Tag Archives: Sherlock Holmes

No, no, not the Toast Points!….

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Ffolkes,

“Kindness is my true religion.”

~~ The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet ~~

Day 3 and 4 028

    This coming Saturday is another of those days in one’s life that begins to assume a proportion of importance, and significance, greater than the other days, even other special days. On the one hand, that can be a delight; in other ways, not so much…. You see, it will be my 64th birthday…. I’ve finally reached that age Sir Paul and the boys sang to us. so many years ago, in a song whose poignancy now can bring me tears, rather than the hope and joy it brought me as a teen, when I first heard it…. Oh, which song is that? Why, “When I’m 64”, of course….

The song itself is a love song, obviously, which is why I say it’s poignancy, at least for me, assumes a melancholy aspect, rather than the comforting one it formerly held…. You see, the song makes the assumption that one will HAVE someone to love at 64, a feat which, somehow, managed to escape me…. I have my friends and my family, but, in essence, and in the final analysis, when I go to bed at night, and get up again in the morning, I am alone….

Oh, not completely, of course, and to be honest, I am thoroughly enjoying my solitude…. One doesn’t realize just how soothing being alone can be, until it actually happens. Nobody to tell me to pick up my socks, nobody to worry about waking up with my noise, nobody to cook for, nobody to pick up after…. all those little idiosyncrasies, and small annoyances that build up resentment over the time one lives with another person, never even get the opportunity to bother me, as I don’t have to deal with such things, at all… It really IS a nice way to live, if one can afford it….

I also love being retired, for a lot of reasons…. In fact, one of those reasons was brought home to me yesterday…. I went outside to sit on the porch a while; one of the landlord’s handymen was in the yard, getting it ready for winter. As I watched him sweeping some leaves, I was forced to admit that it was very pleasant to be able to sit on a nice day, and watch someone else do work, without any need whatsoever to join in….. Made me feel quite smug, actually, and improved my mood immensely…

So, I will remain alone, and mostly enjoying it, until serendipity strikes again….. If I were less polite, I could speak now of my hopes in that respect, but, rather than get any more maudlin, or more revealingly inane, I’ll take this little self-exploratory exposition, and play it as it lies…. In fact, that opportunity approaches quickly, and, it so happens, is located right next to one of our exit opportunities…. Ffolkes, I’d suggest you tighten your seat belts, and hold on, ’cause we’re goin’ for it….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Do you call yourself free?  I want to hear your ruling idea, and not that you have escaped from a yoke.” — Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”

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For the past month or so, I’ve been indulging myself…. Rather than read so much, I’ve been exploring You Tube, our society’s repository of video entertainment, ranging from private/personal videos to blockbuster Hollywood/Bollywood classic movies…. Personally, I find it serendipitous to have found a treasure trove, at least, for me…. Well-written, accurately portrayed versions of the Sherlock Holmes stories, from a long running series on BBC, are giving me, literally, hour upon hour of solid entertainment, without having to strain my eyes reading all night….

Well, I suppose the computer screen is no less troublesome for my eyes, but, it is easier than reading to watch the stories acted out, and very well acted, at that…. Jeremy Brett, as Sherlock Holmes, with Edward Hardwicke as the estimable Dr. Watson, were one of the very best Holmes/Watson pairings, with just the perfect degree of edge to their relationship, perfectly matching the pair’s bookish, very British, complex male intimacy…. and, Mr. Brett possesses the perfect build, voice, nose, and intensity of gaze to portray Holmes, as he did so admirably for 12 years….

Basil Rathbone, of course, set the standard for playing Holmes, and I find it interesting that the two men I consider to have done that the best, resemble each other very closely…. Both tall, (well, they APPEAR tall… perhaps an actor’s trick, but, nonetheless, both fit the image…), slim as a whip, with an aquiline nose and face, and those intense eyes, that can bore a hole right through one’s mind…. Brilliant, both of them…. Enjoy, ffolkes, I am doing so, a lot….

Sherlock Holmes -The Empty House

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“The entire world is being driven insane by this single phrase: ‘My religion alone is true.'” — Ramakrishna, Hindu saint & reformer

I would like to comment on the above statement, to set the stage for what comes after…. This short, pithy statement from a Hindu saint, to my mind, simply resonates with truth, a truth so deep it penetrates into virtually ALL categories of human interaction, and can be seen as the core reason behind a great many of the ills we are witnessing in society today…. The attitude he expresses, echoed by nearly every human being on the planet, no matter WHICH of the thousands of religious sects or philosophies to which they subscribe, has spread to include race, or nationality, or town, or university, or bloody bowling team….

The attitude he observes is so prevalent in society, the divisiveness isn’t even considered to be a problem; it is seen to be the natural state of affairs for mankind, so nobody even bothers to try to change it, in themselves, in others, or in the world at large…. They just accept their own racism/bigotry as “normal”, their aggressiveness as “courage”, and their stupidity as “faithful loyalty”, never realizing their loyalty is to ideas and concepts that were proven wrong centuries ago, or are simply a matter of traditional custom, and, thus, justifiable by right of common cause…. another ill-conceived idea, as it doesn’t ever consider whether the commonality extends outside their chosen group, the ones who spout the nonsense they with which they identify the best….

So, we end up with a society wherein the so-called leaders of the group lie to the public as a matter of policy, using a blend of partial truths and outright lies to manipulate the public into thinking, and acting, according to THEIR OWN agenda…. The public, meanwhile, are confused even further by those religious leaders who perpetuate their own agenda, wherein they counsel the public to obey temporal authority, if they wish to be rewarded with eternal life when they die, counting on their fear of death to convince them of the (false) need to give up their right to make up their own minds….

This sort of manipulation now extends to almost every corner of our society, as the government has gone completely rogue, turning away from the principles of a democratic republic, as our founding fathers wished this country to be run, straight toward the money, offered to them by those corporate snakeheads who have assumed the actual control of society, buying politicians, judges, and priests to do their will for them, allowing them to remain behind the scenes, to enjoy all of our money and resources that flow into their coffers each day…..

We, the people, end up with a government that lies to us, spies on us, and treats us as their own personal set of market slaves, while those who actually control the resources, and the money, go about their own business at the top of the heap, without a thought, or an ounce of compassion, for all of the misery and pain they cause to the other members of their species….

In short, they disgust me, and, though I am a compassionate man, I would feel NO remorse whatsoever should I ever break down, overcome my basic beliefs, including my own reluctance to kill, and start eliminating as many of them as I could identify…. I’m getting pretty damn close to that point, and, since I’m also getting to an age where I don’t much care whether or not I live much longer, I’d be the perfect assassin, with no fear of death at all…. and, all because of headlines like the following, which give you an idea of just how much the people in our beloved ruling class don’t give a SHIT about you, or anyone but themselves…..

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/us/us-secretly-monitoring-mail-of-thousands.html?_r=0

“The troubling part is that they don’t have to report the use of this tool to anyone,” Ms. Orr said in an interview. The Postal Service declined to comment on the case.”

This one doesn’t really surprise me, except for the fact that the article was allowed to be printed; it does tend to pull their covers…. That, in fact, may be the scariest, most disturbing part of all of it…. It is getting to the point where those who are responsible for most of the evil in the world seem to NOT CARE any longer if we know they are there…. They just go ahead with what they want to do, and don’t even bother to explain themselves…. even when exposed, such as now….

Now, THAT scares me…. What will we do, if they are so secure, they don’t even feel they need to hide their control any longer?…..

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/nyregion/two-governors-shifts-on-ebola-are-criticized-as-politics-not-science.html

“Charity should be spontaneous. Calculated altruism is an affront.” — Edward Abbey

This headline is here to show again how the politicians of this country, of which governors are perhaps the most egregiously corrupted, use the fears of the public for their own agenda, to try to position themselves into portraying an image to the public that has nothing to do with reality…. They imposed the quarantines IN SPITE of knowing there was no medical justification for it… plain and simple, they lied, merely to make themselves appear to be strong leaders, who are concerned over threats to public safety…. The only safety the public needs is to be protected against THEM, seems to me….

Oh well, that’s enough ranting for one day…. Pretty soon, ffolkes, I’m going to STOP writing…. Then, who knows? Maybe I’ll go hunting…. sounds like fun to me….. I’ll leave you with two thoughts from Smart Bee and Zippy, which will provide the perfect closing thoughts…..

“One of the greatest advantages in the world is enjoyed by the person who says and insists that they are telling the truth, when in fact, they are telling the truth.” –Smart Bee

“Yow!  Are we wet yet?” — Zippy the Pinhead

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On days such as today, when I’ve ranted, again to little purpose, I feel a bit down…. but, in those cases, a poem like this is a sure cure for any such indulgence of will…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this is one of the best, ever…..

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

~~ Dylan Thomas ~~


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An odd little pearl, composed of a series of comments on the state of being Man (includes Woman; we only use Man in be in tune with the most common standards of use, but, either one works, because, in this case, it includes both….

“The balls of sight are so formed, that one man’s eyes are spectacles to another, to read his heart from within.” — Johnson

“You aren’t responsible for what someone else loses you are only responsible for what you give and if you have given your best that’s more than they would have had without you.” — Callan Williams

“He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.” — Aristotle

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell the truth.” — Oscar Wilde

“As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.” ~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 1

“What’s a `pantheon’, and why is it mad at me?” — Famous Last Words

“For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Against Colote

That’s really not too shabby, ffolkes…. The last one, from Plutarch, (Who is, perhaps, next to Aristotle and Plato, my favorite ancient philosopher), sounds to me like a paraphrase of the Theory of Bozoid Tendencies…. I guess, among all his other talents, Plutarch must have been precognitive, as well….  Ya think?….

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I went to bed early, due to a tummy/gut upset (some part of my dinner wasn’t what my body likes, or can tolerate, apparently….), so, I was up way early, too…. Hence, this is done, and it is still shy of 6 AM…. But, that also means I can hit the day running, so, what the hell…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….

 

Sublimation of the need to kill….

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Ffolkes,

 

Calvin: “Do you believe our destinies are determined by the stars?”

Hobbes: “Nah.”

Calvin: “Oh, I do.”

Hobbes: “Really? How come?”

Calvin: “Life’s a lot more fun when you’re not responsible for your actions.”

~~ “Calvin and Hobbes,” Bill Watterson ~~


dancing galaxiesDancing Galaxies


This picture, which I’ve named as I saw fit, was taken by the NASA Hubble Deep Space Telescope, which has given us the ability to see further into the depths of space, and time, than ever before…. In fact, this image is the one they say is the image of the deepest part of space we have seen, so far away, the mind cannot imagine the distance with any real understanding….

I like this picture, as it fits with a fanciful theory of consciousness I have considered for many years…. I am of the opinion that galaxies may be alive, in a way we are not able to understand…. As such, to imagine them dancing among the stars is an image that makes me smile…. Call me a hopeless romantic, if you wish; I don’t mind….. The Universe, to my mind, is a beautiful place, and romanticism is a response to that beauty of which I am more proud than ashamed, for certain… But, then, I AM a Bozo, of the first degree…

That said, now what? If I comment on the quote above the picture, by Calvin & Hobbes, it will turn into a rant, for sure and for certain…. Hell, that’s why I put it there, as a perfect example of the core philosophy of modern America; it’s a perfect metaphorical interpretation of the way that 99% of the people alive today think, and feel, and act….

Anyone who disagrees with that assessment, or, agrees, for that matter, is welcome to comment below, or via email to me directly; I will argue this point all day and night, for I KNOW I am right in my analysis. I can prove it, merely by pointing to the news headlines that grace the top of our news media’s outlets…. (See discussion, below….) So, in the infamous words of the Junior Shrub, “bring it on….”….

Someday, somebody is actually going to answer my challenge in this respect: I’m not sure if I’ll know how to handle that. Thankfully, it isn’t something I need to lose a lot of sleep over…. Today, I’m in too good a mood to care, anyway…. I got a chance to visit with my grandson yesterday, and felt well enough, for a change, to be able to take part more fully.

We had a great time, especially when my son’s new girlfriend/mate ( I never know what word to use for their relationship….
They’re not yet married, and may never be, yet are in a married living situation, and are creating a family… I think it’s time to make up some new words, to describe modern family relationships; they’ve  morphed into more varieties of situations, than the language has words….) came to join the visit with her two daughters. It was the my first opportunity to meet them, and it was very nice, indeed, to see my son interacting with his own new, instant large, still growing family (they announce they’re expecting another child in March, a girl… so, now, in one fell swoop, in one day, I’ve gone from the grandfather of one, to the grandfather four…. Instant family, just add water…. (*huge grin*)

I’m happy for my son; he is hard-wired for family, so, I think he will do well having a big one. In addition, this woman seems much more stable and compassionately oriented than his son’s mother, and will also be good for him; he deserves it….. It is also amusing to see my daughter sublimating her own wish for kids into being the world’s best Auntie, the kind of Aunt every kid wants, as a break from mom and dad’s disciplines…. She’s good at it, too….

Well, that was simple…. A bit of a short rambling rant, or maybe travelogue would suit better, plus some reminiscence, and the intro section is good to go…. Bonus! Some days just work out better than others, don’t they?

Shall we Pearl?…..

“The caterpillar is secure in the womb of the cocoon. And yet, to achieve its destiny, it must cast off its earthbound burden…to realize the ethereal of the butterfly.” — Master Po

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Another great Sherlock video for today, ffolkes…. I’ve been having a great time, seeing a lot of Holmes stories I missed when they were first televised (probably because the BBC didn’t really come to us much until the last few years…), so, y’all reap the benefits of my joy…. I’ve checked this one out, as promised, and, it is an excellent adaptation of one of the finest of the Holmes stories by A. C. Doyle….. Enjoy!


Sherlock Holmes: The Speckled Band

 

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Wall Street Journal headline:

Quarantined Nurse Lashes Out After She Tests Negative for Ebola

NY Times headline:

Tested Negative for Ebola, Nurse Criticizes Her Quarantine

BBC headline:

Ebola outbreak: US nurse criticises quarantine treatment

London Daily Telegraph article later in the day:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11188874/US-nurse-sues-after-being-forced-into-quarantine-as-she-returned-from-treating-Ebola-patients-in-Sierra-Leone.html


“I recalled my last night at the Ebola management center in Sierra Leone. I was called in at midnight because a 10-year-old girl was having seizures. I coaxed crushed tablets of Tylenol and an anti-seizure medicine into her mouth as her body jolted in the bed.”

“It was the hardest night of my life. I watched a young girl die in a tent, away from her family.

Describing her experience at Newark Airport, Miss Hickox said: “I walked up to the immigration official at the airport and was greeted with a big smile and a ‘hello.’

I told him that I have traveled from Sierra Leone and he replied, a little less enthusiastically: ‘No problem. They are probably going to ask you a few questions.”

“He put on gloves and a mask and called someone. Then he escorted me to the quarantine office a few yards away. I was told to sit down. Everyone that came out of the offices was hurrying from room to room in white protective coveralls, gloves, masks, and a disposable face shield.”

“One after another, people asked me questions. Some introduced themselves, some didn’t. One man who must have been an immigration officer because he was wearing a weapon belt that I could see protruding from his white coveralls barked questions at me as if I was a criminal.”

——–

The foregoing lines, following the link, are all excerpted from the article in the Daily Telegraph. I’ve included the other headlines, minus links, to demonstrate the different techniques each news outlet uses in reporting the same story; their choice of words can be rather telling…

The article to which the link will lead, written for a European/British newspaper, gives what I feel is the best overall idea of just how STUPID the American public is…. These politicians,  especially Chris Christie, the mad neocon idiot from New Jersey, are using this subject as just another piece of political manipulation. They are all jockeying to see which can be the most aggressive in asserting how much they care…. which is a pretty long stretch in the first place….

These political peacocks preen and strut, trumpet their cliches, do their posturing, and compete desperately for approval ratings, by, essentially, completely overreacting to a relatively non-threatening issue, (the virus is no more contagious than any other disease we watch for, or have dealt with in the past; it’s just newer, and since there is less information currently available, there is more fear….), thus fanning flames of ignorant fear among the public, and making loud, obnoxious claims of looming crisis situations, that simply DO NOT EXIST, merely to gain points for their public image, as concerned leaders of the “people of this state”…. which is, as we all know, a huge load of horse shit, steaming fresh…. But, this particular variety of shit  doesn’t smell as nice as fresh horse shit…. I can attest…

I’m going to be polite today, not to mention brave. Stopping a rant in the middle can cause severe mental constipation…. but, I think y’all can figure out the rest of what I intended, using some of my older rants as a reasoning tool for comparison. It’s actually pretty easy; our minds naturally will fall into ranting mode when that technique is utilized, so, it should work fine….

Simply put, just consider the degree of assholishness of each politician, as compared to the average citizen’s intelligence (or, mostly, lack thereof…), throw in a bit of realistic observations and some logic, and voilà, instant rant…. It’ll be fun, I assure you…. Y’all can trust me, I’ve never run for elected office in my life…. well, there WAS that one time, in sixth grade, when I was elected class clown….

Oh, right, then there was that committee in HS, but, I don’t think it counts, as the elective body consisted of seven or eight students on the committee, who voted me to be the chairman…. I declined, so I say it doesn’t count… I had already figured out I wanted no part of politics, in ANY form or fashion…. That way, I have the right to criticize them as much as I wish….

Enough…. the whole political response to this Ebola crisis is a reaction to the media’s tendency to blow everything out of proportion…. It makes these idiotic politicians, with their insane need to be in the public eye, go through mad contortions in their efforts to not merely jump on the bandwagon, but to rip the reins from the driver, and whip the horses into a frenzy…. If the media didn’t make such big mountains out of all the molehills they stumble upon, we wouldn’t have this problem at all… Some common sense would be liable to creep into the issue, and it would just disappear, like cotton candy in the mouth, dissolving away into nothing at all…

Oh, well…. I’ll say this, and be done….

Close observation of the events of modern life in human society currently shows humanity to be struggling mightily on its path to its destiny, desperately seeking to find ever more foolproof methods of living, that will enhance Life and ensure out survival, while the Universe continues to create more, and more powerful, fools…. So far, the Universe is winning….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken…..

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I’m feeling lazy today, which means y’all will have to make do with one of my poems…. I’ll try to pick a good one, but, you know how THAT goes…. We’ll increase the odds with a two-fer….

 

Haiku VIII

Softly steals the night,
everywhere is darkness,
except in the heart.

~~ gigoid ~~

A Seasonal Approach

Absolute stillness grips a frozen field,
anticipating dawn with such patient yield
morning burgeoning in dark winter’s hold
brings promise of tales yet to be told.

Lengthening days of pale sun unto night
slowly tell of time’s subversive flight
bringing such original songs of natural fire
with melodies complex in casual attire.

The months are certain they will always win
it is just the way it has always been.
None may argue, nor yet slow life down
Nor dim the eternal beauty of nature’s gown.

Winter evolves from fall into spring,
sending flocks and hearts ever awing.
Summer follows suit, t’other way ’round
Spring into fall, often without a sound.

Life is meant to be lived, beginning to end
choices abound, and change can be a friend.
Yielding with grace to reality’s compelling ploy
fills our plain existence with clean, honest joy.

~~ gigoid ~~


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Okay, so…. This pearl is one which can only be described as scrutable, yet subtly complex, and simple at once…. I know, sounds a bit impossible, doesn’t it? Even for English…. but, there you go. Just follow the bouncing concepts to a conclusion that may surprise you…. or, not. Regardless, you will have completed an arduous, and dangerous assignment, which is how we define the consumption of the contents of this blog…. Go figure….

“Do you think there’s a God?” “Well, SOMEbody’s out to get me!” — Calvin & Hobbes

“If people behaved in the way nations do they would  all be put in straitjackets.” — Tennessee Williams

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“Everybody has the right to be stupid, but you’re abusing the privilege.” Smart Bee

“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too self-full to seek other than itself.” — Kahlil Gibran

“It is only the ignorant who despise education.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 571

“Reality is in the mind of the beholder.” — Smart Bee

“Most legislators are so dumb that they couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel.” — Smart Bee

“Why may not a goose say thus: “All the parts of the universe I have an interest in: the earth serves me to walk upon, the sun to light me; the stars have their influence upon me; I have such an advantage by the winds and such by the waters; there is nothing that yon heavenly roof looks upon so favourably as me. I am the darling of Nature! Is it not man that keeps and serves me?” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xii, Apology for Raimond Sebond

Ffolkes, this one didn’t even need any application of twisty wrist…. I hope you enjoyed it…. If not, well, just submit the proper forms in triplicate, and you should receive a rejection notice, of a request for refund of the price of your ticket, in about, oh, three or four years….

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Okay, so…. that went as well as can be expected…. Rather than tempt fate yet again, we’ll show some rather adult forethought, and take our leave while things are still calm…. It never lasts long, so, I’ll be nice, and take advantage of the moment…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

 

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!

À bientôt, mon cherí….

 

Meatloaf, with no ketchup….

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Ffolkes,

“How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.”

~~ Thomas Jefferson, “Writings” Vol. XVI ~~

odd group 017

    One wouldn’t think so, but, the quote from Jefferson, above, is perfectly appropriate for the picture…. which is shot of the flower I picked, and brought to leave at the grave side of my friend Carol, when two other classmates of mine went with me to visit her, at her final resting place, at the Templeton town cemetery (Templeton is the small farming town in Central CA where we all grew up….)…. and, I should have know better than to try to start the day with a reminiscence….. Now, I am leaking copious amounts of salty fluids out of my eyes, making it difficult to see what I’ve typed; damn this frigging PTSD!….

I suppose there is nothing actually wrong about crying; under the proper circumstances, it can be quite cathartic, and may even release tension and/or built up feelings of guilt, or loss, or whatever emotion assails us, when we get to the point where we must cry, or burst…. But, this is different…. Any time I feel ANY damn strong emotion, whether happy, or sad, or in any way poignant, my tears begin to flow, almost as if I were a child of two or three, with no emotional control over my feelings at all. For a man of my age, and capabilities, it is not merely embarrassing to have it strike as it does, willy-nilly, with no warning or pattern I can find, it is demeaning, as well…..

How we got into this emotional morass is simple, and my mistake…. I should know better than to start of talking of Carol; it brings out my strong emotion every time, as she is sorely missed. Carol was the kind of person we all know some time in our lives; she’s the one who always had a smile for you, no matter how she felt herself; one of those people whose presence makes others feel happy. She baked, and, I am positive, though I was not there, that her house was the one all her children’s friends hung out at, because there were always cookies, or a cupcake, and a warm smile from Mom… I envy her husband, for all the years he was allowed to have with her; we grew close in the last couple of years before she died, and I am glad, for she was one of the BEST people I have ever known…. and I say that, even though I never even ate one of her cookies…

It is fortunate, for me especially, that writing a blog is not a form of performance art, at least not in the sense of having a camera on us, recording us as we pound away at the keyboard…. though, in my case, it would be, if nothing else, NOT boring, as I never sit still for very long; I am up and down from the chair every few minutes to ease some painful bone or another, with these movements interspersed with periods of absolute stillness, as I compose in my head, then mad, desperate typing, as I try to get it down before it fades away, into that limbo we authors fear the most, where our best ideas get lost, never to be seen again….

Okay, well, that was something…. I’m not really certain just how to view the above…. it’s done, so, it stays, naturally. But, I am pretty sure I’ve never done anything quite like it…. In addition, I must say, I’m glad for that, and I hope never to go through this particular opening process again, as it hurt, in a lot of different ways, not all physical…. I’m STILL trying to clear out my sinuses from the crying jag I’ve already gone through, THRICE…. I’s okay, though; it got us this far down the page, so, silver lining, I guess…. Whatever the method, we’re here, so….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I leapt headlong into the sea,and thereby have become better acquainted with the soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly song, and took tea and comfortable advice.” — John Keats

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Having fulfilled my promise to pre-screen any more video movies, I can honestly say, this show, a long running BBC series, is NOT one of the reasons I stopped watching TV…. This, in spite of being on TV, and, no doubt, chopped to pieces by commercial interruptions, is excellent…. Fortunately, in this format, on You Tube, one need no longer put up with those ads, so, the story unfolds seamlessly, without the jolting stops and starts…. Moreover, it is one of the best of the Holmes stories, well adapted to the screen, with a wonderful cast of very strong actors…. Enjoy!….

Sherlock Holmes: The Copper Beeches

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“The last vestiges of the old Republic have been swept away.”

~~ Governor Tarkin ~~


Governor Tarkin’s words from Star Wars, Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back, assume an eerie precognitive accuracy in today’s world. Our country, which began, perhaps, as the world’s first truly democratic republic, has been so completely taken over by corporate interests, who hold private, dangerously delusional ambitions, which, over time, has prompted them to establish and maintain a world order according to their own avaricious agenda, one which has effectively altered the way the government operates, to the point we can no longer call it anything other than what it is in reality, an oligarchy…. government by, and for, the rich….

Absolute control of virtually all the monetary and physical resources of the nation (and, really, the whole planet…) is, and has been for some time, firmly under the control of a very small number of very rich assholes. (Well, the last word isn’t part of the actual definition, but, is most certainly my own opinion…). That control now extends to define every domestic and foreign policy carried out…. by ANY administration…. Even the makeup of those government administrations is controlled by those with money; they’ve paid the courts enough to ensure the laws will favor anything they wish to do to maintain that control, by putting their own stooges in a position to make the laws they need, and to judge those laws the way they wish….

For example….

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/22/torture-obama-cover-up-cia

“At this point, it’s becoming hard to believe anything Obama says about torture. The New York Times’ Charlie Savage reported Sunday that this administration is considering reinstating the Bush administration’s absurd interpretation of the United Nations treaty against torture, signed by the US decades ago, so that the US can claim the UN actually meant that any torture happening outside one’s own country essentially, you know, doesn’t count. Military and intelligence lawyers “say they need more time to study whether it would have operational impacts.” Really? I thought we stopped torturing people five years ago.”

“If Obama were to adopt this radical interpretation, sure, it would contradict all of his promises as he came into office, but as legal professor David Lubon describes, it would also directly violate US law.”

— excerpted from the above article

“Extreme avarice is always mistaken; there is no passion which is oftener further away from its mark, nor upon which the present has so much power to the prejudice of the future.” — La Rochefoucauld

It has become obvious, at least, to me, the unseen, shadowy masters of society no longer particularly care so much about keeping their agenda hidden…. The future La Rochefoucauld predicted is NOW…. The current collection of Obamadrones, who inhabit the White House, originally promised, as part of the pre-election set of lies the public wished to hear, ( Specifically designed, very effectively, as it turns out, to convince voters to put them in office….), to be the “most transparent administration ever”, along with murmurs about closing Guantanamo, and getting us out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East wars….

But, what has actually happened? Guantanamo is still operative, and, as the article shows, isn’t going anywhere soon, in spite of all the controversy; the torture continues, too, despite the insistence it does not…. just another lie, as it turns out. This administration is responsible for continuing the illegal spying done by the NSA, as well, having never even bothered to deny anything…. They just keep taking journalists and potential whistle blowers to court, for having given away their secrets, with charges based solely on provisions of that most evil document, the Homeland Security Act, a poorly disguised euphemism for Big Brother’s Mandate, a document that abrogates virtually every one of the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution…..

Yet, we still have troops on the ground all over the world, and, we are STILL bombing a number of foreign countries in our search to kill “terrorists”, with planes, AND with robot drones…. It’s said we spend $75 million/day for that bombing; I wonder who’s getting that money? Arms dealers, ya think?….

In order to distract critics, a fair amount of reform has been accomplished in the healthcare field; but, a close look at the resulting structural changes shows that, in essence, once again, the major winners are not the people, but, rather, the insurance companies, the HMO’s, the pharmaceutical companies, and all those other nice folks who charge the little people up the ass for their medical care, which, when one thinks about it, should be the right of every citizen, regardless of their position, or financial status….

What is society for, if not to share common knowledge (i.e., medical expertise and accumulated knowledge which is the legacy of the species, not the doctors, or the government…), to provide a clearing house for such skills so that all members of that society have access to them, to obtain the benefits of living in the group? If not for this, what is it for?

Perhaps I am not the most qualified judge, but, I know for certain, the legacy of the species does NOT belong exclusively to those who possess them, or to those who control them… They belong to us all, and it is only human avarice, and the predatory nature of man, with its unfortunate tendency to fall into evil, that precludes such a boon… As long as the corporate masters have their way, somebody will have to pay them to get what is actually theirs by right….

On that subject, here is a good article, with some excellent points of reason, which, by contrast, sound out cleanly and clearly amongst all the crap one generally finds in the mainstream media….

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/oct/21/-sp-the-truth-about-evil-john-gray

Given what is in this article, I am not certain of how to continue; to my mind, there is little hope of changing human nature, especially at this late hour…. In spite of all the technological advances and civilization we have built up over the last millennia, we are STILL just a weak, frightened hairless ape, with the same set of emotional and reasoning patterns and responses we carried with us when we still were huddling in caves, cold, naked, and afraid of the dark…. Seriously, I am often amazed at how our species STILL acts according to the same primitive emotions, and even more primitive attitudes, of aggression, theft, and violence that characterized those creatures, living in the wild, struggling to make sense of the mass of perceptions their too-massive brains took in…

We are still just hairless apes, no more civilized than those poor, ignorant savages; we just dress better, and have learned a few tricks since our cave days…. Our emotions, and the cult of ignorance adopted by society, haven’t changed a whit….

This is long enough, and I don’t have any viable solutions to offer…. so, we’ll call this a rant, and be on our way to the poetry section, where we MAY find a small piece of what DOES make us different from the other creatures with whom we share this globe, and, one of the FEW characteristics about mankind that I find to be of any redeeming value….. poetry…..

“Give them an opposable thumb, and they think they’re special.” — Smart Bee

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In my opinion, Charles is cool…. I say that, knowing full well the use of that word will date me…. I still think he’s cool….

Be Kind

are always asked
to understand the other person’s
viewpoint
no matter how
out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.

one is asked
to view
their total error
their life-waste
with
kindliness,
especially if they are
aged.

but age is the total of
our doing.
they have aged
badly
because they have
lived
out of focus,
they have refused to
see.

not their fault?

whose fault?
mine?

I am asked to hide
my viewpoint
from them
for fear of their
fear.

age is no crime

but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life

among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives

is.

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

Powerful stuff, eh?….

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Here is an old school pearl of vintage variety; moreover, I let Smart Bee pick out most of it, only intervening to format each quote’s position in the pearl at large…. Let’s see how it came out….

F = MA;
Things fall down;
You can’t push a rope.

~~ The three laws of physics ~~


“Never promise more than you can perform.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 528

“Remember:  Silly is a state of Mind, Stupid is a way of Life.” — Dave Butler

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe. And what do we teach our children in school? We teach them that two and two make four and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?” — Smart Bee**

“Life is the sum of all your choices.’ — Albert Camus

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read.” — Mark Twain

I ‘m weary of conjectures,–this must end ’em.
Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life,
My bane and antidote, are both before me:
This in a moment brings me to an end;
But this informs me I shall never die.
The soul, secured in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

~~ Joseph Addison (1672-1719) — Cato, Act v, Sc. 1 ~~


** (According to Dean Hannotte, a collector of quotes, with a web site here: http://www.hannotte.com/Quotes.htm, this was as quoted on page 8 of Richard Kehl’s 1990 quotation anthology entitled Further Departures ….. but, he didn’t say with whom it originated…. Hence, SB gets the credit for today…..)

There you go, ffolkes; not too shabby for one with so little direction provided at the outset…. sort of a series of comments on Reality, and our place in it, so to speak…. It’ll do to finish, quite nicely….

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Due to circumstances completely within my control, I’m very late getting up to finish and post this mess… but, it’s done, so I’m not going to either belabor the circumstances, of bemoan my choice to not assume the necessary control of events…. In short, I don’t care, it’s done…. Moreover, I’m outta here, having done all the damage I can do…. so to speak…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….

 

View only with intimately innocent eyes….

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Ffolkes,

“Cats know how we feel. They don’t give a damn, but they know.” — Smart Bee

10-19-2014 008

    This picture has NOT been altered in any way, other than to sharpen up the spider’s outline. It sure is a BIG one, isn’t it? Why, just looking at it, sitting there on the side of that house, it looks to be a good foot and a half long, wouldn’t you guess? I’ll bet the folks who live there don’t have to worry much about flies, or even stray dogs…. the spider would make sure NOTHING got into the house, unless it came to act as the dinner entree…. I wonder what it would be like to have a trained attack spider….

There…. now y’all can’t accuse me of never giving y’all any nonsense in the intro any more…. I must admit, what with the stuff going on in the world, and my own issues, such as the advent of diabetes, worsening arthritis, and ongoing wars with Kaiser P, it’s been a bit difficult to maintain the proper mindset for nonsense…. One must needs bring out the inner Zippy the Pinhead, and let the nose grow to its maximum degree of round redness…. or is that red roundness?…. Any who, as can be guessed, when dealing with HMO’s or postal employees, sobriety works much faster than silliness, so, I got out of the habit of getting strange, just for the hell of it….

As can be surmised, however, as a life-long bozoid personality, strange is never far off, so, it takes mere moments for me to adopt the mantle of humorous oddity that settles so comfortably upon my shoulders, whenever I let my inner Bozo out to play. Nothing is more fun, or more satisfying, than to bring a frown of confused annoyance to the formerly unhappy faces of those who surround me in public, or to drive entire rooms full of diners out of a restaurant, through the use of what is called, in the mental health industry, word salad…. Plus, there is, in my mind, NOTHING that compares to confusing myrmidons, such as county sheriff’s deputies, or rookie CHP’s…. they’re so cute when they scowl, don’t you think? And nothing is better than getting them right up to the point of apoplexy, only to discover I’ve done nothing illegal….

But, teasing the animals with badges isn’t all fun, nor is it always danger-free, even when NOT acting illegally….. There are far too many aggressive, stupid idiots wearing badges, who think nothing of abusing their authority, and filing false charges against any member of the public they don’t like…. especially one who makes them feel stupid…. but, I figure, it’s not my responsibility to make them feel good…. I do figure it is my job to make fun of them, and to give them every bit of crap I can, because you can be sure, they will be doing so to the public, eventually…. Too many police officers in today’s world are in the field simply because it gives them the opportunity to act tough, and to bully others….

But, I’m not going to rant, he said, piteously…. I promised I wouldn’t!….. Besides, at this point, I don’t have to…. I didn’t notice, but, we passed the legal limit some time ago…. Time does fly when having fun, eh? I’m thinking, since we’re already here, I’ll just dump us out of the intro right here, in this paragraph, so we can get on with the show before I get much weirder…. As is patently obvious, and, as I said above, strange isn’t far off, for me, so, we’ll just let it go at that, and get on with what we came to do…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably.” — Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804)

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

As promised,  I pre-screened this video, and can faithfully, and truthfully say, it’s a good story…. It happens to be one of my favorite Holmes stories…. and Jeremy Brett was one of the better Sherlock actors, in my opinion…. He captured the fragility of Holmes’ mentality quite well; his “crazed eyes” are perfect, as is his infectious enthusiasm when portraying Holmes on the scent…. Enjoy ffolkes, it’s a bit less than an hour of solid entertainment, as the Victorian world of Watson and Holmes is brought to life on screen for your enjoyment….


Sherlock Holmes and the adventure of the Norwood Builder — Jeremy Brett

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

It has been some time since I posted this list…. It is comprised of 20 statements of the qualities one must display in order to live up to the name of gentleman…. I could spend quite a bit of time going over each characteristic, complete with examples of how poorly most men in this country do at meeting these standards, but, I am of the opinion that each of these speaks for itself.

Each statement of character is short, clear, and unambiguous; do this, and you will live with honor, integrity, and respect, not only of others, but, your own as well…. I once heard it said, and can certainly agree, the best way to teach this to your sons is to follow each directive, showing them HOW…. no words are necessary. Just live, and let them watch, and learn….

A Gentleman Is

    There… Now, isn’t that better than a rant? I must say, it was a lot easier on me….

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The following entry is not a poem, but, to me, it is poetry in prose, simple wisdom derived from experiential observation and insight. If I ever marry again, I will seriously consider having the preacher/shaman use this for the ceremony…. This one is one of those I don’t really care if nobody likes…. I do….. But, I happen to believe that there are very few rational, compassionate humans who can find much in this to which they can object…. Enjoy!…. The sentiments expressed are the best we humans have learned to express….

“Marriage. It’s a hard term to define, especially for me, I’ve ducked it like root canal. Still there’s no denying that marriage ranks right up there with birth and death as one of the three biggies in the human safari. It’s the only one though that we’ll celebrate with a conscious awareness. Very few of you remember your arrival and even fewer will attend your own funeral. You pick a society, any society– Sunni, Fidembo, Pennsylvania Dutch– what’s the one thing that they all have in common? Marriage. It’s like a cultural hand rail. It links folks to the past and guides them to the future. That’s not all though; Marriage is the union of disparate  elements– male and female, yin and yang, proton and electron. What are we talking about here? Nothing less than the very tension that binds the universe. You see when we talk of marriage, people, we’re talking of  creation itself. ‘I am the sky,’ says the Hindu bride-groom to the bride, ‘You are the earth. We are sky and earth united.’ The ring please Joel. You are my husband, you are my wife. My feet shall run because of you, my feet shall dance because of you. My heart shall beat because of you, my eyes see because of you. My mind think because of you, and I shall love because of you. Are you guys cool with that? Then kiss.”

~~ Chris Stevens, “Northern Exposure” ~~


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The following pearl is possibly the oddest pearl I’ve ever put together…. I’m not certain if it was Smart Bee guiding my hand, or if my subconscious was being cute…. What I do know is that, odd as it seems, it also seems to make some kind of sense…. which means this is a stealth pearl, one that delivers the message it wishes to convey by taking the mind through vistas unknown, but, ending up where one may bend over and pick up a solid rock of insight, put it in their pocket, and wander away as if entranced…. Or, just let it wash over you, and spread its balm of understanding via the process of cellular absorption…. Whatever….

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” — Walter Winchell

“I have two pets: A large main dog, and a small emergency backup one.” — Smart Bee

“Conservatives want to make people virtuous; liberals want to make them healthy. Both believe that using the state to accomplish their aims is legitimate. That is why both conservatives and liberals favor anti-drug laws, psychiatric coercions, and other assaults against individual freedom and responsibility couched in therapeutic terms.” — Thomas S. Szasz

“That which is incapable of proof itself is not proof of anything else.” — Shelley

“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot” — Charlie Chaplin

“Bush wears a hat so he knows which end to wipe!” — Smart Alec Bee

“We made too many wrong mistakes.” — Yogi Berra

“The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 16

“Let’s have a Tupperware party! Habeamus convivium ad mercem emendam.” — Latin For Everyday Occasions

Okay, that should do it…. what it will do remains to be seen, but, it should be, if nothing else, adorably cute…. or not.

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This one defies all description…. Well, it defies all MY description, anyway. Such as it is, though, it IS done, which puts it into that category of my favorite pearls… i.e., the finished variety…. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. I can’t seem to talk myself out of it…. HONK, HONK!…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!

À bientôt, mon cherí….

 

Oh, that’s just ducky, Penelope…..

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Ffolkes,

~~  A wonderful poem by Audrey Hepburn  ~~

Written when asked to share her “beauty tips.”
It was read at her funeral years later.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.  For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.  For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.  For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.  For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.  People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.  Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.  As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

audrey h

    I’m hoping no one ever asks me where I got this, because I just don’t remember. I know when I found it, I made sure I had it saved in a way allowing me to eventually print it, but, that’s all. Just as well; I’m hard pressed at times to accept the ragging I get for being such a romantic. Being a romantic sort, though, doesn’t prevent me from recognizing truth, and beauty of spirit, and Ms. Hepburn, with this statement, proves she possessed both, in ample measure…. It’s also a good way to start today, with the subject matter in section one being somewhat appropriate to the sentiments expressed here, i.e. compassion, kindness, and love…..

On a personal note, I am in the throes of relieved joy; my vertigo has finally passed away, with no lingering background noise in the nerves, and no lingering dizziness. It has been said, “True relief is the release from pain.”, and I am here to testify, it also works on what may be called malaise, that pervasive sense of WRONGNESS that slithers along the nerves, like static on a phone line, keeping us a bit edgy & jumpy, without even knowing why we feel that way, a miserable condition most know from having a cold, or the flu, when that misery feels as if it has settled into our very bones….  That sort of nervous edge is exhausting, as we fight against it, muscles tensing & releasing in sympathetic fervor, until we are completely drained, without having exerted ourselves at all….

When it goes away, the relief is immense, seemingly leaving us joyful and elated, again with little obvious reason…. I have to say, it is quite a relief, which doesn’t make itself felt until the condition is no longer bothering us…. It also allowed me to get some actual, restful sleep, so, that’s something, right? Right…. I might even figure out a way to make this pearl better because of it…. NAH! Never happen, but, it’s nice to consider now and again…

Actually, I’m going to be a bit on the ruthless side this morning, as this will be the last of the intro paragraphs… not that I’m really concerned with making things better; I feel like I’ve hit my peak, at least writing-wise…. but, that doesn’t alter my mood, which is determined and resolute in its determination to make serious changes around here. I find myself, these last few days while my movements have been curtailed again by my physical condition, thinking a lot of what is going on with my body, with all the new and annoyingly repetitive breakdowns of my various bodily functions…. Pain, chronic fatigue, joint stiffness, vertigo complicated by old concussions (as I finally found out….), all are becoming far too familiar, and, essentially, are keeping me from doing what I WANT to be doing…. and, I say….. BASTA!

Enough! I’m done being a cripple, and an invalid. I’m tired of allowing my body to prevent me from doing what I want to do, and I’m not going to put up with it any longer…. I’ll be going into healing meditative trances, dieting (correctly), performing katas and forms,  and otherwise establishing a routine of physical maintenance the like of which I’ve avoided for about twenty years now, since learning of the first of the physical conditions that are plaguing me…. including, less time here at the computer, as sitting so much certainly is NOT helpful…. In the interests of encouraging the will power it will take to see myself through to the other side, I’ll end this intro now, so we can get on with the day…. as I mentioned, I believe, rather ruthlessly….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“A priest asked: What is Fate, Master?
And he answered: It is that which gives a beast of burden its reason for existence.  It is that which men in former times had to bear upon their backs.  It is that which has caused nations to build byways from City to City upon which carts and coaches pass, and alongside which inns have come to be built to stave off Hunger, Thirst and Weariness.
And that is Fate?  said the priest.
Fate … I thought you said Freight, responded the Master.
That’s all right, said the priest.  I wanted to know what Freight was too.”

— Kehlog Albran, The Profit

No, it means nothing…. or, possibly, even less than that….. I just thought it was funny…. which it is…. If y’all don’t think so, well…. Okay….. I do….

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

“To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child.  For what is man’s lifetime unless the memory of past events is woven with those of earlier times?” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), Orator

Our culture is sick. It has been so for millennia, though many would argue that point, being, as I’ve said before, asininnies at the core, and not able to admit they don’t know…. thus, they are perpetually unable to learn…. We live in a sick society, ffolkes, one that, in great part, is suicidally determined that we shall NOT survive as a species…. Only a species determined to die would allow one half of its members to continuously, and irrationally, abuse and oppress the other half of the two genders, as if the wildness of our nature holds complete sway over any ability to reason we may show…..

This pervasive abuse, of women, by men, is far too ubiquitous to ignore, or deny, yet, the largest portion of people alive today don’t even know they are fully trained and indoctrinated, minds controlled absolutely, by their acceptance, and belief in a set of delusions, that keep us from ever reaching the potential we may have as a species, as they forever keep the two sexes from understanding one another…. In the past, I’ve written a number of posts on this subject, which tends to get my juices flowing rather well…. Whenever I think of how some men treat women, it only strengthens my feelings of anger, and my desire to go buy a gun, to start eradicating at least a few of the problems…. or, rather, the physical manifestations of the problems, otherwise known as pimps, or snakeheads….

A couple of days ago, Emma Watson, the young woman who grew up playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, gave a speech at the UN, addressing the delegates to announce the formation of a new organization, called HeforShe, at http://HeforShe.org/, dedicated to stopping the historical pattern of misogyny and abuse by men, calling on all men, (in my mind, all REAL men….) to join the fight to save their sisters, mothers, and lovers from the habitual sexism and unconscious patterns of abusive behavior and attitudes that have held us ALL back for so long…. Only when men are as aware of the issue as are women, can there be any hope of making the needed changes in society….

Below, I’ve placed four items to note…. the first is a copy of the text of the speech made by Ms. Watson at the UN, the official UN released copy…. also included is a link to the YouTube video of the speech, as well as a YouTube player, so you can watch the speech yourself, right here, if you wish…. All I ask is that you either read it, or watch it; it isn’t long, but, it is VERY IMPORTANT that everyone alive be aware of this issue….

So, please share this link with others, and help spread the word to the snakeheads and pimps…. their day is done, and the good people of society are coming to get them gone, or get them dead, whichever they prefer….. Listen up ffolkes, and pay heed….. This one is for real…. The fourth item, of course, is a pearl to finish the points to be made…..

“It is easy for men to talk one thing and think another.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 322

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“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

“So many jerks, so little ammunition.” — Smart Bee

Well may your hearts believe the truths I tell:
‘T is virtue makes the bliss, where’er we dwell.

~~ William Collins  ~~

— (1720-1756) — Oriental Eclogues, 1, Line 5 —


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Today’s video is not musically oriented; instead, for your entertainment, a movie, in five parts, a BBC production of Dorothy L. Sayers’ novel, Clouds of Witness, with actor Ian Carmichael playing Lord Peter Wimsey, the Edwardian Age’s modernized version of Sherlock Holmes, the aristocrat detective, in a delightfully complex, dreadfully British, well-acted, authentic, drawing room comedy/murder mystery, worthy of its reputation as one of the detective novel genre’s most influential works, considered on a par with any of Agatha Christie’s stories….

In this case, we find Lord Peter and his man, Bunter, running about, feverishly, in the search to find evidence to clear his brother, the Duke of Denver, who has been  charged with murdering their sister’s fiancé, gathering the necessary facts from Paris, to New York, to Yorkshire, to London, all with a veneer of polished inanity covering a brilliant story…. Enjoy….

Oh, right, almost forgot….  you can find the next four installments by using the link, which takes you to the You Tube page of the first episode, where all of them are listed….

Lord Peter Wimsey, Clouds of witness, part 1 of 5: 

 

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In certain instances, my mood goes into some strange places…. when it does, I find one poet most often seems to have a poem that fits the mood I feel…. Emily Dickinson, of course…. Plus, this seems like one to go well with today’s message/theme, as it is one of Emily’s sadder pieces…. Well, it makes me sad, anyway…. but, it also makes me feel as her work always does….. human….

I cannot live with you,
It would be life,
And life is over there
Behind the shelf

The sexton keeps the key to,
Putting up
Our life, his porcelain,
Like a cup

Discarded of the housewife,
Quaint or broken;
A newer Sevres pleases,
Old ones crack.

I could not die with you,
For one must wait
To shut the other’s gaze down,–
You could not.

And I, could I stand by
And see you freeze,
Without my right of frost,
Death’s privilege?

Nor could I rise with you,
Because your face
Would put out Jesus’.
That new grace

Glow plain and foreign
On my homesick eye,
Except that you, than he
Shone closer by.

They’d judge us–how?
For you served Heaven, you know
Or sought to;
I could not,

Because you saturated sight,
And I had no more eyes
For sordid excellence
As Paradise.

And were you lost, I would be,
Though my name
Rang loudest
On the heavenly fame.

And were you saved,
And I condemned to be
Where you were not,
That self were hell to me.

So we must keep apart,
You there, I here,
With just the door ajar
That oceans are,
And prayer,
And that pale sustenance,
Despair!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~


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

Do not attempt to find any deeper meaning in this pearl than you may see on the surface; it is deliberately shallow, intended only as an example of mankind’s obvious tendency to engage in activities that range from the sublime to the ridiculous, not as a journey of one direction, either way, but, more like a bloody yo-yo, up and down, up and down, over and over again, just as if we had no memory at all…. Enjoy!….

“There is nothing that is meritorious but virtue and friendship; and indeed friendship itself is only a part of virtue.” — Pope (1688-1744)

“The purpose and function of government is not to preside over change but to prevent change. By political methods when unavoidable, by violence when
convenient.” — Edward Abbey

“I know the road, I know where it goes; that’s why I’m going so slow…” — Smart Bee

“Cogito, ergo sum. (I think, therefore I am)” — Rene Descartes

“Cogito sum. Circa de basta. (I think I am. That’s close enough.) — gigoid, Peruaosophy, axiom 1, 1986

“Now I’m concentrating on a specific tank battle toward  the end of World War II!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Hmph! Seriousness.  Hmph! Sobriety.  A Jedi craves them not.” — Yoda, Jedi master, a long, long, time ago, in a galaxy far away….

See? Even in the state I’m in, I can do this with my eyes closed…. and, probably should do so more often…..

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

In spite of myself, I seem to have finished this Pearl…. huh. When I began, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do so….. I suppose I’m in a bit of a flutter, as it is raining (a complete, though welcome, surprise….), and I feel (relatively) good, both of which aren’t usual around here of late… I’m going to do the sensible thing, and go enjoy that, so, I’d best bring this to a close…. With no further ado, I declare this Pearl of Virtual Wisdom to be complete, and give y’all leave, to, well, leave…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. for now….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

“The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.”

Kowabunga!

À bientôt, mon cherí.

 

Never to forgive, no time to forget….

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Ffolkes,

Today’s Pearl is going to be a difficult one to write…. not because of the complexity or subtlety that is needed, nor for any great amounts of humor that I’ll be trying to infuse in it, though I’m sure humor won’t be out of place…. it just won’t have much effect. In order not to drive anyone away right off the bat, I’ll try to hold off any further spoiler remarks until its time for the actual event to unfold….. and, I’ll try not to drip tears on the keyboard as I type, a frequent problem with this sort of material….

In fact, the upcoming rant, and Pearl, could be considered as unique, beyond any reasons that already may apply for a blog such as this…. First, the title…. It actually has something to do with the content today; what it says refers directly to the rant that will go below, on global warming and climate change. This is unprecedented here on ECR; the one time it happened previously was an accident, when I forgot to do the title beforehand, and having written the Pearl already, the title ended up as a comment on it, after a fashion….. Other than that one instance, the title has never before directly referred to what is included in the Pearl itself….

Second, the content today will be not merely curmudgeonly, and my emotions regarding what is written about are much, much stronger than for most rants, because this is the BIG ONE, ffolkes. This one speaks to the End Times that we have brought upon ourselves with our massive stupidity, and lack of simple intelligent behavior. We’ve fouled our nest beyond redemption, and it is NOT an easy task to try to discuss it without involving my own feelings about the assholes who are to blame….

I am usually the kind of person who tries to fix the problem, rather than fixing blame… But, in this case, the problem is one I can’t fix…. nobody can, it’s too late. The physical processes involved in global warming have reached the stage where we not only don’t have the technology, or the smarts to know how to stop the process, but we don’t have enough TIME to figure it out…. The processes involved have already reached a point of no return, so the only option left for us is to adapt the best we can, which doesn’t appear to give us much time at all, as there is no adaptation we can make to learn how to breathe methane gas….

That’s enough of a preview in the intro section… I’d best leave some of my angst out for the actual rant. I’ve managed to blather about it long enough to cover the basic requirements, so, we’re good to go in that respect…. I only hope I can keep up the anger, and let go of the sadness and disappointment long enough to make this a good rant…. There’s certainly enough supporting material to prove my points….. Any who, I think I’ve been as clear, and as obscure as I could be in one short section, so….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Only the good die young. Note the average age in Congress.” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

Do you remember what the First American Revolution was about? I mean, really about? In school, we are given a dual message as to the motivation for the rebellion, with the message the BRC WANTS you to believe on the top, and the real reason as the subtext, gone over quickly and then dismissed…. This is how you control and manipulate people, by controlling their perceptions, and what they are allowed to see and hear; it’s a technique that has been applied to the American people, as well as most of the people in the world, ever since the ink dried on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights…..

You see, the subtext of the message about the Revolution was this, (and I’m sure you’ve heard it….)…. “No taxation without representation.” You see, ffolkes, it’s all about the money, and it always has been….. We are told about how we fought this war with England for our freedom… freedom of religion, and freedom of government…. This was the idea used by the colonists who owned the land, and the plantations, to convince the laborer classes, the small merchants, and small land holders, the rest of the folks living here, to join in the revolution with them, promising virtually unlimited freedoms (compared to what they had known all their lives….), and never once letting on that protecting their money was the underlying reason….

You see, what was really wanted by our forefathers was freedom to keep their money for themselves, rather than having it taxed by a king they never saw, for public services they also never saw…. Not being particularly fond of sending their money off to the king, and never getting anything for it, the aristocrats among the colonists fooled the rest of them into joining the fight, while they sat comfortably at home, paying for it…. thus, the scam and charade began, and has been going strong ever since….

“A politician,… one that would circumvent God.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act v, Sc. 1

Now, it’s 2014, and our culture has been evolving under the auspices of this charade for over 200 years. We have reached the point where certain of our societal habits and fillips are becoming significantly dangerous, in a very real, physical sense….. One of our ingrained societal habits is that of entitlement, that particularly human characteristic that gives people the false impression they are adequate as moral beings, just because they’ve agreed to the delusional claims of the religious hierarchies, or sociopathic, power seeking politicians, or, worst of all, the amoral financiers who live for self-interest, giving them carte blanche to assume their own prominence at the top of the food chain….

I mean, one of the religious books these fools pay so much attention to says it right up front, “Man was given dominion over all the other animals, made master of all the world, in God’s name….”    I know, that’s not an accurate quote, but the meaning is clear, and is exactly what they teach their constituency to believe….. This entitlement is what has led us to destroy our own nest, fouling the air and water to the point where we have outstripped our ability to adapt, either technologically, or biologically….

The article just below this paragraph is by one of my favorite authors, to give you another perception of what I’m seeing, and talking about today; I found some of the other links in his article, which will take y’all to material that will help understand the depth and severity of the problem we face now…. Please, take a few moments now to read it…. I’ll wait right here…..

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/01/21/fine-weather-for-creepy-melancholia/

The two links below are to other articles that contain some of the research facts that have brought this knowledge to the forefront of the news… The first is a summary of the current California drought, the second an assessment by experts about drought conditions world-wide in the upcoming year…. All of it is pretty grim, and pretty convincing, since none of it can be denied…. This stuff isn’t theory, it isn’t speculation, ffolkes, these are the FACTS…..

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/01/california-drought-scary-facts-snowpack

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.html

The link below this paragraph is perhaps the scariest of these documents, as it is a discussion by the leading US government scientists in the appropriate fields, who have gotten together to file this report…. The opening lines are astoundingly frightening…. They paint a grim picture of WHATEVER future is in store for the US, with its immediate focus being on how the American people are now going to have to accept the FACT that what is happening is because of our own foolishness…. Go ahead, read the first page or two, then come on back here to finish this diatribe, as you can get back to the rest of that report later, should you wish to inundate yourself in evidence….

http://ncadac.globalchange.gov/download/NCAJan11-2013-publicreviewdraft-fulldraft.pdf

An old adage in writing talks about always leaving one’s audience wanting more…. I’d love to do so, but, that’s all there is, ffolkes. It’s too late for anything else, so all I can do is deliver the message, as clearly and as convincingly as I can, and, well, I almost said pray, or hope, that a miracle of some kind will happen, but, neither one of those looks like it will do much good…. We’ve already broken all the supposed laws that God might have given us, had He existed outside our own minds, a statement I make in complete confidence that there isn’t a priest, preacher, or Pope alive who would admit otherwise, by their own standards, if they were tasked to be honest….

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

~~ Emily Dickinson

Hope? Hope never dies, does it? As convinced as I am of our impending doom as a species, there is still a small, admittedly VERY small, piece of me that retains some hope that my assessment is incorrect….. But, even the power of Emily’s brand of unfounded, unasked-for hope, it is now getting very hard to retain any belief in it….

I WANT to believe there IS a feasible scientific or otherwise practical solution to the physical issues concerning the climate, with all its unknown, perilous changes, to which we will have to learn to adapt in a very short period of time…. or die. I want to, but, I don’t….. I cannot say I will welcome Death if it comes before I think it is my time, even though I have little fear of it….  Welcome or not, it is an issue I believe I WILL have to confront….

Dramatic? Yes. True? Yes. Don’t take my word for it, go read the articles, listen to the experts; they’ll all tell you the same thing, ffolkes. We have ignored Axiom #2** of Peruaosophy, and we are all about to become victims of our own ignorance. The change that is coming isn’t a matter of trying to decide on a new paint color, or even whether or not a politician is lying to us…. It is real, innovative, unpredictable in scope, if not direction, and is in our faces NOW….

**Axiom #2: The Nature of the Universe is Change. Unpredictable, innovative transformation of Reality is the Norm. If you have a problem with this, you’re in for a rough ride in Life.”

Addendum: You might ask, how did we ignore Axiom #2, as a culture? Perhaps the primary characteristic of those in power is their fear of change, and their insane need to maintain the status quo at all costs…. To me, this is simple logic, unassailable in its clarity, and its truth as a conclusion of both deductive and inductive reasoning…. If you doubt either assertion, perhaps this will help…. Proof of their fear of change? Ask a politician their opinion on term limits…. or, ask a banker their opinion of the Second amendment… Inductively, it seems obvious to me that only a very great fear of the unknown could account for the need for entitlement, or the desire to even possess power over others…. It isn’t sane, and nobody can tell me it is….

I will leave this gloomy discussion right there, with only the following three-star pearl as a final comment….

“The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest.” — Sherlock Holmes [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]

“While hunting in Africa, I shot an elephant in my pajamas.  How an elephant got into my pajamas I’ll never know.” — Groucho Marx

“Most of all, I’ve learned that a good time to laugh is anytime you can.” — Linda Ellerbee
_____________________________

”    . . .those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded . . . Sad, indeed, is it to see how men occupy themselves with trivialities, and are indifferent to the grandest phenomena– care not to understand the architecture of the heavens, but are deeply interested in some contemptible controversy about the intrigues of Mary Queen of Scots!” — Herbert Spencer


The link above will take you to a copy, with annotations, of T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland”….. for some reason, my sense of irony demanded I include it today, in spite of the several hundred verses one must wend through to reach the end, and all the meaning…. Rather than take up your time further with it here, I am providing the link so you may peruse it at your leisure, little as we may have of that left to us….   Sorry, no more doom & gloom now…. we’re going on to have some fun, if I have to hurt myself….
_____________________________

I am bound and determined (what a clunky, awkward phrase! How did it ever survive in the English language for so long?….)… Any who, I am firmly invested in having a laugh or two now, even if I have to resort to picking on my own bozoid tendencies…. There are certainly enough of those to go around, which any of my exes would be happy to tell you….

Bozoid tendencies? What are those? Well, really, ffolkes, do you really feel the need for me to explain that? The very words are pretty self-explanatory…. but, I guess it’s been awhile since I expounded on my version** of this theory, so, to answer, quickly….

Bozoid tendencies are those human characteristics that are embedded in our species’ persona, hard-wired, as it were, into our psyches, that can only be described as being “clownish”, and cannot be suppressed, no matter how dignified or stuffy one tries to be…. It can be best expressed vocally by the phrase, “I came, I saw, I screwed up.”…..

At some point in life, each and every one of us will do something really stupid, right in front of the most embarrassing group of people possible, such as family, or an entire stadium of excitable fans, or a restaurant full of strangers…. Often it is something as simple as forgetting a wife’s birthday, or forgetting to close a zipper, ensuring a wardrobe failure at the wrong time, or it could be as compelling a moment as running the wrong direction in a Super Bowl…. but, we all do it at one time in our lives, without exception…. Hence, the theory of Bozoid Tendencies….

** Inspired by the metaphoric brilliance of the Firesign Theater’s audio improvisational album, “I Think We’re All Bozo’s On This Bus!”, the Theory of Bozoid Tendencies was first discussed and codified in Berkeley in 1969….

This is the period when gigoid (that’s me….) spent a lot of time in such discussions with other burgeoning social philosophers, all UCB students of various vintages, in various dark, smoky venues, in various stages of mindfulness due to either extreme use of sober imagination and logic, to the often brilliant scintillation of drug induced excitement of the imagination, whether the drug was wine, beer, MJ, or something more exotic, if infrequent.

Having obviously survived the experiences intact, the Theory has been shown to be valid in many, many instances over the years, in myself, and in the world at large…. with most of such proof provided in the daily news…. when not in the mirror….

With all of that in mind, we’ll now search for some pearls that can make me laugh…. you’re on your own, this one will be according to MY sense of what is funny, and what isn’t…. So there…. I TOLD you we all have a sense of entitlement, didn’t I?….. Besides, if nothing else, YOU can laugh at MY sense of entitlement, or my humorous standards, if you so desire, and I can laugh at myself (I’m easily amused….)…. just for making the effort, which goes to the evidence folder for the theory’s validity….

“A guinea pig is not from Guinea but a rodent from South America. A firefly is not a fly, but a beetle. A giant panda bear is really a member of the raccoon family. A black panther is really a leopard that has a solid black coat rather then a spotted one. Peanuts are not really nuts. The majority of nuts grow on trees while peanuts grow underground. They are classified as a legume-part of the pea family. A cucumber is not a vegetable but a fruit. — Smart Bee

(Just a few of the reasons I love the English language…. and the English mind, which is completely twisted…..)

“I think you ought to know I’m feeling terribly depressed.” — Douglas Adams — The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Marvin

(And I think I have very good reason to be depressed, don’t you?….. So much so, I have to laugh, so I don’t cry….)

“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.” — Robert E. Lee

(Don’t know exactly why, but this, to me, is funny…. perhaps more funny, strange, because of the irony, than funny ha ha, but, funny….)

“Life isn’t fair.” — L.J. Smith

(This reminds me of my favorite line to use to try to gently remind someone they are whining for no reason; simply ask, “Who was the one who lied to you?” “Who was who?” “The one who told you life would be fair.”…. First heard from my father, at a young age….)

(Okay, so, I’m not funny today…. I’ll quit with the comments, and find a solid final threesome of pearls for ya….)

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert.  Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read.
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains.    Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

— Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), “Ozymandias” (1819)

“Everything that goes up must come down. But there comes a time when not everything that’s down can come up.” — George Burns (1896-1996)

You know it’s going to be a bad day, when you find a note on your door that says, “Knocked, you weren’t in. — Opportunity” — Smart Bee

You may well ask yourself why I felt compelled to include the excerpt by Shelley in there, but, I, being the curmudgeon that I am, will only say that I know that my Gentle Readers will be able to look at that, in juxtaposition with everything else I wrote today, and see why I fell over laughing when I saw it come up on the screen, and why it’s a particularly funny joke right now…. The others, well, as I said, you’re on your own…. I laughed….

😆
_____________________________

“Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves.” — Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

Either this means I should never have started, but kept silent, or, it means I spent a lot of time in silence, fashioning a great Pearl. I’ll have to leave that particular judgment up to others, but, I gotta admit, I like this one quite a bit…. Long as it may be, I had fun, and I said what I had to say…. Now, I can go finish the day in good spirits, having completed what I now consider as my duty, or, at least, the initial one of the day…. See ya tomorrow, for now…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

….even with his own hands!…

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Ffolkes,
And then I woke up….. which, considering the fact that I actually slept, is a good thing, even if it happened at 0300 again. I fell out last night when, all of a sudden, at 7 PM or so, heavy fatigue came crashing down on me, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. It was all I could do to clean up dinner and get coffee made, before I literally fell into bed, and to sleep in no time.

What a great feeling! Even though I’m up again so early, I feel good, and almost back on the Time Zone schedule I should be on. I’m alert, my pain level is reasonable, and all is right in my world…. Well, I wish Patricia felt better, but I think her cold is finally on the downhill side, and I’m thinking, and hoping, she’ll feel better today….

Without going in to detail, Murphy has presented me with my conundrum for the day, and it’s a doozy. One I’ll have to deal with without delay, and which will probably slow down all I want to do today. So much for not being broken….. At least, for y’all, it’s a bonus, because it means I won’t be rambling on forever with this intro, as I need to go do other stuff, and want to get this Pearl mostly done before the world and it’s demands intrude. In short…. Shall we Pearl?….

“In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
__________________________________

What do you think? Is it time for a rant, perhaps, a religirant? I think so…. They haven’t done anything particularly stupid in public of late; some of the fundamentalists must have broken down and started listening to their lawyers. They’ve been careful lately about saying stuff that not only infuriates the rest of the country, but are probably legally actionable as slander. But, they’ll still ask you to send money, so they can afford to carry on God’s work…..

“They say give your money to God, but they give you THEIR address.” — Smart Bee

On my recent trip to Texas, I went by a church by the highway, and did a complete and classic double-take when the name on the sign registered. I don’t know if it is the one that keeps getting itself in the news, but it said it was the Westboro Baptist Church, home of the world’s most clueless, hateful, and ignorant preacher. Well, the sign didn’t say the last part, that was mine, but it’s still true, if it is the church that has, for the last three or four years, made itself famous, and the target of every other Christian in the US, for dragging the good name of Christians in general through some pretty dark mud, and flinging the rest of the mud on everyone it can see…..

These folks, and the idiot who leads them into their idiocy, are perhaps the stupidest people on the planet, if a willingness to display that stupidity, time after time, on national TV, is any indication, all in spite of the constant and strident statements from the entire rest of the world that they are not just wrong, but stupidly wrong, in each and every one of their stated objectives. Wrong, that is, according to every other interpretation of the Bible’s words by every Christian scholar in the world, except themselves.

They just refuse to even look at what they are doing, and have no clue of how ridiculous they appear to everyone else in the world. In a way, it is really sad, except for their vicious vindictiveness, and the vulnerability of their victims, the people they label as blasphemers and devils, just for being different in some way. In their ignorant blundering around like bulls in a china shop, they hurt the feelings of people who are already suffering, and do so deliberately…. Not just stupid, the assholes, but cruelly so….

“Some men become proud and insolent because they ride a fine horse, wear a feather in their hat or are dressed in a fine suit of clothes. Who does not see the folly of this? If there be any glory in such things, the glory belongs to the horse, the bird and the tailor.” — St. Frances de Sales

This is their justification, their rationalization for their actions, which they KNOW to be wrong; no one breathing could possibly be THAT stupid as to not know their own cruelty. But, like all Christians do, to at least some degree, in order to maintain faith, they can rationalize anything, as long as it supports their belief in their own rightness…. This is a necessary attribute for anyone attempting to live in reality according to the rules dictated by a delusion, and, in fact, is most likely a purely human characteristic, common to the believers of ANY religion.

“Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.” — Martin Fraquhar Tupper

At this point in this discussion, I think this final quote can point the way out of such a distasteful subject. My hands already will need to be washed thoroughly after this stuff, so I may as well close it by saying this…. The people in the world who have decided to allow fear to dictate their entire approach to Life, have submerged their intelligence in the pursuit of an idea that has no real connection to the real world, in order to spare themselves the effort of dealing with life directly, using their own minds.

That being said, I can finally give them their precise due, and no longer consider them, at all…. which means I don’t have to waste my time talking about them either….. Bully good news for y’all, don’t you think?…. I’m going now, see, I’m already gone…..

“To perceive is to suffer.” — Aristotle, De Anima
__________________________________

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS
 
The broad-backed hippopotamus
Rests on his belly in the mud;
Although he seems so firm to us
He is merely flesh and blood.  

Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail,
Susceptible to nervous shock;
While the True Church can never fail
For it is based upon a rock.  

The hippo’s feeble steps may err
In compassing material ends,
While the True Church need never stir
To gather in its dividends.  

The ‘potamus can never reach
The mango on the mango-tree;
But fruits of pomegranate and peach
Refresh the Church from over sea.  

At mating time the hippo’s voice
Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd,
But every week we hear rejoice
The Church, at being one with God.  

The hippopotamus’s day
Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;
God works in a mysterious way–
The Church can sleep and feed at once.  

I saw the ‘potamus take wing
Ascending from the damp savannas,
And quiring angels round him sing
The praise of God, in loud hosannas.  

Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean
And him shall heavenly arms enfold,
Among the saints he shall be seen
Performing on a harp of gold.  

He shall be washed as white as snow,
By all the martyr’d virgins kist,
While the True Church remains below
Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

__________________________________

No ups, no extras, just the fax, ma’am…. Here is a pearl of the old school, ripped screaming from the archives, from somewhere; early twenty-first century, I think…. Yes, I’m lazy, but there are compelling reasons for it this morning, so, please, allow me my little diversions… I’m in a hurry…. thanks, and Enjoy!….

Hmm… I guess not so much of a hurry as I thought…. but, I think it will work for me, in a strange way, and that is normal, so…. Here is what I found at Pearl Central…. These short, early form Pearls were written at work, sent via email to about 350 people at Napa State Hospital, Monday through Friday, sometime in about 2007 or 08, I can’t be sure…. but, they’re pretty good, in my estimation, and if nothing else, fun for the entire family….

Just plain brutal….

Ffolkes,
Monday’s can be that way, even the best of them. I’m not certain, at least in my own case, just where the motivation to get up & get moving is coming from. Routine is powerful enough to take us in to work, but what then? Coffee only goes so far, then something stronger must come into play, or the week just goes all to  >@#%! (Supply your own curses)  It can be difficult to find a substitute; drugs are illegal, and so is theft. So what do we do? We rely on luck!…..

“Indifference is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don’t stand a chance against it.” — Joan Vinge

Life is short. Get it right.

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, write.
Those who can’t write go to the State Department (of Mental Health).

That’s the ticket….motivation means caring…..Recently on the radio, Hoyt touted a book, and challenged us to send in our own version of what it was about, to wit: describe your life in six words. I liked mine…

“Looked for love, found it everywhere”……six on the button, neh?

Y’all take care out there…..

No, really….

Ffolkes,
….the computer ate my pearl. This is already the third time I’ve rebooted this morning, and the last one ate my quotes; they were all picked out & on the clipboard, when the durn machine went wonky & wouldn’t see the network. Now I have to be creative….so, we will delve once more into the old bag of Trix….

Do not underestimate the power of the Force.

Duct Tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together. The only difference is that “May The Force be with you” sounds a lot nicer than “May you be covered in duct tape.”
— Carl Swanzig

— Bother! said Pooh,
and discorporated.

Believe it or not, there is a lesson here….left, of course, as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…. Y’all take care out there……

Grace notwithstanding…

Ffolkes,
You may or may not have perceived by now that I am, shall we say, not unfamiliar with strange. Whimsy can strike at any time, and though the resulting consequences are survivable, it often requires extra scrubbing to get clean. Today is Wednesday, but it feels like a Tuesday. Hence the following….

“I’m afraid I’m not personally qualified to confuse cats.” — Monty Python

How do I set my Laser Printer to “Stun”?

“The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest.” — Sherlock Holmes

The strangest part is, all of these make perfect sense to me, both individually and together. It’s all in the wrist….. y’all take care out there….

Floppy risks….

Ffolkes,
…don’t fret, it’s just a typo. Amazing what one letter can change, eh? I kinda like the image this stimulates….floppy risks. Hmmm….well, where were we? Oh, here we are…..it’s Thursday but it feels just like a Thursday to me. As further proof of my familiarity with things strange, allow me to present more images to round out your mental image of Pooh The Bear (excerpted from “Pooh, the years before Christopher Robin” by Itolda
Lai)  Enjoy!….

Always speak the truth quietly, listen with an open mind when others speak, and remember the peace that may be found in silence.– unknown

— Bother! said Pooh,
as the French Nuclear Testing blew his head off.

— Bother! said Pooh,
as he was reborn as an amoeba.

— Bother! said Pooh,
as Piglet acquired all four Railway stations.

— Bother! said Pooh,
and proceeded to install OS/2 Warp.

— Bother! said Pooh,
Beavis and Butthead are barbecuing Barney!

— Bother! said Pooh,
as he gave Ted Kennedy another driving lesson.

— Bother! said Pooh,
as he switched between Animaniacs and Star Trek.

I always think it’s good to know things about iconic figures, don’t you?  Y’all take care out there…..

never say your true name….

Ffolkes,
It’s an odd morning, and coming from me, that’s saying something! Been following routine, but it feels not quite right somehow. Hmmm…..must be the shoes. They’re probably too tight  and are cutting off the blood flow to my head. Ah well, no big loss, some would say….. here are some humorous observations I found. Not the most inspiring humor, but funny nonetheless…..see ya Monday…..

Baby on board. Just means five more points.

The other planets are laughing at us.

I am serious.  And don’t call me Shirley.

They just pretend to pay us, so we just pretend to work.

You know you’re getting old when it takes too much effort to procrastinate.

Y’all take care out there……(like it or not, you must, because you can’t care for others if you don’t take care of yourself…basic logic, y’know.)

__________________________________

Well, Stan and Ollie would be proud of me. It’s another fine mess I’ve created, and just think, only three days home, and I’m already in full psychotic mode! What fun the next few days will be! Be sure to tune in for the latest news from insanity’s fringes, ffolkes. I can feel a big one coming, and I hope y’all, and the rest of the world, is ready…. I’m not sure I am, but having no choice in the matter, I will be…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

We’ll have to spit-ball the hinges…..

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Ffolkes,
We’ve got Trouble, right here in River City, ffolkes….. Don’t worry, I won’t go all Robert Preston on you, and burst into song, or anything like that. I’m merely referring to the empty space here on the page, which, sadly, matches the empty space in my head, the space that SHOULD be composing an intro for today’s Pearl…. Extremely empty space, too…. So empty, I’m sitting here, writing about how empty it is, instead of looking around in the odd corners and niches in there, to find SOMETHING that would work to draw y’all in for the ride today…. but, I’m screwed, and the pooch knows it…. whatever that means….

Forgotten, old and grey, the ancient dogs march along the dusty street, searching for the possibility of food…. Scraggly weeds filled the cracks in the street; abandoned, stripped vehicles litter the sidewalks and alleys, many of them burned out, blackened and stark against the pale concrete of the buildings. Nothing moved, save the slowly searching pack of canines, not even rats, or any of the vermin usually seen in cities. No people walked the empty streets, and the silence bore down on everything in sight, oppressive, adding the weight of time to the heaviness of the air…..

No, I have no idea where that came from…. but it took up the space of a whole paragraph, so it stays…. I suppose apocalyptic scenes such as this one will become common in the future, if what I fear comes to pass….. When the Earth decides it has had enough of the depredations that mankind has perpetrated on this planet, our species will disappear, the same as the T-Rex, the dodo, and the auk, and Mother Nature will spend a few thousand years cleaning off the surface, which we scratched, dented, and broke apart so callously in our paroxysms of destruction, as we looked for sources of fuel for our machines…. and we won’t be missed at all…. Well, the dogs might miss us at first, but, they’ll get over it….

Okay, so now I have to balance the negativism with something lighter, so we don’t fall down into a pit of depression….. Hmm, I know….

“PUNK ROCK!!  DISCO DUCK!!  BIRTH CONTROL!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

There, that should balance things out…. Of course, Zippy has just mentioned three of the reasons that we will no longer be around…. Any species that comes up with Disco, AND Punk Rock, in the same century, deserves to become extinct, in my humble opinion…. But, then, I really, really HATE Disco…. and punks aren’t far behind in my estimation…. But, it did change the direction most satisfactorily, so, we’ll just sort of ignore the passions that may be present, and get on with the rest of today’s Pearl…. Which, I see, is coming right along, as we now have a sufficient number of paragraphs, and certainly a large enough quantity of BS, to qualify as an intro…. I’d better dive right away, before Murphy notices…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Nasrudin returned to his village from the imperial capital, and the villagers gathered around to hear what had passed.  At this time, said Nasrudin, I only want to say that the King spoke to me. All the villagers but the stupidest ran off to spread the wonderful news. The remaining villager asked, What did the King say to you? What he said — and quite distinctly, for everyone to hear — was ‘Get out of my way!’ The simpleton was overjoyed; he had heard words actually spoken by the King, and seen the very man they were spoken to.” — Smart Bee

When I first read this, a long, complex, and wonderful rant took form in my mind, on the subject of the gullibility of the public…. Unfortunately, somewhere in the process of getting this moved over and formatted, the rant broke apart, like smoke from a fire, dissipating into the ether without a sound, and leaving me sitting here, with a wonderful pearl, and nothing in my head to write about it…. “Well, shit,” he said, with feeling…..

Smart Bee, or Murphy, or Nasrudin, whichever is responsible for this, thinks they have me trapped, and are probably sitting there, maybe even together, laughing, and waiting for me to explode…. Hah! They’re destined to be disappointment, I’m afraid, because I’ll just switch gears, and make this an old-school pearl, using the anecdote on Nasrudin to point the way for the rest of the group…. So, here you go, a five-star pearl, the point of which is now moot….

“It is important to do what you don’t know how to do. It is important to see your skills as keeping you from learning what is deepest and most mysterious. If you know how to focus, unfocus. If your tendency is to make sense out of chaos, start chaos.” — Carlos Casteneda

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” — Oscar Wilde

“A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.” — Nicolas Bolleau-Despreaux

“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Is it not a noble farce, wherein kings, republics, and emperors have for so many ages played their parts, and to which the whole vast universe serves for a theatre?” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xxxvi, Of the most Excellent Men
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Wishes aren’t horses, and neither do I….. which, decoded, simply means I don’t have a new, fresh poem today. I did create a Haiku, which is below…. But, for today’s poem, another treat from the archives is called for, as I just can’t create a poem whenever I wish, much as I’d like to be able to do so…. Nevertheless, I AM making a new haiku each day, so that has to count for something, right?…. Any who….. As every day this month, these are being included as part of the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/    I hope you enjoy them…..

 

Haiku XExplore reality,
my mama said with a smile;
it will teach you truth.

~~ gigoid ~~

Momentary Terror

Absently casual, memories pester endlessly
   leaving only bleeding remnants, amiable and loving.
Coming awake, I cry to still the pain, shamelessly.

Elsewhen, time gives surcease, if only to live,
   shoring broken pilings, worn and gray.
Passing on, I laugh at the pain, accept all it will give.

Time will build a shelter, warm and ever safe
   save for Fate’s busy hands.
Enduring, I follow the pain, knowing it will chafe.

Fixed against a darkened sky of starry black
   such beauty brings us to our knees.
Entranced, I welcome the pain, ’tis all I lack…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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“A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ah, yes, it does indeed….. This is the principle of human nature I exploit when I rant…. Well, I try, anyway…. It seems as if Ralph Waldo had the inclination to rant strike him on occasion, and, competent observer that he was, he examined how it made him feel, and act when he was in ranting mode. When in full flight, ranting makes one feel ten feet tall, able to leap arguments with a single quote, impervious to sarcasm or belittling remarks, and capable of chewing up the toughest pundit and spitting him out, before breakfast….. Whether or not one could actually do so doesn’t matter in the slightest, for it is what we THINK we can do that determines what we CAN do…. Like the dragons of Pern, who could lift any weight when flying, as long as they thought they could….

“Whenever you eliminate the inedible, whatever remains, however unpalatable, must be food.” — Smart Bee

Now, this is a truism; much as it seems like levity, it is quite serious, being a disguised version of a truth uttered by Sherlock Holmes, about Truth, to wit: “As I have previously stated, Watson, when one has eliminated the impossible, what remains, however unlikely, must be the truth.” (God, I hope I quoted it right… I’m lazy, and used the version in my head, rather than googling it to make sure…. but, I’m 100% positive that my paraphrase, if it be such, is completely accurate, in terms of meaning…..) Ranting is an area where this principle is key; it really doesn’t make sense to rant about something that isn’t true, unless the falsity is the actual subject of the rant…. as the following aphorism implies….

“It is a substantial advantage for any philosophy to be based on the truth.” — George Santayana

Of course, this doesn’t mean that being right will make reality conform to how we wish it to be. Much of the world, if not all, is controlled by a group of people who lie, constantly, without shame, completely indifferent to how it affects others, as long as their own needs are met first. But, they only do so because most of the public believes their lies, for the simple reason that it is too hard to believe otherwise. If they begin to see the truth of how they are controlled, they become frightened, often to the point of violence, because they don’t want to know the truth…. unless it comes from a suit on TV…..

“Given a sufficient number of people and an adequate amount of time, you can create insurmountable opposition to the most inconsequential idea.” — Devyver’s law

This is truth, too, sad as it may seem…. The general public will believe just about anything they are told, usually without any sort of critical thought applied to testing its veracity, if it is presented in a manner to which they are accustomed to being told what to do…. If the guy on the six o’clock news says it will rain money, most folks in this country would start looking for a barrel to catch it in, and wonder if it would rain in bills, or in coins… I kid you not…..

This may seem as if I have a poor opinion of the average intelligence of the average American, and in that estimation you would be absolutely correct…. I can say this with complete confidence, as it is a proven fact that the average American’s IQ is below the average for the human race at large….. fact, ffolkes, not supposition…. Of course, I could be lying, but, if so, you can just chalk it up to their bad influence…. If they can use untrue ‘facts’ to prove their assertions, I can, too….

Besides, I can show you almost 50 MILLION pieces of proof of my assertion, without having to look further than the Presidential election last year…. In that election, almost fifty million people voted for Mitt Romney, proof positive that they would believe ANYTHING…. How else could they decide to vote for a man who was PROVEN to have lied during the campaign (independent fact checking organizations showed that he lied just about 50% of the time, or, put more simply, every other time he spoke, he lied...), and indicated, on tape, his complete disdain for over half the people in the country?

It is such an incredibly huge number, it just isn’t possible to understand how gullible people can be, when one sees this statistic, (50 million votes for an asshole….). It is equally hard to believe that so many of our peers are this incredibly dumb, but, truth will out, as it always does….. It also speaks to the number of truly bigoted, racist people that are still in this country, hiding behind their cowardice, and their misguided, ignorant patriotism…. but, that’s a subject for another rant….. (All stupid people aren’t bigots and racists, but ALL bigots and racists are stupid people…..)

“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” — Lazarus Long

You won’t get a better, more clear warning than that; on that note, I proclaim this rant, such as it was, to be complete…..
__________________________________

All in all, not too bad…. No fresh poem yet, but a decent rant, and all the rest if fresh…. Now, let’s see if it hangs together well enough to publish…. Well, we have another vote for ‘all in all, not too bad’….. So, it’s good to go, and we’re gone….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

dozer3

Only the only allowed on the promenade….

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Ffolkes,
A lot of people saw the movie Forrest Gump; I finally joined that group some years after its release. It took that long because I have a problem with movies about Vietnam; not an objection, merely an uncomfortable reaction from my PTSD. I only found this out after going to see The Deer Hunter many years ago, when I was still working in the violent places I used to inhabit; my adrenal gland went nuts during the captivity and firefight scenes in the movie, dumping a load of epinephrine into my blood stream, which had me buzzing for hours, looking around for an enemy to engage. I can still get jittery when I hear those helicopters in the distance….. Whoops, here come the tears…..

Sorry, had to regain control… I was dripping on the keyboard…. Any who….. In Forrest Gump, the scenes from ‘Nam weren’t quite as bad, though bad enough in spots. But, what I really wanted to talk about was Forrest’s mother, who gave us the phrase that I believe should become our national motto…. “Stupid is as stupid does….”  Boy, how true is THAT! It is a perfect pearl, and a perfect aphorism, or truism, or call it what you will…. it is a perfect lesson in life, and one that several million sore losers all over this country really need to take to heart…..

Yesterday, when I went over to Facebook to see what was happening for a few minutes, I noted some posts from this particular conservative Friend on my list. I’ve never actually met this woman, other than as a co-writer on a blogging site I used to frequent. Though a conservative politically, she has some ideas that are congruent with mine, so I’ve tried to be tolerant of the nonsense she posts, repeating all the lies and propaganda she hears from the pundits on her side of the issues. (Plus, it keeps me up to date on what the opposition is thinking, or what passes for that among them….) Now, however, she is starting to piss me off, and the latest BS from that group is enough to make my adrenaline flow…. There are a number of idiots in several states that voted for Romney who are so frightened, and so bitter, that they are talking about seceding from the Union…. I repeat, Stupid is as Stupid does…..

These people so frightened of the non-whites who have taken over “their” country that they continue to spout their racist agenda, in spite of having it pointed out to them how divisive they are being, merely raising the volume of the clamor they’ve created with their bigoted claims of prejudice on the opposing party. What they have failed to realize is that the world has passed them by, and their outdated attitudes are not shared by a very significant percentage of the Caucasian population….. At least 50% of the whites in this country support the President, and what he is trying to do by strengthening the middle class, and making healthcare and services available to those in society who need them, such as seniors, students, veterans, and the poor and disadvantaged.

All these foolish racists can see is that they worst nightmares have come true, and they are realizing that they now have nowhere to go to join a society that believes as they do. I saw one comment from a  woman on FB that highlighted part of the issue…. This disgruntled racist said “I’m going to move to Australia, where the President is white, and Christian….”  Unfortunately, this statement points out a big part of their problem, to wit: stupidity, compounded by deep ignorance…. First, Australia has a Prime Minister, not a President. Second, she is white, but she’s not a he…. and third, she’s an atheist…. Many more of the conservative whiners are threatening to move to Canada, but, then someone told them that Canada allows gay marriage (has done so for years….) and has socialized healthcare, just like the system they’re complaining about…..

These folks (who have lost the privilege and honor of being “ffolkes”, in my mind….) who are speaking treason (yes, treason…. they are definitely not patriots….), have their attitudes stuck back in 1864, and they really need to get over the Civil War, before they start another. But then, one of the primary characteristics of those who embrace racism and bigotry is a severe mistrust of education, so they have obviously forgotten the one about “those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” I say, go ahead, let them secede, and then ignore them. Ostracism is a very, very powerful tool, and one they well deserve….

They don’t have the economic clout they would need to make themselves into a successful new country, nor do they have the support from anywhere else in the world (except a few dictatorships who would love to manipulate such idiots into joining their evil causes…. and those are the only ones in the world who would have anything to do with a country of white, fundamentalist Christian fanatics….). So, let them go, we’ll do fine without them, and they’ll find that the world at large is much less tolerant of their sort of stupidity, than were their former countrymen, who at least gave them the courtesy of allowing them to speak aloud without penalty…. they won’t find that to be true anywhere else….

Well…. hmm….. This introductory section seems to have gotten away from me a bit…. no pearl, yet a rant of some proportion came pouring out. I can see that this whole issue, of secession, is bothering me more than I had realized. It just seems so damn futile to me…. to get so fucking upset and bitter over losing an election that these fools would be willing to send this country into a Second Civil War, with all the concomitant pain and anguish, for both sides of the battle, seems to me to be the very epitome of what is STUPID! In this case, it is also very small minded and petty…. I mean, we who are not invested in keeping the white race supreme put up very nicely with Nixon, Johnson, Reagan, Ford, Bush I, and Bush II, all without ever crying or threatening secession. If they don’t like this administration, well, start looking for a candidate to put forward; it’s only four years, and their nightmare has to leave office, anyway….

But, for goodness’ sake, get over yourselves. Nobody gets to win every time in life, and your attitudes and beliefs, which are NOT consistent with what the rest of the world believes, are what is causing you all the trouble, as they are based on things that just aren’t true, and have no real validity in modern life. It is that simple, which is probably good, as they’ve already amply demonstrated a lack of ability to take in complicated ideas, and I wouldn’t want to confuse them any more than they are naturally, as a matter of course.

“To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely mysterious. But the stupid have an answer for every question.” — Edward Abbey

SIGH…. now what will I do? I seem to have used up a lot of today’s verbiage in this lament over the stupidity of my countrymen (or, former countrymen, depending on their decision re: treason vs. patriotism….. makes no never mind to me which they choose….). I will make some attempt to keep the pearls below from getting so out of hand, since I’ve already taken this boat too close to the shores of indifference…. but, stubborn old fool that I am, I must go on…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Virtue is but heroic bravery, to do the thing thought to be true, in spite of all enemies of flesh or spirit, in despite of all temptations or menaces.” — Albert Pike (1809-1891)

I like this quote; it speaks to both the philosopher and the warrior in me. My first thought, on reading it, was, “Cowardice might be said to be the reverse, that is, to NOT do the thing that one knows to be true, for whatever reason one may choose”… Any choice to abrogate one’s duty is the wrong choice, and when that choice causes pain or misery for others, it becomes not merely cowardice, but cruelty, and gives a new level of meaning to the word despicable.

One of the most important goals of anyone who wishes to consider themselves in a good light MUST be to seek to limit one’s own choices of that nature. We are all human, and weak by nature, in some respects; it takes training to make the will strong enough to overcome our instinctive reactions at times. Fear, and its companion, cowardice, can be powerful motivating factors, especially in times of perceived danger (even if the perception is false), and the ability to consistently overcome both can be a difficult task.

“Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.” — Leo Buscaglia

I remember hearing this, from my own father, in fact, when I was a young boy, and the words he spoke were reinforced by his example. Though equipped with a powerful personality, he never exhibited any sort of belligerence, desire to control others, or hints of implied violence, except under circumstances that warranted such (such as in speaking with a bully who was abusing his wife in public….). Even at that time, he retained perfect control of his actions and words, but with such strength of will that he retained control of the situation without raising his voice. He merely made it clear that he was performing his duty, according to what he knew to be right, an act that, in his world, and mine thereby, requires no acknowledgment or reward.

“It is the main earthly business of a human being to make his home, and the immediate surroundings of his home, as symbolic and significant to his own imagination as he can.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Coloured Lands

The concept Mr. Chesterton presents here is one that, I believe, every person tries to accomplish in an instinctive fashion. But, not everyone who does so applies the same level of introspection, or strength of will, to what they imagine, or in what they try to make real. Our own current society is offering proof of this assertion, as the different visions of many millions of people all jockey for position as the primary viewpoint on which the culture uses for the justification of its actions. The clamor and cacophony that ensues is enough to drive a thinking man to drink, as conservatives vie with liberals, and fundamentalists parry and riposte with reformists, and society itself totters along toward the almost certain oblivion that will be a direct result of allowing a select few determine the course for all the rest…..

“Anything else you wish to draw to my attention, Mr. Holmes ?” “The curious incident of the stable dog in the nighttime.” “But the dog did nothing in the nighttime.” “That was the curious incident.” — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “Silver Blaze”

Sadly, I am afraid that the incident will remain curious, with its solution never realized, as those who live for only themselves follow their path to self-destruction, which is inevitable when one ignores the laws of physics. I hold some hope that there are enough men and women of reason and honor to save the species in the end, but, that hope is not well supported by the evidence, or by reality’s current course. But, all I can do is all I can do, so I keep writing these little treatises, in my own attempt to arrange the universe to suit my inner vision of how it could be. It’s pretty much shouting into the wind, I know, but, hey, what do I have other than time?…..

“Do the right thing, regardless of what others think.” — Smart Bee

“YOW!!  I’m in a very clever and adorable INSANE ASYLUM!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
__________________________________

Sharing the Wealth

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid

Well, it’s kind of simplistic, but, it’s all true, and it rhymes…. what more could I ask? What, you want brilliance? Sorry, not happening today, but, this will do…..
__________________________________

The universe we live in in truly wondrous and strange; of this there is little doubt, or argument. I appreciate that about reality, as it is certainly more entertaining than the one that many of my fellow inhabitants would have me acknowledge. There is so much more interesting stuff going on at the fringes of humanity than at the center…..

This isn’t to say that normal is bad; far from it. I like a spot of normal most of the time, it’s a very comfortable place to spend time. But, I’d really hate to get stuck there for very long, as it doesn’t suit my taste nearly as much as the spicy strangeness that abounds when one frees the imagination from the bounds of normalcy…..

In that spirit, I present now some little known pieces of a very familiar old character…. We all know of Pooh, and his innocent wisdom…. but, what many DON’T know is that he has a darker side…. Oh my, yes he does…. and here are just a few examples, straight from the horse’s, or bear’s, mouth…..

— Bother! said Pooh, as a woozle bit his bottom.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he hid Piglet’s corpse with Roo’s.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he carved Eeyore’s name in the black candle.

— Bother! said Pooh, I’m just a sweet transvestite.

— Bother! said Pooh, as his plastic love doll exploded.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he was accidentally neutered.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he adjusted Tigger’s head on the trophy wall.

Sorry if I’ve destroyed anyone’s illusions irreparably…. Well, actually, no, I’m not. It was fun…. so, deal with it. If I had fun, so can you…..  🙂
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Wow…. I thought I’d never finish this one. Stuff just kept coming out…. but, I feel better now. I guess I’ll try to get something constructive done today….. right after my nap…..   🙂    Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

In the spirit of plain fare….

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Ffolkes,
Well, here we are again…. I’m not sure what it means to be up so early again, but, given that I fell out at 7:15 last night, it DOES mean that I got 11 plus hours logged in bed. Can’t claim that I got that much sleep, as it took what seemed like hours to fall asleep deeply enough to warrant the name, but, I did pound the pillow that long, so I must’ve needed the rest, such as it is for me these days. I only wish that I felt good enough to say it was worth it…. alas, I can’t do that…. SIGH….. Life’s tough, then you die… So be it.

It sounds as if I’m feeling a little fatalistic this morning, not to mention the cranky pants. S’okay, though, I’m in the mood for it…. I kind of wish someone would come pounding on the door with some kind of complaint, just so I’d have someone to let this out on. It’s probably a good thing they’re not, though, because it’s not considered being a good neighbor to litter the hallways with the corpses of your neighbors, especially so early in the morning….

But, enough about me…. When this mood strikes, the writing usually sparkles for me; crankiness seems to stimulate my funny bone somehow, and all sorts of good stuff pours out. Let’s hope that holds true today; otherwise, well, the consequences could get ugly. If the mood turns to ranting, there’s no telling how many bodies could pile up before I’m done. Or, it could turn pompous on me; I hate that, as I end up sounding supercilious and smarmy, as pomposity will tend to do to one. My only fear is that it doesn’t turn all emotional; it’s probably cathartic to leak tears as I type, but it’s uncomfortable as hell, and the head filled with fluid is miserable….

Now that I’ve stretched out this intro into almost four paragraphs, and have said absolutely nothing, I can see it’s time to go for a dive. I managed to download a new copy of Smart Bee yesterday, and it worked fine last night when I installed it and took it for a test drive, so I’ve got my primary resource back, and am content in that respect. As to the writing, well, time always tells the story, as the Doctor would say…. Shall we Pearl?….
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“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” — Albert Einstein

It may have come to your attention that I tend to speak, or write, in a manner that indicates that I know what is Truth, and what is Knowledge, and that my opinion is certain. And, in this, you’d be correct; my self-confidence is pretty healthy…. I would like to point out,  however, that the laughter of the gods rings in my ears a lot….. just like it does almost every second that a politician speaks. I, however, can hear the laughter, and make adjustments accordingly, per the dictates of reality. They don’t hear it at all….. Of course, they already know that what they are saying is a lie (they are, after all, politicians, and it’s what they do….), and thus wouldn’t admit it if they did hear it…..

One reason for my confidence, aside from a perfectly normal, loving set of parents (can’t stress enough how important that is in allowing kids to grow up feeling good about themselves….), is that I am smarter than your average bear, AND, can prove it. See, almost everyone feels like they are better than average; it amazes me how some of them can come to that conclusion, but it’s true.

Ask any number of people you like to tell you if they are average, or above average, or below…. I will bet you serious money that almost every one of the ones you ask will say they are above average. Yet, arithmetic will deny that assertion, as it is purely impossible for ALL of them to be so endowed….. Those of us who ARE above average usually will question our own level of expertise, if only to verify our own position on the scale, because we know for a FACT that AT LEAST half of the people are below average. That is, after all, the definition of average….

It is an unfortunate fact that being below average tends to cause resentment toward those who are not; this is a root cause of may of our society’s ills, though not one easily considered, by those above, or below the line. None of us, gifted, average, or mundane, are comfortable with the differences between us in our perceptive abilities; it doesn’t seem fair, and part of our nature rebels at that, silly as it is, considering the nature of reality. But, it is so, and there is naught to be done about the simple fact that some ffolkes are smarter than others. It doesn’t mean they are better, nor does it mean they are stronger, or more fit to survive. As one great philosopher, whose name escapes me right now, has said, “There is no evidence yet to be seen that intelligence has any survival value.” (I THINK it was Arthur C. Clarke…. but might have been someone else…. I’ll let you know when it comes to me, or Smart Bee shows it to me again…. it doesn’t really matter, it’s still the truth…..)

“To a Europe exhausted by nearly two centuries of religious wars, [Isaac] Newton’s works were first and foremost a message about God; that He did not behave in a capricious or arbitrary fashion, in response to either His will or human prayer, but in accordance with absolute, unwavering, and humanly discoverable laws of nature which governed him and all his works. He had become the infinitely perfect Clock-Maker, his works fathomable by the human mind.” — Forrest MacDonald

As I’ve made abundantly clear previously, I don’t believe in God…. well, that isn’t entirely accurate. Let’s just say that the God that religions all  describe seems to me to be too much like a cranky, dyspeptic old man, and not enough like a god, to suit my perceptions of reality. But, let us suppose that a God did create Man, and ask ourselves why He would create such a nature, giving us such variable characteristics, knowing the problems to which it would inevitably lead? I’ve spent a great deal of my life having to hide my intelligence from most of those I meet, since revealing it always produces the aforementioned resentment. This has given me an idea of the answer to that question…. at least, a possible one.

“Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.” — Aesop (620-560 B.C.)

We exist, in the mind of God, as a species. Individuals are less important in defining the nature of Man than is the entire species, yet it is our individuality that makes us each what we are. So, it suggests to me that there is some purpose to this bell curve on which all of our abilities can be shown to exist. That purpose, to my mind, is this; none of us, quick of mind, or slow-witted, is very well suited to survive on this planet. Other animals are faster, stronger, more dangerous, and show a greater ability to deal with their environment than do we. So, why are we given intelligence, since it doesn’t seem to serve much purpose, in any manner that will help to ensure our survival as a species?

Well, it seems to me that a God, one with the kind of sense of humor and irony that I would think would be well-developed in such an entity, would think it a grand jest to make us learn to depend on each other. In order for mankind to survive, we will ALL need to be involved…. and that means that the resentments we each may engender in the others must be set aside, and we must learn to appreciate the qualities we have as individuals in order to achieve the kind of harmony that such a God would insist upon in a creature of His devising. What a grand joke it is, too! The smarts can’t make it without the dumbs, and vice-versa, and the necessary changes in attitude to achieve such harmony are essential, if we are to achieve our potential as a species….

“How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?” — Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), Sign of Four

Just an idea, but, I think it makes sense…. it certainly makes more sense than the divisive, elitist crap that most religions serve up. People aren’t special just because they believe in a particular version of God, or a particular church, or anything. They only become special when they put aside all that sort of disharmonious claptrap, and try to understand, and learn to appreciate, those qualities in others that really count, such as loyalty, honesty, bravery, tolerance, and a willingness to see the best in our fellow man….

When someone comes up with a vision of a God who makes loving our fellows MORE important than loving Him, or for goodness sake, worshiping Him, then maybe I’ll consider adopting it as part of my world-view. Alas, the men who run the churches (and they’re all men, too…. what’s up with that? Sounds like another subject to explore some day…..) only want us to agree with them, because it gives them power over us. You see, preachers are merely politicians in the larval stage…. and we all know what THEY want, don’t we? Yep……

“I think he’s a few pipes short of a church organ.” — Smart Bee
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Before The World Was Made

If I make the lashes dark
And the eyes more bright
And the lips more scarlet,
Or ask if all be right
From mirror after mirror,
No vanity’s displayed:
I’m looking for the face I had
Before the world was made.

What if I look upon a man
As though on my beloved,
And my blood be cold the while
And my heart unmoved?
Why should he think me cruel
Or that he is betrayed?
I’d have him love the thing that was
Before the world was made.

William Butler Yeats
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An Irishman is not drunk as long as he can hang onto a single blade of grass and not fall off the face of the earth.– Smart Bee

Makes me glad to be at least part Irish…. 🙂  Actually, I just like it because it made me grin when I read it, and because the visual image is so wonderful…. I can just see myself, or, Oscar Wilde, or George Shaw, lying on the ground somewhere, fearfully clutching at the grass to keep from going into orbit….. brilliant!…. Just thought I’d share…..

Any who, in looking for a last pearl for this section, I realized that the above section, regarding God, and human nature, could have been condensed into a shorter, more succinct expression. Actually, I realized that I had already written that shorter version, many years ago, (about 33 of them…. I was 29 or so….) when I formulated my own philosophy, Peruaosophy…. (Perua = pearl, osophy = the study of, in Greek…). None of the other philosophies I had explored had matched my own experience, precisely, and I was still searching for one that did so, when I decided, hey, if Descartes and Socrates could have their own, why can’t I? Hence, the following, which I haven’t posted in some months…. I find it to be a good thing to review periodically, as it is chock full of everything I hold to be true, and important in life…. Feel free to comment on any axiom you wish to discuss, and…. enjoy!

Peruaosophy

The wisdom of pearls…
(The world is my oyster; which way to the pearls?)

Axioms

1)  I think I am; that’s close enough.

2) The nature of the Universe is Change.  Unpredictable, innovative transformation of Reality is the Norm. If you have a problem with this, you’re in for a rough ride in Life.

3) Thou art God, you know.  Let’s do lunch.

4) Excellence is its own reward.

5) Girls think differently.  So do boys.  Don’t fight it.

6) Axiom #2 X axiom #5 = And God so loved the world, He said, “Quit whining!”

7) Do your Duty.   Respect Life.   Honor the Truth.   Share your Love.

8)  Go back.  Everything you need to know is in the first seven axioms.

~~ gigoid

And there you have it…. this is what I’m all about, ffolkes…..   😉
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Well, it’s another fine mess I’ve created here, isn’t it? Actually, I’m kind of proud of today’s effort. I’d hoped to have a poem ready, but it seems to have gotten stuck after the second stanza, so it must still be percolating, or simmering, as the case may be. Maybe tomorrow…. In the meantime, here’s hoping you enjoyed today’s Pearl, and hopefully, had a thought or two in response…. That is, after all, my entire purpose here….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!