Contrary to all the research, it squeaks….

Posted on February 12, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Doing it the hard way is always easier.”

~~ Murphy’s Paradox ~~

“Oh, you said Tokyo! My bad…”

If the picture I took, above, is any indication, in the field of aerotechnology, the human race has made some startling advances since I last checked. The airplane, or jet, or whatever it was, to make a trail like that, had to be moving at least 2-300 mph. I was not aware we possessed the technology to make 90º turn at that speed. Oh, perhaps we have drones that will do it, but, the forces involved would make it hard for a flesh and blood entity to remain conscious, or alive, at the end of the turn. Kinda makes me wonder what we aren’t being told…. again.

Ah well, the intro isn’t the place for such conjecture, I suppose. I just keep stumbling across little pieces of evidence like this, which indicate there are a LOT of things those in charge are keeping from the public. A small item like this, when added to the visit from officialdom I received a couple of days ago, tells me a lot. Sometimes, to hear the music, one must pay close attention to the silences between the notes…. This is not something the mundanes of the world will ever realize, or, even consider, so, it becomes the DUTY of those of us who CAN make out the melody to make sure the orchestra is playing the tune on the program, and not one of their own choosing….

With that said, I will go on to bigger and, well, different things, with the full realization that very few people will ever see this, or even know they are clueless. SIGH…. It makes me want to cry, in sorrow, for all the folks out there who are being ushered down a path to their own destruction, never even knowing they are drawing closer to the edge of a bottomless pit with each step…. Hell, most of them aren’t even aware they are up and moving! They sit and watch their 60 inch TV, thinking what they see is Reality, when all it is would best be described as the mental equivalent of cotton candy, which they continue to stuff into their obese mouths, only to feel what they’ve eaten disappear into thin air, much like their dreams of a life worth living….

It’s a sad, sad world these days, ffolkes, and there are only a few people who are even aware that we are all in trouble, because, nobody in charge WANTS to know (there’s no profit in letting the public know….), and nobody who is going to die thinks it is real…. Some days, such as today, I’m convinced our species is not worthy of surviving…. not if we allow a few idiots to send the rest of us to hell right along with them, as they pursue their insane dreams of power and madness…

I think I’m depressing myself. I’m going to stop now, and go write something else, hopefully not as much of a downer. It will be hard, though, as almost everything I perceive these days, out there in the Big Blue Room, is enough to depress a clown on Prozac….

Shall we Pearl?

“A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world’s torrent.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

It might be a futile attempt, but, if this doesn’t improve your mood, or mine, well, it’s too damn late for us…. Enjoy, ffolkes. This is what life COULD be like, if not for all the assholes in the world….

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

Cute Dogs And Adorable Babies: Compilation

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

http://youtu.be/ilMzs1UHEmw

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

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

It is entirely possible I will rant no more…. Ffolkes, it’s all gone. Whatever it was that held this world together is broken; we have gone completely and irrevocably insane, as a species, a culture, and, mostly, as individual human beings, a term that, from what I can tell, really has no meaning in a very real sense. Not for long, anyway. I am now convinced, even if a way IS found, to save our sorry asses from killing ourselves, and everything else here, or, at minimum, turning the world into a real life version of Dante’s Inferno’s vision of Hell, nobody would even turn off the TV to listen….

I tried to read the news today, oh, boy…. Ten thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, it said…. along with a slew of other headlines, each displaying as much sense as these classic lines from the Beatle’s epic song, A Day in the Life. I sometimes use a news reader program that collects news articles from hundreds of sources, so I can pick and choose what to read by perusing the headlines in each category. I’ve been avoiding it, using just the articles and news I pick up in the little time I can spend each day on the blogs of my friends, and the email notifications I subscribe to from my most favored sources.

Well, there are also the emails I subscribe to from the people I feel need watching, like the White House, etc. “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” is an aphorism all warriors are taught in the cradle. (Well, this warrior was, anyway. If not, they probably would have been better off if they had…) Not that the folks in the White House are necessarily my enemy, but, I certainly don’t trust them to look after MY interests very well. They’ve already proved, on too many occasions, no such intention exists in their world view; not if the emails I’ve received from them in the past seven years are any indication. As a matter of long-standing policy, I accept a lot of what I consider spam, just so I can see what they’re saying to all those who support them blindly…. Good intel, in my book…

As for ranting, daily doses don’t seem to get me much of anywhere that can actually help, other than to a place where I am not so pissed off all the time, simply as a result of the catharsis of writing. Plus, I have had some recent clues come to my attention which have made me reconsider my openness to a small degree. I expect you’ll note a few minor changes in what you see here, beyond the usual lack of regular structure to be expected in a place where we play with reality as if it were playdough, or even better, magic slime. Yeah, that’s the ticket, reality as magic slime…. Hey, anything would be better than the reality in which we all are currently trapped, right? Right….

Oops. I guess that could be considered ranting; I’d best be careful, as I’m not yet used to my new paradigm. Hell, I haven’t even named it yet; can’t change your paradigm unless you have a name for the new one. It just doesn’t work, they are like a vector in mathematics; the direction is required for it to have any real meaning…. Same with a paradigm; you gotta know its true name, or the magic won’t work….

So much for logic, eh? But, logic won’t hold up under the inundation of insanity, greed for power, and general loss of all sense of proportion, or dignity I saw in just a little part of today’s mainstream news…. You see, I only got half-way through ONE news site before I was overcome by a sense of utter futility. Every other article I stopped to read stimulated either amazed disbelief, or tears, from feeling both sorrow, and laughter, when confounded by reports of the antics of the latest form of cosmic vermin, we naked apes, as we caper about the planet, pretending we have a clue….

There are only two things left to say on this subject; consider them well. They MAY be the last of their kind….

“America!! I saw it all!! Vomiting! Waving!

JERRY FALWELLING into your void tube of UHF oblivion!!

SAFEWAY of the mind –”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

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

“Inside, I’m already SOBBING!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

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

I have a new poem, but, it isn’t quite ready for me to cut a vein open, and let it leak out. We’ll have to go with another of mine from the archives, to keep from spreading the blame for this…. Here is one I wrote back in 2013, that seems to go right along with the ranting section for today…. Enjoy, please, and remember, ffolkes… Metaphor is my thing….

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 that no joy will soften,
accepting the price, added to the cost of desire.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I’ve never gone for titling Pearls, or pearls, either. But, for this one, if I were asked to give it a title, it would have to be, “The Rise and Fall of Homo Erectus”

We shall never cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” — Isaac Asimov

“Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.” — Goethe

“Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.” — Demosthenes

“Expedients are for the hour; principles for the ages.” — Henry Ward Beecher

“If a man could pass through Paradise in a dream, and have a flower presented to him as a pledge that his soul had been there, and if he found that flower in his hand when he awoke – Aye, and what then?” — Coleridge, “Anima Poetae”

Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,–
Now green in youth, now withering on the ground;
Another race the following spring supplies:
They fall successive, and successive rise.

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

~~ The Iliad of Homer, Book vi, Line 181 ~~

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

If I didn’t know, for sure and for certain, I’d say this was getting easier. But, since I do know, I’ll use the gift horse technique, and merely say I am glad it’s done, & be done with it. Not for nothing have I achieved such an advanced age, one none of us ever really considers, until it smacks us dead in the face…. On that uplifting thought, I think it would be best if I leave now. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided the powers of evil have not yet discovered my hiding place…. Be alert. The world needs all the lerts we can find….

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….

Are those Foster Grants to block out the bright light of illumination, or are they rose-colored?…

Posted on February 11, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Audemus jura nostra defendere…”

[Let us dare defend our rights.]

~~ Latin for everyday occasions, stolen by gigoid ~~

3D Art by Odeith

Click on image to enlarge, a little

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

Life certainly presents us with some rather interesting scenarios, doesn’t it? Without going into details that could conceivably tip things in the wrong direction (read: bad for ME…), let me just say, if it weren’t for human nature, none of us would be in this fix. With that said, I will also go on to say this: If the way I feel about the world right now is any indication, this old ball of mud is about to burst into flames, and go down hard. Just sayin….

But, we each have to deal with our own inner demons, regardless of how many of them are now outside of us, in our face, being rude. Often, they take the form of humans, working their demonic evil on those of us who refuse to participate in the madness, making Life much more difficult than it needs to be. Ah well, it’s all going to come out in the wash, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot any of us can do about it. The insane assholes who have created the scenario have lost control, and the shit is going to fly, soon.

Thus, it behooves those of us with the wit to see the shitstorm coming to do what we can to mitigate the worst of the misery to come, by making our time left here a little more fun…. Well, that’s the way I see it; it makes no sense to me to allow the assholes to determine HOW I die, even though it seems I can’t stop them from killing us all. We may as well have some fun while we’re on the road to hell….

So, let’s see what I can come up with today to bring a smile or two to all those morbid faces out there, eh? I may even try to write a new poem; who knows? There is a lot of crap, stuff, and maladaptive nonsense all running around my head, so, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a few that will bring a chuckle to a friend. If not, at least it won’t be the usual somber bill of faire…. I hope…. I can do more than try, as it is said…. Really, somebody said it; I heard them, at least once, back in ’63…. Ah, well, screw it…. Let’s go find some smiles….

Shall we Pearl?

“Nothing personal, baby…” — Uncle Frank.

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

Here you go, ffolkes. If this guy doesn’t bring a smile to your face now and again, it’s too late for you…. Enjoy!….

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

Weird Al Yankovic Playlist

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

http://youtu.be/w-0TEJMJOhk?list=PL6torJshqXqP6Hwo-nRHt81YWpD7-cHIi

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

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

INFIDEL, n. In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does. (See GIAOUR.) A kind of scoundrel imperfectly reverent of, and niggardly contributory to, divines, ecclesiastics, popes, parsons, canons, monks, mollahs, voodoos, presbyters, hierophants, prelates, obeah-men, abbes, nuns, missionaries, exhorters, deacons, friars, hadjis, high-priests, muezzins, brahmins, medicine-men, confessors, eminences, elders, primates, prebendaries, pilgrims, prophets, imaums, beneficiaries, clerks, vicars-choral, archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, preachers, padres, abbotesses, caloyers, palmers, curates, patriarchs, bonezs, santons, beadsmen, canonesses, residentiaries, diocesans, deans, subdeans, rural deans, abdals, charm-sellers, archdeacons, hierarchs, class-leaders, incumbents, capitulars, sheiks, talapoins, postulants, scribes, gooroos, precentors, beadles, fakeers, sextons, reverences, revivalists, cenobites, perpetual curates, chaplains, mudjoes, readers, novices, vicars, pastors, rabbis, ulemas, lamas, sacristans, vergers, dervises, lectors, church wardens, cardinals, prioresses, suffragans, acolytes, rectors, cures, sophis, mutifs and pumpums. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

This space left unused for anything.

This space used for gold.

This space folded over into a ring.

This space remained untold.

No, I have not a single clue where the hell that came from, nor will you ever catch me asking, myself, or anyone else. In fact, I am going to state here and now, I didn’t say that, and you can’t prove I did.

I actually did leave this space blank, but, that was because I sort of intended to write a fresh rant this morning; I’ve got plenty of angst built up, trust me, what with crossing blades with large soulless corporate entities, butting heads with power-hungry local yokels, and dealing with my own personal inner demons as a result, well… trust me., I have more than enough about which to rant. But I’m tired of it all, and want something a bit more light hearted…. Let’s see what happens if I do this…..

Soft, intimate notes of romantic violins fills the air, while cooling breezes lift curtains to swirl and wave against the cerulean sky, peeking brightly through the tall windows. Mellow voices murmur quietly, spilling through the balcony doors, standing open to allow the elegantly dressed crowd pass in and out, enjoying the night air. As a young couple strolled hand in hand through the open passageway, a sudden scream rang out, stilling the crowd, piercing through the music as a hot knife through butter. Silence fell over the room, until a loud voice rings out, “Don’t worry, folks. She saw one of the clowns….”

Hmm… No, I don’t think that’s going to do it…. How about we go for an old-school pearl? I think, maybe, it’s the only chance we have left…. Since this is the ranting section, let’s see if SB can find us some nice, funny pokes to take at some of our favorite targets, shall we? (That is SUCH a rhetorical question! Obviously, it’s now our ONLY chance…)…. Come on, we’d best get to it…. Oooh, here’s a good one to start….

We can’t really be wrong if we’re just following Gods orders
You know,
He wrote this book here
And in this book
He says that He made us to be just like Him
So if we’re dumb, then God’s dumb
(and perhaps a little ugly on the side)

~~ Frank Zappa ~~

Not too shabby for a beginner…. let’s see if we can finish this off with some style, or, maybe even some humor….

“I have no problem with God. It’s his fan clubs I hate.” — Smart Bee

“Yow! And then we could sit on the hoods of cars at stop lights!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Now playing: “Man of La Muncha”” — Hannibal Lecter Dinner Theater

“It is only the superficial qualities that last. Man’s deeper nature is soon found out.” — Oscar Wilde

(Oops. Sorry, Oscar slipped that one by me…. It’s not too far out there, so, it stays…)

“Rush Limbaugh: The Pillsbury Doughboy on acid.” — Smart Bee

“Ooops.” — Captain of Titanic

“If God is so great, how come everything he makes dies?” — George Carlin

Well. That was…. something. Not exactly your average mind numbing, brain-blowing experience, was it? Oh well. I guess we should go do something else now…. Oh. I see the problem now. How could I have forgotten THIS?

“When a person cannot deceive himself the chances are against his being able to deceive other people.” — Mark Twain

Duh….

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

Good news, ffolkes…. Milady Maggie Mae, over at her site, maggiemaeijustsaythis, has posted a new poem… Yay! It’s always a treat for me when that happens… I don’t know ’bout y’all, but, this one makes me shiver, on several levels of perception (believe me, that’s a good thing….). Enjoy; if not. well…. Loosen up, then, try again….. Look at it this way; it isn’t one of mine, again….

Personally, every time have I re-read this poem (so far, thrice….) I sit for longer, just shaking my head in amazement at the new depths I’ve plumbed with each repetition…. Remember, ffolkes, metaphor, and math, and pain, and pain, and metaphor, are everywhere, sometimes; other times, not so much.

Bella Donna

Death cherries flow in secret
places. I know them. I know how they reek
of the burgundy final curtain

for me. The sun takes from the dawn.
Every day, I sit twisted in worn lace;
the Devil’s rash bursting me
into deadly night shade. I go

willingly at times,
tangled up in Bella Donna’s
sweet hand shake,

but, God, when she inhabits me
with her thick, twilight witchcraft
I forget

that I am forged by what
has already been written.

~~ Maggie Mae ~~

https://maggiemaeijustsaythis.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/bella-donna/

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

Hmm… Smart Bee threw this group out for me to pick from, whereupon I noted no picking or choosing was necessary. I merely added one last correct pearl to the group, to bring it to the intended point, where we speak of Life, lived Large, with just a touch of symmetrical intentions….

“If you wish to succeed, consult three old people.”

~~Smart Bee ~~

“For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality. And the solution has been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. But for the contemporary mindset the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of man.” — C.S. Lewis “The Abolition of Man”

“To defend one’s self against fear is simply to insure that one will, one day, be conquered by it; fears must be faced.” — James Baldwin

“As I look at your image, I see only the light which was not absorbed.” — Mark Middleton

“Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature”

“Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the topmost height.” — Buddha

“Your reasoning is excellent – it’s only your basic assumptions that are wrong.” — Smart Bee

Art is long, and time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still like muffled drums are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

~~ Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882)~~ A Psalm of Life ~~

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

As I sat down to start today, if anyone had offered me even odds I would NOT get done with this, I wouldn’t have taken the bet. The fact I AM done is, to be sure, a complete surprise to me. Since I have nothing else left in my head worth sharing, I guess I’ll go away now. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. If you can take it, so can I…..

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….

Funk-o-matic accessories are on aisle seven….

Posted on February 10, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Belief is not the beginning but the end of all knowledge.”

~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~

Picture Stolen from Linda Vernon

https://lindavernon.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/confessions-of-a-new-age-failure/#comment-24530

Yesterday, I was treated to a perfectly graphic demonstration of how today’s world works, in this modern world of digital communications, through the influence of our old friends, the National Security Agency. Oh, no worries; they aren’t quite convinced yet of the degree of danger I represent, so, they didn’t personally tip their hand. But, the casual disregard for privacy, in communication across then internet especially which the political pundits in this country display all too often was brought to my door in quite graphic fashion…. Allow me to elucidate….

As I was dealing with some stress and a great deal of arthritic pain, with a side dish of Tardive Dyskinesia, (all hail the mighty Kaiser, thank you very much!), by pacing the house and ranting to myself, I heard a knock at the back door…. Not in the best of moods, I went to see who knew where I live, whereupon I found two Vallejo police officers, who wished to know if I was Ned Moore…. Well! Since I hadn’t robbed any banks lately, or otherwise done anything illegal, not even a misdemeanor, I wasn’t real thrilled, to say the least….

I made two mistakes in the initial exchange, but, fortunately, didn’t do something that got me shot at…. I made the mistake of merely responding to their query with, “I’ll be right back”, then turning away to go get my phone, which I’d left in the other room. I also got a pen and paper, in case I needed to make notes. When I got back to the door, they were out of sight. I said, as I approached the door, “What can I do for you gentlemen?” When one of them said, “Mr. Moore, can you please let us see your hands? You made us a little nervous when you walked away. We can’t see you through the screen door, so….” Realizing my mistake, I quickly assured them I had no weapons, and we then proceeded to discuss why they came….

My other mistake was not asking to see their ID; I suppose I had already convinced myself of their official status, by my subconscious perceptions; I’d noted their uniforms, the cop shoes, and the cop eyes…. which, I had to admit, did contain more intelligence than is my usual perception. It turned out, once we’d gotten over the introductions, they were a captain, and a lieutenant in the Vallejo force, who came to ascertain my intentions regarding the City Council…. Here is where the demonstration of the extreme paranoia, and adversarial attitude adopted by those in public office comes into play….

The two officers (officers, indeed, not enlisted ranks…), told me they had read my emails to the city council, and were concerned about my statement of intention to come to the meeting, as I didn’t say exactly what my intentions were by coming…. I suppose what I wrote to the Mayor, and copied to the Council members, was too forceful in the opinions expressed, so one of the recipients forwarded the email to the police, for them to investigate whether I was so upset I was going to come to the meeting & go postal on the council!….

Talk about paranoia! From what I’ve seen in the video tape of the last council meeting, which I downloaded to watch, so I could find out the details of the issue I wrote to them about, it had to be the Mayor, who seems to be the only professional politician on the council, though there IS another lawyer sitting on the council, as well….

Thankfully, the two officers who came to see me, (both were actual gentlemen, to go along with their officer’s bars), only knew their boss had showed it to them. Being more intelligent and honorable than the usual run of police I’ve encountered, they approached it as a fact finding visit, not establishing an immediate adversarial attitude toward me, allowing real communication to occur, without turning it into an incident all of us would have regretted….

Ah well… All’s well that ends well, and now I have another question for the Council, to ask them who sent my email to the police, and why they did so, when I made no threats, nor used any vulgarity…. Having strong opinions is still allowed according to the Constitution; the Homeland Security Act made no mention of it, though it does eliminate just about all the ten basic rights as listed in the Amendments to that document. Fortunately, for me, and for the officers, the two gentlemen who came to see me still believed in the original version, so, we were able to have a meeting of the minds, rather than a conflict….

Happy days! But, of course, today is another day, and I haven’t heard of any great societal changes overnight, so, I don’t think I’ll hold my breath until things get better…. Instead, I’ll end this incredibly long intro section, and get on with today’s post….

Shall we Pearl?

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

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

“Everything has two handles,–one by which it may be borne; another by which it cannot.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Enchiridion, xliii

Okay, ffolkes. In the words of the Firesign Theater, “Gird your grids for a big one.” The following video is, quite simply, brilliant. It is also chock full of real information, well verified, that will do one of three things… 1) It will piss you off no end. 2) It will scare you worse than the thought of Rush Limbaugh throwing kisses at you, wearing a tiger stripe peignoir, or 3) It will piss you off no end. Did I say that already? Oh…. Watch it anyway, it’s not long…. Then, take out the trash, which should be overflowing with all of your previously held misconceptions of reality….

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

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Marketing to Doctors (HBO)

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

http://youtu.be/YQZ2UeOTO3I

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

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

“Can’t sleep clowns will eat me… Can’t sleep clowns will eat me… Can’t sleep clowns will eat me… Can’t sleep clowns will eat me… Can’t sleep clowns will eat me…” — Bart Simpson

“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” — Arthur Somers Roche

Together, these two taglines, one considered a joke, the other a sober observation of reality, give a strong impression of how living in today’s world feels for a great many people. The first demonstrates, in graphic clarity, exactly HOW the second line works, creating unreasonable fear in the human mind. This tendency, for worry to eat away at people’s inner serenity and feeling of security, is well-known to those who have usurped the course of human progress to serve their own ends, to meet the demands of their own ego’s wants and desires, to the exclusion of anyone else’s well-being. This unfortunate facet of human nature provides such sociopathic personalities with the perfect tool to assert mind control over anyone who believes them….

One of the clearest statements of how this principle works in reality was offered at the Nuremberg Trials at the close of WWII, when the German Reich Marshal, Hermann Goering, replied, with unusual candor, as well as apparent disdain, to a question put to him during his trial for war crimes against humanity…. He said, quite calmly, what you see in the picture of him below this line, to wit:

This particular human trait is well known not only to the ruling classes; many modern social critics and philosophers have noted how people can be manipulated by those in power, often pointing out these insane acts of aggression against their own species with humorous observations regarding those who engage in such evil…. Perhaps the most fearless, as well as most brilliantly perceptive of these social critics, the modern day equivalent to Jesters, a once-highly-respected class of Artists, George Carlin, once noted, for example:

In fact, George had quite a few things to say regarding these folks, not always with the restraint shown above… Here are more of his thoughts on modern society, culture, and the people who have so perverted this world….

To my mind, George Carlin was the quintessential patriot, a firm believer in personal responsibility, in himself, and in others, and, most especially in those who are supposed to be the MOST honest and responsible, by virtue of the public trust placed in them. He resisted all of society’s demands to fit into the narrow little jacket these would-be slavers wish us all to wear, always saying what he thought with no fear…. Such as this one:

George noted, and lamented with all of us who bother to think, the pitifully insane, shameful existence of the same evil people I do, those I’ve named Asininnies, a word I coined, to promote the proper mindset with which to view those who would make the world their plaything, at the expense of the entire rest of humanity, without a single dram of concern for the welfare of anyone but themselves. Sometimes, I consider changing the nickname I use, to reflect a bit more closely the true nature of these vermin wearing human skin; “Assholes” would be a very good choice, I think, for they are always passing shit around, which mostly stinks to high heaven…. It’s good to keep things simple….

Fuck ’em. They can’t have MY mind, or my freedom. They MIGHT be able to kill me, but, they’ll never make me submit to their demands to turn myself into a slave, or to believe a single word they have to say…. They have already proven themselves unworthy of respect, or consideration for anything beyond the fact of their pitiful existence, which I shall hope is a short one…. even if I must ensure that to be the case personally….

Enough said….

gigoid has spoken.

So be it….

“Well, here I am in AMERICA.. I LIKE it. I HATE it. I LIKE it. I HATE it. I LIKE it. I HATE it. I LIKE it. I HATE it. I LIKE.. EMOTIONS are SWEEPING over me!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Oh, going back to Hermann’s little share….

“In the USA, more people die from lightning than terrorism.” — Brenda, the Civil Disobedience Penguin

I hate to harp on this kind of thing, contrary to how it must seem, but, this is, if not absolutely true, much more nearly so than the situation in any other country in the world, especially in those in which the USA has business, or political (one and the same entity, in reality) interests. One good definition of terrorism is the explosion of large bombs unexpectedly on innocent non-combatants. I don’t think it would matter at all to anyone, even if it is for the alleged purpose of “saving American lives overseas, fighting terrorism at its roots, by sharing the benefits of freedom” with the people of that country.

Do you seriously think the people of ANY country, not involved in any of the nonsense being perpetrated by the insane leaders of EITHER country, are NOT terrorized when they see, out of nowhere, dropped from planes so far above they are nearly invisible, thousands of explosions as the natural results of dropping $750 million worth of explosive devices in ONE day? I don’t know about y’all, but, I think I’d be pretty terrorized, myself, freedom or no freedom.

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

Oops! Almost forgot a poem. I’m not sure why, but, this one seems appropriate for today… It seems long, but, it really isn’t….

Elemental, dear Watson….

Don’t worry,
it’s not
me
you hear
screaming.

It is
only
my bones,
giving in,
to
cowardly,
pathologically,
repetitive,
fucking,’
complaints
of
past abuse,
and
all the fun
we had.
playing,
hard.

I don’t mind
too much;
I can spend my
TIME
in another space
in my head,
pretending
my bones
don’t
exist….

It
is,
indeed,
a shame
they
always
come
back….

Fuck.

It
hurts.

More proof,
I guess,
either
God isn’t,
or,
He is.

He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….

Ante up.
Deal.

He is?
Then,
I don’t fucking care
who
doesn’t like it,

I say,

He
is
a bully,
a coward,
a hypocrite,
and,
truly,
an enormous asshole.

I suppose,
God
is
what comes,
to,
and
from,
People,

because

they
feel
a need,
for
someone
to
blame,
for
a
Universe
they
cannot
understand
or
accept.

I
will
take the complaints.

After all,
they
are
my bones.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Okay, this is one of the world’s quickest pearls…. I’m up late, thanks to a completely useless routine, which has been shredded to remove any consistency over the last ten weeks of fighting with my body, a direct result of the drastic, radical med reduction forced on me by a large, soulless HMO which shall, for this moment, remain unnamed, lest the sound of its sobriquet stimulate more rage…. These pearls were all chosen because they were the first, best ones I saw…. that’s it…. I hope this works….

“You can’t fight City Hall, but you can punch out the mayor …” — Smart Bee

“Remember, Big Brother is watching you – and Big Brother is paranoid.” — Smart Bee

“A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.” — Bertrand de Jouvenel

“Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.” — Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/20/92 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)

“Anyone can be great with money. With money, greatness is not a talent but an obligation. The trick is to be great without money.” — Italo Bombolini

“I keep hearing that Jesus Christ is coming, but nobody knows his tour dates.” — Michael Lucas

You may see me tonight with an illegal smile.
It don’t cost very much, but it lasts a long while.
Won’t you please tell the man
I didn’t hurt anyone.
No, I’m just trying to have me some fun.

~~ John Prine ~~

Hmm… not bad at all for the literary equivalent to instant coffee…. I’ll take it….

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

All things considered, this came out fairly well, I think. Well enough, I’m going to use some restraint, by not dumping any more tricks on y’all. I’ll just say, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided the Mayor doesn’t have me arrested for public shaming of elected officials, which is probably in the city ordinances by now…. he’s been in office a while…. (That’s a joke, for you dudes at the NSA….) Have fun out there, and remember to, always, Question Authority….. It’s a good idea, as mostly, Authority has no clue…. I was lucky enough to have met two who do…. have a clue, that is. Ta, then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Dodge those taxes with dignity and aplomb….

Posted on February 9, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Nature abhors a vacuum, but not as much as cats do.”

~~ Lee Entrekin ~~

Turn it off. Now.

Photo stolen from Wolfie, at:

https://europasicewolf.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/mewling-the-blues-to-the-ancient-mythological-cat-goddesses/

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

Anyone who has lived with a cat knows the opening quote to be an exact statement of truth. I have never met, or observed any cat, in my entire life, who did not absolutely resent the mere presence of a vacuum, even if not operating, with every fiber of their being. If even one of them ever acquired a set of tools to suit their paws, I suspect, one morning, we would all find our loud, offensive-to-the-nature-of-CAT cleaning appliances in a small neat pile of metal pieces, covered over lightly with dirt, somewhere outside the house…. That one cat would destroy all he found in his neighborhood, then pass the tools and skills on to the first cat he met, until every vacuum in the world was useless…. If they could use computers, it would happen all that much faster…. probably in a matter of hours after booting up….

Yet, still, in the quiet moments between heartbeats, the soft, lyrical sound of simple peace may steal through the rear window of each person’s mind, to fill the air with the almost-painfully somber melody of broken dreams. Nighttime brings panic and fear, not slumber; terror rules the hours until light. Light brings its own baggage, weighting down each one it touches, bearing them down, down, to the pitted earth, never again to rise with any degree of hope….

Boy, that turned a little dark corner there, didn’t it. I have no idea how what I started as a lyrical fantasy, grounded in peace and beauty, to the nightmare of the fight with inner demons…. I suppose I need to watch the road signs more closely; the turn I took was NOT into the street I thought I was headed for, by a long shot….. Of course, by logical concatenation, since the street signs are put up by the government, they could conceivably be a lie….

Okay, sorry…. I know it’s too early for such a drastically rude shot to the head of a pundit, but, I’ve never been one to pass up a good opportunity like that one. I promise, no more ranting in this section, for today, at least. Naturally, this leaves us once more in the clutches of the dreaded “What the fuck do we do now?” beast, with its slavering jaws of death, smellier than the filthiest asshole in creation. Whew! Powerful stuff! I think I’m going to make an executive decision; this intro has gone completely off the wire, and out of the dimension. There’s no hope now of ever getting back on any reasonable track down the page without some sort of drastic intervention…. Hang on, ffolkes, I’m pulling the switch on #4…..

Shall we Pearl?

“It’s a bit hard to bullshit the ocean.

It’s not listening, you know what I mean?”

~~ David Crosby ~~

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

One can never watch too many cartoons, I say. We all need regular doses of fantasy to balance out the extreme levels of bullshit that permeates almost every level of our lives in this sad old world…. Besides, it’s always good to spend time with old friends….

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

Heckle and Jeckle

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

http://youtu.be/0Yvdxk9jxOQ

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

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

Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land?

All fear, none aid you, and few understand.

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

~~ Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 261~~

Pearls of Virtual Wisdom, as a blog, continues to evolve, along with me, as I become more competent at formatting the text and pictures, learning to take advantage of how they can work together to strengthen whatever points I’m trying to get through to people. Today, rather than a rant, I’m going to use the principle of “a picture is worth a thousand words”, to deliver my usual indictment of the Asininnies, those who have perverted human culture for their own aggrandizement. You’ve seen all of these before on this site; I seem to have collected enough of them to form a pictorial old-school pearl, filled with my entire pantheon of issues about which to rant….. I don’t think I’ll need to say anything more; from this point on, it’s pretty self-explanatory…

Enjoy, ffolkes; it will be a nice break from the 2-3000 words I could have used to speak to all these pictures, each of which highlights part of the problems we face today, threatened with extinction as a species by the ignorant, cruel, selfishly self-centered actions of a precious few extreme assholes, disguised as human beings….. I might add, all of these pictures are taken from REALITY; there’s no speculation involved in any of these issues…. Remember that, next time you hear one of the Asininnies speak about “conspiracy theories”, or, try to deny culpability for all of their chicanery…. It isn’t a fantasy if it comes straight from reality, to slap you in your very real face….. or, shoot you in your very real heart…..

Flulaval-vaccine-insert-no-controlled-trials-640

There you go, ffolkes. The first ever fully-pictorial pearl. Not too shabby, and, it certainly saved y’all a shit load of reading, didn’t it? I kind of like it, but, it’s going to take a while now to collect enough pointed bamboo sticks to create another punji pit, placing some nice atropine on the points of the sticks, to provide that extra touch of agony to their deaths… Then, we’ll need to find a good spot to put it, where it can catch any stray Asininnies passing by, concealed well enough to ensure they take their final fall, about 12 feet down, to meet their chosen fate.

I find it to be only justice to consider such a cruel method of eliminating these human vermin, justice provided by most efficient bamboo stakes, tipped with a poison to paralyze the diaphragm, adding a touch of terror to their agony, hopefully for a good long while, until the numerous holes in their body bleed sufficiently to allow them to die the death they so richly deserve…. This has the added advantage of reducing the number of targets left to destroy in future revolutionary outbreaks, which I consider a pretty sure thing, given today’s state of world affairs…. It’s always a good policy to get a running start on unpleasant tasks, such as vermin control….

Gee! Do ya think I’m a little pissed off? Well…. you may be right…

gigoid, not speaking much, but, enough….

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

After such a compelling graphic rant, only one poem of mine will do….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

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

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

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

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I suppose the only proper way to describe what follows would be to call it a tongue-in-cheek pearl. Each one, which SB gave up in its inimitable style, isn’t actually as shallow as it may seem at first, once one gets past the flippancy, or in some cases, the simplicity…. No matter, they’re fun, and there are plenty of them, so, enjoy…. or not. I like to give everyone a choice, as you know….

“Sinners can repent, but stupid is forever.” — Smart Bee

“Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967)

“What is becoming is honest, and whatever is honest must always be becoming.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

“Anything may be divided into as many parts as you please.” Commentary: In this case, ‘everything’ may be viewed as a subset of ‘anything.'” — Law of Arbitrary Distinction

“A closed mouth gathers no feet.” — Finster’s Law

“Ah say, son, you’re about as sharp as a bowlin’ ball.” — Foghorn Leghorn

“Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing can ever be made.” — Immanuel Kant

“Immanuel doesn’t pun, he Kant.” — Smart Bee

Doh! Sorry, ffolkes, I couldn’t help myself. SB threw them out there, & I fell right into the trap…. Okay, here is the correct final pearl for this particular group…

“Never refuse to do a kindness unless the act would work great injury to yourself, and never refuse to take a drink- under any circumstances.” — Mark Twain

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

Thankfully, most of this got done yesterday; getting it all done this morning would have been impossible, given the state of affairs in my body. Though my refusal to submit to any further med reduction has finally reached a point where I am able to get some sleep, I still awake in more pain than I’ve had to deal with for over seven years. Any thanks I may feel for this gift can be delivered directly to the door of a large soulless corporation, care of two doctors/slaves who are carrying out their draconian policy of punishing anyone who may not wish to submit to wearing a collar.

However, rather than continue to rant here in the closing section, I’ll make a 90 degree turn, and merely say, “See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, when we’ll fire off another round of shots, at those insane fools who would kill us all in their cowardly, insane quest for power….”

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….

But…. but…. what about the little bunnies?

Posted on February 8, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“History… a distillation of rumor.”

~~ Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) ~~

Snow in Ireland, January 2015

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

I won’t do it! You can’t make me! I don’t wanna write any more! No…..! Well, okay, maybe this once.

Morning, ffolkes. I just thought I’d give y’all a quick picture of the kind of stuff I go through each morning to get started. Depending on how much sleep I haven’t gotten (I’ve begun to keep track that way, rather than trying to keep track of all those fractions, of hours of broken sleep I’ve managed to steal….), this is a fine example of the usual degree of reluctance and angst I suffer before getting started….

. For the record, and to take another dig at Kaiser P, the corporate ghosts, and the doctors who are enslaved by them, I’ll note that I am STILL feeling the effects of withdrawal; about an hour before the next dose of medicine is due, the jumpy nerves and twitchy muscles begin to hum, and I find myself keeping time with my legs to a fast, salsa-like rhythm…. If I have music on, it can take a while to notice, as I think I’m just keeping time with Jesse Colin, or Bob Marley’s songs…. It’s not quite as severe, because I’m cheating on them, and using the meds at the higher rate I used to take, in order to try to get a bit of sleep, and space from the withdrawal symptoms….

Fuck ’em. I’m done submitting to this society’s constant attempts to fix me with a slave collar. I’ve fought against having one for 60 some years now, at every turn. I’m becoming more and more angry at those who will not see how they are serving the forces of evil, having been brainwashed for their entire lives to believe anything told to them by a talking head. I intend to spend the rest of my life shouting at them, picking at them, hurting them as often as I can, however I can. I will hold them up for public ridicule, or, if necessary, find a way to remove them from this plane of existence, But, I will no longer sit quietly, going my own way, & keeping my head down.

I’ll be just as aggressive to them as they try to be to me; I didn’t spend my life learning martial arts so I could let bullies have their way; from now on, I intend to take the battle back to their doors, to hold them up into the light of exposure, for their lies, for their bully attitudes, and for their constant lies. On Tuesday, I’ll be taking on a local city council, led by a bully of a mayor, a man of color determined to get back at the man by becoming a caricature of a politician, resembling nothing more than a rich, old, white cracker, spreading lies and acting like a bully toward the public. It doesn’t surprise me at all to find he is a lawyer by trade….

Okay…. That worked well…. Nothing like a good mini-rant to get the juices flowing, is there? The only problem with it is finding a good place to stop, as it’s so easy to just go on, and on, and on, when one begins railing against the lies…. there are just so MANY of them!…. Ah well, enough for one day. I’m going to grab this box, marked with a big #4, & get us out of here, so we can get on with the rest of this mess…. You’ll probably recognize the number, which works like this….

Shall we Pearl?

“Bushido does not mean what it sounds like.” — Smart Bee

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

Currently, though it’s Sunday, & the world is turned off, so to speak, my mind won’t seem to settle, wanting to pick at the two issues confronting me. So, we’ll go with some silly, to break the pattern in our customary fashion. Here are some cartoons, which, naturally, should be watched with a cookie or three and a nice glass of milk…. Enjoy!….

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

Goofy Cartoons

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

http://youtu.be/KhPEdQ-XOII

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

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

“Tell someone the sun is millions of miles away and they’ll believe you. Tell them the fence has just been painted and they’ll feel it to check it out.” — Smart Bee

Why do you think this is true? (Even if it isn’t, (which it isn’t, er, is… it’s true, by my reckoning…), it must be a behavior so frequently observed as to be considered worthy of note, as if it is a truism, a piece of common wisdom….No matter the source.) Any who, for the purpose of our discussion, we’ll assume it to be true (sigh… okay. Look. If you DON’T agree, can you wait to discuss it until we get further down? I’ll leave room…). If we can assume it to be so, I think I can guess the reason it is such a commonly held belief….

That’s because you’re human, and, they’re human. Consciously, or not, both are aware of this. Most people, if told the first, since they have no way of knowing for sure if you are right or wrong, will opt to trust, as the truth of it has no direct effect on them. The paint, however, is a part of their immediate environment, so, with another human present, the state of the paint becomes of more direct interest. There is an old saying in the Arab world, that says, “Trust in Allah, but row for the rocks.”…. if you get my drift. The Western world would more likely be familiar with a statement such as “Always cut the cards.” In the case of wet paint, any human over the age of two will check to see if paint is wet, when told, as a knee-jerk reaction….

How does this relate to the ranting section? Oh gosh, if you’ve been here before, you’d already know…. We’ve already used the word true, which is rooted in Truth, so, obviously we’re going to talk about those humans who seek elected office, at what I now know from PERSONAL experience, to be ALL levels, from international, to national, to state, to county, to local. Hell, I’ll bet the perversion of human spirit that pervades our culture seems to be not merely ubiquitous, but, cancerous in its aggressive intention of consuming all members of our society, regardless of their wishes in the matter.

I’m speaking, of course, of the complete loss of integrity in public office, where every person seems to be convinced their own personal beliefs should be used to determine the course of events in their immediate sphere of influence. From President, all the way down to mayor, and often, Grand Poobah level of government, ignorance, bigotry, and the use of power for personal gain is not merely rampant, but, glorified…..

In my personal observation of public life, as I have seen, heard, or read about, the events and information about the march of history since 1950, when I was born, (available for anyone of my age to still view, via a number of different media), the world has become more and more a mirror image of the nightmarish society depicted in George Orwell’s novel, 1984, than I ever believed was possible…. If you really want to be scared silly, read, or, re–read the book, then compare what you have just read to modern society. The congruency is close to 100%; it seems Mr. Orwell was more accurate than even he knew in his vision of the future, a time at which WE have, seemingly, arrived….

In truth, it would be easy to list all the ways our supposed leaders display their total disregard for anyone’s agenda but their own, which is centered on their own avarice for power and control…. too easy. It would also take a VERY long time, which, as is apparent, I’ve already taken to get to this point, where we could get down to brass tacks, so to speak… (Why brass? Do they hurt more when you step on one?…. I wonder about these things….)

Any who, I’ll be nice today, sparing you the extra work and depressive mood swings. Instead, we’ll fill the rest of the time allotted for this with some very fine pearls of virtual wisdom, which highlight the very qualities of which I have been speaking…. Please remember, ffolkes….. VIRTUAL wisdom, not real. Don’t try to use them as if they were. They’re good for a snack, but not for a main dish, speaking, of course, metaphorically…. Enjoy!…

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

Democracy, n.: A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of direct expression. Results in mobocracy. Attitude toward property is communistic… negating property rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it is based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. Result is demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.” — U. S. Army Training Manual No. 2000-25 (1928-1932), since withdrawn.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” — Thomas Paine

“The land of the free! This is the land of the free! Why, if I say anything that displeases them, the free mob will lynch me, and that’s my freedom. Free? Why I have never been in any country where the individual has such an abject fear of his fellow countrymen. Because, as I say, they are free to lynch him the moment he shows he is not one of them.” — D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)

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

“Asking a Republican Senate and Democratic House to make a law is like trying to fry a single egg in two pans.” — New York Times, Jan. 20, 1981

“Now we have a Republican House AND Senate, with a Democrat in the White House. The problem here is obvious; no Republican in either body ever held so menial a job as cook. This means we’re likely to end up with is two eggs, burnt to a crisp, resembling nothing so much as a rubber replica of themselves, but, chewier, and not as tasty. A lame duck of either party makes poor fare for any table….” — gigoid, the dubious Saturday, 2015

“Well, here it is, 1983, so it won’t be long before you start reading a lot of boring stories about people like Vance Hartke. Hartke is a governor or mayor or something from one of the flatter states, and the reason you’ll be reading about him is that he’s one of the 50 top contenders for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination. These men will spend the next 18 months going around the country engaging in the most degrading activities imaginable, such as wearing idiot hats and appearing on Meet the Press. Meet the Press is one of those Sunday morning public interest shows that the public is not the least bit interested in. It features a panel of reporters who ask questions of a guest politician, who wins an Amana home freezer if he can get through the entire show without answering a single question …” — Dave Barry, On Presidential Politics

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

Knowing my mood to be in a rather fragile state, I won’t even bother trying to find a poem from someone else; it’s best to not involve anyone else today…. It could affect their reputation negatively; wouldn’t want that…. Here’s one from 2013….

Pure Truth: Elsewhen

Everything I say and do, I’m sure,
only comes from what I know.
If what I’ve said or done is good, and pure,
I can say it’s not just for show.

Sometimes people don’t quite get me.
It can be a pain, for sure.
I try not allow it to keep me from being free,
especially when my thoughts may be impure.

In fact, I try quite hard most of the time,
to keep from hurting folks.
If any culture more often approached sublime,
I wouldn’t have to take so many pokes.

Now I’ll make another sacrifice, for y’all,
not for karmic advantage, not merely so….
But, to save me from yet another downfall,
I’ll stop here; ensign, make it so….

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I’m not sure what’s up with Smart Bee; the process of finding pearls has been smooth as silk lately, compared to what has been the case for quite some time. Since I’m not one to look in ANY mouths, we’ll accept this metaphoric gift as if it were of an equine persuasion, and just hop on for a ride…. I’d suggest you climb on behind, or you could get run down…. No worries, mates, it’s all in good, virtual fun, real as these pearls may be….

“Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.” — Roy Goodman

“That humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradises seems very unlikely. Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few moments, is and has always been one of the principal appetites of the soul.” — Aldous Huxley’s “The Doors of Perception”

“Difficulties are things that show what men are.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxiv

“I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.” — G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, 8/4/06

“As long as anyone believes that his ideal and purpose is outside him, that it is above the clouds, in the past or in the future, he will go outside himself and seek fulfillment where it cannot be found. He will look for solutions and answers at every point except where they can be found–in himself.” — Erich Frohm

“Aren’t you glad that everything is going so smoothly?” –Smart Bee

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.” — Antoine de Saint Exupery, The Little Prince

“Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.” — Lois Bujold

“The most important thing in a man is not what he knows, but what he is.” — Narciso Yepes

Yep…. That about says it…. all of it, I might add….

Well, trust Smart Bee to fall under Murphy’s spell, ffolkes. As soon as I finished this pearl, SB came up with the following, which, obviously, belongs here as a nearly perfect closing thought, to tie the group together with unbreakable twine…. Allow me to show y’all what I mean:

“The world is what it is, no less and no more,

and therein lies its entire and sufficient meaning.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

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

I’ve already expressed the problematic nature of the issues we’re facing today, though not in any great detail…. Suffice it to know, we’re done, and I’m outta here, taking my chance to escape while it’s fresh and hot. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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….

Bathing in a babbling brook….

Posted on February 7, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

There were the Scots
Who kept the Sabbath
And everything else they could lay their hands on.
Then there were the Welsh
Who prayed on their knees and their neighbors.
Thirdly there were the Irish
Who never knew what they wanted
But were willing to fight for it anyway.
Lastly there were the English
Who considered themselves a self-made nation
Thus relieving the Almighty of a dreadful responsibility.

~~ Unix file, /usr/local/bin/fortune ~~

Steal Your Face, Grateful Dead logo

I don’t care what anyone else may tell you, but, I am here to testify, there is little in this world more frustrating to a writer than a mind emptier than the page at which we are blankly staring. Especially when it tells us it has this great idea, then, when the time comes to begin typing, it’s nowhere to be found; moreover, there is no evidence at all it ever actually existed. In short, it lied to me… My own mind, lying to me, just so I would leave it be…. It occurs to me to bite myself.

Rather than do so, I’ll just mention what also just occurred to me, to wit: Y’know, ffolkes, in today’s world, we are now in the unenviable position, historically speaking, of having placed ourselves right in front of the fan, and the shit is about to hit it, if it hasn’t already started flying through the air, along with all the OTHER CRAP we have poured into it in the last 150 years…. and, we don’t have a change of clothing to put on, even IF we can clean it off after it’s done filling our eyes, ears, and random orifices….

Ah well, at least it got us this far down the page, without the obviously superfluous concept of having something intelligent, or even amusing, to say to y’all about today’s Pearl. I suppose I could give y’all a few hints, but, then there’d be no surprises, and the surprises may be ALL we have to offer today. Hard to tell at this point, when I haven’t even looked to see what is done, and what isn’t. I had already decided, before sitting down, not to worry about that part until done with this. Of course, that was before I knew I wouldn’t have a bloody thing worth saying in my head, probably until after eating something, so there is at least some material inside me from which to create a bit of energy…. Or, not. At this point, who cares?

Okay, so, I’ll use this tool here to fix this. It’s our only hope, I think, of getting out of here without my having to resort to some rather drastic measures, which the insurance company has warned me to stop using, as they cause us to use up the deductibles too fast. Today, sadly, I don’t think I’m going to have much of a choice, not if we intend to get anywhere close to finishing this before lunch. I shall reluctantly use the most efficacious of the emergency methods, #4, which is the fastest, and most popular, of all our methods of extrication…. Here’s how it works….

Shall we Pearl?

“Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)” — Lazarus Long

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

After having studied Judo, some Karate, both Korean and Japanese styles, some Jujitsu, a bit of Aikido, and Tai Chi, I moved on to the oldest and most complete of the Arts, Kung Fu, finally settling in a school whose sifu taught the Praying Mantis style of Shaolin Kung Fu, as practiced by the monks of the Taoist temple in Shaolin. When my kids were 12, and 10, I enrolled them in the classes, to give them the discipline and knowledge that give the gift of removing one’s fear of violence from life, a gift of nearly incalculable value. Both of them have benefited enormously for gaining the skills which bring us confidence, and the ability to think when others are frozen in fear….

Today’s video is one of the more advanced forms to be learned; there are a great many of them. Master Wu Nanfang, one of the two fourth generation Shaolin Chan Wu Yi Kung Fu Masters from the Wugulun lineage, does a Dragon Form in the grounds of the famous Shaolin temple in Dengfeng City, Henan Province, China.

Dragon Form

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

http://youtu.be/YZE8-M65ZT8

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

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

“A faith-holder puts himself below his faith and lets it guide his actions. The fanatic puts himself above it and uses it as an excuse for his actions.” — Gordon Dickson, Chantry Guild

At long last! I’ve finally found the pearl which gives me the springboard to present an EXACT explanation of the fatal flaw in human nature, responsible for so much of the misery and pain in this sad old world we inhabit. Here is the perfect pearl for it; it shows the exact relationship which turns every human endeavor from whatever good intent it followed, to take it on a path which has no other end but self-destruction. I know, elegantly obscure, is it not? Lovely use of logic to cloud the issue….

Still, with the proper treatment, this will do just fine, to give me the metaphoric example I’ve looked for, which can be used as a benchmark to measure a related, but, separate issue, with similar parameters. Both of these methods attempting to discern WHY many of the more egregiously insane events we have seen all throughout our crazy, violent history take place; to explain, as it were, why so many people die for no good reason…. Easy, and quite obvious to me.

Part of being human is to have a choice, at birth, with our first perception of reality in this state of consciousness, of whether to approach the universe with open eyes and hearts, admitting our willingness to learn, or to react to what we feel and see with fear, turning away from that which frightens us, learning to accept a consensus given by others, perverting imagination into cunning, and the tendency to ignore the urgings of the heart, and the mind….

Those who choose a path of knowledge and reason, versus one of fear, faith, and ignorance, by opening their minds and hearts, learn to use the power of imagination to create beauty and harmony in a universe of wonderful complexity, with the very entertaining characteristic of Entropy, and Chaos, as equal parts of what is here to be perceived, right alongside their opposite, yet complementary qualities of Order, and Will.

Destruction is a part of Reality, to balance Creativity; Compassion is balanced by Indifference; all the universe exists in duality, explaining the reason our senses operate as they do…. by registering and decoding the sensory perceptions present in reality with eyes which see by the presence or absence of light, ears which hear the silence between the notes, and other senses which offer their own interpretation of energy manifesting in other forms, yet still, in duality….

“Either God exists or He doesn’t. Either I believe in God or I don’t. Of the four possibilities, only one is to my disadvantage. To avoid that possibility, I believe in god.” — Pascal

In these blog posts, I often sound, no doubt, as if I have no doubt, particularly when speaking of those who rely on faith-based reasoning to decide how to live their lives. I cannot respect such a decision, as it is the kind that cannot possibly be made if using the most simple standards of truth, and reason. No person willing to look at the evidence with an open mind could make such a decision, for it is possibly the most unbelievable set of delusions one could come up with; yet, for thousands of years, the modern version of snake-oil salesmen have passed off this unreasonable story as if it was truth, insisting each and every individual who believes otherwise to be wrong, no matter how compelling the evidence of their arguments.

Now, I can’t claim to be the most ethical, or moral, or most virtuous of men; I am much more accurately described as the above Warrior of Light, full of self-doubts, unsure, in my darker moments, of my own worth. Yet, I am able to say with some objectivity, I find myself also to be much more honest, and truthful, than perhaps 75% of the people in the world. (I would add, of the remaining 25%, approximately 98% of them are wrong; in effect, lying to themselves, through ignorance or innocence, most of the time, thus, not always their fault, or choice…. Very few of the people I’ve met in the world are very concerned with truth at all, other than as a vague concept they have heard about, but seldom consider either objectively, or, as regards themselves….)

My own claim to virtue, partial as it may be, is based on an advantage I enjoy over most people I have known, (aside from my siblings, of course), of having Master Sgt. Robert H. Moore always standing behind me, monitoring all such issues as they occur in my life…. Since I was a teenager, and before, whenever I couldn’t figure out, or didn’t know what was the RIGHT thing to do in a difficult situation, I would simply imagine my dad, standing nearby, watching.

Somehow, I’d usually be able to find the correct, most ethical, most honest way to deal with whatever it may have been; it wasn’t always the easiest, or most efficient way, (in fact, easy seldom entered the picture…), but, it always seems to work out best, for ALL the concerned parties…. Perhaps it’s merely a fantasy of my own making, but, it has always worked for me….

In fact, my dad was pretty good at teaching me, and my siblings, the most important lessons I learned, without needing to actually speak directly about them very often at all. Not that he was taciturn, or silent; just not very voluble, unless stimulated by intense emotion. Instead, he just lived his own way, so that as we watched, the right way to do things was perfectly clear. This meant that, with merely a look, he could tell us whether our behavior met his approval; if you did well, he said so. If you didn’t, he didn’t need to speak at all.

To me, that’s a very big advantage over whatever other people’s families may have done for them in this respect; I can use my own mind to make decisions, as long as I do that in a way that my dad would approve of; otherwise, I find, nothing comes out as well as when I live according to the following list of rules, which could easily have been dictated by my father, the aforementioned Sgt. Moore…..

So, though I am not perfect, or holy, or Superman, or in any other way more special than anyone else, other than, perhaps, in my unique mindset, I feel confident that my opinions on human nature are valid, based on evidence, not faith. This, if nothing else, satisfies me, in terms of having lived up to my chosen duty, and have not added to the weight of oppression and darkness that so afflicts our world, because of that oh-so-human nature, and its incredibly powerful negative effects on our planet, and other forms of life, including, sadly, our fellow men…. Ah well, karma exists, if only as a metaphor for reality, so, time will tell the final story….

“All you can do, is all you can do.”

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Here is another great poem from my poetess/friend, Maggie Mae, a still-young artist I believe will one day be known to the entire English speaking world…. Seriously, you will see what I mean when you’ve seen some of her work. I often get a feeling of dejá vu after reading her poems, similar to the reaction I get at times to Miss Emily Dickinson, though their styles are, if not worlds apart, are in different rooms in the same palace of Art….

I suppose it may have something to do with both women seeming to find the concept of overt rhyming to be superfluous to their poetry; when a rhyme is needed, it is there. Most of the time, the content, rhythm, and imagery they use is sufficient to create the intended message, without requiring them to stay within the boundaries of convention.

Maggie Mae sees the world with the same KIND of vision as did Emily, but, with her own eyes and mind to interpret what she sees, in striking images of great metaphorical power, images which go straight to the inner brain, swirling there, bringing a message from the universe for us to learn…. Enjoy, ffolkes… I’ve included a link to her site after the poem, so you may see exactly what I mean….

A Theory of Rubies

because we find them in solids
gripping to thousands of pasts

because we find them under ground,
where muscles swell
for obligation rather than
inclination

because there is this one girl
who carries them in her eyes,
who can make every drop of rain
fall at once
and, in the desert, naked on
black tar, can
bring the cool moon breeze
home

because if I follow her
behind echo’s and become her reverse,
I will go way of all flesh,
dive back into my former
rutile inclusions

because she seems like a solid

because we are the color of wine

because the theory of rubies is
they are imperfect,
impure,
naturally-occurring
stars

https://maggiemaeijustsaythis.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/a-theory-of-rubies/

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

Ffolkes…. The following pearl showed up on SB, in virtually the order you see, with only minor shifts needed to finalize the process. I can’t explain it, nor will I try. I suggest you just allow your mind to follow along, to wherever it may lead you…..

There is an enormous oyster here with its shell tightly closed.

Interesting. Interesting.

There seems to be something written on the underside of the oyster.

Picture and text stolen from Lou

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

For ’twas not into my ear you whispered but into my heart.

‘Twas not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

~~ Judy Garland ~~

“Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 412

“If fear alters behavior, you’re already defeated.” — Brenda Hammond

“He had that rare weird electricity about him — that extremely wild and heavy presence that you only see in a person who has abandoned all hope of ever behaving “normally.” — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), journalist — Fear and Loathing ’72

“Discussions of morality must inevitably lead to immoral statements.” — Bradshaw

“Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, “Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good…” At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp post, the lamp post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmedieval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have puled the lamp post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, today, tomorrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas lamp, we now must discuss in the dark.” — G. K. Chesterton, _Heretics_, 1905

“Diogenes struck the father when the son swore.” — Robert Burton (1577-1640) — The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part iii, Sect. 2, Memb. 2, Subsect. 5

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” — Rafael Sabatini

“Gone, glimmering through the dream of things that were.”

~~ Lord Byron (1788-1824) ~~

~~ Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto ii, Stanza 2 ~~

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

Fortunately for me, I had a lot of this Pearl done before starting today; I’m up pretty late, having again slept better than has been my habit of late…. Not that it seems to be of great value as yet; I still feel tired, from the constant stress I’ve been under, thanks to my HMO. Ah well, getting one of these done, in spite of that, is quite satisfying, and, since that feeling is rather rare these days, I’ll take it, and be on my way into the day. See y’all on the rebound, ffolkes….

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….

Burning stacks of cancelled portfolios, in the rain….

Posted on February 6, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past,

but by the responsibility for our future. “

~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~

In the first half of the twentieth century, an American philosopher, H. L. Mencken, offered a comment on modern life as he perceived it. I’ve always liked it, but, until recently, didn’t fully “get” the full impact of the statement, which we offer below:

“Every normal man must be tempted at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”

This morning, I believe I have come to a greater understanding of what he was describing, and can only agree, in full. I say this, because I have reached a point in my life where I am ready to start giving in to such impulses. In fact, I’ve already spit on my hands, and hoisted the black flag; all that remains is to begin slitting throats, a process for which I am already fully prepared. As a life-long student of War, and its Arts, and, as a retired chef, I have a large collection of fine, sharp knives, over half of which are perfectly suited to throat cutting….. Hell, maybe I’ll just use the cleaver…

I have also observed human society now for many years; as a result, I have a long list of candidates for this sort of attention. I could, conceivably, keep myself busy right here in my home state, or home town, for that matter, but, I think it would be more efficacious, for me and for society, if I were to begin my campaign in Washington D. C., or, at a conference of the Tri-Lateral Council, where I would be able to eliminate quite a few of the major obstacles to human progress, all at once.

Actually, anyplace where more than one or two of them are together will do fine; I’ve got some grand ideas on how to use different methods of achieving the same purpose as a throat slitting…. You know, organic bombs, aerosol poisons, lasers, good stuff, all perfectly appropriate for use on groups of evil assholes, in lieu of a sharp blade…

Ah well, fantasy in the morning! Gotta love it. If nothing else, some of that almost constant urge to kill a pundit, or an asininny of some variety, is lessened by enough to keep from rushing out of the house, knife in hand, to go look for the nearest asshole to separate from his blood supply. I figure it’s good practice anyway, to smother that urge to kill, at least to the point where one is not constantly distracted by the need for revenge….

I’m hoping it isn’t just me who feels this way. If enough of us slit enough of the right throats, maybe we humans could make some progress toward fulfilling our real destiny, which has always been the pathway to the stars….. I have believed, since the first time I ever looked up in the sky, and realized those stars were other places in our universe, we were meant to go there, if only to do what we do best, which is to learn…. Our curiosity, stimulated by our imagination, is much greater than can be fulfilled on merely one planet; our destiny is the stars….

These days, it’s becoming questionable if we will ever be able to fulfill that destiny, or any other. I suppose I’ll have to wait, for the time being, before giving in to this urge toward revenge. But, believe me, if they give us much more shit, I’m grabbing the sharpest knives I have, and heading east…. Count on it….

Shall we Pearl?

“Laugh, about it, shout about it when you’ve got to choose–whichever way you look at it you lose.” — Paul Simon

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

My mood is so dark, so heavy, I need help. Here is a collection of cartoons from my youth, with one of my generation’s most important heroes. Mighty Mouse gave kids a real hero, a little guy who could beat up big guys, and who always protected the weak and vulnerable from the depredations of the evil bullies who persecuted them (Are you beginning to see the theme here?…. MM was the first hero to show the common man and the forces of evil in eternal combat, with the common man winning every time…)

The weekly battles Mighty Mouse engaged in against evil opponents, always winning, showing them up as bullies in the process, was the perfect mental attitude training for a generation of political and societal activists, which many of us became…. Some of us are still fighting those forces of evil; nowadays, though, finding the evil is much easier, because much of it is to be found in official uniforms, or in government buildings. Sadly, it’s also easier due to the simple fact there are many, many more of them now…. the silly asses breed like rabbits….. Ah well, watching some of these will take me back to those days when we still had a lot of hope…. Now, hope must be aware of how fragile it has become…. Enjoy this little break from reality, ffolkes….

Mighty Mouse

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

http://youtu.be/wa9aI2wvofg?list=PLsZwgCf-AbYykMLMsya5lk2sv9gYV485U

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

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

I found the piece below in an old document, in a file folder called “Current docs”. It was written, apparently, on Thursday, ‎September ‎06, ‎2012, at ‏‎2:21:33 PM, entitled:

{Chaos + Entropy } – {Compassion + Love} = 42

SIGH…. there are times, such as this, when I wonder what life might be like without Murphy’s unkind attentions, and, though it might affect the balance of the universe somehow if he weren’t around to see to his chosen task , (that of filling my quota, plus bonuses, of stupid, annoying crap, with which to deal at the most inconvenient times), I’d be more than willing to try it out, just to see if I could deal with THAT any better than I do with him dogging me…. In fact, I’d give serious money to have an opportunity to try….

Sadly for me, and for all of us, I suppose, money won’t buy freedom from Reality, or from the elements of Chaos, and Entropy, that are as much a part of life as are Order, and Beauty…. There are people who believe that money CAN buy happiness, but, as is commonly true with such misguided entities, they are deluded, existing in a way that prevents them from ever really connecting with the universe deeply, or experiencing the finer parts of life, those that come only when one is open to compassion, and to love.

Moreover, these poor, sad fools are completely ignorant of missing out on anything, mistakenly believing themselves to be rich as Croesus…. which, in fact, they may be, in terms of gold, or other substances people value in this plane of existence…. This, however does not prevent them from being, in truth, sadly misdirected, delusionally convinced of their own rightness, in spite of all evidence otherwise, and, ultimately, pathetically overburdened with more THINGS than they can ever use, or even appreciate.

In spite of what they probably feel is true, when they die, none of what they’ve spent their lives pursuing can go with them, wherever they may go…. There’s no conclusive evidence indicating any particular destination to which we go when we pass on, at least, none we can perceive, or comprehend in our current state of being…. S’okay, we don’t really need one; we’re just too curious to let it go….

We wonder still, in spite of knowing, in all of our checkered, but, pretty well documented history, nobody has ever come up with any real, solid evidence for ANY of the theories on the matter, one way or another. Many would, and constantly do, argue this point, but, I know for a FACT, it is for sure, and for certain, wherever our consciousness may go, it won’t be carrying bus fare, or any credit cards…. and nobody, I think, wherever it is we end up, will care at all how much crap they owned while they were here….

Who knows where THIS came from…. not me. I found the first part in an old Pearl intro, and the rest just spewed out…. so be it….

gigoid has spoken….

Okay…. not bad. Since our space for ranting has been taken up with this little side trip into my head, we’ll close today’s section with two links, one to my pal Lou’s web site, where he displayed the article you will find at the second link. It’s an EXCELLENT treatise, one I hope becomes a viral hit on the internet, soon. It will, quite frankly, provide the proper impetus to begin the world-wide revolution, as it exposes, EXACTLY, how Mankind has been DUPED by this ages old conspiracy to saddle the human race with slave collars, welded on their necks by a delusional system forced upon them from birth… Read it and weep, all you religious fanatics; your time is up…..

https://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/why-are-you-still-a-christian-after-reading-this/

http://ultratechlife.com/blog/why-are-you-still-a-christian-after-reading-this-thorough/

Pretty clear and simple, eh? Anyone with more than two neurons in their head acting together will see just how they’ve been duped for millennia by these self-serving asses….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken, and he’s not the only one pissed off….

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

I can’t seem to find anything more fitting, so we’ll go with one of mine from the archives…. Enjoy!….

When life calls, ready or not….

Memories are all we have sometimes
to keep our sanity intact,
with learned phrases and subtle rhymes
lessening life’s vicious, vibrant impact.

Presently all seems composed and intent
in stark contrast to hollow day,
forlorn patchwork emotions of unheralded bent,
fill up night’s bower, leaving hell to pay.

Such vigorous and elevated temper
brings us rare moments to ponder,
filled with lessons all need to remember
lest base perception lose valued wonder.

Laugh loud when entropy sticks fast
leaving shameless anger in its wake.
Let bygones pass quietly into the past
reaping only what is left to take.

Final words of wise imagination
tell us living well’s the best revenge, it appears
ever eluding choirs and congregations
finally finding home, never buried in tears.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Today’s final old school pearl will be a mystery pearl. The first pearl you see is one I chose yesterday, but, didn’t have time to follow up. I will complete it now, and hope it comes out in such a way as to fulfill the promise of the most excellent opening…. Let’s see how it comes out, shall we?…..

Know then this truth (enough for man to know),

— “Virtue alone is happiness below.”

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

“Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” — Obi-Wan Kenobi in “Return of the Jedi”

“You can kill a man but you can’t kill an idea.” — Medgar Evers

“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer.” — Saddi

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

“To him that waits all things reveal themselves, provided that he has the courage not to deny, in the darkness, what he has seen in the light.” — Coventry Patmore

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it–even if I have said it–unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” — The Buddha

“The world exists for its own sake, not for ours. Swallow *that* pill!” — Edward Abbey

“Be the day never so long,

Evermore at last they ring to evensong.”

~~ John Heywood (c. 1565) — Proverbes, Part ii, Chap. vii ~~

Not bad for a mystery, eh?

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

In the time to come, the world will be without the luxury of mercy; whether we like it, or not, the whirlwind is coming. I’ve tried to give y’all as much warning as I can; the rest is up to you, as it has always been. For now, I’ll take my leave, hoping against hope we all have a chance to pull ourselves back from the edge toward which we are rushing….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, optimistic though it may be…..

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….

Full portion meals on wheels….

Posted on February 5, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR MIND:

IT IS REALITY THAT IS MALFUNCTIONING

~~ Robert Anton Wilson ~~

It is with some trepidation I sit today to begin; I’m late, I feel like shit warmed over, and I pretty much hate the world. This does not bode well for the remainder of the day, since it is now almost a full hour since I arose, an hour spent trying to piece together the shreds of my contentment, so brutally shattered by the soulless corporate interests which have enslaved 99% of the world’s population. Of that number, 99% of THEM haven’t even the remotest idea they are slaves, living their lives according to the narrow set of strictures allowed by the overlords, thinking they have some kind of freedom of choice…

The sign you see above, which I stole from my friend Lou at Tales From The Conspiratum (I don’t know where he got it…. so much for attribution, eh?), says it quite appropriately, I think. If anyone wants even the slightest chance at surviving the coming apocalyptic collapse, predicted by too many sober, official agencies to ignore, they will need to throw aside the veil through which they have chosen to view life, and look directly into the evil faces of those who would see us all die, rather than given up the riches and power they have ripped from the rest of humanity. If they do not, they will go down to extinction, sinking into their graves without a whimper of protest, or even awareness of their own lack of courage, without any of the dignity which is congruent with such virtue.

I’m in just about the shittiest mood I think I’ve ever been in. My recent struggles with those corporate ghosts, who hide behind their money and power, afraid to show their true faces to the world, have put me here, for better or worse. I, for one, refuse to submit to their slavish demands for obedience to the norms they have decreed. I will not be a number, I will not be a slave, or a faceless bovine, shuffling through the fences they have built to keep the cattle penned, allowing them to dictate to me what they believe is in my interests, a complete lie they foster to keep the natives from becoming restless. I am a free man; they can try to control me, but, the only thing they will ever have the power to do, if they can, is to kill me, for I will NOT give in to their evil intent, which contains no possible benefit for anyone but themselves….. NOT going to happen….

Now I’ve convinced everyone I have slipped off the deep end, I think we’ll go on. In my current state, I would suggest no one attempt to touch me, or address me with anything other than cautious respect. The consequences are, shall we say, hard to predict, other than to say it would NOT be a pretty sight, and, when finished, NOBODY, myself included, would be happy about what had taken place. With that cautionary disclaimer fresh in your minds, let us be on our way to the oyster beds….

Shall we Pearl?

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

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

Given the state of my mood, I think it would be good to find something to soothe a fevered brow…. Ah, this will do…. If I can’t calm down in 10 hours, it just ain’t gonna happen….

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

Celtic Music 10 hours

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

http://youtu.be/NDlPnExilKc

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

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

Today’s rant will be a pearl of a different shade…. It will probably wander all over the map, taking pot shots at the AMA, FDA, Big Pharm, Big HMO’s, pundits, dogma dogs, corporate assholes, the 1%, and anyone else whose diseased minds are engaged in preying on the rest of humanity for the sake of their avarice and sociopathy, seeking ever more power and control over everyone else…. Which ever of them comes into my sight will be included for dissection, and hopefully, conviction…. Let’s see what we’ve got going on out in the Big Blue Room, shall we?…..

http://naturalsociety.com/marijuana-backed-studies-fda-approved-pharma-drugs/

“A quick search within the PubMed National Library of Medicine database for ‘marijuana’ turns up a host of studies, highlighting every aspect imaginable regarding the plant in its many forms. Some advocacy websites have even compiled hundreds of studies in an easy-to-read format surrounding marijuana, which has led numerous journalists to ask the obvious question: “why are we spending so much time researching an illegal drug for its numerous benefits while stamping side-effect-riddled drugs with the FDA stamp of approval with far less research?”

“An analysis of 200 FDA-backed pharmaceutical drugs even found that almost 33% of approved drugs were granted the approval over a single piece of clinical study”

gigoid says: Gee, ya think?

https://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/who-is-trying-to-patent-marijuana/

gigoid says: Is anyone surprised? I’m not….

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/02/the-nsas-director-of-civil-liberties-disavows-secret-law/385150/?UTM_SOURCE=yahoo

gigoid says: Again, and it bears repeating, OF COURSE he did! Did anyone expect the chief of the biggest collection of spies in the world to tell them anything else? If so, they deserve exactly what they are getting….

Bah, humbug! I’m not in the mood, it seems, to rant, either. My anger and rage at the machine is so great today, I think it would be best to confine any further remarks to any pearls I can find to express the nature of my passion….. If I can do so, you’ll find them below…. If not, all you may find are pieces of my shattered mind, whimpering piteously as they writhe in the pain of futility…. Let’s see if I can save my sanity for at least a few more hours….. Here are nine pearls, which either comment on those who prey on their brothers and sisters, or, advise how to deal with the fact of their existence…. sort of…

“I have formed a very clear conception of patriotism. I have generally found it thrust into the foreground by some fellow who has something to hide in the background. I have seen a great deal of patriotism; and I have generally found it the last refuge of the scoundrel.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Judgment of Dr. Johnson, Act III

“Independent self-reliant people (would be) a counterproductive anachronism in the collective society of the future […] (where) people will be defined by their associations.” — John Dewey (1859-1953), educational philosopher, — proponent of modern public schools. 1896 — “The Tyranny of Government Schooling”, John Gatto, 1992

“Of course the US Constitution isn’t perfect; but it’s a lot better than what we have now.” — Eric Sheppard

“All warfare is based on deception. Therefore, when capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity. When near, make it appear that you are far away; when far away, that you are near. Offer the enemy a bait to lure him, feign disorder and strike him. When he concentrates, prepare against him; where he is strong avoid him. Anger his general and confuse him. Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance. Keep him under strain and wear him down. When he is united, divide him. Attack where he is unprepared; sally out when he does not expect you. These are the strategist’s keys to victory. It is not possible to discuss them beforehand.” — Sun Tzu, The Art Of War

“A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)

“When Thales was asked what was difficult, he said, “To know one’s self.” And what was easy, “To advise another.”” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD)
— Thales, ix

“When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), “Caesar and Cleopatra”, Act III

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

“Every man is free to rise as far as he is able or willing, but it’s only the degree to which he thinks that determines the degree to which he’ll rise.” — Smart Bee

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

Here is an older poem of mine; it isn’t about the weather, despite what the title implies….

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 ~~

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

Today’s final offering is a collection of pearls….. Well, since my mind is not sure of anything just now, I guess I won’t try to tell you what they all mean, either individually, or, as a group…. The only desirable characteristic I insisted upon was to have them all say SOMETHING useful…. Wish me luck….

“…and I get on my knees and pray we don’t get fooled again.” — Pete Townshend

“For a real long time, scholars debated whether the Earth revolves around the sun, or, if it was actually the center of the universe. I offer the question: Who really cares?” — John Young, AP Earth Science

“Never to have changed – what a pitiable thing of which to boast!” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“The only really decent thing to do behind a person’s back is pat it.” — Smart Bee

“History is a lie commonly agreed upon.” — Nietzsche

“Do not speak of what men deserve. For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead Kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of *deserving*, of *earning*, and you will begin to be able to think.” — Odo, The Prison Letters (Ursula LeGuin, _The Dispossessed_)

“The gods too are fond of a joke.” — Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Well… there you go. I don’t think I could have done better if I’d tried…. so be it.

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

Having thus discharged what I have chosen as duty, I’ll take my leave now. Today’s effort was just that; an effort. It’s done, though, so, I can get on with the rest of today, with whatever new challenges the universe has for me to deal with, to accept, or deny. Maybe I’ll go back to bed…. Either way, if I can make it that far, I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…..

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….

Pete thinks it shouldn’t do that….

Posted on February 4, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Belief is the death of intelligence.”

~~ Robert Anton Wilson ~~

London Daily Telegraph ~ Darek Siustra

I’ve come to learn, over the past three years, there will be days like this. In my world, such days tend to defy description, even for me; I seem to have no issues whatsoever with spouting off on virtually any subject, logical, realistic, or otherwise…. Of course, part of that is due simply to my nature, which is rather crusty from the outset. When one is the middle child of five, it happens. We middle kids get the brunt of the other four siblings’ attempts at manipulation, which took the form of violence, or crying, as we are the perfect target. One can’t beat up the bigger ones because, well, they’re bigger, and can’t beat up the little ones because a) it isn’t fair, and, b) Mom & Dad would paddle ME.

So, we learn our own methods of coping, often having to do with learning stealth, with a healthy dose of our own forms of manipulation. One must, after all, maintain a certain degree of dignity in life…. Naturally, this dignity lasts only as long as we are at home; the world at large tends to alter or adjust whatever attitudes we may take on during our early years, teaching an entirely different set of lessons in how to deal with what life throws in our path. SIGH…. Sometimes, I think it really WOULD be nice if there were some supernatural entity up there somewhere in the sky, taking all the responsibility for all that happens to us; it would be more comfortable than the way the universe is actually constructed; in the real world, reality couldn’t care less what we do, or what happens to us….

I guess that’s too scary for most folks, so, they latch onto whatever religion or set of beliefs that allows them to blame the universe for all the crappy stuff that happens, completely ignoring the fact of their own culpability, or to acknowledge any such concept as Karma, which presupposes we are completely responsible for both…. we bear the responsibility for what we do, and we bear equal responsibility for what happens to us. Most folks can’t accept that responsibility, so, they give up the right to think for themselves, allowing a bunch of manipulative liars to decide for them what they should believe, even though it is one of the most unbelievable stories I’ve ever heard….

Ah well…. I’ve already come far too close to ranting mode here, without intending to do so; I think I’ll show a bit of restraint, by stopping here, so we can try to get something else done before it’s too late to get anywhere worthwhile…. Of course, we have yet to ever get to any such place, but, we do try…. Maybe this time it will work…. All we can do is all we can do….

Shall we Pearl?

“And then, last but the reverse of least, there plunged in all the people who think they can solve a problem they cannot understand by abolishing everything that has contributed to it. We all know these people. If a barber has cut his customer’s throat because the girl has changed her partner for a dance or donkey-ride on Hampstead Heath, there are always people to protest against the mere institutions that led up to it. This would not have happened if barbers were abolished, or if cutlery were abolished, or if the objection felt by girls to imperfectly grown beards were abolished, or if the girls were abolished, or if heaths and open spaces were abolished, or if dancing were abolished, or if donkeys were abolished. But donkeys, I fear, will never be abolished.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Flying Inn

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

I’m in the mood for some smooth, easy listening…. here is a mix with four hours worth of that very thing…. Enjoy, ffolkes….

*4 HOURS* of Classical Music

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

http://youtu.be/n_0Qix6qf5g

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

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

“Sigh… Every day I thank my statuette of Wilma Flintstone that I was born normal.” — Zippy the pinhead

Due to circumstances completely within my control, there won’t be a fresh rant today; I’m not even going to tell you why. I will, however, supply y’all with a short discussion from the archives, just a quick indictment, and a reminder what we see happening in the world today is merely more proof of the old saying…. same shit, different day….

From 2/14/2012:

“I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she’s too young to have logged on yet. Here’s what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say ‘Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?'” — Mike Godwin

This is something all of us should be thinking about, now that the Bill of Rights, which ostensibly assures us of freedom of speech, has been nullified by another homeland insecurity authorization, approved by our beloved ruling class, including the great Hope, Obama, who stealthily signed it on New Year’s Eve, when he knew nobody was watching too closely. Effective the next day, all of our protections as citizens against being unjustly accused or held in jail without cause or review, free speech, the right to assemble to protest grievances, all of those rights are now null and void. Any American citizen can now be arrested without warrant, taken to undisclosed locations, and tortured (yes, I said tortured; if you don’t believe me go read the damn thing yourself), all because they are SUSPECTED of being in, or aiding a terrorist organization. No evidence, no proof required, merely suspicion.

In addition, the authorities who are authorized to carry out these unconstitutional actions are not required to tell anyone, and there is no judicial or any other oversight; no warrants needed for any of this, and they don’t even have to tell anyone they have done so. It’s enough to make me go out and buy a gun….and prepare to use it. I guarantee that anyone who tries to do this to me will have bitten off more than they can chew; I’m not a pacifist, and I am a free man; I will protect my own rights, thank you, and I will do that until either they give it up, or they’re dead, or I’m dead. No compromises here, folks. I have no intention of being a victim of these assholes, and I suggest to all truly free Americans that they keep their weapons handy, and their powder dry…..

“….secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you may not see, this you are forbidden to know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrarily, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything–you can’t control a free man, the most you can do is kill him.” — Robert Heinlein, Revolt in 2100, “….If this goes on….”

Note from 2015: There you go: short and sweet. Naturally, I could expand on all of that, but, I’ll be nice…. We’ll go on to our next stop…

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

Here is a poem I wrote in response to one of those school shootings we see every now and again, so the BRC and the Asininnies have a chance to try again to curb our right to own guns…. It’s much easier to work people up into a frenzy when they have incidents of insanity like those to point to; I only wish people would remember those in charge only use those incidents to manipulate the public into doing what they want them to do, which is to be afraid…. of nothing much….

Modest sounds of impatient concern….

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

If I were compelled to classify this pearl as to type, I don’t think I’d be able to do so; it defies explanation pretty thoroughly, from what I can tell… As far as I CAN tell, it’s merely observations of reality, with a slight twist toward how to cope with it, in whatever form it assumes…. Or not. Who cares? I’m done now…. No worries, ffolkes, they make excellent operational notes…. The last one is particularly cogent, I think….

“A rolling stone gathers momentum.” — Smart Bee

“Much may be known of a man’s character by what excites his laughter.” — Goethe

“When a man is wrong and won’t admit it, he always gets angry.” — Thomas Chandler Haliburton

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

“A bee is not a busier animal than a blockhead.” — Alexander Pope

What we leave behind is not as important as the way we lived.” — Smart Bee

“You only live once — but if you work it right, once is enough.” — Joe E. Lewis

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

As I said in the previous section, I’m done. More than done, actually; I blew past done & went straight into bail mode. That, of course, is why you see this ending right here, and right now, rather than later. We do try to at least pay lip service to some sort of routine, even if it’s all an illusion. Y’all should be used to that by now…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, and thanks for dropping by….

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….

I’ll take that last glazed pineal gland, please….

Posted on February 3, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education.”

~~ Stephen Covey ~~

Chacalacascape — Gregory Basco

Mr. Covey, in his opening line, makes a valiant attempt here; sadly, he comes up slightly short of creating a truism. While what he notes IS true, he apparently lacked full confidence in his convictions, causing him to hedge his bet a little in his statement. A more correct word, with much more scope and perspective, is available to use to increase the accuracy of the concept; that word, which fills the lack in his original quote, would more accurately be as follows:

“Admission of ignorance is ALWAYS the first step in our education.”

Socrates, perhaps mankind’s most revered sage, knew this quite well, making the admission of his own ignorance freely, and frequently….. Perhaps the most famous story we have demonstrating his sagacity, out of many examples of his wisdom preserved throughout history, is the story of his lesson to a potential student, wherein he pushed the lad into deep water, telling him to come back to learn, when he wanted knowledge as much as he wanted air to breathe…. Simple, yet, effective lesson, wouldn’t you say?

I’ve always thought so, since first hearing it, in elementary school, but, then, I suppose one could say I started out a bit strange, a pink monkey, don’t y’know? Ah well, I’m good with it; I never could understand wanting to be like everybody else. It always puzzled me why anyone would want to be someone else; if I was, who the hell would I be? And, why am I asking you? You probably don’t have any more idea than do I, which puts both of us up that proverbial creek, sans a paddle, wouldn’t you say? I think, given the number of question marks in this paragraph, we’d best get on with something of a different nature, or color, or, well, anything at all but more of this silliness…

Can’t think of what I was trying to do there. Oh, wait….. Okay, I know what’s happening now. It’s my subconscious again, fussing around with the routine, probably has an issue to work out. It always does this to me when it’s trying to get my attention somehow….. I guess it does make communication difficult, when the two parties involved are separated by the veil of consciousness…. Every time it wants something, it has to work out some metaphorical code, to grab my conscious mind’s attention, directing it toward whatever has been chosen as a means of getting its point across…. It even SOUNDS complicated…..

Today, though, I think we’ll just wait until after we’re done, then I’ll figure out what it wants…. For now, I think I’ve blathered uselessly for long enough. Other than the initial short discussion of the classic lesson from Socrates, we’ve managed to make our way to a legal cut-off point, without having paid the slightest attention; no bridge tolls paid, either. Of course, we didn’t cross any bridges, but, you know those stat monkeys; they want us to keep track of EVERYTHING…. Bozos, every one of ’em…

Okay, I’m done. We’ll go on to the rest of today’s effort, leaving this right here, in this lonely, deserted area, with the nearest phone two miles away at a strip mall. I hope y’all brought your survival kits; we may need them, if we can’t find our way back here to the vehicle…. Besides, it’s questionable whether we’d be able to find it anyway, as the automatic camouflage utility will cover it in a holographic image of the surrounding trees, making it virtually impossible to find, anyway. If that happens, we’ll be late getting back, for sure, as Luigi will then have to fire up the swamp buggy to come get us…. Oh well…. such is life….

Shall we Pearl?

Pearls of Virtual Wisdom, August, 2011 to February, 2015 = Slightly less than 2.5 million words (Precisely, 2,478,983, according to Open Source Software’s Word Count utility….). — gigoid, showing off his addition skills, thus, clearly demonstrating the keen appreciation of the trivial which characterizes the prototypical bozoid personality….

To a Bozo, trivial statistics are not merely food for thought; they are Meat, Potatoes, AND, a Vegetable!…. Note the number of words used to talk about one simple stat…. Now, we can spend an inordinate number of otherwise fruitful hours, trying to calculate if the number of words written, as shown above, to wit: 2,278,983, is a Prime Number! It sure looks like one…. What fun we’re going to have!

Oh, heck…. Never mind. It’s a complicated calculation, which I’m not prepared to pursue just now. I guess we can just go on to the rest of today’s post, which, if the intro section is any indication, could prove to be an experience none of us have experienced in our lives…. I’m a little nervous, but, let’s go on, shall we?…..

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

Each year, the Grateful Dead web site organizes what they call the Dead Covers Project. Fans are encouraged to make a video wherein they play and/or sing a version of one of the Dead’s songs. They then upload the videos to a You Tube page dedicated to the “covers”, so all the fans can enjoy them, with prizes awarded to those voted the best by the viewers…. It’s a great way to get new music from America’s most dedicated fans, by some very good musical artists…. The link below will take you to the page where one of the fans has compiled 114 of the videos from 2014, for your listening and viewing pleasure…. and mine…. Enjoy, ffolkes, there’s some good shit here…..

Dead Covers Project 2014

***********

http://youtu.be/gGZUSrj3dko?list=PLAxT_DkSwQLsxDqEgOm-dAigF13pEy2n8

***********

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

“The rights you have are the rights given you by this Committee [the House Un-American Activities Committee]. We will determine what rights you have and what rights you have not got.” — J. Parnell Thomas

Hmm…. I’m not entirely certain of exactly when this statement went into the Congressional Record; the HU-AAC operated in the early 1950’s, during the era of McCarthyism, that black period of US history when the number of insane Senators elected to seats in Congress approached numbers paralleled only by the numbers we see today, when the world, and this country, have been inundated in the effects of long-term insanity, now being displayed so prominently in legislative and governmental facilities all over the world. But, I do know the statement fits in perfectly with the obvious sense of entitlement the current crop of pundits displays toward the public…

The infestation of vermin in Washington D. C. has reached epidemic level; soon the only solution will be to fumigate the whole town, moving the government to Topeka, or somewhere, until the smell is gone. Then we can send everybody left back to their jobs, minus the most egregiously stupid that were eliminated in the pogrom…. It shouldn’t take more than a week or two to treat the infestation; we’ve got some pretty good pest control chemicals available to us these days…. I’ve seen some even cockroaches don’t like….

Almost any the current products on the market should take care of a hundred Senators, a pack of Representatives, and a building or two filled with bureaucrats such as the Supreme Court and the President, etc…. They’re nastier looking than cockroaches, & definitely make a bigger mess, but, generally, they’re not as tough, or efficient at resisting chemical attacks…. Well, those obese pigs who walk around with basketballs under their suits, who eat a lot at McDonald’s, might be more poison-resistant than a cockroach, due to their diet, but, a bit of old-fashioned strychnine should deal with them just fine….

Hmm…. I detect some vitriol and resentment in my tone; I wonder where that came from? No telling, really; the number of different ways these assholes annoy me every day is something I gave up trying to count, or keep track of, long ago. It happens so often, I’ll make myself crazier than I already am if I keep counting them, & reacting every time. They fuck someone over so often, it gets hard to fit any more resentment in my craw, every time I hear of their latest act of infamy. They’re like the frigging Energizer bunny; when it comes to dirty tricks, lies, theft, massive stupidity, and greed, they just keep going, and going, and going…. You’d think they’d at least take a break to change batteries once in a while, but, it never seems as if the shit stops flowing, ever….

Have you heard the latest BS they’re lying to the public about? Check out the picture below, noting the highlighted text….

Yep. That’s right. The words you read are not an illusion. They are printed on the drug information sheet included in the box with each vial of vaccine, as required by law…. Of course, the big pharmacy and HMO corporations aren’t allowing patients receiving the vaccine to SEE this, or to read it before receiving the shot; in fact, they will mostly refuse to show it at all, disposing of them before allowing the vaccine near a patient. The copy you see was stolen by an activist…. And, yes, it DOES say exactly what it means…. NO clinical trials performed, IF any actually occurred, showed ANY effectiveness AT ALL in preventing the disease. NONE. ZERO. ZILCH. In short, it’s useless, and probably dangerous….

This means, of course there are millions and millions of Americans receiving vaccinations, which contain trace amounts of mercury, and other harmful substances not commonly known to the public, that do not serve any purpose at all…. Or, at least, no purpose that bodes well for the public. They are deliberately selling this lie for unknown purposes, that obviously have nothing to do with any sort of benefit to those being vaccinated. Who KNOWS what crap they’re injecting along with the vaccines?

They’re not telling us much, that’s for sure; their silence on this issue indicates to me there is a lot more they’re not telling the public…. That, ffolkes, is simple logic…. Paranoia is justified when it becomes clear one is being persecuted and oppressed; the need for change then becomes clear, as does the need for clarity of mind, which will create in us a real thirst for justice.

I’ve made a tactical error in this rant…. I began with a good premise, & ran with it a good long way; the direction took a bit of a side-trip into a related subject, then turned again; now, I’m not sure how to connect it all back together. I think I’ll just bail for today, & let an old-school do the work to bring it to a close…. Here s a group that comments on, well, stuff…. you’ll see… It’s all related, if a bit tenuously in spots…

“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

“RIP: The U.S. Constitution–one amendment at a time.” — Smart Bee

“Food will be scarce; you will have to scavenge. Learn to recognize foods that will be available after the bomb: mashed potatoes, shredded wheat, tossed salad, ground beef, etc.” — Safety Tips for the Post-Nuclear Existence

“We need excellence in public education and if the teachers can’t do it, we’ll send in a couple of policemen.” — Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia Bulletin, Oct 19, 1973

“They are cold-blooded. They are completely ruthless about protecting what they have. The only thing they connect to is the money aspect of life. Let’s face it: That’s the American way.” — Jeffery M. Johnson, regional chairman of the District of Columbia United Way, speaking of drug dealers.

“Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sure sign he expects to be paid for it.” — H. L. Mencken

“I’ve been vaccinated against rabies. *snarl*” — Random flu vaccination recipient

“Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, ‘legal’ drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0. Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?” — William A. Turnbow

“A guilty conscience never feels secure.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 617

Well…. If we consider the last pearl to be true, there are a great many uncomfortable people in our nation’s capital…. Evidence of it’s truth can be found in one simple fact of note: it is still being used in everyday conversation, still considered as wisdom, more than 2000 years after Citizen Syrus made the original observation….

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

I’ve shared poems from this young lady previously; in my opinion, humble or not, she will someday be considered one of the world’s greatest. Perhaps it is the powerful obscurity of her metaphor, highlighted by the stark realism of the images she creates, often violently graphic, yet never offensive, that attracts me; I do love my metaphorse.

It could also be just the way it feels to read her work, as if she is speaking a deeper truth, from a connection to the universe she alone feels so strongly, in a language that is just on the edge of comprehension, though completely unknown…. Though you may not understand exactly what she is saying, you will know how it feels to see what she sees…. Read this, then follow the link, which will take you to her web site; besides this poem, you can find links to much of her past work, including her book, recently published…. Pay attention, ffolkes, THIS is genius at work/play….

Pecan

Of all the parts I could choose of you, I need only two;
The round, full seed inside and
the strong bulge that protects you.
I know your shell, hard as a pecan, hanging on ripe roots underground,
sipping on the end of the season.
You rip fingerprints from the
skin of the persistent, leaving your mark for the rest of winter.
I am careless, like you. A vulture
hovering overhead. Unease grows soft inside you; brown fruit meant for the ambitious.
I wait for destruction, for decay, for the cycle to recycle, again and again.
But during the wave of high desert winds, in the middle of
God and all of his plans,
I perch on a branch where your life begins and pray for your pain to dissolve with the land.

~~ Maggie Mae ~~

https://maggiemaeijustsaythis.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/pecan-2/#comment-47186

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

Life at Large. We all spend time here on Earth, born to a life of physical and spiritual challenges, all of which are made more complex by the intricate patterns of atoms and molecules which, when touched by the spark of life, speak in DNA, the code of effectively infinite variety which determines the configuration of the life for which it forms the pattern. We humans are ONE of the more complex forms on this planet, rivaled, perhaps, only by the dolphins and whales, whose DNA is, in some ways, related to our own; the dolphins, it is clear, have the most complex brains of all the creatures here on Earth.

This is shown clearly in research, and by simple observation and deduction…. For example, I observe that dolphins pay no taxes, nor do they suffer the pains of commuting to work through a fog of air cluttered with particulate matter; that seems pretty intelligent to me. I also deduce their advanced intelligence, from the simple fact they can learn our languages easily (so far, any of them we’ve attempted to teach them, they can learn….); we have only learned a small part of their language, not even enough to know yet if they possess & use more than one…. Their brains, when compared to ours, are larger on average, in sheer size, and in relation to body size.

So, since I can’t tell you how dolphins talk, or share with you any of the wisdom their greater intelligence must have given them, I’ll have to settle for some of humanity’s finest pieces of advice, to those who wish to lead a life filled with dignity, purpose, and peace…. Well, we try, anyway. A lot of ffolkes in history seem to have worked out some pretty good stuff to help us learn to cope with life; it isn’t their fault if not enough people have paid enough attention to them…. Below you find a nine-star pearl full of that wisdom; Smart Bee and I both think these are some of the finest lessons of all we’ve learned….

“If you don’t know, say so.”

~~ Mom’s Hint #012 ~~

“The wailing of the newborn infant is mingled with the dirge for the dead.” — Lucretius

“…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_, 1990, p. 305.

“Honor is the reward of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

“Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.” — Plutarch

“I like that moment central to danger… when you become so thoroughly concerned with acting deftly, in order to be safe, that only reaction is possible, not analysis. You shed the centuries, and feel creatural. Of course you do have to scan, assess, and make constant minute decisions. But there is nothing like thinking in the usual methodical way. What takes place is more akin to informed instinct. For a compulsively pensive person, to be fully alert but free of thought is a form of ecstasy.” — Diane Ackerman

“Anyone who imagines that all fruits ripen at the same time as the strawberries, knows nothing about grapes.” — Philippus Paracelsus

“Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”‘

“What a man has, so much he is sure of.” — Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) — Don Quixote, Part ii, Book iv, Chap. xliii

“Don’t take life too serious. It ain’t no ways permanent.”

~~ Pogo, by Walt Kelly ~~

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

Well, it’s done. Again. What a let down…. No, not a let down, a bummer. No, wait. That’s not right, either. Oh, hell, I don’t know, and, what’s more, don’t care any longer, simply because we ARE done. Go figure…. Gosh, ffolkes, I have no idea what happened here, but, it does LOOK done, so, I’m going to trust my instincts, such as they are, and let if fly without even going over it for typos…. Today, in that respect, y’all are on your own. I think I’m going to go look for my mind, which seems to have taken a powder….. I’ll let y’all know tomorrow where I had to haul it home from…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

View Full Profile →

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

gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Smart Bee

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: