Ffolkes,
~~ Philip K. Dick ~~
Hajime…. In my opinion, the above definition of Reality is the best ever uttered, by anyone, anytime. But, then, Philip K. Dick spent much of his life in an epic battle with Reality, as his own mind tended to go into some strange landscapes, not all of which seemed under his complete control. His work, some fifty-plus novels, run the gamut from terrible to insanely brilliant, and all are good stories. If you stop to think hard about his words, you will see for yourself how accurately he nailed the concept.
Now, dammit, I’m stuck. The first paragraph is too deeply philosophical, if short, to continue pursuing in the intro. Hell, I probably already lost half the first group of Gentle Readers, even if I realized what was up, and faded at the end. I hate to go back & start over; it’s not THAT bad. Oh, wait…. I know. I’ll do this. Watch.
Cool, eh? What? Well, damn; it didn’t work. Oh, well, it was worth a shot, and, no, I’m not going to tell you what it was, because it wasn’t. Much as we like to tease Reality around here, we don’t fuck with the bottom line like that. We will, however, go off on some other tangent, since that one never took place. I hate when THAT happens, too… Don’t you? Oh. Never mind.
Where am I? I won’t say, where was I, because, as you have already observed, I haven’t been anywhere but right here, messing about inside my own head (and getting pretty lost, too….). Fortunately, we’re not on a deadline, not with a Tardis in the garage. But, I suppose we should probably get on with the slow, before it falls apart before we even start. (It may already be too late; that happens….) Why don’t we all grab our beverages, take our seats, and I’ll have Guido (Luigi’s alternate) take us out to the oyster beds…. You might enjoy this; Guido’s a real professional…. It says so right on his resumé….
Shall we Pearl?….
“Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 412
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I found today’s musical selection while searching out the selections from the two days prior this one. I’m also taking a risk, as I have yet to listen to this; it will be as new to me as to you. I do remember when Jerry was playing with ‘and Friends’, and, with Doug and Leon sitting in, I believe it shows good promise as something special. Enjoy!….
Doug Sahm, Leon Russell, Jerry Garcia and Friends – Thanksgiving Jam – 11/23/72
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“I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: ‘The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.’ In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.” — Bertrand Russell, Education and the Social Order
Boy howdy, I sure wish it wasn’t almost 1 AM, and, I was at least minimally coherent. Hell, I’d take semi-conscious, at this point. If I were any of those, I might be able to put together a pretty decent rant, given the most excellent starting point offered up by Mr. Russell, using is as a springboard to take some rather nasty shots at the Asininnies. However, all of the above is true, or, all of it is not true; in either case, I’m not very coherent, if that hasn’t been made obvious to this point.
In these situations, y’all know what to expect, I’d guess. Yep. Another rant from the archives, this time from a little over two years ago, when Pearls were constructed differently than now…. What is below was one of three sections, the one which eventually evolved into the ranting section you see today…. Well, when you do see it. For today, this will have to do. I’ll let y’all know when, or, if, I ever get to sleep again…. Enjoy!….
From 3/11/2013:
“The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinesses, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked “Am I my brother’s son?” God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Issac, stole his brother’s birthmark. Jacob was a partiarch who brought up his twelve sons to be partiarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.” — Richard Lederer, The world According to Student Bloopers
I would say, given what I know about people in general, this litany of errors on the part of students represents one of mankind’s best efforts at getting to the core of the issues in their religious philosophies…. NOT….. As is obvious, that was merely my attempt at a poor joke, an unnecessary one, as it turns out, as people tend to be a lot funnier, in reality, than I can ever make them in my imagination…. You see, this short paragraph, to me, makes as much sense as the story that the churches themselves are trying to get me to believe…. In some ways, it makes MORE sense than the official version, especially the last line…. But, I digress….
” It makes no difference who you vote for–the two parties are really one party representing 4 percent of the people.” — Gore Vidal
How’s that for a 180 degree turn? From religion bashing to the irony of political truth, in one swell foop…. Since that same four percent of people represented by the politicians includes the folks who engage in religion at the top levels (NOT the constituency; the politicians regard them as both tucker, and fodder….), I figure that it might be fun to lump them all together for a change…. I usually try to keep them separate while taking my shots, but, they do tend to work together, so I thought it wouldn’t be inappropriate to have them share some of the wealth I’m spreading around….
“If God were female, do you REALLY think men would exist?” — Smart Bee
Well, actually, I do, because, well, logically, she’d HAVE to? What point would there be in being female, without a male to torment? Of course, many, if not all, of the other issues we have today to occupy our time would not have ever become issues, as a female god wouldn’t have allowed that kind of shit in her house….. To me, this only goes to show that God, should such an entity exist, is probably neither male, nor female; just as likely, it is both at once, as the rest of the universe tends to be arranged in a duality of natural form and function, and it only makes sense that the creating entity would reflect that duality….
“If a lie is repeated often enough all the dumb jackasses in the world not only get to believe it, they even swear by it.” — B.B. Franklin
Now, here is a piece of insight into human nature that most will admit is all too true for comfort. It is an old piece of knowledge, and well known to both the proponents of the God-theory, and by the Beloved Ruling Class, those lovingly solicitous self-appointed leaders of society…. Both groups are well versed in the use of lying to suit their own purposes, and know full well that the average person, upon hearing something told to them by either a member of the clergy, or a talking head on TV, one wearing a suit, and standing in front of a flag, will blindly accept what they are told, without ever examining it for veracity, or even asking themselves why they are being told at all…. They just say, “Duh, okay boss,” and go about what they believe to be their own life, ignorant of how little of it is actually under their own control….
“For me, all I can do is spit in the eye of my fears by living each day with as much passion and commitment as possible to what truly counts, such as love and justice. To give the into the fear and hopelessness would be to declare defeat, something I am not ready to do while there is still the will to struggle. — Lawrence Paradis
Here is the answer, the one that, sadly, 95% of humanity will never even hear; if they did hear it, they probably wouldn’t recognize it as their salvation, anyway. I know, that’s a bit harsh in judgment of my fellow man, but, in my thus far relatively long life, I’ve yet to see very many of them who have the wit to wipe their own drool, much less understand how they are responsible for their own misery and pain, by allowing unscrupulous con men to control them at every turn.
But, as the pearl says, I’m not ready to quit seeking love and justice, by trying to get folks, and ffolkes, to see how the people they believe are ethical, have been lying and cheating and controlling them their whole life, and not for the benefit of anyone but themselves. So far, I’ve only managed to preach to the choir, but, eventually, my message will get passed around to a wider audience…. We’ll see then how the truth fares against the lies they spread so thickly…..
“It’s easier said than done. … and if you don’t believe it, try proving that it’s easier done than said, and you’ll see that it’s easier said that `it’s easier done than said’ than it is done, which really proves that it’s easier said than done.” — Smart Bee
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Sometimes, I really hate software…. I wrote a poem last night, but, apparently, when I closed the program in which I wrote it, it didn’t save it, and I had not already copied it into the Poetry folder…. So, it’s gone. I’m so pissed; it wasn’t bad, I thought. For now, this one will have to do….
A poem came to me today, willy, nilly,
along with a sharp blow to the head.
Since it left me feeling just a bit silly,
anything that rhymes should lessen the dread.
Manifesting destiny into a small, insidious group
we push on toward sanity, concentrating hard.
Full engaging moments spent navigating the loop
shall ever make a difference to victims found in the yard.
Still corpses of creatures, straight out of nightmare
fill up the corners of our tortured minds.
While ever saddened, the iconic male, most debonair,
gazes softly, ironically, at all the mutual interest he finds.
Moronic public statutes compel outbreaks of sanity,
responding to momentary impulses toward inducing peace.
Still, the motions get completed, in fertile stages of inanity
while the bulk of our inmates can find no surcease.
Reluctant motivation to continue is unbound,
striving to ascertain how far there yet remains to go.
No precognitive guesswork will make any less of a sound
to soften the final strains, or teach us to truly know.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 2/7/2014
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This is an odd little pearl, the introduction to which was also lost to the aforementioned software failure. S’okay, this one doesn’t require a lot of introduction, anyway. It’ll speak for itself, so to speak….. Enjoy!….
Death is pain,
Beauty is pain.
~~ The Final Conflict ~~
“Tell the truth, and so puzzle and confound your adversaries.” — Sir Henry Wotton
“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” — C. G. Jung
“Clay is moulded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing….Thus, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.” — Lao Tze
“The truth is, laughter always sounds more perfect than weeping. Laughter flows in a violent riff and is effortlessly melodic. Weeping is often fought, choked, half strangled, or surrendered to with humiliation.” — Anne Rice, Taltos
“Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself, for he shall never cease to be entertained.” — John Powell
“How did the great rivers and seas gain dominion over the hundred lesser streams? By being lower than they.” — Lao Tzu
“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer.” — Saddi
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sun rise.
~~ William Blake ~~
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There are days this process is much more work than others; today, that was certainly so. But, it’s done, so, we’ll take it and run. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, sleep, or no sleep. If it’s anything like the last five days, that’s a negatory, big buddy…. That’s negatory on the the sleep; I’ll be back, regardless….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid, the dubious
The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 