Revolutionary changes are imperative, it seems….

Posted on May 29, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I don’t know about y’all, but, I’m starting to bore myself, a bit…. It’s hard to do, as we all tend to NOT get bored according to our own choices, but, I’ve gone beyond the normal, past the strange, into the overbearing…. and, apparently, my readership has noticed, as well. Site traffic at ECR has fallen off again, and this time, I think I know why…. I’m probably making myself crazy even paying attention to the site stats, but, in all honesty, my ranting has gotten old, to me, and, no doubt, to those familiar with my writing….

I write a lot, I know, so I always take that into account; a lot of people don’t read fast, and can be intimidated, I’m sure, by the sheer amount of what I’ve created each day…. I average about 2200-2500 words a day, and I know it can be a lot to take in, since not all of it is what can be called easily digested (I hope…). I had hoped that the content, and the relative importance of that content to each and every person alive, would draw folks, and ffolkes, in to read, but, I suppose, after a while, even the most compelling stuff gets old….

That, I think, is where I’m at…. at least, to some degree, enough so to affect my readership, and enough so I am no longer sure it’s what I should be doing here…. Of course, since this is a relatively new idea around here, I also have nothing in the way of replacement material, should I decide to forgo all ranting, or at minimum, avoid such depressing subject matter for a time, to give it a rest, so to speak….

It’s hard to decide, when it’s all so new to me…. Like many ffolkes my age, I am not dealing as well with CHANGE as I formerly did; it tends to make me grumpy….. Or, maybe it’s that I no longer want to put up with changes that I didn’t personally authorize or initiate…. It plays into it, I’m sure… I AM human, after all, so my own likes, dislikes, and preferences are going to play into whatever I decide to do…. Hell, being human, those are the PRIMARY reasons for almost ALL that I do…. as it is for all of us bald monkeys….

I know what I WANT to do…. which is probably a good thing. What I’d like to do is to alter the format some, to include images, and possibly videos; either one of those would enhance the experience here at ECR quite a bit, as well as make it more palatable for those readers who don’t read as fast, depending (as most modern folks do….) on shorter, more intense bursts of less information, more colorfully arranged….

In essence, what I’m saying here is this: I think I need to put my message into a format that is more acceptable for consumption by today’s readers…. The old fashioned, reasoned, logical, even philosophical approach to passing information is just that…. old fashioned…. Modern readers like their information in smaller bytes, so to speak, with more pictures and less text to read….

I suppose what I need to acknowledge is that the modern politicians, with their Twitter feeds, and Facebook presence, are getting the message out better than I can do with my ranting, because they are framing their words in pictures, (InstaGram, or Pinterest work for them….), or creating modern memes that draw attention for a short time, but manage to pass on the necessary information…..

Information is becoming three dimensional; soon our phone calls will include holographic images of the person to whom you are talking, just as if you were in the same room. Anyone who wishes to pass information to the public is going to need to learn how to frame their message in ways that will draw attention, and hold it long enough to inject the information into the person being addressed…. My method of ranting will have audiences limited to those who prefer the old fashioned ways, or who like their information in bigger bytes…. er, bites….

Any who, I will be thinking about this…. I will also be going out into the world, with my camera, to start recording pieces of Consensual Reality to use here, to frame the message I need to put out to people, using fewer words, and more pictures…. I want to use my own pix, for two reasons…

One, I LIKE to take pictures… and two, if I use my own pix, I don’t need to worry about attribution, which will make it much easier…. It can sometimes be hard to remember who is responsible for a picture I’ve found, and saved, as the attribution isn’t always present; I’ll stick to my own, mostly, and avoid the worst of that issue….

For today, let’s see what kind of trouble I can create, by keeping in mind the need for more art, and fewer words…. though, if this intro is any indication, it’s going to be tough as hell to stop writing so much…. I just got good at this rambling, blathering style, and can go on like this almost forever… which, as I say, wouldn’t be good for the blog…. So, instead, we’ll employ emergency method #4 again…. Hang on tight for a moment….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xii

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

“The Constitution of the United States guarantees every individual the right to make a damn fool of himself — in public or private, however he chooses.” — Solomon Short

This pearl will be the first of its kind…. Below you will see pictures ( provided I have done this correctly….), all taken with my own camera, during various trips to here and there…. After each there will be a (hopefully) short comment on some facet of life suggested by the photo…. That will, in turn, be followed by a pearl, that will hopefully speak to the picture and comment…. In short, these will be Visual Pearls of Virtual Wisdom, designed to expand, and augment the process of Pearling to a point where it’s more fun than the previous versions….

That’s the plan, anyway…. Let’s see how it comes out, shall we?….
First, imagine yourself standing on one of the ice floes you see in the foreground…., or, better yet, you’re swimming in that frigid water…. Feel the cold that surrounds you, making your breath almost freeze as it leaves your body, forming a thick cloud of icy vapor in front of you with each tortured breath….. Now, imagine standing on the glacier you see further down the stream, literally freezing your butt off….. Now, once you’ve come to understand the true nature of cold, you will realize why I call this picture, “The Corporate Heart”…..

“He knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.” — Old Testament — Proverbs ix, 18
This one needs no introduction; it’s self-explanatory…. Suffice it to say, my father taught me ALL of these, and I still try to live my life by these rules…. If the rest of the men in the world would use only HALF of these, that world would be an entirely different kind of place, one with some degree of rationality, and consequently, some degree of peace…. If you don’t think so, just try using these rules as a standard by which to judge those you see in a political office, and see how many of them they break, on a regular, daily basis…. it will shock many people….

“I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.” — G.K. Chesterton
Irish morning? Or, Scottish evening? It could be either one, and is a good illustration of how perception can be uncertain, if one doesn’t know all the pertinent information regarding those perceptions…. But, we get a new one, every day, to keep on trying to get it right…..

“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” — Horace
Time passes, and none may stop its progress…. and, Life treats us all the same…. badly. It is how we react to that abuse that determines the course of our lives, so, learn to enjoy what you see, and be honest and true in what you do…. I guarantee, it makes it all better than if you don’t do either of those simple tasks….

“Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day.” — the 14th Dalai Lama, interview in “TIME”, 11 April 1988
I’ve spoken previously of my feelings about Duty…. This picture, to me, defines that concept…. and I’m not really sure why…. I guess it’s because he is out there, all alone, dressed up in a silly costume, playing the pipes, which will only increase his solitude…. yet, he plays on, to complete the duty he has chosen to assume…. That’s the way it works, ffolkes, and any other way of looking at it is incorrect….. Dig it….

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

Well, there you have it, ffolkes, the first of its kind….. I hope you enjoyed it…. I certainly enjoyed putting it together, and I don’t feel all ragged out from ranting, so, that’s good, too…. See you down the page….

“We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.” — Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592)

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

I need some Emily….

I had no time to hate, because

I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.

Nor had I time to love, but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought,
Was large enough for me.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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

Since I created a new-style pearl above, and to avoid a rant here, I’ll go with the archived pearl I had already picked out for this morning’s effort…. Enjoy….

From 1/14/2014:

The following old-school variety will be a unique pearl, put together using a method of timing and selection heretofore untried…. I’m not even sure of my ability to describe exactly what parameters I’ll be setting, as the search for these connected aphorisms has taken place on three separate occasions, none of which were related in any elemental way…. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I have no idea how this will turn out, but, usually, when we try new techniques like this, it seems to work out pretty well, so, I’m confident this will do the same…. Enjoy!..

“The doctrine that the earth is neither the center of the universe nor immovable, but moves even with a daily rotation, is absurd, and both philosophically and theologically false, and at the least an error of faith.” — Roman Congregation decision against Galileo

“To command the professors of astronomy to confute their own observations is to enjoin an impossibility, for it is to command them not to see what they do see, and not to understand what they do understand, and to find what they do not discover.”– Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

“Kids, the seven basic food groups are GUM, PUFF PASTRY, PIZZA, PESTICIDES, ANTIBIOTICS, NUTRA-SWEET and MILK DUDS!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Okay! That, I think, will give you a clearer idea of where we are headed with this, so, make sure you’re safety harnesses are fully fastened, and you are hanging on for dear life to the soft, fluffy stuffed animals provided by your friendly flight attendants…. Hang on, ffolkes, these last four could get rambunctious….

“All riches come from iniquity, and unless one has lost, another cannot gain. Hence that common opinion seems to be very true, “the rich man is unjust, or the heir to an unjust one.” Opulence is always the result of theft, if not committed by the actual possessor, than by his predecessor.” — St. Jerome (340?-420)

“Heroes as great have died, and yet shall fall.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Iliad of Homer, Book xv, Line 157

“The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children’s games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. And one of the games which it is most attached is called, “Keep tomorrow dark,” and which is also named (by the rustics in Shropshire, I have no doubt) “Cheat the Prophet.” The players listen very carefully and respectfully to all that the clever men have to say about what is to happen in the next generation. The players then wait until all the clever men are dead, and bury them nicely. Then they go and do something else. That is all. For a race of simple tastes, however, it is great fun.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

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

I rest my case…..

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

Considering the relative newness of today’s process, it didn’t go too badly…. Now I get to see how it posts…. and, I’d best get to it…. See you, tomorrow, ffolkes, if I last that long…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

PUT THAT DOWN!…. Sir, please, step away from the clown….

Posted on May 26, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

For the opening of yesterday’s Pearl, I used the old reality technique, where I just spoke of what was actually happening at the moment… sort of like this…. This technique, of course, is one I use when I have no urge to purge, or to write anything new and fresh, beyond what is floating around at the forefront of my mind, most of which is not generally very creative, as it mostly deals with recent entries into RAM, not leaks from the part of me that does that sort of thing…. I know, this is getting to be a bit confusing, trying to pinpoint various pieces of my mind long enough to explain them, a futile task in a mind which is fractured already…. Maybe we should alter our direction…

How’s this? We’ll try a fictional opening…

The strangest thing about Mervin’s testicle didn’t come out at the trial, though it had everything to do with why he broke into the clinic. It seems he didn’t even tell his lawyer the underlying reason he was there, caught red-handed by the local constabulary as he was attempting a self-administered castration…. I TOLD him to let the doctors do it, but, since he found out about his Mum and Dad, he’s been a bit sticky between the ears, y’know? Too bad about his sister, too…. They tell me she will probably recover, but, none of the soccer team will be allowed back into the country without first being sterilized….. Of course, they all have to complete the course of the transgender drug regime, but, they’ll get over that….

Okay, I’m bored with Mervin and his sister…. Plus, I think I was almost at a point where it would have required some rather violent, or at least heated, contortions to bring it back near reality, close enough to at least resemble some sort of issue, and I hate that sort of last-minute editing…. No doubt, it could have been a bit more logical, or at least had SOME connection to something someone might want to read…. But, it did get me this far down the page, without having to actually think about much, just throwing words together, as one does with vegetables in a salad…. That must be where the docs got that phrase “word salad”, to describe one of the symptoms of schizophrenia, undifferentiated type…..

Having thus walked up to the edge of insanity, but refrained from jumping off the edge, we will take what we’ve got, with a thankful nod of appreciation, and get on with the rest of this Pearl, such as it may be….. I don’t think it would be a good idea to try to keep this going much longer…. Between the growing numbness and pain in my fingers, wrist, and joints at large, and my foggy brain, it’s becoming a bit of an ordeal…. Who knew, that to be a blogger, one must needs cultivate the same sort of stamina, and ability to ignore pain, that is required on the football field, or the martial arts studio mats?….

But, since I AM being tough, carrying on in spite of the obstacles my body throws up in front of itself, we’ll make a hasty exit from this intro, which is now threatening to get completely out of hand…. In fact, it’s now become prudent for me to exercise emergency technique #4 again, just to get us out of this mess…. Hang on….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If you want to know all about the sea, you go and ask a sailor, or a marine biologist, or an oceanographer, and they can tell you a lot about the sea. But if you go and ask the sea itself, what does it say? Grumble, grumble, swish swish. It is too busy being itself to know anything about itself.” — Ursula K. Le Guin

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

On most days, this section would contain a rant, or, at minimum, links to an article or two that would stimulate a rant…. But, yesterday’s outburst of fun got to me, and I don’t feel much like ranting this morning…. Hell, it’s all I can do to feel curmudgeonly today; I seem to have stumbled into some sort of alternate universe, where I feel GOOD in the mornings, rather than awakening to a screaming nervous system, that wants only to consume massive quantities of strong drugs until achieving oblivion, or, at least, a euphoric distance from the elements of pain that are inflamed….. I gotta say, it sure is NICE to feel relatively okay….

I also have to say, NICE is a pretty weak word for what it feels like, but, my vocabulary fails me just now…. But, that’s okay, because the way I feel means we’re going old-school here today, and the hell with angst, or anger, or any of the BRC or Corporate Snakes…. I am stuck in the “gotta have fun” mode, and I’m enjoying it. so everyone will just have to deal…. Here, then, are a number of pearls to start the day with a smile….

“If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?” — Will Rogers (1879-1935)

“186,282 miles per second: It isn’t just a good idea, it’s the law.” — Smart Bee

“It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.” — Thomas Jefferson

“A bird in the hand makes blowing your nose difficult.” — Solomon Short

“Bad cop. No donut! Bad cop. No donut!” — Portland Protest Chant

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

“You may be capable of great things, But life consists of small things.” — Deng Ming-Dao

There are times when Smart Bee gets too smart for its own good…. I KNOW there is a message in this pearl; I cannot for the life of me figure out what the hell it is…. If y’all have any ideas, let me know, okay? Otherwise, I’ll just mark it down in the “too obscure for common usage, but fun” column…. For now, we’ll go on, just as if it had been normal…

Wait, what was I thinking? Normal? Never mind…. we’ll just go on, without comment…

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

This poem was written in 2012, in response to another shooting at a school, I believe; it just flowed out a day afterward, after I’d been thinking about the issue for a while, and seems to me to be a pretty coherent reaction to such an event, even if it is written entirely in metaphor…. I hope you enjoy it, it’s one of my favorites of mine, and, I believe, one of my best….

After the odyssey….

Portraits of iconic symbols, crashing, singing, forgotten;
evolving into mature innovation, as yet pale, and rotten.
Still water justly breeds, impenetrable primal verses resound;
unholy moments tarry, emotion swirls in passion unbound

Spiritual ovulation precedes each pregnant pause;
gravid, time moves on, following destiny’s cause.
Cast adrift on waves of confusion, to a final, damp landing;
salvation beckons sweetly, fed well on understanding.

Dreams directly fall, in night’s grey bower, unbidden;
lingering flavors in simple taste, lovingly, cleverly hidden.
Childish laughter sounds, joyful, bright, and clear;
no need ever to hide, no more monsters to fear.

Temper most foul arrives under unregistered mail;
forgotten taunts live on, lashed by an ancient flail.
Plain dealing delivers such lasting specks of honest hate;
savage in retrospect, never hasty, always running late.

Forever, cries an ambient lover of the pending night;
his pale, weak issue forms its own failing light.
Still, fortune favors such as those who apprehend;
Sweet love of Gaia, let it never end.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Since I decided not to rant today, I’m going into the archives again…. This one is just a clarifying statement, to try to help ffolkes understand my take on religions in general… Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I’m trying to help folks understand; I believe that major proportion of ffolkes mostly already do, as they’ve been here before, and seem to keep coming back. Hell, you might even call them the choir, without being untruthful, as I end up preaching to them a lot…

Any who, this may explain at least SOME of why the major organized religious organizations frequently come under my scrutiny, as the recipient of my ire…..

From December of 2011…

“That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)
_____________________________

Ffolkes,

Just so it’s clear…..I’m not an atheist, per se, at least, not in the classical sense of the word. I do hold beliefs regarding the subject of divinity and spirituality, but they bear no great resemblance to those espoused by any organized faith, and I don’t discuss them with anyone. It just causes arguments. I am not a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Unitarian, or a Buddhist, or any other of the virtually countless ‘isms’ people have come up with to try to understand those parts of the universe they do not comprehend.

I’ve read the holy books of most of the major faiths; Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, the Bibles of several different Christian sects , the Tao Teh Ching, the I Ching, and any other related material I could find. Not that I made a complete heavy study of each, but I learned enough to be able to draw comparisons, and judge the validity of each (which I admit, is purely subjective. But then, isn’t any religious belief purely subjective? Why yes, I do believe it is…..).

It occurred to me, just now, that, maybe, for all these centuries we (that’s the human “we”…. meaning all of us as a group….) have sought to explain what we do not understand, we have been looking at things from the wrong perspective, at least in terms of intelligence, with its defined value being such that man considers himself greater than “lower” forms of life. The attitude that we are the pinnacle of creation is a given in almost every approach taken by philosophers and scientists in any explanation of why things are as they are.

Since we have not the ability to create worlds (yet), or stars (yet), or universes (yet?), we attribute the state of things as we know them to creatures of vast wisdom and power, as “far above us as we are above bacteria or amoeba.” How often have you heard the last part? Isn’t that part of any definition of a god, or even God, by whatever name one calls him/her/them/it?

But what if the amoeba IS God? Amoeba are the most ancient form of life we know of, utilizing the simplest means of reproduction available (as far as WE know anyway…), and are an essential step in the formation of other life. Perhaps the entire bacterial level is God’s nervous system, and the amoeba are the thoughts of God. And as other forms of life evolved, maybe each entered another part of the symbiotic whole that is life, non-life, energy, matter, and non-matter, all of which must be present in order for our universe to manifest itself.

All of which makes our viewpoint completely backwards; we are the bottom of creation, not the top. Every other part of the universe, and almost every animal and creature on our planet we know of, except ourselves and our vaunted intelligence, are functioning, and functioning well, according to their place in Nature because they have no need to do anything else. Our intelligence is generally accepted to be that which makes us ‘better’ than the rest of creation, a convenient word to describe something that may not have been created at all, but might just happen to be the way it is, because it wants to be….. At least, most of it does…. So far we haven’t done too well at learning how to be at one with the rest of creation; quite the opposite, as a general rule…..

Hmm…. Well, I guess that’s one way to look at it…… At least with this credo, there’s no guilt, no shame, no incentives, and no rewards….. other than self-respect……

— How many amoebas does it take to change a light bulb? One. No, 2. No, 4. No, 8. No, 16. No, 32……. — Smart Bee

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

I awoke today with great hopes for this Pearl; those hopes, of course, were dashed within moments of arising…. as usual. However, given my state of mind today (perilously unstable….) and the state of the universe, (just plain perilous), I think I’d be disinclined to make any changes to what came out, to be safe…. Safer for y’all, too, as changes at this late date can throw this vehicle into a tailspin in a heartbeat….

All that said, I’m done, & outta here…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes, and may the Bluebird of Happiness refrain from pooping on your hat…. No, I have no idea where that came from…. I don’t think I want to know, either, and neither do you….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Malcolm patented the “three days dead” look….

Posted on April 3, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I cannot claim to be perfectly awake just yet, but, it’s time to get started, so you’ll just have to take what you get in that respect, because I’ve sat here diddling my brain and twiddling my fingers for a good thirty minutes now, with no real effect in terms of either feeling alert or displaying any coherency beyond what is needed to pour coffee…. Maybe if I take a few more sips of the only reason worth living for in the morning, I’ll find a little bit of energy….. I hope so…. That paragraph sucks….

I’m finding a bit of a Catch-22 connected to the use of the medical marijuana at night to aid in sleeping….. Applying some of the topical pain relieving cream is useful before lying down, as it helps relax enough to drift to sleep…. but, waking up to apply more is counter-productive, to say the least, as the act of spreading it where it needs to go causes enough pain to wake me…. I eat a high CBD chocolate about an hour & a half before retiring, which acts on pain, with added drowsiness effect, for about 4-6 hours; I have to wake up twice, minimally, to down a Norco during the night, but the chocolate often makes it less critical until it wears off…

That is the catch, the wearing off part…. If I take enough MJ to last the night, then the Norco isn’t as critical to be on time…. but, if I don’t take the Norco, I get the dyskinesia side effect after about 6 hours, right when the MJ is wearing off…. This means, at that point, even if I take what I need, I will be awake until it takes effect, whether that is 45 minutes for a Norco, , & up to 1½ hours for edible MJ…. So, I have to balance the 6 hour MJ effects with the minimum 4 hours of Norco effectiveness, and hope they work together…. It makes it tricky to get right, but, in the whole, I get a LOT more sleep than before I started using the MJ to augment the effects of the classic style pill…

There, now the medical report is over, and I’ve bored everyone to tears with my silly little personal issues, I suppose I should get on with what I actually started to do…. to wit: write the Pearl for today…. I guess I got off on a tangent there, and fell right into Chatty Cathy mode before I noticed….. Oh well, it got us enough dross and drivel to call an intro, so, that’s something, I guess….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Of course I have a smart ass attitude…. it’s a natural defense against drama, stupidity, and bullshit.” — Tweety Bird
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I originally intended to rant about this article, but, after perusing it myself, I find it’s only more proof of the prediction I made last week, as to how the pundits in Washington, (you know, those assholes who hang out at the White House, and in the halls of Congress), would be acting in the coming weeks, after the poTUS (Please note: the word president is NOT capitalized deliberately; sufficient respect for the office to justify capitalization must be earned….) stated his intention to “ask Congress” to reform the NSA regulations on spying…. So far, the president has mouthed his lies just as predicted, and the expected response has gone exactly according to what I said would occur…. It’s a gift…..

No, really, they’re going through ALL the contortions I figured they would, just as if they were paying attention to what I said…. which makes it, sort of, lacking in virtue to rail at them right now…. They’re being so PATHETICALLY stupid, it’s hardly worth the time it takes to run them down, and, in fact, doing so might just be considered abusing the handicapped….

So we’ll do this… Read the article, so you know just what they’re up to, silly as it may be…. Right now, they’re just doing as I said, and creating more questions and confusion around the issue of the torture report Senator DiFi and the Senate want to see, while Obama came out with some new, toothless suggestions for changes to the regulations that don’t really change much of anything…. all of which is muddying water that was already unclear….

After that, come back to this section, where you’ll find the latter half of this pears, which will consist of an old-school pearl, with the parameters set, once again, to shoot at our beloved ruling class, in all its ugly glory….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Demands-grow-to-release-Senate-torture-report-5369929.php

“Official truths are often powerful illusions.” — John Pilger, _Distant_Voices_, 1992

“This isn’t Anarchy, this is Chaos.” — Smart Bee

“How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.” — Petrarch

MACHINATION, n. The method employed by one’s opponents in baffling one’s open and honorable efforts to do the right thing.

So plain the advantages of machination
It constitutes a moral obligation,
And honest wolves who think upon’t with loathing
Feel bound to don the sheep’s deceptive clothing.
So prospers still the diplomatic art,
And Satan bows, with hand upon his heart.
R.S.K.

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“I looked up the word “politics” in the dictionary and it’s actually a combination of two words; “poli,” which means many, and “tics,” which means bloodsuckers.” — Jay Leno

“Every man’s life, liberty, and property are in danger when the Legislature is in session.” — Gideon J. Tucker

“By all means, take the moral high ground — all that heavenly back lighting makes you a much easier target.” — Solomon Short

Not bad at all for a game of “pick up sticks”, post-neo-intellectual version, eh? I think, in truth, if any pundits forgot to duck, several of them COULD be bleeding now….

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

Today we’ll go with a poem of my own, in order to save embarrassment for anyone else, ‘kay?….. Here’s one I wrote in 2012, such as it is…..

Semblance of Time

The dreams and visions of modern times are pallid and pale
filled with fear and loathing instead of joy and wonder.
Reality is aging poorly, submitting less data to loudly regale
Sad faded images lacking substance, or proof of thunder.

Sisters and brothers of nightly performance speak in spite
building up scars to protect, or keep a semblance of sanity.
Knowing illusion is near and dear, steeped in muscular delight
while compassion and intelligence get smothered by humanity.

Loneliness soon became the friend of many sizes of fools
stealing through mazes of social tests as if truly wise, or old
while companies of sterile opportunity are hiding their tools
from anyone who might be feeling even a little bit bold.

Painful momentary flashes seem to outline society’s fate
until soft, heavy monuments to elder gods fall from grace.
We’re all getting tired of being told we’re far too late
and never ever nearing tolerance, nor regaining any face.

A hard message awaits us all when we dare to even stay
of life’s uncaring disposition and curmudgeonly faux heart
Only with the strength of a hero may such tales make way
Only a poet may turn such pain into a valid work of art.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

It’s looking now as if the ol’ brain just isn’t going to fire up today….. I’ve managed to fake it so far, which is fine, but, it’s going to take a strong effort to resist the urge to include a rant this morning…. If I don’t, (resist the urge, that is….), the results could be catastrophic, to say the least…. So, because we can, we’ll fall back on another old-school pearl to fill in this final section, thus preserving both the lives, and the integrity of our passengers…..

That’s fortunate, because we just couldn’t afford another set of lawsuits…. My lawyer is getting far too rich mitigating the aftereffects of my bozoid tendencies…. For now, let’s enjoy a random, parameter-less, harlequin pearl, our finest, most popular product….

“I don’t think it would have all got me down quite so much if just once in a while- just once in a while- there was at least some polite little perfunctory implication that knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn’t, it’s just a disgusting waste of time.” — J.D. Salinger, Franny & Zooey

The rhino is a homely beast,
For human eyes he’s not a feast.
Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
I’ll stare at something less prepoceros.

— Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

“Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.” — Arthur C. Clarke

“Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms … but a *dying* culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Loss of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.” — Friday’s boss, aka “Kettle Belly” or “Mr. Two-Canes” Baldwin…. from the book “Friday” by Robert A. Heinlein

“Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.” — Seneca, 65 AD

“Though thou be destined to live three thousand years and as many myriads besides, yet remember that no man loseth other life than that which he liveth, nor liveth other than that which he loseth.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ii, 14

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

Well, having subjected myself to the indignity of reading this whole thing, editing for errors and punching up style, as far as possible, I can truthfully say…. I’m done. No judgments I make could be accurate, given both my closeness to the material, and my lack of brain-function this morning, which has NOT improved in the two plus hours since I began staring at the screen…. If you’ll recall, it took me thirty minutes to be able to write a coherent sentence then…. I’m having the same struggle now, here at the end….

SIGH… Okay, I’ve whined enough for one day…. Now I have to go do battle with bureaucrats and business assholes, always two of my least favorite pastimes…. I have to deal with the Kaiser Pharmacy, Pat’s pharmacy, and a large wireless company…. Oh, joy…..

See ya, ffolkes, provided I can do all of this today without having to kill anyone….. It can be a near thing, sometimes, if I happen to run across a particularly stupid bureaucrat, or one of those empty-headed millennial denizens, making less than minimum wage, part-time in a wireless store…. What is it with those companies? Do they use a reverse IQ test to pick their employees, or what?…. Okay, I’ll stop ranting in the closing section now, and be off…. Ta then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Dead ducks found on subway–fowl play suspected…

Posted on March 13, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I apologize most heartily for the title today; I couldn’t resist the pun, or the fun…. Since I don’t recall hearing it before, (This is probably a lie, but, we’ll let it lay, or lie…. Oh, hell, we’ll let it alone…), to me, it’s a new pun, which justifies any and all attempts to share it…. or, as some states call such self-indulgent behavior, a misdemeanor hate crime….

It isn’t that I don’t understand those states’ objection to punning, but, I think a minimum sentence of five years at hard labor is a bit harsh, don’t you?….. I suppose I should feel lucky I live in a state where it is still considered a social faux pas, without entering the realm of criminality….

Now that the fantasy portion of our program (pogrom?) is completed, or, at least, neglected due to disinterest, we can go on to bigger and hopefully better things…. I’m up, in theory, at a time I’m having a hard time believing, given my habits of late…. It’s almost 5 AM, and I just finished sleeping for a solid eight hours…. so long, I had time to pass through the point where the body is rested, to the point where it is becoming MORE stiff and sore from laying down too long…. I got up to a bit of stiffness, but, thanks to my new magic cream, it won’t last long….

I found a new product at the medical cannabis store I’ve been going to; it’s a topical pain relieving cream that gets spread on the skin over any part of the body that is hurting, such as shoulder joints, lower back, hips, etc…. It is extremely effective for almost all the different pains I’ve tested it on….

It relieves pain and stiffness in the back muscles… it makes the hips stop singing…. and it works wonders on sore joints like the wrist or thumb, at those times when arthritic pain strikes…. It acts almost instantly; I have milady apply it to my entire back, and within a moment or two, it feels as normal as it ever gets, giving a feeling of release you would not believe….

As I said, it’s pretty magical stuff, especially for those of us who know the accuracy of the old adage that says, “True freedom is release from pain.” The release I feel when my back stops hurting is phenomenal, almost to the point of giddiness, and makes me understand why the pharmaceutical companies are so worried about these products hitting the market….

This cream alone could completely destroy the market for products such as Ben-Gay and Tiger Balm, as well as threatening the entire line of pain killers like Aleve or Tylenol, that are designed for arthritis pain…. They’re all unnecessary in the extreme if one possesses this magic cream, which the Big Pharm companies don’t have in their formularies…. In other words, it would eat into their bottom line profits, thus making them nervous to know the products are out there, not under their control or influence… They’re asininnies, they can’t help being assholes….

So, now that we’ve explored further into the details of my life more than is either necessary, warranted, or even desired, we can at least go on to bigger and better things, as I’ve again managed to go completely overboard with this sharing of TMI, or TMOI (Too Much Obscure Information)…. At any rate, we’re done here, so we can go for a nice, quiet dive for pearls, to soothe the savage breast…. Oh wait, that’s music… Hmm, okay, well, just put on your earphones, plug in the jack, and you’ll have music…. even if it IS just public radio, and it’s time for their Gardening Hour….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Change is the essential process of all existence.” — Spock, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” stardate 5730.2.

(FYI, today, the stardate is, officially: [-27} 00060.0 The -27 means it is now twenty seven years prior to mankind’s first foray into interstellar space, using the Cochran ftl (faster-than-light) engine, as noted in the History of the Galaxy, Star Trek universe…..)
_____________________________

As noted, I’ve started a bit late, and want to get done in jig time today…. This means some cheating, if only by making this first section the old-school pearl for today, rather than ranting right away…. which is another cheat that will come later…. In the interval, let’s enjoy a random, harlequin pearl, followed by one of my favorite poets, and one of my favorite of his poems…. Abondanza!….

“As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose.” — Bhagavad Gita

“A lot of what I say comes off as political satire. In that, I have a lot in common with Congress.” — Solomon Short

“It is better to have a little than nothing.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 484

“Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.” — Voltaire

“If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.” — James Thurber

“Everybody thinks himself so well supplied with common sense that even those most difficult to please. . . never desire more of it than they already have.” — Rene Descartes

“Ah, tell them they are men!” — Thomas Gray (1716-1771) — On a Distant Prospect of Eton College, Stanza 6

Damn!…. Sometimes, this process just amazes me, at how it can produce such depth of meaning when none is sought after during the search…. This, ffolkes, is one DEEP pearl…. I hope you enjoy it, and find the point to which I refer…. If not, no worries, as this one, due to its not being listed on the curriculum listings, will NOT be on the Quiz….
_____________________________

As noted above, a classic poem from an acknowledged Master….

A Draught Of Sunshine

Hence Burgundy, Claret, and Port,
Away with old Hock and madeira,
Too earthly ye are for my sport;
There’s a beverage brighter and clearer.
Instead of a pitiful rummer,
My wine overbrims a whole summer;
My bowl is the sky,
And I drink at my eye,
Till I feel in the brain
A Delphian pain –
Then follow, my Caius! then follow:
On the green of the hill
We will drink our fill
Of golden sunshine,
Till our brains intertwine
With the glory and grace of Apollo!
God of the Meridian,
And of the East and West,
To thee my soul is flown,
And my body is earthward press’d. –
It is an awful mission,
A terrible division;
And leaves a gulph austere
To be fill’d with worldly fear.
Aye, when the soul is fled
To high above our head,
Affrighted do we gaze
After its airy maze,
As doth a mother wild,
When her young infant child
Is in an eagle’s claws –
And is not this the cause
Of madness? – God of Song,
Thou bearest me along
Through sights I scarce can bear:
O let me, let me share
With the hot lyre and thee,
The staid Philosophy.
Temper my lonely hours,
And let me see thy bowers
More unalarm’d!

~~ John Keats ~~

_____________________________

The last three or six Pearls have all been either over 3000 words, or very close to breaking over that limit; one of them came in at a whopping 3900+….. It hasn’t been deliberate, in the sense I don’t start with a number of words in mind… I just like to keep writing until done…. But, that’s a lot, so, I’ll try to keep this a bit shorter today, to keep from driving too many ffolkes away, chased there because they’re tired out from fighting the fatigue factor that is often found when reading my blog…. Occupational hazard, I suppose.

I only say this because I COULD rant further about this subject today; I’ve got plenty of angst biding its time inside me, especially for the corporate members of the Asininnies, the ones I consider to be the absolute WORST of those who prey on mankind…. Well, okay, but, wait…. I only put them there on those days I DON’T put the men, and, sadly women, who enable, and profit from, the abuse of women in the sex trafficking trade into that primary position on my list, the list of those the world would be better off doing without….

Both of these groups, as far as I’m concerned, are only worthy of becoming the target of any right thinking person with a gun in their hands, no trial needed…. I think, in those two cases, I wouldn’t mind playing God, making up my own mind as to who is guilty…. Nope, no trouble at all, not when the crimes are as egregiously inhuman as those perpetrated by these two groups….

As you can see, it wouldn’t take much to get me going, so, I’ll leave it there, and let you enjoy this piece, from a couple years ago, addressing a subject near and dear to my heart…. or, at least, to my head….

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

From 12/4/2012:

“Free enterprise ended in the United States a good many years ago. Big oil, big steel, big agriculture avoid the open marketplace. Big corporations fix prices among themselves and drive out the small entrepreneur. In their conglomerate forms, the huge corporations have begun to challenge the legitimacy of the state.” — Gore Vidal

In his book, “Friday”, Robert Heinlein details a society, in humanity’s possible future, one in which corporations have continued to grow beyond the boundaries of mere countries, until their interests become paramount even over that of the state, as observed by Mr. Vidal. We, of the society here on Earth in the early 21st century are witnessing that growth, as I write, and as you read…..

The small enterprise markets still exist, but only on the fringes of the economy, the major portion of which is busy manipulating the population into serving the economic trends that the corporations control, in the essential markets that cover everyone… In other words, the corporations monopolize most of the economy, allowing the fringe markets to exist to provide exotic, alternative toys and entertainments for the working classes, as a way to keep them fat, happy, and contentedly stupid.

Mr. Heinlein’s character, is a young woman with designer genes, & a genius IQ, giving her almost superhuman powers, as well as a strong portion of Heinlein’s innate sardonicism, as part of an assignment from her boss, is required to perform a research and analysis of how the major corporations in the world affected the political and economic scenes of their society, obliquely referring, of course, to the one we have now.

It’s a very interesting part of a very good book, and well worth a read, not only for its perspicacity in explaining the piracy we are seeing today, but because Heinlein was a master storyteller, who created fascinating characters in fantastic situations, making it all seem perfectly normal and real.

“The phenomenality of organic, conscious existence should, could have made impossible the sadism, the unending hurt of our ways. The impotent fury, the guilt that master and surpass my identity carry with them the working hypothesis, the ‘working metaphor’, if you will, of ‘original sin’. To this expression, I am unable to attach any reasoned, let alone historical substance. On the pragmatic-narratological plane, stories of some initial crime and inherited culpability are universal fables — uncannily profound and lasting. Nothing more. Yet in the presence of the beaten, raped child, of the horse or mule flogged across its eyes, I am possessed, as by a midnight clarity, by the intuition of the Fall.” — Rudolf Steiner, Errata: An examined life, Phoenix — (a division of Orion Books), London, 1998, p. 169

At first, this quote may not seem to be related to the first. However, it is this “original sin” of which he speaks that is the root cause of the problems with corporations in society. Those humans who reject commonality with the rest of humanity are the villains in this play that passes for modern culture, for they do not accept their debt to the rest of the species, and have determined that they will use whatever means they need to become ascendant over the rest of us. Greed is only the most obvious of the ills that this group has subjected our culture to, with cruelty, dishonesty, and lack of compassion as side attractions. Through the actions of their corporate entities, they work to maintain their power and control of others, all for the sake of their own aggrandizement….

These are the men who run the trade in human trafficking, abducting and abusing children and women, for sex and slavery. These are the men who run the brothels, and the underground casinos, and the money-lending, and the protection rackets, and the drug dealing rings. What many folks don’t realize is that they are also the men who run for political office, or become preachers/priests, and the bankers, and the CEO’s, and other corporate officers, who make their decisions based on self-interest, never on altruism. They seem, and act like, they are the leaders of society, when, in fact, they, in my mind, the scum of our race, and are the very reason our society is headed for extinction….

Unfortunately, these men (and they are almost ALL men….) will not give up their power and control without a fight. They will not respond to reason, giving up all their wealth and perceived power, to benefit the rest of mankind. They will not suddenly see the light, and give it all back. They will have to be rooted out like weeds, tough, hardy weeds; ultimately, they MUST be destroyed, if we are to have any chance of survival….

It is unfortunate, but no other method will work, and it brings with it the danger of falling into the same kind of behavior by which they have always achieved their own ends. But, I can see no other way to solve the issue, since they will not cooperate with the rest of us for the benefit of all….

1. If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting.

2. What you settle for is what you end up with.

3. If you think that worrying about a problem is the same thing as solving it, then you must live in some other universe where different laws pertain.

–Smart Bee
_____________________________

I made it…. When I started, I had some doubts, but, all went well, and it’s done…. I think…. They don’t call me “the dubious” for nothing, you know…. Any who, I say it’s done, and, since I’m the final arbiter of all such questionable issues, it’s done…. Nyah, nyah, nyah…. Okay, I’m now done being three years old, and I’m outta here, before I get any sillier (That probably isn’t possible, from a reality-based viewpoint; nevertheless, it had to be said, for form’s sake….)…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

The magical life of Welsh budgies….

Posted on December 25, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Any mental functions attempted in this area must be re-evaluated during a subsequent period. It has been discovered that standard logic works sideways in this area due to the influence of the occupant.” — Smart Bee, describing a sign reportedly seen on the White House lawn in 1983…. (Fairly early in the Reagan Years, for those with sympathetic memory loss issues….)

For some reason, SB left this sitting here on the screen for me to find…. go figure….

Most mornings here at ECR find me staring with trepidation at a blank screen, worried that inspiration will fail me at last, and no Pearl will be forthcoming. So far, I’ve managed to avoid that, most days, missing only about a dozen or so over the last two and a bit more of years; many of those were due to technical glitches, with about a half-dozen due to illness…. such as the first four days of this month, when I came down with bronchitis while on a cruise….. Such fun that was! One of my most compelling memories will always center around being trundled through the hallways of the ship, in a wheelchair, miserable, (a euphemism for tossing my cookies….), and wondering how many thousands of dollars it was going to run me for this….

I lived through that, so I guess it taught me a lesson….The problem is, I can’t figure out what the lesson is, that it is trying to teach me…. Don’t get sick? Don’t go on cruises? It’s a bit of a facer when I can’t even decipher my own subconscious’ little tricks designed to get me to live more…. what? Safely? Healthy? What? I don’t get what it’s trying to tell me with this…. It’s not as if I spend all my time pursuing unhealthy behaviors…. Hell, the way I move these days, there’s no danger of any speed-related illness or injury, that’s for certain…. I feel like a snail much of the time, and walking over two blocks is getting to be a real challenge…. I stay warm, I don’t hang out in crowds, and I eat a well balanced diet, mostly….

So, what’s the deal here? Did I lose all my marbles last night? Have I forgotten what I was going to write about today? What’s with all these questions, anyway? Have I lost it completely? Maybe I should wait for one of these to be answered before starting to write the next….. But, if I started answering any of these, how will I get to where I want to go? And just where is it I want to go, anyway?….. Maybe I should just start to think about that one…. But, since I haven’t known the answer to that question for many, many years, other than where it might be in relation to a cruise itinerary, it would arguably be a waste of time…..

Of course, we’ve already done that for, oh, twenty minutes or so already, so that isn’t going to fly as motivation, or as defense, at least, not a viable one….. I suppose I’ll have to just pull out method #9 for ending intro sections, which involves a lot of noise and party favors, while the noises from outside the house continue to sound as if the Twilight Zone has settled into the neighborhood for good…. No wind, but nice wind-chimes happening, and the lights keep flickering at odd moments out on the street….. I think I’ll just leave the doors and windows locked up for the moment…. Oh, wait, look at that!

It’s a nocturnally oriented, black faced, cattus domesticus, sleepily winding across the floor to demand morning libations…. Loudly demanding her morning food and water attention, she graciously accepts the morning attentions of one of her personal slaves…. There, one high-maintenance cat taken care of…. Since I’ve managed to meander far enough to satisfy even the most stringent of bureaucrats, even the one with the dual pocket protectors, method #9 isn’t going to be needed today…. That’s always good news, as it is one of the more expensive to use in terms of physical resources that need to be replaced each time…. That damn caviar is getting expensive!…. I suppose I could use non-Beluga, but, what would the point of that be?….

Okay, so, not bad…. Five full paragraphs of completely useless bullshit, none of which had A) any real meaning beyond its existence as fodder, or piffle, B) any connection to Reality at large, either Consensual, or Privately Held Beliefs, and, most importantly, C) more dignity than necessary to keep from breaking formation….. For less than a full cup of coffee, that’s not bad at all…. Hell, it might just be a record, but, we’re not going to measure today…. The necessary tools are all put away in their winter stations, and I’m not up for it…. Besides, I just realized, it’s a holiday, isn’t it? So, legally, I can take the day off from tasks like that….. I have reached my limit of nonsense, and shall now go find another way to annoy myself…..

Shall we Pearl?…. In fact, for openers, let’s do it twice, because that’s twice as nice…..

“I don’t understand why everybody’s in disguise.” — Lemmy Kilmister

“Integrity has no need for rules.” — Albert Camus
_____________________________

So, it’s Christmas…. This is a tough holiday for me, since I don’t believe in the Christian hierarchies of thought, or buy into its particular set of delusional material…. In fact, I’m pretty pissed off right now at the Christians, as I hold their attitudes to be a significant factor in the events that have led to the current world environmental crisis; you know, the End-of-Days scenario, that is forming as we speak, or, more accurately, as I regale y’all with my outrage…. The Christian attitude, of “we’re special, because we are the ONLY religion that is right….” has caused more damage over time than any other single idea, especially since it is so egregiously FALSE….. but, I digress….

Any who, since I don’t believe in the BS, it’s hard for me to engage in the more likable parts of the season, like the gift giving, because I find it so hard to justify the rampant consumerism that goes along with that…. The ads, commercials, the billboards, the deals being screamed at us from every venue, get so annoying, it makes me want to go out, buy a gun, and start carrying it around, not necessarily to USE it on the idiots, but to show it now and again, to at least get them to SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR FIVE DAMN MINUTES….. How many times does it take before “Silent Night” becomes a legitimate call to take up arms?….

So, for this first section, we’ll go with an old-school variety of pearl, and hope we can find some way to poke some fun at the culture we all inhabit…. Hey, it’s a tough job, but, somebody’s got to do it, right?…..

“We have nothing to fear but the atmosphere itself.” — Smart Bee

(Okay, so it’s not funny…. it’s TRUE though, and that should count for something…..) (Okay, I’ll stop with the comments now, and let the rest of this pearl proceed apace….)

“Space is not the final frontier. The final frontier is the human soul. Space is merely the place where we are most likely to meet the challenge. The victory will occur in the continual process of challenging and testing our limits — both as individuals and as a species — and not in the amount of territory conquered.” — Solomon Short

“Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, viii, 51

Conservative: The mix of megalomania and stupidity. — Smart Bee, in a VERY insightful moment

“There are many things worth living for, few things worth dying for, nothing worth killing for.” — from Tom Robbins’ “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues”

Memorial Day In The United States; “A day when almost every community holds memorial parades. The man who enjoys marching in line and file to the strains of music falls below my contempt; he received his great brain by mistake.” — Albert Einstein

“To be wise, the only thing you really need to know is when to say “I don’t know.” — Smart Bee

As I’ve said before, I know it will be okay when Smart Bee has the brackets covered….. Perfect, if a bit eclectic in nature…. good embedded cynicism, I think, if a bit light on incipient sardonicism…
_____________________________

Hmm…. let’s see now…. for whom am I in the mood today? Ah, I know…. This will do nicely….

Old Men

People expect old men to die,
They do not really mourn old men.
Old men are different. People look
At them with eyes that wonder when…
People watch with unshocked eyes;
But the old men know when an old man dies.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

I had some trouble figuring out what to put in here, but managed to find an archived rant, one that should fit in quite well…. It’s fairly long, but quite cogent, so, we’ll just get to it…. This is from June 22, 2013….. not so long ago, was it?…. A mere six months…. which, as the rant indicates, another six months when NOTHING changed in the world at large….

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

“The rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million.” — Eugene V. Debs, US labor leader.

(Note: Debs received one million votes in 1920 as candidate for US President, while serving a 10-year jail sentence for having said in June 1918: “Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder… the master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.”) — Smart Bee

This has been sitting around for a couple of days, since I found it in SB. It’s the perfect beginning for a politirant, and the news of late has provided a number of interesting side notes to this idea, so I find myself in the position of being compelled to rant, which is the best attitude to start with….

The recent news has shown a number of items concerned with the revelations just released a few weeks ago, when a former NSA contractor spilled the beans about how the US government has been spying on its own people, collecting personal data from phone records, mercantile records, and from review of emails and other data mined from the internet…. The revelations, of course, are in the process of being denied and/or devalued by that government, who are trying to convince the public that the spying is “transparent”, and that the information is NOT being collected to investigate American citizens…. This, of course, is a bald faced lie, and anyone who believes it deserves anything that happens to them….

The government of this country is in the hands of people who are controlled by the corporate masters of society, sometimes willfully, most times without their complete knowledge. They (the corporate masters…) don’t give a SHIT about the rights of anyone else, so the above statement that got Mr. Debs in trouble is shown to be perfectly true. The people who control society don’t believe in the sacred nature of rights, for anyone who isn’t them, so it can be said that the rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million, because to the 1% (a number that is actually far larger than the number of real masters of society…. that’s probably closer to .001%…..), neither one is sacred at all….

What disturbs me a lot of the time is that there are still a lot of people who believe that, of the choices available in the political spectrum, one side or another is better, and showing support for one of them will direct matters to a more favorable (for the people) resolution…. The fact is, neither the Republicans, nor the Democrats, nor any of the Independents who are in office, or trying to get into office, have any interest at all in doing anything other than establishing their own agenda as the one used by society. Those agendas have nothing to do with helping the general public; they are designed to benefit only those who ascribe to the correct philosophy. No matter which political party or entity you choose, you’re going to get screwed, in the final analysis.

“The art of government is the organization of idolatry.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

If you still think that Barack Obama is going to help the common man, well, I suggest you listen to the crap he is putting out right now about this surveillance. Remember, too, that he signed the law that killed the Bill of Rights, on New Year’s Eve of 2012, the infamous National Defense Authorization Act, which makes it legal for the government to arrest citizens without a warrant, to hold them in an unknown place, without any oversight or review of rights, and try them in a secret court, without legal representation. It authorized the use of drones in a domestic fashion (which they continue to lie about, and say they aren’t using them…. when reports from all over the country provide relatively incontrovertible PROOF that they ARE using them….), and, most assuredly, authorized the illegal wiretapping and internet data mining that is currently going on, even though it has been exposed.

We may as well begin referring to the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution as the Bill of Former Rights, because, face it, ffolkes, you don’t have them anymore. I’ve heard it said that they are not rights, anyway, as a right is something nobody can take away from you…. More accurately, you have no rights that you are unable to defend…. and the government has slyly convinced most people that they don’t want those rights anyway….

Look how many formerly intelligent people are jumping on the bandwagon about gun control, forgetting all that our forefathers cautioned us about, when they warned about the possible encroachment of big business and the churches into the workings of government…. Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Mason, Franklin, all of them mistrusted the corporate interests and the preachers, having suffered much at their hands, and they tried to warn us against listening to them….

But, what happened to Eugene Debs back in 1919, when he was sent to prison (in direct violation of the right to free speech….) was not the first indicator that things had regressed, and the trend toward government takeover of the rights of US citizenry has continued right up to today. The recent revelations about spying, you will see, will be quashed, and ignored by those in power, as there is now nothing we can do to stop them from doing whatever they want…. According to the laws we let them slip by us, it’s all legal ffolkes…. We are screwed, and the only good thing I can see about it, is that, due to global warming, climate change, and the imminent destruction of the human species by our own pollution, we won’t have long to put up with it….

Books are burning
In the main square, and I saw there
The fire eating the text.
Books are burning
In the still air
And you know where they burn books
People are next.

– “Books Are Burning”, XTC
_____________________________

To some degree, I am procrastinating the finish of this Pearl…. It is now but 0635 in the AM of Christmas Day, and I can foresee a long, boring day ahead, filled with many hours for which some sort of entertainment must be found that won’t stultify my brain completely…. The current choices offered by the mainstream media just aren’t going to provide me with anything remotely amusing, and the library is closed today…. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to go back to bed, and sleep until tomorrow….

First, though, let’s see how this came out….. Hmm… not too shabby for a non-government contractor working for free…. It will pass muster for a holiday, at least…. Gosh, I suppose this means I can delay no longer, but, must find a way to end this, hopefully with some grace and dignity…. Ah, the hell with that….. I’m outta here, ffolkes…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

In the domain of the demons of democracy…..

Posted on December 24, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Timing…. is everything….. and mine has been way off lately…. Here ’tis, Xmas Eve, and I’ve been so busy ranting about the upcoming climatological emergency, (an event COMING SOON, TO A PLANETARY UNIT YOU INHABIT), I completely skipped over talking about any of the rampant consumerism that is so “in your face” this time of year, all of which, in my opinion, is based on a delusional system that over a third of this planet has bought into, and fully believes…. I guess that’s what comes from not watching very much TV; the worst of it is on there, what with the massive amounts of money put into directing consumer’s habits and tastes every holiday, particularly Christmas….. Gasp! Epiphany!

Wow! I just realized why Christianity, all throughout history, has been so closely allied with the forces of corporate manipulation of society, i.e. the bankers, and/or whomever are in positions of authority…. And it isn’t because Christians are so “special”…. No, they are merely encouraged to think they are, because when they do, they are the most easily manipulated idiots on the face of the Earth, save perhaps cows, or, maybe, starfish….. and, hey, who’s worried they’ll take over, eh?….

Any who, at this time of year, the mask comes off, to a degree, and the rampant greed and sheer avarice of the very rich is fulfilled by the appetites created for them by the churches, the radios and TVs, and the newspapers, all of whom repeat and trumpet the latest deals into the public consciousness…. I actually saw a car commercial of some sort, in a rare moment when the TV was on, that said something to the effect of “Buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy buy… buy” to the tune of some carol or another, complete with subtitles…. I kid you not!…. I had to laugh, to keep from weeping….

There is something good to be said for the spirit of compassion that is so much more common now than at other times of the year (Yet another sign of the morally and ethically juvenile make-up of society at large…..), but, on the whole, other than exchanging gifts with my kids, and a couple friends, I ignore most of what other folks are all excited about…. and that’s okay by me, a hard thing for some to understand, without getting an impression that isn’t wholly accurate….. C’est la vie, friends…. I can’t change the world…. at BEST, I can successfully ignore what it does to, or on, me (Think about it….), and learn to be content with whatever that may be…. or, if not content, resigned….

Aside from that aforementioned higher degree of human compassion that marks many interactions at this time of year, there is little to recommend it to me, as the commercials, the decorations (another area where greed and competitive spirit cause so many to go completely overboard….), the false bonhomie, the distressed parents and over-amped kids, and all of the other “holiday” treats the world has for us…. Well, all of that holiday spirit just tends to piss me off more than anything else….. This is because I realize it is ALL in place solely for the benefit of those who want power and money, and none of the given reasons for the season have any more influence on people than does the weather…. and nobody seems to care!….

Ah well, I’m tired of ranting to no purpose…. since I have a ways to go today to get this done, I’ll end this mini-intro-section-rant here, and get on with today’s dive…. It will serve more purpose than has been garnered by this section, that’s for sure and for certain….

Shall we Pearl?….

“No matter where you go, there you are.” — Buckaroo Banzai, from “Buckaroo Banzai – Across the 8th Dimension”
_____________________________

Of course, since I ranted, to some degree, in the introduction, y’all get the benefit of that, in the shape of an old-school pearl here in section one….. Yesterday, Smart Bee was being rather showy, providing all sorts of great quotes even when not asked for them…. It was a very lucrative day, aphorism-wise, and I’m hoping that attitude will extend into today’s search…. Murphy, bless his tiny little head, has been busy elsewhere during this holiday season, due mostly, I think, to my own lack of Christmas spirit, which doesn’t leave him a lot of leeway to pick at me…. I’m already in curmudgeon mode, so I’m less vulnerable at this time of year…. Yay!….. Any who, here you go….

Not bad for a first find…..

“And now, let the fun begin.” — Smart Bee

“I may RISE today, but I refuse to SHINE !!!” — gigoid, channeling Zippy

“A grave, wherever found, preaches a short and pithy sermon to the soul.” — Hawthorne

“Delay is preferable to error.” — Thomas Jefferson

“There is only one commandment: Thou Shalt Not Waste. All the others are superfluous.” — Solomon Short

“Mastering others is strength. Mastering one’s self is true power.” — Lao Tzu

“Ask me about my lobotomy.” — Smart Bee

We always know a pearl will work when Smart Bee provides the bracket quotes…. This one is a good one, all in all, and well balanced, for all its sparsity…. How well balanced? Allow me to demonstrate….

Not bad for a first find…..

“And now, let the fun begin.” — Smart Bee

“I may RISE today, but I refuse to SHINE !!!” — gigoid

“A grave, wherever found, preaches a short and pithy sermon to the soul.” — Hawthorne

“Delay is preferable to error.” — Thomas Jefferson

“There is only one commandment: Thou Shalt Not Waste. All the others are superfluous. — Solomon Short

“Mastering others is strength. Mastering one’s self is true power.” — Lao Tzu

“Ask me about my lobotomy.” — Smart Bee

See? Just TRY to knock THAT over!….. Not happening, ffolkes…. You will please note that the outline shape of the text is an exact replica of an Imperial Starship… which, as we all know, were pretty tough to bring down…. and even tougher to de-legitimize….. What? What does that MEAN? Why? Who needs to know? I mean, in the final analysis, it’s all dross and drivel, so, who the hell cares, eh?….

No, really, sorry ’bout that…. a bit of insanity and temper, just ignore me…. It’s kind of like Tourette’s Syndrome…. I need fluids, my electrolytes are imbalanced, or something…. I know, let’s try getting on with this…. maybe it will get back on to some sort of logical track on its own….. Hope springs eternal, you know…..
_____________________________

While cruising some old pearls in the archives, I came across this poem, which I wrote…. some time …. and not in the future, so we know it was in the past. Sorry, I forget when it was, and it’s a long, laborious process to find it again, as my Pearls are not organized, by subject, content, category, or title…. Hence, I can’t find ANYTHING in there, unless I stumble across it while surfing…. Any who, this is one of my favorites of my own, if not exactly my best…. and mine is the only opinion that really bears any meaning for me, because, with me, it’s all about “better out than in”….. Being human yourselves, you will understand my obsessive need to make it all about ME!….. Oh well, try to enjoy it anyway….

Joe Friday’s lament

Life is short, and though I’m odd, they say
it really doesn’t bother me
to realize there is no God, per se.

Though other folks will disagree
and tell me I’m wrong
I won’t believe it, not with naught to see.

Liars, called padre, tell me, ‘have humility,
and do as the authorities say’,
then fondle little boys with facility.

They also tell me to share the wealth
and give them a 10% tithe
so they don’t have get it by stealth.

So spare me the delusions, please
don’t bother with such a tale;
I’m nobody that needs such a tease.

Keep your fantasies under your hat
and out of my face;
I don’t need them, they’ll make me fat….. headed.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Shoot! I lost some pearls…. I had several collected for this space, and inadvertently copied something over the top of them…. Now I must go back and find them again…. thank goodness for control-Z, or in SB’s case, just Z….. I’ll be back, to copy in what I’ve found…..

Okay, well, not bad, found a couple of them…. it will do…. Now I can get on with this, and finish off today’s effort, if I can only stay focused, and pain free for another twenty minutes or so…. Wish me luck, friends….. Oh, bonus prize today….. If you can articulate, exactly, what concept to which this pearl points, you will be absolved of any and all responsibility for what happens in the future….. S’truth! I’ve got an “in” with the gods of justice….

“Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” — American Proverb

“Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs.” — P. J. O’Rourke

“Beer commercials are so patriotic: “Made the American Way.” What does that have to do with America? Is that what America stands for? Feeling sluggish and urinating frequently?” — Scott Blakeman

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton (1874-1936), “What’s Wrong with the World”

“They gave me a book of checks. They didn’t ask for any deposits.” — Congressman Joe Early (D-Mass) at a press conference — to answer questions about the House Bank Scandal

“When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‘Present’ or ‘Not guilty.'” — Theodore Roosevelt

“Government of the people, by the lawyers, for the conservatives.” — Smart Bee

Bonus prize hint: The answer is included in the above text, about half-way through this group of pearls…..
_____________________________

Yesterday, the day before, and today, I spent a lot of words, and time, speaking of the End Of The World As We Know It, and As We Don’t (which is obviously what we do more of…..) In the ensuing period of time since beginning those posts and pieces, I haven’t seen anything that tells me that the world has taken notice of the urgency that is present in the given statistical analysis, nor any indication that degree of ignorance, deliberate or not, will change…. Realistically, I couldn’t expect that to happen….. However, I’ve always been like Churchill, in this way at least….

“I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.” — Winston Churchill

Then, I find a little piece of wisdom like this one, from a poet extraordinaire….

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

— Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning” — delivered at the inauguration of Bill Clinton, Jan 21, 1993

At such moments, it’s hard to hang on to the depression that naturally ensues from the consideration of our species’ extinction at its own hands…. but, that issue isn’t going away, and there will be time to lament, and to rant, and to panic, and to watch, as the world goes stark, raving mad in the face of its own demise…. Such a pity, but, what are ya gonna do with them, eh? They just won’t listen….. Ah well, I’ll try again tomorrow….. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Simple, yet complex patterns of mist…..

Posted on December 28, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Herein lies the last reference to the rigmarole that plagued this site last week, causing me to miss two posts, and creating massive confusion regarding the shape of reality. I have assumed control once more, and there should be no more problems of that nature again. (Until, and unless, Murphy decides to take a hand….. which means it is a matter of when, not whether….)

You may be interested to note that I was able to accomplish my task without loss of life, or reputation, on anyone’s part, which may be a new record. This Pearl, to be posted on 12/28/12, is actually to be written on that date, mostly, and from this point on, the Pearls will be correctly aligned according to real time once more. It’s been a struggle, but it’s done, and I am glad…. I hope y’all suffered no inconveniences during the restructuring process, and no lapses of dignity took place in your absence…..

I only say that because dignity is often in short supply around here…. when we can find any at all. That’s okay, though, because I pretty much gave up on dignity when I hit 62; it’s too much effort, for no tangible reward. I know, that’s awfully American of me, but I’ll have you know that I too can be lazy and ignorant, if I so choose. In the case of dignity, I’ll take the cash, thank you….. Nobody wears dignity anymore, anyway; you won’t find it anywhere in the public arena, or pinned to suits, or worn by statesmen, because there aren’t any. The politicos are all busy trying to out-macho each other, with the public in the middle of the battleground, taking all the hits…. and they’re not worried about their dignity, when they have to worry about whether or not they can eat…..

Perhaps the intro section isn’t the best place for these political mini-rants…. I should expand and develop them into full fledged rants, and I believe from now on I shall do so. Since the election, little has gone on in the political arena, beyond the tax vote that has everyone up in arms, so I’ve not taken the time to put into politics, but, enough is brewing that it needs to be brought out into the light, so people can have the opportunity to throw stuff at it…..

So, look for a few political rants in the coming days of the new year, as I find stuff to discuss; I doubt it will take long to find something sneaky and underhanded that is going on in Washington, since those words tend to define the nature of most of Congress, and everyone in the White House….. Well, Bo, the Portuguese Water Dog belonging to the Obamas probably isn’t TOO sneaky….. But…. he IS a dog, so…. it’s in his nature to bury a bone or two, in a hidden spot….

For today, I am happy to return to fresh material, that I search for, and find, this morning, then write my reaction to what I find. Too much keeps building up in my head when I get too much written ahead of time; it’s uncomfortable and confusing. Maybe now, that poem that has been lurking in the back of my head will be able to find its way out soon. Maybe today, maybe later……. don’t know, don’t care, because I don’t put ANY type of pressure on my poetry, such as a deadline; I’m too afraid it will stop happening altogether. Ah well, c’est la vie…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“A desire not to butt into other people’s business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom… and the other twenty percent isn’t very important.” “You butt into other people’s business. All the time.” “Who said I was wise? I’m a professional bad example. You can learn a lot by watching me.” — Jubal Harshaw, in Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein

I would guesstimate that more than 90% of everything I believe about life and the world has its roots in this book by Robert Heinlein, based on the comments of Jubal Harshaw, one of the book’s main characters. Jubal managed to have something to say about just about everything in human culture, and had his own distinct opinion on all of it. Of course, these reflected Heinlein’s own beliefs, but we weren’t supposed to think about that at the time, and had no real effect on anything other than Bob and his friends. The rest of us just appreciated his ironic sense of humor, and the common sense he displayed in such an entertaining fashion.

Medicine, psychology, memory, society, culture, custom, religion and theosophy, politics and political theory, philosophy, military history and structure, strategy, tactics, literature, writing, circuses, carnivals, astronomy, space travel, telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, weaponry, and a host of other subjects…… Every one of these subjects is part of the story Heinlein weaves, as he creates a figure who embraces the entirety of human culture and history, and attempts to change mankind in a way that can help us to overcome those parts of our nature that are giving us problems, and eventually will lead to our demise as a species. This book, Heinlein’s magnus opus, is his attempt to show humanity the way to save ourselves from our own stupidity and ignorance…..

Sadly, Heinlein is aware also that our fatal flaw is just that…. fatal. His protagonist, Michael Valentine Smith, who offers humanity the salvation of personal revelation, and of personal responsibility, is, in the end, killed by a mob of unbelievers, becoming the same sort of religious martyr as Jesus Christ, with, as Heinlein so aptly shows, the same probable chances of success, i.e., none…. Nothing of what Jesus taught humanity has been incorporated into society; anyone who says it has is delusional. Humanity not only has NOT adopted the philosophy of that great Jewish reformist, but has utterly rejected it, and belittled it, by perverting its precepts, twisting them to suit their own agenda, and acting in ways that are diametrically opposite to what Jesus was teaching.

I defy anyone to provide evidence that what I just said is not true, and invite them to present it here, so it can be discussed. The teachings of Jesus Christ have been corrupted by preachers and priests, politicians, corporate masters, and every other human who desires power over others. The rules of flexibility and love for fellow men that he taught have been turned into obedience to authority, and submission to temporal rulers, as those who wish to control society twist the words, and mangle the concepts that were intended to help in another way.

“Jesus only told half the story. The truth *will* set you free. But, first it’s going to piss you off.” — Solomon Short

I don’t know about y’all, but I think, even if it does piss me off, I’ll take the truth…..
__________________________________

The poem I feel percolating in my head apparently isn’t ready, so you’ll have to settle for one of the classics today….. I say ‘settle’ though I know there is no ‘settle’ necessary, or indicated….. Whatever…. enjoy!

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–
No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever–or else swoon to death.

John Keats
__________________________________

“I was making donuts and now I’m on a bus!” — Zippy the Pinhead

In most cases, I find that Zippy’s pronouncements fit for the closing comment in many pearls; it is rare that I use one as the springboard for discussion. In this case, I’m making an exception…..

Everything that comes out of Zippy’s mouth is, of course, a metaphor for some part of reality; his brain exists on a separate plane from that which is occupied by the rest of us. From that viewpoint, the above makes perfect sense, and describes a typical realization that comes to us on those occasions when we are in the process of changing….. something. Anything…. The question for us to try to answer is, “Did you remember to bring the donuts on the bus?”…..

Yes, of course I know I’m spewing nonsense….. but, like with Zippy, much of the time, it is nonsense for the ages, for it hides some pretty powerful truth. Zippy tells us here, in his inimitable way, that we are all subject to change, and can only cope with those made by the universe around us by learning to accept what happens without becoming unhinged. When one finds oneself on a bus, one must either forget the donuts, or bag ’em up and bring them along….. As Epictetus said so well, “Freedom and happiness begin with a clear understanding of one principle. Some things are within your control. And some things are not.”

What Epictetus forgot to include is the admonition to learn which things are within our control, and which are not. I find it helpful in this case to remember the three most basic rules of magic, to wit: “1) and 3) are the same: Do what is necessary, and no more; the key to successful magic, then, is lesson number 2), Learn what is necessary” Simple, logical, powerful, these rules are valuable not only for practicing magic, but for normal life, as well. Not all of us have Zippy’s naturally insane outlook, so dealing with an insane world can be, in a word, stressful, and rules such as these are very handy in coping with whatever is thrown at us by life…..

“Here is the world, sound as a nut, perfect, not the smallest piece of chaos left, never a stitch nor an end, not a mark of haste, or botching, or second thought; but the theory of the world is a thing of shreds and patches.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1845)
__________________________________

Well, it’s a bit clunky, and hard to steer, but it seems stable in the water, and it floats, which is the primary requirement, so it will have to do, as I can’t delay getting this out any longer. Still a week or so to go until I can get internet service here at home. Fortunately, I was gifted at Christmas by one of my treasured friends; I’m flush enough today to go to the coffee shop, so those of y’all on the email list will finally get a Pearl in the mail. In terms of having good people as friends, I am indeed a rich man…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

We’ll gate crash the Vatican….

Posted on August 20, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Once again, the WordPress community stepped up, and came through to help when someone asked…. My mild whining yesterday morning, regarding site statistics, prompted my regular readers to respond with a veritable avalanche of support and intelligent, compassionate advice. Virtually all of the regulars, minus a couple, commented on yesterday’s post, and all of them were positive, and encouraging. This is, I think, the third or fourth time I’ve had this happen, when I’ve asked a question in the intro, or commented on a difficulty I was experiencing with my blog, or my life…. each time, the ffolkes who read here often, took the time to comment, with answers and emotional support… it’s actually a very humbling experience.

So, I want to take a moment here to say a big, huge thank you to the ffolkes who wrote in yesterday…. Coming to blog at WordPress has been not only beneficial for that part of me that has to write, and the part that has to read, but also for my heart and soul, simply because of the people like you all who also participate in the WP community. It is people like you who will end up saving this sad old world, if it can be done, with your intelligence, your compassion, and your willingness to spend the effort to help your fellow man, without any thought of reward or gain, merely out of the passion in your heart. I am humbled, often, at your giving natures, and consider it a huge honor to call all of you Friend….

With that said, I should probably start diving for pearls, before I start blubbering like a baby…. my PTSD will do that sometimes, embarrassing me to death by making me burst into tears in the middle of a conversation….. quite degrading to the soul…. rather than have that happen, we will go now to the WWW to start our search… which could take a while, as I don’t have anything saved up, other than some Shakespeare…. hmm, maybe a bit of flaying his hide will serve….. Shall we Pearl?…..

Asking for aid here
always brings hope and advice.
Empowering friends.

gigoid

“Is that you reading me, or is that me being written?” — Smart Bee
___________________________________

“We are inclined to confuse freedom and democracy, which we regard as moral principles, with the way in which these are practiced in America — with capitalism, federalism and the two-party system, which are not moral principles, but simply the accepted practices of the American people.” — Sen. James J. William Fulbright

I remember this Fulbright guy…. he was still spouting off when I was a teenager. I don’t recall any particularly strong feelings of approval at what I heard then from him, other than the normal disdain with which I greeted almost all politics back then. But, what he says here appeals to my current self much more than what I remember from back then. This is a very accurate description of reality in American politics, and the condition of the world in which we now find ourselves can be attributed in large part to this observation’s veracity….

The beloved ruling class has been pounding the minds of the public with manipulative lies for a very long time, and it can be a difficult task to separate the truth and the lies they put out at such an alarming rate. In addition, even doing so is made more difficult by the derisive attacks they make on anyone who dares to question their lies. It’s typical for them to call anyone who questions them a Communist, or a Socialist, or some other -ist, which they think is evil whenever their lies are exposed. Or, like dear Mitt the Twitt said the other day, the people who want to see his taxes are “small minded”… the names they use don’t matter, as they are only calculated to draw attention away from the lies that are being exposed to the light of day….

“The liberal of any species is always more dangerous — because he always seems so much more rational.” — Solomon Short

This statement from Mr. Short is also perceptive, describing accurately the danger of listening to ANY politician…. even the most liberal pundit, by the act of seeking office, gives away their true purpose, not to help the downtrodden, but to gain power and influence for themselves…. They are more dangerous because their lies are designed to make the public believe that they are acting in their interests, looking out for the little guy, when in reality, they are just picking the little guy’s pocket…..

Reduce taxes on rich = trickle down prosperity. — Conservative idea #4

Never cooperate with conservatives. — Liberal Rule #34

Taken together, these two little aphorisms show why, or rather, how, it can be a confusing task to sort the truth from the lies that are served up on a daily basis. Both of these are true, in at least one sense, yet both are also outright lies, made up to demean the opposing party’s position and reputation. It’s kind of funny actually, because not only are these lies, but they are lies that can be fitted to either side like a tailor-made suit. To my way of thinking, both liberals and conservatives are wrong, so it’s easier for me to tell when they are lying…. quite easy, in fact…. if their mouth is open, they’re lying, count on it…..

“Humankind cannot stand very much reality.” — T.S. Eliot

This, from our old friend T.S., can be considered to be a fact, even a natural law, and for proof, just go back and read any historical treatise from any century. It has always been clear, especially to the beloved ruling class, that most folks have no real desire to deal with reality as it is…. they would much rather have it behave as they would like it to do. This tendency toward mental sloth is well-known to our rulers, and they exploit it mercilessly….

The political pundits are constantly telling the public what they want to hear, even though that has nothing to do with what will really take place when they are elected. The weird, sad part for me is that the public falls for it all so easily, and the rapacious and the greedy are constantly rewarded with new terms in Washington D.C., or London, or Sydney, or wherever in the world the election may take place…. If it weren’t so damn depressing, it might be entertaining….

“George Washington said to his father, “If I never tell a lie, how can I get to be President?” — Red Buttons

In any culture, one can ascertain the true state of the society by listening to the comedians…. Red Buttons wasn’t known particularly for his political humor, but with this one he struck closer to home than he knew. Right from the very start of this country, the bankers and the rich have conspired to control the government, and have been singularly effective in that quest. Even the stated fears of the founding fathers were not sufficient to keep them from insinuating themselves into the political process at every level, manipulating the laws, and the courts, to establish themselves as the true rulers of this country. Nobody gets elected who isn’t supposed to be, for they won’t willingly give away any of the control they have gained over time, and the surest way to guarantee that control is to control the elections….

“There cannot be a nation of millionaires, and there never has been a nation of Utopian comrades; but there have been any number of nations of tolerably contented peasants.” — G. K. Chesterton, Outline of Sanity CW. V. 192

SIGH…. I don’t know…. it’s all so tacky! G.K. has probably got it right, but I don’t think I want to settle for tolerable contentment. I can stand a bit more excitement than that, I hope. I’m just so tired of having to watch, as society dumbs itself down further and further with every election, sending the worst possible candidates into the spotlight, and making all of us who want more from life nervous at having to spend another four to eight years keeping our heads down and our defensive strategies up-to-date… I know I am, and I don’t even care much about politics (you wouldn’t know it, by how much I write about it….). Ah well, at least we’ve got cable TV, and the Internet…..

“Politics is poopadoodle!” — Fred the Bird, from Odds Bodkins
___________________________________

A Thing of Beauty (Endymion)

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkn’d ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
‘Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.

John Keats

“….. is a joy for ever.” Truer words were never written, and now I know the origin of the phrase…. true serendipity…. 🙂 Enjoy!
___________________________________

“A can of ASPARAGUS, 73 pigeons, some LIVE ammo, and a FROZEN DAQUIRI!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

At last…. I may have been looking for this all my life. Or not. Either way, it has just jumped into my head, and established itself as the proper combination of plot ingredients for my new book of fiction. What a delightful set of possibilities are opened up by these four little metaphors-to-be! It’s enough to make a grown man sniffle in joy…. Here, watch this….

“It was hot. Damn hot, and the frozen daiquiri looked as cool and refreshing as the smile of the girl who served it. I watched appreciatively as she bent to set it down, giving in to the tempting invitation to gaze at her….. face. 🙂 Just as I was about to ask her where I could get some live ammo, I was distracted by a huge rushing sound, as if an entire flock of pigeons had begun to circle my head; it sounded like at least 73 of them…. I couldn’t be sure. It might have been only 71; it was a very loud bar. Bending my head to read the menu, I had gotten no further than, “We proudly serve canned asparagus” when my cell phone rang….”

There, now isn’t that riveting? And that was just one outline…. using another outline, putting the metaphors in different order, will give me at least 12 other plot lines, no sweat. I love it when a plan comes together, especially when there was no plan. It just dropped right into my lap….. Uh oh…. I just realized something….. Dropped into my lap…. by whom? Shit. I was so damn pleased at finding such a brilliant stimulus package, I forgot to examine it for traces of Murphy…. Hang on a moment while I run this through the wonk-o-meter….. It will only take a minute; it warms up fast….

I should have known….. This has Murphy’s mark all over it. Damn! Now if I use it, it will end up causing me no end of controversy and embarrassment…. SFPCCC! (They’re swear words… you don’t want to know…..) Just when I thought I was done…. True to his habit, and his nature, Murphy has waited for just the right moment to slip this into my head, right when I was primed to not look at it too closely….. Whew! I dodged a big bullet that time! I’m glad I caught it before it went any further… my keyboard would probably have exploded the next time I wrote something that used it as a basis for a plot. Ah well, it was enough to count as the pearl for this section, so I guess all’s well that ends well…..

Though I am young, I scorn to flit
On the wings of borrowed wit.
— George Wither (1588-1667) — The Shepherd’s Hunting
___________________________________

Well, this is another one…. it’s not like the other one. Much…..I hope….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Maintaining a plethora of peregrines….

Posted on July 13, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Gosh…. I actually don’t have anything to complain about! What a novel concept! I think I like it…. The sun is shining, I’m not in pain, the birds are singing, and all is well in the world…. Perhaps this is an omen, of good things to come today. Sure, that’s it….

Now that we have dispensed with the shallow lies and dubious wishes, we can get on with the true business for which we are gathered…. and it has nothing at all to do with shallow lies…. 🙂 Heh, heh, heh….

Sorry… sometimes I just can’t seem to help myself….. I start typing and this stuff just dribbles out, like the saliva that pools up on one side of your cheek when you lay on one side for awhile, and doze off….. It’s probably just as hard to wipe off, I’m sure. Well, we’ll all just have to put up with it, because it obviously isn’t going to stop until I’ve driven you all completely batty, waiting for me to get around to something a bit more rational. Or at least funnier….

Funny, isn’t it? How funny is so relative…. and so personal. See, I thought the saliva piece was pretty good, but I also thought it was kind of tacky, y’know? Too much Benny Hill-style buffoonery, when I was really hoping for more of a George Carlineseque-style, an expansively witty, pretension-killing patter…… Maybe I should have used a locker room joke?….. Ah well, we’ll never know now….

Odds are, the way it’s going so far, nothing is going to happen unless I just seize control, and dive in. Y’all can join in, if’n y’wanta…. If nothing else, it should prove interesting….. and I mean that in a good way, really….
___________________________________

“I show a clear pattern of unpredictability.” — Smart Bee

This made me grin. I can’t help it, it just did. Since its uncanny resemblance to me is not quite enough to make it a pearl, as much as it may be a true and complete picture of me in today’s state of mind, I’ll play fair, and go on, without any further (intentional) instances of unpredictable behavior….. Really, I will try…. But don’t blame me for what we end up with…. it could be more drivel relating to Mitt the Twitt, and you know what that means…. blood, & gore, & guts, & veins in my teeth!

It is alleged that when Einstein and his wife visited the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, Mrs. Einstein pointed to a particularly complex piece of equipment and asked its purpose. Their guide said that it was used to determine the shape of the universe. “Oh,” she said, not at all impressed, “my husband uses the back of an old envelope to work that out.” — Also Smart Bee

Now THAT is a story worthy of pearl status, and if I am not mistaken, has been utilized as one in the past. Not that I’m going to go check or anything like that, but I’m pretty sure I’ve already used this up, so we’ll try again….

“The people who say you are not facing reality actually mean that you are not facing their idea of reality. Reality is above all else a variable. With a firm enough commitment, you can sometimes create a reality which did not exist before.” — Margaret Halsey, No Laughing Matter (1977)

Bingo! This is the clear winner here, as we all are, provided we can take this idea in, and use it in a constructive fashion. It’s the finest kind of pearl, one that stimulates, and tickles, and surprises, and inspires, all at once. This brings into focus my entire purpose in exploring the boundaries, or lack thereof, of Consensual Reality, the one we all agree on….

We agree to acknowledge the perceptions we share, yet, even in our agreement, we are unique, because our vision, our perception of that reality, is one that only we can see, and our interpretation of that set of perceptions is one only we can make…. Ensuring and magnifying that uniqueness, it joins with all the other unique visions to make a reality that is whatever we wish it to be…..

“Reality is the leading cause of stress for those in touch with it.” — Jack Wagner

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” — Philip K. Dick

Stay real, my friends!…..
___________________________________

I Speak Not

I speak not, I trace not, I breathe not thy name;
There is grief in the sound, there is guilt in the fame;
But the tear that now burns on my cheek may impart
The deep thoughts that dwell in that silence of heart.
Too brief for our passion, too long for our peace,
Were those hours – can their joy or their bitterness cease?
We repent, we abjure, we will break from our chain, –
We will part, we will fly to – unite it again!
Oh! thine be the gladness, and mine be the guilt!
Forgive me, adored one! – forsake if thou wilt;
But the heart which is thine shall expire undebased,
And man shall not break it – whatever thou may’st.
And stern to the haughty, but humble to thee,
This soul in its bitterest blackness shall be;
And our days seem as swift, and our moments more sweet,
With thee at my side, than with worlds at our feet.
One sigh of thy sorrow, one look of thy love,
Shall turn me or fix, shall reward or reprove.
And the heartless may wonder at all I resign –
Thy lips shall reply, not to them, but to mine.

George Gordon, Lord Byron

I can only say, “Incredible!” And, in spite of my usual habit of running off at the mouth, that is enough…. simply, incredible…
___________________________________

Here then is an old-school pearl…. Strung together, each of these distinct ideas blends with the others to become one scathing exposé of society today…. Just what that exposé consists of is, of course, left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…..

“And it came to pass that in the hands of the ignorant, the words of the bible were used to beat plowshares into swords…” — Alan Watts

“Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

“What do you mean, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch?” *YOU* are the free lunch!” — Solomon Short

On a sidewalk near Portland State University someone wrote `Trust Jesus’, and, someone else wrote `But Cut the Cards’. — Smart Bee

Those Jesus Freaks
Well, they’re friendly but
The shit they believe
Has got their minds all shut.
— Frank Zappa, “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing”

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

and last, but certainly not least….

“Apes evolved from Creationists!” — Smart Bee

Well, there you have it…. perhaps a bit less scathing than sardonic, but attractively presented, if nothing else, eh? Don’t forget to offer a cut to the player on your right before you deal the cards …. 🙂
___________________________________

It is said that one day, a seeker will come, bringing the staff of power to the Monkey King…. oh, wait…. that’s another story, and the beginning at that. This is supposed to be an ending….

Since that is the case, I suppose there is nothing left to do but end it…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

In the absence of morality…..

Posted on January 16, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
If is was, was is were, or was is wasn’t? If is isn’t, is confusing to say the least. Not sure what prompted that nonsense. It’s what happens when I just let my fingers type, without any input from brain. Supposedly that’s how James Joyce achieved his “stream of consciousness” style of writing; who can really say how genius works? But it certainly is hard to make sense that way. Of course, making sense is not always the goal, now is it? Sometimes it’s better to be odd, than it is to be even…..
___________________________________

When I consider life, ‘t is all a cheat.
Yet fool’d with hope, men favour the deceit;
Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay.
To-morrow ‘s falser than the former day;
Lies worse, and while it says we shall be blest
With some new joys, cuts off what we possest.
Strange cozenage! none would live past years again,
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;
And from the dregs of life think to receive
What the first sprightly running could not give.
— John Dryden (1631-1700)
— Aurengzebe, Act iv, Sc. 1

True beauty requires no adornment, nor comment…..
___________________________________

“All societies are based on rules to protect pregnant women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly which can – and must – be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function. As racial survival is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a “perfect society” on any other foundation other than “Women and children first!” is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly- and no doubt will keep on trying.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

Robert Heinlein was somewhat conservative in his political views, with an occasional foray into Atheism/Solipsism/Pantheism/Libertarianism to assuage his need for independence. The conservatism comes from his military education (he and L. Ron Hubbard were cadets at Annapolis in the early twentieth century), and an (for him) obsessive fear of creeping Communism. He wrote more than one story about revolution, or uprisings by Americans after being conquered, and all referred to the role, and duty, of the citizen in a republic, and in these stories, his conservatism comes through clearly.

But, he also had a very strong sense of personal and societal responsibility, believing each man has the duty to act in a manner that is beneficial to others, as well as to himself; society works best when the wheels are well-greased. I suppose what is attractive about his belief system is that it holds each man responsible for his own actions, while still acknowledging his duty to society. There are many, many too few men like him alive today, and there isn’t one politician alive who even approaches his level of patriotism; they’re all too busy with their personal agendas…..we need more like the one described below…..

“Boys become men by watching men, by standing close to men. Manhood is a ritual passed from generation to generation with precious few spoken instructions. Passing the torch of manhood is a fragile, tedious task. If the rite of passage is successfully completed, the boy-become-man is like an oak of hardwood character. His shade and influence will bless all those who are fortunate enough to lean on him and rest under his canopy.” — Preston Gilham
___________________________________

If you understand, things are as they are.
If you do not understand, things are as they are.
— Gensha, Zen Master

Cuando se comprende sus problema, se conoce el solución. Y que es, es….. sounds pretty good in Spanish too. Though it’s not completely accurate, the Zen koan is deeply related to my little Latin pearl. For the google-challenged among you, it translates as, “When you understand the problem, you know the answer.” (Not sure, but I may have made it up, as I’ve not seen it before in print, at least, not in Spanish. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t printed, just that I’ve not seen it) The underlying reason for doing so was to find the middle ground between the two quotes, both of which are part of the solution to the Big Picture; around here we call it Consensual Reality.

Consensual Reality is the one that all of us know; it’s the one whose referents are known to all of us, and accepted as being the correct interpretation of what we perceive as real. Learning to see the whole picture is the first task to complete on the path to knowledge and truth; and learning consists of learning to accept what is, just the way it is. To do so, one must often employ Occam’s Razor, to trim away the nonsense and useless facts that accumulate in the process, carving away what is superfluous, to reveal the beauty within the Truth.

It can be a lonely path to walk, as most folks just don’t want to spend the effort to find deeper knowledge. Most are content to just get by, dealing with the peccadilloes of daily life the best they may without expending a lot of effort. But the reward is a renewed sense of self-respect, and the ability to sleep at night unbothered by fearful dreams of what might be……

Pluralitas non ponenda est sine necessitate. (Multiplicity is not to be asserted when it is unnecessary.) — William of Occam [Occam’s Razor]
___________________________________

“Truth never tranquilizes. The defining property of truth is its ability to disturb.” — Solomon Short

Bleeding heavily from wounds unseen
the warrior within fights on, on, and on.
In defense of truth, with blade so keen,
for the living dead, for the quick,
for the weak, for the aged sick,
he fights, and dreams on.

Don’t ask me any questions. I just might tell you the truth. It’s a risk only you can fathom……
___________________________________

There is a pleasure in poetic pains
Which only poets know.
— William Cowper (1731-1800) — The Task, Book ii, The Timepiece, Line 285

When I came across this little gem, an image from a movie flashed into my mind’s eye. In the third Indiana Jones movie, Indiana and his father are fleeing from a German airplane, and all of a sudden become trapped in the open on a beach, while the fighter plane, guns blazing, flies right at them. The elder Jones, (Sean Connery), begins to run at a flock of sea birds, yelling and flourishing his umbrella. The flock flew up, straight into the path of the airplane, taking it down as surely as a .50 caliber Gatling. As he strolls away, he quotes the line about Charlemagne “and the birds in the sky shall be my weapons.” (or something like that), and strolls calmly away. It was a perfect audio-visual example of what is said above by Mr. Cowper…..and a fine testament to the power of language, especially in the form of a poem, even a simple couplet….
___________________________________

Enough is enough….it’s important to know when to stop. It’s still early; lets go see what kind of trouble I can get myself into. My coping skills need a workout….. y’all take care out there….

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

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: Solomon Short

Revolutionary changes are imperative, it seems….

PUT THAT DOWN!…. Sir, please, step away from the clown….

Malcolm patented the “three days dead” look….

Dead ducks found on subway–fowl play suspected…

The magical life of Welsh budgies….

In the domain of the demons of democracy…..

Simple, yet complex patterns of mist…..

We’ll gate crash the Vatican….

Maintaining a plethora of peregrines….

In the absence of morality…..

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: