Tag Archives: robert m adams

Put the cheeseburger down, sir, and step back from the condiments….

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Ffolkes,

Traffic has been light this morning, and what is there is moving along well, so I guess it’s okay to get started…. Not that traffic has anything to do with this, but, it works on the radio, so I thought I’d give it a try…. By this time in the process, it really doesn’t matter what I do, it’s all going to be wrong, or misguided somehow, and whatever I produce will crash and burn within moments. The investigators are never able to tell afterward exactly why it crashes (the burning part is obvious…. leaking fuel, oxygen, heat, all present…. only the ‘why’ is mysterious…), but, it does. I really don’t expect them to know how to determine sabotage by icons of nature like Murphy, as he is well able to make such things appear to be due to natural causes…..

You know what I mean by that, right? Natural causes? Same thing the beloved ruling class means when they say some political prisoner died in custody, of “natural causes”, to wit: they killed them…. Oh, they might call it “pilot error” but it was “termination with prejudice”, you can bet on it….. Sorry, but anybody who, during an election campaign, says they’ll stop what is being done to people at Guantanamo, and at other facilities, in other countries, where it doesn’t break our laws so blatantly, and then totally ignores the whole issue, isn’t what I would call trustworthy, and can’t be counted on to tell the truth about anything.

SIGH…. there I go, ranting again in the intro…. It just seems to keep popping out, with little provocation. I mean, how much provocation can I claim at 5:55 in the morning, unless, for some unknown, and unwelcome, reason, I’ve been dreaming about this stuff, which I don’t think I’ve been doing…. not so’s I remember, anyway. It doesn’t matter, really, though, because I’d planned to rant today, so this can be considered a warm-up, or stretching exercises…. As long as you don’t consider it terrible, and go away, I’ll be happy….. It gets so lonely around here in the mornings, and the neighbors don’t appreciate me breaking out my guitar at this hour, so, I’m stuck with this computer, and my imaginary audience, for company…. Sad image, isn’t it?….

Don’t be sad, though, because I like it like this…. Now that much of the stress is gone from my life, of waiting for the bureaucrats to act, for my retirement to kick in, for poverty to end (at least for me…), I am able to enjoy my retirement time, getting a big kick out of watching the world run around like crazy, acting out the panoply of human stories and games, and knowing that nobody has any say about what I do, or when I do it, other than me, myself, and I…. and, of course, Patricia, to whom I’ve lost my heart…. She’s allowed to take up my time with her business on an “ad lib” basis…. but, I can’t consider that an onerous chore, or any kind of bother…. rather the opposite, truth be known….

Okay, well, I’ve blathered and meandered, and wound my way through another four paragraphs that don’t say much of anything, other than some pointless attempts at humor…. I should probably take my own advice, and not try to do that so early, especially before the coffee has kicked in fully….. but, SOMEBODY has to do it, and I’ve never been one to shirk my duty, once I know what it is….

The upshot of all this is, I’ve met the legal requirements for this blog’s opening remarks, so, I’m going to take that assessment and run with it…. If nothing else, it will prevent the formation of bruising around the eyes, where it feels as if I’ve been punching myself since I got up, twenty minutes ago…. Hmm, maybe I wasn’t done sleeping…. Ya think?…. Oh, well….

Shall we Pearl?…..
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As noted above, I tend to rant at the slightest provocation, and, though that tendency isn’t one I particularly wish to curtail completely, it is one that contributes to at least one of the problematic characteristics of blogging, a long winded way to say it makes these posts too long sometimes…. Then, I feel guilty, for taking up so much of people’s time, and ending up preaching to the choir, anyway…. This is why I’ve been resorting so often to old-school pearls to get my points across, or at least, out there for perusal and cognitive processing… Again, in short, it’s easier, on you, and, to some extent, on me….

Yesterday, I read an article in the news (you can read it here:  http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/08/06/planet-continues-to-warm-to-new-normal/ ) about climate change. The article discussed the yearly report, from the world’s scientific community, on the extent of the changes in the Earth’s average temperature, the changes in the polar ice, and the rising of the world’s oceans, as the increasing temperature melts those polar ice packs, little by little… The report itself makes no attempt to ascertain, or explain, the causes of the warming; it only reports the factual numbers of how much is changing each year…. It does note, however, that the levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere on their scale of measurement haven’t been seen on our planet for approximately 800,000 (!) years….

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 15

I haven’t seen the reaction yet from the fringes of the far right of the political scene, but I expect them to be out any time, once again parading the extent of their ignorance, shouting their outrage at the numbers, claiming that the scientists are “fudging” them, or claiming that we humans don’t understand what the numbers mean, because we don’t have infinite knowledge, like they do…. because “they” believe in God, which gives them the right to challenge the scientist’s figures…. If asked to do so, I could probably write one of their articles; it doesn’t seem hard, as one needn’t bother with presenting any facts, or evidence to support one’s theories…. I would, of course, feel very silly, but, I could do it….

Don’t worry, I won’t; plenty of others will do so, with much more sincerity, if less factual, than I…. It does piss me off, though, to have to watch these idiots go through their contortions, trying to refute the obvious danger that the changes reported by the scientists pose for us as a species, along with all the other species with whom we share the air we breathe… It pisses me of a lot, because they make it harder to get anything done about it, and muddy up the waters made clear by the report, never realizing that by insisting on the truth of their delusions, they are signing their own death warrant….

Rather than bore you with another rant (which, it seems from looking at this small intro, I seem to have already done….) I’ll turn to my old-school format, and bring the point home with a group of pearls…. once again highlighting the advantage to pearls of virtual wisdom, requiring much less effort to acquire than the mundane, standard types of wisdom, which ask us to display intelligence, patience, and perseverance in order to feel the boon of its presence…. Easy money, as they say downtown….

“The radical novelty in modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief, which is at the heart of all popular religion, that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart.” — Walter Lippmann

“These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives; for all the scents of green things growing, each breath is but an exhalation of the grave.  Bodies jerk like puppet corpses, and hell walks laughing” — Smart Bee

“Belief is the death of intelligence.” — Robert Anton Wilson

“Reality is when it happens to you.” — Smart Bee

“Are people more important than the grizzly bear? Only from the point of view of some people.” — Edward Abbey

`Just the place for a Snark!’ the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.

‘Just the place for a Snark!  I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark!  I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.’

— Lewis Carroll, the Snark and the Boojum

“Ignorance is not bliss — it’s oblivion.” — Phillip Wylie
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À Bas Ben AdhemMy 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 succint:
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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“A people who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never will, and never can, be.” — Thomas Jefferson

I almost used this as a closing remark to the rant/pearl in section one; it’s almost the right sentiment, but, didn’t quite hit the exact mark, so I’m using it here, as the opening remark for another old-school entry. Yes, it’s being a little bit lazy, but, I will reference my point above re: retirement, and the perks thereof, to wit: I don’t care if it’s lazy, it’s what I want to do, and you can’t stop me, at least, not without the risk of injury, to one or both of us…. Since neither of us is willing to see what happens in that case, let’s get on with this…. The primary search parameter for this pearl is “Risk analysis of using ignorance as a survival tool in modern society.” Or, something like that….

“Thank you, Señor MacGyver.”  “Don’t thank me, thank the gravitational pull of Earth’s moon.” — from The Simpsons

“Does history record any case where the majority was right?” — Robert Heinlein, Notebooks of Lazarus Long

“A “sucking chest wound” is nature’s way of telling you to slow down.” — Murphy’s Military Laws, #12

“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.” — George Bernard Shaw

“Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know.” — Eric Hoffer

Hmm…. how did that get there? Or, more accurately, how did we get here? This comes close to what I was looking for, but, something isn’t quite right…. we’ll go on, find two more that will shore up the weak side, and bring home the point we’re trying to make….

“I used to get high on life but lately I’ve built up a resistance.  — Steven Wright”

“From stupidity there is always something to be learned, but it’s always the same thing: don’t be stupid.” — Robert M. Adams

There… that should do it…. sometimes the thread that ties it all together is thin, and hard to see, but, it generally works out okay…. in the case of this pearl, the wisdom is inherently obvious, unless one regularly fails in the task implied in the final entry….  😆
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Well, that was fun! I don’t know how it will look to others, but, it matters little now, because the road became the journey, and I feel centered…. Hmm… Murphy must be lurking about…. I’d best go proof while I can….. I was right, (write?…), Murphy was hanging about…. That took what seemed like forever to get all the spots I got lazy with my typing… comes from it coming out so fast and smooth, I guess, I had to sit for too long to keep up… Okay, no whining, I’m done now anyway…. and, I’m outta here…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

dozer3

Kindness and compassion are addictive…

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Ffolkes,
T’is a fine line indeed between madness and genius; a line so fine that the two bleed into each other’s meaning, distorting the sense of reality we depend on to anchor us. It is almost as if they are inter-dependent, one not possible without the presence of the other. In a way, it makes sense, as the only progress humanity makes is when people act abnormally; one must break eggs to make a ….an omelet (I wanted to say another dish, but spell checker refused to use it).

I have long understood this, as many of my best moments in life came when I allowed my madness free rein over my perceptive judgment. But it isn’t wise to allow that too often; it has a tendency to produce concepts that alarm the natives……let’s get on with the day’s musings, eh?….
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“From stupidity there is always something to be learned, but it’s always the same thing: don’t be stupid.” — Robert M. Adams

Again, the saddest part of this is that it has to be said at all. I don’t know about you, but I stopped drinking my shampoo many years ago, and haven’t felt the urge to bite into an electric cord, or see if the stove is hot since infancy. (There are, however, a number of people I have had the urge to bite, on several occasions) But, because our society has the unfortunate habit of repeatedly passing laws intended to “save ourselves” from our own stupidity, regardless of how richly the consequences of acting so might be deserved, our beloved ruling class benevolently bestows upon us a law to “keep people safe.”

This is called legislating morality, and has been attempted by any number of governments throughout history; each and every time we end up  with many more problems than the one for which the solution was created for. It’s all just a piece of human nature, (Robert Heinlein calls its proponents Mrs. Grundy, the old neighbor who watches out the window to gather gossip and judge the morals of everyone else), and has probably caused more deaths than sheer stupidity alone. Being human nature, what can one do? Well, not much…. but, ignoring Mrs. Grundy on a consistent basis can at least make her go bother someone else for a time……

“If you attack Stupidity you attack an entrenched interest with friends in government and every walk of public life.” — Robertson Davies
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“Yes, many primitive people still believe this myth…But in today’s technical vastness of the future, we can guess that surely things were much different.” — The Firesign Theater

What, you may ask, is he talking about now? Primitive myth? What myth?……Well, lemme tell ya….. There is a commonly held belief in this country that the people who are elected to political office are honest, concerned citizens who will work tirelessly to make society a better place for all. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but this belief is sheer caca….(that word, btw, is the word most common to all languages on Earth; every single culture has this very word, or a close variation with the same sound, and they all mean the same thing…..caca) (you though I was going to say s__t, didn’t you? Shame on you….)

Oh, I’ll grant that there are a few Congressmen from small states & districts, or are new to the national scene, that still might retain some of the shiny idealism they had when they first came to D.C., but just a couple years watching everyone else getting rich, and never being able to get any real reform legislation discussed, much less passed, will generally rub off most of that shine. The great majority of the folks in power are there because they have figured out the easiest gig on the planet, i.e., ripping off the rubes, legally.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The ubiquitous ‘they’ do NOT have your interests at heart. Hell, they don’t even care what your interest are, beyond knowing what they need to lie about. Proof? Ever hear this joke? How do you know a politician is lying? His mouth is open. All humor has a piece of truth at the core… And once they are in office, it’s rather like hitting a golf ball. After it’s in the air, you can’t control it at all, no matter how you twist your hips and grimace……

“Will this never-ending series of PLEASURABLE EVENTS never cease?” — Zippy the Pinhead
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“In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sometimes, in the hands of creative genius, prose is almost indistinguishable from poetry; this is a perfect example of that, although F. Scott can only marginally be called genius. His work sometimes seems to me to be channeled into him from some other source, as if he were merely the vessel that contains the ambrosia, not the ambrosia itself.  But, who cares, eh? If you like it, it won’t matter what anybody thinks about it, so go ahead and enjoy.

My point here, though, is that this particular phrase is one of those that I can personally admit to feeling; I’ve spent many a night pondering why I was up at 3 AM, again. All too often, the reasons which make us restive at that hour have their source in despair, or fear, or even anger, all emotions that affect us strongly. But as the animals we are, we also retain a lot of leftover evolutionary habits, or species memory. Our bodies know that 3 AM is the most dangerous part of the night, and being up and awake at that time makes the body/mind nervous, for no apparent reason.

So, we awake from a nightmare, or to answer the call of the porcelain throne, and to our own turmoil is added the signals of danger, flashing across the background of consciousness, with subliminal undertones of our most ancient fears. In a corner of our soul, we cower in abject terror of the horrors in our imagination, until our mind clears well enough to throw off this unintended consequence of wakefulness. We may not live in the forest anymore, but you can’t convince that piece of you that the monsters aren’t out there, just beyond the light of the fire, waiting for us to foolishly leave the cave…..
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“The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper” — Thomas Jefferson

If we consider this to be correct, it bodes ill for our society; if it was true 200+ years ago, it’s all too true now. Advertisements are deliberately misleading; outlandish claims of superior quality are normal and completely untrue. We all know this; we’ve always known this. It’s just that most folks ignore it, and pretend to believe what they hear. So, if the ads are the most truthful, what does that say about the rest of it? Nothing very flattering, to be sure. Sure, everybody claims to not pay attention to all that garbage, and it may be partly true. But people soak up a lot of stuff they are not aware of, and won’t admit to, even when confronted with irrefutable evidence, like a video of them snarfing Cheetos while riding a stationary bike.

The other problem brought to light by this concept is that exposure to this barrage of untruth insidiously conditions people to accept it as truth. Or maybe they just rationalize it as an alternative truth. I don’t know; not a frigging clue. I’ve never understood how people can give up so much control over their minds to other people. Offhand, I forget who said “If you don’t control your own mind, someone else will”; it wasn’t me, but it is bottom line truth, in my not so humble opinion.

Through circumstances not entirely my choice, I haven’t had a television, or cable, or a DVD player other than my computer, for close to two years now. I’ve caught a few games at other folk’s places, or while I am enjoying an adult beverage at the neighborhood watering hole, but mostly, I am completely out of touch with that whole medium of “entertainment”. I don’t miss it a bit….and it cuts my crap intake by at least 40%. Makes it easier to defend against the rest of the crap, online and in newspapers, and is very helpful in reducing the number of times per day I feel like turning homicidal…..

“In our country are evangelists and zealots of many different political, economic and religious persuasions whose fanatical conviction is that all thought is divinely classified into two kinds – that which is their own and that which is false and dangerous.” — Justice Robert H. Jackson
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“Never try to out-stubborn a cat.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

This is an important little piece of advice, based on well-earned experience, backed up by ongoing physical and observational evidence. One good reason to avoid this egregious sort of error is that learning to coexist with a cat can teach one the finer points of diplomacy and negotiation. Plus, it is well to remember that cats do not own shoes that you can pee into, in the middle of night when they aren’t looking. You do, and I’ve never known a cat who was shy about expressing their displeasure with their pet human……
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Why is it that, having misplace an object we need,  everyone always says that what we are looking for is always in the last place we look? OMG, tough one…..doh! When you find it, you stop looking, which automatically makes it the last place you looked, even if it is the first place you’ve looked. The only way for this statement to be untrue would be for us to keep looking after we found it….doh! But people always repeat this as if it were a new concept they just discovered, trying to give the impression it is the first time they’ve ever heard it.  I guess we humans are just easily amused….. y’all take care out there….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!