Scruff, the tragic flagon….

Posted on January 23, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The living world is a continuum in each and every aspect.”

~~ A. C. Kinsey, The Kinsey Report ~~

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside….

Hajime…. Okay, so, here’s the deal. I’ll write ’em, you read ’em. Deal? Deal.

Of course, this presupposes I will be able to come up with something to write. Since that, at the moment, seems a rather remote possibility, we’ll cut this intro off before it gets rolling, keeping us trapped here again. So short, you’ll need to keep the oxygen handy…. It looks like this…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“And those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music.”

~~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~~

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

I’m in a mood, & when I’m in a mood, this is who I listen to…. Today, you can listen, too…. Even if you’re not in a mood…… Enjoy!….

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

Mozart Symphonies

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

https://youtu.be/Mv6J25zOanw

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

“Grown men do not need leaders.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

The quote from Ed Abbey is a perfect lead for a rant on a subject I can write about endlessly, apparently. I’ve related any number of times how humanity needs to grow up, give up the illusions of their fearful youth, and learn to face the damn universe with some courage…. But, has anyone listened, other than the choir who end up here, listening to me preach? No, not really, for they don’t wish to hear they need to stop acting like children….

To save y’all from any further haranguing on this, I decided to sublimate, with some thoughts from historical figures, all of whom have seen the same issues during their own time on Earth, and wished to give warning to those who will not see…. There are only nine, so, don’t fret too much; besides, I know my Gentle Readers could, using these aphorisms, create the same rant I might have written, had I gone with the urge to do so…. Enjoy, if only for its brevity…..

“I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: ‘The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.’ In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.” — Bertrand Russell, Education and the Social Order

“There are more stars known to exist right now than the total number of all the grains of sand on every beach in the entire world. With those kinds of odds, it would seem downright naive for someone to go to a beach in, say, some out-of-the-way inlet in Baffin Bay, stoop to pick up only one tiny grain of sand, and declare that that grain alone was the only place where life could exist.” — Hugh Downs

“If a million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” — Anatole France

“Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.” — Noah Webster

“In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.” — H.L. Mencken

“Instead of giving money to found colleges to promote learning, why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as good as the Prohibition one did, why, in five years we would have the smartest race of people on earth.” — Will Rogers

“Held to be a crime when committed by individuals, homicide is called a virtue when committed by the state.” — Obvious Bee

“Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on them [public offices], a rottenness begins in his conduct.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1799

“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

“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 — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xxxvi, Of the most Excellent Men

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

As noted above, I’m in a mood. In this mood, only one poet will do…. In fact, we’ll overdo, with two….

Had we our senses
But perhaps ’tis well they’re not at Home
So intimate with Madness
He’s liable with them

Had we the eyes without our Head —
How well that we are Blind —
We could not look upon the Earth —
So utterly unmoved —

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

*********

Said Death to Passion
‘Give of thine an Acre unto me.’
Said Passion, through contracting Breaths
‘A Thousand Times Thee Nay.’

Bore Death from Passion
All His East
He – sovereign as the Sun
Resituated in the West
And the Debate was done.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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

Easy money here, ffolkes. It’s just a classic nine-star pearl about living life large…. Well, I think so; if not, you tell me what it says….

I care not, Fortune, what you me deny:
You cannot rob me of free Nature’s grace,
You cannot shut the windows of the sky
Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;
You cannot bar my constant feet to trace
The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve:
Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,
And I their toys to the great children leave:
Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.

~~ James Thomson. The Castle of Indolence, Canto ii, Stanza 3 ~~

“Let honor be as strong to us an obligation as necessity is to others.” — Pliny the Elder

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.” — Marcus Aurelius

“Have the courage to live. Anyone can die.” — Robert Cody

“True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.” — Halifax

“Once, I read that a man be never stronger than when he truly realizes how weak he is.” — Jim Starlin, “Captain Marvel #31”

“The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.” — Confucius

“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations.” — George Bernard Shaw

Listen to the MUSTN’TS child,
Listen to the DON’TS
Listen to the SHOULDN’TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVE’S
Then listen close to me-
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

~ Shel Silverstein ~~

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

That went well, don’t you think? No? Well, I do, and guess who’s driving this bus? Yep. To keep with the tone set in the intro, I’m outta here. See y’all tomorrow, given the proper set of Time/Space coordinates….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Montezuma’s second mistake….

Posted on January 22, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Ignorance of one’s misfortunes is clear gain.”

~~ Euripides ~~

By any other name….

Hajime…. I kinda like this getting done ahead stuff; sure makes this part easier, not having to do it under the pressure of deadline. It takes a bit of creative scheduling, to get it done in between bouts of cat training & being trained by a cat, but, it seems to be working okay. As long as I can keep from talking to bureaucrats too often on the phone, it may even prove to be a workable routine altogether…. Bonus for me, and for Leelu, as she likes status quo, to a certain extent….

Today’s Pearl is a good one, even with an archived rant in the middle section…. The music makes all of it more palatable, believe me…. Just let it play while you read, and it will go down nice and smooth. Trust me. Have I ever failed you? No, of course not. After all, I do get to proof this before it goes out; I find that to be very useful for sticking to the truth, as it gives me time to find & have available any evidence for my assertions. Always handy to have the truth on one’s side, isn’t it?

Not that I’m not human; I’d lie to you for good reason. But, my concept of good, and that of most, differ widely, and, I also provide the opportunity to challenge. As a habit, I will also usually tell you when something is suspect, usually accompanied by a disclaimer, such as “fair warning”…. Then, of course, there’s the nonsense which trips so elegantly from my mind onto the screen for your perverse entertainment, but, we won’t worry about applying any standards to that…. Willie Wonka wouldn’t approve….

Okay, we’ve touched enough bases to have completely stalled the game, so, let’s be off to the oyster beds…. I think we’ll use this old-fashioned method to get us down the page, which looks like this…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“War would end if the dead could return.”

~~ Stanley Baldwin ~~

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

Joan Baez in 2014

Image from YouTube.com via Google Images

My musical preferences, as well as my political and cultural perceptions, were influenced greatly by this woman, as is most likely true of many people my age. Her voice, always regarded as one of the purest vocal instruments ever heard, can move from range to range, and melody to melody, with the ease of a slow-moving river, taking the listener’s emotions along for the ride, just from the power of what is heard…. Often, the words don’t matter, though, to be sure, she sang songs that made a big difference in the culture of the time, songs which continue to influence music today…. A legend for good reason, she is, simply, one of the very best singers ever to have raised voice….

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

Joan Baez Live

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

https://youtu.be/prv-jMSQ3cs

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

A new piece is in the works, sort of, but, nowhere near being ready. Hence, the following politirant from the archives, simply because I can, and it bears repeating…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this is one of my better pieces, if only for the tone…. Plus, it kinda goes with the music selection for the day….

From 3/2/2013:

“He who imitates evil always goes beyond the limits of the example, whereas he who imitates what is good, always falls short.” — Confucius

Perfect! If ever a quote could be applied to fit one group of people, this one would; it fits the folks who occupy elected office in this country like the proverbial glove. Ooh! Ooh! Here’s another one…

“Ignorance: When you don’t know something and somebody finds it out.” — Jethro Burns

Okay, that’s a good start…. Now, we all know that politicians lie to us…. It’s what we’ve taught them to do, by our calm acceptance of all the other lies they’ve told, from the very beginning. We expect them to lie… then, when we catch them at it, there is this huge public outcry, as if it had never happened before. Sometimes, the behavior of the American public toward the political beast reminds me of a shark…. to wit: no memory of the past to slow down their willingness to rush into dangerous situations….. For millions of years, sharks and dolphins have lived together in the oceans. For just about all that time, whenever a shark attacks a dolphin, it gets killed, unless the dolphin is injured in some way, or, it is a baby inadvertently left alone. Always, if things are even, the shark dies, because the dolphins are smarter, and faster swimmers.

After millions of years, you would think the sharks might learn to let them alone, but, they don’t, which is evidence of their lack of ability to learn. The American voting public has the same problem…. they never learn to expect to be lied to, and always seem surprised to learn that their elected officials are, shall we say, less than perfectly honest? It, quite frankly, drives me nuts…. What is it about people that does that to them? Why are they so unwilling to use the mind that sits between their ears, rather than just carrying it around from toilet to toilet, which is all most folks seem to do with it? (Almost forgot it was a question….) I wish I knew….

“There is one way to find out if a man is honest–ask him. If he says yes, you know he is crooked.” — Groucho Marx

I’m starting to feel a bit of anger, actually, and I have a hard time not letting it out on the voting public, the idiots. But, it really isn’t all their fault, as the people who run for office are the ones who are actively imitating evil, and, obviously, exceeding the limits of their example. And the voting public can’t help never being able to quite reach the good for which they reach. This is why I get angry about it…. The folks who run for office tell the public they are going to work for the people when they are elected; we all know they are lying, but we elect them anyway. Now, how stupid is that? Pretty stupid, in my book…..

On the one hand, the stupidity displayed by the politicians is deliberate, in its adherence to principles of theft and prevarication; on the other hand, the stupidity displayed by the voting public is, perhaps, not deliberate, but at minimum, misguided, and, ultimately, just as evil, in placing its trust in evil people. In the dispassionate view held by the universe, stupid is as stupid does, and the sentence of death is the same for both types of stupidity, deliberate and unconscious. It doesn’t care about why, it only looks at results….

What can be done about this? Not a damn thing…. Not only do I find that most people are unconsciously stupid, but they are stubborn about it, even when it is clear how being stupid is hurting them. Rather than use their minds to find a new way of dealing with these issues, they retreat into platitudes and dogma, and run right back out to vote for another idiot who promises them manna from heaven, or, more accurately, from Washington D.C. If confronted with their idiocy, they become even more stubborn, as they are unwilling to accept they might be wrong, and refuse to either examine any evidence of being wrong, or, will deny its existence altogether.

The politicians, who choose to live in stupidity, by lying and cheating and stealing from their own people, don’t even WANT to choose otherwise. Why should they? They’ve got it easy, with a ready supply of host bodies on which to practice their symbiotic parasitism, a body that not only accepts all their lies, but encourages them to even further depredations with their complete acquiescence with whatever the politicos want. All the politicians have to say is that the public is in danger, from this, that, or the other, and the public will allow them to do whatever they choose, as long as they feel safe from whatever fictional fantasy they have been told is dangerous…..

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift; the rational mind is faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” — Albert Einstein

It’s an interesting spectacle to observe from the sidelines, but it arouses in me a strong feeling of sadness, with the anger underlying, as I watch, day after day, as so many millions of foolish people get taken advantage of by a few assholes. It definitely makes me want to buy a gun, even though I would only use it if pressed; I have a feeling I may get pressed some day, if I continue to make noise about all this.

I’m fairly well protected thus far by a lack of notoriety; the BRC and the PTB aren’t going to worry about me until I have an audience a lot larger than a couple of hundred folks, of which perhaps fifty regularly read my work. If what I am saying began to gain popularity, and was being read by millions, I’d be in danger; until then, I’m as safe as I can make myself with the tools at hand… which, if I say so myself, are not entirely inconsequential…. If I said any more, I’d be giving away my precautions, and that wouldn’t do, so, just rest assured… I am ready to deal with anything short of assault weapons, with what I have on hand…..

“Many, if not all, of my presidential opponents are certifiable idiots.” — Miriam Defensor Santiago — The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1993

See? I’m not completely alone! Actually, if you pay close attention, you will note this was uttered by a politician, about their peers, so it really doesn’t count as support of what I’m saying here. What, exactly am I saying here? Hmm, okay, since I’ve already written about 1200 words or so on this, it’s a good place to wind it up…. so, here goes…

Ffolkes, you are being lied to, daily, and hourly, by those who have been elected to office to look out for your interests. I hate to tell you, but those folks never intended to do anything of the sort. So, it would be a good thing if everybody in this country would OPEN THEIR FUCKING EYES AND GET A DAMN CLUE!!!!!….. I don’t think I can say it any clearer than that….. That’s all, for now…..

“Ignorance kills daily. “

~~ Smart Bee ~~

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

Raging at Aging

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

10/17/2012

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

Today’s final pearl is a nine-star classic style, speaking in the usual obscure way of how to look at, and approach, the complex issue of living in a complex universe as humans…. whatever THAT means…. Enjoy, ffolkes; this one, if used correctly, will end up making you feel okay about it all….

“Look round the habitable world: how few
Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.”

~~John Dryden — Juvenal, Satire x ~~

“Words form the thread on which we string our experiences.” — Aldous Huxley, The Olive Tree

“The weather-cock on the church spire, though made of iron, would soon be broken by the storm wind if it did not understand the noble art of turning to every wind.” — Heinrich Heine

“One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.” — Sophocles

“The bow too tensely strung is easily broken.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 388

“Honesty isn’t any policy at all; it’s a state of mind or it isn’t honesty.” — Eugene L’Hote

“All life is a conjugation of the verb “to eat”” — Subtle Bee

“If the name is not correct, the words will not ring true.” — Confucius

There are places I remember all my life,
though some have changed,
some forever, not for better,
some have gone and some remain.
All these places had their moments
with lovers and friends I still can recall.
Some are dead and some are living.
In my life I’ve loved them all.

~~ The Beatles ~~

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

Well, that went well. But, then, it had little choice, given the smooth way it came together. Not your usual Pearl, to say the least, but, then, we do try for a lack of consistency, which we often succeed at avoiding…. In fact, I think we’ll stop there, before I get myself into a hole I can’t get out of without falling back in…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. Fair warning….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Bald gestures provide unwarranted relief….

Posted on January 21, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“You can lead a yak to water
but you can’t teach an old dog
to make a silk purse out of a pig in a poke.”

~~ Opus ~~

Scottish Coastline near Invergordon

Hajime…. Yesterday, I took advantage of some cat nap time to complete today’s Pearl, which turned a bit epic on me. There’s a fresh discussion of human nature & society, an old poem from 2012, and a rather epic old-school pearl to finish it off. Quite the mess, I should think, which is why the music should make it all better….

Since this is done, for the most part, I’ll stick it in the Tardis, & deliver it to the WP editor in the morning, once we figure out the proper settings. This, of course, is a bonus, because now I can work a day ahead, giving me more time to play with Leelu; the older she gets the more she requires attention, it seems. But, she’s worth a bit of effort, so, no big deal. It does mean, though, this intro will be, once again, shortened more than we are accustomed to find it. C’est la fucking vie, right?

Here is how that works….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don’t know.”

~~Bertrand Russell ~~

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

Bonnie Raitt

Today’s video isn’t a video, though watching Bonnie play is my idea of heaven. I decided to show y’all WHY she is my favorite artist in Rock & Roll/Blues/R&B/Pop/you name it. She plays guitar like BB King, and sings like anyone’s idea of an angel. Plus, hey, red hair & a gorgeous smile, y’know? What’s not to like?…. Here is a compilation from her album(s) of Best Hits…. I don’t have to tell you to enjoy; I know you will. She can rip your heart out. put it right back in, then melt it….

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

Bonnie Raitt

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

https://youtu.be/2oXLukzYoKc

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

“Nature is not human-hearted.”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

Long before there was much going on in the Western World, other than a few cities in Europe, such as Athens, human thought reached a pinnacle in China, when Lao Tzu shared the Way of the Tao with the world, in the Tao Teh Ching, and in writings we have had passed down through the ages by other scholars who studied the Way. This particular aphorism is one few in today’s world would ever consider, much less use to help themselves deal with the world as it exists….

Life today has become so complicated, it is difficult for even the most competent individuals to maintain any sort of balance in life. Maintaining the basic requirements for a comfortable life takes so much mental & physical effort, very few have the wherewithal to spend more than a minimum amount of time thinking about such things as human nature, the nature of Reality, or philosophy in general. There just aren’t enough minutes in the day. Sadly, by failing to consider notions such as our opening quote, their lives are made even more difficult than it is, or, needs to be.

We, being human, tend to judge the universe, and what happens around us, according to our preconceived, or previously held, ideas of how it works; this tends to lead us to believe in what we want as good, and what we do not wish to be bad, in simplest terms. Such a tendency is reinforced by the structure of society as it is, a society which reflects the nature of its members, to wit: it is believed that humans can control reality to get what they want…. Sadly, this is an illusion, for reality will change, no matter whether we participate in those changes, or not; we have no say in any of that; to attempt to do so only leads to frustration, and conflict, for the universe is what it is, and not subject to our judgment of it.

Thus we have come to a point in history where we are “governed”; society has embraced the illusion that individuals need protection from the universe’s changes, and, government is just the one to do it. For some reason, people have come to believe A) they are incapable of understanding or dealing with life at large, and, B) they need others to help them do so. I’m not sure just how it got established in people’s minds, but, there it is, so, what can we do about it? It isn’t true, by any stretch of the imagination, yet, people still wish for government to order life so they don’t have to think, only do what they are told is right….

This foolish dependency, which has no actual basis in reality, has led to other illusions, which are commonly held to be true. For example, there is the notion of “Rights” which, according to the theory, is something all people should have…. Yet, so far, the only ‘right’ that seems to be ours is the right to live, and, in time, to die…. Beyond that, it’s all a crap shoot, ffolkes, and anyone who tells you otherwise has a hand in your pocket….

“Rights” is a fictional abstraction. No one has “Rights”, neither machines nor flesh-and-blood. Persons… have opportunities, not rights, which they use or do not use.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

The other illusion which has plagued the progress of humanity falls into the same category, to wit; humans were created by a supernatural being who cares about them, and wishes them well…. This seems, to me, to be somewhat wishful thinking, for there is no evidence whatsoever to be found which gives any such indication on the part of Reality. Everything else we perceive tells us, simply, our existence matters not at all to Reality. It went along just find before we arrived, and will do so after we have departed this plane of existence… All the available verifiable evidence is clear on this….

Yet, mankind at large seems to prefer to have their thinking done for them; as long as they are reasonably comfortable, the average person will never think of such issues, or use their mind for much beyond deciding which snack to grab at the next commercial. This innate laziness, while useful when applied with rationality, is more than merely harmful when abused in such a way, for it has led us to another issue which, according to the rules of Reality we already know, cannot be ignored, or denied….

“People who take issue with control of population do not understand that if it is not done in a graceful way, nature will do it in a brutal fashion.” — H. Kendall

Yes, ffolkes, the world has become a dangerous place, not because of how we humans have used our capabilities, but, rather, because of how we have failed to take full advantage of them, by learning our own true nature, and how to use those abilities we have to create change, rather than constantly trying to maintain the status quo…. Life is change, and only the dead do not have to obey that law….

“God is not all-powerful as he cannot build a wall he cannot jump.”

~~ Blaise Pascal ~~

See? This is what the human mind is capable of…. a far cry from dogma or kings……

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

Penance, Made Simple

After all the dross is sent away
a celebration can begin,
time will face up to space, to stay
willing, to shine from within.

Anger and confusion come in to share
brushing reason aside,
eager to welcome all that is fair,
alert to danger, eyes wide.

Re-gift the wicked with their own pain
stand with the just;
fail to partake of the ill-gotten gain,
living in honor, the only must.

Standing fast in the face of wrong
is its own prize and reward.
Holding on to truth makes us strong,
well worth working toward.

Little is left to chance by fate
our lessons are never free of cost.
Seldom does reality make us wait
only when alone, are we lost.

~~ gigoid ~~

10/23/2012

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

Today’s final, old-school pearl is an epic monster, which speaks, in a general, yet incredibly detailed way, of Life at Large, and how to approach it with dignity, serenity, reason, and virtue…. And, why not? The world needs all the virtue, and reason, it can get just now, trust me….

***********

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good;
And spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,
One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

~~ Alexander Pope — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 289 ~~

***********

“He would be the finer gentleman that should leave the world
without having tasted of lying
or pretense of any sort,
or of wantonness or conceit.”

~~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, ix, 2 ~~

***********

“To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Journal”, 20 December 1822 ~~

***********

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere,
but after a while he gets to know something.”

~~ Wilson Mizner ~~

***********

“Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in
silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all
persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to
the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive
persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser
persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep
interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the
changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the
world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the
grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things
of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do
not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and
loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a
child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to
be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is
unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive
Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of
life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.”

~~ Max Ehrman, “Desiderata” (1927) ~~

***********

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

~~ Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics ~~

~~ Bl. I, Ch. 6, 10966, lines 29-30 ~~

***********

“[T]he earth does not belong to man;
man belongs to the earth.
This we know.
All things are connected
like the blood which unites one family.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth
befalls the sons of the earth.
Man did not weave the web of life;
he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web,
he does to himself.”

~~ Chief Seattle, 1854 (c.1786-1866) ~~

***********

“There is no wealth but life.”

~~ John Ruskin ~~

***********

“Because I have loved life,
I shall have no sorrow to die.”

~~ Amelia Burr ~~

***********

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

Done; not merely done, but, done a day early. Not bad for an old fart. Since I’ve probably tortured enough people for one day, I’ll take my leave without fanfare, merely a quick bow, and exit, stage right… or left, or down, which is, I guess, the proper direction to send you. See y’all tomorrow, if the plan comes together…. Looking good so far….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Barking at optimisitic nihilists….

Posted on January 20, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“When it’s dark enough you can see the stars.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

Greenock Hilltop View, Scotland

Hajime…. Late again, dammit! Ah well, such is life in the big city, I suppose. Since there is little to say without going into issues not appropriate for a family blog…. Wait a minute! Who said this was a family blog? Fuck that! I don’t intend to alter my language for anyone’s false sense of propriety, thank you very much…. But, then, I gave up on making the front page of WP long ago; one ‘fuck’ and that was history. So be it, he said, with a smarmy grin….

The smile fades, though, as he realizes he is, once more, lost in the intro…. Nowhere to go from here but down, it seems, so, we may as well bail early again. How about it, ffolkes? Let’s do this…. we’ll just pretend none of it happened, at all, and get on with the rest of today’s mess, just as if we intended it to go this way…. That looks like this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Inside myself is a place where I live all alone,
and that’s where you renew your springs
that never dry up.”

~~ Pearl S. Buck ~~

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

The Four Seasons

Today’s musical selection is one I listen to regularly, for it is one of the most delightful pieces ever written. It also gave me a chance to use the fine picture you see, which I stole from another blogger, who just laughed when I asked permission…. ‘S okay, she was joking, right? At any rate, it’s worth listening to, if only for how it makes you feel…. Enjoy!….

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

Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons

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

https://youtu.be/GRxofEmo3HA

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

The discussion upon which I’m working isn’t done yet, so, we’ll go back about two years for a strange little discussion of life at large in today’s world, such as it is…..

From 1/23/2014:

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 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 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, “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….

😆

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

“Poetry–even bad poetry–may be our final hope.”

~~Edward Abbey ~~

Rhyming is better than lying….

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

4/1/2013

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

Today’s final section is comprised of a seven-star classic, with a subtle message for those who enjoy life as it is…. Trust me….

Living Dead
the path is chosen,
to live forever
is to die forever.

To not know
when you’ll die
is to find life
wherever you are.

~~ Alagad ~~

“You see things, and you say “WHY?” But I dream things that never were, and I say “WHY NOT?” — George Bernard Shaw, “Back to Methuselah”

“All life is based on death. Nothing exists except by feeding on something else. Even photosynthesis depends on the heat-death of the sun. Humanity is not
exempt. Embalming doesn’t cheat the worms, it cheats the system. But only temporarily.” — Solomon Short

“Because you’re not what I would have you be, I blind myself to who, in truth, you are.” — Madeleine L’Engle

“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Do not eat your heart.” — Pythagoras

“A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind…” — Kahlil Gibran

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

It’s done. That is all you’ll ever hear me say of it, as it was slapped together with great rush, and, I won’t be held responsible for the results, not without a warrant. Since it IS done, I’m going to do the expedient thing, so highly prized in today’s world, and bail. See y’all tomorrow, with the usual caveats in play….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Assemble the marigolds for debarkation….

Posted on January 19, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Become who you are.”

~~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~~

Dusk over Galway Bay

He sat in a squalid, empty room, engaged in passive questing through the reaches of time, searching for truth. Finding none, he turned away, saddened by the defunct nature implied in such a loss. “Still,” he thought to himself, with an ironic smile touching the corners of his mouth, “it could be worse. It could be raining.” With a poignant shake of the head, he slipped into a dream….

Rain poured down, filling the streets with rushing feet and pounding hearts. Beside the lamp post on the corner, he stood, dripping, with a small shadow of reality sticking to his shoe. Wiping it on the nearest centurion, as directed, he began to bail with the rest of the crowd, stopping periodically to clap his hand to his head, moaning, “Oh, for the boon of sanity!”, in stentorian tones, dulcet over the roar of water on the roofs.

Then, of course, he woke up, only to realize he was deep into the intro section already, without a plan, only a sadly over-rated trick of the trade, or two, to get him to the proper stance, where there exists a small chance of saving this from an early death, well before ever beginning to live. “What the hell is going on?”, he cried in dismay….

Strange, isn’t it, what will happen late at night, with nothing better to do than sit around making shit up in your head? I thought so, but, then, I’m the one who’s trying to find a way back to something resembling reality even slightly…. I think, perhaps, I’d best give up, and get on with the rest of today’s mess…. Whew, made it…. Not only made it, but, made it with room to spare…. Go figure….

Shall we Pearl?….

“What are the facts? Again and again and again–what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what ‘the stars foretell,’ avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable ‘verdict of history,’ –what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your only clue. Get the facts!” — Lazarus Long — Robert A. Heinlein

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

Image from photoalbum.bloguez.com via Google Images

Today’s music choice is a nod to two friends, who both expressed their appreciation of this band’s music…. Enjoy, ffolkes, these guys rock!…..

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

Little Feat
Dixie Chicken

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

https://youtu.be/FXvoRRMSSGU?list=PL94gOvpr5yt0sC0LG0F1Ombpb4syfFpD7

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

The discussion I’m working on is not ready, so here is a little discussion from the archives, with a message of hope, once you work your way to the end…. Enjoy!….

From 3/3/2013:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Do not think that man is but flesh, skin, bones and veins; far from it! What really makes man is his soul; and the things we call skin, flesh, bones and veins are but a garment, a cloak; they do not constitute man. When man departs this earth, he divests himself of all the veils that conceal him.” — Zohar

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

POETRY, n. A form of expression peculiar to the Land beyond the Magazines.

~~ Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary” ~~

Today’s poem is from T.S. Eliot. It’s a rather long poem, but, well worth reading; it is regarded as one of the most important poems of the twentieth century, with a marked influence on the poetry of the time, an influence which continues today…. I give you….

The Waste Land

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory out of desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in a forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176735

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

Naked Pearls

Observations on Life at Large

*********

Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls must dive below.

~~ John Dryden, “All for Love, Prologue” ~~

*********

“Forget what you know and learn.”

— Roger von Oech

*********

“Irony is the hygiene of the mind.”

— Insightful Bee

*********

“Action should culminate in wisdom.”

~~ Bhagavad Gita ~~

*********

“The discipline of desire is the background of character.”

~~ John Locke ~~

*********

“As the tempest and the thunder affect not the sun or the stars,
but spend their fury on stones and trees below;
so injuries ascend not to the Soul of the great,
but waste themselves on such as are those who offer them.”

~~ Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375) ~~

*********

“The moment in which you confront your own death
is the moment in which you are most totally alive.”

~~ Solomon Short ~~

*********

“Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me,
why should you not speak to me?
And why should I not speak to you?”

~~ Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass ~~

*********

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

I’m not really sure what took place here today. That’s okay, though; we’ve been here before, haven’t we? Yep. Moreover, we were done, then, too, weren’t we? Yep again. So, what do we do now? We go away, like this, with nary an explanation, nor a clue…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes; count on it, one way or another…. or, not. Choice is all we have, in the end, which this is….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

This is a multi-zone pass….

Posted on January 17, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.”

~~ Benjamin Franklin ~~

And your point is…?

Hajime…. Ah, yes, apartment living…. You know the day isn’t going to go well when you’re awakened at 3:30 AM by screaming voices from the other side of the wall…. Once the hullabaloo was done, & the cat settled down, we managed to get back to sleep, only to oversleep…. Hence, today’s later than usual posting (we don’t use the Tardis on weekends if not needed…. maintenance….), paired with the perfect stolen meme to open todays mess. It describes my feelings this morning quite well, thank you very much….

However, rather than take out my angst over having to listen to someone else’s drama so late/early, and, to give my aching arms & hands a break, we’ll cut today’s intro short yet again…. Hell, this makes the third or fourth time in a week; certainly a new record…. and, I say that just as if a) it mattered, and, b) anyone cared at all. Before I get lost & can’t live up to the word ‘short’, we’ll employ this old literary trick, which works like this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” — Thomas Paine

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

Image from nytimes.com via Google Images

I feel like something raucous today; this promises to fit the bill just fine…. Enjoy!….

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

Allman Brothers Band
with Eric Clapton

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

https://youtu.be/pb22MYqdugE

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

I’m lazy; so, sue me. I don’t feel like ranting yesterday; therefore, we have no rant today. We do, however have a bit of nonsense from the archives…. You may as well enjoy it; it’s all you get here today…..

From 2/25/2012:

“It’s a buck dancer’s choice my friend, you better take my advice.
You know all the rules by now, and the fire from the ice.
Ain’t no time to hate
— there’s barely time to wait.
Whoa, oh, what I want to know: where does the time go?”

~~ Robert Hunter ~~

Where does the time go? And who says so? Where does your lap go, when you stand up? Where are all those socks that have been lost over the years in the wash? If it’s an unknown soldier, whose side was he on, and how do we know? If Billy stays at his work, baiting lines on a tuna boat, a long time, does that make him a Master Baiter? If Time is a river, or a road stretching out before us, how does it fly? If a butterfly flying away from its cocoon can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world, what happens when an elephant poops? Why on Earth did kamikaze pilots wear helmets? Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?

These are the kinds of things that trouble mankind? Well, no, but I tend to think about them a lot. I’m curious, and there are still a lot of things I have to learn; one can only learn when they admit they don’t know. Why, you may ask, do I spend my time on such nonsense? That’s an easy one. Because I damn well want to, and it’s none of your damn business what I do inside my own head.

But, since you’ve asked so nicely, I’ll put down my curmudgeon cudgel, and tell you. It all started when I was young, and my brother accidentally stepped on my nose. You might wonder what my nose was doing under his foot, but you’ll be disappointed to learn that you’ll never know, because it’s not relevant, or germane to our discussion.

What is relevant is this….. life is hard enough to deal with just as it is; there is pain, suffering, and, a seemingly hostile Universe with which we must contend, every minute of every day. There’s no need to add another layer of difficulty by refusing to see the other side of that seriousness, that little bit of nonsense that is present every where and every when, in everything we do, in everything that happens to us.

We are all Bozos on this bus; when the nose shows, you must let it grow. There will be time enough to be plenty serious when serious problems need to be addressed; when we have the opportunity to experience the other side of existence, it makes good sense to take it. Or, as so aptly put by Willie Wonka:

“A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men.”

Cheers, and welcome to the parade!…….

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

Visible life

Forty-two days of pressure and internal rain,
leave marks of salvation, often in pain.
Such sharp reminders of yesterday’s remorse
fight heavily to keep a straight course.
Rash moments, bright, and routinely immense
Give us pleasure, bereft of common sense.

Still the night comes soft and eternally dear
to bring out wishful dreams so vitally clear.
Life’s myrmidons give freely in protest
lifting with skill, soul pieces first to infest,
Loudly brash, with no such voices to remain
Sealed in infamy, branded ugliness all too plain.

Now come brave signs of chapter and verse
Shielded by ignorance, irritable and terse.
Gravid portions of in-between retaliation
leave only pale marks of initial gestation
With hope even pallid warriors grow brave
Leading all humanity, to a warm, stale grave.

Hope never falters, nor leaves any trace
Yet lingers forever in a welcoming space.
Cheerful faces yet shine out of time
for tricking and fumbling sweet melody sublime.
Fill in the spaces with a long, strong retort
life is ever visible, if only as last resort.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/15/2012

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

Naked Pearls

Life Lived Large

*********

How does it feel?
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown?

~~ Bob Dylan ~~

*********

“The things that matter most
must not be at the mercy
of the things that matter least.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~

*********

“Be patient and tough;
someday this pain will be useful to you.”

~~ Ovid ~~

*********

“One’s mind is like a knife.
If you don’t sharpen it, it gets rusty.”

~~ Nien Cheng ~~

*********

“I think we are drawn to dogs
because they are the uninhibited creatures
we might be
if we weren’t certain we knew better.”

~~ George Bird Evans ~~

*********

“Nature is not human-hearted.”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

*********

“This is living, not to live unto oneself alone.”

~~ Menander ~~

*********

We turn not older with years, but newer every day.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

*********

“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together!”

~~The Beatles. “I Am The Walrus” ~~

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

That’s it. Done. And, not bad, considering. With that in hand, to assuage my non-existent guilt over today’s mess, I’ll take my leave, post-haste, before all my brownie points expire. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, tongue-in-cheek, hat-in-hand, and, just-in-time for a new day…. well, here, anyway…. Ta, then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

More chewy than pink….

Posted on January 16, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

~~ Abraham Lincoln ~~

Did you say ‘Tuna’?

As the day begins, wet and cold, I sit to try once more to make sense of a world gone mad, right before my eyes…. It seems even those with the most rational perceptions cannot bring order to the chaos sought so strongly by those ruled by fear and illusion, and the world climbs ever closer to a summit from which the only way down is a long fall. To maintain one’s own center is becoming increasingly difficult, when even those whom we believed to be rational are showing signs of falling prey to fear….

Doing this, organizing my life to include time to think, to write, to try to bring some of the order in my own mind out into reality, where it might be of some help to others…. But, even this self-therapy, to try to deal with my own inner demons, is getting hard to do each day, given the demands we place upon ourselves to live a certain way, to walk our chosen path….

I have met some wonderful people, people who give me hope there are enough with minds capable of resisting the craziness to, perhaps, make a difference….. It is only my own experience, and the propensity for human nature to assert its most base desires, which I have seen become the status quo for the average man, that demonstrates how small my hope must be; we humans don’t seem to WANT to know our own nature, unless by doing so we can fulfill that nature’s desires…

It’s always chancy when I become introspective first thing in the morning; I’m not sure my brain is functioning quite smoothly enough for such delicate work…. But, it’s done, and it’s real, so fuck it. The rest of today’s Pearl is done, so, I’m going to let this fly, so we can get on with it…. Perhaps, if I can work it, I’ll actually get something else done today…. Time will tell, I suppose…. it always does. For now, let’s go see what I dragged out of my head yesterday, and late last night, as I could not sleep well, due to a visit from our old friend, pain…. may it rot in deepest hell….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

********************************”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

With more than four hours of classical music, by the acknowledged genius of Wolfgang himself, how can one not be productive? Even Leelu likes Wolfie…. Trust me, she’s picky….

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

The Best of Mozart
Violin Sonatas

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

https://youtu.be/gTEn6SRVAE4

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

战争艺术

The Art of War

Most people seem to think that trampling individual rights is OK if it is “for the good of society as a whole.” However, society is but a large number of individuals, and how can harming the individual parts better the whole?” — Andrew Ford, forda@agcs.com

“Apparent disorder is a product of control.
Apparent fear is a product of courage.
Apparent vulnerability is a product of possession.

Control or disorder is a matter of Analysis.
Courage or fear is a matter of Direction.
Possession or vulnerability is a matter of Positioning.”

~~ Sun Tzu “The Art of War,” translation by R.L. Wing ~~

Yesterday, a friend sent a link to a very thorough exploration of one of the many organizations in the world attempting to force the rest of the world to adopt their own ideas, and laws; essentially, these people, like all of their ilk in every OTHER organization which tries to do the same, want everyone to submit to THEIR will, and their idea of how the world should be…. This, of course, is insanity. It is also why War has been the primary pastime of the human race almost since our species created a verbal language.

The words of Sun Tzu, therefore, take on new meaning, for they do not apply simply to war, but, also, to life. Human life can easily be viewed as one long war, a constant struggle to BE, while every other human is engaged in the same battle, with themselves…. It is little wonder this becomes our modus operandi for dealing with each other; conflict is a part of our nature, along with violence, fear, anger, kindness, compassion, and, the impetus driving it all, our imagination/intelligence, a product of our perceptive abilities, and the ability of our brains to process large amounts of sensory perceptions, then applying the imagination to organize and enhance it.

If one views their Self as the general of an army of one, the precepts included in the Art of War can be applied to both our internal struggle for selfhood, and, the outer struggle to maintain that self in a dangerous, complex world, inhabited by many of our kind, all of whom are as dangerous as we ourselves, though, not quite as dangerous as the Universe; we just tend to think so, due to the unlimited scope of our imagination…. Perception, we tend to forget, is not always Reality…. especially when our imagination is involved.

Having been made aware of this at a young age, I’ve been able, mostly, to place myself into advantageous positions, avoiding many of the struggles I observe others encounter. It has also made me aware of the absolutely essential piece of self-knowledge essential to any ‘victory’, which is to understand one’s own personal responsibility for their own security in life. Henry David Thoreau once said, “There is no method or system which can replace the necessity for remaining ever alert.” This is implicit in the Art of War, every line is imbued with the assumption of this necessity. We can never place that responsibility in the hands of another, not truly.

What did Sun Tzu place first? Analysis, which in the Self is the process of learning, and education. By these we learn Direction, given by knowledge and experience. With these tools, fear disappears, and courage becomes not just possible, but, necessary and right. With courage and knowledge, we lose our vulnerability, becoming in possession of the center of our being, which can only be affected with our consent. In real life, this means we cannot be terrified, no matter the issue presented to us by the universe, or other people, either of which can afford danger when misunderstood, or, when left to its own devices.

Having wandered into some rather esoteric territory, I’ll not bore us all with any further lamentations. With the above in mind, today’s world becomes, if not less complex, perhaps more understandable. That, I can hope, is the first step to losing fear, which is the beginning of much of the difficulty in life experienced by all of humanity. When we learn, and find the courage to confront fear, letting it pass without submitting to its irrationality, we become able to accept the universe on its terms, without losing our own Self….. Terror of imagined consequences is thus defeated before it begins….

“Confront them with annihilation, and they will survive;
plunge them in a deadly situation, and they will then live.
When people fall into danger,
they are then able to strive for victory.”

~~ Sun Tzu ~~

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

Random Exposure

If I only knew what I was doing here,
I could give others a clue.
Reality gets stranger every year,
and I’m not sure what I should do.

Singing happy old tunes, in an old, gravely voice,
gives me a lot of pleasure.
I’m only glad I can still make a choice,
to look at life, to take its measure.

Memorable moments keep passing by
gilded, framed in precious emotion.
I never have to ask anyone why,
no need for a stronger potion.

Everything in life is clear, to me
there is no doubt, no misunderstanding.
We’re all good, as you can see,
members of Life, in good standing.

Life can be hard, or it can be great fun;
the right path is there for each of us to take.
That choice is often a difficult one;
pay close attention to the choice you make.

~~ gigoid ~~

4/22/2013

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

Naked Pearls

Death/Life

*********

“After the first death, there is no other.”

~~ Dylan Thomas ~~

*********

“It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*********

“Kindness is more important than wisdom,
and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.”

~~ Theodore Isaac Rubin ~~

*********

Do not confuse ‘duty’ with what other people expect of you;
they are utterly different.
Duty is a debt you owe to yourself
to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily.
Paying that debt can entail anything
from years of patient work
to instant willingness to die.
Difficult it may be,
but the reward is self-respect.

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

*********

“If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.”

~~ Latin Proverb ~~

*********

“We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry.”

~~ John Webster ~~

*********

“Truth is an empty room.”

~~ Subtle Bee ~~

*********

“May you never know hunger
May you love with a full heart
The light burn in your eyes

May the fire be your friend
And the sea rock you gently
May the moon light your way
Till the wind sets you free”

~~ Shriekback, “Cradle Song” ~~

*********

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

~~ Prayer of the Makah Indians ~~

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

Well, I was right; it’s done, Being so, today, is serendipitous, indeed, as the portents foretell an ‘interesting’ time ahead…. I’m hoping that means we’ll see a bit of progress for rationality in the world at large, thought my hope is tempered with some trepidation. Ah, well, what is life, but a long, delicious ambiguity, eh? Enough for one day; see y’all tomorrow, if I decide to stay on this path…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Morning sux, redux….

Posted on January 15, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Is a mirage real? Well, it’s a real mirage.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

You didn’t want to hit ‘delete’?

Hajime…. I am unsure why, but, I woke up grumpy; so be it…. This generally means a nice, vitriolic rant for later, but, since we are already ‘later’ than I’d like, we’ll pass on that, & go with an archived piece; the fresh treatise upon which I’ve been working isn’t ready anyway. Leelu isn’t happy with me, either, so, I guess it’s all of a piece, so to speak. Grumpiness, mad cat, late Pearl… I have a feeling I may not be attending Bingo Night tonight; too many opportunities to lose it altogether. Since I like the people who organize it, I’ll probably be nice, & stay home.

If you have come this far in today’s narrative, it may occur to you today’s title is actually connected to the Pearl, which is NOT my habit, nor my wish. It just came out that way; I made it up while still in extreme grump mode, and, it seems to have stuck, no matter what I do. Oh, well, that’s just one more to add to my list, which is reaching epic proportion, and it’s barely 6 AM. Now I’m getting worried; is there some cosmic event my perception has picked up subconsciously? Is the Universe about to go critical? Is the Space/Time Continuum shaking in its proverbial boots?…. Tune in tomorrow, & we’ll have a report on all of that…..

For now, and today, I think, perhaps, ‘t would be a good thing to get this slow on the toad. In keeping with that most perceptive insight, let’s do this, which is fast, and may cause a bit of vertigo, but, what the hell? The morning’s shot anyway. Hang on, ffolkes, this one moves wicked fast….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Human, do you know how interesting it is, this thing you describe? Avata does not have a god. How is it that you have a god? Avata has Self, has the universe. But you have a god. Where did you find this god?” — Frank Herbert

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

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

Today’s music is a lazy compromise; I wanted to hear some guitar, but, was too lazy to figure out to whom I wished to listen. This is the compromise, with 3 hours of classical guitar, by various artists…. It will do for our purposes today. Enjoy, ffolkes…

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

Classical Guitar

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

https://youtu.be/V80EzF–UNk

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

I am working on a piece for this section, but, it keeps growing in different directions, so, it isn’t ready yet. To sublimate, here is a reasonably short discussion of a similar subject, from the archives, about three years ago…. Enjoy, ffolkes; at least you don’t have to hear me go off this morning; well, not with any oomph, anyway….

From 4/18/2013:

MORAL, adj. Conforming to a local and mutable standard of right. Having the quality of general expediency.

“It is sayd there be a raunge of mountaynes in the Easte, on one syde of the which certayn conducts are immorall, yet on the other syde they are holden in good esteeme; wherebye the mountayneer is much conveenyenced, for it is given to him to goe downe eyther way and act as it shall suite his moode, withouten offence. _Gooke’s Meditations_

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

A reader commented to me recently that my rants have gone soft; she enjoys it when I rake someone over the coals, figuratively speaking, and asked me when I was going to get back on my white horse, or my soapbox, as the cliché may be…. I told her it is most likely a result of having some of the pressure of living removed, by the acquisition of my SS benefits, so much so that I’m finding it hard to summon up the outrage needed to rant effectively…. Like Voldemort told Harry, when he tried to use the Cruciatus Curse against Bellatrix Lestrange, in HP5-The Order of the Phoenix, “You’ve got to MEAN it, Harry!” Funny how not worrying about where the next meal is coming from takes some stress out of one’s life, isn’t it?….. Ha Ha…..

So, anyway, then I saw the above entry from the Devil’s Dictionary, and thought to myself, “AHA!” (I do that a lot…), “Now, here’s a subject worthy of a rant!”…. This is absolutely true, even though morality is sort of like reality…. there are as many versions of what it means as there are people…. of which, each and every one believes that what they perceive is the only correct version, obviously…. Right….

So, you can see the problem right away…. As a society, we have an unfortunate tendency to try to legislate morality, so that everyone is compelled to behave according to a commonly accepted pattern of behavior…. Supposedly, this legislation is supposed act as some sort of magic bullet, that will stop all the bad things from happening, like stealing, killing, and general misbehavior that is upsetting to the rest of society…. It never works, at all, but, we keep on passing laws designed to enforce a common morality anyway….

Such a drama is now being played out on the national stage, as the Senate just defeated the new gun control reforms that 90% of the populace wants in place. Out of a hundred Senators, it only took 45 Republicans to bring the proposed law down, meaning that once again, a very small percentage of people have forced their views on the rest of the public, to suit their own morality, and, more importantly, to suit their own special interests, who paid good money for their votes, dammit!…. I am somewhat piqued about this, but see little in the way of anything to be done that will make any difference, in the big picture…. No matter how stringent the laws, people who want guns will get them, and use them on other people…. The new laws would have made that a bit more time-consuming, but no less possible, or even less probable….

Since I can’t thing of anything positive to suggest, other than to stay alert to what may end up as a critical issue, I will fill out what should normally be a rant, with a number of cogent pearls, to try to jab the stick into the appropriate eyes…. and my friend will have to wait a bit longer for a good, old-fashioned brouhaha, as I get nasty and vicious in my denouncement of the BRC, the churches, and the corporate masters….. I will say this to her….. have no fear, my outrage isn’t gone, just temporarily dormant, and I WILL be back to rant….. meanwhile, enjoy these tasty gems…..

“The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.” — Sir Winston Churchill

Linear Model: An assumption concerning the nature of reality applied unquestioningly to every relationship as though God had determined that truth must always run in straight lines. — Smart Bee

“The clinching proof of my reasoning is that I will cut anyone who argues further into dogmeat.” — Sir Geoffery de Tourneville (ca. 1350)

“Has history ever recorded a time when the majority was right?” — Lazarus Long

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

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.” — Saul Bellow

“If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.” — Carl Schurz

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

Modest sounds of impatient concern….

Crowds converge at the raw and grisly scene,
comatose to compassion, curiosity tugging at the hem
with sharp, oh, sharp tools made obscene,
filing the essence of future hopes in spite of them.

Yet who has won the keys to the treasure,
who whipped up the fear of another brother?
Who spent the dreams of the old in selfish measure,
with such arrogant blindness grave issues to smother?

Fateful decisions may prompt still another pause,
to catch and release collective images of insanity.
Surely legitimate anger arises with ample cause
wallowing in self-made entrepreneurs, fluent in profanity.

A quartet of eternities must pass to guarantee change,
regardless of need, or desire, or autonomous manipulation.
Ancient rules and modern aggression is only passing strange
when golden delusion grasps futilely at its related illusory station.

~~ gigoid ~~

4/18/2013

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

Naked Pearls

“And what have we learned today…?

*********

“Change a life; make someone feel important.”

~~ Compassionate Bee ~~

*********

“Anger is never without an argument,
but seldom with a good one.”

~~ George Savile ~~

*********

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.

~~ William Arthur Ward ~~

*********

Fortune is like glass;
the brighter the glitter,the more easily broken.

~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 280 ~~

*********

Know then this truth (enough for man to know),
“Virtue alone is happiness below.”

~~ Alexander Pope — Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 309 ~~

*********

“The worst vice of the fanatic is his sincerity.”

~~ Oscar Wilde ~~

*********

“Laughter is the language of the gods.”

~~ Buddhist saying ~~

*********

“I used to think I was an expert.
Then I met one…”

~~ Wise Bee ~~

*********

“I cannot teach anybody anything,
I can only make them think.”

~~ Socrates ~~

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

Well, it’s done. As we all know, that is our primary goal, & once reached, we tend to bail quickly. How quickly? Oh, about like this….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. That isn’t meant as a threat, but, you take it however it occurs to you….. I’ll be here anyway, as long as the Net is still up & running…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

The Last Bus to Procyon IV….

Posted on January 14, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Be virtuous and you will be eccentric.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

Where’s that dang bus?

Bird in a hurry, Galway

Hajime…. Well, hell…. I didn’t win the billion dollar jackpot, so, I guess I’ll get this done…. Personally, today, I got nothin’. I’m tired, it’s raining. and I hurt, everywhere…. But, then, what else is new? I’m not complaining, though, in truth, I could. I’m good at it. But, I’ll forgo any such indulgence, in favor of getting on with what I need to do to get this posted. Thankfully, that isn’t much, considering very little of it is fresh…. We have a fresh old-school pearl, and, some rather nice music from our old friend Camille Saint-Saëns; the poem is an older one of mine, and the ranting section, well, you’ll have to see for yourself, as we went to the archives for a bit of fun.

All that said, to our consistently little purpose, I suggest we head right over to the oyster beds, without any further silliness, or even, sobriety. In fact, we’ll just do this the easy way…. How, you may ask, could this be any easier? Simple. Watch this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“How could the drops of water know them”selves to be a river?
Yet the river flows on.”

~~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~~

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

Since I’m putting this together in rather a rush, so to speak, we’ll go with one of my favorite composers, and one of his first published works…. Abondanza!…..

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

Camille Saint-Saëns
Symphony No.1 in E-flat major

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

https://youtu.be/kejYHuAcG_k

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

As previously noted, I got nothin’…. Well, not precisely, I suppose; I do have the archives. Guess where today’s material for this section came from? Yep…. Hey, look at it this way; no rant. In fact, this one is more of a laugh than a rant…. I hope so, anyway…. Enjoy, ffolkes; tomorrow I’ll be ranting afresh, so, fair warning….

From 9/12/2012:

This is an old school pearl for your reading pleasure, or nearest approximation of same…. a bit different, with some internal comments from yours truly (in parentheses for your convenience….), to give directional hints that may or may not lead you to the point being developed…. but, funny, at least, as far as I can make them….

“… But when he [the people’s champion] has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.), “The Republic”

(When I read this, or sentiments like it, I always get a picture in my head of the two Bushes…. GW and GHW, otherwise known as the Senior Shrub and the Junior Shrub, or vice versa…. The national mourning that took place yesterday is the best example of their work in this arena….)

“My first American ancestor, gentlemen, was an Indian-an early Indian. Your ancestors skinned him alive, and I am an orphan. All those Salem witches were ancestors of mine. Your people made it tropical for them…. The first slave brought into New England out of Africa was an ancestor of mine-for I am a mixed breed, an infinitely shaded and exquisite Mongrel.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

(Me too! I loved this when I first saw it, back in High School, a VERY LONG time ago… so long ago, it was hot off the press…… The best part is, every one of those folks who believe themselves to be blue-blooded Americans are exactly the same make-up… There are very few real pure-bloods left anywhere in the world, and certainly not in a country with the diverse population we have….. we’re all, technically speaking, close to being “mutts”, every one of us…..)

“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.” — Galbraith’s Law

(I am reminded of those folks who are busy trying to convince everyone that they aren’t against Obama because he’s black, and then turn around and support R&R, who have all but guaranteed to return racism and bigotry to government….. Hell, just look at one of their primary talking point slogans, the key part of which is, and I quote, “…we’ll take America back….” Take it back? From whom? From other Americans? Does this mean the current government aren’t real Americans? That sounds suspiciously of both racism, AND treason, to me…..)

“The clinching proof of my reasoning is that I will cut anyone who argues further into dog meat.” — Sir Geoffery de Tourneville (ca. 1350)

(Ah, the good old days…. sometimes, I wish we would see someone in the House, or the Senate, say this at the end of a speech, just to see if anyone is paying attention…)

“Somewhere in suburban Honolulu, an unemployed bellhop is whipping up a batch of illegal psilocybin chop suey!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

(Okay, I admit it… this one isn’t part of the message inherent in the other quotes…. I just like it….. Though, now that I think about it, the fact that it is entirely possible this is true, does say something about the subject at hand, to wit: society and government thereof…. What it says could be paraphrased as “If God is in charge here, I am angry; if He is not, I am frightened….” — Smart Bee)

No one ever made laws keeping people from making fools of themselves. — Smart Bee

(This is a wonderful end point for this discussion, or at least, it is such an ending for the discussion going on in my head….. I think this is very, very true, sadly…. Moreover, I believe that the laws we do pass actually are the proof of the pudding, in terms of people making fools of themselves…. especially when we try to legislate morality…..)

That’s enough mental torture for one day….. I hope the conclusion these quotes led to is clear…. if not, well, that’s okay, because I never hold quizzes…. and hopefully, you got a chuckle or two from reading it…. and if not, well, console yourself with the fact that it is done…..

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

Unheralded Sagacity…

To many, who will not see beyond their nose
the world becomes a dangerous place,
a bullet in every gun, a thorn with every rose,
no magic comes to save us, reality leaves no trace.

Minds closed, wrapped tight in manufactured fears,
men become clay, easily molded into complacent form.
No chains needed, held in thrall for years,
lies become gospel, when dishonesty is the norm.

Shed the chains you wear in durance, in kind;
Oh, ye of little faith, and much doubt
Strength is found in an unfettered mind,
Cry “freedom” with a great shout.

No help from any gods can hinder so much
as our own lack of confidence;
finding the light within, knowing it as such
confirms us, becoming consequence.

Illumination…..

~~ gigoid ~~

4/17/2013

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

Here we have an odd little pearl of nine stars; I’m a bit unsure exactly where it leads, but, given the contents, it has to be somewhere worth going, at least to pick up whatever is there for us to find…. Not a bad way to end this, I should think…. But, then we know what can happen in such cases, so, perhaps I’ll merely leave you to it, for better, or for even better…. Enjoy the ride!….

“Shall I show you the muscular training of a philosopher? “What muscles are those?”–A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Wherein consists the Essence of Good, — Discourses, Book ii, Chap. viii

“O to be self-balanced for contingencies! O to confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs as trees and animals do!” — Walt Whitman

“In the carriages of the past you can’t go anywhere.” — Maxim Gorky (1868-1936)

“Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that.” — Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“Instead of being born again, why not just grow up?” — Logical Bee

“Pain of mind is worse than pain of body.” — Publilius Syrus

“Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

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

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

With a bit of help from Leelu, who was kind enough to be patient waiting for her morning play time, it’s done. Rather than draw this out any further, which would be both inefficient, and cruel, I’ll show some restraint, and merely say, see y’all tomorrow, as long as the Space/Time Continuum hangs together that long…. As noted previously, the odds are good on that….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Pilfering parabolic pontoons proved perilous….

Posted on January 13, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn ~~

Leelu, Unconscious

Giving new meaning to “Relaxed”

Hajime…. I’m a bit under the weather today, so, it’s good to have a Tardis. It’s also good today’s Pearl is one of the shortest I’ve put together since the early days of the blog, before I had learned to ‘let go’, so to speak. In keeping with the rest of the piece, this introductory section shall also be short, in more than merely a relative sense. It will also be short, in a very real sense, as it is now done… Watch THIS, y’all!…..

Shall we Pearl?….

Were it not for the presence of the unwashed and the half-educated, the formless, queer and incomplete, the unreasonable and absurd, the infinite shapes of the delightful human tadpole, the horizon would not wear so wide a grin.” — F. M. Colby, “Imaginary Obligations”

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

My words aren’t needed here; just watch, & imagine….

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

Imagine
Playing for Change

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

https://youtu.be/bvFLKyAGzzI

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

Yesterday, I was working on a discussion/rant for this section, when I came across two quotes, which, taken together, make up a pretty fucking good rant, all by themselves…. I present them just as they are, in the order in which I found them; I also invite you to think in a linear, historical fashion, from one thought, to the other, in time, and in real space (i.e., history)… If you can do so, you will know the entire 1000 or so word rant I COULD have written, but, didn’t, so as to save it as an exercise for my Gentle Readers…. Imagine, a trumpet, playing a bracing introduction….

“Politics have no relation to morals.”

~~ Niccolo Machiavelli ~~

|
|
|
|
V

“It is not more and newer drugs we need,
but rather clean air.
Clean water.
Good fresh real food.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

Remember, ffolkes….
Cannabis cures cancer, and, helps the body heal & defend itself.
The US government has known this simple fact since 1974.
They classified it.

So be it.

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

Piraeus calls me, silently.

Sizzle, sizzle, crash, bang, boom.
Intellect burning with subsequent doom.
Lingering long over decisive style,
Whistling up chaos all the while.

Such frozen thoughts may shatter,
Should we infer, but, no matter.
Firing blanks is children at play
Blooded sages all gasp in dismay.

Nonsense is good sense at times
Mundane objectives trip lightly in rhymes.
Fallen angels dance on a pin
Until each sinner enters within.

Fast moments with natural rain
Bring ashes, yet still must remain.
Final thoughts clamor for more
Find them only on a far distant shore.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/3/2012

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

More Nude Pearls

Are You Experienced?

*********

“And it is not our part here
to take thought only for a season,
or for a few lives of Men,
or for a passing age of the world.”

~~ Gandalf ~~

*********

“Are all your stars shining?”

~~ JD Salinger ~~

*********

“Then here ‘s to the oak, the brave old oak,
Who stands in his pride alone!
And still flourish he a hale green tree
When a hundred years are gone!”

~~ H. F. Chorley,” The Brave Old Oak” ~~

*********

Joshu is my favorite Zen Master.
It is said that a monk once asked him,
“To be holy – what is it like?”
Joshu replied,
“To dump a mountain of shit on a clean plain.”

~~ Disk Sutphen ~~

*********

“When you live in the shadow of insanity,
the appearance of another mind
that thinks and talks as yours does
is something close to a blessed event.”

~~ Robert Pirsig ~~

*********

“The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups.
A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.”

~~ Jane Porter (1776-1850) ~~

*********

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

~~ C.S. Lewis, “The Screwtape Letters” ~~

*********

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone,
it has to be made, like bread;
re-made all the time, made new.”

~~ Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Lathe of Heaven” ~~

*********

“Ya gotta be subtle!”

~~ Mike Hammer ~~

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

I really don’t know what I can say after that last pearl. No. I mean, I REALLY don’t know what more I can say. Whatever I do say cannot possibly top it, nor reach its actual subtlety, which, also possibly, cannot be measured in mere numbers. But, then, you probably notice I don’t trouble y’all often with numbers…. far too subtle for my level of writing skill, I’m sure. But, I keep tryin’….. as I will tomorrow, dead or alive. News at 11….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

gigoid

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

View Full Profile →

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

gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Smart Bee

This is a multi-zone pass….

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: