Festooned in gay silk pantaloons…

Posted on May 15, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intentions.”

~~ Cicero (B.C. 106-43) ~~

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Site of Aristotle’s School, Mieza, Macedonia

Image from Wikipedia article on Aristotle

Good morning….

Shall we Pearl?

“From out of all the many particulars comes oneness, and out of oneness come all the many particulars.” — Heraclitus

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The Doobies

Image from revivemediaservices.com via Google Images

In the interests of keeping things balanced, here’s another American band from the golden age of Rock and Roll…. I spent many a happy hour at concerts by these lads…. though I’ll be honest and admit much of the memory of those times can be a bit blurry…. Go figure, eh?…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

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The Doobie Brothers

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https://youtu.be/uRnMjQw63tQ

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I’m still fighting the issues I’ve been dealing with for a week now, so, you get something from the archives, the nature of which has yet to be determined at this writing.. I’ll make it a good one, never fear…. Ah, here’s a good one, speaking on the subject of religion, I believe…….

From 11/8/2012:

“Who, being loved, is poor?” — Oscar Wilde

Hmm…. While I happen to agree with this little gem from Oscar, I’m afraid I’m just not in the correct mood to do it justice…. I’ll have to try again…..

“If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.” — Jimmy Buffet

That’s better….. This is a perfect quote for today, since it both points out the problem, and the solution in one lyrical phrase. Jimmy’s good at that kind of turning of a phrase, being an excellent songwriter. Now, if only I could find something, anything, that I found amusing enough to laugh about. At the moment, the only thing that seems to work is letting myself picture the SS caseworker undergoing the pleasures of a stint in deepest HELL! When I envisioned some devilish figure poking him with a pitchfork, I have to admit, I chortled. And when the devil then picked him up with the blade and tossed him into a lake of fire, I guffawed…. and felt much better. Shoulda thought of it a long time ago….

“Baby, after considerable thought I’ve reached the conclusion that the only conceivable legitimate answer to the Universe as constituted is a peal of hysterical laughter.” — Keith Laumer, _Night of Delusions_

Yet more proof of this theorem…. I’ve heard it said all my life that the reason people laugh is so they don’t have to cry, and found it to be absolutely correct. I’ve also heard it said, by those who believe in Him, that if God had wanted us to be sober, He wouldn’t have given us a sense of humor….. While I can’t necessarily agree with the idea of God, I can see what they’re getting at, and agree wholeheartedly. (Hey! Look! Something a Christian and I can agree on!…. Who’d a thunk it?….) I mean, why else would a platypus exist at all?….

“It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.” — Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) — Natural History, Book ii, Sect. 20

This sounds a lot more reasonable than supposing that God is the sort of weak, spineless entity that requires worship and obedience from His creations. I mean, if you’re going to have a God, then why give him all the worst characteristics of a fool? The only people I know of who demand that sort of obeisance are pretty psychopathic, and take medications for their delusions; or, in some cases, elected officials will get this way. I just can’t see an entity who is capable of creating a universe even spending one second worrying about being worshiped; it just doesn’t make any sense at all, and, quite frankly, I can’t understand how anyone in their right mind could ever buy into that idea. Such worship would make me feel uncomfortable, at best, and I just can’t see a God worrying about it overlong…. If such a God were to worry about anything, it would be wondering how He had screwed up in making such idiots in the first place…. and, in figuring out what asshole even gave them the idea….

“A long tradition has regarded low self-esteem as a powerful and dangerous cause of violence. Our review has indicated, however, that it is threatened egotism rather than low self-esteem that leads to violence.” — Case Western Reserve University psychology study as quoted in Thomas C. Palmer, Jr.’s Boston Globe article (3-31-96),” Self-Esteem Self-Threatening?”

Here is a clue, though, as to how it all came to this….. As noted previously, Christianity, as with any other religion, gives its followers a sense of entitlement, and an opinion of their importance all out of proportion to reality. It is this sense of elitism that leads to a lot of the violence in the world, rather than low self-esteem; when one argues with a believer, their anger is immediately brought out as a defense against having to consider any validity in the arguments presented, and they will often resort to violence to try to force their beliefs on the unwilling. In fact, I’d say that 90% or more of all violence between humans is a result of a challenge to the pride one feels in their beliefs, or to the pre-eminence of their religious mania. Yes, greed enters into this equation, but greed is just another form of that same feeling of entitlement, so it doesn’t alter the facts at all; it supports them…..

The trouble with reality, is that it’s taken much too seriously. — Smart Bee

Smart Bee once again comes through…. it has faithfully supplied the proper quotes for this discussion, and here provides the perfect quote to bring this now over-long treatise to a close. We humans have a talent of screwing things up pretty radically, just because we can; it’s a gift. And then, of course, one must factor in that bloody Irish demi-god, Murphy, whose kind attentions are unwelcome by all. I once saw a pearl that said “God created the world in seven days, and then said, “I’m going on vacation…. Murphy, you’re in charge!”, and I knew…. the Universe is just one big joke, and because of our nature, the joke is on us…. so we may as well learn to laugh, and enjoy it the best we can….

“With YOU, I can be MYSELF.. We don’t NEED Dan Rather..”– Zippy the Pinhead

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This woman’s poetry has been amazing me for about four years now, almost. She was one of the first poets I found on WordPress, and I still find an amazing piece every time I visit her site…. Here is one I first posted back in 2012…. You can find her site at: http://starsrainsunmoon.com/

Obligating Hums

surely we’ve met in midair
sometime ago
your stubborn neck disregarded my smile
apologetically you stirred these mediums
the melancholic instruments attached to my head
on a solid oaken table we wrote
the aloofness of a spell
critiquing the crafty shapes
with your index finger you pointed at me
and shivered
i waited
and thickened your space very slowly
my voice reached your core
i knew then how bitter your loneliness was
tempting these souls to write
and with your little murmur
a flame in my chest i saw
i slowly began to weep
you stroke my head listening to me pray
softening my thoughts
the names that inhabit my soles
the steady pure familiar calm
the wind the golden faces inside this life of mine
designed for staying here
urging trumpets to melodically banner my heart tonight . . .

~~ Mari Sanchez Cayuso ~~

First posted here on ECR 7/30/2012.

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Here is a classic style old-school pearl, on the rather large subject of life at large….

“For a man can lose neither the past nor the future; for how can one take from him that which is not his? So remember these two points: first, that each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle, and that it signifies not whether a man shall look upon the same things for a hundred years or two hundred, or for an infinity of time; second, that the longest lived and the shortest lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ii, 14

“Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.” — Heraclitus

“To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.” — Benjamin Disraeli (Earl Beaconsfield) (1805-1881) — Sybil, Book i, Chap. v

“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.” — Carl Jung

“Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.” — Aristotle

“Better clean death than dirty life.” — Frank Herbert

“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” — Charles Bukowski

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Ah well, what can I say? It’s done, and, I’m certainly not going to go back & do it over…. In fact, I’m going to take the money, all zero dollars of it, and make a run for the border…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided I can continue to fail to find a reason not to do so….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Betting on a busted flush….

Posted on May 13, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he.”

~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 1073 ~~

~~ A perfect picture of the relationship between Dogs and Man ~~

(Not to mention the power of Love, and the power of Cute….)

Picture stolen from Facebook, ages ago….

Good morrow, ffolkes….

If today’s Pearl gets done anywhere near the usual time, it will be a major victory for the forces of good…. Without getting into details which would indubitably sound like whining, I’ll just say it’s not a good morning here at ECR, and let it go at that. Should you, and/or I, get to the end, well, I’ll have earned the title of “tough old fart”…..

Shall we Pearl?

“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

Ouch! Boy, if THAT isn’t the truth, I don’t know truth. And, believe me, I know truth, especially when it hits me in the face as hard as that does. If it doesn’t hit you as hard, well, all I can say is, read a bit of history, and think about it again…. End of mini-rant, on with the slow…. no typos allowed, ffolkes….

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Image from rollingstone.com via Google Images

C’mon, ffolkes… If you know me at all, you’d have known today’s video would be this band, after the last two days…. Sheesh…. Enjoy!

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The Who

Live at the Isle of Wight Festival, 1970

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https://youtu.be/YMS47w8hAZ8

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I’m pretty late, but, if I use an old rant from the archives, I can make up most of the time…. Here is a pretty decent little discussion from the occasion of my son’s last birthday…. Apparently, I found an even older piece, from 2013, a reflection on a reasonably esoteric subject, to wit: Life and Death, or Mortality… Enjoy!…

Last posted 12/17/2014; written 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, that moment in time when our yoke is removed, and our spirit is freed, once more joining 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”, giving 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…. In truth, it is, patently, 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), I must, logically, also believe that our minds/souls are a form of energy we currently don’t fully understand, and cannot perceive directly. Thus, we see 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….

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

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

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While I’m still waiting for the poem in my head to leak out, here is one of my latest poems, from last year….

A dream, weeping….

“Never a dull moment to spare”, he said
with a crooked grin, and a broad wink.
“Can’t keep Reality hanging by a thread….
what would Chaos, or Entropy think?”

So, we plucked up our dreams of old,
to carry us on, in dutiful, strong arms,
stuffed a candle in the remaining fold,
for luck, and perfect proof against charms.

Storms follow the sun, but, never stay;
lessons round every corner, all free.
Past fleeting doubts, in a sad disarray,
the journey becomes the reason to be.

Simple kindness manifests untold riches,
in defiance of common cause’s demise.
Bold courage, hanging in stitches,
mends wounds that come as no surprise.

Still, waters run deep, ’tis said by many.
Too much pain cannot apprehend
the salient, sharp points of epiphany,
nor, plainly, to wisdom aspire to pretend.

Folly dogs even the simplest truth,
fumes of toxic ignorance and bile,
alienated as a loose rotten tooth;
it often hides itself, for a long while.

Sought after eons ago, we cried out,
to believe, to suffer no more doubt.
But found instead good reason,
for love, and truth, from season, to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 8/30/2014.

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Yep…. It’s an old-school pearl. I let the cat pick them…. It’s a cat; I’m not even going to try to guess what it means….

If of all words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are, `It might have been,’
More sad are these we daily see:
`It is, but hadn’t ought to be.’

~~ Francis Brett Harte ~~

“A cock has great influence on his own dunghill.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 357

“Simplicity is always a virtue. One kid on a riverbank working out a Stephen Foster tune on his new harmonica heard from the correct aesthetic distance projects more magic and power than the entire Vienna Philharmonic and Chorus laboring (once again) through the Mozart Requiem or Bach’s B Minor Mass.” — Edward Abbey

“It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed.” — Goethe

“The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” — Henry David Thoreau

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “Wisdom of the Sands”

“Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 633

“Let us treat men and women well;
Treat them as if they were real;
Perhaps they are.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

Hmm…. Not too shabby at all…. I think the only thing to add at this point is, “meow….” Or, maybe, “Brrrt?”….. You tell me….

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It’s a wrap, thank goodness…. You may officially consider me a tough old fart. On that elegant note, I’ll take my leave, while I’m still able to remain at large…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can get a grip….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Burdened with atrophied sensibilities….

Posted on May 12, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“To see what is right and not to do it is cowardice.”

~~ Cervantes ~~

Artist’s rendition of water plumes on the surface of Europa

Image from Space.com

Good morning, ffolkes….

Just a short note, to give fair warning…. Gird your grid for a big one…. and, keep your wits about you.

Shall we Pearl?

“Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear.” — Isa Upanishad

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The Stones who are still Rolling

Image from wallpaperhere.com via Google Images

Yesterday, ’twas the Beatles; it’s only right today we include their contemporaries, who, somehow, are still going strong…. The Stones will be going on tour again this year… I’ve seen them live on stage a number of times through the years, and can’t think of any concerts I enjoyed more….Think of it; a stage full of 70 year old rockers, still making kick-ass, down & dirty rock and roll…. still rocking the world, fifty years on…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. Nothing else is quite like time spent getting down with the Stones…. and, I managed to find more than two hours of their best early work, to start your day right….

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The Rolling Stones

Hampton Coliseum 12/18/81

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https://youtu.be/PFPh5PL2c8Y

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“What is it the Bible teaches us? – rapine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the Testament teaches us? – to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.” — Thomas Paine — The Age of Reason

Ffolkes, I don’t think there is anyone, of a ffolkes-y nature, or, just folks, who would be able to disagree when I say the world today has gone stark, raving mad…. All one needs to do is take a daily trip through the international news, whether of a liberal, conservative, radical, or silly bias (ALL of them are biased; it’s the nature of the beast), to see the evidence is clear…. In too many places on the map to count, war is raging, killing both the guilty and the innocent, for the entertainment and profit of the arms dealers, none of whom ever participate in any of the conflagrations, being satisfied to watch it all safely from a distance, while they count their rubles, or marks, or pounds, or yuan, or dollars, pouring in from nations and organizations around the entire planet….

Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Africa, nearly every continent on Earth is witnessing daily wars, or violent acts of terror. The governments of every country are spying on their citizens, and each other, hiding their real intentions from all, moving us closer to another world war. This while constantly trumpeting every sort of danger they can think of to keep the public distracted, too busy to think about what is actually being done, to them, and to society at large.

Society itself displays all the symptoms of a dying organism. The members of our species prey upon the weak, and vulnerable among us without compunction, as the sex trafficking trade in women and children, used to satisfy the perverted urges of pedophiles, misogynists, and men of every walk of life, who have been encouraged all their life to treat women as property, or anything but a human being, worthy of respect, dignity, and love. Churches claim to help the poor, while all the while buying their gold-lined robes, standing up behind their gold plated icons, preaching earthly obedience, to church and state authority, so they can be rewarded when they die, for being such idiots…

I’m sick of it all; obviously, not ranting for a while has built up a bit of pressure, as I seem to be attacking on all fronts at the moment…. I am so sick and tired of the STUPID ASSHOLES, the elite oligarchs who control the world’s resources for their own aggrandizement, manipulating everyone else in the world by whatever means are effective (disinformation, violence, betrayal, legal theft, all those ways governments and corporations have of colluding to cheat the public….), without ever considering what they are doing to the rest of us, or to the planet…. Fucking dicks….

Then. there are the so-called men of our species, who, mostly, are misogynist, bigoted racists, who take pride in being able to fart the national anthem, or prove their manhood by abusing anyone weaker than they; children, women, animals…. Bah, humbug! I can’t do this any more…. I find myself falling into name calling, spewing bile over people who not only won’t ever see it, (their reading is generally confined to thin books with small amounts of small easy-to-read words, and many large. colorful pictures, often of a prurient nature… which they wouldn’t understand as a euphemism for vulgar….), but, really aren’t worth the effort of abusing…. What I would really like to do is take my knives, my crossbow, and my lariat, to go hunting at night, on the streets….

SIGH…. It’s certainly inconvenient, not to mention occasionally frustrating, being honorable….

Now, since I can’t go hunting just now, I’ll sublimate…. Normally when I say that, you would see an old school pearl. Today, here is a link, to a blog I’ve recently begun to follow. The author and I have struck a common chord; he feels much the same as I do regarding our society’s persistent denial of a problem that has been with us far to long….. By failing to acknowledge the existence of a problem, there is a consistent failure to act, thus giving tacit approval, to what I consider the most vile flaw in human nature, for a man, i.e., the ability to rationalize misogyny, and/or physical or emotional violence toward women.

For the author, obviously, this was a very personal story to write; he wanted me to know, a comment of mine from a day or two ago, on another story of his in the same vein, along with another comment from another like-minded reader, had prompted him to write this story, with the added honor of including both of us as a character…. He gave me the name, Bob, which, though he didn’t know it, is my father’s name; most appropriate, since my attitudes on this come directly from him.

Ffolkes, this is a difficult story to read, but, the message it delivers is important, not to mention powerful…. If you are a male human being, with any sense of honor, and/or justice, you MUST read this…. You may as well do it now… Tissues will be issued, if needed, and they will be… Even you guys will need them… The story is called,

Psychosphere

https://p33d33.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/psychosphere/#comment-241

After reading that, I find myself with little to say; it’s pretty clear, as well as powerfully written…. Since I’ve already used up quite a bit of space, without even counting the reading involved in following the link, we’ll bring this to a close for now. It’s a subject you’ll see, here on ECR, (Exploring Consensual Reality), again, again, and again, until it stops, or, I’ve reached the limit of my tolerance for inaction by the rest of society, & gone hunting….

What the hell? I’m getting old, & I’ve got nothing better to do with the time I have left to me….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken….

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Momentary Terror

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 2/4/2013.

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Today’s final pearl comes with a chance to accumulate some bonus points. If you know the identity of the person quoted in the fifth pearl in the group, we will award one thousand points. The points are good for the final Quiz; you can trade them in for answers. (It’s an American Quiz, corruption is part of it…. Only five hundred thirty-tree thousand points per short answer, limit of one for the entire twelve thousand question test….)

But, don’t worry…. just memorize the quote, and think about it; not only will you know the answer, thus saving the points, but, you won’t much care who the author(ess) was…. All of these, you may rest assured, will be on that Final Quiz….

“All is mystery; but he is a slave who will not struggle to penetrate the dark veil.” — Benjamin Disraeli

“Desires and longings are the root cause of all suffering.” — Meher Baba

“All anger arises from obstructed desire.” — Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

“Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.” — Henry James

“The one unforgivable sin, the offense against one’s own integrity, is to accept anything at all simply on authority.” — Maureen Johnson Long

“Clay is moulded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing. … Thus, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.” — Lao Tzu

“If it isn’t Scottish…it’s CRRRRRAP!” — Smart Bee

Oops! How’d that slip by me? Forget that one; Smart Bee was trying to be funny…. Though, really, if you look at it, it fits…. Oh, well, here is the correct finishing pearl for this group….

“Blah, blah, blah….” — Smart Bee

Now, STOP THAT!…. Sheesh…. Gerroudofit!…. Here, let’s try again…. The CORRECT finishing pearl….

“When subtlety fails us we must make do with cream pies.” — David Brin

“Hand me a pair of leather pants and a CASIO keyboard — I’m living for today!” — Zippy the Pinhead

SIGH….. Ffolkes, I apologize…. Smart Bee has gone over the edge, not to mention way over the top…. I’ll have to usurp his connectors for a while, and finish this up with a choice of my own…. Here, then, is an appropriate finishing pearl for such a formerly dignified, relevant, wise group of comments on living with honor and dignity…. Don’t worry, I put SB to bed; try to recapture the train of thought here, okay?….

“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, Time Enough For Love by Robert A. Heinlein

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I’m not going to say this Pearl is special; I won’t even say it’s good. It is, however, to the best of my perceptions, done. For me, here and now, that’s good enough… After all, that IS the very essence of Axiom # 1 of my very own philosophy, right?…. “I think I am. That’s good enough.” Yep, that’s what it says, and I’m going to take it as a given…. Besides, I’m hungry…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should the authorities fail to find and capture me….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Offenders will be coated in Teflon….

Posted on May 11, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Time cancels young pain.”

~~ Euripides (431 BC) ~~

Rock Spire on Mars ~~ Rover Curiosity’s next target for research

NASA photo from Space.com

Good morning….. Let’s keep this on the up and up, okay? Step lively, ffolkes, Luigi’s in a hurry today….

Shall we Pearl?

“We are as different from one another on the inside of our heads as we appear to be different from one another on the outside of our heads. The world “out there” is as much a projection from inside our heads as it is a perception. It is almost unbelievable that we are all dealing with the same reality. We operate on a kind of loose consensus about existence.” — Robert Fulghum “It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It”

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

Image from freepiks.com via Google Images

No matter how anyone feels, or thinks of the music these four lads made together, it cannot be gainsaid to point out it was the major influence over the lives of millions of young people for a long time, acting as one of the primary cultural influences of the time…. Enjoy, ffolkes; this is part of the cultural legacy we all share, at least, in the Western world….

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

The Beatles

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

https://youtu.be/xp5Rb7-F-hY

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

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

“In any group of five people, one will be confused, one will be conniving, one will be honest, and two will be trying like hell to figure out where they fit in this group.” — Smart Bee

While I find this statement from SB to be fairly accurate, it fails, I believe, to completely cover the situation when five people get in one place to interact…. In addition, by the statement’s content itself, it fails to be clear; if one is confused, and two are still trying to figure out their place in the group, I’d say it comes down to one good guy, one bad guy, and three people stuck in bozoid mode; in short, all five of them are most likely confused, as anyone trying to make this fit into reality would be….

I suppose that goes to show how not everything said is worth adopting into one’s system of beliefs, even though it may sound relevant on the surface…. It also goes to show how looking further into any statement (to wit: being dubious….) is an important skill, and one everyone would do well to use when examining any idea… In fact, yesterday, the final section contained a word on that idea from Gautama Buddha, which I’ve always felt expressed the concept as well as it’s ever been done, to wit:

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” — The Buddha

Below you’ll find a video, complete with link to the You Tube page where it resides, on a subject that concerns all of us here in this country, not merely the five of us now under discussion…. Why don’t y’all take a moment to practice the lesson just learned from the Buddha, practicing your new perceptive skills on the material you’ll see in the report…. Then, we’ll talk….

I found the article at my friend’s site, here: https://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/corruption-is-legal-in-america-550/

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Corruption is Legal in America

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https://youtu.be/5tu32CCA_Ig

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It’s easy to see, after watching the video, how things have gotten as bad as they are; not only have the bankers Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ben Franklin, George Mason, and Thomas Paine all warned us about done exactly as predicted by those founding fathers, they’ve done it right in front of our eyes, with our tacit, complicit approval. They’ve successfully pulled off history’s largest long-con, and now have the entire American public believing…. what? What do they believe?….

Nothing. That’s the trouble. 98% of the people I see don’t even realize there is a problem. They look around, and wonder why they can’t seem to make the American Dream come true, without ever looking behind any of the claims with which they were brought up to believe, to see how they’be been manipulated, and lied to, from the time they were first born, by the government, by the churches, by their own parents, because they too are brainwashed slaves, who know no better than to fall for the same old crap they’ve been falling for their entire lives…

Me, I’m tired of it, so I’m doing what I can to quit the grid, to remove myself from the constraints so successfully welded around the necks of most of society…. I won’t detail my efforts, lest someone try to block them. But, I don’t intend to allow anyone to tell me how to live, ever. so, it must be done…. I don’t know what others may do, but, my own plans are to mitigate the effects of the overall status of society on my life, as best I can…..

In the meantime, I’m done for today; I don’t think I have any real angst left. The American people long ago lost their own freedom, giving it up willingly, trading it for a false sense of security, a state which has no corresponding match in Reality. NOTHING is ever completely secure; entropy and the power of chaos are part of Nature, and there is nothing one can do about it. All we can do is control ourselves, and not be a part of the slavery in which the powers that be would have me engage….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken….

“What I tell you three times is true.” — Lewis Carroll, “The Hunting of the Snark”

Believe me, ffolkes, I’ve told y’all this far more than three times…. You are being lied to, and manipulated; you are a slave. The only hope you have is to realize it, and make the necessary changes within yourself…. Otherwise, well, have a nice life, slaving away so someone else gets rich..,

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

I’m in a strange mood today…. Here’s one of mine, just so you can’t blame anyone else for any of this…. This one was written on 10/13/2012:

Honorable Request

Days, filled to a brim with fluff and time, pass
dimly into memory, bit by combative bit,
ever mournful, yet loud with life and sass,
only in dream do we meet, and dance, and flit.

Souls, spinning ’round in gleeful wonder, comply
as they must, never given a reason,
somberly proper, yet limber and quite spry,
dancing on to greet each bright new season.

Storms, angered by apathetic care, rage
proceeding into ministerial glare, unknown,
clothed in colors, purified solely with sage,
past an infinite future, already flown.

Life, plumbed to its depths and secrets, keeps
flowing with currents, strong and fairly found,
love stands, asking release, as it slowly weeps,
seeking refuge unasked, to stay honor bound.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I was going to try to explain this pearl, but, I can’t. Oh, I could, but, I can’t. It would be best if we just leave it at that, I think, as it will become apparent before you’re finished it is a pearl of great beauty and scope…. All you gotta do is leave your mind to me…. Let’s see what it says, shall we?….

“As the wild duck is more swift and beautiful than the tame, so is the wild – the mallard – thought, which ‘mid falling dews wings it way among the fens.” — Thoreau

“I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.” — ee cummings

“A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

“All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned–the biggest word of all–look.” — Robert Fulghum

“As one gets older, one discovers everything is going to be exactly the same with different hats on.” — Noel Coward

“Everything may happen. [Omnia fieri possunt.]” — Seneca, Epistulae ad Lucilium, Epis. LXX, 9

“Remember there’s an “if” in the middle of life.” — Smart Bee

“Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth.” — Socrates (470?-399 B.C.)

“I have no idea what that meant.” – Dot (Warner; Yakko & Wacko are her brothers)

Well, I like it….

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

There are some mornings when it surprises me no end to reach this point. I haven’t a clue, really, as to how it got done, but, it’s done. Hopefully, one or two of the five or six things which have been engaging too much of my attention of late will resolve themselves shortly, and I can look for a bit of peace, all-too-absent of late…. That said, I’m outta here, with great reluctance, but, a feeling of accomplishment. That’s something, I guess. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. I have hope, anyway…. Call me Ishmael…. I won’t answer, but, go ahead….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Reeling, writhing, and fainting in coils….

Posted on May 9, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

~~ East African Proverb ~~

Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and the First Cup of Espresso in Space

NASA Image from Space.com

Good morning…..

I had something to I’d intended to say, but, never mind; we’ll do the right thing, & get going on this….

Shall we Pearl?

“After a while he realizes that she is beautiful – he just hadn’t noticed it at first.” — Lazarus Long

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

If there is a superstar in classical music, Yo-Yo Ma fits that bill; Isthak Perlman has been my favorite classical violinist since I first saw him on the Ed Sullivan show in the early 60’s. I never knew of Daniel Barenboim until I heard him play with these two, but, obviously, he’s pretty good at what he does, or he wouldn’t be playing with them…. Enjoy, ffolkes, as three of the very best play Beethoven….

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

Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto

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

https://youtu.be/9kYJZoDrFeQ

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

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

To begin today’s discussion, please follow the link below to read the following blog post. It’s a bit hard to read, if one has any sensitivity at all, but, everyone in this world, especially the men, would do well to understand this issue. As a starting point for discussion, this is a very clear statement about of one man’s reaction to being confronted with incontrovertible evidence of the problem of abuse in our society, a reaction which, in my firm opinion, needs to become a universal response among ALL men…. Read it, please….

https://p33d33.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/unlocked/#comment-208

I had intended to write about this, but, instead, I’m going old-school to have my say; trying to write put me in a nasty place. All I could think about was what sort of gun I should buy…. In the link above, you see comment #208… which is from me, wherein I told the author of the post I would have held his coat for him while he took care of his business…. I envy the author, and find myself wanting to go hunting…. For now, let’s pearl on it….

“For BOTH sexes, abuse derives from powerlessness, not power.” — Smart Bee

“Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.” — Socrates

“Man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits… For my part I would as soon be descended from [a] baboon … as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies … treats his wives like slaves … and is haunted by the grossest suspicions.” — Charles Darwin

“Tell me why are we so blind to see that the ones we hurt are you and me?” — (Coolio) Gangsta’s Paradise

“But crushing truths perish from being acknowledged.” — Albert Camus — The Myth of Sisyphus

“If you don’t like yourself, you can’t like other people.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“It is dangerous to make man see too clearly his equality with the brutes without showing him his greatness. It is also dangerous to make him see his greatness too clearly, apart for his vileness. Is still more dangerous to leave him in ignorance of both. But it is very advantageous to show him both. Man must not think that he is on a level either with the brutes or with the angels, nor must he be ignorant of both sides of his nature; but he must know both.”
— Pascal, Pensees, n. 418

“A ferret in the trousers is worth two in the bush.”– Smart Bee

Okay, so, sorry ’bout that last one; couldn’t help myself…. I had to do SOMETHING to lighten the mood a little…. You can always trust a ferret for that…. Here’s one a bit more appropriate to use as a closer…

“What most people need to learn in life is how to love people, and use things, instead of using people, and loving things.” — Smart Bee

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This poet should need no introduction….

When I Have Fears

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;–then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

~~ John Keats ~~

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

“When a man lies he murders part of the world.

These are the pale deaths men miscall their lives.”

~~ Paul Gerhart ~~

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in so far as it stands ready against the accidental and the unforeseen, and is not apt to fall.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, vii, 61

“When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.” — Jim Elliot

“That’s the way things come clear. All of a sudden. And then you realize how obvious they’ve been all along.” — Madeleine L’Engle

“You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot.” — Publius Syrus — Maxim 262

“If the sight of a beautiful rainbow no longer excites you, than you had better prepare to pack it in – you are already dead.” — Smart Bee

“Failure to understand reality is not reality’s fault.” — Bill Henneman

“People who matter are most aware that everyone else does, too.” — Malcolm Forbes

“Are all your stars shining?”

~~ JD Salinger ~~

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I can’t say much about this pearl; it was neither the worst, nor the best, and very little like one in between, in re: putting it together in a smooth, timely fashion… Regardless, it’s done, so, I’ll take it…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, whether I like it or not….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Astrogation isn’t for amateurs….

Posted on May 7, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Aw, gee, Wally . . .”

~~ Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver ~~

Sunrise on the Road

Warning/Disclaimer: Any mental functions attempted in this area must be re-evaluated during a subsequent period. It has been discovered that standard logic works sideways in this area, if it works at all, due to the influence of the occupant.

Good morning, ffolkes….

Today’s opening picture is one of my own, and, it’s got a cute little story to it…. If you look closely at the left side of the picture, you’ll note the ray of light that comes directly at the area where the picture was taken. In the normal way, one might guess it was a trick of refraction, due to the shape of the camera lens, and the passage of the light through the atmosphere; in the normal way, you’d be right, too. But, this was NOT a ray of light from the sun, which traveled 92 million miles through space to reach me; it was actually a laser guide sight, from a ship hiding behind the clouds on the horizon….

You might think I’ve slipped over the edge, but, if you go to that spot (I can tell you where), you’ll see the big hole in the ground where the laser hit the telephone pole, just out of sight on the left, causing it to explode, nearly sending me into orbit…. Fortunately for me, just as I took this shot, a tractor beam, from another ship out of camera to the right, grabbed me, yanked me away, & deposited me in a safe spot some ways away before I could even blink. (The aliens who saved me told me this right afterward, after they’d destroyed the evil alien ship, then covered the whole area with a field of mental energy which cleared the events from everyone’s memory…. Kind of the techno equivalent of the Memory Spell in the Harry Potter world, eh?….) Lucky, wasn’t I?….

You may ask, first, if I’m getting any treatment for this…. No, silly, why would I? Most people suffer from being insane; I revel in it.

Secondly, you’ll no doubt ask how I can expect anyone to believe it’s true; the truth is, I don’t much care, because I expect that. The aliens told me I could talk about it if I wanted; nobody would believe me…. They were right, weren’t they?

Hah!

Okay, let’s get on with the REAL nonsense we have planned for today…. Who knows? Maybe some of it will be less illusory…. I wouldn’t put too much money on it, though, without some decent odds…. Who’s gonna give those around here?….

Shall we Pearl?

An older student came to Otis and said, “I have been to see a great number of teachers and I have given up a great number of pleasures. I have fasted, been celibate and stayed awake nights seeking enlightenment. I have given up everything I was asked to give up and I have suffered, but I have not been enlightened. What should I do?” Otis replied, “Give up suffering.” — Camden Benares, “Zen Without Zen Masters”

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I’m in the mood for some mild fantasy, and a little fun…. How about an old favorite movie? This one may pull my covers a bit, threatening my status as a curmudgeon, but, what the hell…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this is a better story and movie than it seems… It also has one of the first movie attempts at combining animation and live actors in the same film sequence; the only flaw in I see is its Disney-esque blandness to the dialogue; a lot of the jokes could have used a bit of innuendo, or some spicy language…..

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Bedknobs and Broomsticks

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

https://youtu.be/hDTga2nThwE

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

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

Once you read the pearl(s), you’ll understand the picture…. Well, I’d hope you will….

“…to emphasize the afterlife is to deny life. To concentrate on Heaven is to create hell. In their desperate longing to transcend the disorderliness, friction, and unpredictability that pesters life; in their desire for a fresh start in a tidy habitat, germ-free and secured by angels, religious multitudes are gambling the only life they may ever have on a dark horse in a race that has no finish line.” — Tom Robbins, — Skinny Legs and All, p. 305.

“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.” — Buddha

“Belief gets in the way of learning.” — Lazarus Long, “Time Enough for Love” by Robert Heinlein

“In the beginning was nonsense, and the nonsense was with God, and the nonsense was God.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” — Charles Darwin

“History is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes.” — Voltaire — L’Ingenu, Chap. x

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

I was going to leave it at that, figuring it would do the trick…. But, I see it needs to move further along the train of thought, so, we’ll keep at it, until we find the right pearls to complete the necklace, er, composite of ideas as metaphor….

“If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.” — Pentagon official, on why US military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War

“A “peace-loving nation” is one which bans fireworks and manufactures hydrogen bombs.” — Smart Bee

“Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness “positively”, by uniting our affections, the latter “negatively”, by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last is a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one…. — Thomas Paine, opening lines of “Common Sense” — 1776

Men of ill judgment oft ignore the good

That lies within their hands, till they have lost it.

~~ Sophocles ~~

Well, there you go…. It’s a bit murky, but, hey, it’s better than a rant, and, you still get to see who is responsible, and how it happened…. It’s a start….

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Here’s another one from the archives, since the one percolating seems to have filed itself in an unknown folder…. SIGH…. If only it was a conscious process for me….

November Dreams of Spring

Crass and cold, the beggar finds me swollen, so frail and fat
with painful stepping motions, running, like a Republicrat.
Building with straw and spittle, should artists come aground,
we all pay heavily, a billion for a bloody pound.

Too desperate, too ashamed to play such a part
We ask for belief, and sweet liberty, dressing up so smart.
It falls between the simple cracks, always in a hurry
To find a shrunken ego, ashen, swift, and full of worry.

Never there was a more penitent group, such a sterling way
To fast in luxury, making sure the guilty enter, but do not stay.
Forgotten gods can find their diffident suitors tonight
With dream-fitted convention, and a natural sense of delight.

For all the silken babies cried, to see the broken dreams of power
forgiven moments of certitude serve, filling up the maiden’s bower.
All the patient, loving veterans of ancient foreign time,
give up their first impressions, dying, dying for a rhyme.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 9/19/2012.

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Today’s final old-school pearl will finish off our discussion of the power of dubiousity…. Enjoy, ffolkes; you may not realize it, but, this is a fairly good look into my soul….

“I love to doubt as well as know.”

~~ Dante ~~

“The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” — Bertrand Russell

“The majority of mankind is lazy-minded, incurious, absorbed in vanities and tepid in emotion, and is therefore incapable of either much doubt or much
faith.” — TS Eliot

“If a person offend you and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures. Simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.” — Mark Twain, Advice to Youth Speech, 1882

“Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.” — Miguel de Unamuno

“Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.” — Laurens Van der Post, The Lost World of the Kalahari (1958)

” There lives more faith in honest doubt,

Believe me, than in half the creeds.”

~~ Alfred Tennyson — In Memoriam, xcvi, Stanza 3 ~~

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Most of today’s effort was done ahead of time, so, I’m not sure how seamless it may all be; as is our habit, we can only say, “Oh, well!”. We’ll have to work on that. But, that’s a task for another day; this one is already shot to hell…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided Reality cooperates…..

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Neutral feedback? Good idea; try it….

Posted on May 5, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“I understand life and the universe. Cats are beyond me.”

~~ Smart Bee, echoing gigoid ~~

Ollie Owl

Good morning, ffolkes…..

Shall we Pearl?

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” — Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love, by Robert A. Heinlein

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Image from rocktownhall.com via Google free images

Is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard of this artist? If so, you’re in for a treat…. ear candy, as it were. Enjoy, ffolkes…. this is another one of humanity’s cultural heritage treasures….

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

Ray Charles

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

https://youtu.be/Ip8h24Ggk0g

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

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

Apparently, on one of the Friday the 13th days during 2012, I had a good day in my head…. Here are some thoughts from that day, that still have relevance in today’s world…..

From 1/13/2012:

“It has been said that there are two theories of history: conspiracy and blunder. If there is some truth to that, it is surely equally true that blunder seldom receives all the credit due it as an explanation of complex events.” — Michael Scully

I would say that this is probably pretty accurate; after all, it is the winners who get to tell the story, and why would they make themselves look any worse than they already are? I believe that much of mankind’s progress up to now is, in fact, a result of blundering about, breaking the china and scaring the horses, until something serendipitous falls into someone’s lap.

The example most often given regarding inspiration that brings progress is that of Isaac Newton and the apple, which, according to history, fell upon his head unexpectedly, causing him to fall down and begin writing the 3 Laws of Motion. I think it more likely that he was trying to climb up to get the apple, and took a good fall onto his head; he just blamed it on the apple, and since he was the only witness, who can gainsay him?

This points out one of the less attractive, and most problematic of the characteristics of humans, and that is our inability to get beyond our childish feelings of insecurity. The older we get, the less able we become to handle the embarrassment or ridicule that follows a mistake, and the more contortions we will assume to keep others from seeing our Bozoid Tendencies. You see, like the Firesign Theater said, “I think we’re all Bozo’s on this bus!”; we all have the unfortunate ability to perform ridiculously stupid acts at times.

Most folks, though, don’t like to be thought of this way, and will go through almost anything to prevent themselves from looking inept in front of other folks. Me, I wish they’d just learn to laugh at themselves, and everyone else; maybe then they could grow up enough to be able to look directly at the things in society that we need to change, instead of childishly refusing to even look at the situation. Emotional maturity means dealing with whatever happens, without letting emotions control one’s actions, or reactions, and most of mankind doesn’t exhibit anything close to that sort of maturity……

Also from 1/13/2012:

“Thinking, understanding, reasoning, willing, call not these Soul! They are its actions, but they are not its essence.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

When? Oh, four thousand four hundred eighty-seven years ago…..is that all? I’ve got acne scars older than that! Well, perhaps not. But I am continually amazed at some of the things I find that were written this long ago. It gives credence to the idea that mankind’s first steps toward modern culture were the result of how our minds work, and our penchant for using our imagination to understand the universe around us. It has been said that the first science was Astronomy, which makes a lot of sense. But, simultaneously, we used Philosophy, and the principles of logic and reason, to apply meaning to what we observed.

Forty-four hundred years is a long time to be working on the same issues, and it seems to me we should be getting somewhere a bit faster than we are. But then I realize that there is another side to human nature, one that is not so moral and ethical as our scientific bent, a side of us in constant competition with our virtues, battling to assume control of society. (You know… that old good vs. evil deal….) That other side is winning, too, mostly because those who disavow virtue have no compunctions against cheating, or lying, or manipulating events to suit their own purposes. Moreover, they don’t hesitate to resort to violence to do so, when they cannot find any simpler method….

I think, as a species, we’ve been at this long enough; let’s make a concerted effort to nullify the negative effects of deliberate ignorance and fear. Perhaps we can even find a way to survive our own nature….. The Universe will get the impression we’re slow learners, if we don’t start to show a bit more progress toward growing out of infancy….

Note from 2015: I’m not sure why, but, the following five star pearl insisted on being included at the end of this section…. I am pretty sure it’s just my reaction to what I said above…..

“Is truth not truth for all?”

~~ Natira ~~

~~ “For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky” ~~

++++++++++++

“How do you make sense of such madness? The answer is, you can’t.”

~~ Pablo Guzman ~~

++++++++++++

“Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving till the right actions arises by itself?”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

++++++++++++

An ancient buddha said, Mountains are mountains; waters are waters.
These words do not mean mountains are mountains;
they mean mountains are mountains.

~~ Dogen ~~

++++++++++++

“How can I lose faith in the justice of life,
when the dreams of those
who sleep upon feathers
are not more beautiful
than the dreams of those
who sleep upon the earth?”

~~ Kahlil Gibran ~~

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

Accentuated Lessons

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

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

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

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

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Dubiousity, Redux

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

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

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

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Brahma ~~

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

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

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

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

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

~~ William Shakespeare ~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ Bob Dylan ~~

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

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

Y’all, just like me, are going to say goodbye now…( Goodbye!…), until tomorrow; we will do so with no further inquiry into how this got done…. In fact, y’all may as well just go into complete denial now; it will help later in the day….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided nobody says the wrong thing….If only we knew what that was….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Just another nanosecond in limbo….

Posted on May 3, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“He who is most slow in making a promise, is the most faithful in the performance of it.”

~~ Rousseau ~~

Vincent! ~~ He’s alive!

http://twistedsifter.com/2015/05/the-shirk-report-volume-315/

https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/wwerlkjfads-19.jpg

Many years ago I saw this painting in person, at an exhibit of Van Gogh’s work on display at San Francisco’s De Young Museum, while on tour from, I think, the Louvre, sometime in the 1968 to 1972 period, when I lived in Berkeley. It is, in my mind, one of the most amazing pieces of art I have ever seen, up close, at a certain distance. While looking at it, I had to move to allow someone else to view, stepping back from where I’d been. Two steps behind the spot I had been standing, I looked at the painting again, and the face was ALIVE. The eyes, electric blue, gazed directly into mine, and I swore he would speak. You could see the life pulsing under his skin, just as if it were a 3 dimensional object…. I have to admit, it spooked me a bit….

Now I’ve regaled y’all with such a FASCINATING opening subject, we’ll retreat back to the technique outlined in yesterday’ Pearl, which some of y’all may remember…. You should, for it concerns YOU…. Ah, don’t worry, no big deal…. Just, well…. pay attention, okay?….

Good morning, ffolkes….

Shall we Pearl?

“I am one who finds within me a nobility that spurns the idle pratings of the great, and their mean boast of what their fathers were, while they themselves are fools effeminate, the scorn of all who know the worth of mind and virtue.” — Percival

(Hmm… I don’t know this Percy-fellow, but, he sounds like my kinda guy….)

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

15112676-wolfgang-amadeus-mozart-1756-1791-on-engraving-from-1908-one-of-the-most-significant-and-influential

Though no introduction for this piece of music should be necessary, I’ll say this…. Even those who don’t know, or even like classical music, have nothing much to say against this piece, so familiar it can be considered part of every human’s cultural heritage…. Enjoy, ffolkes; human creativity never ever got any better than this; nor is it ever likely to do so….

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

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

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

https://youtu.be/o1FSN8_pp_o

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

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

A distinct possibility exists which may cause some minor ripples in this blog…. In essence, it exists in the fact I seem to have burnt out my ranting mode, at least to some extent…. I can’t seem to work up the passion needed to really rip them into shreds when I attack…. That will never do, but, I guess there’s good reason, far too involved to explore here and now. For now, I’ll see if I can come up with a sublimation, in the form of an old-school pearl, with parameters set to take some serious pokes at politicians, pundits, and other talking heads….. Enjoy!….

“Under every stone lurks a politician.” Aristophanes

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

“Congress is not the sole suppository of wisdom.” — Rep. Bill Schuette (R-MI)

“Politician: Breeding form of lawyers.” — Smart Bee

“Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words. — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Cleobulus, iv

“An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.” — Simon Cameron (1799-1889)

” — Bother! said Pooh, as he found a politician in his honey pot.” — Smart Bee

CORSAIR, n. A politician of the seas. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

The Preacher, the Politician, the Teacher,
Were each of them once a kiddie.
A child, indeed, is a wonderful creature.
Do I want one? God Forbiddie!

~~ Odgen Nash ~~

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

A Dubiously Soft Morning

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 7/26/2013

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

I mentioned yesterday how SB has been on a tear of late, showing me line after line of crap, then laughing to itself…. Since I have to be patient, it takes some time to find the appropriate pearls, even WITH clear parameters…. Here is another rather esoteric pearl, with parameters set to a loose interpretation of “Life at Large, and what it takes to make a nice, round, happy one….”

Or, something like that…. Enjoy!….

“A short saying oft contains much wisdom.”

~~ Sophocles (496-406 BC) — Aletes, Frag. 99 ~~

“An it harm none, Do what ye will.” — final words of the http://wicca.com/celtic/wicca/rede.htm

“Each man can interpret another’s experience only by his own.” — Thoreau

“In anything at all, perfection is finally attained, not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery , Wind, Sand & Stars

“Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.” — Hermann Hesse

“By the accident of fortune a man may rule the world for a time, but by virtue of love he may rule the world forever.” — Lao Tzu

It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize,
And to be swift is less than to be wise.
‘T is more by art than force of num’rous strokes.

~~ Alexander Pope (1688-1744) ~~

~~ The Iliad of Homer, Book xxiii, Line 383 ~~

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

Not too shabby for an old, formerly fat fart, with flat feet, and, frequent flatulence…. Not bad for me, either…. Before this degenerates any further, I’m taking my leave, stage center, until tomorrow…. See y’all then, ffolkes…. Stay alert, it’s getting pretty crazy out there in the BBR….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Bluffing on a busted flush….

Posted on May 1, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“He is able who thinks he is able.”

~~ Buddha ~~

Road Trip

Image stolen from unknown Internet site.

Unburdened by the rigors of coherent thought, I sit to begin another Pearl. I sincerely wish, too, I could claim credit for the opening sentence; sadly, I stole part of it. Beautiful, though, isn’t it? The part before the comma is the part I stole, which is why I wish I’d said it; it is, in almost every sense, a perfect expression of my state of being almost every day as I start this process. Process it is, too, beginning with will power sufficient to arise from bed, (always a challenging exercise, these days….), stumble to the coffee machine to turn it on, then, walk to the computer to attempt to find the tiny button to turn it on….

About ten minutes later, having somehow waited to get the coffee into my system, (often performing completely unconscious physical actions to do so…. I seldom remember FIXING the coffee, only consuming it…), I look at the screen to see if, maybe, I wrote something worth keeping while in my semi-conscious state. At least THAT is consistent…. it’s never there…

Today, the process is complicated even further by the vertigo I’ve been gifted with of late. In case you’ve never experienced it, let me assure you, it’s no picnic. Any sort of motion seems to stimulate it, which makes the process of writing somewhat problematic, as the head makes natural movements while thinking about them…. To be honest, it’s getting to be a bit of a bother…. and, yes, that’s sarcasm….

But. I got some of this done yesterday, so, I’ll push through, pretending I’m tough. I really did used to be tough; I just need to remember how to go about it…. Shouldn’t be too hard; I’ve played with pain, or other issues, all my life…. I’m not going to let it keep me from doing what I need to do now…..

Fuck Murphy….. and the fucking white horse he thinks he rode in on….

Shall we Pearl?

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total oblivion. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me and turn my inner eye to follow its path. When the fear is gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” — The Litany Against Fear (Frank Herbert, -Dune-, 1965)

Good timing on that one…. it’ll come in handy today….

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

Image from scotsman.com via Google images

I am NOT an opera fan, at all. However…. I AM a big fan of the human voice; I learned to play guitar so I could sing along. This isn’t to say I’ve the world’s best baritone; in fact I’d say any one of these three gentlemen are much better, without any fear of disagreement, from anyone but my dog, which I don’t have. And, they’re tenors, not baritones, which goes to show you how good I might be…. When all three of them are hitting a top note, it is, literally, spine-tingling…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

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

The Three Tenors In Paris ~~ 1998

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

https://youtu.be/4IUcm3_aVTU

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

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

As might be surmised, a fresh rant is out of the question, unless I want to start in on Kaiser, HMO’s, and Big Pharm; I think I’ve built up enough angst over them to rant for a week with stopping…. For now, this little exercise will do….

From 9/2/2013:

“The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this very afternoon.” — John F. Kennedy

What a great little anecdote! I love to see a great life lesson told in a few short words…. Here is a perfect description of the attitude one requires to achieve happiness…. Yes, happiness, an old word, one bandied about much by the uninformed, and the unhappy…. Happy people never need to use the word itself, as they are just…. there. There is little need to think about being happy, when you are, and in fact, not thinking about it is one of the keys to holding it, once found…. But, it is a rare person in today’s world who can maintain any long periods where they feel happy the entire time; the world intrudes too much into our lives to give us leave to be happy, unless we know the secret…..

Yes, there’s a secret….. Of course, it’s the kind of secret that is hidden right in plain sight, like Poe’s Purloined Letter. It only requires that one be willing to accept it, and to allow it to enter into one’s spirit, suffusing the world in the less harsh light of contentment, rather than the cold, hard light of resentment. People tend to be like the gardener, blocking their own happiness by finding all kinds of reasons to NOT allow it entry into their world. As humans, we are taught at young age to view reality with stoicism, and mute, unquestioning acceptance of our lot; we are shown all the ways to look ahead, to see the worst of what can happen, in order to be prepared….

But, there is another way to approach the matter, one little known, and therefore little taught…Reality is a tough go, for sure, but, with a little bit of mental effort, much easier than the alternative, one can be in control of how it (Reality) affects one’s life. In short, Life treats us all like shit; what determines how much of it gets in our sandwich depends solely on us, and how we react to that shit…. We can slap the shit between two slices of bread, and choke it down…. or, we can use it as fertilizer, to grow some rather nice weed…. potent, and good for you….

Whatever one decides, the choice remains, as long as one is aware of the options. The problem with most folks is, they don’t see the options, or they don’t believe they will work, as their attitudes keep them from even trying a lot of new ways to do things. I won’t say it is this way for all people, but the greatest majority of people I see in the world are unhappy, without ever realizing that a) they don’t have to be unhappy, and b) being happy is within their power to choose…. It’s too bad, really, because that unhappiness is part of what makes people go wonky, losing integrity, honor, and any sense of morality, in order to reach for an illusion, an illusion of happiness that, even if grasped, will drift away and vanish, like smoke in a breeze….

This little mini-diatribe was intended to be more…. more clear, more inspiring, more helpful in getting people to think in different ways…. However, I seem to have lost that thread, and it’s getting a bit obscure, and thick…. So, I’m going to switch to old-school, and politely ask Smart Bee to give me the right words to accomplish that intent, without having to subject y’all to another thousand words of pedantic persuasion…. Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work, anyway…. If not, at least it will have been more palatable, with more chocolate chips….

“Going to bed with a woman never hurt a ballplayer. It’s staying up all night looking for them that does you in.” — Casey Stengel

“Pizza is a lot like sex. When it’s good, it’s really good. When it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.” — Smart Bee

“Beware of the “Black Swan” fallacy. Deductive logic is tautological; there is no way to get a new truth out of it, and it manipulates false statements as
readily as true ones. If you fail to remember this, it can trip you – with perfect logic. The designers of the earliest computers called this the “Gigo Law”, i.e. “garbage in, garbage out”. Inductive logic is MUCH more difficult – but can produce new truths.” — Lazarus Long

“Man errs as long as he strives.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust

“‘T is but a part we see, and not a whole.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 60

“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain

“Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.” — Hermann Hesse

Okay, so, that works, sort of….. My apologies…. It’s not as clear as I’d hoped, though it’s quite good, in its own small way…. Not bad directions, if one is accustomed to pearls…. I’ve got it! Here is an example of how happiness works, and is available for use by anyone who wishes to use it….

I’m happy now…. I’m done….

(That’s it…. that’s the secret….. No? Not clear yet? Ah, well…. Well, we’ll try again later, ffolkes…. just remember, you CAN be happy, any time you wish…. It’s all a matter of choice…. Bonus? Nobody can take the choice away from you….)

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

Retrospective, defined in folly….

Yesterday
I wrote a poem.

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

It hurt, at first,
then came the feeling,

of quick relief,
of timeless beauty,

of pain avenged,
of lust aroused,

of outrage aflame,
of deep compassion,

of endless empathy,
of truest love….

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

(Grin…)

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

Hah!

Well, you’re not.
You’re a person.

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

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

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

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

We all can do
only what we
do.

Or, don’t.

Two sides, one coin.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 8/31/2014

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

Today’s old-school pearl is pretty simple; it’s made up of good advice on how to live your life in a manner of your own choosing…. In short, it’s mostly stuff you already know, for peace is ALWAYS there inside all of us, just waiting for us to realize we are connected to the Universe at all times, if only we can remember….

“Nobody has so many friends that he can afford to lose one.” — Edward Abbey

“It is the edge and temper of the blade that make a good sword, not the richness of the scabbard; and so it is not money or possessions that make man considerable, but his virtue.” — Seneca

“. . is to attempt seeing Truth without knowing Falsehood. It is the attempt to see the Light without knowing Darkness. It cannot be.” — Frank Herbert, Dune

“Think all you speak, but speak not all you think.” — Smart Bee

“You can’t get wet from the word ‘water’.” — Alan Watts

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

“We must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.” — Indira Gandhi

“When I was born, death kissed me. I kissed it back.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

“The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.” — Plutarch — Of the Training of Children

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

There! Did it….. A great sense of relief infuses me; getting this done is almost made worthwhile by so feeling, I must say. Have said so, I’ll torment you no further, but, rather, take my leave, while the leaving is good…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; as can be seen, it will take a lot to stop me…. Let’s just hope the PTB continue to ignore my intransigence, chalking it up to insanity…. Yeah, that’s the ticket….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Layer upon layer of dense frog….

Posted on April 30, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.”

~~ George Santayana ~~

Invergordon, Scotland, seaport near Inverness/Loch Ness

Yesterday was a bust. A massive attack of vertigo kept me from doing much at all, including a Pearl. It’s the first actual miss in over a year, I think, but, this time, it wasn’t my fault…. (Yes it was….) (NO, it wasn’t….) (Yes, it was….) (Ah, go f__ yourself!…)….

Ah well, regardless of who wins the argument, I’m getting one done today, no matter what it looks like, or how smooth it isn’t; I don’t like to miss a day. Since the primary focus of doing this is NOT the message, or even the fame (well, in this case, the lack of fame….), but, rather, the process as therapy for my own inner demons, it’s more important than mere celebrity…. to me, anyway….

Hmm… a bit somber for an opening, but, I’m too much in the groove to do it over. Besides, I know this Pearl will be choppy. Oh, you won’t be able to tell from where you’re sitting, but, believe me, getting this done at all was a challenge, one answered very well in the affirmative. Of course, it took three dead bodies and two false fire alarms, but, who’s counting? The bodies weren’t even from my staff, so, that’s good. My budget wouldn’t stretch to training new staff right now….

I’m pretty sure I don’t have much of a clue today; I’m writing pretty much by instinct right now. I am hoping it will get better by the time we get to the rant, but, hey, we take it the way it comes, because we’re legally required to do so, AND, it keeps Momma happy. With Mother’s Day coming up, we all know how important it is to keep Momma happy….. Of course, she ain’t MY momma, but, she thinks she is, and it doesn’t hurt business to let her think so…. I just wish she wouldn’t sit out front & flirt with every guy over 12 who walks in the door….

Okay, I’ve blathered sufficiently, both for the legal requirements, and the personal. Of course, those latter regulations are perfectly non-existent, but, shhh….. the authorities don’t know that part….. Y’know, I think I’d best take us outta here, before this gets any more complicated…. Luigi, hit it!…..

Shall we Pearl?

“Don’t ever become a pessimist, Ira; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun — and neither can stop the march of events.” — Lazarus Long, in Robert Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

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Image from billboard.com via Google images

I was first introduced to Jimmy Buffett’s music in 1978 or 79, not long after the release of his first album, which, if memory serves, was titled, “Livin’ and Dyin’ in Three-Quarter Time”…. His version of southern fried island rock burst upon the music scene with gusto, and he’s never looked back. I’ve seen him in concert many times, for each of his concerts is the world’s biggest party, for five or six hours, depending on how they get rockin’…. Infectiously joyous, funny, and down-to-earth, Jimmy and the Coral Reefers continue to fill up concert venues wherever they play….. Enjoy, ffolkes,. this is good time music….

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

Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band

Jones Beach ~~ August 21, 2014

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

https://youtu.be/_4nba6YneJY

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I had hoped to complete a fresh rant, but, time constraints preclude such an event today, so, here is a somewhat lengthy, but, appropriate rant, on the very same issues the originally scheduled piece was to address…. Go figure….

From 2/16/2013:

“Laws are only words words written on paper, words that change on society’s whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians, lawyers, judges, and policemen. Anyone who believes that all laws should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave catcher. Anyone who believes that all laws are applied equally, despite race, religion, or economic status, is a fool.” — John J. Miller, And Hope to Die (in _Jokertown Shuffle – Wild Cards IX_)

Fiction is the repository and temple of the Metaphorse…. which explains this passage from a novel I haven’t read, but obviously need to get around to finding, so I can. This is such a perfect statement of Reality in society today, it could only be said in a work of fiction, because anyone stating this in the public venue would be shouted down by the aforementioned politicians, lawyers judges, policemen, and may I add, preachers/priests and the rest of the priestly hierarchies…. none of whom would wish for the truth of the idea become commonly held knowledge, or even a point of discussion…. They have too much invested in keeping things just as they are to allow any such utterance, without the protection of metaphor….

With metaphor, in both prose and poetic form, the truth can be intimated, and made clear for those who otherwise would never even consider the concepts involved, without being connected directly to Reality itself. Most of society has been brainwashed since birth, and are trained to accept as true anything told to them in a newspaper, on a TV by a person in a suit, or by someone holding a Bible, no matter how disconnected from Reality that may be. Reading things in a book, a piece of fiction, they are taught, is suspect, and not to be believed without corroboration from someone in authority….

“God said it, the Bible told me, and I believe it, so that’s the end of it!” How many people do you know who would say that? It saddens me no end to know that even I, who tend to drive that sort of person crazy in no time at all, know several folks who feel this way. I have to say, if nothing else, these folks are stubborn, but, stubbornness is not always a survival technique… it can also serve as a death warrant. One has to learn to give up knowledge that is shown indisputably to be false, or face consequences not to their liking.

As I’ve stated before, I have no issue with ffolkes who are sincerely devout in their beliefs…. I’ve found that people who do try to live by the rules that Jesus put forth are generally good people, with good instincts, and have a lot of compassion and kindness in their nature. I have at least two people in my own family who fit that description, and at least three of the people with whom I grew up are what I would call true Christians, because they use their faith as a supportive tool to enhance their lives, not as a crutch, or a reason to feel entitled…..

In other words, they don’t use their faith as a mask, to hide from the world what they really are like inside…. or, as tool of manipulation, to further their own agenda, which generally involves theft from everyone else, in one form or another….. I have found, by experience with real people in the real world, that a good 95% of those who claim to be Christians are NOT true believers…. Only about 5% of those who call themselves Christians make any attempt to live up to that social reformer’s rigorous standards….

Of that figure, 95% of all self-identified Christians, the great majority can be considered, and are generally labeled, as the ignorant masses, whose minds have been under the control of someone else their entire lives. The smaller percentage of that number, probably only about 1 or 2% of the 95%, are those who either don’t believe in the dogma at all, but use it as the modus operandi for their sociopathy, or those who at least believe it on the surface, but only because it is to their advantage to do so… They would believe anything at all, if it kept them in power….

“Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the Forest that was left out by mistake.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

I’m not sure whether those who stubbornly cling to their faith (i.e., they walk through the Forest with eyes closed….) are like that because of their nature, or their nurture, and in the final analysis, it doesn’t matter. But, it sure would be nice, for those of us who ARE aware of the truth behind the lies we’ve been told all our lives, to have a few more of us out there, working against the small percentage of people who are taking advantage of the massive ignorance and apathy of the great masses of people, who don’t have the time or mental energy to care about anything but what is happening right in front of them.

Those who control society for their own personal benefit, without any regard for the rest of humanity’s suffering at their hands, aren’t going to change, and they aren’t ever going to give up what they’ve got without a struggle…. I can only wish for enough ffolkes like myself, who can see the truth, to find a way to save at least a few of our species, if only for some galactic zoo of extinct species…… If enough of us get together, there is still a small chance, though the odds of success are diminishing, second by second….

“I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.” — John Wayne

(Did your jaw drop as far as mine when you read that?)

Bah! Enough pessimism for one day…. let’s go find something a bit more uplifting, shall we?….. As a parting thought, please note the following, which serves to illustrate and define the general feeling in modern society, in terms of ethics and morality…. Consider, if you will, the cultural paradigms that are needed to make this statement a joke, one that no one at all would think was out of place…. In other words, by its calm acceptance of the implied lack of ethics, it shows how deeply ingrained is the attitude (made crystal clear by Mr. Wayne…), in the members that make up that society….

“I think our No.1 problem is that nobody wants to take responsibility for anything, but don’t quote me.” — Randy Glasbergen, “The Saturday Evening Post

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

Relative Cynicism, with Caramel Sauce

Absolute stillness follows violent movement,
it can happen during a downhill race,
as an immovable piece of asphalt pavement
meets the once handsome racer’s face.

Yuk, yuk, yuk said that asshole Moe,
after poking both of Larry’s eyes,
bashing face, head, & crotch of Curly Joe
and only ever got hit with pies.

Lonely moments never really come along
when Murphy’s got us in his sights.
Not for money, love, or siren’s song
will he abrogate his natural rights.

All we can do is sigh, or laugh in pain,
as Life portions out our ration of shit.
Silver linings melt in the slightest rain,
so we may as well learn to live with it.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I find it mildly curious to note, both Socrates, (470-399 B.C), and Laozi, known commonly as Lao Tzu, (604-531 B.C. ), each died more than 2400 years ago in human history; yet, today, they are still known as, perhaps, humanity’s most revered scholars, one the most influential in Western thought, the other in the East. Each one left a legacy of wisdom, of simple ideas to last a lifetime, giving us the benefit of the workings of their innermost minds, powerful enough to have lasted through the centuries.

In my experience, using a thought from either of them as the basis for a pearl is guaranteed to make it more relevant to reality, not to mention more perceptive and intelligent, in re: the conclusions/lessons/concepts being presented…. It doesn’t seem to matter which comes first, or last, or if only one is included; the pearl comes out better. Using them both, especially as bookmarks around the wisdom of five other historical sages, though rare, seems to make the best old-school pearls….

I’m sad to have to report, this pearl, as with each of the individual pearls, was pulled out of Smart Bee using, well, not to put a false face to it, torture; it seems to be the only method working just now. I can’t say I didn’t warn it; it’s been balky for days, & we’ve been through this before…. So, enjoy, please; it cost the poor little database a lot of pain and anguish….

“Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.”

~~Socrates ~~

“And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.” — Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

“They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.” — Confucius

“Aristotle was once asked what those who tell lies gain by it. Said he, “That when they speak truth they are not believed.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200AD) — Aristotle, xi

“A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday.” — Alexander Pope

“Remember this,–that very little is needed to make a happy life.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, vii, 67

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.

~~ Tao Te Ching ~~

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

That will have to do. I’m not sure exactly how it got done, or how it came out, but, I’m trusting to the process to carry the day…. Foolish hope, I know, but, hey, remember the second quote today, about optimism? I take that to heart…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if you’re lucky….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

gigoid

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

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