Standing by with unqualified operators….

Posted on March 30, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Well, let’s see what kind of trouble I can get into this morning….. Murphy threw cold water in my face today, precisely at 0437…. That’s in the AM, by the way, in case the use of military time didn’t clue you. He didn’t bother to explain why, just grinned at me, then disappeared, so I’m sure he’s got some sort of booby trap set up for me, to hit me when I’ve relaxed and forgotten about him. SIGH…. there are times, such as this, when I wonder what life might be like without his unkind attentions, and though it might affect the balance of the universe somehow if he weren’t around to see to that, I’d be willing to try it out, just to see if I could deal with it any better than I do with him dogging me…. In fact, I’d give serious money to try it…..

Sadly for me, money won’t buy my freedom from Reality, or the elements of Chaos and Entropy that are as much a part of life as are Order and Beauty….. There are people who believe that money CAN buy happiness, but they are deluded, and exist in a way that prevents them from ever really connecting with the universe deeply, or experiencing the finer parts of life, that only come when one is open to compassion and love. Moreover, they are completely unaware that they are missing out on anything….. I suppose that means that I must once again come to my own terms with the events that Murphy perpetrates in my life, and just smile as if it didn’t hurt…. For me, the alternative is unacceptable….

Wow, how did I get so serious? It’s too early to rant; even I have limits, and two paragraphs in is NOT where I like to begin letting it all hang out, even if the target deserves it…. Hell, I’m barely awake, even though I’ve been up an hour now, and have sucked down an appropriate amount of coffee. I’m so out of it, actually, that I just tried to think of a joke to put in here, and it caused a stabbing pain right behind my eyes, like I’d been struck by a brilliant blast of light right in the face, or a left fist to the temple…. ouch!…. Maybe serious isn’t so bad….

Nah, I’m not in a serious mood…. Of late, I’m experiencing a bit of how the universe maintains balance over the long run, as the past two and a half years of relative misery is countered by a period of positive support by reality, in the form of an influx of resources.

I’ve been steadily using those resources to set up my life for retirement on a different level than it has been thus far, and the concomitant release of built up stress is delightful, as well as liberating…. I’m only glad I am able to appreciate it; I’ve known many people who would complain about even good things that happened to them, but, as I’ve said before, I’m not one to look a gift frog in the gums…..

Why is it that the quality of what I write in the intro is so variable? I can’t seem to find a method, or a format, or anything that is consistent, allowing me to segue into each day’s work smoothly, unless I go through all these rambling, blathering contortions….

Of course, in the course of writing these every day, I DO get a lot of practice at different styles, and get to let out my imagination to play, especially when I do a fictional opening. But, I can never seem to get it just the way I want it…. Oh well, I guess you could say that is a metaphor for life, in a way…. we can’t always get it just the way we want it…. So, I’ll just get on with the rest of today’s dive, and go with the flow, like I had some kind of choice….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I just stepped on a factoid!” – Zippy 😳
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If the intro section is any indication of how things will go today, I am firmly convinced that ranting would be problematic, for one of us, if not both….. Rather than chance any ripped clothing, or lost hair, I’m going for an old school rant, which is to say, a pearl, very pointed, and very obviously sarcastic about its subject…. Today, just in case it isn’t so obvious, I’ll tell you, this one is about our Beloved Ruling Class, and their hobby, governing nations….

“Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. — Plato, The Republic. Book VIII. 558

“A stiff neck usually supports an empty head.” — Smart Bee

“The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.” — Charles Eliot Norton, True Patriotism, 1898

“Anybody who wants the presidency so much that he’ll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office.” — David Broder

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Abigail Adams, Paris, Feb. 22, 1787

“A politician will always tip off his true belief by stating the opposite at the beginning of the sentence. For maximum comprehension, do not start listening until the first clause is concluded. Begin instead at the word “but” which begins the second, or active, clause. This is the way to tell a liberal from a conservative–before they tell you. Thus: “I have always believed in a strong national defense, second to none, but … ” (a liberal, about to propose a $20 billion defense cut).” — Frank Mankiewicz

“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

As a chef, and an artist, of sorts, I know that odd numbers are more attractive to the eye, and to the mind, than even numbers…. So, I should stop here, with seven pearls, which, I might add, made their point beautifully. But, the following pearl just seemed to fit perfectly as the last comment for this subject, and I couldn’t resist adding it as a post-script…..

And, as in uffish thought he stood
The Jabberwork, with eyes of flame
Came wiffling through the tulgey wood
And burbled as it came

— _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)
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Having decided NOT to rant today, due to a distinct lack of outrage, I’ve sublimated with old-school pearls, in sections one and three, one with the BRC as its target, one focused on the priestly hierarchies, both of which hopefully demonstrated my opinion (low) of both entities. In keeping with that sentiment, and to replace the rants with what is at least my own work, I offer this poem, that I wrote last October, prior to the Presidential election by about two weeks….. I hope you enjoy it….

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

I often stand and watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, from season to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

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In 1980, when my son was a baby (born in December of 1979), we started watching Sesame Street, both together, and by ourselves, just about every day. When he was about five months old, he was so alert, and interested in the world around him, that we could plop him down in his car seat, on the floor, where he would sit, serenely watching the entire hour-long show, making happy noises, babbling to the muppets, and closely watching all the action on the screen.

I learned, by watching with him, that the show was made for children, but with the knowledge that adults were watching, too, because much of the humor in the show was too obviously aimed at the adults…. I also found I enjoyed watching it, though it was, of course, somewhat repetitive in nature at times….

One of the best skits, or lessons, that was repeated frequently was one called, “Which of these is not like the others?”, wherein a group of four items…. pictures, letters, fruits, balls, or statements…. would be shown together. One of the items in the group was obviously different, such as one blue bird in a group with three red birds, or a puppy with three kittens, etc…… The lesson for the kids, of course, was to teach how to recognize patterns, and differences between patterns, a useful skill for all humans….

Having decided earlier today not to rant, I’m substituting old-school pearls, in place of my customary thousand words on various targets. This pearl is patterned after the Sesame Street skit, and has one aphorism grouped together with several others (you are adults, and can have more than just four to pick from….), which is a of a different nature than the others….

All of them have been painted with a coating of sarcastic impudence, I hope, as they speak about organized religion, tongue firmly in cheek. The single exception is an idea that is contrary to all the religionists believe to be true, thus setting it apart, as being rational…. It shouldn’t be too hard to find, and the others will give you an idea of how today’s rant might have progressed, had I written it…. Enjoy!

“Religion is the fashionable substitute for belief.” — Oscar Wilde

“Cockamamie is a word that comes to mind.” — Smart Bee

PHILISTINE, n. One whose mind is the creature of its environment, following the fashion in thought, feeling and sentiment. He is sometimes learned, frequently prosperous, commonly clean and always solemn. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which live was first breathed… There is grandeur in this view of life … that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being, evolved.” — Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Give a man religion and he’ll starve to death praying for a fish.” — Smart Bee

“Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething.” — Mark Twain
(Sorry, couldn’t resist….)
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“And never think about the past. No regrets, ever.” — Robert Heinlein

I’ve always tried to take this advice; it’s good stuff….. In keeping with that policy, I’ve decided to post this mess, even though I haven’t proofed it, or checked it to see if it will be either legally actionable, or, worse, terminally boring….. I’ll do that now, & be right back…..

Well, okay, that’s not bad, all things considered. I’ll take it…. And, before I can change my mind, I’ll be on my way, out into the Big Blue Room, to see what kind of mischief I can find to get into out there in the real world….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Negative! Do NOT scotch that beezul…..

Posted on March 29, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
It is hard to believe, I know, but, it’s true….. If I hadn’t already had coffee, I wouldn’t have believed it myself, but, I’m considered by most to be a cynic, so, people expect me to have doubt about most everything, and rightly so….. This, however, is really, really hard to accept, as it goes against the grain of everything we were taught about reality when we were children, for starters….. The fact that it also is extremely offensive to almost anyone with a sense of taste, or style, is just added to its negative impact. Maybe we could just convince it to go back to where it came from? It’s worth a shot, I think….

Oh, didn’t I mention that? Sorry, I get carried away, and forget, well, everything….. Ah, hell, I give up…. It was all a sham, as usual…. I had hoped, by the time I finished the first paragraph, to have come up with some idea as to what the devil I was talking about above, so I could do a 180 degree turn, and leave you all breathless with admiration, and gaping surprise at my cleverness. Instead, I’m once again forced to be honest with you, and admit my failing…. SIGH….. Sometimes, I guess I’m too clever for my own good…. I just wish that was an event that occurred infrequently, rather than being the norm for this blog…..

However, I’m nothing if not realistic, so we’ll go on, despite having embarrassed myself unmercifully; an author needs to have thick skin, especially considering the nature of what I generally write….. In fact, I need to have thick skin, and a strong stomach, but we won’t dwell on that, as it is controlled by a bit of medication…. gotta love modern chemistry, eh? It would be nice if they could come up with an inspiration drug, wouldn’t it? Just pop a pill, and, voilá, floods of ideas pour out of the subconscious…..

I used to be able to use my conversations with my old friends, Mr. John Daniels, and Mr. James Beam, for that, but, I lost my tolerance for hard liquor when I couldn’t afford to drink, so, that’s no longer an option…. SIGH…. I miss them…. Jack was a funny guy, and nobody can tell a ghost story quite like Jim…. Old friends are the best, aren’t they? Plus, neither of them seemed to care if I plagiarized them; they’re just that kind of guys…. But, we lost touch over the last couple of years, and right now, I’m not ready to take up the habits I had when younger, as I can’t keep up like I used to…. or, my liver can’t keep up, which has the same end result…. C’est la vie…. When one becomes a man, he puts away the toys of the boy he was….

I have a few good reasons for drinking
And one has just entered my head
If a man can’t drink when he’s living
How the hell can he drink when he’s dead?

~~ Smart Bee

I see that I’ve managed to blather and ramble enough to call this an intro, and since I have nothing further in my head that I can think of to babble about, I suppose we’d best get on with the day’s dive….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Have the courage to act instead of react.” — Earlene Larson Jenks

Why is it the shortest aphorisms have the greatest depth to them? This is so deep, one needs scuba equipment to explore its depth safely, or drowning in one’s own ignorance seems certain. This indictment, or call to action, however one views it, is part of what makes the world such a dangerous place. Albert Einstein said it very well, with a quote of which I’m very fond, even though it is an indictment of me, along with everyone else who fails to act at certain times in life….

In my own life, I know that those times when I have failed to meet the dictates of honor weigh upon my conscience most heavily. As much as I feel badly about those acts in my life where I know I caused pain to others by my own lack of control, I feel worse, if possible, about those times when I failed to act, when I knew I should….. No failure of courage is more dishonorable in my eyes, and I will never forgive myself for those acts, or those times when I failed to act, even if God will…. Whether we like it, or not, duty remains duty….

At this point in this narrative, it would be relatively normal to begin a rant about modern society, and how little courage most people show when confronted by evil acts. And, on most days, I would do so…. but, I think the little pup in the picture says all I have to say, and says it much more effectively, than I could hope to do. So, I’m going to leave it at that, and just say this…. We all have choices in life; the choices we make will determine whether or not we can look ourselves in the eye each morning when we look in the mirror…..

“Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect,” — Lazarus Long
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I’m not sure why, but this poem of mine, from last year’s prolific output during September, seems to capture some of the flavor of the above section, so, here you go….

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

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I’m feeling lazy this morning, even though I slept well; probably my inner nature asserting itself…. Any who, I’m going to cheat a bit again, and put in a pearl from an older Pearl… from 2012, that is, so not too much older…. It’s not bad, and seems to fit in to today’s scheme…. Enjoy!….
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“If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.” — Don Marquis

This is a lesson that I didn’t learn until I was almost out of high school, even though I had ample opportunity to do so. I guess I was less skeptical of human nature then, having had less direct experience at dealing with all its idiosyncrasies….. but, learn it I did, to both my everlasting regret, and my endless gratitude, for a gift that has lasted a lifetime. Being able to tell the difference between the two states, to wit: thinking and thinking they are thinking, has been invaluable in preventing trouble, as well as remedying it when it occurs. Which is alladamtime, in the vernacular of the streets of Rome….

“No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means.” — George Bernard Shaw

I was a very good student in high school, and though I didn’t carry that tradition into college, during those teen years of the early 1960’s, I was considered a reference source by most of my classmates, and ended up tutoring them fairly often in the course of joint studying, assuming a teaching role. (Being such a reference source can also be a potential problem, but that’s another story….) This was my first real exposure in how human nature affects learning, and what works with some people to get them to comprehend what they are trying to learn won’t work for others, who are not as invested in the process of using their mind for anything other than counting change for a dollar…..

“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on. “I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least – at least I mean what I say – that’s the same thing, you know.” “Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “Why, you might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!” “You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!” “You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, which seemed to be talking in its sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!” “It IS the same thing with you, ” said the Hatter. — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

This conversation from the other side of the looking glass creates in me a very strong sense of deja vu…. Many of the conversations I’ve had while acting as a tutor to my peers sounded just like this, only we were discussing mathematics, which makes it that much scarier…. But, it also highlights the problem for those of us who act as tutors to our peers, relating back to the original quote…. When teaching others, you must find the right mode of speech, the right way to approach the student in a way that they can comprehend the lesson…. A good friend sent me a poem yesterday which states the difficulty perfectly (Thanks to Shawna Alexander, who also forgot to send the author’s name…)…..

Which is better?

A genius knows when to dumb it down
A smart man knows when to know nothing
And an idiot can be all three
Well what does that mean?

You’re only as smart as others allow
So if you’re too smart to be understood,
To others your intelligence level goes down
So to truly be a genius you must know when dumbing it down is good

To know nothing isn’t unintelligence
It’s best for different situations
Though very different from a genius,
A smart man recognizes when on his knowledge to put limitations

An idiot is in the best position,
Because it’s second nature for them to put it in layman’s terms
An idiot has the best potential for genius if it’s his intention
And being an idiot is how others feel their intelligence is confirmed

Thus we can see that in order to successfully teach, one must be flexible enough in their own persona to be able to assume the characteristics that will ensure a successful lesson, by speaking to the student at their level of understanding, and by fooling them into using their mind to think with, rather than just using it to find their way home every night….

“Neither man nor woman can be worth anything until they have discovered that they are fools. The sooner the discovery is made the better, as there is more time and power for taking advantage of it.” — William Lamb Melbourne
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“Correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t the fine line between sanity and madness gotten finer?” — George Price

The answer to that would be a resounding “Yes!”…. Well, you can tell the Pulitzer Committee to stand down; we won’t be needing them to meet in special chambers to award this any prizes….. But, it’s not exactly the worst Pearl ever created, either. It has the distinctly advantageous quality that I so admire in a Pearl, which is to say, it’s done, and I’m not doing it over…. Y’all will just have to chew it up the way it is; swallowing is optional…… I’ve done enough damage for one day, so….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

The stupidity factor was obviously miscalculated….

Posted on March 24, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
For most of my life, my favorite activity, above all things, has been to watch people, and try to understand them. I’ve never really known why it pleases me so to just sit, watching people walk by, pondering the ins and outs of the lives and motivations of the people I see pass before me, but, I know that I can no more stop wondering than I could stop thinking, or breathing…. It’s just too fascinating a pastime to resist, for me….

Though I am well experienced at that pastime, I can’t say that I have reached any particularly earth-shattering conclusions about human nature, though I think I’ve seen enough to not be too shocked by anything it can show me in that arena….. I learned long ago never to underestimate the power of human stupidity….

I also learned to never undervalue the potential for human courage, and to appreciate that piece of human nature, I don’t know it’s name, that makes a human rush into a fire to save a child, or step in front of a bullet to save a comrade, or to stand up for the weak against the wicked and evil. even though it may cost their very life….

That part of all of us, that is brought out in such situations in reality, is worth looking for, and encouraging to manifest in other parts of life, for it is a very powerful and inventive quality, of intuitive right action, based on a morality that is unspoken, but no less immediate, and no less compelling, for all that….

There are times when I make myself laugh….. and this is one of them. The above paragraphs, while all true as the day, are about as pompous as I can get, don’t you think? Oh, it’s interesting enough, I suppose, and all correctly punctuated (if one doesn’t count the three dot journalism habit I’ve developed over the years since Herb Caen made it his iconic style), but it’s just too high-falutin’ to be real….

Nobody talks like that, do they? Nope, unless, of course, they are asking ME to explain some sort of astronomy question, which can get me going, and can easily, by its nature, fall into that sort of pattern…. No, it’s written in what I like to call my Imperial style of writing, which, while true in the realest sense, can drive folks away quickly with its arrogant tone, and pedantic presentation….. Nobody likes someone who talks like a prig, basically…..

To get back to the subject at hand, though, I’ll mention that watching people continues to be my favorite thing to do to pass the time…. When I was about 14 or so, I remember saving up my money for a couple months, to take to the County Fair, to spend on the carnival. On the day my family went, I’d rush to the midway, play my games, ride some rides, try to win some prizes, and blow my saved up cash in about two hours of fun.

I never minded it going so fast, because I would then go out to the main plaza, near the entrance, and watch the crowds, for hours on end, an endlessly fascinating parade of families, young couples, old retired folks, kids, the whole panorama of human culture, all right there, passing before my eyes…..

Now, I’m old, and watching people continues to be my favorite way to pass time, when there is nothing else to do to occupy the mind. The human parade is always changing, never the same, and provides an endless supply of food for thought, humor for the soul, and unlimited entertainment, watching how people interact, and live…. As Spock would obviously say, “Fascinating.”……

Since I’m old, I now have a few perks in life, one of which is what I like to call give-a-shititis, the most common attitude among those of us retirees who think…. We are at a point in life where it can no longer threaten us to behave in certain ways, and it’s difficult to make us do what we don’t wish to do…. What are they going to do to us? Make us old? Give us pain? Restrict our movement? Been there, done that….. For many of us, this means that all the things we’ve always been too polite to say, can now be said with relative impunity, as folks give us a bit of leeway in that respect. Besides, I call it what I do because it is what we DON’T do anymore, and that is give a shit what others think about what we say…..

This, as you might imagine, allows us to say stuff that we formerly would have kept to ourselves, and not care about whether or not that person wants to hear it…. It is a heady experience for a lot of oldsters, and can become habitual…. I don’t agree with those who say that is an occupational hazard that cannot be avoided; one’s demeanor toward others is always a matter of choice, regardless of age, and there is no excuse for being rude without cause; sadly, many older folks don’t get that.

They become grumps, quite simply, and find fault with everything around them, making life difficult for everyone with whom they come in contact…. I don’t ever want to be that kind of old person; I imagine one could end up pretty alone with that kind of attitude…. and I have no intention of being alone forever…. it’s lonely!….

So, I’ll work on my attitude, which isn’t too hard for me, because my own habit of watching others has given me a great love and respect for people, and I try to treat others as I’d want to be treated (the Golden Rule ALWAYS works well…. there is a reason it is a classic idea….). It works for me, as it would work for anyone who makes Love a greater force in their lives than Fear…. Fear is humanity’s greatest enemy, the one that steals our intelligence, our courage, and often, our life, when we let it control our thoughts and actions.

Hmm… I just noticed that I’ve been ranting, or at least, pontificating, for some time now, and we’re still only in the intro section…. Sorry ’bout that, I DO tend to get carried away sometimes, don’t I? Just can’t seem to shut up sometimes…. Oh well, c’est la vie, I suppose, and fairly common for this blog. I’m going to do what I usually do in these cases, and ignore the whole thing….

We’ll just leave things where they are, mid-flight, so to speak, and go on to the remaining portion of the program…. It won’t take TOO long, as I have a task to meet today in the BBR (the Big Blue Room, you know, the room on the other side of the doors of the place where your computer lives….)…. I have to visit my grandson, and spend money…. 😆

So, to move things along toward completion of today’s task list, we’ll go on….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. (The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are.)” — Mark Twain

This has a familiar ring to it, which isn’t surprising, as I’ve used it a number of times in previous Pearls…. It is a good springboard for discussion about society, and human interaction, and quite frankly, would have been a good place to start today’s first pearl….

Unfortunately, during my last break from the chair, I went to take a shower, in preparation for visiting with Zackary, my grandson, slipped on the wet tub, managing to keep from falling by a quick movement and grab at the sink, but, by doing so, gave my back a nasty twist, which is now causing a flood of spasms, massive increasing stiffness, and, a five-step increase in my old friend, Pain…. So…. This paragraph may seem smooth and readable; that comes with a cost, of having to stop to move around, or lie down, every few minutes…. which makes it hard to maintain any continuity of thought, or speech, as manifested by this missive….

This is a pisser, to be honest…. I was supposed to go visit with my grandson today, and now won’t be able to go, as I just can’t face an hour or two on my feet in the park, trying to keep up with a two year old and his father…. It’s one of my high points in life, as I don’t get to see Zack, my grandson, but for a few times a year, and I hate to miss this opportunity…. But, I couldn’t be as involved as I’d like, and I’d just as soon not have any of his memories of me be of an old, frail man who can’t play with him very much, and grunts a lot moving around…. Karma can be a real Bitch sometimes, you know?….

Any who, I don’t want to get into all that today, it’s too depressing, and the pain is enough to deal with…. but, I can’t think very well right now, so I’m going to have to cheat again, and use some of my previous work to fill in…. At least there’s plenty to choose from…. I’ll be right back with a pearl, a blast from the soi-distant past…..

“He who flees will fight again.” — Tertullian (160-240 AD) — De Fuga in Persecutione, c. 10

Okay, I found a perfect pearl, from Halloween of 2012… and it is actually covers the same subject as the one I began today, with the Mark Twain quote, or, sort of… so, since this is already turning into an epic Pearl, for one so broken up by my painful approach to the writing…. enjoy, it’s not bad….

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And here, poor fool, with all my lore
I stand no wiser than before.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

“This instant is thine; the next is in the womb of futurity, and thou knowest not what it may bring forth; maturity of the unborn is in the keeping of the Law. Each future state is that thou has created in the present.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

“The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.” — Joan Borysenko

Living life well is a subjective goal, and, as such, whether or not it we are successful in reaching the goal is purely a subjective judgment. This kind of judgment requires introspection, which makes it somewhat of a conundrum for many people, as their skills at that particular activity are severely limited from disuse. Very few people today spend much time in self-examination, from what I can see. If they did, they sure wouldn’t act the way they do, or dress the way they are, or carry on such a foolish, self-destructive course of living….

“The study of the errors into which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive. . . No man is so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past errors, either of thought or action, and no society has made such advances as to be capable of no improvement from the retrospect of its past folly and credulity.” — Charles Mackay

Introspection, however, requires both honesty and ruthlessness, in being able to recognize those things within us that are not of value, and to remove them from our persona. As such, it is what most folks would term as “hard” or “difficult”, and they will avoid it at all cost, laziness being a rather common human trait. It is much simpler, and easier, to just take what all the powers that be, (otherwise known as either the beloved ruling class, or those most heinous of criminal manipulators, preachers/priests), are selling as moral standards, and use them, regardless of whether or not they are truly moral or not…. and I assure you, mostly, they are not….

“Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

I often feel like Goethe, in what he stated above, as I believe myself to be one of the few who actually do use introspection on a regular basis. I believe this because, if other folks were using this process, the world would look a lot different. Women would feel safe walking the streets; old folks would feel cared for; gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals would not suffer discrimination for their orientation; racism would be dead, and religion would join mythology as a piece of mankind’s past, rather than its current status as our jailer/executioner…..

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

All of these societal problems (bigotry, racism, discrimination, slavery, entitlement, misogyny, etc. )arise from the attitude of elitism held by those individuals among us who never look within, to see just how ugly their inner selves have become, from using the sick, twisted elitism as preached by the modern religious and political leaders.

We, as a species, cannot afford to listen any more to the Judeo-Christian (note: add Talmudic, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, etc…. gigoid, 3/24/13) ethic as propounded by the beloved ruling class; this kind of entitlement and aggrandizement has led us to the very brink of extinction, as we continue to treat the planet as our toy, instead of as our home.

We cannot keep pouring millions of tons of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere and expect nothing to happen, because what WILL happen is already happening…. our weather is changing, and not in a good way…. the planet is warming up, and when it is warm enough, the ice at the poles will melt, and everything on Earth will feel the effects….

“The faith in which I was brought up assured me that I was better than other people: I was saved, they were damned … Our hymns were loaded with arrogance–self-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty and what a high opinion he had of us, what hell everybody else would catch come judgment day.” — Robert A. Heinlein

As Akhenaton pointed out over 3000 years ago, what we do in the present will determine how the future will be. What our species is doing now will guarantee that most of us won’t be around to see what happens in that future, because we will be dead within a hundred years, or less, if things don’t begin to change TODAY…. Since it is unlikely that will happen, well, we may as well take the advice given to many school children in the 50’s, in learning to deal with an atomic blast…. to wit: bend over and kiss your ass goodbye…. I hate to be so cynical, but, introspection requires honesty, so….

“You were s’posed to laugh!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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It’s probably a bit egocentric, but, hey, it is MY blog, right?…. Here is a poem I wrote last August, once again on the subject so close to my mind today…. my old friend and constant companion…. Pain….

Denial of Comfort

Baleful chairs become the enemy, heralded in red
seemingly welcome softness beckons with a smile,
waiting, content with slaughter, they are finally led
screaming in agony, deluged in venom all the while.

Desperate distraction becomes such a friendless fire
for all the patterns of autumn’s pale dismay,
leaving sincerely latent trails in spirals of twisted wire,
while memory insists, again, upon failure, palpably evil, and fey.

Fat, jaded tears would have fallen in good time,
if only the suitable suitor had scaled the garden’s wall.
Credence for discounted prices luckily in their prime
bring only fascinated eyes into such a hallowed hall.

Searching for answers is ever a clever portrayal
with studious accouterments to fulfill each common rule.
Arguably patient pictures of science and honest betrayal
shall evermore languish, in light of passion so elegantly cruel.

~~ gigoid

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Okay, so you already know I’m cheating today…. therefore, another pearl from the past isn’t going to fool anybody, unless I try to pass it off as fresh, and I refuse to go there…. Hence, here is another pearl, which may give any newbies more information than they need…. it might scare them off. But, I’m nothing, if not honest…. so, I give you this again too-long, but, too bad, so sad piece from November of 2012….

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

:GIGO: /gi:’goh/ [acronym] 1. `Garbage In, Garbage Out’ — usually said in response to {luser}s who complain that a program didn’t “do the right thing” when given imperfect input or otherwise mistreated in some way. Also commonly used to describe failures in human decision making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data. 2. `Garbage In, Gospel Out’: this more recent expansion is a sardonic comment on the tendency human beings have to put excessive trust in `computerized’ data. — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423

Many years ago, I adopted the user name gigoid, taking it from the above definition, and adding an “id” for, of course, identification purposes; with that suffix, I am assured of human status, i.e. hominid, humanoid, etc. I chose this acronym because it is the perfect reminder of the basic integrity that is built into all computers, i.e., they can only do what we tell them to do, and cannot lie. Thus, if our results are wrong, the error lies in our input, not in the computer; this automatically cuts in half the number of places to look for the problem.

I like to think that my awareness of this principle characteristic is what has allowed me to use computers without suffering many of the common difficulties such as crashes, freezes, and blue screens of death. Only once have I ever encountered one of those on my own computer, and that was the result of a virus my defenses missed… my fault, of course, I hadn’t updated soon enough…

Oh, I’ve encountered that famous blue screen before, when I worked as a computer tech back in the late 90’s, setting up LAN’s and office systems for H&R Block…. a significant percentage of machines were dead soon after coming out of the factory box. But, on my own computers, I am very careful never to break any of the basic rules that govern those kinds of mishaps…. and I owe it all to a wise choice of user name…. Well, it’s fun to think about it that way anyway….

So, who is gigoid? Well, if you’ve hung about this blog site for long, I’ve certainly given y’all enough of my inner workings to look at, in my rants, and in my old school pearls, as well as in my poetry, which is quite revealing, to me….. but, then, if it wasn’t, I most likely couldn’t write it….

Any who, to give the short answer to that question, I’ll post below some pearls that give insight into what I believe to be true, and how I try to live…. Like any weak human, I don’t always succeed at being as moral or ethical as I can be, but, I do try, and I do feel pangs of regret when I don’t, so cut me some slack, eh? Just kidding…. What I am is all what I am, though I’m not Popeye…. and these pearls are what I see in the mirror…..

“They are able because they think they are able.” — Virgil

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle

“An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly.” — E. P. Whipple

It is my firm belief that it is a mistake to hold firm beliefs. — Smart Bee

Computers can never replace human stupidity. — Smart Bee

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!

So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.) “

— Lazarus Long, from Time Enough for Love, by Robert Heinlein

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

Well, that’s enough about me…. Hope this helps clear up any confusion, and if not, well, hey, life goes on…. all we can do is all we can do, and no more….
__________________________________

I’ve tried to read this over, proofing-wise, and can only say, well, I’ve done all I can do…. I think it’s close to what it should be, and, if you will remember axiom #1 of Peruaosophy, you’ll realize that’s enough for me…. (For the uninitiated, Peruaosophy is the Philosophy of Pearls, as created by gigoid (yep, that’s me….) in 1986…. #1 says, to wit: “I think I am…. that’s close enough.” ) I’ve relied heavily on my past work today, but, given my justification, feel no remorse whatsoever… and neither should you…. 😆 Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

The remainder may go free…..

Posted on March 19, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
In re: motivation…. let’s be honest. The motivation that prompts each of us to write, and then to post what we write, may be simple, or it may be complex; humans have a tendency toward both at times, depending on their predilections, and preferences in life. In my own case, since I tend to complicate matters naturally, it is somewhat complex; I suppose I enjoy the feeling of chaos at work that comes with maintaining an active mental life. In short, I’m crazy as a bed bug, and I like it…..

As the old saying goes, I don’t suffer from insanity, I revel in it….. 😆 In fact, I encourage insanity in others, often, in an attempt to give life a little spice when it falls into one of those routines, that threatens to become a rut….. There is nothing like some general insanity to liven up a party, now, is there? Who’s more popular on the dance floor than the guy with the lampshade on his head?….. Nobody, that’s who!

There are so many aphorisms floating around in my head, I often can’t remember who said what, but, I believe it might have been Voltaire, or another social philosopher of the modern age, who said, “Insanity is a sane reaction to an insane world.”….. Oh, hell, Google will know… Yep, I was right in my being wrong…. it was the psychiatrist and philosopher R.D. Laing who is credited most often with that particular phrase… though other authors seem to lay claim to it without any regard for that information…

Now that we have that out of the way, and we know for a fact that, a) I’m crazy as a loon, and b) it doesn’t matter at all for our purposes here, we can get down to business, and stop with the fluff (Whew! Tough word to type…. took me five tries…. that fluff stuff is tougher than it sounds….). I have some crow to eat, and I’ll thank you to let me chew and swallow quickly, to avoid some of the unpleasant flavor…. It still leaves a bitter after taste, no matter how quick one is in spitting it out, or downing it, whatever….

Yesterday, I ranted for quite a while about missionaries, such as those generally found in remote places lording it over the natives, and specifically targeted the most famous of that breed, Mother Teresa. I knew when I chose the subject that I risked some controversy, but, I happen to believe all I that I write, and still do.

But, a friend, one of the email recipients of the Pearls, happens to live in my building, and we got to discussing the piece in the afternoon, during which discussion, she most excellently, and correctly, scolded me, putting me back into my correct place, for having targeted whom I did. She did so without ever falling into trying to make me feel bad, but, rather, explaining, or, reminding me, mostly, of a piece of the picture I had forgotten to acknowledge….

Essentially, that piece is this: I’ve never met Teresa, and, in the eyes of a great many people, she is considered to be one of the most compassionate, truly loving examples of a follower of Christ that has ever lived, achieving relative sainthood during her lifetime for the charity work she does with the poor.

According to legend (which, right now, I am merely listing, and not questioning for veracity….), she is a perfect example of how a real Christian should live, in the sense that she eschews all worldly material goods in favor of giving herself and all she has to help those less fortunate than herself…. In light of her unswerving dedication to this life-style, and her absolute defiance of typical Church procedures, she is truly one of the heroines of the common man….

I have observed much of Teresa’s life in the public eye, as she, and her books (five of them) all came into the light of public scrutiny when I was a child, so I have known OF her for many years. When I googled her name, the first page of results showed about 15 results, of which five were informational, such as Wikipedia, or sites where images were shown, seven were positive stories about her life, (she died in 1997), and three were articles like mine, that explored the darker side of the missionary activities she perpetrated for the Catholic Church in her lifetime. One was entitled, “The Darker Side of Mother Teresa”, while another headline in the Huffington Post proclaimed, ” Mother Teresa Humanitarian Image A ‘Myth,’ New Study Says”. I’ve included below the Google links to the three articles that challenge the usual image we have of the good sister….

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=mother%20teresa&source=web&cd=9&sqi=2&ved=0CGgQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2F2013%2F03%2F04%2Fmother-teresa-myth_n_2805697.html&ei=eW5IUYTBJoeo2wW00YHQDA&usg=AFQjCNH-3mFJygRAnYL9dRgfh_YWT0FNtA&bvm=bv.43828540,d.b2U&cad=rja

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=mother%20teresa&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CG4QFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slate.com%2Farticles%2Fnews_and_politics%2Ffighting_words%2F2003%2F10%2Fmommie_dearest.html&ei=eW5IUYTBJoeo2wW00YHQDA&usg=AFQjCNGxL857ajNJxrzHQLKqkkYT-Swbmg&bvm=bv.43828540,d.b2U

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=mother%20teresa&source=web&cd=12&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CHoQqQIwCw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fideas.foreignpolicy.com%2Fposts%2F2013%2F03%2F18%2Fthe_dark_side_of_mother_teresa&ei=eW5IUYTBJoeo2wW00YHQDA&usg=AFQjCNHf4kcbwQD3W8Xf9PEcF0tyqopJ0w&bvm=bv.43828540,d.b2U

After speaking with my friend, I went back to read over what I’d written yesterday, and I will confess to a degree of vituperation that may have been overdone. I don’t know the woman personally, so all I have to go on is her public persona, what I know about people and their psyches, and the depths to which they will sink to achieve their ends, regardless of whether or not those ends are either moral, ethical, or even helpful at all. So, I apologize for anything I said about her being an evil person…. she may indeed be a very compassionate, truly Christian woman, so I will acknowledge that portion of the legend that has grown up around her…..

However, I stand by what I said about her missionary work, and that entire ilk of religious fanaticism, or for how observing how it is demeaning for those it purports to help. In truth, it seems clear to me the practice is motivated by the desire of the priesthood to claim more souls, not out of any particular concern for those souls themselves. The Church doesn’t send out missionaries to save the people, it wants the souls, which translates into power over others, and a lifelong bivouac of luxury and pomp for the clergy….

Nuns are a bit different, as many of them are actually out there in the world, dealing with people, so, they tend to ignore or modify what the church itself might do or say to fit the local circumstances; otherwise they would never get anything done to help people. But, their motivation remains murky, even to them, as almost every nun, or priest I’ve ever known, if they were at all honest people, suffered from crises of faith, where they doubted their vocation… Perfectly natural, and a shame they always seem to talk themselves out of listening to that little voice in their head….

Well, I’ve started to ramble, and it is threatening to turn into another rant, (actually, in looking back, it already did that….), so I guess I’d better get on with this, or I’ll never get done today…. I’ll have to depend on Smart Bee to come up with something different to talk about, but, it never seems to have much trouble with that….

Any who, I’m sorry for picking on Mother Teresa… like the Beatle’s song said about the Queen, “I imagine she’s a pretty nice girl, but she doesn’t have a lot to say….” She may or may not be as bad as I made her out to be; to my mind, even if she is not a bad person, she is still operating under a set of very strong delusions, but, that is not at all unusual in this world, so I can’t hold that against her…. So, sorry, Terry… I hope your compassion can extend to forgiving me for my brashness and the crime of inelegance, if nothing else….

In the meantime, shall we Pearl?…..
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“Enough is enough.” ~~ gigoid

I’ve re-read the intro section, as it seemed a bit like it was too long…. It was, indeed, but, I can’t in good conscience take much of it out, or it will fall apart from its own inner weight imbalances (it’s a very weighty discussion, difficult to keep in balance, as each word and phrase changes the moment of vector…. trust me, the math is tricky, but clear….). So, I’ve resorted to one of my own aphorisms, above, one I mutter to myself often, as an incantation against breaking free of the habit of moderation in all that I do…. Moderation is the key to long life, I believe, but, even moderation itself needs to be practiced in moderation; it’s a good thing now and again to just let go, and give one’s wild side free rein…. just long enough to release all the built up angst, but not long enough to land in jail…. 😉

So, naturally, I shall default into the normal procedure for following a rant, even if it is an intro, and submit for your reading pleasure a harlequin pearl, freshly chosen this morning, complete with potential hilarity and possible clarity…. enjoy! Oh, and, no point to this one, it’s all as random as I can make it…. so, don’t hurt yourself trying to figure out if it has one…. Of course, if it should end up with an obvious sharp point, let us know, so nobody hurts themselves on it, okay? Thanks…..

“If Mother Nature doesn’t make mistakes then why does dessert taste better than dinner?” — Smart Bee

Shifu: “If the instrument is broken, the music will be sour.”
Daniel: “The music does not play the musician.”
Shifu: “Normally there is truth in that.”
Daniel: “Really? Good. Because I really didn’t have any idea what I was talking about.”
— from Stargate

“Call on God, but row away from the rocks.” — Indian proverb

“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

” — You know it’s going to be a rotten day when you wake up face down on the pavement.” — Smart Bee (?)

Hmm… for a five-star, it’s not bad, if a bit strange… I think two more ought to bring the Force, if not the Metaphorse, back into balance for now…. let’s see what comes up….

“A life lived in fear is only half lived.” — Spanish proverb

“By the time this message gets back on topic, WE’LL ALL BE DEAD!” — Smart Bee
(Doh! 😳 Sorry, this one doesn’t count… Smart Bee isn’t supposed to do that…. bad Smart Bee, bad dB!…. One more, for good measure….)

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

And there you have it… Smart Bee came through in the end with the perfect closer…. Okay, onward, or we’ll never get done….
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In the interests of brevity, along with elegance and depth, where else would I go, but to Emily?…..

Rouge et Noir

Soul, wilt thou toss again?
By just such a hazard
Hundreds have lost, indeed,
But tens have won an all.

Angels’ breathless ballot
Lingers to record thee;
Imps in eager caucus
Raffle for my soul.

~~ Emily Dickinson

Her poems are small enough that two is not crowding….

Rouge Gagne

‘Tis so much joy! ‘Tis so much joy!
If I should fail, what poverty!
And yet, as poor as I
Have ventured all upon a throw;
Have gained! Yes! Hesitated so
This side the victory!

Life is but death, and death but death!
Bliss is but bliss, and breath but breath!
And if, indeed, I fail,
At least too know the worst is sweet.
Defeat means nothing but defeat,
No drearier can prevail.

And if I gain – oh, gun at sea,
Oh, bells that in the steeples be,
At first repeat it slow!
For heaven is a different thing
Conjectured, and waked sudden in,
And might o’erwhelm me so!

~~ Emily Dickinson
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Faith, n: “That quality which enables us to believe what we know to be untrue.” — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

Calm down! And sit down, and relax…. I am well aware that, upon first seeing the above aphorism where it is, you immediately figured I was going to start in on another rant of major proportion, again heaping scorn upon the priestly hierarchies, and the myriad of folks who fall for their rather unbelievable fantasies…. Even I, however, have my limits….

I wrote around a thousand words above, in a general way, about religion, or, at least, religious figures, and I’m not going to burden you with another…. No, this was chosen just to get your blood moving, and to relax you for a final, short group of simple pearls, all on a particular subject, or as near as I can make them…. What that subject might be is for you to guess, should you wish to exercise your imagination in that way…. Otherwise, just enjoy them for their, well, whatever they are….

“When Eudaemonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, “This is a wonderful speech,” said he; “but he that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Eudaemonidas

‘When they tell you to grow up, they mean to stop growing.” — Tom Robbins

“I have known noble ones who lost their highest hope, and then they disparaged all high hopes. They lived shamelessly in temporary pleasures, and hardly had an aim beyond the day. “Spirit is also voluptuousness,” they said. Then they broke the wings of their spirit; it now creeps about, and defiles whatever it gnaws at. Once they thought of becoming heroes, but they have become sensualists. A trouble and a terror is the hero to them. By my love and hope, I implore you: do not cast away the hero in your soul. Maintain holy your highest hope. Thus spoke Zarathustra.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, _Thus Spoke Zarathustra_

“All religions issue Bibles against Satan, and say the most injurious things against him, but we never hear his side.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

(Well, actually, Robert Heinlein did write a book called, “Job, A Comedy of Justice”, in which the main character happens to meet up with the Devil, when he was picked up hitchhiking, is taken to His home, and hears His side of the whole story… It’s a great read, if one can suspend belief, and exist purely in imagination for a time…. It’s also funny enough in spots I’ll warn you to be seated when you read it…. I will note, in Twain’s defense, that the book was written well after he died, so he can be forgiven for not knowing of it…. 😆 )

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: (1) not going all the way; and (2) not starting.” — Buddha

Well, I don’t think I could have picked a better closing pearl if I had it specifically in mind…. good job, and good recovery, Smart Bee! Well done….
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I am almost afraid to go back over this to proof… but, here goes….. I’m really not sure how it happened, but, this is a good one…. I like it, and since that is all that counts, ultimately, it can go out as is, with my blessing, if not my hopes…. Those have already been realized today, when my first tax refund hit the bank electronically…. I’m considering dinner out tonight, as a start….

It’s nice to not have to think about how that might run me short at the end of the month, as it is already almost that time…. More proof that patience, while not an absolutely essential quality to possess, is surely of some value in preserving our dignity, if not our comfort….. And THAT is surely an example of “Enough is enough”…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

This recipe calls for “floated ferrets”….

Posted on March 16, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
For a time, it looked as if I was going to make it work….. Then, of course, Reality stepped in to remind me not to make assumptions like that, so, I put aside my anger, and disappointment, and unloaded….

No, sorry, this isn’t going to work, and I’m not speaking in any fictional voice this time…. I had thought to begin today’s Pearl with another spate of fictional fantasy, but, the stuff that is coming to the surface isn’t what I was hoping it would be, quality-wise, and I just don’t feel like forcing it out, then polishing it to a point it would fly unassisted. I don’t like to post stuff that comes out like that; I feel like I’m settling for less than my best….

So, here I am, chatting away, nattering, really, with nothing particularly compelling to say, or discuss…. I guess I could talk about my Life, such as it is, but I doubt that would be any more compelling, and would most likely end up as being much more embarrassing, on a personal level. Besides, I have found that blogging tends to magnify the apparent size of problems, at least in the sense that issues sound worse than they are, and people get the wrong impression of what is real, inadvertently causing them distress…. It’s best not to get too detailed in these moments of sharing….

I suppose I could mention a new piece of information that I realized regarding my SS disability. Once it begins, I am forevermore restricted from working at all for pay. This, apparently, includes writing books…. If I publish a book, any money I make from its sale will be deducted from what SS pays me as benefits, because it would be viewed as income, meaning, to them, I am able to work…. So, in order to be able to enjoy my retirement without worrying about whether or not I can make anything from what I might write, I must forgo all attempts to better my situation, and must accept no more in compensation than they are pleased to give me, until I die….

From one aspect, I can see the virtue in this, as it seems to say that the money should only be given to people who are unable to make money any other way than the accepted forms of work. In other words, if one is educated, and able to use their mind for acquiring income, without using the body, then they are not qualified for disability, no matter how badly disabled they may be, or how much it costs them to perform whatever mental functions they do to make money; writing, speaking, etc. It doesn’t seem to matter that they may be doing all that in pain, or at great physical cost; if they make money, they are disqualified to the extent that they are allowed to make no more than they receive from SS….

As usual with any federal bureaucracy, this policy is treated as if it is a religious tract, and the people who make decisions about whether or not to allow exemptions or exceptions to the rule are chosen for their unwillingness to make any changes at all. They are bureaucrats down to the bone, and their sole purpose in life is to maintain the status quo in re: federal regulations, to make sure NOTHING is done to challenge their validity, or make them more flexible, and thus, more able to help the people for whom they are ostensibly designed. That would make too much sense, and would never be allowed to be taken under consideration in any federal institution.

So, I have to decide if I can make more from “potential” book sales than I would make, for certain, as a disabled retiree…. which is a scary proposition, to be sure. There is no guarantee that anything I publish would sell well… One may hope, but it wouldn’t be wise to count too heavily on the tastes of the general public to support me in my golden years…. That particular grouping is a bit too unpredictable to make that something worth betting on with real money…. People are too random to ever let myself fall into that trap…. But, there is also my pride to consider, and my belief in myself….

Ah well, having reached an age where I can use my mind to look ahead, as well as behind, I know the best thing to do for now is NOTHING. I’ll just go along for a while, and see how I like living on disability, and whether the amount I’m able to count on will be enough for my wants…. I know it will meet my needs, for I’ve been doing that for over two years now, on less than half what I’ll be getting….

If what I will be making is enough to fix my financial picture, set up a legacy, and get some traveling done, then I’ll just go with the flow for a while…. Then, when I’ve got several books ready for publishing, I’ll maybe take a chance, and put them on the market…. I figure I’ll need to make about a half-million or so to be able to cover my retirement for the remainder of my time, so, after a time of waiting, I will have a better chance at making it work…. Hey, it’s a plan, anyway…. Even if it doesn’t come to fruition, it’s will give me a direction in which to travel…..

Well, that was certainly chatty and informative, wasn’t it? Being positive y’all are mostly asleep by now, I’ll quickly change directions, and see if the cabin movement will wake anyone up, without frightening anyone with loud noises…. I’m not sure where all this personal chat stuff came from; I guess I’ve been brooding more than I thought, being forced, again, to wait for the bureaucracy to finish grinding its wheels…. I’ve got verbal confirmation, but, so far, nothing else…. Oh well… Since this intro has grown beyond all rational bounds, I’d best be off to dive…. Shall we Pearl?
__________________________________

I’m uncertain at this juncture whether a rant is on tap, so we’ll begin with an old-school pearl, to see how the waters are today…. Random pattern, with, hmm, let’s see, I know…. I’ll keep the word “truth” in mind today as I cruise, using it as the touchstone for picking today’s pearls, and we’ll see what we can come up with for your edification, and positive delectation…..

“It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 785

“You thought, as a boy, that a mage is one who can do anything. So I thought, once. So did we all. And the truth is that as a man’s real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he _must_ do.” — Ursula K. LeGuin, _A Wizard of Earthsea_

“It is not enough that we swallow truth: we must feed upon it, as insects do on the leaf, till the whole heart be colored by its qualities, and show its food in every fibre.” — Coleridge

“The goal of all life is death.” — Sigmund Freud

“Beware of me, for I am a poet!” — Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spake Zarathustra”

Well, that turned out fairly well….. Let’s see what else we can find…..

“.. does your DRESSING ROOM have enough ASPARAGUS?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Whoops! 😳 Sorry, couldn’t help myself…. One more, then I’ll leave you be for the moment….

“Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.” — Lazarus Long

There you go, a complete, accurate take on truth in advertising in modern America…. Really, it is…. Oh, hell, just let is simmer for a while, until it gets to a consistency you can use….. Meanwhile, we’ll go on….
__________________________________

I had hoped that a poem was percolating in my head, but, if so, it’s not giving out any advance notices…. so, I will retreat into one of my default positions, and find an appropriate piece by another of my favorites…. We’ll see what Google comes up with today…. Okay, this will do nicely…. Here is one from a most powerful voice; the poem has nothing to do with anything in particular for me today, I just like it….. and so will you, I think….

SWEENEY AMONG THE NIGHTINGALES

APENECK SWEENEY spreads his knees
Letting his arms hang down to laugh,
The zebra stripes along his jaw
Swelling to maculate giraffe.

The circles of the stormy moon
Slide westward toward the River Plate,
Death and the Raven drift above
And Sweeney guards the horned gate.

Gloomy Orion and the Dog
Are veiled; and hushed the shrunken seas;
The person in the Spanish cape
Tries to sit on Sweeney’s knees

Slips and pulls the table cloth
Overturns a coffee-cup,
Reorganized upon the floor
She yawns and draws a stocking up;

The silent man in mocha brown
Sprawls at the window-sill and gapes;
The waiter brings in oranges
Bananas figs and hothouse grapes;

The silent vertebrate in brown
Contracts and concentrates, withdraws;
Rachel née Rabinovitch
Tears at the grapes with murderous paws;

She and the lady in the cape
Are suspect, thought to be in league;
Therefore the man with heavy eyes
Declines the gambit, shows fatigue,

Leaves the room and reappears
Outside the window, leaning in,
Branches of wisteria
Circumscribe a golden grin;

The host with someone indistinct
Converses at the door apart,
The nightingales are singing near
The Convent of the Sacred Heart,

And sang within the bloody wood
When Agamemnon cried aloud,
And let their liquid droppings fall
To stain the stiff dishonored shroud.

~~ T.S. Eliot
__________________________________

Okay, so I’ve decided to cheat…. I’m feeling lazy, and late, so I’m going to fall back on some of the material I’ve written in the past…. Below you will find two Pearls, both of which were created sometime in 2006 or 2007; it’s hard to tell, but from the format, and the placement in my archives (which are NOT clearly labeled for posterity….), that is about when these first appeared. Both were written for the 250 or so ffolkes who received it when I was sending them out at NSH, from my office in Program 3…. The first is from a Friday, the second is from the following Tuesday, I think…. Any who, I think they’ll be perfect for today’s mood….

Fit is never a problem…

Ffolkes,
No I don’t know, so don’t ask. It is Friday, and it promises to be very….interesting. And it has already been a somewhat remarkable week, in perhaps too many ways. I can’t recall feeling this fatigued, even on a Friday, for a long time. Some of it is no doubt medication related, but the brain is not just tired, but deep-fried. Hence….

Warning: Whimsical when bored.

Paradise : two cubes with dots on them.
Paradox : Dr. Kildare & Doc Holliday

“Consciousness is that which it is not, and is not that which it is.” — Sartre

“This writing business. Pencils and whatnot. Overrated, if you ask me.” — Winnie the Pooh

Y’all take care out there….

Next, this little gem, from a few days later….

if you have to ask….

Ffolkes,
When I am distressed I tend to retreat; I think that is a natural reaction. What may be the important thing to consider is to where we retreat. What gives us shelter from Reality and its’ harsh and painful nature? Most times I’ll pick up a book, and try to find something in it that eases the pain, or at least postpones it until I can deal. Here is what I found today……

“It did not matter, after all. He was only one man. One man’s fate is not important.
If it is not, what is?
He could not endure those remembered words.”
— Ursula K. Le Guin

Too, too deep, and yet deeper still we shall go, in search of a Truth…

Y’all take care out there…..

So, there you go…. a double blast from the past…. I hope you enjoyed it…. 🙂
__________________________________

Alright, so it turned into a real battle today; this Pearl did NOT come quietly….. But, it’s done. Let’s see how it drapes on the wall…. Aside from the altogether-too-long intro section, not too bad. The intro, though not quite classifiable as a rant, nonetheless used up most of what I might have had to say about either politics or religion today, so, they get a rest, no doubt well-deserved…. I try not to give them very much slack; they already have things too much their own way….

Any who, it all works, I think, for another attempt to rescue my head from tearing itself to shreds from inside…. which is often how it feels in there…. Don’t think too much about it, it will only give you a headache, like it does me…. Better to just ignore it, and now that you’ve finished today’s torturous path through the wilds of Neddom, (homeland of the dubious few, the ONLY place where gigoid’s rules are valid), you can congratulate yourself at having gotten through the experience without bruises, bloodshed, or excessive stains on your character…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

An aged, elegant marmoset sat beside the oracle…..

Posted on March 15, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
The baleful, weary eye of the sun poked itself reluctantly above the horizon to the west, spreading a pale, washed out flood of light over the stunted, ugly landscape. Shadows deepened behind the huddled buildings by the side of the slow moving river, rippling against the cold, dark water, as the weakling sun rose slowly into the angry purple of the lightening sky. Huge, ragged-looking birds rose in the air, cawing in hoarse, angry-sounding squawks, arguing over pieces of rotten trash. Calls to morning prayer echoed in the alleys and courtyards, along with curses of adults, and the irritated shouts of children getting dressed. Morning came hard to all of the denizens of planet Malorda, as it did each day, on this world of trouble and woe…..

I don’t believe I’m going to take this any further…. it’s too much like the morning routine around here for comfort…. We’ll leave the poor fools who got stuck colonizing a less-than-perfect choice in planets to their miserable lives, and go on to bigger and better things, right here on Earth….. Lucky us….. I don’t suppose y’all have any cool ideas on tap, do you? I could use a few to punch up this intro section once again, since it seems to have made its usual fast start, and quick death…..

Unfortunately, I’ve already moved beyond the point where anything would actually help; it could even make things worse, should I try now to add ingredients that might not mix well with what is already down on paper, so to speak. In fact, at this point, it could conceivably start a flash fire, and then I’d have to break out the extinguisher, and call the fire department, and…. well, it could end up a real mess. I think not…. I’m not quite in the mood for any such nonsense so early in the day…. Shoot, it’s just barely 0700, no time to play around with potential conflagrations….

If things don’t alter course soon, I’m going to have to use another emergency procedure, and I don’t want to have to do that; I’ve had to use several lately, and haven’t had time to replace them. If I use another one, I’m going to end up with only one on hand for a real emergency, and that would be the one that NOBODY wants to see me use, #9, which involves the use of incubi, enferi, and the invincible armies of Hell, just to clear the way for the real procedure, which, sad to say, involves the end of life as we know it…..

No, I’ll wait on #9, and on # 6, which is what I was going to use today, a rather effective procedure that entails some rather entertaining creatures from a planet halfway across the galaxy, who have a fascinating tendency to explode when they reach a temperature above freezing…. They are a bit tricky to handle, especially in the summer, and expensive to keep frozen between uses. I guess it’s time to stock up again, on #’s 1-5, and #’s 7 & 8, all of which I’ve had to use recently….. Oh, well, it will give me something to do on these long, cold winter nights…. Oops, I live in California; we don’t have any of those here on the coast…. Well, I’ll have to make time somewhere….

Oh, look, it’s an intro section! I wonder how that got here? Gosh, if I didn’t know better, I’d think I designed it this way…. but, we all know better, don’t we? Sure…. Any who, it’s six paragraphs, none of which make any more sense than the one before, and that is enough to fulfill the rather loose standards I’ve come to accept for this section. It’s gotten so that I’ll take almost anything that holds together for that long, as I can’t seem to find a cozy, familiar pattern to follow each day…. Of course, if I did find a method like that, it would bore me to tears within a few days…. Better I stick to what I know, and just babble for a while, before I start diving for pearls….

Speaking of which, shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Republican views of the world differ from Democratic views of the world. The reason for this is that these views are based on different compilations of misinformation.” — Smart Bee

There are moments, such as this one, when I believe the people, or person, who put together the database known to me as Smart Bee, is perhaps the most intelligent creature on this planet….. I’ve been ranting about politicians for years, trying to show people how dangerous it is to believe ANY of the stuff that either party is slinging at us to try to convince us they are worthy of our votes. Now, in one short aphorism, of two lines, we are given a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of the crap we hear from them…. Essentially, this says that every one of them is full of shit, and everything they say and do is destined to fail, because it is ALL based on incorrect information, or, to be more accurate, on unwarranted assumptions about reality…..

The most important part of this description is its impartiality of indictment. Both parties are brought into scrutiny, and found wanting, of any real knowledge of the truth, because they are both basing all of their premises on false beliefs, just for starters. Add to that, since they are politicians by choice, their genetic predisposition is to self-aggrandizement, and they show an inherent inability to tell the truth. It becomes rather easily seen why our society has become, well, insane…. It’s a short trip to crazy from where they begin the journey…. and they don’t take any detours on the road….

You see, both parties are convinced of a complete falsehood, one that humanity has been struggling with for centuries…. This lie is so basic, it colors and affects everything they do to try to manipulate the world into going the way they wish it to go. As long as they continue to try to do this, our society is doomed to failure in the long run, for the lie goes against the very nature of reality…. Simply put, these people believe they can legislate morality…. They believe that they can make laws, and people will go against their very nature to follow them, in spite of the fact that the law they propose is contrary to what comes naturally to humans, to wit: self-centered, grasping behaviors that only benefit the perpetrator, and no one else…..

We have laws against stealing…. and the most accomplished thieves we see in our culture wear suits and live in Washington D.C. We have laws against killing each other, but, people still get killed, and, if the killers do so while wearing a flag, or a badge, they are considered heroes, no matter how many they kill. We have laws that supposedly protect women, children, and the aged, from suffering abuse, but, just look around you, and you will see no end to the depredations that society allows to be perpetrated upon these three most vulnerable members of our society, all very much within the legal limits of the public morality, as given in the law books….

“[…] For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner […] on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. […] That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that.” — Carl Sagan

The people who get involved in politics, and religion, for much the same reason, believe they are special, and entitled to take all they can from the universe, because they are the be-all, and end-all of the evolutionary ladder. It says so right there in the Bible….. They don’t care that reality says differently, because their sense of denial has been fine-tuned since shortly after they were born, and they are capable of ignoring facts right up until they slap them in the face…. (Witness the Republican melt-down in the last Presidential election, when the Republican party got slapped in the face by their own lack of contact with reality…..)

In spite of all the massive amounts of evidence to the contrary, these folks believe in their own divine entitlement as the lords of creation, chosen by God to do with this planet as we would, without regard for any of the other creatures that live here with us, or for the beauty and balance of the land that sustains us. As far as they are concerned, other people and animals, and natural resources, are theirs to do with as they wish, with God’s blessing…. The fucking assholes…..

I apologize for the vulgarity, to my readers, but not to those at whom it is directed…. To them, I say, fuck you, and fuck you again…. I regard all politicians, priests, preachers, police, lawyers, judges, and corporate misogynists of all shapes and sizes to be INSANE…. floridly, and viciously insane, without any of the moral standards that the rest of mankind embraces. These assholes are responsible for our imminent demise through environmental destruction of the ecosphere, as well as for the endless preying on the weak and vulnerable to suit their own depravity, and lack of moral fiber.

“All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.” — Joseph Conrad

Sexual slavery, corporate collusion to fix wages and prices, legislative corruption and oppression, judicial malfeasance and more corruption, governmental incompetence, religious repression and collusion with politicians, all serve the purposes of the ruling class to a T, no matter how much suffering it causes to others…. As long as they have what they want, nothing anyone else says or does matters at all….

I hate to be a harbinger of bad news, but, I call ’em as I see ’em, and I see what is real…. None of what is wrong in the world will change, until the major portion of mankind makes a change of spirit, and the people, as a whole, decide that the few among us who are bold enough to act must, in fact, act. The evil among us will not go away, or stop, of its own accord, and waiting for them to come around to a more amenable state of mind isn’t going to work, as that just isn’t going to happen.

If we wish to survive, they have to go, and mankind must find a new way to get along with each other than the out-dated ways we have been trying for millennia… Those old ways leave too much power in the hands of people who will give in to the temptation that goes along with such power over others, and must not be allowed to happen any more, not if we wish to survive to see any future at all….. The universe doesn’t care one way or another, so we’ll have to be responsible for our own actions…. as we have always been, and have always been afraid to admit….

“If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will not produce food either.” — Joseph Wood Krutch
__________________________________

After a rant, I sometimes NEED some Emily to balance the scales, so to speak… call me Ishmael, or call me crazy, I don’t care…. Any who, here is some Emily that just seemed appropriate, or, if naught else, appealed to my disturbed sensibilities…..

It was not death, for I stood up,
And all the dead lie down;
It was not night, for all the bells
Put out their tongues, for noon.

It was not frost, for on my flesh
I felt siroccos crawl,–
Nor fire, for just my marble feet
Could keep a chancel cool.

And yet it tasted like them all;
The figures I have seen
Set orderly, for burial,
Reminded me of mine,

As if my life were shaven
And fitted to a frame,
And could not breathe without a key;
And ‘t was like midnight, some,

When everything that ticked has stopped,
And space stares, all around,
Or grisly frosts, first autumn morns,
Repeal the beating ground.

But most like chaos,–stopless, cool,–
Without a chance or spar,–
Or even a report of land
To justify despair.

~~ Emily Dickinson
__________________________________

Since I’ve ranted, and found an excellent poem, I can relax, sort of, and not feel too guilty if I go with an old-school pearl…. They’re less work, and more fun than a rant, though without certain qualities of emotional release that ranting provides. I’m too close to the issue to make a decision as to whether that is a good thing, or not, so, I won’t…. Instead, I’ll follow mankind’s most common tool for dealing with reality, and ignore it completely….

In the meantime, why don’t you enjoy the following group of pearls, once again chosen randomly, as that seems to work the best?…… (I know, the ? mark seems out of place, but, if you’ll look back in the preceding sentence, you will see it IS a query, and the mark is appropriately placed, if a bit awkward…. So says the grammar nazi who hangs out in my head…..)

“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.” — Walt Kelly, Potluck Pogo

“We accept every person in the world as that for which he gives himself out, only he must give himself out for something. We can put up with the unpleasant more easily than we can endure the insignificant.” — Goethe, Elective

“Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.” — Aristotle (384-322BC)

“The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate.” — Euripides

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

” Do you know that disease and death must needs overtake us, no matter what we are doing? What do you wish to be doing when it overtakes you? If you have anything better to be doing when you are so overtaken, get to work on that.” — Epictetus

“It is inconceivable that a judicious observer from another solar system would see in our species — which has tended to be cruel, destructive, wasteful, and irrational — the crown and apex of cosmic evolution. Viewing us as the culmination of *anything* is grotesque; viewing us as a transitional species makes more sense — and gives us more hope.” — Betty McCollister, “Our Transitional Species”, — Free Inquiry magazine, Vol. 8, No. 1
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Well, it’s about damn time…. that’s better…. Today’s Pearl was brought to you by a special effort, due entirely to my own sense of honor, and how to keep it….. It probably won’t win a Pulitzer, nor will it make me rich; it does, however, please me, and that will do…. I’m not going to tempt Fate any further today, and so, I bid thee adieu until tomorrow…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Fire erupted from our eastern flank….

Posted on March 11, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
The guard made no sound as I slid the stiletto into his mid-brain from behind. Catching him as he fell, I lowered the still warm body to the floor, and moved through the doorway he guarded, the six big, silent men who made up my squad following behind. With the first obstacle down, we moved quickly toward the second, a large, heavy door leading into the interior of the research facility, guarded by a complex control system, with a numbered keypad for the combination.

Three good men had died procuring that combination, and I was glad we didn’t need to try to figure out another method of getting through the door….. I punched in the eight digit code, and the door swung open silently on oiled hinges, revealing a tunnel, leading downward, underground, sloping to the left after a short distance. Pulling the door shut, we set off, nearer by the moment to our goal….. the evil laboratory of Mungo the Mad…..

Well, until I got to the last part, it was going along okay, I think…. Mungo the Mad? What was I thinking? I must have been influenced by the audio book I was listening to yesterday…. It’s a copy of The Rolling Stones, an old adolescent sci-fi novel by Robert Heinlein, written sometime in the 50’s, I think. In it, the protagonist family, the Stones, likes to make money by writing space operas for radio & TV consumption, and the character names Heinlein used tended to be rather overblown and garish, to make his ironic point…. His hero fought villains such as the Galactic Overlord, etc. so, Mungo would have fitted right in with their stories….

The only issue I have with the opening paragraphs that I create like this is that, once I’ve finished , and commented on them, I’m stuck again, with nothing worthwhile to put into the introductory section…. like right now, when I am stretching this little intro for all I’m worth, jabbering and blathering with no shame whatsoever, trying to fill in space, even if it is with silly, useless, even partially offensive phrases that have little meaning, and less purpose…. Of course, every five letters counts as a word, I believe, so it’s merely a matter of stringing together enough letters to wind our way to the end of a paragraph…. just like this….

I suppose we could do some mental, or literary, gymnastics, get the ol’ grey cells warmed up…. I can usually come up with some kind of riddle, or a koan query that would occupy one’s mind for a time…. Whether or not such a koan would lead to a moment of enlightenment remains to be seen….. But, we have a problem with that one today, because, damn it, I’m just not in the mood to make up coherent, logical, serene, meditative stuff…. My literary style today is likely to resemble an army tank more than a Ferrari, so I doubt seriously I could even come up with anything that would work for long….. I mean, look at this intro section…. one long ramble, from front to back, without a single inspiring thought, or catchy phrase, or poetic flight of fancy….. pathetic, that’s what it is…..

However, I seem to have done it again…. We have at least five full paragraphs, two of which is fresh and new; the others are, well, they are what they are….. What they are, is long enough to serve the purpose we set for them, i.e., fill up the space so we can call it an intro…. Having served that purpose quite efficiently, if with a bit of a yawn, I declare this intro section completed, and will stamp your visa so you can move on to the next phase of today’s ordeal, er, post….. Honestly, I don’t know how I do it…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinesses, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked “Am I my brother’s son?” God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Issac, stole his brother’s birthmark. Jacob was a partiarch who brought up his twelve sons to be partiarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.” — Richard Lederer, The world According to Student Bloopers

I would say, given what I know about people in general, this litany of errors on the part of students represents one of mankind’s best efforts at getting to the core of the issues in their religious philosophies…. NOT….. As is obvious, that was merely my attempt at a poor joke, an unnecessary one, as it turns out, as people tend to be a lot funnier, in reality, than I can ever make them in my imagination…. You see, this short paragraph, to me, makes as much sense as the story that the churches themselves are trying to get me to believe…. In some ways, it makes MORE sense than the official version, especially the last line…. But, I digress….

” It makes no difference who you vote for–the two parties are really one party representing 4 percent of the people.” — Gore Vidal

How’s that for a 180 degree turn? From religion bashing to the irony of political truth, in one swell foop…. Since that same four percent of people represented by the politicians includes the folks who engage in religion at the top levels (NOT the constituency; the politicians regard them as both tucker, and fodder….), I figure that it might be fun to lump them all together for a change…. I usually try to keep them separate while taking my shots, but, they do tend to work together, so I thought it wouldn’t be inappropriate to have them share some of the wealth I’m spreading around….

“If God were female, do you REALLY think men would exist?” — Smart Bee

Well, actually, I do, because, well, logically, She’d HAVE to, wouldn’t She? What point would there be in being female, without a male to torment? Of course, many, if not all, of the other issues we have today to occupy our time would not have ever become issues, as a female god wouldn’t have allowed that kind of shit in her house….. To me, this only goes to show that God, should such an entity exist, is probably neither male, nor female; just as likely, it is both at once, as the rest of the universe tends to be arranged in a duality of natural form and function, and it only makes sense that the creating entity would reflect that duality….

“If a lie is repeated often enough all the dumb jackasses in the world not only get to believe it, they even swear by it.” — B.B. Franklin

Now, here is a piece of insight into human nature that most will admit is all too true for comfort. It is an old piece of knowledge, and well known to both the proponents of the God-theory, and by the Beloved Ruling Class, those lovingly solicitous self-appointed leaders of society…. Both groups are well versed in the use of lying to suit their own purposes, and know full well that the average person, upon hearing something told to them by either a member of the clergy, or a talking head on TV, one wearing a suit, and standing in front of a flag, will blindly accept what they are told, without ever examining it for veracity, or even asking themselves why they are being told at all…. They just say, “Duh, okay boss,” and go about what they believe to be their own life, ignorant of how little of it is actually under their own control….

“For me, all I can do is spit in the eye of my fears by living each day with as much passion and commitment as possible to what truly counts, such as love and justice. To give the into the fear and hopelessness would be to declare defeat, something I am not ready to do while there is still the will to struggle.
— Lawrence Paradis

Here is the answer, the one that, sadly, 95% of humanity will never even hear; if they did hear it, they probably wouldn’t recognize it as their salvation, anyway. I know, that’s a bit harsh in judgment of my fellow man, but, in my thus far relatively long life, I’ve yet to see very many of them who have the wit to wipe their own drool, much less understand how they are responsible for their own misery and pain, by allowing unscrupulous con men to control them at every turn.

But, as the pearl says, I’m not ready to quit seeking love and justice, by trying to get folks, and ffolkes, to see how the people they believe are ethical, have been lying and cheating and controlling them their whole life, and not for the benefit of anyone but themselves. So far, I’ve only managed to preach to the choir, but, eventually, my message will get passed around to a wider audience…. We’ll see then how the truth fares against the lies they spread so thickly…..

“It’s easier said than done. … and if you don’t believe it, try proving that it’s easier done than said, and you’ll see that it’s easier said that `it’s easier done than said’ than it is done, which really proves that it’s easier said than done.” — Smart Bee
__________________________________

Reality is, for some unknown but welcome reason, showing a lot of cooperation today…. Here is a poem from Ogden that fits perfectly with today’s mood, and so far, the expressed discussion…. I hope you enjoy it; this is one of my favorite poems of his….

À Bas Ben Adhem

My fellow man I do not care for.
I often ask me, What’s he there for?
The only answer I can find
Is, Reproduction of his kind.
If I’m supposed to swallow that,
Winnetka is my habitat.
Isn’t it time to carve Hic Jacet
Above that Reproduction racket?

To make the matter more succinct:
Suppose my fellow man extinct.
Why, who would not approve the plan
Save possibly my fellow man?
Yet with a politician’s voice
He names himself as Nature’s choice.

The finest of the human race
Are bad in figure, worse in face.
Yet just because they have two legs
And come from storks instead of eggs
They count the spacious firmament
As something to be charged and sent.

Though man created cross-town traffic,
The Daily Mirror, News and Graphic,
The pastoral fight and fighting pastor,
And Queen Marie and Lady Astor,
He hails himself with drum and fife
And bullies lower forms of life.

Not that I think much depends
On how we treat our feathered friends,
Or hold the wrinkled elephant
A nobler creature than my aunt.
It’s simply that I’m sure I can
Get on without my fellow man.

~~ Ogden Nash
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Having, thus far today, received much more than my due of cooperation from the universe, I’m going to go with the flow, and submit a harlequin old-school pearl for this section…. It just seems like the right thing to do, and one must go with one’s impulses, mustn’t one?….. Well, it’s easier than thinking in a straight line, anyway, and lots more fun than coloring outside the box….. Around here we like to burn the box, and use the crayons to make candles…. 😀

“…I probably shouldn’t point at the word ‘reptiles’ when I say ‘businessmen.'” — Rajeev Pandey

“You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the track.” — Kramer’s Law

“You shouldn’t wallow in self-pity. But it’s OK to put your feet in it and swish them around a little.” — Guindon

“Kindness is the beginning of cruelty.” — Muad’dib

“It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs.” — Eric Hoffer

Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl’d,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 87

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

All I can say is…. wow…..
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Well, it may not be the shiniest Pearl ever to come from the oyster beds in my head, but, it’s got a certain glossy sheen I find attractive, if not actually beautiful… and, it has the bonus quality of being done…. So be it…. I’ve done all the damage I can do, so I’m going to go to a scheduled session of depression, while I get my taxes done…. 🙄 Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

A desperate scenario, indeed, oberfuehrer….

Posted on March 5, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
“Freeze!” I stopped my stealthy movement toward the connecting door, and slowly straightened, with my hands out at my sides. Turning to face my captor, I saw a young Felsian soldier, no more than a boy, but holding a very adult-looking automatic weapon pointed at my chest. His wide, frightened eyes were fixed on my face, and his large, oddly pretty hands were gripping the weapon as if he were afraid to let go, lest he fall. “How…. how’d you get in here?”, he stammered. I gazed calmly into his eyes, and said, in a soothing tone, “Easy, son, don’t get twitchy…. why don’t you lower your weapon, and I’ll show you my authorization papers….”

I moved my left hand toward my pocket to draw his eyes, and, as soon as they moved to follow, I allowed the small tube to fall into my right hand. As he reached for the papers I held out to him with my left hand, I smoothly raised the right hand, and pricked his wrist with the needle attached to the tube. He fell instantly to the floor, sleeping like a baby. Letting out a breath of gratitude that I hadn’t been forced to kill the poor lad, I dragged his unconscious body behind an armoire, where he could safely sleep until found, or, until he woke up in about 8 hours, with a raging headache, trying to remember why he wanted to be a soldier….. I moved on, further into the palace, now intent on my original goal…. the Thousand Precious Jewels of Nanoska, Crown Treasure of the Kings of Fels….

Well, there you have it, another in a long line of interrupted stories, pure invention to start my day. SIGH…. one of these days the story will grab me, and I’ll have to keep writing until it’s done…. I wouldn’t hold my breath, though, if I were you….. No, I consider most of these intro paragraphs as throwaways, just words strung together in practice for the real writing I do, about reality and life…. Fiction writing is fun, but, my mind needs the sense of release, and healing, that ranting, reading and writing poetry, and discussing ethics, morality, and the joy and pain of living gives me, through the process of putting down my thoughts and feelings. It helps me to keep it all straight in my head, and gets the stuff out of it that would otherwise sit there and rot, or stir up trouble with my emotional state…..

Maybe I could, and should, figure out another method of creating intros, but, I’m too stubborn to give in to any impulse that uses the word ‘should’ to get me to do anything. I regard that word as one that we only use when we are playing our “tapes” in our head, and I try very hard not to let any of those old tapes affect what I do at all, as most of them, provided to me by parents of other kids, priests/preachers, ignorant teachers, and busybodies of all kinds, are standards of behavior and attitude that were designed to benefit someone else, i.e., our early-childhood brainwashing….

You know, all that stuff you were told before you had any reasons not to believe the adults were telling the truth…. or, more aptly, before you found out that most of it wasn’t true, and that adults lie all the time…. It is a sad, but powerful experience when we realize that most of the people in the world aren’t telling us the truth, but are modifying it at will, to achieve their own ends. Most of the people who lie to us are doing so because they believe what they are saying to be true; that is what makes it hard to tell. But, what they are saying, most of the time, is stuff THEY were taught when they were children, and they have never examined it for its veracity, or ever considered that they were told lies from the very beginning…..

“Jesus died too soon. If he had lived to my age he would have repudiated his doctrine.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Damn! There I go again, ranting away, and I’m not even done with the intro…. See? I’ve got to figure something out, and soon, before I drive myself crazier than I already am!…. SIGH…. (That’s a long, drawn out Clare County sigh…. and, a short drive….) I’m feeling a desperate man, I am, so it’s probably best if I get on with my dive, before I implode….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“The thinking that we are doing has brought us to where we have already been. In order to go somewhere else, we must think in a different way.” — Albert Einstein

One can always trust Albert to state profound ideas in the simplest way…. you gotta love that. Here, his insight has pinpointed the root problem with which our species has to contend if we are to survive to the next millennium, and illuminates the necessary element in solving the issue, all in two short, simple statements. We humans have made a real mess of things, to put it mildly, and now are faced with a dilemma never faced in all our history as a species…. that we know of…. Perhaps Atlantis fell for exhibiting the self-same lack of ethics and moral advancement as our society has done, and Mother Nature stepped in previously, as she is close to doing now…. There is no way to know for sure…. What is certain is that our own time is nearing an end, unless we make an unlikely change in our attitudes and habits….

This is the root of the problem we face, that the necessary changes need to be made in the human psyche, our souls, as it were, and it just isn’t going to happen unless each and every person alive makes the change. The assumption that we have the right to use the resources of the planet for our own benefit ONLY, to strip the physical world of all the materials we want to use for our own purposes, no matter what effect it has on the rest of what exists here has only one outcome possible, and that is our own self-destruction, taking many innocent species with us… The plants, the other animals, the immense beauty of the physical world in which we live are all being wasted by mankind’s insane rush to obtain and hoard anything considered useful to themselves, at the expense of all else…..

This attitude indicates an inferior spirit, one whose moral and ethical advancement is arrested, and even reversed, until all that is left is pure, unadulterated avarice and greed, and complete dispassion for other life-forms. If you have ever seen an open wound, an ulcer, then you know just what the spirit of such a person is like… and the pain they cause for everyone else…. Unfortunately, this ulcer cannot be treated with ointments, and a clean bandage…

To my mind, the necessary changes that can save us are obviously spiritual in nature, and will require some kind of spiritual awakening in ALL humans on the planet, a realization that we are part of a larger scheme of things than merely our own concerns, and that our participation in that larger view of reality is necessary for us to survive. If we continue to deny the reality of this, then our selfish destructiveness will be brought to an end by our own actions. Unless we can get those who care not for anything but themselves to alter that state of mind, we are all going to die, because there won’t be any breathable air, or any non-toxic water, or any food that will sustain us… We will have fouled our own nest unto extinction….

“Our humanity were a poor thing were it not for the divinity which stirs within us.” — Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Francis doesn’t get much air time on this blog, since most of what he says is crap; he tends to hide a nimble mind behind a screen of religious fervor that colors most of his thinking. In this particular phrase, he is close to a truth, but where he uses the words “divinity which stirs within us”, I would say, “the divinity of which we are part.” Robert Heinlein’s character, Valentine Michael Smith, in Stranger In A Strange Land, perhaps said it best when he said used the phrase, “Thou Art God”…..

Only when we come to understand that we are part and parcel of everything else that exists, no more, no less than any other part, can we reach the understanding, and the compassion, that will be needed to overcome the problems we have created through our specie’s deliberate ignorance and avarice….. We must accept the responsibility that comes with divinity, to cherish and protect all the different parts of reality that make up the whole of our being, instead of using whatever we see to increase our own creature comforts, at the expense of the rest of reality.

Our species MUST undergo a spiritual awakening, or we will surely be condemned to an ignoble end, much like the thousands of species our kind has already added to the list of those who have disappeared from this plane of existence. I wish I could say that all I’ve said here is speculation, but, there is too much hard evidence that supports what I’m saying to ignore. The time we have to awaken our brothers and sisters who have been brainwashed into disbelieving their own power is growing very short, I’m afraid…. I’m also afraid that it isn’t going to happen, and that would indeed be a great waste……

During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to Adlai E. Stevenson “Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person!” Stevenson called back “That’s not enough, madam, we need a majority!” — Smart Bee
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After writing the above, I’m a bit depressed, as can be imagined….. When I’m down, I turn to classical poetry, and always find something to take my mind away, especially with the romantic poets, and always with Yeats…. I’ve used this before, possibly more than once, but, I don’t much care, as it’s one of my favorites, and worthy of inclusion any time… Enjoy! I did….

A Faery Song

{Sung by the people of Faery over Diarmuid and Grania, in their bridal sleep under a Cromlech.}

We who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told:
Give to these children, new from the world,
Silence and love;
And the long dew-dropping hours of the night,
And the stars above:
Give to these children, new from the world,
Rest far from men.
Is anything better, anything better?
Tell us it then:
Us who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told.

William Butler Yeats
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Ah, me…. I always feel better after some Yeats… I guess I should memorize some of it, so I can recite it to myself at will…. Any who, another rant would arguably be a poor idea, and, as I have no wish to lose anyone to boredom or fatigue, we’ll do our usual dance of avoidance, and go for an old-school pearl. I’ve had some good luck recently using the harlequin method, so we’ll go with that…. Here, then, you will find a group of pearls, randomly picked for random reasons by my unconscious mind, which I allow free rein in such matters….. Let’s see what comes up, shall we?…..

ASS, n. A public singer with a good voice but no ear. In Virginia City, Nevada, he is called the Washoe Canary, in Dakota, the Senator, and everywhere the Donkey. The animal is widely and variously celebrated in the literature, art and religion of every age and country; no other so engages and fires the human imagination as this noble vertebrate. Indeed, it is doubted by some (Ramasilus, _lib. II., De Clem._, and C. Stantatus, _De Temperamente_) if it is not a god; and as such we know it was worshiped by the Etruscans, and, if we may believe Macrobious, by the Cupasians also. Of the only two animals admitted into the Mahometan Paradise along with the souls of men, the ass that carried Balaam is one, the dog of the Seven Sleepers the other. This is no small distinction. From what has been written about this beast might be compiled a library of great splendor and magnitude, rivaling that of the Shakespearean cult, and that which clusters about the Bible. It may be said, generally, that all literature is more or less Asinine.

“Hail, holy Ass!” the quiring angels sing;
“Priest of Unreason, and of Discords King!”
Great co-Creator, let Thy glory shine:
God made all else, the Mule, the Mule is thine!”
G.J.
— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“America … just a nation of two hundred million used car salesman with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.” — Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail”

“Any time that is not spent on love is wasted.” — Tasso

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: “It might have been!”

— John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) — Maud Muller, st. 53

“Among mankind money is far more persuasive than logical argument.” — Euripides

“Character is much easier kept than recovered.” — Thomas Paine

Well, there you go…. makes sense to me…. Bonus points if you can identify the quote that exemplifies today’s post most closely…. 🙂
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Well, THAT was an adventure, to be sure….. Let’s see how it hangs together…. Patently, it won’t win a Pulitzer, but arguably, it ain’t bad…. to paraphrase Andrew Greeley. As such, I feel no qualms whatsoever in declaring it done….. Consider it declared. Since I can’t think of anything else to say or do that wouldn’t cost my karma at least a few hit points, I’ll let it all go at that…. 🙂 Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Byzantine tapestries sang the chorus….

Posted on March 4, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
A soft breeze was flowing off the water, bringing scents of faraway places to the veranda of the little house, sitting neatly at the edge of the sandy beach. Behind the house, tall palms and elaborately green foliage spread up the side of the mountain, which sloped down to the beach on both sides of the house. Ominous looking clouds hovered around the peak, seeming to warn of hidden dangers beneath their cottony billows, lurking in wait for unwary climbers. When the evening sun began to set, quickly, as it does at these latitudes, into the western ocean, a young woman stepped off the veranda, and began walking toward the water. She strode straight forward, into the waves, until she began to swim, outward, away from the shore, toward the open sea……

I think we’ll leave our protagonist right there, with all the possible scenarios that would fit the paragraph still in the nascent stage of which I am so fond…. Sorry, I know it annoys some ffolkes when I do that, but, some days, it’s all I can do to come up with a way to grab your attention for what follows. The subject matter around here, versatile as it is, can be somewhat dry; political science and/or religious monologues don’t draw attention quite so quickly as say, sex…. which I have so far been able to avoid using as a hook for this blog. I’m not sure why I made the decision, as it was made unconsciously, but I haven’t ever really tried my hand at writing about sex, other than as a peripheral factor in other discussions…

Actually, I find, as I get older, I am becoming, not so much more puritanical, though that is certainly part of the outcome, but shall we say, less urgently concerned with prurient matters than previously in my life. Oh, that isn’t to say that I’m not interested in sex any more; far from it. My participation in any such behavior is only limited by a distinct lack of willing partners, not by inclination.

This state of affairs (or, rather, lack of affairs….), while, I’m sure, temporary, is nonetheless somewhat disheartening, as you may imagine…. I’ve never been very good at celibacy, even though, having been married for a long time, I’m well acquainted with dealing with that unhappy state….. SIGH…. Not that I’m particularly invested with any real belief in astrology, but, I’ve always fit the description of a Scorpio to a T, in that regard, so my appetite for sex has always been strong….

If one REALLY believed the astrologers, then I would be considered to be a very sexually oriented person, as I am what is called a triple Scorpio, with my Sun, Moon, and Rising Signs all in Scorpio at the precise moment I was born, along with, I believe, three, or perhaps, four of the other planets…. I forget exactly…. A friend who was “into” astrology once cast my horoscope, but, I didn’t pay much attention beyond what I’ve relayed to you here….

Ah well, it’s all moot right now anyway; I don’t have an available partner, and if, or when one appears, there remains the obstacle of my pain, and the medication I take for it, which tends to both decrease the urge, and make difficult the process, because of the narcotic nature of the medication. I can perform just fine, but it requires a lot of focus, concentration, and effort, not easy at my age, but, well worth it…. I just don’t get the opportunity often right now. (A euphemism for “not at all, at all….. SIGH…..) There is one good thing to say about age and our attitudes about sex in general…. it isn’t any longer connected to the sense of urgency as when I was younger, so it is less painful when it isn’t happening regularly…. Thanks be for small favors, eh?….

Okay, I’ve now rambled and babbled about enough to call it an intro… it’s certainly long enough, though I’m not sure what any of it has to do with literature, or any of the stuff I usually write about. Ah, well, such is life here at ECR…. I never know exactly where I’m headed, so I am not burdened with too much angst ahead of time, worrying about how it will come out. Since I’ve now probably lost you completely, we’d best get on with the rest of today’s effort….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“We lie about the truth, that’s what ruins us here. And do you know why we lie about the truth? Not because we like to, but because we are scared to death of it. If we looked the truth in the eye nine out of ten of us would run to the graveyard and demand to be buried at once.” — Babbaluche the cobbler

Can you feel it? There it is, lurking just beyond the limit of perception… it’s a group of pulsating platitudes…. A bundle of asinine assumptions…. A plethora of petulant postulates…. A mixed bag of pointed metaphors and moral indictments…. Yes, it’s once more time for our morning politirant, that wonderful time when we bring to bear all of our sarcasm, sardonicism, cynicism, and tendency toward blather, aiming it exuberantly at that perfect group of targets, the Beloved Ruling Class, a term I borrowed, but only because it is so perfectly accurate, with just the right amount of sneering disdain….

Today’s pearl is one that barely needs explanation, or discussion, but, what kind of blog would this be if I let one like this go by without at least taking a shot or two at my favorite bunch of idiots? Not a very honest one, that’s for sure…. If the nose grows, you must let it show, and, due to the habitual bozoid behavior of the political beasts in this country, that nose is on the news every night…. attached to one political pundit’s face or another…

Honestly, I don’t make them say any of the stuff they do, nor do I need to make any of it up; I don’t have to do anything, and they provide me with ridiculous statements and outrageous lies for discussion with every other breath…. I only wish I got paid for every time they tell me/us a lie; I’d be able to afford to buy my own political office within a week or so…… Of course, if I wanted to be in a political office, I’d have to live up to the promise I made myself many years ago, and immediately commit suicide… It would be the only way to save my honor…..

Though I understand the process involved, I’ve never been able to fully understand the “why” questions that arise out of the natural progression of the political circus…. Questions like, why do we still elect people who lie to us? Why do we overlook the lies they tell us? Why are people so idiotic as to do this over and over and over again, for the past two hundred plus years in this country, and all over the world for centuries before that.

As far as I can see from history, especially considering the lies that are inherently part of the religious writings, lying for profit has been the chief sport of society since approximately 5000 BC…. If you don’t believe me, read it yourself…. it’s all there in writing, for all to see, provided they have the wit, and the inclination to accept, or even recognize, truth when they read it…..

“If you wants to get elected president, you’ve got to think up some memorable homily so’s school kids can be pestered into memorizin’ it, even if they don’t know what it means.” — Walt Kelly, The Pogo Party

It’s been said, by people wiser than me, that comedy, and humor, as expressed in comics, by comedians on stage and TV (in this century), and in the literature of the time, are all excellent indicators of the attitudes that are common to society, and show the true feelings of the people who are considered “the common man”. This cartoon strip, Pogo, by Walt Kelly was published in newspapers for 26 years, until his death in 1973; his wife continued publishing, using other artists, until at least 1983. In my opinion, after his death, it never reached the degree of genius Walt himself showed, though it faithfully carried on his tradition of gentle, yet telling, criticism of society, and of government in particular.

Note, if you will, in the above caption, the implied distrust of political candidates in general, which implies a lot about officials already elected, and “serving” in office. Mr. Kelly, and his work, were probably considered “suspiciously anti-American” by Joe McCarthy and his Band of Bigots, who were so prominent in the early 50’s. Since he continued to publish long after that group came into disrepute, I imagine his popularity, and genius, were sufficient protection to deflect any trouble from that quarter. Since I’m lazy, and this is already getting pretty wordy, I won’t go googling to find out exactly what occurred, but, I’d lay good money on my version being relatively accurate….

The strip did post one particular episode after Walt Kelly’s death, for Earth Day in 1983, that has become a classic iconic poster for that movement’s organization, and the last line, uttered by Pogo himself, still appears at times to support their cause at events…. on posters, of course…. Here is the strip made into a poster…. from Wikipedia…. I guess that answers my questions from above, doesn’t it? We now know why we let them lie…. because we are all as guilty of acting out of ignorance and self-interest as are our leaders….. If we are to be honest, at least with ourselves, we must accept responsibility for allowing the mess to build up in the first place…. The next question seems to suggest itself, I think….

What are we going to do about it?……
__________________________________

“No harm can come to a good man in life or death.” — Socrates

Yesterday, I was in a sentimental mood, which arose naturally from having the opportunity to meet with my brothers, and one of my nephews, now an adult, for a late lunch. All three of us Moore brothers had not been together in person for about 10 years, so there was a certain poignancy attached that had nothing to do with my older brother’s impending battle with cancer, though that certainly added to the emotional content. In short, it was an emotion filled afternoon, and great fun to be able to sharpen my wits against a familiar pair of stones, with their equally facile wits scraping along against my rocky nature…..

My brothers, of course, are as strange as am I, with similar, if not always congruent, senses of humor; essentially, it would be fair to say we’re a trio of fairly odd ducks, especially when taken together…. Since my older brother is now 66, I am 62, and our baby brother is 58 this year, it gives us a combined total experience level of 186 years….. not bad….. but, a bit difficult to contain in one small restaurant booth without some randomness leaking out… It was entertaining to have my nephew there, as he hadn’t observed all of us together since he was quite young; he’s now 23, I think… and grown into a fine young man, unsurprisingly…. Any who, it was a wonderful two or three hours; my younger brother came to pick me up, so we were able to have an extended conversation, which was as enjoyable, and as widely-ranging, as ever….

There is no meaning attached to the choice of this poem today…. I picked it because I’m still feeling sentimental, and it is just a very soothing piece, one to encourage mellow contemplation, and quiet enjoyment of memories…. so, please feel free to do so….. 🙂

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

~~ Robert Frost
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Well, it seems that the Pearls are starting to assume a somewhat new consistency of structure and organization, as a simple result of having a sore hip and ass…. I need to spend less time in this chair, and more time walking to strengthen my legs and back muscles, to help support the hip, which has been sore, I believe, due to advancing arthritis that is slightly inflamed.

Any who, I’m not whining about that, I just wanted to explain why this third section has been so often an old-school pearl of late…. which reason being, the old-school pearls take less time to construct than do rants, or discussions of some other idea of note. That’s it…. also, I think one rant a day is enough to ask any of you to have to sit through, and think about…. I’ll start losing ffolkes due to fatigue before they can get to the closing….

So, here is another harlequin pearl, randomly picked to suit whatever was going through my tiny little mind at the time…. enjoy!…..

“A lady came up to me on the street and pointed to my suede jacket. “You know a cow was murdered for that jacket?” she sneered. I replied in a psychotic tone, “I didn’t know there were any witnesses. Now I’ll have to kill you too.” — Jake Johansen
(I swear I will remember this from now on when I’m in my leathers….)

“A Renaissance man diffuses to refine himself.” — Steve Hug
(Brilliant!….)

“I’ve seen many politicians paralyzed in the legs as myself, but I’ve seen more of them who were paralyzed in the head.” — George Wallace
(I actually remember reading this the day after he said it in some speech he made, when I was in college….)

“You’ve buttered your bread–now sleep in it.” — Gracie Allen
(I LOVE Gracie!….. She was a comic genius, and much deeper than she ever allowed herself to appear in public….)

“Before you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available.” — Jim Beggs
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

“To get anywhere, or even to live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer.” — Lazarus Long, in Time Enough for Love, by Robert Heinlein
(Obvious to many, but unknown to even more…)

“Hopelessly lost, but making good time…” — Letterman

I gotta say, that last one is me, all over….. 🙂
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At the risk of sounding complacent, I like this Pearl. Hence, if I am to be completely honest, I would also have to say that I am completely indifferent as to whether or not anyone else enjoys it, but, alas, I’m human, and subject to the weaknesses we all share, including the tendency to lie to ourselves…. So, in short, I hope other ffolkes, and folks, enjoy it as well. I put some good effort into it, considering the limitations faced by being forced up & out of bed at 5 AM to get started by hip ache, and enforced breaks every few minutes for the same reason. It’s all good now, as this Pearl is now officially done… So be it…. gigoid has spoken, and will now shut the hell up….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Several of the anchovies have objected….

Posted on March 3, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Damn it! I knew this would happen! If I had listened to my own advice, I would have put it away somewhere safe…. But, nooooo….. I had to carry it around in my pocket like a book of matches or something, and now, it’s gone. Poof! Disappeared from my front left pocket, sometime between the time I put the pants on in the morning, to when I wanted to use it later that afternoon. My Dad always told me, if you want it safe, put it in your pocket; he forgot about holes, obviously, because that’s what happened here. Or, that’s what I assume, anyway, as it certainly wouldn’t have jumped out of the pocket, and there happens to be a medium sized hole, right at the bottom. Well, the size wouldn’t matter anyway, since it can assume almost any shape, and adjust its size as needed…..

Okay, you tell me….. what did I lose? I tried to write the above without a clue as to what it might be, and it looks as if I’ve succeeded at that quite well, thank you….. It’s all quite true, and there is actually an object, or rather a thing (yes, such a flexible noun is necessary….), that I seem to have lost…. well, that is, if one may assume that it was ever truly mine…. I’ll not keep you in suspense any longer, as I see there really isn’t any way to guess, unless you’re able to read my mind….. Have yet to find anyone who can do so, not with any success…. Besides, I know for a fact that anyone reading my mind would quickly go mad, from trying to decipher, or keep up with what is going on in there at any random moment….

Sang-froid…. that’s what I lost…. Since it’s rather an uncommon word as used in English, and is in French to boot, I’ll tell you that it means, essentially, composure under duress, a sort of unflappable calm that one carries with them as a defense against the massively emotional, chaotic happenings that take place regularly in Reality. These days, people would say I had lost my “cool”, or my “chill”….. and they would be accurate, mostly. It is a quality common to those who are true leaders, or to any competent philosopher; one that is not common to anyone who allows Reality to determine their feelings for them, as reactions to stress or trouble.

As a personal quality, it is extremely useful, as it provides one with a state of mind that is impervious to the depredations of Reality upon our senses, allowing one the mental space to think clearly, and to avoid the indignity of being forced to react in a manner controlled by the events we encounter. It inspires others who witness its presence to emulate its serenity, thereby being as useful to others as to ourselves. In my own case, I have not yet reached a point in my personal voyage where I can wear the cloak of invulnerability it supplies at all times; it isn’t yet that large or stable…. so, I’ve kept it in my pocket, and put it on when I can, to try to stretch it out into a larger garment that I can wear always…..

Well, there you go…. four reasonably concise paragraphs on one subject, and no sign of a pearl. I suppose the little meander we just took through that corridor in my mind was interesting enough…. if you’re a psychologist of sorts, or someone interested in self-improvement as a way of life. Otherwise, I’m hopeful it didn’t put anyone to sleep….. No matter, it filled up another intro section, and this time it’s not necessarily nonsense, as it it real, and all of what I’ve written is, in my mind, gospel…. or, what I hold in that regard…..

Now that it’s out of the way, it would be well to keep it moving, so you don’t have time to stop and think about what I’m doing…. (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain….). In hopes of maintaining the illusion of sanity I’ve created thus far today, we’ll go on now, to the area where Smart Bee is waiting for me to start today’s dive…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“As a draft-animal is yoked in a wagon, even so the spirit is yoked in this body.” — Upanishads (c. B.C. 800)

Each of us is faced at times with the consciousness of our own approaching encounter with Death, the moment in time when our yoke is removed, and our spirit is freed, to once more join the rest of the conscious minds in the universe in roaming through realms of Reality we cannot see in this form. This Reality we cannot see is much larger, in one sense, than the one we can now perceive; it has to be, to be able to accommodate all the souls that have gone before, and all that are now present on Earth, that will someday join the rest of them, when they die…..

Every human being alive must face their own Death (I am capitalizing the word to give it the proper respect as one of the most important concepts we have as humans….); this is a truism no one can deny, or refute. Many people have banded together, to assume the belief that our universe was created this way by a supernatural being, who, for some unknown, and unknowable (self-explanatory, I think….) reason, decided that we are “special”, and gave us, and only us, the knowledge we have, and our very lives. This, of course, is rather hard to believe, as it doesn’t really account for much of what is observable truth in Reality, being, as it is, complete speculation, devoid of any concrete evidence to support it…..

“There is no conclusive evidence that there is life after death. There is also no real evidence to the contrary. Soon enough, you will know. So, why fret about it?” — Lazarus Long, aka Robert A. Heinlein

I first read this aphorism when I was in my early teens; it codified, and made succinct, what I had already concluded about the major religions of the world, i.e., they’re a collection of unwarranted, and unproven, assumptions. What’s more, they are all highly unlikely, given the observable parameters of the real world. It became obvious to me, as it is to many, that what the religious folks were trying to get me to believe was intended merely to soften my mind, making it more amenable to suggestion, of which they have an endless supply. Preachers, priests, imams, nuns, all are quite willing to give other people advice and suggestions on how they should live, in exhaustive detail, for as long as they are allowed to do so….

Since I had very little desire to have other people decide for me how I should think, or live my life, I rejected the dogma they tried to force into my head, turning instead to other sources of thought about Life, Death, and Reality. I found an endless supply of folks who had thought long and deeply about all of these ideas, and gladly did I read all I could of everything I could find on the subject. In addition, I read science fiction, during the years when its popularity had just begun to climb to the heights it now occupies; sci-fi has always been literature that explored, and continues to explore, the very limits of thought, both in the real world, and the world of the mind.

As is seen by the first pearl above, these thoughts and ideas are not new with me; mankind has been thinking about these concepts since we first sat around the campfires, wondering at the beauty of the heavens we saw above our heads, and all around us. In all that time, no conclusions have been reached that seem to cover ALL of the questions we have about the universe. We still don’t have a clue as to “what is the mind”, or “what is thought”…. and if we cannot understand ourselves, what chance do we have of unraveling the secrets of the universe around us? Not much, would be my guess…

That, fortunately, does not mean it is impossible to know the truth, nor does it mean we are condemned to die in ignorance and fear…. I know this because I have learned in my time that our fear is a direct outgrowth of our ignorance; we fear what we do not understand. Now, if I were a God, why would I make people that way, unless for some ulterior motive, having to do with motivations that are human, not divine? No, it just doesn’t make sense to me to assume that we were put here with a deliberate handicap, just to see how we dealt with it; that seems more like an evil scientist at work than a compassionate deity.

“One must marry one’s feelings to one’s beliefs and ideas. That is probably the only way to achieve a measure of harmony in one’s life.” — Etty Hilsum

Since I believe firmly in the Law of Conservation of Energy (proven true in this universe, to all our knowledge), and, I believe that our minds/souls are a form of energy we currently don’t fully understand, and cannot perceive directly, then the concept of Death is nothing to fear, as it merely means that my current state of energy will be replaced with another state, one I don’t currently have the ability to perceive. What that state may be like may be unknown, but that doesn’t mean it is something of which I should be afraid…. I prefer to look at it as the next great adventure….

So, when my father died, I asked him to leave me some trail-sign, to let me know how to find him in the next reality; he smiled at me, and said he would do that… and I was much comforted by that, knowing that our connection as family can never be severed, and that, someday, I would once more have the pleasure, and comfort, of his presence…. Now that’s something to look forward to, don’t you think?…. Much better than worrying that what I do now is going to determine what happens to me after I die, a silly proposition, at best……

“Do not think that man is but flesh, skin, bones and veins; far from it! What really makes man is his soul; and the things we call skin, flesh, bones and veins are but a garment, a cloak; they do not constitute man. When man departs this earth, he divests himself of all the veils that conceal him.” — Zohar
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The last week or so has been rather a struggle, pain-wise; one of my hips is annoyed at the chair I use, and is showing its displeasure in the most obvious way. This, while understandable, given my age and degree of arthritic decline, is not particularly comfortable. (As you can see, I’m trying not to whine…. not very successfully, I’m afraid….) Any who, to cut a long story down to size, and to alleviate some of my pain by sitting for less time, I’m including here a poem I wrote, from last October, that touches on the subject of pain….. actually, it’s more of a solid punch than a mere touch….

Denial of Comfort

~~ gigoid
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Once again, Smart Bee has usurped my prerogatives, herding me to the place where I can do naught but allow him/her/it to pick out a group of pearls for this section. I guess what I wrote above could be considered a religirant, so a seven-star pearl is quite appropriate for our purposes today. This, upon looking at its final shape, is what I’d call a harlequin pearl, addressing several different categories of reality, each with its own importance to itself, and to the whole…. and if you think I know what that means, you haven’t been paying close attention…. Any who, here are seven pearls for your perusal, and edification…. Enjoy!….

“Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam.” — John Milton (1608-1674)

“An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.” — Samuel Johnson

“In regards to Oral Roberts’ claim that God told him that he would die unless he received $20 million by March, God’s lawyers have stated that their client has not spoken with Roberts for several years. Off the record, God has stated that “If I had wanted to ice the little toad, I would have done it a long time ago.” — Dennis Miller, SNL News
(… 🙂 …)

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

“* I’d say it’s an element of any post-allegorical discussive climax of the positionist stance. Either that or a load of bollocks.” — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA

“Rule a kingdom as though you were cooking a small fish.” — Lao Tzu

“I’ve got to get back to Reality. Where IS that silly Blue Dragon?” — Smart Bee
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Thus, we see, as time majestically passes by, ignoring our pleas to slow, how easy it is to be insane…. It’s fun, too! Before anyone can take it upon themselves to call for the men in white suits, I’m going to escape back into my own little head, and let stuff percolate until tomorrow, when once more, I will take up the standards of Truth, and smite mightily the foes of Reason…. or, maybe not. Sounds good, though, doesn’t it?….. I’ll stop torturing y’all now…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

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

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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Robert Heinlein

Standing by with unqualified operators….

Negative! Do NOT scotch that beezul…..

The stupidity factor was obviously miscalculated….

The remainder may go free…..

This recipe calls for “floated ferrets”….

An aged, elegant marmoset sat beside the oracle…..

Fire erupted from our eastern flank….

A desperate scenario, indeed, oberfuehrer….

Byzantine tapestries sang the chorus….

Several of the anchovies have objected….

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