Manifestations of reality….

Posted on July 25, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.”

~~ Latin proverb ~~

Siberian volcano as viewed from the ISS

Image from www.nasa.gov via Space.com

Hajime…. Having been assaulted in my sleep by a small, fur-bearing extortionist, to the point of meltdown before I was even awake, I sit to write, only to find myself with no inspiration whatsoever. In fact, a complete meltdown remains a definite possibility for the rest of the day, I’d say. I can’t say why I’m so fragile this morning, but, hey, that’s PTSD for ya. A lot of generals, and armies, could take lessons from PTSD, regarding stealth; it seems to be masterful at sneak attacks….

Since finding something in my head about which to write seems futile, I think I’ll skip the intro altogether, giving it up as a bad investment of time. I can’t see it getting much better than what you’ve already seen, although the possibility of getting worse doesn’t seem out of the realm. In fact, I can feel it getting away from me the longer I type. In the interests of saving face, and time, I’ll end this now, before it gets to a point from which I cannot save it. I’m not sure what the regulations say about that, but, it probably fits into the rudeness category, if naught else….

Rather than risk relatively undeserved rudeness, I’ll go on. You’ll probably see some archived material below; fresh stuff probably isn’t on the agenda for today. But, that also means no further whining, so, it all balances out. Let’s see what I can find to make this semi-okay, or, at minimum, inoffensive…. Oh, wait. Too late for that, and it’s against policy. Oh, well. We’ll see what we can do….

Shall we pearl?….

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction
that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide;
that he must take himself for better or worse as his portion;
that though the wide universe is full of good,
no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him
but through his toil bestowed
on that plot of ground which is given him to till.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance ~~

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Naturally, since I’m in default production mode, you, and I, get classical music for today’s selection. I hope you enjoy it; I intend to do so myself….

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Classical Music

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“It is ridiculous to lay the blame of our wrong actions upon external causes, rather than on the facility with which we ourselves are caught by such causes.” — Aristotle

As I predicted in the intro, we’re hitting the archives. The following is one of the longest, and harshest rants I’ve written. It’s a subject about which I feel strongly, so, since I have nothing today of my own, here is something from my past…

From 8/20/2014:

This is a long rant, ffolkes…. When I start on this particular subject, I have a hard time stopping…. this time, to the tune of over 2500 words…. I figured I should give fair warning; this is not an easy rant to read, nor will it give any quarter to those it targets as the evil protagonists…. If you don’t feel up to it, then you can skip it…. However, this is an extremely important subject, to me, so, I’m asking you to take the time to read it, think about it, and maybe pass it on…. This needs to change, for sure, and for certain…. I’ve even given it a title, in case I decide to publish it alone, elsewhere….

A True Plague upon Our Houses….

In which we take issue with those who would call themselves Men, having none of the qualities of a Man…..

“Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776.” — Susan B. Anthony

As we know now, 1976 has come, and gone, along with 1776, and 1876; yet, the oppression and ongoing abuse of women continues, unabated and unchecked, in spite of any progress shown by society, which would be thanks to Ms. Anthony, and others, for having instigated, and overcome a number of the legal challenges involved in securing full rights for women, efforts resulting in SOME legislation that SEEMED to make some needed changes, not the least of which was voting rights…

In too many ways, unfortunately, things are worse, due to the ubiquitous attitudes, of misogyny and unreasoning fear of sexuality, which is so ingrained in both the male, and female members of society, there are few who even acknowledge the issue, unless pressed…. at which time, they generally become either defensive, feign indignation, or go into active denial…. This fear, based on ignorance, of course, is complicated by religious attitudes heaped upon men and women from birth, which only encourage such ignorance, in favor of dogma….. Now, 40 years into the next hundred years since the beginning of the women’s movement in America, the same can be said to be absolutely true….. Nothing below the surface has changed at all….

“You, you, you shouldn’t, you shouldn’t traumatize women with sexual intercourse. I should know, I’m a medieval doctor, I own a mansion and a yacht.” — excerpted from the AMA manual of advice for teens and newlyweds, 1910, 1926, 1933, 1947, 1955, and, every year since then, without changing a word….

Okay, so, it’s not really there…. but, it certainly would be, if they could get away with it…. and, is definitely there, in place, in the ingrained prejudices of virtually every male doctor alive…. This idiocy is an example of the attitudes of which I’m speaking; the hidden, slyly perverted belief that women are no more than the sum of the misguided and totally false characterizations placed on them by men, who insist on perpetuating the false image of women, in general and as individuals, as weak, feeble-minded, emotional, sex-crazed, or frigid, selfish creatures concerned only with using their beauty and sex to control men….

These claims are, of course, completely untrue in reality, but, the unreasoning, innate fear of their own sexuality, and the fear of being controlled by women, that permeates male attitudes, causes them all, or mostly all, to believe all of it, true or not… Thus, as the quote below from former President Jimmy C. notes, this belief in a full set of delusions, falsely accusing women of evil intent, is used to justify all of the pervasive objectification, abuse, and oppression of women throughout history, continuing today, no matter how much anyone says to the contrary….

Jimmy Carter sez:

He would know, wouldn’t he?…..

Below this paragraph, I am placing a link, to the web site/blog of a woman who rescued herself from sexual slavery; there is no other term that fits. She was forced, at a young age, to become a prostitute, and spent most of her childhood and teen years trapped in the sex trade…. Her experiences should never happen to anyone; when I read her writing, it takes ALL of my control to keep from jumping up, buying weapons, and going hunting, for human males…. I get so angry it wouldn’t even matter to me WHICH males I started wasting; all bear equal guilt, from at least one point of view…. Otherwise, why would the rest of us, we males who do NOT wish to oppress our species’ mates, ALLOW this to take place? How can we know of this, and not act?

http://rmott62.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/are-we-not-human

Lack of honor is the only answer that occurs to me; there are not enough men, it seems, with sufficient honor to stem the tide of idiocy, gross perversion, and lack of moral fiber that infuses the greatest portion of humanity’s male members…. I would guesstimate that 98% of all males never even THINK about the issue of how women have been oppressed throughout history; most are perfectly happy to enjoy the lack of responsibility that such moral and ethical blindness allows; we are, as a species, after all, lazy by nature…. (Nothing wrong with lazy, as long as it’s not a way of life, but a tool, to make one look for smarter ways to do things….) But, to allow that laziness to act as an excuse for not acting in this respect, can only indicate a complete lack of what I call HONOR…..

This may sound like a harsh accusation; to that charge I say: Yes, it is and so fucking what? It’s a harsh world, and what men have been doing to women for millennia….. not years, not centuries, MILFUCKINGLENNIA, PEOPLE! No exaggeration or hyperbole is necessary or, in my case, desired….

Listen up, all of you men out there, because I am talking to YOU!…. It IS harsh, and I make the accusation without apology, because, I must in all honesty include myself in the group of those who have not done all they could to see the issue addressed; if it is never addressed, it can never be resolved…. I’ve done more than many, perhaps, and I do acknowledge the seriousness and urgency of the issue…. but, I, too, am guilty of NOT doing enough…. S’okay, it just makes me madder, & more determined to keep writing about this….

You see, the whole issue illustrates one small, but, critical facet of human nature that is part and parcel with those other character flaws in us which are leading us merrily down the road to hell, blithely wishing we had a bigger handbasket….. This tendency on the part of human males, to abandon honor and ethical behavior, in favor of allowing their fears and misapprehensions rule them, for our ENTIRE history, has held us back, from becoming all we have the potential to be, as rational creatures with an understanding and appreciation for what is good and beautiful in life.

Instead, we have witnessed, over those thousands and thousands of years, virtually unending wars, conflicts, slavery, abuse of women and children, or anyone considered weak and unable to defend their rights. We have seen people learn to use lying, cheating, aggressiveness, and self-interest as their primary tools for obtaining the resources needed to live, and to hoard what they have taken, by right or threat of force; this process is, in today’s world, considered to be a blueprint for successful living, with the ultimate goal in life being the fulfillment of one’s own personal goals and desires, at the cost of whatever it may take to wrest it from other people, and the world at large….

“Get it while you can!” Do unto others before they do unto you.” Bigger is better!” “One nation under God!” (It would be more honest if they just said what they REALLY believe which is, “As a Christian, I have more rights than anyone who isn’t….”)

Okay, so the last line, in parentheses, is one most people will only say under their breath; you can be sure, though, that every “Christian” alive believes they are the elite of the species, the only ones with the true answers…. This, you see, naturally gives them all a completely unwarranted and false sense of entitlement, one that really annoys the rest of us, who haven’t fallen under the spell of that particular delusion, and couldn’t care less who they think they are…. I GUARANTEE, even if there WERE a God, such as the figment they seem to believe in, I’m pretty sure, as an omnipotent entity, She wouldn’t want to have anything to do with such idiotic wastes of sperm….

Ooh! That was harsh, too, wasn’t it? Oh well… Again, I have to say, so fucking what? If people insist on showing their lack of intelligence in public, they are fair game for anyone who cares to come along and poke holes in their lack of logic, and/or foolishly naive belief in delusions that someone taught them before they could defend their own minds…. It isn’t my problem if they are offended; that is their own reaction, for which THEY bear ALL the responsibility….

I welcome dialogue, and will listen to any argument, as long as it is evidence based…. However, don’t even think about coming at me with something that has nothing more to verify its veracity than “ispe dixit”…. You will regret it to your dying day….. And, so will I, for I am not really mean, or cruel by nature; I just can’t abide people acting as if being stupid is better than ANYTHING else; it isn’t, and wishing won’t make it so…. But, it’s better to put such folks out of their misery, before their ignorance can spread to others….

Men and women are in this together, ffolkes; neither sex can possibly survive without the other, and why would anyone wish to? But, the way things are going now, if we don’t figure out, soon, how to take care of each other, instead of being at odds all the damn time (as all the people who spread jokes about the “war between men and women” keep yelling about, thus keeping the divisiveness alive, and actively harmful….), we will surely reach the point, in the not so very distant future, when our insistence on making the worst of our differences will result in the only possible ultimate end, to wit: our own extinction as a failed species.

The abuse of women, and anyone else; war; sales of drugs and/or arms; and the relative insanity of the divisive elitism as acted out by all organized religions….. All of these blights and plagues upon the spirit and growth of Man, carried out for thousands of years by those in our species who refuse to embrace any sort of beliefs that do not serve their own ends alone, all spring from one source in human nature; the expression of that negativity in our spirit has held sway since the beginnings of recorded history……

It is that part of our inner selves which compels us to use our innate talents for violence, treachery, and selfishness, using them to take advantage of others for our own benefit, using fear, and the threat of reward or punishment to control others, the use of which has led us to the impending threat of doom we face in coming days…. In order to survive, human nature MUST change…. Hmm…. not terribly good odds, I should guess….

I wish I had the ultimate answer; I wish I knew just the right words, and could say “THIS, THIS, and THIS…. just do that, and we’ll all be okay….” I don’t have them, though, any more than anyone else has had so far…. The worst part is, I know what needs to be done; but, due to the fact that I can only make changes to myself, I can’t just DO it, or even just SAY it…. It has to come from all of us, or it won’t work at all….

SIGH…. Damn if I know what to do…. I guess I’ll just go out, shoot a couple of pimps, and call it a day….. Oh, and if those pimps happen to be wearing a uniform of some sort, you may count on them being fully guilty as charged, with sentence carried out according to the dictates of justice…. in spite of any loud noises they might make to the contrary. Any noise they make in these situations is merely an automatic defense against the insistence on them taking responsibility for their actions….

Any lawyers who may try to involve themselves may try to make us feel differently, but, we can discuss that later, right? (We can decide what to do about them when we figure out where to dispose of the bodies….) For the moment, my day will be over, and justice done; it’s all I need to get to sleep….. especially knowing the women freed by my good aim will have the choice and opportunity to start the process of changing out of their slave clothes, into something a bit more free, and of their own choice….

Well, we all have our fantasies, right? Now, the trick is to remove all the above from the realm of speculation and imagination, and make it so, in Reality…. I guess we’ll see how it goes, eh?…. Later, ffolkes, & remember…. Free our sisters, and we free ourselves….

This took a long time to write, because it’s important to me…. Hence, I took a long time to pick a closing pearl, one that had the right feel to it, to express the depth of emotion involved, while still giving a nod to importance of addressing the issue’s less palatable aspects, such as the way women having to live in today’s world, or any world we have seen, are consistently, often brutally, abused, made to feel secondary, and at the very least, completely misunderstood, by their own alleged mates.

I am speaking of men who, in the final analysis, are failing their own species, not to mention failing to understand the concept, or to comprehend the importance, of such old-fashioned words as honor, compassion, and duty…. any one of which requires much more strength than any sort of aggressiveness, or shows of physical prowess…. Such behaviors are those of a child, based on fear, a child who never grew out of being selfish and/or afraid of girls, (i.e., afraid of their own sexuality, and of women’s….), refusing to grow up and truly BE a man…..

We need each other, men and women; nature’s other creatures have shown us how it is supposed to work, using the blueprint of nature’s design…. Each gender of a species is made to contribute certain characteristics to the solving of the puzzle of living, in concert with their opposite half, with the caveat being the simple FACT, that neither can survive, one without the other. Both are needed for the species to prosper, and grow…… It’s a shame there are so many men in the world who are so afraid of themselves, and of women, they can’t learn to act as men….

Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The Genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.

— William Shakespeare ~~

Julius Caesar — Act ii, Sc. 1

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Between what I see and what I say
Between what I say and what I keep silent
Between what I keep silent and what I dream
Between what I dream and what I forget:
Poetry.

~~ Octavio Paz (1914-1998) ~~

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Shot in the dark….

Nothing old will do
to soothe such internal fire;
only new haiku.

Infernal chaos
bites with vicious teeth of steel.
Starts the day poorly.

Routines fill an hour
seeking a sort of balance.
Not easily found.

To bring serenity
is a task for a lifetime.
Today’s morning chore.

Five times seventeen
seems to have brought me some peace.
Counting words for hope.

~~ gigoid ~~

7/25/2016

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Naked Pearls

A path to freedom…

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“He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge;
and one only evil, namely, ignorance.”

~~ Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Socrates, xiv ~~

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“The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.”

~~ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ~~

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“Before you can be creative, you must be courageous.
Creativity is the destination, but courage is the journey.”

~~ Joey Reiman ~~

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“To be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough;
the prime requisite is rightly to apply it.”

~~ Descartes ~~

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“The aim of life is to live,
and to live means to be aware,
joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”

~~ Henry Miller ~~

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“I’ve wrestled with reality for 35 years,
and I’m happy, Doctor, I finally won out over it.”

~~ Jimmy Stewart in Harvey, 1950 ~~

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“When I speak to you about myself,
I am speaking to you about yourself.
How is it you don’t see that?”

~~ Victor Hugo ~~

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The mere fact this is done should be recorded in the Book. But, it probably won’t be, and, that’s okay. It’s done, so, I win. For now. To maintain my record at that, I will warn y’all now, I’ll try again tomorrow, without any claims as to any sort of improvement, or even change. All I know is, I have to try. See y’all then, provided the meltdown has been averted, once again….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Intricately crafted examples of metaphoric paradox….

Posted on July 13, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Ignorance doesn’t kill you, but it makes you sweat a lot.”

~~ Haitian proverb ~~

Did you say ‘chase paper’?….

Hajime…. I’m posting very late again today, but, not for any bad reason. On the contrary, it’s been a fine morning. I would share it, but, it’s still too intimate an experience to do so; I’m greedy sometimes, & want to savor it for a time. The time I spent will, eventually, be a big part of my personal cache of memories, in the folder simply labeled “joy”. Can’t say exactly why ’tis so, but, gift horse, right? Don’t want to examine it too closely….

Rather than torture all of us by trying to create some grandiose, compelling intro today, I’ll make these two paragraphs do as a sublimation for the real thing. I doubt seriously y’all will miss it, any more than will I. We also will not be discussing any of the personal quirks, and/or mental issues which would tend to complicate matters in the normal course of events. Of course, around here, there is no such thing as a normal course of events, but, we won’t talk about that, either. Instead, we’ll just do this….

Shall we pearl?….

“Get thee down. Be thou funky.”

~~ Retro Bee ~~

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Máiréad Nesbitt

Image from http://www.celticwoman.com via Google Images

Today’s musical selection features an Irish artist, a fiddler, who currently plays with the Celtic Woman group. I’ve seen the group on stage a couple of times; each time, this woman’s performance, for me, made the show as special as it was. Quite simply, her performance is infectiously joyous, sharing her own pleasure at playing her music to such a degree it is tangible…. I hope you enjoy it….

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Celtic Woman

Máiréad – Granuaile’s Dance

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“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~

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“No slave is ever freed, save he freeth himself.”

~~ Bob Marley, paraphrased ~~

Today’s rant is self-directed, as it should be, given the opening quotes…. Enjoy! Oh, and, keep an open mind on this one; you’ll need it….

From 5/6/2015:

Dubiousity, Redux

In the virtual world, I call myself gigoid, the dubious, for specific reasons…. Rather than use my own words to delineate/describe those reasons, here are some of them, in the form of pearls, (naturally….), as collected by Smart Bee, just as an exercise…. It turned out to be a nice, eleven-star pearl, all centered around the concept of doubt as a function of wisdom…. It seems I’m not the only person in history to put my faith in doubt, rather than the other way around, so to speak…. There are a lot of big names here, and, I only went through the first half of the collection….

Pay particular heed today, ffolkes; these little bits of shiny stuff are more subtly important, to you, than you may realize…. Oh, and, ALL of this will be on your final Quiz…. Don’t blame me, I didn’t make it up….

Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.
They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Brahma ~~

“Philosophy, means, first, doubt; and afterwards the consciousness of what knowledge means, the consciousness of uncertainty and of ignorance, the consciousness of limit, shade, degree, possibility. The ordinary man doubts nothing and suspects nothing.” — Henri Frederick Amiel

“A lizard ran out on a rock and looked up, listening no doubt to the sounding of the spheres. And what a dandy fellow! the right toss of a chin for you and swirl of a tail! If men were as much men as lizards are lizards they’d be worth looking at.” — D. H. Lawrence (1928)

“Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.” — Robert Lindner

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is an absurd one.” — Voltaire

Modest doubt is call’d
The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches
To the bottom of the worst.

~~ William Shakespeare ~~

~~ Troilus and Cressida — Act ii, Sc. 2 ~~

Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom. — Smart Bee

“Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.” — Bergen Evans, The Natural History of Nonsense (1946)

“If you understand, or if you don’t. If you believe, or if you doubt. There is a universal justice and the eyes of truth are always watching.” — Enigma

“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.” — H. L. Mencken

My guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglect
deceived me into thinking I had something to protect.
Good and bad I defined these terms, quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then;
I’m younger than that now.

~~ Bob Dylan ~~

Ah, yes, indeed…. I AM younger than that now….. so, there will be more on this subject later…. Ta, then….

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Retrospective, defined in folly….

Yesterday
I wrote a poem.

It bled out of my head,
like I’d been struck with
an axe,
right through the artery,
in the neck,
spraying blood around
everywhere,
like a pulsing garden hose….

It hurt, at first,
then came the feeling,

of quick relief,
of timeless beauty,

of pain avenged,
of lust aroused,

of outrage aflame,
of deep compassion,

of endless empathy,
of truest love….

Now it’s gone, cast away
like pearls before twine.

(Grin…)

You thought
I was going to call you
a pig,
didn’t you?

Hah!

Well, you’re not.
You’re a person.

I know, because
you’re reading this poem…
if that’s what it is.
I think it is,
so,
maybe it is.

Or, maybe,
it will be,
someday, when it
grows up,
and learns to rhyme.
Whew…
Just in time…..

That’s all.
Reality often sucks wind,
y’know?

S’okay, though….
It keeps us busy,
and out of some of the
mischief,
so much part
of our
nature.

We all can do
only what we
do.

Or, don’t.

Two sides, one coin.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/1/2014

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Naked Pearls

Not so obvious truths….

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“I think, therefore I am… dangerous, that is…”

~~ Master Bee ~~

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“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

~~ Anais Nin ~~

*********

“Do what you love.
Know your own bone;
gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.”

~~ Thoreau ~~

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“A man cannot speak but he judges himself…
no man thoroughly understands a truth
until he has contended against it.”

~~ Emerson ~~

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“In walking, just walk.
In sitting, just sit.
Above all, don’t wobble.”

~~ Yun-Men ~~

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“Really to see the sun rise or go down every day…
would preserve us sane forever.”

~~ Thoreau ~~

*********

“… as sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul…”

~~ Aristotle — Nicomachean Ethics, Bl. I, Ch. 6, 10966, lines 29-30 ~~

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“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions,
that they exist in the present,
which is what there is and all there is.”

~~ Alan Watts ~~

*********

“If it had been a bear it would have bit you.”

~~ Jonathan Swift — Polite Conversation, Dialogue i”

*********

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Did it. Down, dirty, done. Moreover, got nothin’ left to say, so, I’ll just say, see y’all tomorrow. I’m as certain of that as I am of anything in the world…. Fair warning, I’d say….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

‘Old Nick’ portrayed by committee….

Posted on July 9, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“You cannot do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

Acting cute….

Hajime…. In the Golden Age of Science Fiction, an author named A. E. Van Vogt wrote books which were, and are, quite popular among aficionados of the genre, whether new, or old, such as myself. Personally, I had read half a small town library full of it, along with my other reading, by the time I graduated from high school, and moved away to attend UC Berkeley, in 1968. Of them, three in particular are in my mind today, as I sit to begin today’s Pearl.

The three books are titled, “The Voyage of the Space Beagle”, “The Weapon Shops of Isher”. and, “The World of Null-A”. Each of them, for me contains a certain idea, or set of ideas, which were, and are, embedded in my world-view, either as basic data/information to be considered in all transactions with reality, or regularly used as a means of ordering my own thoughts for optimal possibilities for positive results, meaning, I will be comfortable with whatever takes place. After all comfort is what we humans are seeking, in the final analysis… It might be more accurate to say we wish to not be uncomfortable. which we do not enjoy, and will go to extreme efforts to avoid.

By this time, you will, no doubt (given my sobriquet, you should realize how significant it is for me to say that….), be wondering just what the hell is going on here, with good reason. I claim to be honest, so, what the hell, I’ll be honest. I’m drunk. Soused might be closer to the exact degree, but, drunk gives y’all the correct flavor of my status. In actuality, the flavor is honey; Jim Beam Honey to be precise. Damn good stuff. I find it to have a flavor requiring no chaser, as well as a pleasantly slow onset of inebriation, enabling the sort of loquacity you are currently witnessing, as I type merrily along, knowing full well I will have to re-read it in the morning, to make sure there isn’t anything too, well, drunk, to make it unworthy of posting.

Of course, if that happens, you’ll never know, will you? Wonderful thing, delete buttons. Okay, where was I? Oh, right. A. E. Van Vogt….. So, to be succinct….

In the “Space Beagle”, the concept of a new field of science, named Nexism, was outlined. The concept was based on the idea of everything in the universe being connected, which, when properly understood, can lead to understanding of how human perceptions can be manipulated, through the connections to the real world, of which most of us humans are not aware. A short example: emotions, such as unreasoning fear, can be stimulated by the application of subsonic sounds, combined with semi-audible propaganda, in conjunction with visual stimuli in strobe pulses.

In the Weapons Shops of Isher, the concept of resisting overwhelming force, in a strategic, tactical sense, was explored through a story which is an obvious metaphor for modern culture. It approached the idea from unusual direction, which of itself taught the lesson to be learned….. This has led me to my recent thoughts and ideas regarding low-tech solutions to high-tech weaponry, with some success, I might add.

Last, The World of Null-A, which refers to a world based on a concept of Non-Aristotelean progression of thought, moving outside the boundaries of order, to the inclusion of chaos. In all three books, the primary story line is fascinating enough to make the extraordinary seem common, making it easier to comprehend without reaction.

Here is where we get to the punch-line. It’s really too bad I’m now at the point where I must either pull this together into a point, or go to bed….. Here is the point. Or, points. All these books, in the world of metaphor, were speaking about human nature, and how that nature is, has, and can act in reality, whether to its advantage, or detriment. All our flaws, as well as all our talents and characteristics of extraordinary capability, are shown in a realistic, in full acknowledgment of our weaknesses, and celebration of our strengths. As such, they fit very well into my own predilection for a universe in which it is possible to be all we are able to be…. and, not in a US Army sort of way…..

Pretty grandiose, eh? Oh, well, chalk it up to the whiskey, if you wish. I certainly did. Hey, it got us to this point on the page, with what turned out to be a rather entertaining little piece of blather. In case y’all didn’t catch the transition, it’s morning, I’m no longer inebriated, & after reading the above, I can honestly say, I won’t be trying to write while drunk any more. While it ain’t bad, and, by gosh there isn’t a single typo I can find, it’s not exactly the finest piece of mental acrobatics of my career. Go figure, right?

Ah, well, such is life in the blogosphere; you never know quite what you might find. Today, you found an epic Pearl, so, why don’t we get on with the slow, by getting it on the toad…..

Shall we pearl?….

“A man who carries a cat by the tail is getting experience that will always be helpful.
He isn’t likely to grow dim or doubtful.
Chances are, he isn’t likely to carry the cat that way again, either.
But if he wants to, I say let him!”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

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

Kate Wolf

Image from www.youtube.com via Google Images

Today’s musical selection is a compilation of most of this artist’s recorded songs, which comprises her body of work, as she passed away several years ago…. Outside California, she isn’t too well known, I think; here, she is an iconic figure, representing what I believe to be the best of folk music….. A voice like a clear bell, and all the compassion and love in the world come through in every word she sings…. Enjoy, ffolkes; it doesn’t get any better….

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

Kate Wolf

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

“Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its one sure defense.”

~~ Mark Twain, Notebook, 1888 ~~

Today we have a graphic example of what Mr. Twain spoke of so eloquently in the above quote. I often forget to use humor in my ranting, yet it remains our greatest weapon to use against those who would treat the rest of the species as prey. Laughing at them is much more effective than any thousand words of indictment….. Nobody in our time was better at this than George Carlin, so, for today, you get George, instead of me, ranting…. Try to enjoy, let yourself laugh as necessary, and think about it all, for it’s all true as the day is long….. In a few appropriate spots, I have added a pearl or three, to help the thought processed move in the right direction….

Also, at the end of the section, you will find a link, to the site of a friend, where he has put together some excellent memes regarding modern life which I found to be perfectly rational, and good to see. Go check it out, and listen particularly to what is said in the final meme, from an unexpected source….

“A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility”

~~ Aristotle ~~

“It could probably be shown by facts and figures
that there is no distinctly native American criminal class
except Congress.”

~~ Mark Twain Following the Equator (1897) ~~

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”
.
~~ William Shakespeare, “Henry VI”, Part IV ~~

https://talesfromtheloublog.wordpress.com/2016/07/08/memes-in-the-matrix/
********************************

Here is a poem I wrote last year, while living in Hell…. Don’t know why, but, it seems like the right choice for today’s mess….

Infidelia

There’s a certain
panache,
almost a feeling of
glory,
one feels
upon returning

from

Hell

Purgatory.

Or,
so those say,
who say those
sorts of things,
I guess.

I don’t know,

for sure.

I didn’t go

there.

I only went

Hell.

I only live

Purgatory.

But,

I like it.

Right now,

anyway.

Other times,

not

so much.

It’s not bad,
if I don’t
think.

Sigh.

Too bad.
I
do.

~~ gigoid ~~

11/17/2015.

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

Naked Pearls

Classic Notes on the Process of Living

*******

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

~~ Semisonic’s “Closing Time” ~~

*******

“The best way out is always through.”

~~ Robert Frost ~~

*******

“I never like to think of the future. It comes soon enough.”

~~ Albert Einstein ~~

*******

“But what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry.”

~~ Alfred Tennyson — In Memoriam, liv, Stanza 5 ~~

*******

“Do you agree?” — Blake

“Do I have a choice?” — Avon

“Yes” — Blake

“Then I agree” — Avon

*******

“If a man insisted always on being serious,
and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation,
he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.”

~~ Herodotus ~~

*******

“For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.”

~~ Douglas Adams, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” ~~

*******

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

Done. I was a bit unsure if it would ever get this far, apparently, like with most of our fears, without good reason. I could explore that, but, I’ll be good, so I can persuade one or two of y’all to come back tomorrow, when I’ll give this another shot. Until then, let’s all try to be good to each other, okay? Okay! See y’all on the flip side, as we used to say downtown….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Brief moments of sanity aside….

Posted on May 11, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The shoe that fits one person pinches another;
there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.”

~~ Carl Jung ~~

221B Baker Street, London

Hajime…. I am not certain exactly when, but, I’m coming up on five years here at WordPress, sometime in July, or August, I think. I should check. At any rate, it’s been a while. I’ve attempted to post every day, at least once; though I haven’t quite made that goal, I’ve come pretty damn close, with well over 1500 posts to my credit. While I can regard that as a satisfying accomplishment, I must be honest enough to say, not all of it is what might be called fresh, as I’ve recycled a fair amount of what I’ve written for new posts. I call it cheating, though, with the caveat I’m only stealing from myself. So be it.

Today, I’m still busy, and without my usual sense of unease with not making the deadline I’ve set for myself each day. This has allowed me to fall completely into cheat mode. Below you’ll find a fresh pearl, composed of material previously posted, including my longest-ever rant. It’s all fairly standard stuff, for around here, so, no surprises there. I’ll even go so far as to let it speak for itself from this point on, as I intend to cut this short, Moreover, I’m doing that now, before I lose my nerve. I’ll just push this button, right here, and….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Education is about the only thing lying around loose the world, and it’s about the only thing a fellow can have as much of as he’s willing to haul away.” — George Lorimer

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

George Carlin

Image from http://www.salon.com via Google Images

George needs no introduction; quite simply, he was the best. Ever. You can argue if you like, but, that would not be a stellar use of time…. Instead, just listen to the proof…..

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

George Carlin
It’s Bad For Ya

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

https://youtu.be/WuW93V4eH74

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

One of my Gentle Readers complained of no rant yesterday, so, today, I’m making up for all the rants I’ve missed the past week or so. This may be the longest rant I’ve done, though that’s a guess. It is pretty long, and, though written early in 2014, it all remains perfectly valid, as far as I can see…. I hope you read it all, and pay attention, because it’s all about stuff that affects you directly…. Enjoy!….

From 10/18/2014:

“He must needes goe whom the devill doth drive.” ~~ John Heywood (c. 1565) — Proverbes, Part ii, Chap. vii ~~

“As you know, I planned a trip out there for some time, so it fits in very nicely.” ~~ president George Bush, on his trip to LA after the riots ~~

“Nobody goes to bed hungry in America” — R. Reagan

“Politicians aren’t born, they are excreted.” — Cicero

“That it should come to this!” ~~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act i, Sc. 2 ~~

The above five-star pearl is a lead-in group, mostly aimed at those with whom the following discussion is concerned. Below you’ll find two links to articles discussing two separate, but related issues from the news yesterday, found in the UK Guardian’s US edition online. They are both in-depth pieces, with a bit of egregiously egotistic back patting in the first one, but, both are more involved, in-depth, and in tune with the truth than any news organization from the US I can find, with the most important issues made clear, the culpability of the responsible parties made obvious, and the downright evil prevarication by the FBI director laid out for all to see….

After those first two articles, I’ve also included an excellent column on the same subject by one of the Guardian’s staff opinion writers, named Trevor Timm. He gives a good summary of the exact points I wish to cover in his opening paragraph, which I’ve included as an excerpt, below the link. After that, I’ll have a few comments, and we’ll see how it goes from there…. Hitch up your belts, & make sure your backpacks are secured ffolkes, this could take a while…. but, as Lord Peter has been known to say, “This ain’t a joke, Charles! It’s important. Damn important!”…..

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/16/-sp-revealed-whisper-app-tracking-users

“Whisper acknowledged that it researches the location of specific users it believes are posting newsworthy information, but emphasised it typically uses GPS data.

Whisper stressed the IP location data it uses for people who have asked not to be followed is rough and unreliable.

“We occasionally look at user IP addresses internally to determine very approximate location,” the company said. “User IP addresses may allow very coarse location to be determined to the city, state or country level.”

It added: “Whisper does not request or store any personally identifiable information from users, therefore there is never a breach of anonymity. From time to time, when a user makes a claim of a newsworthy nature, we review the user’s past activity to help determine veracity.”

The company strongly rejected any assertion of wrongdoing. “The Guardian’s assumptions that Whisper is gathering information about users and violating user’s privacy are false,” it said. “The privacy of our users is not violated in any of the circumstances suggested in the Guardian story.”

Four days later, Whisper rewrote large sections of its terms of service and introduced an entirely new privacy policy.

Whereas the previous terms and conditions described all of Whisper’s tracking of user location as “voluntary”, the new terms now warn users to “bear in mind that, even if you have disabled location services, we may still determine your city, state, and country location”.

Since becoming aware that the Guardian planned to publish its story, the anonymous app has also inserted a new line into its privacy policy.

It now warns users that turning on the app’s geolocation feature may “allow others, over time, to make a determination as to your identity”.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/16/fbi-director-attacks-tech-companies-encryption

“…he recognised their embrace of encryption responded to “perceive[d]” market pressures in the wake of Snowden’s disclosures. But Comey suggested that end-to-end mobile device encryption amounted to a safe haven for criminals.

“Are we no longer a country that is passionate both about the rule of law and about their being no zones in this country beyond the reach of that rule of law? Have we become so mistrustful of government and law enforcement in particular that we are willing to let bad guys walk away, willing to leave victims in search of justice?” he said.
Comey acknowledged that the Snowden disclosures caused “justifiable surprise” among the public about the breadth of government surveillance, but hoped to mitigate it through greater transparency and advocacy.

Yet the FBI keeps significant aspects of its surveillance reach hidden even from government oversight bodies. Intelligence officials said in a June letter to a US senator that the FBI does not tally how often it searches through NSA’s vast hoards of international communications, without warrants, for Americans’ identifying information.
Comey frequently described himself as being technologically unprepared to offer specific solutions, and said he meant to begin a conversation, even at the risk of putting American tech companies at a competitive disadvantage.

“Where we may get is to a place where the US, through its Congress, says, ‘You know what, we need to force this on American companies,’ and maybe they’ll take a hit. Someone in some other country will say, ‘Ah, we sell a phone that even with lawful authority people can’t get into.’ But that we as a society are willing to have American companies take that hit. That’s why we have to have this conversation,” Comey said

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/17/government-internet-backdoor-surveillance-fbi

“FBI director James Comey wants a US government-mandated backdoor into your iPhone and your Google account. But Comey doesn’t want to call his proposed privacy invasion a backdoor. He doesn’t understand how it would work. And he expects everyone who has been horrified by the NSA’s mass surveillance to just sit back, weaken their personal security and trust that the government will never abuse it.

Comey also claimed on Thursday that the “Post-Snowden pendulum” needs to swing back in favor of the government, neglecting to mention Congress has passed literally zero laws reigning in government surveillance. In fact, the main reason the major tech companies are pushing forward with encryption is because the government refuses to follow the will of the people and curtail the NSA’s powers at all. If Comey wanted a careful debate about the right balance of privacy and security before decisions like Apple’s are made, like he also said on Thursday night, maybe he should’ve advocated for that when the NSA was massively expanding their powers for years in complete secrecy.

Twitter tweet October 16, 2014: “Comey’s right: Deployment of strong crypto should be preceded by thoughtful debate. Which we had & correctly resolved 15 years ago.— Julian Sanchez (@normative)

So while we break out the world’s smallest violin as Jim Comey complains about the “Post-Snowden pendulum”, remember: the US government, through its own secret actions, brought this on themselves.”

“Who’s the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?” — Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Star Wars”

I can’t say, with any degree of accuracy, but, I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard such a load of pure bullshit, straight from the bull’s butt, in a very, very long time…. When Richard Nixon raised his peace sign fingers, and stated, “I am not a crook.”, was probably the last time…. I swear, this man, this Comey, who heads up the FBI, obviously has the lowest opinion of the American public’s intelligence of almost anyone I’ve ever seen…. The demon-spawn from hell, Newt Gargoyle, or Gribble, or Grinch, Grngich, or whatever his weird-ass name was, came close on a regular basis, as did that ghoul, Dick Cheney, but, this Über-cop, this gestapo at the head of our nation’s largest domestic police force has, I believe. taken the cake….

Moreover, he implies that anyone who doesn’t support his, and the government’s, grab for power over every aspect of our lives is unpatriotic, a cowardly enemy of American principles, which, according to HIM, start (and, by implication, end…) with submissive respect for the “rule of law”, suggesting that the American public should feel privileged to allow them to have access to ALL of their private information…. Of course, the implied insult here is that only criminals and other unsavory characters should have something to hide from them, and their oh-so-perfect moral position….

What a crock of shit! I can’t say it any plainer than that…. and, I’ve probably said enough by now, anyway…. I’ll leave you with one last wake-up pearl, to think about when you’re assigning blame for what is happening in today’s world….. The FBI director, in his remarks, asks what he considers a rhetorical question, to wit:

“Have we become so mistrustful of government and law enforcement in particular that we are willing to let bad guys walk away, willing to leave victims in search of justice?”

I can only answer with a resounding “Yes, we have! We have lost ALL trust in the police. and the government, with good reason. I wouldn’t trust you to tell me the correct time!”

Well, I might not say that last part to his face, maybe, but, I can assure you, I’d want to, very badly, and would have to exert significant effort of will to refrain from doing so…. though, why I would bother, I don’t know…..

“Who’s the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?” — Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Star Wars”

I was going to leave it at that, but, as I finished, I received an email from EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit activism organization made up of people, like me, and, hopefully, y’all, who are concerned with keeping the internet free of corporate influence and government oppression, to guarantee the open, free interchange of ideas and communication that characterizes how it is supposed to be, as intended by those who created it…. They are one of the entities who brought suit against the government about this issue, in a suit which is now about to be heard by the Supreme Court, along with several others they have supported, or helped to organize…

Below, I have included three links to articles on their home site, which speak to the information and issues of which we spoke above in this section. Each article clearly explains how the government and other entities are trying to subvert the internet, making it a tool for oppression, rather than a tool for expanding human knowledge and culture…. These explain how the government, and their myrmidons, the police, are working to take away the usefulness of having such a means to spread knowledge, wanting instead to keep it for their own use, which involves the control over our lives they so desperately desire….

Good info, ffolkes, well researched and written, very clearly presented…. I’ve donated to this one, which I don’t do, as a rule, but, they’re working hard to protect US, that is, YOU and ME, so, they deserve my support…. If nothing else, it will give you an idea of how the situation stands today….

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/10/even-golden-key-can-be-stolen-thieves-simple-facts-apples-encryption-decision

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/09/computercop-dangerous-internet-safety-software-hundreds-police-agencies

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/nsa-mind-bender-wont-tell-info-already-leaked-media/

“The best way to lose freedom is not to do anything.” — Smart Bee

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

A Dubiously Soft Morning

Idiosyncratic images, clamoring for regard,
fill up the white, white screen on which I view
my life, never seeing, nor invited to sup
ambrosial remnants of anything new.

Still, yet almost in motion, allegory sails away
bobbing gently, quick and easy to find,
signs of one happy child, seriously at play,
blissfully immersed, focused joy in mind.

Formidable cries of outraged simple justice
echo plaintive relevance, in half the time.
Maladaptive infants, destined for hospice
salvage an only child, daring to sing in rhyme.

Creativity equals unquestioning farce,
often reaching for absurdity, brazenly afire.
Instead, a blow is felt no joy will ever soften,
accepting the price, added to the cost of desire.

~~ gigoid ~~

7/26/2013

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

Since we’re cheating full out today, here is an old, old-school pearl, with a rather ironic beginning, just to keep things confusing, as if today’s effort here weren’t enough. It’s a good one, though, so, enjoy!….

From 9/18/2014:

In order to say there is at least one fresh section today, I offer for your consideration the following old-school pearl, a random, harlequin style, with no obvious parameters…. often, these turn out to be the very best kind, so, we can hope…..

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I do not believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they cannot find them, make them.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.” — Robert Frost

“You can’t make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you’re doing is recording it.” — Art Buchwald

“Certum est quia impossibile est.” [It is certain because it is impossible.] — Tertullian (160-240 AD) — De Carne Christi, c. 5

“One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong, it creates world history. If it is weak, it suffers world history.” — Albert Schweitzer

“Destiny is but a phrase of the weak human heart – the dark apology for every error. The strong and virtuous admit no destiny. On earth conscience guides; in heaven God watches. And destiny is but the phantom we invoke to silence the one and dethrone the other.” — Edward Bulwer-Lytton

“He declared that he knew nothing, except the fact of his ignorance.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Socrates, xvi

Works every time…..

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

‘T is done, and, done to death, I’d say. I’ll skip the usual witty repartee, if such as this can be so labeled, and leave you to the rest of your day. I hope you enjoyed this little journey through the past. I’ll be back tomorrow, most likely, but, hopefully, with some material a bit fresher than today. In any case, we’re outta here, and now…. See ya, ffolkes. Count on it…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Gravy made with drippings….

Posted on May 2, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.”

~~ Agent Rogersz, Repo Man ~~

No, it’s not a myth. It’s melting….

Hajime…. Our opening quote is quite appropriate, especially since it happened, to me. Well, not quite an explosion; more like a strong earthquake in my head. I’m not exactly certain of the details, as, for some reason, I seem to have lost my reason. Wait. That isn’t accurate; I still have it, but, it seems so pointless, and I can’t find the emotional energy to persuade it to even try to put a couple simple factoids together, just for fun, with no mention of profit or loss. If it doesn’t come back soon, I may have to go mundane, & start eating Cheetos, or something. I HATE Cheetos, too….

Okay, I’ll stop. I had thought perhaps a bit of nonsense might loosen up the old grey cells, but, nothing doing. It’s a conundrum, to be sure. Here I am, prepared to create a Pearl, and there is so much nothing in my mind, it’s just plain scary in there. I mean, a full paragraph to lead up to a punch line, and all I can come up with is Cheetos. Pathetic, even if I do hate them. To tell the truth, I used to eat ’em a lot, but, something about the orange glow-in-the-dark color of the tongue after just two of them started to make my eyes water… That & the sharp, bitter taste of chemicals they leave behind, after the faux-cheesy flavor goes wherever a fake flavor goes, started to make me think about just what was in them…. I don’t recommend it…. or them…

Since there’s nothing useful in my head, we’ll have to cheat again, as I’m up late, and starting even later. So be it. At least it will be all be fresh cheating, performed this morning for your reading pleasure. Or, a close approximation of same. We’ll take what we can get. In order to do so, I think, given our essentially useless mental state, we’ll just forgo further idiocy in this section, & use what little wherewithal we have to go look for some coherence further down the page. As justification, I will retreat into a pearl, with a strong statement on the efficacy of personal choice from a surprising, if not completely unlikely source, to wit: “Did you ever notice how ‘why not?’ is always the right decision?” — Marilyn Monroe

Shall we Pearl?….

“I have been a stranger in a strange land.”

~~ Old Testament, Exodus ii, 22 ~~

~~ gigoid, April 2016 ~~

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

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

I’m cheating today. That, of course, means we go to default for today’s music. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt….. Try to enjoy it, anyway, okay?…. Hey, if nothing else, know I pick the one with the coolest picture, so, at least you can look at that while you listen….

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

Classical Music

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

https://youtu.be/Y4xRlnO7-Ps

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

Everybody knows, and, apparently, loves Winnie the Pooh. And, why not, I may ask? Well, let me tell ya…. Pooh’s got a darker side, one A.A. Milne never suspected. It has recently been discovered Pooh had another life, one the public was never allowed to see. I’ve managed to collect some of the things he’s said, and/or done, that might give you an idea of what Pooh is REALLY like…. Enjoy!….

From 10/24/2012:

WARNING: X-Rated Material below…. If the following offends you, well, hey, don’t read it…. I happen to think it’s funny, so, deal with it…. *wink*

I know I’ve spoken to you before about the darker side of Pooh…. He’s actually, for a Bear with Very Little Brains, a pretty swinging guy, and stays active in a part of town that I’m don’t even go to…. In fact, he has been caught en flagrante delecto on numerous occasions, and has never shown a bit of regret, or a shred of remorse. He is an incorrigible sex addict, which is, when you stop to think about it, really, really sick…. I give you now more examples of just how nasty he has been known to be….

— Bother! said Pooh, as he lured the young girl into the bushes.

— Bother! said Pooh, with a sexy grin, as he tied up his favorite redhead!!

— Bother! said Pooh, as Macgyver ran to him with his pants down.

— Bother! said Pooh, when Christopher Robin came in his mouth.

— Bother! said Pooh, as Piglet pulled out the Anal Intruder.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he rolled over and lit a cigarette.

And, worst of all…..

— Bother! said Pooh, as he flashed a group of nuns.

I wouldn’t have believed it, if I didn’t see them there in black and white….. Hey, it’s not any harder to believe this, than it is to believe some of the shit coming out of Mitt the Twitt’s mouth, now, is it?….

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

Accentuated Lessons

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

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

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

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

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

9/27/2012

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

Naked Pearls

Stuff to Remember

*******

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

~~ Robert G. Ingersoll ~~

*******

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”

~~ William Shakespeare ~~

*******

“Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.”

~~ Cynthia Nelms ~~

*******

“Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.”

~~ Juvenal, Satires ~~

*******

“He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”

~~ Elrond ~~

*******

“One final paragraph of advice:
Do not burn yourselves out.
Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast…
a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic.
Save the other half of yourselves
and your lives for pleasure and adventure.
It is not enough to fight for the land;
it is even more important to enjoy it.
While you can.
While it’s still here.
So get out there and hunt and fish
and mess around with your friends,
ramble out yonder and explore the forests,
encounter the grizz, climb the mountains,
bag the peaks, run the rivers,
breathe deep of that yet sweet and lurid air,
sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness,
that lovely, mysterious and awesome space.
Enjoy yourselves,
keep you brain in you head and your head firmly attached to the body,
the body active and alive,
and I promise you this much:
I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies,
over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safety deposit box
and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators.
I promise you this:
You will outlive the bastards.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

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

I did it. That, in and of itself, is a minor miracle. At this point, trying to explain or justify such a remark would be foolish, and, I can tell you, for sure and for certain, Sarge & Mom didn’t raise no fool. Okay, honesty rules here, so, y’all should know I just had to delete three lines of BS that might have kept us here for much too long. After all, this IS the closing paragraph, and, by golly, we’re gonna close this thing, and, now… See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; if I don’t stop now, we’ll be here until then. Don’t fret, I’ll be back, and so will you…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

A facility for gasping at flaws….

Posted on January 3, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Just by choosing where you stand,
You alter your destiny.”

~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~

Home

Image from a Tweet by @LimaChely

Hajime…. Finding our natural rhythm, once lost under the sands of time and circumstance, can take time, even if one is treading the proper path. The damage done by neglect over time is just as deep as that incurred quickly, adding to the frustrations that come with any such effortful task. But, small steps get one to the same place as long strides, thus taking the time needed to make sure one remains on the correct path. Or, as is commonly stated by those wise ones on the streets, “Keep on truckin’!….

All that said, it merely means I’m late again; different reason, but, the rhythm remains the same. The result is, I’m again sitting here, with nothing really done for this Pearl, beyond picking a picture for the top, and a couple quotes to go with it. Such is the life of a blogger, I suppose, meaning I’d best get to it….

Some will be fresh, but, some will be either archived, or, someone else’s work that fits in with today’s theme, whatever it is…. I’m not the person to ask, because I couldn’t tell you until it’s nearly done; I never know until then, as the process demands a certain degree of unconsciously directed thought and choices…. Trust me; I’ve been doing this a while now; it’s best not to fuck with the process, lest it fall apart at the seam…. Only the one, so, we try to be careful….

Sure we do….. Regardless of any near-untruths we may use here in the intro, we/I do try to avoid it altogether; if seen here, one may regard it as a necessary nod to expediency, and forgive us our trespass…. Or, not; we/I care not…. Just trying to be like the universe….. Innovative, unpredictable Change, often more rapid than we can believe, or handle, is the Norm, so, we/I do try to keep up in that respect. To do so today, and, in the interests of maintaining the small degree of efficiency so far displayed this year, I’ll get us over to the oyster beds the most efficient way, with my mind, and the power of the Metaphorse…. Watch closely….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.
When mindfulness embraces those we love
they will bloom like flowers.”

~~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~~

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

Eric Clapton

Image from http://www.last.fm via Google Images

I feel like some of the Best this morning; for me, as a guitar playing singing fool, there’s only one guitarist who can claim that title today…. There may be someone better than Eric, but, I’ve never heard them, or seen them, so….. he’ll do for today…. Enjoy, ffolkes; this is as good as it gets…. Oh, turn it up….. All the way…..

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

Eric Clapton Unplugged

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

https://youtu.be/xGavzOvTMjY

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

Lao Tzu, Laughing

I didn’t have time to rant, so, here is an old-school pearl of nine gems, beginning and ending with some appropriate comments from Shakespeare, on the subject of the Decline and Fall of the American Dream….

***********

The devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape.

~~ William Shakespeare — Hamlet, Act ii, Sc. 2 ~~

“There are those who claim that magic is like the tide; that it swells and fades over the surface of the earth, collecting in concentrated pools here and there, almost disappearing from other spots, leaving them parched for wonder. There are also those who believe that if you stick your fingers up your nose and blow, it will increase your intelligence.” — “The Teachings of Ebenezum, Volume VII”

“Blood is a cleansing and sanctifying thing, and the nation that regards it as the final horror has lost its manhood … there are many things more horrible than bloodshed, and slavery is one of them.” — Padraic Pearse

“Courses of action which run only to be justified in terms of practicality ultimately prove destructive and impractical.” — Mark B. Cohen

“Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. In democracy, what you get generally is bad government by a bully, tempered by the pen of several newspaper editors.” — George Bernard Shaw — Man and Superman (1903) Maxims for Revolutionists: Democracy

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

“A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.” — Robert Frost

“Bill Clinton’s tax-and-spend policies will create a recession in America.” — Vice President Dan Quayle in New Jersey, 10/19/92. — He did not go on to distinguish between the predicted Clinton recession and the current Bush recession. — (reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/20/92)

“He must needs go that the devil drives.”

~~William Shakespeare, All ‘s Well that Ends Well, Act i, Sc. 3 ~~

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

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

So, after the quote, you expected someone else?…. Enjoy, ffolkes; definitely one of the treasures of humanity, right here on the page you see….

Election Day, November, 1884

If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,
‘Twould not be you, Niagara—nor you, ye limitless prairies—nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
Nor you, Yosemite—nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic geyser-loops ascending to the skies, appearing
and disappearing,
Nor Oregon’s white cones—nor Huron’s belt of mighty lakes—nor Mississippi’s stream:
—This seething hemisphere’s humanity, as now, I’d name—the still small voice vibrating—America’s
choosing day,
(The heart of it not in the chosen—the act itself the main, the quadriennial choosing,)
The stretch of North and South arous’d—sea-board and inland—Texas to Maine—the Prairie States—Vermont,
Virginia, California,
The final ballot-shower from East to West—the paradox and conflict,
The countless snow-flakes falling—(a swordless conflict,
Yet more than all Rome’s wars of old, or modern Napoleon’s:) the peaceful choice of all,
Or good or ill humanity—welcoming the darker odds, the dross:
—Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify—while the heart pants, life glows:
These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
Swell’d Washington’s, Jefferson’s, Lincoln’s sails.

~~Walt Whitman~~

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

Naked Pearls

Short Shots on Life at Large

**********

“O, well,
you win some, you lose some,
but you gotta get dressed for ’em all.”

~~ Susan Kenney ~~

**********

“A Lie is still a Lie, even if you believe it.”

~~ Honest Bee ~~

**********

“Never let yesterday use up today.”

~~ Wise Bee ~~

**********

“What is defeat?
Nothing but education,
nothing but the first step toward something better.”

~~ Wendell Phillips ~~

**********

“When you are content to be simply yourself
and don’t compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.”
–
~~ Lao-Tzu ~~

**********

“But where shall I start?
The world is so fast, I shall start with the country I know best, my own.
But my country is so very large,
I had better start with my town.
But my town, too, is large.
I had best start with my street.
No, my home.
No, my family.
Never mind, I shall start with myself.”

~~ Elie Wiesel ~~

**********

“Give more than take.”

~~ Anthony J. D’Angelo, The College Blue Book ~~

**********

When all is done, human life is,
at the greatest and the best,
but like a froward child,
that must be played with and humoured a little
to keep it quiet till it falls asleep,
and then the care is over.

~~ Sir William Temple — Miscellanea, Part ii, Of Poetry ~~

**********

“Where does it go when you flush?”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

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

Whew! I wasn’t sure I could do it, but, as usual, trusting the process, and, maintaining an unconscious direction, saved the day. So to speak.

What the hell? It’s done; in the final analysis, who gives a crap what else happened? We cannot afford such weakness; hence, this offering. I do hope you enjoy it, or, if nothing else, it pisses you off; any reaction will do…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, as long as the world keeps spinning along….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Past, last fasts are finest kind….

Posted on December 21, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ Yoda Bee ~~

Saturn’s Moons, Aligned

Image from NASA via Space.com

Hajime…. Whew! Usually, as I sit to begin, I’m still half-awake. Today after half-a-cuppa, a visit to the throne, and a fast, hard 15 training session with Leelu (it seems to hold her for a while, if I feed her afterward…), I’m fully awake, if a bit out of breath…. She demands we move fast in the morning, as she’s been waiting for hours, no doubt, for me to wake up….. Ah, well, new routines always take time to feel comfortable with, so, so be it…..

With that being said, I’ve kinda messed up any nonsensical beginning; it also seems rather inappropriate to get too silly, or weird, after such a, well, realistic, if boring, beginning…. As is my apparent habit, it has taken me only one and nearly a half paragraphs to lose my way. It’s a shame, really; I had this really strange, yet compelling opening all ready to go, then got distracted by Leelu to play, and, poof, out the window of my mind it went…. I guess I should shut that window….

Well, as long as we are this far down the page, I may as well wind this up and get on to the rest of the mess we’ve cooked up for y’all today. It’s not bad, as Pearls go; in fact, since some of it is from the archives, it should hold up quite well. Sometimes, it’s easier to poke holes in things when one uses an older style tool, from the days when brute force was our primary method of living…. Oh, wait…. Hmm. I guess I can’t say it WAS our primary characteristic as humans, because, as we see every day in the news, we still do violence quite well, and often…. Oh, well, there goes ANOTHER paragraph, down the tubes to oblivion….

Never mind. We’ll just employ one of our new toys, found in that drawer in the corner. The one we tried out before worked well, didn’t it? May as well try another one…. Let’s see what this little gadget, in such a nice, black color, will do when we push this button, marked, “Elsewhere”…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“I have tried marijuana, hashish, psilocybin, opium and heroin, but none of these have changed my way of seeing as much as has understanding the process of evolution by natural selection.” — purported J.B.S. Haldane quote

(Addendum: I must say, if J.B.S. found this to be true, he needs to find a new drug dealer; he’s getting ripped off….. Just sayin’…..)

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

Image stolen from FB long ago

As might be surmised from the picture, and, to balance the raucous video we enjoyed yesterday, we are going Classical. We start with Brahm’s Lullaby, then, follow it with nearly 12 hours of soothing music, designed to help babies sleep (like they need help…..). Whether or not it works, it IS soothing to listen to, which is fine with me today…. Enjoy!

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

Brahm’s Lullaby Plus

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

https://youtu.be/YZQQws9wmSQ

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

I find myself spending a lot of the energy I previously put into ranting, by commenting on other WP blogs. Some of my recent comments approach the epic; so far, no one has objected, so, why not? It’s probably why I haven’t felt like letting it all out here, as is my habit. Feeling better gives me more opportunity for surfing the blogs I follow, so, this is, no doubt, a good thing… Since I have so many older rants in the archive, I figured, why not use them here? Indeed, “why not?” is a good question any time….

Here then is a rant suggested by WP at the bottom of yesterday’s post, in a blog from the LAST time we were working up to a Presidential election…. I made some observations then which are perfectly appropriate as a response to the upcoming charade; I found the comments I made regarding the GOP candidate from that year to be quite similar, in fact, eerily similar, to the entire GOP lineup of candidates in this year…. Go figure….

From 9/30/2012:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.” — Alexander Frazer Tyler (1748-1813), — The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic

It seems to me that we, here in America in the early 21st century, are just about at the selfishness phase(s). We’ve been using and squandering a large portion of the available resources of the planet now for quite a while, and apparently haven’t learned to play well with others yet, as a culture. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that we have entered the complacency stage, as we seem also to feel entitled to have so much, and share so little with the rest of the planet, which is a complacent sort of arrogance.

Elitist, to be sure. And in the election coming up in November, we have as one of the choices possibly the most elitist candidate ever to run for the highest office (though Reagan was no slouch at that….) (come to think of it, neither was Franklin Roosevelt, but he seemed to be able to put it aside, for the most part…. He wasn’t nouveau riche, you see; he still had some degree of noblesse oblige left in him….) Mitt the Twitt Romney is unapologetically elitist, and doesn’t seem to care who knows it, even the voters…..

“Whereas it has been known and declared that the poor have no right to the property of the rich, I wish it also to be known and declared that the rich have no right to the property of the poor.” — Smart Bee

Even if we leave aside all the myriad of reasons that Mitt is unqualified for the position of POTUS, and, my use of the word myriad is both intentional and accurate, his sheer arrogance and lack of sincerity should be enough to convince people of his unsuitability for the office. There are literally thousands of reasons not to give this egregious fool such great power, all of which indicate he would abuse that power from day one. But none of those reasons even matter…. to me, his greatest point of detraction is that he is, plain and simple, an asshole, or, as is sometimes used in lieu of that word, a dick….

Actually he is both an asshole and a dick, as those words are commonly defined. The running mate he chose is a perfect indicator of how little he cares about the voters, other than what they can do for him, not the other way around. Pauly, the Lyin’ Ryan is, if anything, a bigger asshole than Romney, though he might not be as big a dick, and is no more ashamed of it than his ostensible boss. Each of them is a bare-faced liar. Each of them displays the compassion and sincerity of a sub-lieutenant in Satan’s Army, on a good day. Each of them (Romney & Ryan) is motivated by simple greed, and the desire for power, and, of course, the wish to be handed the keys to the national treasury.

Both have been manipulating the system since their well-funded time in college; neither has ever even held a job that could be considered an actual job; they’ve been sucking at the public teat for their entire adult lives. Now, they are making their grab for the ultimate prize for a thief…. the keys to the national treasury, handed over by ignorant voters who buy into their lies, because they think that these two pieces of white bread will save them from the scary black man as President…. They are counting very heavily on the racist fears of part of the population to carry the tide of victory in their direction; moreover, they are feeding that fear as much as they can, with constant lies and misrepresentations, without even the illusory benefit of sincerity….

As we all know, I could rant about these two all morning, but there are things I need to do today, even though it is Sunday, and I don’t want to spend any more time stirring up shit, even though the shit is only what clings to the Republican ticket every time one of them opens their mouths to spit out another lie….. But, we’ll get on with the day, and try to find something more positive to do…. Just make sure y’all get out there and vote on November 6th, ffolkes, we need to show these assholes that there are more of us than there are of them, and we still have the vote on our side…..

“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and measures you want to vote for… But there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.” — Lazarus Long

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

After the old rant above, only one of my poems is appropriate; it’s kind of silly, but, I like it. Why wouldn’t I?…..

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors and their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks.
They talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.

“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.

Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
take careful aim, and piss.

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

12/23/2012

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

Naked pearls

A pearl of balance, about Life, lived well…

“Dream as if you’ll live forever.
Live as if you’ll die tomorrow.

~~ James Dean ~~

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

“It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.”

~~ Voltaire ~~

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

“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 ~~

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

“Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.”

~~ William Shakespeare ~~

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

Virtue could see to do what virtue would
By her own radiant light, though sun and moon
Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom’s self
Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude,
Where with her best nurse Contemplation
She plumes her feathers and lets grow her wings,
That in the various bustle of resort
Were all-to ruffled, and sometimes impair’d.
He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit i’ th’ centre and enjoy bright day;
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts
Benighted walks under the midday sun.

~~ John Milton — Comus, Line 373 ~~

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

“He who learns but does not think, is lost!
He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”

~~ Confucius~~

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

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

~~ Lin-Chi ~~

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

“Be strange… it’s cool out there.”

~~ Hunter S. Bee ~~

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

“Dream as if you’ll live forever.
Live as if you’ll die tomorrow.

~~ James Dean ~~

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

Gee, that was fun…. Really, it was. But, it’s over now, so, in the words of Death from yesterday’s final pearl, I guess I’ll put the chair up, shut out the lights, & lock the door on the way out…. See y’all tomorrow, if they don’t shut off my power….. Bill’s paid, so we’re good to go….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Sneering in bafflement, he punted….

Posted on December 10, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The cat would eate fish, and would not wet her feete.”

~~ John Heywood (c. 1565) ~~

~~ Proverbes, Part i, Chap. xi ~~

Leelu in Berserker Mode

Hajime…. Life sure can be funny. Since I’m a complex sorta guy, that’s actually a complex statement, as the word ‘funny’ can be construed to mean a lot of different sorts of things about life, not all of which are at all funny, or fun. It’s also why English is such a powerful tool for communicating, as well as a barrier to the same communication. Two people with a different understanding of, and, skill in using the language, may very well not be able to understand each other, at all, though they both share intimate knowledge of it, having grown up using it. Environment, background, education, intelligence, imagination, all can play a part in how the language is used by anyone, and, no two people share the exact same degree of similarity in ANY of those categories.

All of which being said, I am compelled by my own nature to wonder, how the fuck we ever wandered this far out of the trees? C.S. Lewis, I believe, once made the lament,

“Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than minority of them – never become conscious of them all. How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?” — C. S. Lewis

Add in this most-accurate assessment of the human mind’s ability to perceive the universe, and one has to feel a sense of astonished surprise, not only that we have created a world-wide society, but, have done so without ever achieving any sort of world-wide understanding of our own nature….. To observe the antics of the naked apes who infest the surface of this planet, is very similar, in “look and feel”, to watching an old Roadrunner cartoon on Saturday morning. In fact, watching the Roadrunner makes much more sense than much of what I see passing as socio-political activity around the world….

Did y’all ever wonder, as I did, about the two most puzzling things to me about Wile E. Coyote? First, why, when he was obviously the stupidest creature on the planet, was he called “wily”, a word which, even at age four, I understood couldn’t possibly apply to the stupid beast….. I mean, even if he WAS indestructible, (our first lesson in the fiction vs. reality issue…. How many of US could live through a 5000 foot fall, followed by the arrival of a five ton rock on our head? Hell, it would give Superman a moment of pain, if he couldn’t fly….

Second… Why didn’t the idiot ever just start ordering FOOD from the Acme Co.? It seemed to me, as a young, already half-trained consumer, if the company made that many different products, of such amazing variety and complexity, how easy would it be for them to deliver some fried chicken, or even fried rattlesnake, which, I am told, tastes like chicken… But, then, doesn’t everything but beef and lamb taste like chicken?….

But, NOOOO…. Mr. Smart Guy Coyote keeps ordering weapon after weapon, none of which ever worked the way he expected. Which comprised our second lesson in reality vs. fiction, though, as it turns out, that’s pretty much how ANY corporation operates….. S’trewth, swear to god….

SIGH…. I’m doing it again, aren’t I? Ranting in the intro, when I tried to start out looking for ironic humor…. See where good intentions will get you? Oh, well, next I’d have to move on to more lamentations about human nature, and how virtue has all but disappeared from the public arena… Hell, I even found the perfect pearl to go with such a discussion, showing EXACTLY what happened, at least, here in the US…. It is also from C.S. Lewis, one of the more flexible-minded, and, honest Christians to ever pick up a pen… He said, regarding virtue, this:

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful until it became risky.” — C.S. Lewis _The Screwtape Letters_

But, that’s a rant for another day, unless, of course, we pick this up in the third section. Who knows at this point? If I did, well, I’d say so; that means simply that I haven’t decided yet. Nonetheless, and, notwithstanding, such is now moot, as Guido has entered the cockpit (don’t even think it….), and we’ll be taking off any moment…. Let’s just do so quietly, and calmly, just as if we knew what we were doing here, okay?….

Shall we Pearl?….

“A gentleman is one who doesn’t demand a lady prove that she is.”

~~ Solomon Short ~~

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

Though I have plenty of energy, I’m lazy. Since that is true, I’m going with my own default choice of music, which, if you’ve been reading here for any time, you’ll know what that means; you’re gonna hear some classical music…. It was about twenty or more years ago I got fed up with the current crop of music bombarding the airwaves and musical venues. I began to listen to classical music, and have felt the rightness of the decision ever since. Rather than listening to the last 65-plus years of what has been produced (some of which is good, but, mostly, it’s crap…. see Sturgeon’s Law….), I now have several centuries worth of music to explore, from all over the world….. Sturgeon’s law still applies, but, the statistical universe of available music has been filtered for quality for a LONG time; what’s left is a much higher percentage of the good stuff….

Bonus!….. Enjoy, ffolkes…. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt, even if you have perfect pitch…… As is my habit, the compilation I picked simply had the most attractive picture, for my taste….

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

gigoid’s Musical Default

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

https://youtu.be/R0kl9xFVSnI

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

What do we do? We have lost our way.
From afar, the Demon cries out,
He is leading us astray.
…
Skyward soar the whirling demons,
Shrouded by the falling snow,
And then the plaintive, awful howling
Fills my heart with dread and woe.

~~ Alexander Pushkin ~~

Gee…. I wonder if that means more ranting about the present state of world affairs? What do you think? Should we continue in the vein in which I began today’s Pearl, or veer off in another direction? Hmm… Let’s see what the magic 8-ball says….

Oops. Forgot; broke my 8-ball a long time ago. Oh, well. I think I’m not in a mood to rant at the moment. Hang on, & I’ll go see if I can find something to tip the scale in one direction, or another… Don’t worry, I’ve got a Tardis, and this isn’t real…. so, it’s like, you’ll never notice I was gone….

Okay, got it. That actually didn’t take long at all…. Of course, I COULD be lying, but, we wouldn’t want to pick up any bad habits…. It took only a moment, to find this:

“The land of the free! This is the land of the free! Why, if I say anything that displeases them, the free mob will lynch me, and that’s my freedom. Free? Why I have never been in any country where the individual has such an abject fear of his fellow countrymen. Because, as I say, they are free to lynch him the moment he shows he is not one of them.” — D. H. Lawrence

Now, if THAT isn’t a great start to pick up where we left off above, I don’t know an oyster from a mussel. And, I do. Know the difference, I mean. In fact, I also know, being a chef, while mussels, steamed in white wine, fish stock, garlic, and a bit of butter, lemon juice, & parsley, is as close as people ever really get to heaven, only oysters, those ugly, yet somehow noble bivalves, can make pearls. Besides, the only way the oysters themselves are REALLY edible, is breaded, deep fried, and smothered with a LOT of Tartar, or seafood cocktail sauce. Otherwise they’re a lot like eating old shoe leather, unless eaten at ONE specific moment upon cooking. Before, or after that moment, they are virtually inedible… Even for those with ALL their teeth…

But, hey, pearls, you know? Which brings us back to the completion of this section today. I’ll quit fooling around, amusing as it may be, (or not; not my call….), and get to the meat of today’s piece. I’ll start with an old graphic pearl from one of my most consistent sources for wise, witty comments, to wit:

This statement is possibly the clearest I know, to describe WHY our world is the way it is today. Albert put his finger on the root cause of every problem we face today, i.e., courage in the face of evil. Personally, I have given up any hope of making enough changes in society to protect us from ourselves…. Hope, as Emily D. pointed out, is something that, being human, never goes away…. But, my hope is about gone, for I don’t see us humans finding the understanding which can save us before the planet itself kills us for our effrontery……

Rather than expose y’all to any more of my own negative conclusions, I’d like y’all to read the following article, which my news reader provided to me, and with which I can only agree wholeheartedly. It’s brilliant, to be honest, and, if there is any justice in the world, will go viral quite soon…… It’s by an author named Elizabeth West, and she has hit upon some strong truths…. Don’t try to decide from reading the title; just trust me, & go read it. You won’t regret it…. Not even if I close out the section with my own take/interpretation, (though voiced with a power of expression I can only dream of achieving some day….) of the most probable, ultimately final decision Reality is going to make about the human race… Ms. West might convince you otherwise…..

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/04/abandon-all-hope/

This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
Not with a bang but with a whimper.

~~ T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men” ~~

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

Choosing a Theme

Powerful words playing hide and seek in my mind,
teasing with subtle cruelty, pretending to be kind.
Grand visions and flowery verses of beauty and truth
evaded my inner eye all through the days of my youth.

Affable interludes interspersed with allegorical wit
softened the crimes, against all reason, to finally acquit.
Time became at once an enemy, and an ally
Never once compelled to provide an answer why.

Giving gifts of simple kindness are their own pay,
spreading ripples of compassion are felt far and away.
Love given freely is precious, we are ever told,
increasing love received, more than a hundred fold.

Living long and with passion has centered my soul,
allowing me room, and time, to choose my own goal.
Now I’ve gone past any need to pretend
I love everything in life, even knowing it will end.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/21/2012

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

Naked Pearls IV

*********

“Everything you know is wrong.”

~~ The Firesign Theater ~~

*********

“Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.”

~~ Edwin Hubbel Chapin ~~

*********

“Virtue is beauty.”

~~ Shakespeare ~~

*********

“There are two kinds of egotists: 1) Those who admit it; 2) The rest of us.”

~~ Psyche Bee ~~

*********

“Half the failures in life arise from pulling in one’s horse as it is leaping.”

~~ Julius Hare ~~

*********

“In war and life, either fight to win or don’t fight.”

~~ Warrior Bee ~~

*********

“She [virtue] requires a rough and stormy passage; she will have either outward difficulties to wrestle with, …. or, internal difficulties.”

~~ Michel de Montaigne — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xi, Of Cruelty ~~

*********

“A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer.”

~~ Joseph Addison ~~

*********

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.”

~~ Hugh Downs ~~

*********

“Don’t worry about a thing because every little thing is gonna be alright.”

~~ Bob Marley ~~

*********

However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you
If you do not act on upon them?

~~ Buddha ~~

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

Well, it’s done. All that remains is to go post it, which will be harder than usual today…. I put a lot into this one, even though the poem isn’t new, and the major rant belongs to another author. Nonetheless, I don’t believe I can do this any better than this turned out, so, I hope y’all enjoyed consuming it as much as I enjoyed putting it together…. I’ll be back tomorrow, to see if I can do it this well one more time….Why not? That would make a total of at least four, over four years…. Not bad, for an amateur…

Spoiler alert: Things ’round here may change some in the near future…. Y’all stay alert, y’hear?…. It could mean your sanity, and mine…. Oops. Maybe not yours…. really. I mean that, or, rather, I didn’t mean that…. Well, never mind, you’ll see….. Just, be careful, okay?…. C Ya.

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

A most acute and sinful pleasure….

Posted on August 14, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still.”

~~ Chinese Proverb ~~

Cedars of God, Lebanon ~ 4500+ years old

Image from the UK Telegraph

Good morning…. Of late, I’ve been feeling something of an ethical/moral/social conundrum, over which I am apparently, well, dithering. Can’t seem to make a final decision on it, even though time is becoming a factor. I suppose I’ll have to suck it up here soon. Ah well, 2 AM is most likely not the best time to be making such a far-reaching decision, especially since there will be a definite effect on Reality, as well as a number of ffolkes, and a great many folks of lesser, shall we say, mindfulness? We shall….

That said, with what I am proud to say is a fine degree of obscurity (details are unimportant at this time…), which may, or may not, affect the final outcome, (Ya can never tell exactly in this modern, sucky world. There’s a good word, eh? Sucky? It’s not a real word, yet, I don’t think I would need to define it for anyone, as anyone can define it accurately for themselves; it’s one of those consensual reality issues we all share so unconsciously. Trust me, when I say ‘sucky’, y’all know what I mean, don’t ya?….), I think maybe I’ll slip into something a bit more coherent, or, at least, more transparent.

Now the problem is, I didn’t expect to have to come up with transparency, and I don’t have an eraser handy. Or a hedge trimmer, but, that wouldn’t be of much help anyway. I suppose we could start a…. no, better not. Last time we did that, Luigi quit (again….), & I had to drive the plane myself. Nobody enjoys that, since I never did learn how to do that landing part very well; the noise in the main cabin gets a little intense during the descent, as the cabin lackeys scream louder than the clientèle.

Wait! Okay, cool. We won’t have to go through any contortions after all. Somebody keeps forgetting to put this old #4 escape tool away, so, why not take advantage of their temporary senility? Y’all know how a #4 works, right? Like this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it’s best, night and day to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human can fight and never stop fighting.” — e.e. cummings (1894-1963), “A Miscellany”

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Image from http://www.behance.net via Google Images

Today’s video selection will be a little different. I’m not a big fan of ballet, though that’s probably only because I’ve never seen one live. I like to dance. enjoy watching good dancing, and love good classical music, so, what’s not to like? Here’s one of my favorite pieces, by the young Felix Mendelssohn, in an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play for the ballet stage…. I hope you enjoy it…

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Complete Ballet

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https://youtu.be/Q3zzdCjVaZM

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“There comes a time in the life of us all when we must lay aside our books or put down our tools and leave our place of work and walk forth on the road to meet the enemy face-to-face. Once and for all and at last.” — Edward Abbey

I’ve been a student of history for most of my life. It wasn’t anything planned, I just liked to read, and history was always so interesting. It’s not ALL I’ve read, or studied, but, everything I read, and have observed in Life, leads me back to its historical significance, as the pageantry of human existence progresses through time. I am forced to conclude the time Mr. Abbey speaks of so eloquently, and so truly, is fast approaching…. Read the following article, and you’ll see part of the reason I believe this to be true….

https://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/families-of-911-victims-on-verge-of-proving-government-cover-up-in-court/

“O liberty! O liberty! What crimes are committed in your name!”

~~ Mme. Jeanne (Manon) Roland (1754-1793) ~~

I believe there are a very great many Americans who feel much as I do, that our country has fallen prey to the very real usurpation of power from the people at large, as our government was designed to work, to the hands of an elite few, all manipulated and controlled by the influence of those with control of the money and resources of society, to wit: the oligarchy….

Many will scoff at such an idea, but, the evidence is right before our eyes, every day. The founding fathers of this nation left warnings of this very thing, and I, along with those aware, mindful patriots like me in this country, have watched with growing horror and dismay as freedom after freedom is blithely dismissed from our daily life, legally, without a whimper or whisper of protest from a mostly clueless population of ignorant fools, the greatest number of which are handicapped by their life-long insistence on believing in a delusional supernatural being who will make it all right after they die, if only they agree to live as cattle rather than human beings….

If you think I’m joking, or mistaken, let me use a graphic, which I found at a fellow blogger’s site; he won’t mind my using it without telling him, as he’ll probably see it anyway…. Directly below this paragraph you will see a list of evidence, all of which you can identify and verify easily, merely by reading any mainstream newspaper, or online news outlet…. Each of the items on the list can be seen in any average day’s news….

I could spend a lot of time explaining any of these to those who might question it, but, instead, I shall do my thing…. I’ll simply show you a group of pearls to serve the same purpose, most of which come from one of the men responsible for us having the freedoms we are watching disappear…. He seemed to be precognitive in that respect, identifying exactly those entities we should have been watching more closely…

“I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.” — Thomas Jefferson

“When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.” — Robert A Heinlein, “If this goes on –”

“A monied aristocracy in our country … has already set the government at defiance.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Freedom is meaningless unless you can give to those with whom you disagree.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Corruptissima republica plurimae leges. [The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.]” — Cornelius Tacitus, 56-120 A.D., Annals III 27

“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.” — Thomas Jefferson

“To disarm the people – that was the best and most effective way to enslave them ….” — George Mason ( Framer of the Declaration of Rights, Virginia, 1776, — which became the basis for the U.S. Bill of Rights ) — 3 Elliot, Debate at 380.

To verify my assertions, check off each of the items on the list against the quotes; then compare the results to any day’s news, and, it will be obvious to anyone with more than 3 functional neurons that we are in deep shit…. and, the trouble coming is not going to be confined to just one country. The entire world is undergoing the same sort of issues, with those in control of the money and resources attempting to ever more strongly control the political and social events that take place, using every form of unethical, immoral behavioral manipulation they think of to maintain the status quo, and keep the rest of the world in a position much akin to slavery….

We have, sadly, nobody but ourselves to blame, either. This is not just hyperbole, or despair, but, reality. A small bit of chalk on the side of a building, somewhere in an inner city, tells the story very clearly….

“There is no They, Only Us.”

~~ Graffiti ~~

Now, each of us who believes in the principles of honor, and liberty, upon which this nation was founded, will have to make a personal decision, as outlined at the beginning of this rant, by our old friend, Ed Abbey, whether to continue to accept the indignities heaped upon us as free men by a small group of avaricious, amoral assholes with no honor, or to stand up as free men…. We only have those rights we can defend…. Will you live as a slave, and allow your loved ones to suffer the same fate? Or, will you take the responsibility for your own life into your own hands? Only time will tell the tale….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken.

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I’m a bit lazy after all the fresh material today, so, here’s a poem I wrote in February of this year, just because I can….

Dead Hands,Typing…

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 2/25/2015.

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Aristotle_Bust_White_Background_Transparent

Truth is pretty big in my world, probably because it’s so closely related to the concept of honor; honor is hard to come by if one avoids the truth. It would take a very long time to go into why that is true, time better spent on moving along here in the final section, so, we’ll move along…. Here are some thoughts on truth for your consideration, which may serve the same purpose, anyway…. Enjoy!….

Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies;
And sure he will: for Wisdom never lies.

— Alexander Pope ~~

~~ The Odyssey of Homer, Book iii, Line 25 ~~

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” — Aristotle

“Truth exists for the wise, beauty for the feeling heart.” — Johann von Schiller

“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.” — Albert Einstein

“Truth is not determined by majority vote.” — Doug Gwyn

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Always speak the truth quietly, listen with an open mind when others speak, and remember the peace that may be found in silence.” — from The Desiderata

Yet truth will sometimes lend her noblest fires,
And decorate the verse herself inspires:
This fact, in virtue’s name, let Crabbe attest,–
Though Nature’s sternest painter, yet the best.

~~ Lord Byron ~~

~~ English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, Line 839 ~~

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I’m content with what has transpired here. It took some time and care, but, I think it came out well. Now, we’ll post it, and see if the blogging world agrees with me…. Besides, it’s done, which, as we know, is all that really matters around here. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, when we’ll make another attempt to make some sense out of this beautiful, ugly world we live in…. Stay alert!…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Pilot fish? Biscotti? Auroral halos? What IS all this?….

Posted on July 21, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ The Beatles ~~

Image of Guangxi Province, China, found on the UK Telegraph Website

Good morning…. There is hope! As a scientist for most of my life, I am willing to change my theories in the face of new data that is indicative of the need for a change. For some weeks now, I’d about given up hope of ever sleeping more than a couple hours at a time, having been so disrupted by the forced medicine change perpetrated upon me by my own doctors. But, last night, I actually slept, with some small awakenings, for a full eight hours, or close enough as to make no difference…. The difference in my own state of mind is astounding, once one gets past the astonishment, filling me with the hope I can repeat the experience tonight…

In short, Right Fucking On! Or, as we used to say, Yippee, hippie! Well, okay, we didn’t say that, but, we felt like it!….

And, now, we can get on with this mess, without any further nonsense…. Another YAY, if you please….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Virtue is the beauty, and vice the deformity, of the soul.”

~~ Socrates (B.C. 469-399) ~~

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Today’s musical video choice is a form of celebration for last night’s gift, a long rest in the arms of Morpheus…. This, however, will NOT put you to sleep. It’s one of my favorite old rock bands, famous for hard-driving, brilliantly improvisational southern rock & roll, in a concert from their heydey, in March of 1971. I give you. the Allman Brothers Band, at the Warehouse, New Orleans…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. I’m going to, for sure….

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The Allman Brothers

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https://youtu.be/kg7ssACzQhc

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Our world is poised on the cusp of an uncertain future; in my most optimistic examinations of the evidence all around us, there is conflict coming to society. All I can see is turmoil and human pain, in an ever increasing spiral of insanity, as the long-awaited collapse of the current system of economic dominance, to wit: capitalism, enters the final death throes, shaking itself apart at the very seams, which are merely illusions, held together by ideas long out of date, and ultimately self-destructive. In short, the house of cards is coming down, ffolkes, and there isn’t a damn thing anyone can do about it at this point.

Oh there are signs of hope, but, they are almost buried by the obvious signs of corruption and decayed morality which will, ultimately, spell our doom, unless we can find a way to change human nature in the next, oh, five minutes or so….. You think I’m being facetious, but, I’m not; that is a very literal warning, in real time…. My assessment is based on too many pieces of evidence to ignore, or deny, and I’m not particularly happy about it, but, then, Reality very seldom asks our permission for anything, now, does it?

One of the ways our species seems to use, to its undying regret, is to attempt to legislate behavior, or morality, which is the cause of the behavior, into a moral guideline, supposedly for the benefit of all. This, of course, is sheer nonsense, for you cannot legislate human feelings or motivational emotions. It just isn’t possible to make a law that causes people to stop committing offenses of morality; laws do not reach into the human psyche like that. Laws of society have no effect whatsoever on how people feel, or act, and to think so is sheer folly. Yet, for centuries, people have tried to make laws to adjust behavior; I defy ANYONE to show ONE TIME in history in which it worked…. Go ahead, I’ll wait while you look….

I’m pretty confident you wont’ find any such examples…. I’m full of energy, having slept well last night for the first time in, literally, months. As a result, I think I could keep ranting on this for some time…. But, I know y’all have better things to do, so, I’ll sublimate the rest of my angst into an older rant, on a subject which highlights our subject today….

This country has attempted any number of times to abrogate the Second Amendment of the US Constitution; regulations already exist which have decreased its universality, placing restrictions on the process of obtaining and licensing (!!!) a gun…. The following rant was written in response to one writer’s suggestion for a change to the Bill of Rights, which he felt would be useful. This is my response….

From 9/19/2012:

A while back, I wrote a comment regarding another blog, concerning the proposal made in that blog of writing some new amendments to the Constitution. Most of the suggested amendments made good sense, as they removed most of the entitlements that Congress had awarded itself over the years. However, there was one suggested change with which I wholeheartedly disagree…. this is the response to that suggestion… the address of the original blog is included, in case you want to read it first….. To wit:

In Response to a Proposed 35th Amendment:

From the blog site at:

http://lennemi.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/a-proposal-for-a-new-bill-of-rights/#comment-234

After reading the above blog, I posted the following comment:

Sir, or madam,

Excellent post, well reasoned and presented…. I have a few comments, if I may….

It has long been a delusion in human society that morality can be enforced, or induced at all, by legislation. This is, as proven time and time again throughout thousands of years of human history, an idea that is doomed to fail, every time it is attempted. That is not speculation, or guesswork. Look it up…..

Therefore it is my suggestion that you forget #35, in favor of the Second Amendment already in place in the Bill of Rights; this concept is based on a false assumption, and making a flat statement of what (YOU believe) my rights are, or should be, is not acceptable to me as a citizen of this republic, or as a human being responsible for my own actions .Bearing arms is not a privilege, nor will I, and most likely at least 150 million, or more, other people in this country, accept that idea for a moment, a fact that should be obvious to any one with practical understanding of reality.

I do not, nor will I ever believe that Federal, State, or Local jurisdiction have either the right, nor the authority to say differently, and I doubt seriously that there are very many in this country who do believe that. I reject utterly the statement that they, or you, or anyone else, has the right to decide for me what I will or will not own, or keep, or use in my defense. After guns, free speech would be the next to go….any bets?

That, my friends, is a fact of life, and of human nature. We only have those rights we can defend…. and, this is merely another doomed attempt to legislate morality into human nature. Violence exists. Period. Get used to it, because you are not going to remove it from people’s core nature, or from reality, any more than attempting to remove guns will stop crime, or killing, or the tendency toward violence that is part of the nature of Man. Better to understand the impulse, to work toward educating people in how to cope with that part of themselves constructively, rather than destructively…..

The rest of your amendments are perfectly in alignment with what I believe is needed to improve the conditions of inequality and elitism so prevalent in today’s society, and would likely receive my full support.

To be honest, up to recently, I never owned, or saw a need to own a gun. As one who has followed the Warrior’s Path since my early teens (and probably before; I was raised on army posts from birth to age 10), a long-time student of martial arts, and the theories of war, I learned how to deal with violence in many ways, with many techniques, a large number of which I had to apply in my work for years, physically controlling out-of-control psychotic mental patients, without hurting them, or getting hurt. I got pretty good at it, especially in recognizing it before it manifested fully, and diverting it. I am very familiar with violence, in a great many of its guises. So, I can generally deal with whatever physical violence may occur in my immediate vicinity.

Now, however, I’m not as fast as I once was, nor as well-conditioned; I’m better at foresight, though, it comes with age. Moreover, I can foresee a time when I could conceivably need the equalizing factor of a weapon like a gun, in order to live up to my standard of handling events without injury, as far as I can….. So, I’m probably going to buy one or two… because of that aging, and even more, because of insane (sorry, don’t mean to flame; but, it isn’t fully sane to attempt to change human nature) talk such as this, of watching society willingly slip on their slave collars… It is NOT going to happen in my little corner of the world….

If anyone, or anyone’s brother, or anyone else, tries to take away the Second Amendment rights I now have, well, I can only say, good luck with that….. and bring lots of friends… You’ll need them….

Oh, I’d also keep in mind…. Those folks like the police in Sanford, Florida who were complicit in covering up the murder there (of Trayvon Martin), aren’t going to disarm themselves, now are they?…. How far will you trust them to behave with honor, and respect for YOUR rights? Get real…..and I don’t mean that disrespectfully, but in hope that you will open your eyes to what is plainly there to see….

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Near the end of next month, I’m planning to return to Ireland, to spend some time exploring the country, and the culture…. One of my grandmothers was born there; the other was born in a small village in England. I intend to try to find both their birthplaces, to see where some of my own roots were originally planted…. To celebrate in advance, here is a poem I wrote back in my time of poverty, prior to securing my retirement the way it is now. It shows fairly well how I feel about the Emerald Isle….

Days and Nights of Eire

Comforting, a dream creeps oft into my mind
On the elven hills of Eire lives the vision I find.
Elegant, gracious, everlastingly draped in beauty
Just payment of simple homage lives as joyous duty.

Fairies and druids walk abroad in ghostly parade
Gracing each hearth with its own welcoming shade.
Castles and heroes yet live in tale and song
Proving love for the land in each heart strong.

From cold of winter into glorious young spring
Brown, and gray, to emerald green songs to sing
Soft rains always follow winter’s great tempest
Eire dons its emerald coat from east to west.

Old and strong, connections call out in dreams
Nothing that was known remains as it seems.
Immersion in ancient runes and battle hymns
Offering sanity in place of grievous whims.

Time and place can tell a much different tale
Judgment should never be a final sale.
Yet something solid and real calls me to go see
Where dreams of loving beauty may actually be….

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 11/3/2012.

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Today’s final old-school pearl is destined to be a classic. I was careful in creating it, to choose just the right quotes to fit the point(s) made, as well as the Apple configuration elements (the ‘look and feel’… Yes, it’s an ironic dig at Steve-O’s sense of entitlement…). I believe it may be one the finest examples of the genre I’ve ever put together. Every one of the quotes has a significant piece of advice or point about living with virtue; anyone who can make these a part of their life is bound to find peace within themselves, for together, what we have here is a road map to happiness, and freedom…

I might also add, I’d wager serious money all of these will be on the Final Quiz waiting for us at the door to the next world, so, paying attention could make all the difference in where we end up…. Think about it….

“You’re only dancing on this Earth for a short time
And though you want to last forever,
You know you never will.
And the good-bye makes the journey harder still.”

~~ Cat Sevens ~~

Love is not something you have; it is something you do. — Limon

“Who then is free? The wise man who can command himself.” — Horace

“What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to.” — Bob Dylan

“Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” — Anne Herbert, Co-Evolution Quarterly, 1983

“Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.” — Elbert Hubbard

“Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, iii, 5

“Our life is short, but to expand that span to vast eternity is virtue’s work.” — Shakespeare

“I expect to pass through this life but once. If, therefore, there be any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.” — William Penn

“Don’t try to have the last word. You might get it.” — Lazarus Long

Do not stand by my grave and weep.
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am a diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle Autumn rain.
When you awake in the morning hush.
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft star-shine at night.
Do not stand by my grave and cry.
I am not there… I did not die.

~~ Prayer of the Makah Indians ~~

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

It’s probably not smart to think what happened today will ever happen again, but, we can hope. This one came together like billy-oh, as they used to say, which, no doubt, is directly attributable to the massive sleep I from which I arose a while ago. Still, it’s nice to have it work the way it is designed to work. In fact, I think it would be wise to take the money, which is never anywhere to be found, and run for the border….. and, no, I’m not going to Taco Bell. Haven’t subjected myself to that in years….

See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. That’s both a promise, and. a threat….. We only threaten misguided concepts, so, not to worry, right? Right. See ya…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

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: Shakespeare

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