ of foam at the rim…. I asked the bartender to demonstrate the procedure, then gave them the pint to drink, as it was only 11 AM, and I just wanted the technique, and pictures of the process…. She, (the blond at the back of the bar), thought the grey old American hippie was a bit strange, but, took the money, and kept the pint….

Good morrow, y’all…. Thanks to Kaiser, I spent about 3 hours last night with tardive dyskinesia, which gave me the gift of insomnia from midnight to 3 am; such a joy. Needless to say, this made me late to arise, and, consequently late starting today’s mess…. I’ve attempted above to mitigate any angst, with a bit nostalgia from my trip to Europe, in the hopes of eradicating any excess. It seems to have worked, sufficiently well to be able to remember our main goal, to introduce today’s Pearl…. I’m thinking two paragraphs is probably enough, especially since I have nothing more to say on any of this….

Let’s do this…. I’ll tell Luigi to take us in gently, and y’all can actually finish your drinks. We’ll unload at the oyster beds, and immediately break for lunch, okay? Then, we’ll be back on schedule, even if it’s a recycled program from last year…. At this point, obviously, it isn’t going to matter at all; we seem to have lost our way without even moving…. Funny how that works sometimes, eh? Watch your heads as you disembark, ffolkes, it appears our landing disturbed the local fauna, which is making a concerted effort to push the vehicle into the water…. No worries, we’ll just use the electric zapper, and….. There! All fried…. Now we won’t even have to order breakfast…. C’mon, time’s a’wastin’….

Shall we Pearl?

“Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.”

~~ Plutarch ~~

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

Jerry Jeff & I go way back; we spent many a moon-lit night partying back in the 70’s…. I guess I’m getting sentimental in my old age, returning to my roots to spend time visiting old memories of good times…. Well, that, or I’m just getting obsessed…. Hmm…. I suppose I could obsess over worse stuff, eh?…. It’ll do for now, so, enjoy!….

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

Jerry Jeff Walker & Loudon Wainwright III ~ Live concert

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

https://youtu.be/bvvFOSgPZLI

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

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

Today, I intended to try to create a fresh “meander”, of a rantish nature, but, that plan went down the tubes with my late arrival…. Here, then, to sublimate, an old-school meander, aimed at the pundits who engage in the nasty habit of politics…. (Definition: Politics: from the Greek, “poly”, meaning “many”, and “ticks”, meaning “blood-sucking vermin”…. — Jay Leno)

“…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

“If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion.” — Lin-Chi

“It is said that God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.” — Voltaire (1694-1778) — Letter to M. le Riche, Feb. 6, 1770

“Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How’s that again? I missed something.” — Robert A. Heinlein

“Liberty don’t work as good in practice as it does in speeches.” — Will Rogers

“Deep in the nature of all these noble races there lurks unmistakably the beast of prey, the blond beast, lustfully roving in search of booty and victory.” — Nietzsche

“A violent man will die a violent death.” — Lao Tzu

“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.” — Voltaire

— Bother! said Pooh, as the Borg assimilated him.

To bring this old-school meander to a proper close, a metaphor is, patently, essential…. Here is a perfect closing thought from our old pal, Bill Watterson….

“Today for show and tell I’ve brought a tiny marvel of nature: a single snowflake. I think we might all learn a lesson from how this utterly unique and exquisite crystal turns into an ordinary, boring molecule of water, just like every other one, when you bring it in the classroom. And now, while the
analogy sinks in, I’ll be leaving you drips and going outside.” — Calvin, “Calvin and Hobbes”

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

Sharing the Wealth

Lucky are we who live with some adversity,
Such strife to bear leaves us strong and free.
Time is no better spent at a fine university
Teaching us the kind of person we wish to be.

We humans are such contrary creatures
Life lived in ease is our fondest intent.
New perceptions are our strongest features
Learning to cope with troubles we cannot prevent.

Lessons we learn at Trouble’s bent knee
Stay on top in the bag of tools we carry.
Knowledge so earned can keep us free
On our long, strange trip to Charon’s ferry.

Pain is the least favorite of our teachers
Yet such powerful lessons stay forever and a day.
No matter how life presents its features
Strength of will equals what life sends our way.

T’is well to consider such time-tested tools,
To carry them with us as we travel through Life.
Events are less likely to show us as fools,
as we deal with Reality, where peril is rife.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 9/6/2012.

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

“By an epiphany he meant a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or memorable phrase of the mind itself. He believed it was for the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care (saving them for later use, that is), seeing that they themselves are the most delicate and evanescent of moments.” — James Joyce

In at least one real sense, this statement by James Joyce expresses a large part of why I “Pearl”…. The aphorisms, quotes, taglines, and/or statements you see here, by ancient sages, modern philosophers, comedians, warriors, scholars, hell, the entire pantheon of humanity’s most cogent, powerfully worded wisdom, has served me well, my entire life, helping me to figure out how to live with dignity, with compassion, and, with some degree of competence, if not excellence… learning to live with honor, with happiness, and, most importantly, with trouble… I am always searching for new ways to express what I’ve learned, for what good is wisdom unshared?

I’m not perfect, or wise, for that matter; I am, however, pretty damn happy, and content, though my life is often filled with what many would call severe trouble…. So, I share…. THAT is what Pearling is all about…. our common search for answers to the demands, and questions, with which Reality presents us each moment of each day…. What do you say we go look for some pearls, eh? Maybe one of them will give somebody an epiphany… If not, well, there’s always tomorrow….

“Are you out of my mind?”

— Smart Bee, being a wise acre….

We’ll start again; this one, patently, doesn’t count….

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

“Virtuous and vicious every man must be — Few in the extreme, but all in the degree.”

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

“Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense.”

~~ Marcus Tullius Cicero ~~

“Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.”

~~ Napoleon Bonaparte ~~

“I distrust all systematizers, and avoid them.
The will to a system shows a lack of honesty.”

~~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche ~~

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it’s best,
night and day to make you everybody else,
means to fight the hardest battle which any human can fight
and never stop fighting.”

~~ e.e. cummings ~~

“Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite;
keep reason under its own control.”

~~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ~~

“Courage without conscience is a wild beast.”

~~ Robert G. Ingersoll ~~

“Who can remain still until the moment of action?”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

“And unextinguish’d laughter shakes the skies.”

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

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

I won’t bore you with the old saw about, “Better late… etc.”, as it would merely serve to annoy y’all, and might be construed as pandering…. Far be it from me to ever commit such an antisocial act…. Instead, I’ll merely say, “See y’all tomorrow”, and let it go at that….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

What? You expected Yeats?….

Posted on February 26, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ Buddha ~~

Celtic Castle, Ireland

One might think getting enough sleep would be a good thing, if only it didn’t play such havoc with routine. Having actually slept for a full eight hours, I feel relatively good, compared to most days. Being up so late, however, brings with it a small sense of panic, for leaving this Pearl to the last minute. SIGH…. Is it any wonder I drive myself crazy on a regular basis? I don’t guess it is….

It does mean, however, we are free to apply the most efficient form of introductory section, to wit; this kind, which has no other task but to get us down the page and on our way to watching the video for the day. Since today’s video is one I think everyone should enjoy, we’ll not use any tricks, or nonsense, or any of our usual methods of distracting y’all from the process….. which, ultimately, should be a good thing, if I can pull this off…. Here’s how it works…. Hang on tight, ffolkes, if this works, it’ll get a little rough….

Shall we Pearl?

“Somewhere, just out of sight, the unicorns are gathering.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

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

Yesterday’s video choice was such fun, we’ll go with another fine TV show from the same era…. This one wasn’t quite as sophisticated as The Addams Family, but, was just as popular, if only for the show’s primary star, Herman Munster, everyone’s favorite Frankenstein, in the style of The Stooges….

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

The Munsters S01E30 Country Club Munsters (Full Episode)

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

http://youtu.be/YFOA2xfPamo?list=PLjB1oGzn24fyd1xPbdHfOH5vlPdOaE-vQ

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

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

“Methinks I’m gonna, spew.”

~~ Smart Bee, in a poor imitation of Shakespeare ~~

From 9/24/2012:

It is time, the Walrus said, to speak of many things…… or at least one…..

“Shakespeare was an intellectual ocean, whose waves touched all the shores of thought; within which were all the tides and waves of destiny and will; over which swept all the storms of fate, ambition and revenge; upon which fell the gloom and darkness of despair and death and all the sunlight of content and love, and within which was the inverted sky lit with the eternal stars — an intellectual ocean — toward which all rivers ran, and from which now the isles and continents of thought receive their dew and rain.” — Robert G. Ingersoll (American lawyer and orator)

Now, to look at this, one might think that this Ingersoll person was a smart fella, having obviously read a lot of Shakespeare. I am forced to point out, however, that being able to read does not necessarily mean one can think, or that one is entitled to an opinion. There are clues within this statement that reveal its weaknesses, the foremost of which is that it is a large load of bullshit……

I, too, have read a lot of Shakespeare, though not by entirely by choice. At first, I read him because it was assigned in school by some ignorant English teacher who had fallen under the normal delusion taught in most schools about Will, i.e., his stuff was good…. when in reality, most of what he wrote is just a pile of shit piled really high, hidden in masses of flowery, obfuscatory language…. Afterward, I read him to find further examples of his failings to show people in proof of my assertion, to wit: he is the most over-rated, and most egregiously pandered-to author of all time….

Oh, he was prolific enough; as well, he wrote a lot of stuff that, by any standard, is fairly good…. However, given the massive PILE of stuff he wrote, the good stuff merely proves the law of averages. For the most part, what he wrote is too wordy by half, obscure in meaning that clouds the story, or has no connection to the story at all, tending to a flowery saccharine flavor by the choice of his words.

Will achieved a large popularity in his own time, either due to good press, or the normal bad taste of the public; I don’t really care. In today’s world, his story lines would be considered trite, sticking as he did to common themes, treated by virtually every author. In addition, his use of slang went completely overboard, turning what may have been decent rap, in his day, into such tripe it sounds like random noise, similar to the common run of rap today…. I’m often amazed at how many bad musicians there are in the world…. but, that’s a subject for another rant….

In order to demonstrate for you the absolute nonsense that flowed from his pen, I’ve included some samples of his work below…. they pretty much speak for themselves….. badly…… so I’ve added my comments in parentheses…..

O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon ‘t,
A brother’s murder.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act iii, Sc. 3

(Ooooh, such tension and horror….. NOT…. merely mundane, as far as I can tell…..)

“The venom clamors of a jealous woman poison more deadly than a mad dog’s tooth.” — William Shakespeare

(I’ll bet Will was real popular with the women of his time….. NOT)

Where the bee sucks, there suck I;
In a cowslip’s bell I lie.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), The Tempest — Act v, Sc. 1

(Huh? What? Is this part of the play?…..Which part?…. Which play?)

O, that he were here to write me down an ass!
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Much Ado about Nothing — Act iv, Sc. 2

(Don’t worry, Will, I’m here…..)

A plague of sighing and grief! It blows a man up like a bladder.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King Henry IV — Act ii, Sc. 4

(I suppose, if your society doesn’t yet have rubber, or balloons, a bladder is the best you have…..)

Most forcible Feeble.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King Henry IV — Act iii, Sc. 2

(Oh, aye, what a handy turn of phrase…. NOT… What does this mean?….)

They fool me to the top of my bent.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act iii, Sc. 2

(Uh, to where? I think more likely, he’s the one trying to fool…. the audience….)

O, never say hereafter
But I am truest speaker. You call’d me brother
When I was but your sister.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Cymbeline — Act v, Sc. 5

(Honestly, this sounds like something I’d write when really, really drunk, thinking it was hilarious…..)

Okay, that’s probably enough for one day…. I’ve got well over four pages full of stuff of his like these, so there is a lot to choose from…. Just doing what I can to spread the truth, as I see it…… and this truth needs telling, to get society away from this ridiculous celebrity worship when it comes to him, and to artists like him, who rely on public opinion more than Art to determine the value of their material…. Call me Ishmael, if you must…. just don’t forget to call me…..

Note from 2015: Just to show you I still feel the same as I did when I penned this little ditty, here is one I found when looking for a pearl to open this section…. You tell ME what it means, and I’ll give you a prize….

And be these juggling fiends no more believ’d,
That palter with us in a double sense:
That keep the word of promise to our ear
And break it to our hope.

~~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth, Act v, Sc. 8 ~~

(Anyone who can explain this to me satisfactorily will win the following grand prize…. I’ll send you all of these quotes from Willie S., personally recorded, verbally, in a Scottish accent, (Macbeth, get it?)…. on a CD, so you can play it all day and night, should you so choose to thus display your insanity…. Hey, I never said you’d LIKE the prize, did I?…. Nope….)

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

Over the last few days, I’ve felt a poem building up in my mind. Yesterday, after finally gaining some space from the pain that’s been dogging me for three days now (cold weather reaction by my arthritis, I think… ), I opened up a vein, and it leaked out onto the screen. Here ’tis, such as it is…. I’m not sure yet how I feel about it; the wound is too fresh…. I hope you like it, though…. Don’t ask me what any of it means, either; I’m not sure I could tell you…

Dead Hands,Typing…

Puzzled anew by anomalous blocks of pain
caught, bemused, chained to routine, insane.
Stilled within breathless beauty
Engaging epiphany, insistent, called to duty.

Knees bent in lieu of a faithful rendition
suffuses, confuses, locked into stale perdition.
Clearing corrosion with hands encased in stone
Singular frozen follicles, masked by bone.

Partial focus brings unfiltered flavors to light
coloring each particle in simple delight.
Forlorn, novel conceptual artists singing in tune
nine notes in harmony, soft as the moon.

Honed blades of carbon steel flash in rhyme,
filling sensual receptors well past closing time.
Borrowed from neighbors in a week-old game
still bloody, without a proper name.

No flooded memories can justify such cost
no simple stationery, bilious, afraid, lost.
Ten times ten will never be enough
To fill so empty a stolen trough.

Bartering simplicity takes well into the night
solidly temporary pillars turned bright.
Unknown to all the pretty children who came
none were called, none had any remaining flame.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

All I can say about this old-school pearl is, it’s done…. Not bad, either, for such a chunky collection; it actually does have a good, valid comment to make about the number 42…. with all that implies…. Go ahead, trust me. If you don’t, well, simply don’t inhale…. You probably won’t get it, but, you’ll live through it okay. Just don’t cancel that long-term insurance; you’ll most likely end up needing it some day….

Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn’t any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I’m not at the bottom,
I’m not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.

~~ A.A. Milne ~~

“The highest compact we can make with our fellow is- “Let there be truth between us forevermore.”” — Emerson

“Bronze is the mirror of the form; wine, of the heart.” — Aeschylus (525-456 BC) — Frag. 384

“It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.” — Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) — Natural History, Book ii, Sect. 20

“You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.” — Vernon Howard

“Any idiot can face a crisis. It’s this day-to-day living that wears you out.” — Anton Checkov

“No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be…. — Isaac Asimov

“Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

The fastest draw is when the sword never leaves the scabbard.
The strongest way to block is never to provoke a blow.
And the cleanest cut is the one withheld.

~~ “Kensho”, by Dennis Schmidt ~~

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

All things considered, not too shabby….. It’s done, anyway, and I can go post it, post haste. Rather than torture y’all any further today, I’ll simply wave my hand (see?), type these last words, and be off into the day…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Remnants of foregone conclusions, with aspic….

Posted on February 2, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Justice is truth in action.”

~~ Benjamin Disraeli ~~

Found on Facebook, many moons ago…. Aren’t they sweet?

Still in the grip of exhaustion, my brain has been revolting. No, I don’t mean it that way; it’s giving me fits whenever I try to make it do anything more complicated than putting on socks, or picking my nose. It’s merely revolting against any sort of hard work; I guess it believes it’s done yeoman’s duty of late, and deserves a break…. which it intends to take, no matter what anyone else thinks about it…. Now, for y’all, it isn’t such a tragedy; for me, it’s a PITA, of some proportion….

Moreover, I’ve trapped myself again, with my no-doubt neurotic insistence on creating these Pearls each day before dealing with any other business, of any kind, other than pain, of course, which follows its own agenda, and, its own timetable, with no input taken from any logical source I’ve been able to identify…. I think it LIKES being unpredictable…. Of course, my own situation might be better if I didn’t have a tendency to anthropomorphize my conditions…. I seriously doubt my pain does a lot of cogitation, as it’s not an animate object, or even a metaphorical entity, no matter how loosely my mind wants it to be…. But, then, it’s always been a tricky thing to follow my inner logic; it tends to resemble chaos more than any sort of order….

This sort of inner rebellion also makes mornings like this a hard row to hoe, pearl-wise. It’s tough to create pearls with a brain refusing to function beyond a four-year old level…. I may have been a smart four-year old, but, I wasn’t too good a writer, so, this process becomes a challenge, to say the least, which, of course, we would never think of doing. It not only goes against the grain, it’s JUST NOT DONE….

I believe I’ve completely lost it. Let me check….. Yep. It’s gone. Fled, screaming, into the night. Nothing left to do, but smile, smile, smile, because we sure ain’t gonna find any more useful crap in THIS brain. SIGH…. I thought this might happen, but, I decided to jump in & get started, to see if I could fit in the intro before it all went south….. Oh well, I think we can do this, if we can…. Yes! Look….. We’ll go into that slot there, then, turn quickly, and we might just get back near reality…. Let’s give it a shot, okay? Hang on, ffolkes, we’re goin’ in…..

Shall we Pearl?

“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the falsehood. One word of truth outweighs the world.” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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

Some people, it seems, have entirely too much free time on their hands. Note, if you will, the number of this compilation, and remember each one is nearly an hour of cartoons, including movies with both characters…. This was a major project for somebody, if only for the time it took to compile, then upload each one to You Tube…. If half that energy were put into some sort of reform activism, this person could change the world, all by themselves…. Good way to pass a little time, though….

Donald Duck & Chip And Dale Cartoons Full Episodes Part VIII

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

http://youtu.be/5CTLihNhaKc

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

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

Having contracted a touch of SB (Stultified Brain), a rant for today’s post is out of the question…. I don’t wish to leave y’all without anything to chew on; we need to keep the Asininnies on their toes, and centered in the crosshairs, so, here’s an old-school rant/pearl as our daily indictment of the BRC for crimes against humanity…. Enjoy!….

From 4/11/2013:

Okay, here’s today’s offer…. I’ll stick to old-school pearls, no ranting. I think it’s the only way I’m going to be able to carry this off; my ranting today would probably come off like something from Rush Limbaugh, or Geraldo, or Hannity, or whatever that guy on Fox is called….. not in terms of content, but of quality (no remarks, please….). Since I won’t give that idea the consideration it doesn’t deserve, I’ll instead submit the following group of pearls, which speak about how to live life, in such a way that, when you are nearing the end, you can still look yourself in the mirror of a morning….

“Even as a great fish swims along the two banks of a river, first along the eastern bank and then the western bank, in the same way the Spirit of man moves along beside his two dwellings: this waking world and the land of sleep and dreams.” — Upanishads

“To stake all one’s life on a single moment, to risk everything on one throw, whether the stake be power or pleasure, I care not – there is no weakness in that.” — Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

“He would be the finer gentleman that should leave the world without having tasted of lying or pretense of any sort, or of wantonness or conceit.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 2

“When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.” — Thomas Jefferson, Writings

“When Po-chang was asked about seeking for the Buddha nature: “It’s much like riding an ox in search of the ox” — Smart Bee

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

“I would have been here right after you called, but I had to shake the weasels.” — Deloris, from Roger Rabbit

If you don’t get it, that’s okay, it’s pretty subtle, and obscure…. in fact, just as much so as I could make it….. 🙂 Nevertheless, I think it will say what it needs to say….

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

We’ll go with another old poem of mine today, to keep from spreading the blame…..

Funny Bones

Dreaming the way home, lost, unseen,
from the dance, where
he felt so free, and clean.
Sorrow couldn’t find him there.

Waiting, filling up the hours, hoping,
some connection can be found
keeping busy as bees, coping.
Love creeps in, without a sound.

Fat days, skinny nights, passionate
visions of semi-conscious entities,
cannot seem to fully illuminate
or hide our innermost frailties.

Resolute, find the perfect sense, codify
simple rules with every breath
never waiting, anxious to modify.
fear nothing in life, not even Death.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

There you go….. Constructed in jig time, pointing well toward wisdom, and, done, ahead of time by plenty. I’d call this the perfect old-school pearl, but, I’d be setting a precedent, which is against our bylaws, as well as the basic intent of our Charter. Go figure….

“But the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” — Arthur C. Clarke — Profiles of the Future (1962; rev. 1973) — “Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination”

“A thief believes everybody steals.” — E.W. Howe

“Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious cares.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children

“Fear is strange soil. Mainly it grows obedience like corn, which grows in rows and makes weeding easy. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance,
which flourish underground.” — Terry Pratchett, _Small Gods_

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

“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” — Horace

“Clay is molded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing. … Thus, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.” — Lao Tzu

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

I hope today’s Pearl doesn’t cause too many problems on the legal front. It’s so choppy & irregular, I’m afraid someone will hurt themselves, on one of the projecting sharp edges, or by falling into one of the obvious pits of depression scattered throughout the text like little land mines…. Ah, got it!. I’ll just put a disclaimer up, to protect our legal butts…. I think, if I put it up tomorrow morning, it’s still legally binding on today…. Then, we’ll hand out gloves, and a personal-sized portion of vaseline, & let ‘er rip…. That works every time…. For now, we’re outta here, ffolkes; see y’all tomorrow….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Can you spell ‘balderdash’ boys & girls?….

Posted on January 29, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.”

~~ Socrates ~~

Euro-Union Mars Science Lab, Artist’s rendition of post-landing configuration.– from Space.com

I’m wondering, if the folks over at Kaiser are feeling a little premonition, a small niggling at the back of the neck, or a vague feeling of uneasiness. If not, they probably should, because I guarantee, they are about to become engulfed in a shit storm. Having reached the end of my patience with the issue they’ve forced upon me, I have consulted the proper authority (Sun Tzu, The Art of War), determined a plan of battle and engaged the first scouts to gather intelligence. Small events have been set in motion, which, combined with the other facets of the plan, will come down on their heads in an avalanche of legal and marginally legal manipulations and court appointments to keep their wolf-pack full of lawyers busy for years to come.

They poked into the wrong beehive this time, picking on a target well able to protect himself from their feeble attempts to control my life, to force me to live according to their perverted version of reality. They will find that to be a decision they will come to regret. I have previously stated my reluctance to suffer the machinations of fools; this is no exception. My father would be disappointed in me if I allowed a soulless corporation to dictate to me how I should live; I have no intention of allowing that to continue, to their everlasting regret.

That being said, perhaps y’all will understand why I am so FUCKING TIRED, of pain, of side effects that bring nothing but misery, of the unending stress; most of all, I’m tired of not sleeping…. go figure. Since Kaiser, along with a group of brainwashed, cowardly physicians, who have surrendered their dignity, and their souls, to keep their jobs, afraid to buck the insane demands of the corporation, lest they lose their place in the insane race to achieve the American Dream, long proven to be an illusion, fostered by the elitists who control the world to maintain the status quo, which favors only them, have decided to fuck with me….. Well, let me just say, I am the wrong choice for them to pull this on….

Whoops…. I’ve done it again, haven’t I? Oh well, chalk it up to being preoccupied with pain, and the cause of the pain. My anger is so large, the universe is full; it’s got to go somewhere, or I will explode, at which time a large number of assholes will begin to disappear from the face of the Earth, continuing to do so as long as I can evade their clutches. I’ve taken all I intend to take, of being treated like a slave, who has no rights, and no power…. I may not have the resources of a world behind me, but, I think they’ll find I am quite able to gather the necessary elements to create more trouble than they’ve ever encountered, and, I am quite familiar with the arts of warfare, having been born a warrior….

I hope against hope it won’t come to pass; unfortunately, it may already be too late. We’ll see how the next day or two goes, then decide, Meanwhile, I’ve completely screwed the pooch with this intro, so, I’ll just use the ever-popular emergency method #4, to ease us down into the next section…. That one goes like this….

Shall we Pearl?

“I’ve learned to accept birth and death… but sometimes I still worry about what lies between.” — Smart Bee

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

Over the past two days, I’ve been reliving my youth, with cartoons from the Saturday morning lineup I was fond of watching every week. Here is another old friend, Yogi Bear, with his old friends, Boo Boo, and the Park Ranger…. Enjoy!

The New Yogi Bear Show – Grin & Bear It

http://youtu.be/UhqHtxGLt68?list=PL_4hXCUn-FQCnjStEjFb2961a6Ff5xvvj

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

“A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks.” — Johann L. Uhland (1787-1862) — Speech, May 27, 1836

Zowie! Eureka! I knew I’d heard this somewhere before, but, couldn’t remember the author’s name. In stating this observation, made not long after the US government was formed, the author takes the hand of Thomas Jefferson, who expressed his fear of exactly this happenstance, in numerous letters to friends before, and after, the signing of the Constitution. He recognized the overpowering ambition and thirst for power so obvious in those who embrace it, attempting to warn his fellow citizens, many times….

As is plain to see, nobody paid the slightest attention, whereupon the bankers, in close conjunction with their myrmidons, i.e., the pundits and lawyers, continued to pursue their evil intent, to secure their hold over government, and, thus, society…. They’ve been so successful, we see in today’s world, they control every level of the national scene; witness the number of Republican presidential candidates who have been sucking up to the Koch brothers, and the Citizens United PAC, with their unlimited pile of money, in use in today’s world buying the loyalty of every single politician they can pervert to their insane desire to make the world over in their own image…. It doesn’t seem to matter at all to them that image is a clear, crisp photograph of the worst HELL imaginable, or that it would entail oppressing 99% of the human race….

Why are many scientists using lawyers for medical experiments instead of rats?

a) There are more lawyers than rats.

b) The scientist’s don’t become as emotionally attached to them.

c) There are some things that even rats won’t do for money.

~~ Smart Bee ~~

Gee, do ya think I’ve lost some of my respect for lawyers, and their second-slimiest clients, the bankers? (First place in my hell is reserved for pimps, and those who abuse women, children, or animals…. which, of course, lawyers and bankers do by proxy, with their usual complete indifference to the suffering of others….) Why no, of course not. I’ve lost ALL of it, with what I consider damn good reason, based on 64 years of observing the human drama, along with my own personal experience with both categories of asshole…. The only respect for any of them I have, is for those who actually HELP people, without considering what they can get out of it, other than their own satisfaction for helping people find justice, and a reasonable fee for that help, whether the fee is taken in pies & chickens, eternal gratitude, or simply cash….

In keeping with today’s theme of picking on lawyers and bankers, and, to save energy for my upcoming battle, I decided to pick out an old school pearl, aimed at the former, as they’re an easier target, all in all…. They’re just SO…… weaselly! Well, there are some are exceptions, sure, but, the others infest the world so prominently, the good ones are hard to find…. Ah well, here are some observations about them, from Smart Bee, and a number of other people who feel the same as most everybody else, about those lawyers who use their skills to benefit themselves, showing complete indifference as to whether it benefits anyone else….

Liar, n.: A lawyer with a roving commission. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“A group of white South Africans recently killed a black lawyer because he was black. That was wrong. They should have killed him because he was a lawyer.” — A. Whitney Brown

“Always take a lawyer with you, and bring another lawyer to watch him.” — Bo Diddly’s Observation on the Law

“Fleas can be taught nearly everything a lawyer can.” — Smart Bee

“Here’s an amazing story. A man in Orlando, Florida, was hit by eight cars in a row and only one stopped. The first seven drivers thought he was a lawyer. The eighth was a lawyer.” — Jay Leno

“If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?” — Smart Bee

“In a man’s world…simian aptitudes are rated high, and so not too many women get in. To succeed as a lawyer, for example, a woman would have to throttle two of her chief attributes: her disdain for the petty accumulations of useless knowledge, and her sharp feeling for the truth. What men in their imbecility consistently mistake for a deficiency of intelligence in women is merely an incapacity for mastering small and trivial tricks.” — H. L. Mencken, Chicago _Sunday Tribune_, January 8, 1928

“In the Norse mythology Loki originally was on the side of the rest of the gods, helping them once or twice using particularly nasty forms of trickery. He was a cunning negotiator with a talent for technicalities. He was sort of the Norse equivalent of a lawyer, no doubt the reason they tied him down in a pit dripping acidic venom on him.” — Martin Terman

“How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb? You won’t find a lawyer who can change a light bulb. Now, if you’re looking for a lawyer to screw a light bulb… ” — Smart Bee

LAWYER: A professional advocate hired to bend the law on behalf of a paying client; for this reason considered the most suitable background for entry into politics. — Definition from “THE CYNIC’S DICTIONARY”

Needless to say, I could do this forever, no sweat, or guilt; there are already nine pearls, and I’ve only used three of the ten pages of quotes I’ve collected on the subject. But, I suppose there ARE more productive things we could all be doing. This is pretty cool, but, as with all good things, it can’t last forever…. Onward, into the day….

Oh, hell…. Naturally, AFTER I’ve finished, I find the PERFECT pearl for this group. Since we’ve already completed it, I’ll just tack it here on the end, where it will enjoy its highlighted position; I call it perfect because it takes a shot at two categories at once, both of which are current players in my personal drama…. This one tells it like it is, for sure and for certain….

“Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.” — Anton Chekhov

gigoid has spoken…. So be it.

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

“But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having.” — EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow, “Cynthia Horner’s Eulogy”, Apr. 1994

Unsolicited Gratitude

Fear becomes familiar when reality bodes us ill
pain assumes first position, no matter our will.
Powerless, we founder, no strength to prevail
anguished and afraid, against unwanted Fate we rail.

Still, a grain of hope deep inside, hidden well against need
gives us reason to survive, our starving souls to feed.
Failure of courage burdens time, of being bested,
until our souls, in submission, become foully infested.

Bitter tears wash through us each day, with little care,
no thought, no feeling, no wish, or need to be fair.
Rendered clueless, confusion falls upon us, as prey,
we surrender a piece of our soul, little as we may.

Yet, always, a bright beam of hope is seen from afar,
no matter how dreary, or dark, it may seem where we are.
None knows, nor would consent to tell, it seems
from whence it hails, or why it so brightly gleams.

Saving our sanity, absolving our unwanted fears,
dispelling the myths and lies that come with the years.
Each man has known the precious gift that hope may give
And gives glad thanks, as long as he may live.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I managed to get a bit more sleep than usual last night; no idea why, as I was mostly uncomfortable all day, & didn’t expect to sleep much at all. Ah well, gift horses, and all that….. I’ll see now if Smart Bee is awake and aware enough to cough up a few pearls; if not, I’ll find a good one in the archives to take up the slack. Let’s see what happens if I give SB a set of weird parameters, eh? See if you can figure out what they were, why don’t you? If naught else, it will get us down the page to the closing section…..

” Never use your thumb for a rule. You’ll either hit it with a hammer or get a splinter in it.” — Uncle Ed’s Rule of Thumb

“It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry.” — Nikolai Gogol _The Inspector-General_ [1836]

“The laugh of a child will make the holiest day more sacred still.” — Robert G. Ingersoll (American lawyer and orator 1833-1899)

“I exist as I am, that is enough.” — Walt Whitman

“One can endure sorrow alone, but it takes two to be glad.” — Elbert Hubbard

“All men are created unequal.” — Lazarus Long

“Awright, which one of you hid my PENIS ENVY?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well. Hmm. I think, perhaps, I’ll not comment at all on this one…. We’re done, ffolkes; looking at this pearl tells me, we’re just in time, too….

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

I did it, against all odds…. not that anyone would have put any money down, anyway. Hell, I wouldn’t have bet on me this morning, and it’s my blog. Oh well, I suppose they can’t all be perfectly okay; with this one, I think I’ll avoid any attempts to categorize or label it, all for the better, I think. In fact, I think I should go now, before I lose it any further….. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, given a rising tide and a bit of luck…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

He meant plaster of PARIS!….

Posted on December 2, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ Pliny The Elder ~~

Today’s picture is one of several I took, of pubs in England, and Ireland, while traveling there in 2013; I showed the first one, of the Old Swan, in London, a few days ago; this one, located in Belfast, is the oldest public house in that city, having been first established by royal license in 1635, on that same spot… This view is of the main room by the bar; I sat at the table just to the right of the fireplace to have my lunch, (you can just see my stick, leaning against the wall by the mantle), consisting of a traditional plate of bangers and mash, and a stout beer…. Some day, I want to tour both islands of the British Isles, to visit at least one pub in every town I see…. I figure I couldn’t get a much better feel for the people than to visit the places where they hang out to eat, drink, and plot revolution….

Well, the last part is my imagination, but, I’ve read enough history to know that many revolutions were plotted in rooms just like this one, perhaps this one itself, and not so long ago…. This pub, called White’s Tavern, has been a popular spot for almost 400 years, many of which saw what the locals call “the troubles”, as the civil war between the Catholics and Protestants in that country waged over the past couple hundred years. I’d wager good money that a lot of the battles in that war were planned right in the room you see above, a wager I would be confident of winning…

Now, all this doesn’t pick my pocket, nor break my bones, to paraphrase Tom Jefferson, pitifully badly, but, it IS interesting. Well, to me, anyway, as a student of both history, and European culture over the ages; whether y’all are interested, or not, is of little concern to me at this point. You see, I’m in the middle of what may be the most cogent, properly executed intro sections I’ve ever created…. Of course, this little intimate conversation, which we now are holding, sort of puts that to the lie, so to speak…. In short, I’ve even managed to screw up THIS one, haven’t I? I think I have, more’s the pity…. It was going so WELL, too!….

Now, of course, we’ll have to abandon the direction we were headed, to hare off in some other wild way…. Where we will find ourselves when I’m done screwing around would be a bit hard to predict, so, I won’t even bother to try; all I’ll say is, sorry ’bout that…. I tried this to keep myself from falling into a rant right out of the gate, but, I seem to have carried it a bit too far away from our normal process, so far we lost track of the time, as well as the desired outcome…. Such sloppiness is, naturally, to be expected when trying such a new, and delicate procedure, but, I managed to find completely new ways to foul it up…. I’m talented that way, if you hadn’t noticed….

Ah well, so much for that one…. We’ll now be compelled to force our exit again, using that new, but already well-practiced skill, developed and installed at such great expense and effort, of ruthlessness, for which I am ever thankful, for having saved us so many times, over such a short period of time…. One of our best buys, no doubt…. To use it does cause a bit of trouble, in that we are using more first-aid supplies, but, those are a small price to pay for ending up in the right place each day…. Well, the right place according to our calculations; I won’t claim infallibility of results, only of intent….

Look out!…. Okay, that should do it… We’re past the worst point now, so, I suppose I should get on with the rest of today’s mess….

Shall we Pearl?

“Thoughts are free and are subject to no rule. On them rests the freedom of man, and they tower above the light of nature.” — von Hohenheim (1493-1541)

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

As may happen with any long-running show on TV, the BBC series with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes suffered a few miscarries, in terms of falling into clichéd plot lines that catered to disparate elements of the viewing audience, such as spiritualism, or any of the other suppositions about the habits of the world’s most renowned fictional character…. Certain plot lines reached a point where the contents of the story achieved rather a far-out look and feel, as the writers tried to convince the audience of Sherlock’s great powers, as explainable only by extraordinary means….

This episode is one such, featuring the actor who played Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s brother, in a case he pursued with the help of Watson…. It’s a very enjoyable piece of TV entertainment, and a pretty good small-screen adaptation, definitely one of the BBC’s best efforts…. Enjoy!…..

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes – S07E05 – The Mazarin Stone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TMP52a6Nlc

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

I’ve related in previous posts how the rain we are experiencing here in NorCal has aggravated the arthritis in my hands, to the point of making typing a challenge…. Plus, dealing with the damn things, when added to the other spots on my body that seem to jump to be included in the litany, in dreaded sympathy, is exhausting over time…. all of which occupies my mind far too much for my taste…. It also keeps me from gathering news to use as subject matter…. Hence, another trip to the archives for a rant…. This is rather a mild one, but, fairly cogent, and all too true for comfort….

From 2/22/2013:

“Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

I first read the Bhagavad Gita when I was about 17; along with the Tao Teh Ching, it has had a profound effect on my life, and the attitudes I bring to living it. The above verses are what led me to my belief in the mind’s immortality, as a form of energy like any other in this Universe, thus subject to the Law of Conservation of Energy. This deduction served to remove the fear from Death for me, as I can now view it as a mere change of form, to one whose characteristics I do not know, (or remember), from previous changes. Once fear is removed, Death becomes just another part of Life, and is welcome as such, for the inherent beauty it possesses as the complement to Life…..

“All anger arises out of obstructed desire.” — Bhagavad Gita

This is the second verse from the book I found to be extremely valuable, in learning to live with dignity, with honor, and without fear. This statement, by its very nature, implies that our anger is under our control, thereby placing it into our bag of assets to be used when needed, rather than in our bag of liabilities, or, emotions that keep us from reaching our potential as humans, like fear, anger, greed, etc….. Fear can be seen as the desire to be safe from harm, obstructed, which thus sheltered under our aegis of emotions that can be changed, by merely changing our desire…. By learning to deal with fear, anger becomes our ally, rather than our enemy…..

In turn, these two principles, used congruently, give us the emotional freedom to make clear decisions about reality’s demands and issues, without our emotional responses coloring the decisions with their negative outlook, and tendency toward denial and obstruction. We become immune to the storms that plague most people, for we know how to adjust our attitudes to suit the conditions under which we find ourselves, instead of falling prey to letting the circumstances dictate our response. True freedom, indeed…

Today, when I found this, I was immediately reminded of all of the things I had lost track of in the distractions of living…. All the pain and anger I’ve been feeling since hearing the news of my brother’s illness fell away, no longer able to sustain their hold over my emotions; I am once more able to see how this is not an issue to be angry about, but rather one to use as an opportunity to grow, and to perhaps be able to give my brother the love and support he needs, despite what he may want, in his own grief…. He is afraid, and trying to keep from either showing, or sharing that fear with his family; I won’t allow him to die that way, or to be without his family, when it is so unnecessary…..

So, I am feeling better in that respect, and though I am still filled with sadness, I know now that is just my own self-pity, feeling sorry for myself for having to face his death…. Grief is, in truth, misplaced in looking at death, and in reality is more of a solace for the living, than it is a tribute to the dead; our grief is more a feeling of loss in ourselves than it is sorrow for their passing. It is not, ultimately, a time for sadness, but, rather, a chance to acknowledge the beauty of a Universe that gives us this opportunity to experience the change in our consciousness….

I’m betting when we change over, we are in a place where our minds are much more in tune with the very base of reality, with the ability to direct the formation of the next form it takes…. Hey, it makes as much sense as any of the other suggestions of what happens that I’ve heard, and has the advantage of fitting the facts of observable, recordable reality, pretty precisely….. and if I’m wrong, well, I’ll deal with that when I get there…. 🙂

I’ll tell you this quite frankly…. if the Christians are right, or the Muslims, or any of the other organized institutional churches, then I will definitely have a few words for whatever is passing itself off as God, to answer for the actions of His/Her/Its followers…. and I won’t be taking any BS for a response….

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

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

I’m again unwilling to share the blame for any of this, so, once more, you must put up with my own pallid, if pungent, poetry….

Stray Cats

The veils that billow and fold
between dreams and reality
may sometimes part,
showing the visions of one to the other,
blending, bleeding as one,
only to bring us up short,
closely jammed against immovable fate.

Still, we keep our watch,
seeking to find the vision
that brings with it the mark of reality’s regard,
a humble mind, and a compassionate heart.

Events of broad impact draw us away again,
distracting with shiny glitter and tinny music,
leaving our feelings raw and bruised,
the victim of universal disregard.

Now, in the twilight of years, the music is fading,
and the glitter has all gone….
yet the memory of visions remains sharp and clear,
melancholy reminders of reality’s promises,
unkept…..

~~gigoid~~

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

When I went to put together an old school pearl for this section, Smart Bee seemed in a weird mood, presenting a choppy group of quotes, many of which seemed to fit together, but, with as many that did not fit presented right alongside…. I finally figured out SB had something to say about a category of Asininny, specifically the Dogma Dogs… So, I pulled out those that didn’t say much about that, to find this perfect seven-star pearl had come together, all directed at those silly, delusional thieves dwelling among us, who like to wear clothes trimmed in gold filigree, just because they think it’s swell…. when, in truth, it’s an example of how little they do know about Life, or Reality….

“A half truth is a whole lie.” — Yiddish proverb

CLERGYMAN, n. A man who undertakes the management of our spiritual affairs as a method of bettering his temporal ones. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“The easy confidence with which I know another man’s religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” — “I would not interfere with any one’s religion, either to strengthen it or to weaken it. I am not able to believe one’s religion can affect his hereafter one way or the other, no matter what that religion may be. But it may easily be a great comfort to him in this life — hence it is a valuable possession to him.” — I do not see how eternal punishment hereafter could accomplish any good end, therefore I am not able to believe in it. To chasten a man in order to perfect him might be reasonable enough; to annihilate him when he shall have proved himself incapable of reaching perfection might be reasonable enough; but to roast him forever for the mere satisfaction of seeing him roast would not be reasonable — even the atrocious God imagined by the Jews would tire of the spectacle eventually.” — Mark Twain

FAITH, n: That quality which enables us to believe what we know to be untrue. — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

“The least pain in our little finger gives us more concern and uneasiness than the destruction of millions of our fellow human beings.” — William Hazlitt (1778-1830), Works, Vol.X

“An honest god is the noblest work of man. … God has always resembled his creators. He hated and loved what they hated and loved and he was invariably found on the side of those in power. … Most of the gods were pleased with sacrifice, and the smell of innocent blood has ever been considered a divine perfume.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

“I have no problem with God.. it’s his pushy followers I can’t stand!!” — Smart Bee

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

Okay, well, it took a while, but, I managed to get this done in spite of my hands; I can’t say it has been the most fun I’ve ever had, to be sure. But, it’s done, so, I’ll take it, and run…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, even if the rain keeps up….

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.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

For proper digital magic, pixel dust is required….

Posted on August 22, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“And I said to myself be still, wait without hope. For hope would

be hope of the wrong thing. Wait without love. For love would be love

of the wrong thing. Wait without faith. For the faith and the hope

and the love are all in the waiting.”

— T.S. Eliot

I really do love when a plan comes together…. It makes what T.S. wrote above even more beautiful, to know all at once how it feels when the hope, and faith, and love, are true to life…. Of course, such feelings are fleet, lasting only as long as we can hold onto them, to copy into permanent memory, where we can find them later, when we have the time to think back to better times….

I’ve no clue as to how that turned so melancholy…. It may be the flower you see; it’s one of my better shots of a rose, sharply defined and filled with the beauty of the unique pattern of petals each rose shows as it’s own, much like a snowflake…. but, when you look a bit closer, you can see this rose is old, has been open for some days, and will soon lose its petals to age, falling one by one, until the beauty is all gone, killed cruelly, its beauty stolen by time, as it always is…. I guess that’s a bit melancholy….

It’s too early to stay that way, though, so we’d best look for another way to start this Pearl; nobody wants to hear me rant when I’m filled with melancholia…. I reckon it’s hard enough when I’m filled up with angst and/or outrage, at the latest shenanigans of the political or religious idiots who like to call themselves leaders, or preachers, or the most dangerous sort of Asininny these days, policemen….

Truth be told, these days, you may as well just call them paramilitary fanatics, as policemen, for they seem to be changing the face of public safety, from the familiar one, of the well-known officer of the law, who knows everyone in his constituency by name, to the faceless, armored warrior with no investment in community, or protection of people, but, only the protection of property and business rights….

There, how was that? A short, one paragraph mini-rant, served up for your morning pleasure with just a touch of smarm to go along with the ridicule…. it adds a bit of flavor to an otherwise tasteless group of people…. Those who serve themselves before thinking of others, from whatever motivation they may claim, have no class, no taste, and, in my opinion, no reason to be allowed to live, not if they’re going to be assholes all their lives…. That’s my opinion, but, it is, I should think, one very popular, if not often expressed, or acknowledged…. I have a feeling that, these days, there are a LOT of people out there who would have something to say about the issue, if pressed….

That’s the whole problem, you see… People only speak out about such issues when pressed, so the problem grows larger with time, because nobody wants to be the first to criticize…. Well, you know me now, so, you know I won’t bother to wait, to tell the assholes I think they’re living up to the names I call them; I enjoy it, and would love to be able to do it face to face more often than I already do…. Of course, it’s tricky thing, baiting cops…. most of them don’t have much of a sense of humor; it comes from taking one’s self too seriously, a common trait among bullies, and those who resort to aggression as their tool of choice in interactions with others….

Ah me, such is the blogger’s life, and I am loving it… at least, I am now that my internet service is back, and my routine is once again relatively normal, or what passes for such on this blog…. I will admit, what most folks, or even ffolkes, call normal doesn’t resemble what happens here too often, but, that’s just fine with us…. we, or more accurately, I have no problem with “Abbie Normal”…. In fact, it’s where I live most of the time, so, for me, the process of ranting, and taking shots at Asininnies of all shapes and sizes, is probably a good way to keep me from going out to buy a gun, which I would be sorely tempted to use, to improve the scenery of our country, so long perverted by so many….

Now that I’ve ranted a bit, and sublimated my need to act into a more literary solution to my need for expression, we’ll take this slow on the road, down into the nether sections, where we can find something a bit less dreadfully mundane to discuss…. Well, we’ll try, anyway…. I’m just hoping there aren’t any major issues to resolve along the lines of the last time we took off on time…. I HATE having to break my promise to myself to never kill anyone before breakfast has been served, so as not to spoil anyone’s appetite…. Plus, I’m getting low on the cleansers needed to get the blood stains off the concrete….

Shall we Pearl? Before I get any weirder?….

“It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions. I believe it was Magellan who said, “The church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the Church.” On the prow of his ship were disobedience, defiance, scorn, and success.” — Robert G. Ingersoll, quoted in _The Great Quotations_

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

“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” — New Testament — Acts ix, 5

In truth, it’s never really been all that hard for me….. 🙂 Sorry, couldn’t resist…. Since I am back to my nearly-normal routine today, I had thought to create a fresh rant for this section…. However, I’m in too good a mood to pick something I know will just end up making me mad, or sad, or just plain pissed off, at least one of which is necessary to give any rant what it needs to succeed, to wit: some passionate anger, directed at a worthy target….

I know it wouldn’t be hard to slip over to a news site, pick out a headline, load up the old metaphoric cannon, & let fly; what with the state of affairs in Missouri, the Ukraine, Iraq, and Syria, there’s no dearth of material from which to choose targets worthy of the term, “evil fucking assholes”, most of whom the world would be better off for their having never being conceived in the first place….

It seems, at the present time, all over the world. ALL of the Asininnies are in full-out summer madness, killing each other, right along with the innocents alongside them, left, right, and straight down the middle…. Women, and children, and millions of poor, defenseless people are being killed, or enslaved, or otherwise made to suffer at the hands of their own alleged leaders and protectors, all of whom are more interested in achieving their own selfish, avaricious agendas than thinking of ways to help anyone else…. especially if that anyone else is of another religion, skin color, gender, or practically ANY sort of difference in lifestyle or appearance from their own… If you’re a pink monkey, the brown monkeys will hate you, for not being brown….

See, I almost fell into a rant right there, just talking about those assholes, without having to resort to any actual instances of proof, of which there are almost too many to count, or pick from…. Instead, I am going to do something altogether new, (I hope….)… First, below is a link, to one of my older posts, which I’m putting here rather than just re-blogging it… If you go to read it, you will find it to be a travelogue entry, perhaps the best of all that I posted while on my trip to Europe in 2013…. ‘Twas written near the end of the cruise I took around the British Isles, a lifelong dream of mine, and has some good photos, some good memories, and no ranting…. Thus, it fits my mood, and need, just fine….

After you read it, I am putting in a short, five star pearl, composed to give y’all just a taste of how I look at Life at Large, and try to meet it, head on…. Well, so to speak…. the head I tend to put on is often not in what might be called the most reliable, or even the most comprehensible state… but, I sure have fun with it, so, maybe you will too…. Enjoy, ffolkes, and try to appreciate my tact and diplomacy today; it’s all I’ve got at this point…. Could be worse, right?….

https://gigoid.me/2013/05/21/the-sign-said-it-would-float/

And, now, a word from Smart Bee, and few of his most insightful, intelligent friends….

“Today for show and tell I’ve brought a tiny marvel of nature: a single snowflake. I think we might all learn a lesson from how this utterly unique and exquisite crystal turns into an ordinary, boring molecule of water, just like every other one, when you bring it in the classroom. And now, while the analogy sinks in, I’ll be leaving you drips and going outside.” — Calvin, “Calvin and Hobbes”

“I stopped opening my mail and now my life is so much simpler.” — Albert Einstein

“Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both yes and no.” — J. R. R. Tolkien

“In most instances, all an argument proves is that two people are present.” — Smart Bee

“Do I look like someone who cares about what God thinks?” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

Any of you who really know me knows who today’s poet will be; when I need a dose of the real thing, with no ups, no extras, I always turn to “este poeta”….. I won’t even bother to suggest you enjoy it; that’s your choice anyway. But, I happen to know, it’s worth enjoying…. Plus, if you’re as fond of metaphor as I am, this will fit right in today….

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 ~~

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

To go with tradition, this will be a random, harlequin style, old-school pearl, the best kind, as well as the quickest to create…. I’ve been enjoying myself so much, I’ve dawdled, and it’s nearly time to be done… So, here….

“Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall.” — Sir Walter Raleigh
“If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all”. — Queen Elizabeth I

“Love withers under constraint: its very essence is liberty: it is compatible neither with obedience, jealousy, nor fear.” — Percy Bysshe Shelley

“I’m thinking of starting my own talk radio show. I’ll spout simplistic opinions for hours on end, ridicule anyone who disagrees with me, and generally foster divisiveness, cynicism, and a lower level of public dialog . . . imagine getting paid to act like a six year old!” — Calvin, “Calvin and Hobbes”

“Puns are little plays on words that a certain breed of person loves to spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way to indicate that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the cleverest person on Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in fact what you are thinking is that if this person ever ends up in a lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl him overboard by the end of the first day even if they have plenty of food and water.” — Dave Barry, Why Humor is Funny

(But, they’re so much PUN!…. Sorry, couldn’t help myself….)

“They are voting whether to keep a governor two years or four. I think a good, honest governor should get four years, and the others life.” — Will Rogers

“If God considered woman a helpmeet for men, He must have had a poor opinion of men.” — Smart Bee

“It is the quality rather than the quantity that matters.” — Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C. – A.D. 65)

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

Having thus discharged my single duty for the day, I will take my leave, content to know I’ve done all I can do…. We won’t discuss whether or not this is something worth doing; not going there today. Or, ever, probably…. Either way, I’m done, so, I’ll go now, and leave y’all in peace…. Tomorrow, then, to be sure….

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.

Sufficient evidence for acquittal? Priceless….

Posted on August 16, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Putt knot yore trussed in spilling chequers.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

Nor, for that matter, should it be placed anywhere in the vicinity of an elected official…. Your trust, that is…. You could say, I suppose, that trust, in any case, is too precious to be handed out to anything, or anyone, who doesn’t appreciate the privilege…. Y’know, that is so trite, and so obvious, I’m going to do a 180° turn here, and head off in a different direction, before I stifle myself….

How about that rose, eh? Isn’t she a beauty?…. and, I can honestly say, I took the picture myself…. did the fixing up, too, with a bit of cropping and a touch of contrast adjustment, to the point it came out quite nicely…. the color of yellow roses just does something for me; I always feel ‘brighter’ for having seen one, and taking a good picture of one makes me feel quite accomplished…. Of course, I’m pretty easily entertained….

Even if that is true, though, there is still the question of what to do today…. Yesterday was a complete loss, once the Pearl was done…. That process was hard enough, but, what came after turned into one of those days I’d just as soon forget….. After completing the tough roe to hoe that was yesterday’s Pearl, I went for a relatively short walk, for my daily exercise…. Within an hour of getting home, my entire skeleton seemed to catch fire, and every joint in my body began to ache, increasingly worse with each moment, until I felt as if every joint and bone in my body was screaming at me….

I started taking drugs, both legal and marginally so, including extra opiates, edible cannabinoids, topical cannabis creams and rubs, and smokables, continuing to do so for a couple of hours, until it all caught up to the pain, and I could actually think again…. Then I went to bed, & slept until I felt a bit more energetic than exhausted…. It was absolutely the worst day of pain I’ve ever had, I think, aside from one memorable toothache, and I have no desire to ever experience that again, if I can avoid it…. The trouble is, I don’t know why, or how it started, or what I can do to prevent it from happening again…..

SIGH…. Oh well, such is life in the big city, I suppose…. Not much I can do, of a prophylactic nature, (unless, of course, I can figure out how to stop aging….), so I’ll just have to make sure I’ve always got enough drugs on hand….. Well, that, or have my neighbors get used to the screaming…. Probably better to keep the former as the case; the latter would, no doubt, become troublesome, for all of us…. Speaking of taking breaks….

Now the tone for the day has been rejected, we can get on with the rest of this mess…. Have a care today, ffolkes…. I’m a little bit on edge. Big events happening today, so I’ll be wandering around the edges of what sanity I have stored up, just to see if there is any difference in how it looks from that side of reality….. In fact, it looks so promising, we’re going to submit our application for take-off, and get this slow on the rode….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Things don’t bug you if you don’t think about them.” — Calvin

Ooh, ooh, look! It’s a two-fer!….

“I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I WILL be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation…I am in earnest – I will not equivocate – I will not excuse – I will not retreat a single inch – and I WILL BE HEARD.” — William Lloyd Garrison (1804-1879) — Salutatory of the Liberator, Jan. 1, 1831

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

LAWYER, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Yesterday, I saved several links to articles on the Net, articles which were intended to stimulate my ranting mode; they mostly had to do with the mess of a situation going on in Missouri, where the latest evidence of the racist nature of our society is being rooted out for the whole world to observe…. The actions in Ferguson by the police, then by the public, then by the police, and so on, has played out in such a way as to highlight a couple of the most pernicious perversions of spirit that remain part of our national make-up, to wit: racism that permeates every branch of government, and the widening income gap that tends to exacerbate any interactions between the public and the police, who are more invested in protecting the property and safety of the rich than they are in protecting the rights of the poor….

However, when I thought about the issue this morning, I decided I am tired of ranting about this particular issue…. It’s one that just makes me crazy with rage, at the stupidity, and the insane, deliberate ignorance and selfishness of those in society who buy into the whole Judeo-Christian world-view, that places rich white Christians at the top of the social heap, at the expense of every other race on the planet, no matter how much they may purport to be Christians…. It makes me crazy when I see the assumption of entitlement they all share, as if they had the right to the self-centered, sociopathic dishonesty, and the sheer avarice that compels them to gather and hoard more wealth than they can possibly use….

Since I have now gone ahead and shouted out my complaints for a couple of paragraphs, I’m going to call that the rant for today, and finish this section with a nice, sharply pointed group of sticks to poke in the eyes of any Asininnies who may be in the vicinity, or even in the dimension we currently inhabit…. The quote from Ambrose Bierce that began this section should give you an idea of how this pearl will turn out; all of the entries I’ll be choosing will resemble that one as much as I can make it so….. Enjoy!….

“Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it … You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.” — Will Rogers

“Lust of power is the most flagrant of all the passions.’ — Tacitus (55?-120?)

“Bought And Sold…”– proposed new plaque to hang over the entrance to the Supreme Court, the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate….

“Politicians neither love nor hate. Interest, not sentiment, directs them.” — Fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)

“Audemus jura nostra defendere…” – [Let us dare defend our rights.] — Smart Bee

“In what he called the ‘great tradition of warnings in presidential farewells,’ Reagan reproached the movies, television and young parents for failing to indoctrinate American youth in 200-proof patriotism, the way they did in his day. ‘If we forget what we did,’ said the man who still can’t remember trading arms for hostages, ‘we won’t know who we are.’ The section ended with this weird passage: ‘And children, if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it means to be an American, let ’em know and nail ’em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.'” — Hendrik Hertzberg

“I am not a wimp.” — George Bush

I love the last one; it’s so perfectly shrubby….. Who but a wimp would need to say so?…. Okay, not a bad group, for a quickie…. The people who end up on the national stage in politics are certainly an entertaining bunch of idiots, aren’t they? Well, I think so…..

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

While considering what to place in the poetry section today, I could feel at least two new poems percolating; they aren’t, sadly enough, ready to bleed out just yet. To sublimate the urge for now, here is a poem I wrote in September of 2012, that, somehow, feels as if it would fit in with the two that are still in the germination stage…. I hope you enjoy it….

Accentuated Lessons

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

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

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

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

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Okay, well…. It seems fate has given me an out…. It’s getting late, due to some minor procrastination on my part (go figure….), so I went looking for an archive piece to put in here, and what did I find? A rant, from a couple of years ago, that goes perfectly with my originally intended rant in section one, regarding the ongoing militarization of the police forces in this country; obviously, it’s been going on for some time, as this piece was written almost two full years ago….

It isn’t too long, so, it shouldn’t strain your patience too much…. and, it has some valid points that retain their significance in today’s world… Enjoy…. please?…. Oh, and, I wouldn’t mind if you thought about it, and actually joined in any dialogue that could conceivably ensue….

From 12/6/2012:

“Who will protect the public when the police violate the law?” — Ramsey Clark

Here is a question that is particularly relevant in today’s society. In my time on this sad little ball of mud, I have studied the various parts that make up our culture, and the police, due to their ubiquitous nature, have always been right there at the forefront of my observations. We all have our stories of how we have had to deal with police in various circumstances, not all of which show them in their best light. In fact, next to lawyers, police officers are probably the most reviled members of society, as well as one of the most admired. There are good reasons to support both views….

I cannot say that my knowledge of ALL policemen is complete; I don’t know them all. But my observations over the years have clearly indicated, at least half of those who enter the field of law enforcement, do so out of a desire to have power over others, rather than an impulse to be of service. It is easy to spot these folks….

They’re the ones who never signal a turn in their cars, and are always moving at a speed greater than the posted limit. They assume that the laws that govern the populace are not applicable to them, and act accordingly. They enter any situation with the attitude that “might is right”, and attempt to intimidate anyone who tries to usurp or question their authority. They don’t serve as policemen to keep the peace, but to control the beasts…. two entirely different goals.

I find myself at this point to be in the beginning stages of a rant; this subject is one that frustrates me a lot, as I believe that the police should be offering themselves as an example of honorable, lawful behavior, not to set an example of how to bully one’s way through life. Many of them do so, but, sadly for the rest of us, a larger number have no more interest in serving and protecting, than they have in consuming donuts without those little colored sprinkles. Due to circumstances well within my control, I’m not in the mood for ranting this morning, so I’m going to let this go without further comment. Even about the donuts….

Suffice it to say that society needs to consider the question asked above by Mr. Clark; it needs desperately to take a hard, realistic look at the requirements needed to procure police officers who are of the proper frame of mind to assume the responsibilities involved in public protection. It seems obvious to me that psychological testing of potential officers would be a good place to start; perhaps some of those who go into the field for their own purposes might not be given such power, if they could be winnowed out in the testing process…. Perhaps then we would begin to see the police set the example for the rest of society, rather than proving to be one of the problems we need to solve….

“The superior man is the providence of the inferior. He is eyes for the blind, strength for the weak, and a shield for the defenseless. He stands erect by bending above the fallen. He rises by lifting others.” — Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899)

————————————

Note from the future: It occurred to me while editing this for grammar, etc., a large part of this problem can be described by using certain words to show the difference between how most of the police I’m referring to as, well, buttheads (sorry, but, it just gives the right “look and feel” to how a lot of cops come across, much of the time, when addressing the public….) (sorry, again….almost started re-ranting…. I must be getting tired & distracted… )…

Any who, those guys, the officers who use intimidation as their method of choice for public interaction probably tend to look at their work as “law enforcement”, when, in truth, we, and they, would be better off if they could, or would, learn to think of what they do as “public safety, with an emphasis on protection of individual rights”…. A simple difference, that would make ALL the difference in their approach, don’t you think?….. I do….

“Therefore search and see if there is not some place where you may invest your humanity.” — Albert Schweitzer

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

Since we all know how little it takes to amuse me, I won’t bother to mention that I’m pretty sure this is a good one…. It would be just a bit too self-serving, and I like to avoid that when possible…. Of course, saying so negates the good karma, but, the guilt feels so GOOD sometimes!

Now that I have the sheer psychotic breakdown in my sights, I think I should probably end this before it gets any closer to any actual reality…. and if you can translate that, you spend too much time here….. Just kidding…. I happen to know there are very few readers at all who are coming here very much…. There are several, about 10 ffolkes, who make it by a lot, and a lot of ffolkes who only come by when they are in the mood for my heavy-handed egotism, which I can’t describe as frequent, but, always appreciated….

I don’t do it to get readers, anyway, as you know…. I do it so I can still say I’m sane enough to do so…. But, it’s always nice to see that someone enjoyed it, and that keeps me content…. Now that I’ve put y’all back to sleep, I see we’ve landed, so, grab your stuff, & let’s head on out into the day…. 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

gigoid

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

View Full Profile →

	katiemiafrederick on Are those Foster Grants to blo…
	katiemiafrederick on Funk-o-matic accessories are o…
	katiemiafrederick on Dodge those taxes with dignity…
	katiemiafrederick on Dodge those taxes with dignity…
	katiemiafrederick on But…. but…. what a…

gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Robert G. Ingersoll

For proper digital magic, pixel dust is required….

Sufficient evidence for acquittal? Priceless….

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: