Casting the runes unnerves some people….

Posted on December 9, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Are you mentally here at Pizza Hut??” — Zippy the Pinhead

There may be many out there who read this, (which shows just how optimistically silly a mood I’m in; I can count, and, only a few hardy souls brave these pages each day…), who will question my use of the infamous pinhead to start out the day, but, to look at the expression on Albert’s face, he knows exactly why Zippy is at the top, as well as the answer to his query, which, naturally, is delivered in a piteously querulous voice, filled with apprehension and angst…. how else? I know for a fact Albert had a very silly side; I have a graphic example, to go along with ample text evidence, which has been presented here previously…. My graphic proof is, of course, this picture….

Previously, I’ve related what Albert said about Life, to wit: “After figuring out the shape and characteristics of space and time, wearing plaid with fuzzy slippers is easy.” (Or something like that….) There’s graphic proof, or suggestive evidence, anyway, of this one, too…. See?….

I’m really not making fun of Albert; I don’t have the chops to carry that off, obviously…. In fact, my irreverence is taken from him, and his own attitudes about living, as I understand those attitudes from my reading about him…. Sadly, he died when I was five, well before I had any chance to realize how wise he was; most of my knowledge of him comes from what he left behind, the legacy of what he wrote, and what others wrote about him…. That alone has been sufficient for me to realize he was one of the two or three wisest men who lived in the twentieth century, not only for his work in helping mankind to understand the physical world, but, for his insights into human nature, and life at large…. Plus, he was damn silly at times, obviously with a great sense of humor, and a keen appreciation for the absurdity inherent in reality…. The latter is a sure way to get MY attention, as y’all know….

Now, a large portion of that legacy, of information of his life, in the form of papers, letters, and pictures, of him, by him, and about him, covering much of his early life, is a much larger body of information, available to anyone who can access the internet. Princeton University, with which Einstein was closely connected for much of his adult life in the United States, has digitized ALL of the papers they had in their possession, and with the approval of the Einstein estate, have posted them online, without restrictions, for anyone to read…. Much of it is in its original German, the language of Albert’s youth, in which language he wrote his personal letters all his life; for those who don’t speak or read German, an English translation of each document is made available….

You can find it all at this address:

http://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol1-doc

I, for one, will be spending a great many hours, happily perusing as many of those pieces of Albert’s mind at different points in his life as I can tolerate, both in German, (when I can follow it…. it’s been a long time, and I learned it well after he learned to write it; it will be thick, for sure, but, I’ll have a translation right there to help…. Yay!….), and in English…. Mostly the latter, I’m sure; it has been a VERY long time since I read any German…. But, who knows? Maybe it will break loose a whole big bunch of memories, or give me reason to find someone to speak it with me…. For now, I’ve meandered quite enough… we’ve got a lot of silly to get to today, I think….

Shall we Pearl?

“It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.” — Aeschylus

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

Ffolkes, nobody has a stranger view of the universe than this man…. For your viewing pleasure, I give you now, the world’s most DIFFERENT mind….

Steven Wright Special (1985)

http://youtu.be/UB8ZDrNb3B0

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“He asked me if I knew what time it was. I said, `Yes, but not right now.'” — Steven Wright

It isn’t every day I delete a rant which I’ve completely finished, but. yesterday, that’s exactly what I did…. I had it polished, buffed, and fitted out with appropriate pearls, all fresh crap straight out of my head, taking aim at myself, the Asininnies, aka the BRC and the Dogma Dogs (yes, that’s their new name…), the drones, and all us fools caught here on this particular plane of existence. Accurate aim, too, I think, though, the longer it’s gone, the better it gets, of course….

Dumb ass that I am, I failed to close the program I wrote it in, which then auto-saves whatever I’ve written there, so, when I inadvertently clicked the shut down button, forcing programs to shut down, all I’d done in the last eight hours, two or three minutes at a time, then breaking for pain, well… it all just went away, to wherever electrons go when they’re not given a memory address to stay in, so we can find them later….. SIGH….

Now what? I know…. I’ll go extreme….

“Hiccuping & trembling into the WASTE DUMPS of New Jersey like some drunken CABBAGE PATCH DOLL, coughing in line at FIORUCCI’S!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Now, THAT is monumentally silly! Sad, yet, silly…. Sort of like today’s Pearl, come to think of it…. I suppose now I’ll have to make a pearl here, to keep from breaking into a song, which would then turn into a rant, against Mary Poppins, or some such idiotic icon of her level of respectability…. If what we’ve seen so far is any indication, we’ll do fine, as long as we can keep from sucking milk up our noses…. Let’s not think about it coming, or going, in ANY other direction, okay?…. Instead, let’s go find some pearls, of the random silly variety….

Birth, n.: The first and direst of all disasters. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Nobody HAS to do anything.” — McCabe’s law

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

“Be good to your friends, or they may develop psychokinetic powers and destroy Tokyo.” — Smart Bee

“Where do we keep all our chainsaws, mom?” — Calvin & Hobbes

“A bowl of oatmeal tried to stare me down — And won.” — John Prine

HASH, x. There is no definition for this word — nobody knows what hash is. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Enough! Any sillier, and we’d start circling the drain, clockwise….

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

Nobody does silly better than this poet….

Adventures of Isabel

Isabel met an enormous bear,
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t care;
The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,
The bear’s big mouth was cruel and cavernous.
The bear said, Isabel, glad to meet you,
How do, Isabel, now I’ll eat you!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry.
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,
Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.
Once in a night as black as pitch
Isabel met a wicked old witch.
the witch’s face was cross and wrinkled,
The witch’s gums with teeth were sprinkled.
Ho, ho, Isabel! the old witch crowed,
I’ll turn you into an ugly toad!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry,
She showed no rage and she showed no rancor,
But she turned the witch into milk and drank her.
Isabel met a hideous giant,
Isabel continued self reliant.
The giant was hairy, the giant was horrid,
He had one eye in the middle of his forehead.
Good morning, Isabel, the giant said,
I’ll grind your bones to make my bread.
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She nibbled the zwieback that she always fed off,
And when it was gone, she cut the giant’s head off.
Isabel met a troublesome doctor,
He punched and he poked till he really shocked her.
The doctor’s talk was of coughs and chills
And the doctor’s satchel bulged with pills.
The doctor said unto Isabel,
Swallow this, it will make you well.
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She took those pills from the pill concocter,
And Isabel calmly cured the doctor.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

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I’m not entirely sure what this pearl is trying to say, but, it all seems pretty important, so, I’m letting SB do what it wants with it…. Maybe there will be a point, but, given today’s theme, it’s somewhat in doubt…. making it a perfect ending pearl….

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” — Oscar Wilde (1856-1900)

“Common and vulgar people ascribe all ill that they feel to others; people of little wisdom ascribe to themselves; people of much wisdom, to no one.” — Epictetus

“The doctrine of human equality reposes on this: that there is no man really clever who has not found that he is stupid.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton

“The only lifelong, reliable motivations are those that come from within, and one of the strongest of those is the joy and pride that grow from knowing that you’ve just done something as well as you can do it.” — Lloyd Dobens and Clare Crawford-Mason, Thinking About Quality

“Integrity needs no rules.” — Smart Bee

“We keep, in science, getting a more and more sophisticated view of our essential ignorance.” — Warren Weaver

“The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.” — Frank Zappa

Oops! Sorry, ffolkes, that last one slipped by me for a moment…. It’s too true to be cut, so, I’ll just find one more pearl, to finish this off properly, and leave it where it is, as a nod to its excellence…. Here’s the right one to end with….

“Time as he grows old teaches many lessons.” — Aeschylus (525-456 BC) — Prometheus, 981

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My brain is clear, my conscience, though challenged, is clean, and, I don’t even like Jesus just now; I suppose I make a damn poor Amurrican. Since that’s a moniker I hope never to have applied to me, in any fashion, I’m outta here, before it occurs to someone just how silly this all is…. Oh, right. I guess it’s a bit late for that, isn’t it? Oh, well…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can’t talk myself out of it again….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Ten superlative reasons to cease and desist….

Posted on November 4, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Be not diverted from your duty by any idle reflections the silly world may make upon you,

for their censures are not in your power,

and consequently should not be any part of your concern.”

~~ Epictetus ~~

A Moon of Saturn Throws Its Shadow on the Great Red Spot

Life’s a funny business, isn’t it? We humans have a cultural icon, whom we have named Murphy. This force of nature, representing the power of Entropy in our lives, is common to all cultures on our planet, as a result of our perceptions, which are based on the the principle of the symmetrical balance of force that exists throughout reality; in short, everything exists as part of a universe in which every action has a reaction, every dark a light, every down an up, every yes a no. Our very organs of perception are designed to notice those differences in the substances we perceive, to give us information from the surrounding environs which will enable us to survive…. That is the intent, anyway….

Bit, given the power of stupidity that rules most people’s lives, most of them not only never realize how their senses work… much less what their perceptions MEAN. They also haven’t a clue as to what that might MEAN to them, in a larger sense, as applied to how their own actions affect that universe in which we all reside. This lack of understanding leads to a number of issues that have conspired to delay human advancement over the centuries, especially in terms of the development of the human mind, and cultural advancement…. In truth, we haven’t really gone too far from our origins, as savages, huddling in the cold around a fire we found by accident…

Truth be told, most of the people alive today would be perfectly comfortable living in a cave, with a fire for light and heat, wearing the skins of dead animals to cover them in the cold; those same people are uncomfortable living in today’s world, which asks them to actually USE their brain, rather than just following along behind it, scratching their ass and mumbling about being late for dinner…. Emotionally, we react to the world much the same as those cave dwellers, becoming angry to cover our fear, living with superstitions and delusions as to how the big, scary world out there is so incomprehensible…. So, we make up these supernatural entities who are responsible for all that stuff, and we don’t have to think about it….

I am NOT ranting. I’m not. It may SOUND as if I am, but, let me assure you, I am not…. That will come later, in section two…. I am laying out a premise, which, if reflected upon for a time, can be of use to us…. You don’t have to take it, and put it to use, but, it CAN help in dealing with others, to understand that, most of the people you meet in the world are clueless, and afraid, all the time… They don’t understand why they have to work so hard, just to get by, and never really get anywhere…. They don’t understand the stuff going on around them, so, TV becomes their source for all their opinions, or thoughts of any kind beyond what comprises their next meal…

You may think this discussion shows me as one who does not like people much; in that you’d be perfectly wrong. I love everyone; I also realize most of them don’t have the wit to understand much of what is happening in the world; what is more, some of them are plainly assholes. Those two groups generally end up in conflict, as the assholes try to take all the others have, and push them around unmercifully, while the group being bullied isn’t even aware they are operating in a Stygian darkness, out of which they will never climb to see the light…..

Ah well, that’s life, as they say…. I’m not sure just WHO says it, but, I’ve heard it said, so, that will have to do…. I see I’ve managed to wander around in my own head long enough to call this an intro, so, I’m going to take the money and run…. (What money? Oh, ffolkes, do I really have to explain?…. Sheesh….) Any who, I’d suggest you grab the closest stanchion, or other method of securing your position, because we’re going in, and it could get bumpy….

Shall we Pearl?

“I reject that philosophy. The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.” — Douglas Adams through Dirk Gently

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

Today, or, rather, yesterday, while working ahead on this Pearl, I was feeling a bit curmudgeonly, with a side of sardonicism…. hence, the rant you see below, about the current circus on the public stage around the Ebola virus outbreak…. To counter the sobriety of the piece, while simultaneously providing supportive argumentation for the rant, here is a video that should bring a smile to your face…. Well, unless you have no sense of humor at all, it will…. Plus, if you aren’t careful, this guy will also make you think….

The Best of George Carlin: Exposing our government and fall of humanity one joke at a time

http://youtu.be/6_zwB6GLpo4

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“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.”

~~ from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long ~~

http://time.com/3554336/ebola-poll-quarantine-health-workers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29

The article I wish you to read today, which you may find by following the above link, concerns a poll taken regarding the subject of the Ebola virus, and its visible effects on the American psyche…. Quite simply, I was surprised, nay, astounded beyond belief, at the quantity of SHEER FUCKING STUPIDITY displayed by the American public in this poll… Seven out of ten IDIOTS in this country believe that healthcare workers should have their rights taken away, just because they had the compassion to go to Africa, to help protect THOSE SAME FUCKING IDIOTS from the disease, by treating it there….

As a reward for their compassion, patriotism, and selflessness, seventy-one percent of the Americans polled thought it was okay to confine the workers in quarantine for 21 days, EVEN IF THEY WERE TESTED, AND WERE NOT CARRYING THE VIRUS! This number clearly indicates how the average American mistrusts science, (because they refuse to spend the energy to understand any of it….), and will do, or agree to ANYTHING, no matter how it affects anyone else, in order to feel safe behind the massive wall of their ignorance….

“In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

The dreaded sea-change, so feared by our founding fathers, has happened…. The American public has been brainwashed to a degree where they will surrender every right they used to have, if only they don’t have to think, or take responsibility for the consequences of their STUPIDITY!

“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise.” — Tom Paine

The Ebola virus, as I have determined (How? Oh, it wasn’t hard; there is a shitload of information already on file on the ‘Net….), by the evidence we have, is no more dangerous to us than is the virus that causes the common cold, or the yearly flu strains we all are encouraged to be afraid of….as if it were someone else’s planet we live on…. Sure, it’s a nasty little bug, and, it can kill, but, so can a cold, or the flu, if not treated, and allowed to take over the body’s systems, to its detriment…. But, with treatment, the victim has a very good chance of survival, as medical technology has advanced to a point where most people, no matter how ill they become with a viral or bacterial disease, can at least be supported enough to be able to survive, if uncomfortably during the course of the treatment….

But, comparing the number of people who catch it, and those who die, reveals a mortality rate no more disturbing than that of those who have contracted the AIDS virus… which we have learned to fight to a draw in many cases, with hope for future breakthroughs in treatment. This Ebola virus is made more dangerous than it actually is by the reaction of the political leaders of the “civilized” world, who look at the issue as a tool to use to solidify their hold on power, a perfect opportunity for Public Relations posturing; by the media, who use the issue to sell more papers & ads; and by the public, who are too stupid to investigate on their own, allowing the government and media flunkies to blow their fears completely out of proportion, so they can more easily be manipulated…

“How come you never see a politician laugh? Because they know what they’re getting away with, and if they started laughing, they’d never stop.” — Smart Bee

I was extremely proud of that nurse, Kaci Hickox, who has so courageously flipped the finger to all of those stupid people who would, if they could, turn her into another victim, this time at the hands of HER OWN PEOPLE…. The very people for whom she braved the wilds of Africa, to fight their battles at the front line of defense…. For this, that stupid lot of bloody gits turns on her, taking her rights, and trying to make her the victim of their fears and ignorance…. Good on her!….

That’s enough; y’all get the point…. Don’t listen to the idiots, ffolkes…. Let the doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals deal with it, and tell the Beloved Ruling Class, the Preachers, Priests, Imams, and all the other Asininnies who would live their lives in the darkness, if only they can feel safe and protected, without the need to think, or show courage, or, live with any dignity….. well, just tell them to go fuck themselves, hard, in the most inconvenient orifice they possess…. No lubricants allowed….

Now I’ve been vulgar, it must be time to draw to a close…. I’ll leave you with this final thought, with the caveat that you use it as intended….

“Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but habituate yourself to something else.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — How the Semblances of Things are to be combated, — Discourses, Book ii, Chap. xviii

Obviously, too many people assumed Epictetus was speaking of “thinking”, and decided to habituate themselves to something else…. In which case, they would do well to remember the following, and apply it, instead, to their approach….

Step with care and great tact
And remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

~~ Dr. Suess, Oh, the Places You’ll Go ~~

In short….THINK!

So be it….

gigoid has spoken.

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

It’s an Emily day….. In fact, let’s do double-duty; they’re small…. at least, if all one considers is the number of words…. The images and ideas thereby produced can hardly be judged by the same standard….

Delight becomes pictorial
When viewed through pain,–
More fair, because impossible
That any gain.

The mountain at a given distance
In amber lies;
Approached, the amber flits a little,–
And that’s the skies!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
—————————————————————-

I died for beauty but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth,–the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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Today’s fresh, old-school pearl was compiled mostly by Smart Bee…. I am a bit distracted, all in all, (no, I don’t know why, and don’t have the time or inclination to worry about it right now….), but, I think it came out okay, as long as one has a healthy tolerance for nonsense, and/or, implied sardonicism…. That may be so because, for the most part, they are comments about common human behaviors, to some degree… In any case, I should think that virtually anyone can find a chuckle or two in the grouping, and, if lucky, possibly even a chortle….

Col Mustard: “How many husbands have you had?”
Mrs White: “Mine, or others?”

— Clue —

Apparently heard at a public lecture by the famous C. Northcote Parkinson at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras: Government’s handling of a difficult matter by appointing a Commission of Enquiry is just like a person going to the toilet — there is a sitting, a report, and then the matter is dropped. — Smart Bee

“I was born by Caesarian section…but not so you’d notice. It’s just that when I leave a house, I go out through the window.” — Steven Wright

“If you use a waffle iron for a pillow, be sure it is unplugged.” — Gary Owens

“Any man, in the right situation, is capable of murder. But not any man is capable of being a good camper. So, murder and camping are not as similar as you might think.” — Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

“I love to go down to the schoolyard and watch all the little children jump up and down and run around yelling and screaming…They don’t know I’m only using blanks.” — Emo Phillips

Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow;
The rest is all but leather or prunello.

~~- Alexander Pope — Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 203 ~~

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For a morning rife with reasons for things to go badly, today’s effort went well…. I guess that’s karma in action for ya; one never knows how one’s karmic balance stands, do one? Sometimes, I think it’s a bit difficult, because it never seems to match my figures…. I suppose that means that our karma is like a checkbook…. hard to keep in balance…. On that singularly silly note, I’m outta here…. See y’all 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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Just as well; this one is too blue….

Posted on October 20, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“It is not the possessions but the desires of mankind which require to be equalized.”

~~ Aristotle ~~

I apologize to anyone who got fooled into watching yesterday’s video choice…. I had not watched “Plan 9 From Outer Space” for many years, having apparently blocked out of my mind anything about the plot or quality; I watched it yesterday for a while, but, lasted only up to 15:45, (when the third of Vampira’s victims is found by the police), before having to stop the video to prevent damaging the computer…. I was frighteningly close to tossing it through the window when I caught myself…

I promise, from now on, I’ll pre-screen any movies like that one… Aye, it’s a cult classic of the genre (Ed Wood, Jr. films, and their ilk…), noted for its campy nature, and lower than B- or, even C-movie rating. I guess in this case, campy translates into crappy…. Oh well, I saw some others on the page where I found it that looked like they would at least have a slightly larger FX budget, with a flying saucer that doesn’t wobble as it moves forward, due to being suspended by only one string, as it gets dragged across the camera’s eye, rushing uncertainly in front of the (obviously) poorly drawn background, by some guy who apparently has a limp, walking out of sight behind the screen…. SIGH…. I won’t even mention the acting, because nobody in the movie could be accused of that….

Sometimes, my paragraphs get a bit long, and I can’t cut them down, because, as with the one just above this one, it has a typical, (for me), run-on sentence of massive proportion… The one you see here is almost worthy of the Bulwer-Lytton contest held each year, to find the worst opening line for a story…. The four lines above are pretty bad, all in all, but, I’ve seen some amazingly putrid paragraphs take the prize, so it isn’t what I would call a prize-winning effort…. I think at least eight or ten lines are required to catch the judges eyes, all much like that one above, just plain boring and repetitive, until one considers how wonderfully awful it is….

Oh well, it’s fun, but, my purpose here is to teach myself to write better, not worse. I can cough up a run-on sentence any old time; making a compellingly charming one is much more of a challenge, you may be sure. Today, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to come up with either type, that is, not until I can figure out how to get us out of the intro…. I seem to have written myself into a corner again, with no apparent exit…. Oh well, that’s alright. I’ll just break out a bit of the ruthlessness I have left over from a few days ago, and rip us out…. right here, and right now….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Although war is cruel and brutal, it is also dangerous and stupid.” — Yakko Warner

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I believe I’ve already stated my preference for Eric Clapton’s music, so, I won’t bother to gush any more today. I’ll just say this: this band is considered by more than a few rock historians to be the best group that ever got together & put out an album…. We are fortunate in that Derek and the Dominos put out a couple, or three (I forget), so we have a good legacy of their talented time together…. This album is the best of what they did, with what many consider the best R&R song ever made, in Layla…. Abondanza, ffolkes…..

Layla — Derek and The Dominos (Full Album)

http://youtu.be/Lqr-Sr4g8vc

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“It is always best to start at the beginning.” — Smart Bee

Sometimes, Smart Bee comes up with stuff that’s hard to argue with…. Since, in this case, I’m aware of this, I’ll just let it go, and get on with what I have planned for here…. In putting together the pearl, and pearls, for section five, I got a bit carried away with comments, which, while not unusual, did cause that section to grow beyond all reason, into what could be considered a rant…. So, since the news seems to be quiet right now, waiting for the other shoe to drop, I suppose, I will NOT rant here….

Instead, here is a nice, fresh, old-school, seven-star pearl, a bit eclectic, but, not bad…. It will do for today’s effort, which is a bit fractured, anyway, as I try to work new protocols into my day, to deal with my newest annoying physical issue…. This one turned out a little twisted, so, be careful on the turns, okay?….

“Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.” — Aristophanes

“Anatidaephobia: The fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you.” — Smart Bee

“The tragedy and the magnificence of Homo sapiens together rise from the same smoky truth that we alone among the animal species refuse to acknowledge natural law.” — Robert Ardrey, _The Social Contract_

“Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emissions standards from man-made sources.” — Ronald W. Reagan, quoted in “Sierra”, 10 September 1980

“Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” — Will Rogers

“Democritus said, words are but the shadows of actions.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children

“Ever stop to think and then forget to start again?” — Steven Wright

Hmm…. At this point, I think it would be best if I didn’t comment any further…. Why don’t we go read a poem?…. Good idea…..

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I have found the site named Poemhunter.com to be an excellent web site; it has everything a poet, or one who merely appreciates poetry, could ask for. One of those features is a listing of the top 500 poems of all time, as voted by their readers…. When I want to include a good one from a classic author, I go straight to the list, where I find poems such as this one from Wordsworth, which, for some reason, has always been one of my favorites…. It might be because he describes a process familiar to us all…. well, familiar to all of us who possess an imagination, anyway…. Enjoy!….

Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

~~ William Wordsworth ~~

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

So, if SB cooperates, the following old-school pearl will be the relative equivalent of a rant; the given parameters I set were to pick pearls which demonstrated the modern American politician’s way of looking at the world, and life, or, in some way, indicates how the average American has been corrupted, to believe in standards and issues which are completely false, or in some way are designed only to keep them distracted, unaware of exactly what their leaders are doing….(I seem to be practicing for the next Bulwer-Lytton test….)

By the end of it, you’ll get the picture…. which is why the pearl would be rantable, or, at minimum, usable IN a rant, if utilized in that respect…. You’ll see, no worries, mates… Oh, just as a helpful reminder…. any insulting statements, if unclear, you may assume the insulter is referring to a politician…. because they most likely were my target….

“Bend the facts to fit the conclusion. It’s easier that way.” — Smart Bee

“He was as great as a man can be without morality.” — Alexis de Tocqueville

(See? Both of these are perfectly ascribable to ANY US president of the last 30 years, since Carter’s administration…. Hell, over the last 60 years, I know of only two presidents who displayed ANY sort of integrity while in office, one of whom was Jimmy Carter…. Of the rest, only Kennedy showed any concern for the common man, and Jack only did so because that was his gig; it’s how he fooled the public, by seeming to be on their side, and, acting as if he were, in many ways…. But, then one must also consider his misogyny (just couldn’t keep his hands off women other than Jackie….), and his overall lifetime membership in the BRC, as one of the richest men in America…. and, he’s the one who sealed the deal in Vietnam, selling it to the public with all his charm….)

(Okay, it has to be said…. the current prez, Barry the Obama, has, as far as I can see, hit about 30/70 on the moral/evil scale while in office; prior to his election as prez, I had NEVER HEARD OF HIM AT ALL, a fact which tends to make me think the Dems were sort of hiding him in plain sight, waiting for the right moment to throw him up into the spotlight, a tactic which worked beyond all their dreams of success… Any who, he’s done okay on healthcare, and economic issues, which is why I generously gave him the 30….)

(I think, though, his actions there were simply designed to get the common man to trust him, as well as to distract him, by highlighting this issue, along with gun control issues, which come up every time someone gets shot, it seems…. But, in terms of supporting the bankers, nobody has ever given them so much money as Obama, with his “bailouts” which, as a reward, the bankers used to allow the economy to settle down, so he would look good….)

)Thus, he has been able to reward the bankers in turn, by keeping us in a constant state of war, spending millions upon billions of dollars on armaments and military actions, none of which is ever debated in public, or declared as a war by Congress…. and, that doesn’t even mention the whole illegal spying issue, and the complete lie of “transparency” he promised during the run-up to the election…. )

(I’m ranting, aren’t I?….. Oops…. Oh well, back to the pearls….)

“… if the democratic nations fail, their failure must be partly attributed to the faulty strategy of idealists who have too many illusions when they face realists who have too little conscience.” — Reinhold Niebuhr

“I’m not happy until I’ve violated somebody’s civil rights and then put them in jail. … That ruins their day … but it makes mine.” — Christopher Commission report of LAPD car-to-car computer message, 7/91

“As a candidate for national elective office the most dangerous thing you can do is say something during the campaign that the people might remember.” — Eugene McCarthy

“I’ve heard enough of your twaddle, Ringleader. We’ll settle this the American way — with our fists!” — Mighty Mouse, “The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse”

(I’m surprised he didn’t say “bombs”….)

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

“Our “neoconservatives” are neither new nor conservative, but old as Babylon and evil as Hell.” — Edward Abbey

“Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.” — John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy 1981-1987

I like the quotes from the living and dead talking heads, such as the last one…. They tend to show how the speakers really feel and believe, thus giving us the clearest view of their intransigently evil natures….

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

Okay, so, it almost got out of hand, but, I managed to wrestle it back into the restraining device, though not without some pissing and moaning…. Regardless, it’s done, as far as I can get it done, so, it will, by definition, be good enough…. In point of fact, though, it’s a bit of an odd duck, so, perhaps it would be best if I slip out this side door here, before the authorities arrive…. You can tell them I said hello, okay? Thanks….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if they don’t catch me….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Wanna help bury some dead platitudes?….

Posted on April 14, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Long ago, or, maybe yesterday, I forget, I made the decision to write, in order to clear my head of all the dross and drivel that had accumulated in there over the years…. which dross and drivel, uncommonly erudite as it was, had caused me untold hours of emotional turbulence, due to the uncomfortable contrast it shows to a significant number of the various perceptible parts of reality…. I decided it would do better out of my head; in the process, it would afford me some relief from having to carry it around, and, at the same time, put some of it where it might do some good, into my ranting….

I know my rants are generally a bit strident, at least in their criticism of the BRC, and the rest of the assholes who have made our world such a bloody fucking mess, but, I’ve always TRIED to be humorously light-hearted, if somewhat cranky, in the course of taking all my shots at our beloved leaders. I also know they get a bit long for a morning blog; that has to do with the strength of the emotions that are driving the rant, and, with my PTSD still lurking about in my head somewhere, they tend to be fairly strong….

All of this is just more of what might be termed faddle, or maybe, fiddle, which is, of course, the other side of faddle…. both of which, naturally, are words I just made up, on the spot, to confuse and irritate…. Oh, not you… me…. I figure I haven’t tried that yet, so, what the heck…. It can’t produce anything worse than what usually passes for an intro around here, and just might be the long-term answer for which I have so frantically searched for so long…. One would THINK that after this much time, I might have come up with SOMETHING worthwhile to use every day, but, NOOOOO, not me, I’ve got to spend YEARS pissing around with the same old crap, buying time until we can get a bit further down the page….

I’ve even gotten to the point of modifying paragraph structure, and/or making grammatical observations, just to trick readers into thinking this crap means something, when all it really means is that, once again, I can’t think of a damn thing to write about…. so, I just jump in, with both hands flying across the keyboard, filling in what might have otherwise passed as decently composed literature, knowing that we only have a few moments left to carry this off…

If anyone figures out the scam before I can finish, the resulting tears in the fabric of the literary cloth I’ve woven can send us into a dangerous tailspin, which is not merely dangerous, as well as too early to contemplate, in my state of mind today, but can actually cause real physical harm…. which my insurance guy is getting a bit tired of…..

So, we’ll make our way to the first section, again, where I have prepared for you an older rant, a politirant that, like most of them that I write, is as valid today as it was when written…. I think, maybe, that’s because I usually talk about crap that isn’t going to ever go away, sadly…. not until the Universe has carried out the judgment against us for our crimes against Nature, which is bound to be happening any old time now…. In the meantime….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.” — Protagoras of Adera (481-411 B.C.)?

Got that? Good….. let’s move on….

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Here is a rant posted on 6/8/13, for the second time, a pretty good politirant from 2012…. It speaks about the election of that year, but the points addressed are still relevant, as you’ll see….

——————————————–

I am running late, a bit, since I got up at a completely reasonable hour, and have been dawdling over getting this done, letting my mind wake up at its own pace…. and now, I don’t have the time, or the energy, to rant, not effectively…. Once again, though, the archives will come to the rescue…. Here is a politirant I wrote on 7/14/2012, a little less than a year ago, during the run-up to the Presidential election in November of that year….

I remember it quite well, and consider it one of my better rants, especially as it continued through two sections of what then were the longer, five section pearls of the old format…. At that length, it’s a bit long, but it’s all quite accurate, and still pretty relevant, given that the political scenery hasn’t altered significantly since it was written… But, then, political scenery never does really change anything but the faces of the people at the top, does it?….. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is pretty good, and on the mark….
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“Ignore the man behind the screen.” — The All Seeing, All Powerful, Wonderful Wizard of Oz

As the time passes and we draw ever nearer to the election this year, this becomes increasingly relevant. It is important to remember that ALL the political candidates are guilty of using the art of prestidigitation in their communications with the public. Of course, Mitt the Twitt and the GOP are showing particularly egregious new heights to which they are willing to take the art; they have paraded a series of lies before the public that are not even hidden, or palmed like cards; they’re just out there, proven as lies, but ignored. They don’t seem to care; they just deny, ignore, and issue their next false accusation or made up statistics….

‘Shit Happens’ according to… Denialism: What shit? — Smart Bee

The Democrats aren’t completely free of this syndrome, either; if you believe they are, then you have entered the Twilight Zone, and may have trouble finding your way back to the real world. I admire Obama, much the same way I did Carter; they are both basically decent men trying to do an impossible job, while constantly having to contend with an entire segment of those who are supposed to support him who, instead, are attempting to thwart his every reform, simply for the sake of divisiveness. In their fight to get ANYTHING done, they have had to resort to chicanery of their own. I figure they, at least, feel a bit of guilt about it, whereas I can see no such reaction from Mitt or any of the GOP spokes bozos…. They just deny and ignore any such suggestions of wrong-doing….

Let’s consider Mitt the Twitt for a moment. Here is a man who admits to being rich as Croesus, yet finds it necessary to hide at least half of his real worth, as if it would tarnish his image of someone who can relate to the common man. I think the common man, to Mitt, is someone who only has $50,000 worth of investments, to go along with the house they own, their three cars, and the vacation home in Maine. In contrast to EVERY OTHER candidate’s policy of publishing their taxes, he continues to refuse to release any returns beyond the last one; there are inconsistencies and red flag items of interest to the public in that one, too, but he refuses to discuss any of it…

This is the same man who tied his dog to a kennel on the roof of a car, driving obliviously off on vacation, without ever thinking of how terrified the dog might be, barreling along at 80 mph, with the wind blowing straight through the kennel. He laughs about it, and turns questions about it to other subjects, refusing to even comment on it. This is the same man who, when asked about a serious incident of bullying and gay bashing during his last year in high school, shrugged it off as “youthful pranks and high spirits”…..

This is the same man who…. well, never mind. I could go on most of the day, and not get to all the little incidents from just the last few months that indicate the Twitt’s complete disregard for the majority of Americans, all of which show clearly how entrenched he is in the 1%, and how committed he is to solidifying the stranglehold that the banks and corporations have on the rest of American society.

Romney’s total focus is on the agenda of the rich, to the detriment of the poor, which is why I am totally astounded, at just how many lower-income fundie conservative IDIOTS are out there in this country, blindly supporting him, in the mistaken belief that he gives a shit about them…. All they know, or really care about, is that he is WHITE, not black….

No politician is acting in the best interests of the people they govern. None of them. But people continue to act as if they do, and it is driving me crazy! Normal, intelligent people are backing this asshole, thinking that he isn’t going to screw them over. It is incomprehensible to me how people can blind themselves to the obvious so completely that they would fall for this shit…. I will say it one more time, and I hope they can understand it….

“And then shall many be offended,…” — Matthew 24:10

You are being lied to, by every politician who is currently seeking office, and by every one currently in office. If you don’t see that, if you don’t believe that, then you are deliberately fucking yourself in the place it will most hurt, and apparently, enjoying it…. The man, the party, and 99% of everyone you see on TV is LYING TO YOU!!!!! They are doing so every day, every hour, every minute, and you are accepting it like you are a starving sheep and what they are saying is manna from heaven.

WAKE UP!….. I’m stopping here, my blood pressure is spiking. That’s how worked up I get when I think of how deliberately stupid people can be…. I don’t so much mind the stupid part, but the fact that they have to CHOOSE to not see what is right in front of their face just sets me off…. and so much indignation, righteous or not, is giving me indigestion….. Stay alert, ffolkes, the politicians are coming, and they’re dangerous when unregulated….

End of rant…. for now….

Not bad…. as far as I can see, this rant remains as accurate in its description of our BRC’s habit of lying as it was the day I wrote it, two years ago…. I put this here today, because I’ve been having a bit of pain recently, and can’t spend enough time in the chair to keep my train of thought going…. which is too bad, because I wanted to rant about the following articles…. For now, I am including them so y’all can see just how things are going out there in the Big Blue Room, in the political arena….

As time progresses, it appears to me, events have transpired just about how I expected; in fact, what has happened is very much akin to how I predicted it would go, at least, in the continuing saga of the NSA, and this administration’s cover-up of what they have been doing, and continue to do, to spy on their own citizenry…..

The first two articles make it clear to me that the lies are still flying out of the NSA spokesperson’s mouth, so fast she’s probably having to deal with blisters…. The third article is some pretty good reasoning, and adds fuel to my predictions of impending social crisis in the world at large….

The last article is merely another report on all of the idiots in the Republican Party who are working themselves into a frenzy over the next election, thinking they can gain back the majority they believe they have…. a foolish notion, at best, since they have LOST the physical majority they believed in….. They’re having a hard time believing the FACT now true about the United States, which is the plain and simple truth, as shown by numbers that cannot be denied….. To their absolute horror, white Christians are no longer the largest ethnic group in this country ffolkes, and the Republicans aren’t ready to acknowledge that….

No further ranting today, just go ahead and read…. it will be scary enough….

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/12/us-government-nsa-denies-aware-heartbleed-internet-bug

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/12/the-nsas-heartbleed-problem-is-the-problem-with-the-nsa

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/12/capitalism-isnt-working-thomas-piketty

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/12/republican-presidential-hopefuls-healthcare-new-hampshire

“Anybody who wants the presidency so much that he’ll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office.” — David Broder

This statement, as far as I have been able to determine by asking around, is fairly common knowledge; when I’ve related it to people, most folks, and/or ffolkes, just nod their heads & say “yep”…. However, these are the SAME people who then go out and vote for the same idiots in every election, convincing me once again the average American can’t be trusted to find the toilet without supervision, since it is obvious they can’t find their own dick with both hands and a flashlight…. Don’t mean to be vulgar (yes, I do…) but, hey, a spade’s a spade ffolkes; calling it a club or a diamond ain’t going to win very many hands…. in bridge, poker, OR canasta….

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“Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.” — Emily Dickinson

Timeless elegance, deepest meaning, and simple genius…. any more such praise, though deserved, would be gushing, which would be just ugly…. Without further silliness, I give you…. the mistress of metaphor, the princess of poetry, the spirit that haunts…. I believe Emily to be the true poet laureate of the American people…. To my mind any other candidate pales in significance, coming up short in any comparison to her body of work, short as her life may have been…. And this….. this is a really good one….

I dreaded that first robin so,
But he is mastered now,
And I’m accustomed to him grown,–
He hurts a little, though.

I thought if I could only live
Till that first shout got by,
Not all pianos in the woods
Had power to mangle me.

I dared not meet the daffodils,
For fear their yellow gown
Would pierce me with a fashion
So foreign to my own.

I wished the grass would hurry,
So when ‘t was time to see,
He’d be too tall, the tallest one
Could stretch to look at me.

I could not bear the bees should come,
I wished they’d stay away
In those dim countries where they go:
What word had they for me?

They’re here, though; not a creature failed,
No blossom stayed away
In gentle deference to me,
The Queen of Calvary.

Each one salutes me as he goes,
And I my childish plumes
Lift, in bereaved acknowledgment
Of their unthinking drums.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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The nature of humor…. is to soothe the human spirit…. or so I’ve always believed…. The Irish tend to agree, as they’re fond of saying, “A long sleep and a good laugh are the two best cures for anything.” I try to find a bit of humor even in the darkest subject matter, though I do forget sometimes to bring it out, even if I’m aware of it…. I do tend to become wrapped up in my ranting…. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t remember how to laugh, especially at meself, and me own bozoid nature…. As you can see, just thinking about it brings out me brogue….

So, to finish up today, after the serious rant and depressing news articles in section one, here is an old school pearl, whose only parameter was set to include anything that made me smile, and feel better…. These SHOULD be able to do the same for y’all… If not, let me know, and I’ll send over a humor packet, complete with a big red nose, and a number of suggested places (geographical places, not body parts…. sheesh, get your mind out of the gutter….) to wear it, any of which will make you feel better…. For now, enjoy!…..

“In India, cold weather is merely a conventional phrase and has come into use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish between weather which will melt a brass door-knob and weather which will only make it mushy.” — Mark Twain

“As a professional humorist, I often get letters from readers who are interested in the basic nature of humor. “What kind of a sick perverted disgusting person are you,” these letters typically ask, “that you make jokes about setting fire to a goat?” … — Dave Barry, “Why Humor is Funny”

“Invertebrate Punster–Spinelessly unable to resist a pun–So slug me!

“Don’t steal; thou’lt never thus compete successfully in business. Cheat.” — Ambrose Bierce

Do you know what floccinaucinihilipilification means? Why yes, yes I do…. It means: “the estimation of something as valueless (encountered mainly as an example of one of the longest words in the English language).” Origin: 1735-45; < Latin flocci + nauci + nihili + pili all meaning “of little or no value, trifling” + -fication

(Okay, so maybe it’s only funny to me….. it still stays….)

“If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.” — Bix Bender

“A guy calls 911, and in a panicked voice, says to the operator, “My buddy and I are in the woods hunting, & he accidentally shot himself! He looks dead… What should I do?” The operator, accustomed to people in a panic, says, “Calm down, sir. The first thing you should do is to make sure he’s really dead.” The guy bursts out, “Okay!…” The operator hears him put the phone down, then some steps, and some metallic noises…. then she hears a gunshot. The guy’s voice comes back on the phone & says, “Okay, he’s dead. Now what?” — Winner, America’s funniest joke, 2005 survey in a magazine

And there you have it…. another fine mess, straight from the twisted hallways of the labyrinth that exists in my head…. I don’t know about y’all, but, I feel better…. I will leave you with one final thought, from Steven Wright, who asks, with appropriate querulousness, “Of course you can’t have everything. Where would you put it all?”…..

Ta then….

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

Getting ahead of myself here…. I’ve provided a rant, though not a fresh one; for freshness, read the articles you find at the link addresses included above. I’ve praised Emily, and laughed a little (in some cases, a lot…). I’m good to go, and not terribly displeased with the results, so, y’all will just have to deal with it…. or, as we used to say out on the links, play it as it lies…. If nothing else, both of us managed to stay out of serious, indictable trouble for the time spent here, so, that’s something…. See you when I see you, or not, as the case may or may not be, theoretically…. For now, just go on to your next appointment, and all will be well…..

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….

A Swift Kick In The Pants, Inc….

Posted on February 25, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Terrible things could happen now…. they could, you know. And, we’ll deserve every second we experience of mind-numbing, soul-chilling, petrifying terror, because, hey, we’re the ones who left the door wide open, inviting it to enter our domain, bringing with it our ultimate doom…. Yes, it’s our own damn fault, and we will know the truth of the matter, because we have been warned, having previously been given wisdom such as this….

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” — Albert Einstein

(A bit more powerful a message when combined with the graphic art, isn’t it?….)

This is not new wisdom, that we’ve never before seen or suspected; history has provided us with innumerable instances proving the truth of this particular aphorism….. Time after time throughout our relatively short span of existence on this world, we find nearly innumerable examples of men or women who had prior knowledge of an issue of questionable morality,, and, by their silence, for whatever reason, allowed it to take place, to the detriment of all….

It doesn’t make it right, knowing how common a problem it is, but, it is certainly not an uncommon issue for mankind…. Such issues are not, perhaps, of those we are given by Reality, our favorite gifts, …. In fact, many don’t look on this, or any knowledge, as gifts, and THAT is a big part of the entire problem….

Our problem, then, can be seen as a failure of spirit, that has to do with a basic virtue, one that has been claimed as the basis for all other virtues; without this characteristic, none of our finer qualities are ever seen in the light of day…. That pillar upon which all other virtue rests, then, is Courage…. Yes, plain and simple, courage….

I have found, in my fairly long life, that most of mankind are cowards…. Sad to say, but, true nonetheless, since all the evidence is clear…. I say this, as well, knowing I’m not an exception, though it IS something I’ve tried hard to mitigate, in order to feel I have the right to call myself honorable, and meet my own eyes each morning in the mirror…. Fear is a hard thing for most of us to admit, even though it isn’t considered abnormal; it’s strength, and the way it causes us to lose control frightens us…

However, that is also its saving grace, as the guilt one feels, for having given in to it, can, and does, stimulate us to greater effort, whereupon we can find that courage within ourselves, the next time we are in danger of giving in…. This is how almost everything we do, and have done, of an ethical nature, ever gets done…. because someone discovers they DO have the courage to act when there is danger, moral, ethical, or physical, threatening them, or threatening those for whom they care…..

That is what it takes, you see…. No virtuous act can ever take place, unless good people have the courage to act in the face of the Evil that exists, in spite of the fear they feel in the presence of that Evil. If they don’t summon, or find somewhere with themselves, the courage to act ethically, or morally, if that is needed, then Evil has free rein to let itself out to play in human affairs, to the detriment of us all….

Each of us has to find that courage within ourselves, the courage to put aside our fear, to carry on with what we know to be right, even though expediency and comfort are left behind in such cases…. Living with honor and integrity is never the easiest path we can take; it is always fraught with danger, because it doesn’t avoid evil, because it’s too hard, but, rather, confronts it, endeavoring to deal with it in a straightforward, upright fashion…. thus, preserving one’s own honor, when forced to have truck with what always leaves us feeling a bit dirty….

Now that we have wandered so far afield this morning, I’m not sure what will happen to this Pearl…. Minor ranting isn’t uncommon in the intro, but, I do try to limit it to no more than eight or ten paragraphs, so we don’t take forever to get into just the first section…. a resolution which, this morning, is NOT unfolding according to plan…. Allow me to sum up, and get on with it, if you will…

All of what I wrote above is true and complete, to the best of my knowledge, and constitutes a fairly accurate assessment of today’s situation here on planet Earth…. Evil is out there, and when we… that’s you, and me…. fail to stand up to it, look it in the eye, and tell it to “fuck off, you bloody sod!”, then it will continue to manifest its existence, causing untold pain and suffering for us all…. So, be brave, ffolkes, and don’t let Evil have its way without at least some token resistance, ‘kay?…. ‘Kay!…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, “To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws.”” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi
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Today’s pearl is one that I’ve worked on ahead of time, so, the fact that I’m up later than usual, and got a slow start, won’t have much effect on when it gets posted today…. all in all, a good thing…. It DOES mean that I’m ahead of myself, and need to slow down a little, or I’ll be bumping into myself from behind…. which is not only hard on me, but isn’t so good for the space-time continuum…. I’ve seen some pretty bad cosmic aftershocks from that kind of metaphorical/metaphysical dust-up….

To counteract any possible chance of THAT taking place, (my insurance guy told me I can’t afford ANY more repair bills for space and time…. those metaphysical construction guys charge OUTRAGEOUS prices to fix things!….), this will be an old-school Pearl, attempting to balance out the mini-rant in the intro, and the religirant from the archives in section three…. So, here is a group of fine pearls, fresh and shiny…. just for y’all….

“Solon used to say that speech was the image of actions;… that laws were like cobwebs,–for that if any trifling or powerless thing fell into them, they held it fast; while if it were something weightier, it broke through them and was off.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Solon, x

(So much for the concept of legislating morality, eh?…. Remember, ffolkes, Solon was the first human to codify and bring order to the concept of the Law, so, he should know…. gigoid….)

“If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?” — Steven Wright

(I wouldn’t…. I’d want everyone to know…. gigoid)

“Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.” — Vladimir Nabokov, quoted in “Time”, 1981

(“Me, too”… gigoid again…. I guess I’m commenting on these pearls…. 🙄 )

“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” — Robert Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

(Just as an exercise…. when was the last time you heard a modern politician use a historical basis for anything they are going to do? And, how many of them are aware they are repeating some of history’s most well-recorded cultural patterns with their own actions?…. I can answer both…. the correct number of those of our leaders who either pay attention to the forces and lessons of history, or have any idea of their own part in that, is ZERO…..)

“Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.” — George Bernard Shaw

(Good point….)

Enjoy the present hour,
Be thankful for the past,
And neither fear nor wish
Th’ approaches of the last.

— Abraham Cowley (1618-1667)

“It’s all in there, don’t y’know?…. All there inside us already…. Happiness, love, serenity, peace, courage, compassion, all are waiting for us to discover them, right there where they have always been, inside us, abiding until we find them again…..” ~~ gigoid the dubious

(This last pearl is one I wrote as the final line for a mild religirant back a couple of years ago…. It is my own first attempt at an aphorism, of any real success, which makes it worth mention…. to me, and, after all, it IS my blog…. gigoid, delving deeply into egoism….)
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In cruising through the archives of past Pearls, I came across this poem, one of my own, (today only, I’ll say it…. “one of my own, of course”….) first posted in October of 2012…. It’s better than I remember it to be, which means I did something right…. It’s also got a lot of ME in it, if you know what I mean…. Enjoy….

Raging at Aging

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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As noted above, I was reading through some Pearls from a couple years ago, and came across some old rants I’ll be recycling, due to their continuing relevance, as well as because they’re good rants… This one is fairly mild, in all, but does hit the point to made squarely on the head…. Enjoy….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From 12/12/12:

“He who proselytizes in the cause of unbelief is basically a man in need of belief.” — Eric Hoffer

This is true…. you never see an atheist going door to door, trying to convert the pious to their unbelief. However, I would go further on this train of thought, and add that, “He who proselytizes, in any cause, in basically a man in need of a life.” I’m sure it occurred to Mr. Hoffer, but he was too busy trying to explain this statement to somebody who didn’t understand the word ‘proselytize’…..

For my own case, I have never, ever understood why people feel compelled to go door to door to try to get other people to believe what they believe; it’s one of the most persistent delusional systems I’ve ever witnessed, to believe that anyone wants to hear what they have to say, much less they will find their beliefs palatable to others, or find anyone who believes them to be superior to their own…..

“More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying they made them.” — Smart Bee

Humans seem to have an immense blind spot when it comes to their own actions and beliefs. Most of them never seem to question the things they are told, even when those things are presented with no evidence other than faith. Of course, the people who are invested in the religious system, to wit: the preachers, begin their indoctrination when their constituents are very young, when they are still prone to accept whatever an adult says as truth.

This ensures a life-long predilection for being simple to control…. or, in short, mental slavery, if you will. Unless there is some sort of rebellion of spirit, where new knowledge is injected, these poor saps will spend their entire lives believing that what they have been told is real, when, in fact, they are fitting themselves with shackles, that will forever imprison their minds, and their imagination…..

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

In my life-long quest for the truth, I’ve come to believe that religions, while originally intended to benefit people, (by their iconic progenitors, anyway…. I’m sure Jesus was a quite nice man, and wanted the best for those to whom he preached his own philosophy of compassion….), have historically been taken over by the predators who live to control others.

To be fair, some of those who become priests, or any of the other varieties of religious fanatic that prevail in our society, may indeed believe that their beliefs are true, and act accordingly, but the majority are, as far as I can tell, only concerned with maintaining status quo, thereby benefiting themselves, while never actually allowing any REAL progress in the development of the human condition. They would have society behave as if we were still living in caves, in essence, still cowering in our meager shelter while the storms and lightning are raging outside, terrified of the power of what we do not understand, and, therefore, allow ourselves to fear….

“A universe of death, which God by curse
Created evil, for evil only good;
Where all life dies, death lives,
and Nature breeds Perverse,
all monstrous, all prodigious things,
Abominable, unutterable and worse
Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived,
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.”

— Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II

(Side note: I’ll bet Milton had a hard time sleeping….)

The Universe is a big place, and there is a lot to learn. Fearing that knowledge, or fearing what changes that knowing will always bring, is the act of a coward, to my mind, and should not be encouraged. Supernatural beings of unlimited power are not a required component to the understanding of Nature and the Universe; we need not fear that our lack of knowledge of how things work is unattainable. Just because we do not understand a part of reality does not mean that whatever it is, is beyond our understanding.

It is not necessary to ask for exemptions, or intervention by our own personal gods, for us to achieve happiness, or even contentment; that is completely within our own power, if we but acknowledge that part of us that is free, and connected to everything else we can perceive. The connections may not be fully understood, but they are there, and if we can only learn to recognize it, the power to change reality lies within us, all the time…. As Epictetus said, “Happiness lies in learning to accept a simple truth. There are some things you can change. And there are some things you cannot.” It’s really quite that easy, you know, once one learns to accept this fact of life…. No dogma required…..

“If brains were outlawed, nothing would change.” — Smart Bee
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As things turned out, this may be one of my best all-around efforts to date…. Balanced, but with enough lightness of spirit to keep it afloat, I think… Whatever the reason, I’m happy with it, and it’s done, so, hey, we know what that means, don’t we? Yep…. See ya, 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

Plugging holes on the Wall of Logic…

Posted on January 26, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Almost…. It almost happened…. I’ve been struck with a HUGE lazy stick, hard, right on the ol’ schnozzle…. If it were an actual blow, it would HURT! But, it’s not, and it didn’t, it only put a big hole in my ambition, taken a big bite out of my dignity, and dropped my energy level below the legal limit for breathing creatures in this plane of existence. I slept well enough, under the influence of my chocolate cannabinoids, but, just don’t feel all energized, spunky, sparky, and full of what we like to call piss and vinegar…. Actually, that last part MAY be just about right for how I feel this morning, but, the rest of it fell a bit short….

I am poised, like ice on the verge of melting, at least, that’s what I am…. but, rather than making me resemble an ancient Taoist sage, it was close to being a case of the ice being too thin, and I almost broke down, coming very close to displaying the absolute deepest form of laziness I can think of….. I was going to reblog one of my older posts….. Yep, me, gigoid, depraved enough to go down the path to egocentricity far enough to fall into the quicksand of narcissism…. I’ll tell ya, it was a close one, but, I managed to fight it off, long enough to get my fingers on the keyboard….

That’s all it took, fortunately, to kick me into the well of angst and/or anxiety and/or outrage, where the cold, clear water of reason shocked me awake; only thus was I able to resist the urge to go back and use the old Pearl I had in mind…. Oh, it would have been a good one…. In fact, I was going to put up the Pearl that is often listed by the stat monkeys as my most-read-piece, one entitled, “Our best quality yak butter is on sale….” I went back to see it one time, and it IS a good one, but, I’m not ready yet to start reposting them, unless I’m sick, or otherwise indisposed, and UNABLE to write for some legitimate reason, not just laziness…

Now that I’ve shown this heretofore nonexistent sense of morality about laziness, which, if one HAS to be picky, we could, in all honesty, call prudishness, I guess we could just go on to today’s rant, or perhaps an old-school pearl, to start…. I seem to have accidentally created an actual, really, truly, introductory section that actually goes through introductory convolutions, for once, setting the stage for the rest of the blog…. I’m not sure, really, how that happened, so, I wouldn’t count on it being true every day from now on, but, hey, it’s nice for today, eh?

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
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“Search for the truth is the noblest occupation of man; its publication is a duty.” — Germaine de Stael

Ripped straight from the internet news outlets, below is a collected panoramic parade of some of the most current shenanigans perpetrated by those I like to call Asininnies, (a group consisting of politicians, preachers, bankers, police, judges, and the military myrmidons…..) along with some artwork, that shows off the more obvious of their handiwork, included herein for those who require obvious evidence, something they can SEE, if not actually touch, to convince them of what is already slapping them in their wallets, and soon, will slap them directly upside their heads….. There can be no downside to that slapping, as we will, no doubt, see for ourselves as time progresses….

This pearl is an ugly one…. It’s an outgrowth of another author’s technique to illustrate the ills in society, without having to come out and actually SAY what is wrong…. Here are nine articles, all of very recent vintage, from the news that everyone reads online…. The first two are the artwork, with pictures that show exactly what we will be experiencing over the next hundred years or so, as the weather continues to become more unpredictable, and the world continues to alter its chemical balance…. The other seven links lead to examples of just how insane our culture has become…

These are just minor examples, at that, showing the fringes of the actual problems, the symptoms, rather than the disease, which resides in the human spirit, and psyche…. One of the more obvious symptoms of these perversions in the human soul is the behavior of lawyers; the mere presence of lawyer jokes in our culture shows the universal mistrust of those who go into the law…. These three are present for the simple reason that it is the one profession where the human characteristic of greed is most easily seen…. For some reason, which I don’t even WANT to think about, many people decide to use the law as their means of stealing from other people, and manipulating them for their own purposes….go figure….

Most politicians are lawyers, and lawyers are the ones who PROTECT the bankers and shadowy corporate masters, so it is clear that the law has been usurped for the use of those who break it more often than anyone else (see the third link down, entitled “Jamie Dimon – Yes there is no justice” for a clear example of this, remembering that the scenes described in the article are reproduced EVERY DAY on Wall Street….). Lawyers are, in my estimation, the single group of people who are the most responsible for the state of the world as we see it today; it seems that the law, and its complexity, is the perfect camouflage for those who would become pirates, and thieves, otherwise known as politicians, and preachers.

Some folks, and, even some ffolkes, might say that is a bit harsh, to condemn an entire class of work as evil… which would be dumb, which is why I know none of MY readers would go so low as to say anything like that….. I’m not saying the class of work is evil…. It is the PEOPLE who use it to their own purposes, at the expense of others, to whom I refer, and there are far too many more of that sort in the legal profession than there are of any other type, those types of people who are more honest, compassionate, and HUMAN, using the law to HELP rather than harm…..

The law is too integral a part of our society for it to be in the hands of the unscrupulous, but, the simple truth of the matter, ffolkes, must admit that it is…. Most lawyers, especially those who become elected officials, are, if not precisely evil, court the title by their evil acts, and deserve every bit of laughter at the jokes we make to express our feelings about how we’re treated by them…. and, I say, fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke…..

What do you call a lawyer buried up to his neck in sand? Not enough sand.

How can you tell the difference between a dead snake and a lawyer on the roadway? Skid marks leading up to the snake….

Why do lawyers never get buried? They’re so crooked, they just screw them into the ground….

(These three are just what was hanging around the top of my mind…. didn’t even have to go look for them…. which is a testament to the ubiquitous nature in society of the nearly-universal disdain for lawyers….)

http://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-of-environmental-destruction-2013-4?op=1

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-city-sea-level-rise-maps-nickolay-lamm-2013-4?op=1

http://blog.sfgate.com/bottomline/2014/01/24/jamie-dimon-yes-there-is-no-justice/

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Legendary-Silicon-Valley-VC-Says-Criticism-Of-The-5174842.php

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Police-disable-devices-found-in-Md-gunman-s-bag-5174710.php

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/72-year-old-mom-disabled-son-lost-on-S-F-streets-5173848.php

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Anti-abortion-activists-march-in-San-Francisco-5174706.php

http://blog.sfgate.com/topdown/2014/01/24/the-governor-his-wife-and-the-ferrari-careful-what-you-wish-for/#19974101=0

It’s getting pretty weird out there, ffolkes…. I’d suggest you stay alert, and keep your powder dry…..

“America, how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood?” — Allen Ginsberg
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Enjoy the spring of love and youth,
To some good angel leave the rest;
For time will teach thee soon the truth,
There are no birds in last year’s nest.

— Longfellow (1819-1892), It is not always May

Sometimes, just a stanza of poetry will put me into a reflective state, nudging my mind to wander along the pathways suggested by the poetry’s vision, allowing me to follow whatever trail it finds, to stimulate curiosity or a random thought….. This stanza from Longfellow is a good one for that kind of indulgence…. Let’s see what else I can find today to help us improve our mind, or merely our mood, in some way….. Ah, this will do nicely….

Shui Tiao Ko Tou

Will a moon so bright ever arise again?
Drink a cupful of wine and ask of the sky.
I don’t know where the palace gate of heaven is,
Or even the year in which tonight slips by.
I want to return riding the whirl-wind! But I
Feel afraid that this heaven of jasper and jade
Lets in the cold, its palaces rear so high.
I shall get up and dance with my own shadow.
From life endured among men how far a cry!

Round the red pavilion
Slanting through the lattices
Onto every wakeful eye,
Moon, why should you bear a grudge, O why
Insist in time of separation so th fill the sky?
Men know joy and sorrow, parting and reunion;
The moon lacks luster, brightly shines; is all, is less.
Perfection was never easily come by.
Though miles apart, could men but live for ever
Dreaming they shared this moonlight endlessly!

~~ Su Tung-po ~~

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I’ve done my duty, with, perhaps, the LEAST amount of enthusiasm I could muster, ever….. But, it’s getting there, in spite of my recalcitrance…. Plus, having reached this stage, I am rewarded by the opportunity to take it a bit easier, with an old-school pearl, since I’ve completed a rant-like piece, and a poem is on board…. So, we’ll go hook up with Smart Bee, and see what’s shakin’…..

Please, ffolkes, while I’m performing this maneuver, remember to remain seated, and keep those safety harnesses hooked up, at least loosely, as we can encounter rough weather at any time during the flight…. Oh, you didn’t know we were flying?…. I guess I’m getting pretty smooth at the take-offs….

“The grave’s a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace.” — Andrew Marvell

“We all have been for all time…and we shall be for all time…As the Spirit of our mortal body wanders on in childhood, and youth and old age, the Spirit wanders on to a new body: of this the sage has no doubts.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

“What if there were no hypothetical situations?” — Steven Wright

“Facts are not truths; they are not conclusions; they are not even premises. The truth depends on, and is only arrived at by a legitimate deduction from all the facts which are truly material.”– Smart Bee

“Never esteem anything as of advantage to thee that shall make thee break thy word or lose thy self-respect.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iii, 7

“And though all cry down self, none means his own self in a literal sense.” — Butler

“What is history but a fable agreed upon?” — Napoleon Bonaparte
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So, laziness having been defeated for the time being, I think I’ll go back to bed for awhile…. Yeah, that’s the ticket…. I mean, hey, it’s not even 8 AM yet, so, I’m actually just returning to bed after an extended trip to the bathroom, and a slight detour for a Pearl and 3 cups of coffee…. Isn’t it amazing how easily we can lie to ourselves? Is it any surprise we are all Bozos on this soon-to-be crashing Bus? Yeah, that’s what I thought, too…. See ya, hopefully tomorrow….

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

Safely ensconced in a new/old cave…..

Posted on September 1, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

No worries today, not about the intro…. Yesterday, I moved into a house with my lady Patricia…. Only a few blocks away, but, everything had to go, so, we went… Today, I’m exhausted, still, even though I spent the day watching other people do all the lifting and packing; supervision is harder than it looks, especially when you’re paying for it all.

Ultimately, it got done, in relative jig time, as the actual move was finished in 5 hours, total ( IMNSHO, it’s definitely worth the money to hire professionals; they packed two apartments, and moved all of it, in four hours flat, actually, the rest was set-up and breakdown, and paperwork….). Any who, all things said and done, it’s done, but, counting the cable guy who didn’t come until 1800, it took all day, beginning at 0600, and I ended up standing around a LOT…. hence, exhaustion…

But, no extra pain, so all is well; fatigue will pass over time, as I rest, my only effort being to putter around putting stuff away, or figuring out where to put stuff, or, maybe, moving it to the storage space we now have in the garage…. However, it also means this Pearl will have to come from the archives, as I just don’t have the wherewithal to create a fresh one… C’est la vie, mon amis… At least the internet isn’t an issue this time… the cable guy came late, but stayed until it all worked properly, so, we’re good to go in that respect. Gotta love technology…

I hope y’all enjoy whatever I find for reading today… I’ll be back tomorrow, with some stuff I want to say about the situation that is developing again in the Middle East, with Syria’s civil war…. What a clusterfuck that is turning out to be… Tomorrow…. for now, here are some pearls pulled from various points in the past two years….

“I wish I was on a Cincinnati street corner holding a clean dog!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

The Pearl of Virtual Wisdom posted on 9/27/11:

Ffolkes,

Morgan Templeton watched with some small pleasure, as the sun rose majestically above the western hills, ablaze with the promise of the new day. As the light spread, he pushed away from the tree against which he leaned, and strode purposefully down to his waiting horse. Swinging lightly into the saddle, he urged the horse into a canter, away from the rising sun, toward the towering trees of the forest that lay across the horizon to the west.

Slowing the horse to a walk as he entered the trees, Morgan passed within the vale, following a slight path that wound through oak, madrone, the occasional pine or fir, meandering ever further into the woods. His eyes never stopped moving, side to side, up and down, back again. He knew it was relatively safe in this part of the forest, but long years of living in danger had taught him never to lose track of his surroundings, lest death try to become too familiar. Safety lay in remaining alert; Morgan had good reason to stay alive, very good reason indeed.

So, I was talking to a friend yesterday, and he says to me, “I just got a new computer for my wife.” I told him, “good trade, dude.” A little humor is always a good way to start the day, don’t you think? I know it always helps me to approach the day with a lighter heart.

What’s that? What happened to Morgan in the forest? Hell, your guess is as good as mine; I just write the damn stuff, I don’t pay any attention to it beyond the spell check. It got me this far, didn’t it? Some days that kind of drivel just leaps onto the screen; some days it leads somewhere, some days not so much. So today was a not so much. Remember what you are paying for this, and be content….it’s worth every penny…..

“In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don’t wobble.” — Yun-Men

‘You govern a kingdom by normal rules;
You fight a war by exceptional moves;
But you win the world by letting alone,
How do I know that this is so?
By what is within me!
The more taboo and inhibitions there are in the world,
The poorer the people become.
The sharper the weapons the people posses,
The greater confusion reigns in the realm.
The more clever and crafty the men,
The oftener strange things happen.
The more articulate the laws and ordinances,
The more robbers and thieves arise.’
— Tao Teh Ching #57, Lao Tzu

Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience. — Hasidic saying

In bed we laugh, in bed we cry;
And, born in bed, in bed we die.
The near approach a bed may show
Of human bliss to human woe.

— Isaac de Benserade (1612-1691)

“I can remember the first time I had to go to sleep. Mom said, “Steven, time to go to sleep.” I said, “But I don’t know how.” She said, “It’s real easy. Just go down to the end of tired and hang a left.” So I went down to the end of tired, and just out of curiosity I hung a right. My mother was there, and she said “I thought I told you to go to sleep.” — Steven Wright

I love this one…”above all, don’t wobble.” Priceless! Perfect advice for leading the good life; don’t wobble. Good stuff…..y’all take care out there…..
_____________________________

This isn’t from an old pearl, though it has been used in one, at one time or another… It is, however, from the person whose poems I turn to whenever I am feeling…. different….

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
They’d advertise — you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one’s name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

The Pearl of Virtual Wisdom posted on 8/28/11:

Ffolkes,

So many things going around and around in my mind, nothing wants to settle…..it occurred to me this morning that today will be the first day in over 33 years that I have lived alone. For 23 years, up until 2002, I was married and raising our kids; we spent a few days here and there not in each other’s company, but for the most part, we were together, or I was with the kids.

After my wife and I parted ways, and the kids all grown, Noah, my old Aussie heeler mix, stayed with me, and until yesterday, was my constant and faithful companion and friend; dogs never change their minds when they have chosen their object of affection. This, then, will be a relatively new situation, one that will, I think, require some rather sweeping adjustments on my part. I have no regrets in my life, other than those natural when love chooses not to stay, yet I cannot help but wonder how different life would be had things gone otherwise than they have done.

Well, such is life; we have no choice but to take it as it comes, and do our best to live with dignity and honor. So far, I have managed to live with honor; dignity has been harder to maintain at times, in the face of the harsh light of reality. All I can really say for sure at this point is, I still live. And as long as there is life, there is hope……(thank you Edgar Rice Burroughs)……This morning’s selections were chosen with ‘mind on hold’, but in retrospect, that was probably for the best…….

“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.” — Simone de Beauvoir

We are not victims of the world we see, but of the way we see the world.

“Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself, for he shall never cease to be entertained.” — John Powell

“Official truths are often powerful illusions.” — John Pilger, _Distant_Voices_, 1992 (In today’s world, “often” can be changed to “virtually always”….)

“These PRESERVES should be FORCE-FED to PENTAGON OFFICIALS!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts.

— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii, Stanza 113

Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.

I guess all I can say at this point is, it’s all a wash. Not a do-over, but at least a start-over. Life, that is, not the Pearl…. Step by step, walking the path toward the future, eyes ahead and eager for new sights, new sounds. If I wasn’t so bummed, I’d be excited; I suppose that in itself could be considered a small life lesson. Sweet and bitter are two sides of the same bagel, and we all would do well to keep that firmly in mind as we find our way down that long road upon which we have set our feet……y’all take care out there…..
_____________________________

Okay, for a throw-together Pearl, it looks pretty good…. It went fast, anyway, and that was key for today…. As in the intro section, I’ll try to keep from getting crazy, and surprise everyone by just ending it….. here.

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

Democracy has become a joke in poor taste…..

Posted on August 13, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Bah, humbug! None of it makes any sense, and it certainly isn’t designed for comfort; hence, crankiness rules now apply…. No insults are too cheap, no bad names too vile for us to use, with gusto. Today, come what may, a spade will be called a spade, and outright roguery will be called to task. I don’t care a whit who the target is, or how dignified the office they hold, or how sacred they are considered by worshipful millions, if they piss me off, they’re gonna hear about it, in plain talk, without a single moment’s hesitation, and every effort will be expended to fry them unmercifully on the hot seat of my scrutiny, until their skin crackles,they start to resemble a mutilated raisin, and their screams for mercy are ringing in my ears, making beautiful music….

In order to rant effectively, the above attitude is necessary; without it, one cannot achieve the proper state of curmudgeonry, nor can one possibly reach the depth of vindictiveness that is required to poke at public figures and make it worthwhile…. In other words, one must get in direct touch with their sense of outrage, and allow it to direct, if not control, the feelings of anger, frustration, and betrayal that are so common when the BRC carries out some new, or old, method of screwing us, an event that they tend to consider as their privilege, if not their vocation….

Seriously, those who hold office in the USA, whether it is in the executive, judicial, or legislative branch of the government, think that stealing from us, lying to us, and generally bending us over and fucking us in the ass on a regular basis, are their rights as elected officials of this country, and, to be frank, I’m more than just a little tired of it…. They don’t even bother to use any K-Y Jelly, or even Vaseline…

Of course, it would help if we didn’t invite them to do so, every election…. I mean, we keep on voting the assholes into office, so we really don’t have a lot of stable ground to stand on in that respect…. Of course, we also don’t have any way to tell which ones are lying the most, but, hey, that’s on us, not on them…. We KNOW they’re going to lie, so, it becomes OUR problem when we keep letting them do it….

SIGH…. There I go again, ranting before I’ve even had any coffee, to speak of…. I drank enough to swallow my morning meds, but, then, started typing; once begun, it just ran away with me…. I guess I was dreaming about this, or something, so it was right there on the top for me to use this morning when I booted up. I hope it doesn’t mean I’ll be in crank mode all day… I’ve got stuff to do out in the BBR that will require me to speak to other people without chewing on them, which is hard to do, when all I feel like doing is slapping them silly….. I’ll have to be careful not to let it out on anyone who doesn’t deserve it (though, in general, they do….).

BIG, CHEST-HEAVING, PATHETICALLY DRAMATIC SIGH…. 😳 People are so gullible. It’s a big part of our nature, to believe what we hear, if it is presented in a certain way, from someone who, previously, has garnered our trust, generally by prior statements. Unfortunately, we never seem to learn, at least, not well enough to be consistent about it, to verify those original statements before giving the trust, or attempt to ascertain in some other way whether or not the person’s words are worthy of our trust. This goes for elected officials especially, but, as I just demonstrated, it is true for blogs, as well….

Most of the above rant is Pure Grade A 100% BS, government certified, and if anybody knows their shit, it’s the government. Oh, all the stuff about them, and their unfortunate tendency to lie, cheat, and steal, as an avocation, is true as the day is long. But the stuff about waking up cranky, being a curmudgeon, etc., that’s all BS again today…. Please note that I spoke one piece of truth, to wit: I did drink my coffee before actually typing, and therein lies the critical difference, that should have clued you in to my use of untruth as a literary device, to hook you in, and lead you logically into the ranting portion of the piece.

In short, this has been an experiment, in human psychology, and YOU are part of it! Doesn’t that just make you all tingly with excitement and joy?

Oh…. No?

Well, heck, I thought y’all would like something new and different, but, I guess it should be something that actually engages your interest, rather than tricking you into the same sort of manipulative situation that the BRC is wont to do to you (us), such as lying, and tricking you into believing things that aren’t actually real, or as dangerous and frightening as they are made out to be…… I would suppose, had I not gone so far off-script, we might have called what just happened a morality play, but…. I guess this means we should just call it a minor clusterfuck, and get on with the rest of the day….

Shall we Pearl?….

“I couldn’t remember when I had been so disappointed. Except perhaps the time I found out that M&Ms really *do* melt in your hand …” — Peter Oakley
_____________________________

“Abstain from beans; that is, keep out of public offices, for anciently the choice of the officers of state was made by beans.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children

It always amazes me when I read stuff like this…. Statements like this show me that in the past one thousand, eight hundred, and ninety-three years since Plutarch reportedly died, the human race has made virtually no progress at all in learning how to govern ourselves well. By “well” I mean we have not learned, any better than they did back then, how to govern so that the people are fed, clothed, protected from their less scrupulous peers, made well when sick or injured, and generally operated with the best interests of ALL the people as primary motivation, using all resources equally and fairly, in such a way that the Earth, our only home, is also nurtured and protected, so that we will always have it….

Of course, I have to admit, to be fair, that we had not made any real progress in that when Plutarch lived, either, so, it isn’t as if we had the best examples by which we could practice our lessons to be learned in new ways. But, one would think, after all this time of watching things go wrong, we would have learned at least one or two things we could use to save our asses, now that we’re getting close to losing them…. But, it is obvious, to me, and to many, that we haven’t learned much in all these centuries, because we are still facing the same issues that were plaguing society in the days of Christ, and have continued in all the years thereafter.

I’m ranting again, and I didn’t really want to do that; this is supposed to be an old-school pearl, the first of which is the above quote from Mr. Oakley, which was intended to set the tone…. But, as is common, I couldn’t shut myself up, and had to sing another refrain in my ongoing song of lamentation regarding the state of the BRC, and the world we live in, for now…. Now, however, I’ve caught myself before getting too far into it, and will go search out the proper quotes to bring home the concept that is in my head…. Hopefully, it will be less ponderous, and less pompous, than another rant….. I’m also hoping for it to be a bit more entertaining…. 😉

“Do you think sheep know when you’re pulling the wool over their eyes?” — Smart Bee

“Turning and turning the widening gyre,
the falcon cannot hear the falconer,
things fall apart, the center cannot hold,
mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

— W.B. Yeats

“The right of the citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.” — Senator Hubert Humphrey

“Those who fear death most are those who enjoy life least.” — Edward Abbey

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

“Antiphanes said merrily, that in a certain city the cold was so intense that words were congealed as soon as spoken, but that after some time they thawed and became audible; so that the words spoken in winter were articulated next summer.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Man’s Progress in Virtue

“Uh-oh — WHY am I suddenly thinking of a VENERABLE religious leader frolicking on a FORT LAUDERDALE weekend?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Okay, so it came out a bit obfuscated…. it’s what happens when I give SB its head…. But, it’s still marginally better than a rant, and does get where it needs to go, so, it will do…. Did I mention you should have your seat belts fastened?….
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Yesterday, I spent the day dealing with an age-related physical issue, to wit: agonizing pain, due to a spasming muscle in my neck. The pain, which lasted most of the day, and into the night, was, at times, excruciating, and forced me into bed for most of the day, starting at about 10 AM. It finally eased up, thanks to extreme rest, and extra medication, and is, thus far, not the same issue today…. I hate those days, as they force me to accept the passage of time in terms of what I can no longer do, or count on my body being able to do. But, it does give me a lot of time to spend in my head, a place where I refuse to be uncomfortable, or bored, or anything but happy to spend time, doing what I like doing best, just letting my mind wander through the vast spaces of the Universe as I perceive it….

Hence, Yeats….. with no apologies, and no regrets…..

A Prayer For Old Age

GOD guard me from those thoughts men think
In the mind alone;
He that sings a lasting song
Thinks in a marrow-bone;
From all that makes a wise old man
That can be praised of all;
O what am I that I should not seem
For the song’s sake a fool?
I pray — for word is out
And prayer comes round again —
That I may seem, though I die old,
A foolish, passionate man.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

_____________________________

So, here we are, knee deep in this muddy expanse I like to call my mind’s playground, to wit: consensual reality, and I was thinking to myself, “now what?” Having no good answer, I will once again fall back to my default position, and put together a pearl of the old-school variety, strictly for fun…. What I mean by that is, I intend to have fun putting it together, and I intend it to be fun for y’all to read….

However, we all know about good intentions, and where we can end up by having them, or, more critically, by using them, so, I’ll be careful not to let that get us into trouble…. Not in section three, it’s not allowed that late in this venue…. Bad things can happen to the space-time continuum, so, there are safeguards built in that should keep us relatively safe…. as long as we remember to wear the helmets provided…. Remember, anything that splashes on you should be immediately cleansed away, or…. well, just clean it up quickly, so we never need to see what it does….

“Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go.” — La Fontaine

“Holy Hand Grenades, Batman!” — Robin

“Go on, EMOTE! I was RAISED on thought balloons!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

(Side joke: An American tourist was in a shop in Scotland, with one of those new wallets that uses Velcro to stay closed. When he opened it to pay for his selection, the shopkeeper exclaimed, “Och, now that’s a proper Scottish wallet! It scrreams when you open it!”) (I read that joke in Reader’s Digest, over 25 years ago….)

“No harm can come to a good man in life or death.” — Socrates

“A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.” — William Wordsworth

“I … reject the argument put forth by many fundamentalists that science has nothing to do with religion because God is not among the things making up the universe in which we live. Surely if a necessity for a god-concept in the universe ever turns up, that necessity will become evident to the scientist.” — physicist Ralph Alpher, Theology of the Big Bang, Religious Humanism, Vol. XVII, No. 1 (Winter 1983), pg. 12

You may have noted that there is no point to this pearl; it’s all about fun, for me, anyway….. and, I’m not done having fun yet, so here, to follow up this wonderful seven-star pearl, is another, a five-star pearl gathered using the same operational motivation…. i.e., none to speak of….

“What’s another word for Thesaurus?” — Steven Wright

“Beware of the young doctor and the old barber.” — Benjamin Franklin

“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.” — Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (1844-1900)
(I use this one a lot…. It’s a big part of what I consider my basic attitude toward life at large….)

“We can do noble acts without ruling earth and sea.” — Aristotle

“If called by a panther…don’t anther.” — Ogden Nash (1902-1971), “Parents Keep Out!”

I rest my case…. and a good thing, too! This may be a new record, for the number of pearls, in the most pearls, in any one Pearl, ever…. If you followed that, you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, and good for you…. For the rest of y’all, just note, please, I’ve once again completely lost my mind prior to the end of this missive….
_____________________________

Well, that was fun! For me, anyway…. Let’s take a peek at what others will see…. Wow! Now, THAT is an epic Pearl, and just chock full of virtual wisdom and humor, or an irrational facsimile thereof….. I can feel myself getting more and more out of control in my head; if I don’t stop typing soon, two things will happen….

First, my back will turn into a mass of muscles in spasm, intent on achieving the same relative hardness as a two-by-four piece of ironwood, and I’ll turn into a whiny, pathetic mess; and, second, I will probably end up saying, or writing something that will get me arrested, or, flamed in vile, misspelled language by some fundie, or other silly shit-for-brains, instead of hearing applause, or intelligently critical, but polite, comments from my esteemed Gentle Readers…. and I’m blathering now, so I’ll stop….

It will do, and it’s certainly enough for one day…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…. Blessed Be…

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

Put the cheeseburger down, sir, and step back from the condiments….

Posted on August 7, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Traffic has been light this morning, and what is there is moving along well, so I guess it’s okay to get started…. Not that traffic has anything to do with this, but, it works on the radio, so I thought I’d give it a try…. By this time in the process, it really doesn’t matter what I do, it’s all going to be wrong, or misguided somehow, and whatever I produce will crash and burn within moments. The investigators are never able to tell afterward exactly why it crashes (the burning part is obvious…. leaking fuel, oxygen, heat, all present…. only the ‘why’ is mysterious…), but, it does. I really don’t expect them to know how to determine sabotage by icons of nature like Murphy, as he is well able to make such things appear to be due to natural causes…..

You know what I mean by that, right? Natural causes? Same thing the beloved ruling class means when they say some political prisoner died in custody, of “natural causes”, to wit: they killed them…. Oh, they might call it “pilot error” but it was “termination with prejudice”, you can bet on it….. Sorry, but anybody who, during an election campaign, says they’ll stop what is being done to people at Guantanamo, and at other facilities, in other countries, where it doesn’t break our laws so blatantly, and then totally ignores the whole issue, isn’t what I would call trustworthy, and can’t be counted on to tell the truth about anything.

SIGH…. there I go, ranting again in the intro…. It just seems to keep popping out, with little provocation. I mean, how much provocation can I claim at 5:55 in the morning, unless, for some unknown, and unwelcome, reason, I’ve been dreaming about this stuff, which I don’t think I’ve been doing…. not so’s I remember, anyway. It doesn’t matter, really, though, because I’d planned to rant today, so this can be considered a warm-up, or stretching exercises…. As long as you don’t consider it terrible, and go away, I’ll be happy….. It gets so lonely around here in the mornings, and the neighbors don’t appreciate me breaking out my guitar at this hour, so, I’m stuck with this computer, and my imaginary audience, for company…. Sad image, isn’t it?….

Don’t be sad, though, because I like it like this…. Now that much of the stress is gone from my life, of waiting for the bureaucrats to act, for my retirement to kick in, for poverty to end (at least for me…), I am able to enjoy my retirement time, getting a big kick out of watching the world run around like crazy, acting out the panoply of human stories and games, and knowing that nobody has any say about what I do, or when I do it, other than me, myself, and I…. and, of course, Patricia, to whom I’ve lost my heart…. She’s allowed to take up my time with her business on an “ad lib” basis…. but, I can’t consider that an onerous chore, or any kind of bother…. rather the opposite, truth be known….

Okay, well, I’ve blathered and meandered, and wound my way through another four paragraphs that don’t say much of anything, other than some pointless attempts at humor…. I should probably take my own advice, and not try to do that so early, especially before the coffee has kicked in fully….. but, SOMEBODY has to do it, and I’ve never been one to shirk my duty, once I know what it is….

The upshot of all this is, I’ve met the legal requirements for this blog’s opening remarks, so, I’m going to take that assessment and run with it…. If nothing else, it will prevent the formation of bruising around the eyes, where it feels as if I’ve been punching myself since I got up, twenty minutes ago…. Hmm, maybe I wasn’t done sleeping…. Ya think?…. Oh, well….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

As noted above, I tend to rant at the slightest provocation, and, though that tendency isn’t one I particularly wish to curtail completely, it is one that contributes to at least one of the problematic characteristics of blogging, a long winded way to say it makes these posts too long sometimes…. Then, I feel guilty, for taking up so much of people’s time, and ending up preaching to the choir, anyway…. This is why I’ve been resorting so often to old-school pearls to get my points across, or at least, out there for perusal and cognitive processing… Again, in short, it’s easier, on you, and, to some extent, on me….

Yesterday, I read an article in the news (you can read it here: http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/08/06/planet-continues-to-warm-to-new-normal/ ) about climate change. The article discussed the yearly report, from the world’s scientific community, on the extent of the changes in the Earth’s average temperature, the changes in the polar ice, and the rising of the world’s oceans, as the increasing temperature melts those polar ice packs, little by little… The report itself makes no attempt to ascertain, or explain, the causes of the warming; it only reports the factual numbers of how much is changing each year…. It does note, however, that the levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere on their scale of measurement haven’t been seen on our planet for approximately 800,000 (!) years….

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 15

I haven’t seen the reaction yet from the fringes of the far right of the political scene, but I expect them to be out any time, once again parading the extent of their ignorance, shouting their outrage at the numbers, claiming that the scientists are “fudging” them, or claiming that we humans don’t understand what the numbers mean, because we don’t have infinite knowledge, like they do…. because “they” believe in God, which gives them the right to challenge the scientist’s figures…. If asked to do so, I could probably write one of their articles; it doesn’t seem hard, as one needn’t bother with presenting any facts, or evidence to support one’s theories…. I would, of course, feel very silly, but, I could do it….

Don’t worry, I won’t; plenty of others will do so, with much more sincerity, if less factual, than I…. It does piss me off, though, to have to watch these idiots go through their contortions, trying to refute the obvious danger that the changes reported by the scientists pose for us as a species, along with all the other species with whom we share the air we breathe… It pisses me of a lot, because they make it harder to get anything done about it, and muddy up the waters made clear by the report, never realizing that by insisting on the truth of their delusions, they are signing their own death warrant….

Rather than bore you with another rant (which, it seems from looking at this small intro, I seem to have already done….) I’ll turn to my old-school format, and bring the point home with a group of pearls…. once again highlighting the advantage to pearls of virtual wisdom, requiring much less effort to acquire than the mundane, standard types of wisdom, which ask us to display intelligence, patience, and perseverance in order to feel the boon of its presence…. Easy money, as they say downtown….

“The radical novelty in modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief, which is at the heart of all popular religion, that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart.” — Walter Lippmann

“These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives; for all the scents of green things growing, each breath is but an exhalation of the grave. Bodies jerk like puppet corpses, and hell walks laughing” — Smart Bee

“Belief is the death of intelligence.” — Robert Anton Wilson

“Reality is when it happens to you.” — Smart Bee

“Are people more important than the grizzly bear? Only from the point of view of some people.” — Edward Abbey

`Just the place for a Snark!’ the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.

‘Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.’

— Lewis Carroll, the Snark and the Boojum

“Ignorance is not bliss — it’s oblivion.” — Phillip Wylie
_____________________________

À Bas Ben AdhemMy fellow man I do not care for.
I often ask me, What’s he there for?
The only answer I can find
Is, Reproduction of his kind.
If I’m supposed to swallow that,
Winnetka is my habitat.
Isn’t it time to carve Hic Jacet
Above that Reproduction racket?

To make the matter more succint:
Suppose my fellow man extinct.
Why, who would not approve the plan
Save possibly my fellow man?
Yet with a politician’s voice
He names himself as Nature’s choice.

The finest of the human race
Are bad in figure, worse in face.
Yet just because they have two legs
And come from storks instead of eggs
They count the spacious firmament
As something to be charged and sent.

Though man created cross-town traffic,
The Daily Mirror, News and Graphic,
The pastoral fight and fighting pastor,
And Queen Marie and Lady Astor,
He hails himself with drum and fife
And bullies lower forms of life.

Not that I think much depends
On how we treat our feathered friends,
Or hold the wrinkled elephant
A nobler creature than my aunt.
It’s simply that I’m sure I can
Get on without my fellow man.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

“A people who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never will, and never can, be.” — Thomas Jefferson

I almost used this as a closing remark to the rant/pearl in section one; it’s almost the right sentiment, but, didn’t quite hit the exact mark, so I’m using it here, as the opening remark for another old-school entry. Yes, it’s being a little bit lazy, but, I will reference my point above re: retirement, and the perks thereof, to wit: I don’t care if it’s lazy, it’s what I want to do, and you can’t stop me, at least, not without the risk of injury, to one or both of us…. Since neither of us is willing to see what happens in that case, let’s get on with this…. The primary search parameter for this pearl is “Risk analysis of using ignorance as a survival tool in modern society.” Or, something like that….

“Thank you, Señor MacGyver.” “Don’t thank me, thank the gravitational pull of Earth’s moon.” — from The Simpsons

“Does history record any case where the majority was right?” — Robert Heinlein, Notebooks of Lazarus Long

“A “sucking chest wound” is nature’s way of telling you to slow down.” — Murphy’s Military Laws, #12

“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.” — George Bernard Shaw

“Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know.” — Eric Hoffer

Hmm…. how did that get there? Or, more accurately, how did we get here? This comes close to what I was looking for, but, something isn’t quite right…. we’ll go on, find two more that will shore up the weak side, and bring home the point we’re trying to make….

“I used to get high on life but lately I’ve built up a resistance. — Steven Wright”

“From stupidity there is always something to be learned, but it’s always the same thing: don’t be stupid.” — Robert M. Adams

There… that should do it…. sometimes the thread that ties it all together is thin, and hard to see, but, it generally works out okay…. in the case of this pearl, the wisdom is inherently obvious, unless one regularly fails in the task implied in the final entry…. 😆
_____________________________

Well, that was fun! I don’t know how it will look to others, but, it matters little now, because the road became the journey, and I feel centered…. Hmm… Murphy must be lurking about…. I’d best go proof while I can….. I was right, (write?…), Murphy was hanging about…. That took what seemed like forever to get all the spots I got lazy with my typing… comes from it coming out so fast and smooth, I guess, I had to sit for too long to keep up… Okay, no whining, I’m done now anyway…. and, I’m outta here…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Pug dogs don’t count as flammable items….

Posted on June 25, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Today, this blank screen holds no fear for me. That is not to say that I have discovered a way to overcome the issue of what to write for the intro every morning; that seems to be a problem with resistance to solution stronger than my creative urges. No, indeed, I see no way out of that particular conundrum, given my history thus far as a blogger, and my insistence on posting every day, regardless of whether or not I am ready to do so. However, today, there are only four days left before I leave to travel again, and no fear can push through the excited exaltation that infuses my spirit at the thought of once more pursuing, and catching hold of, a dream….

Hmm…. it seems that even the absence of fear is not sufficient reason to make this intro any easier to write. Now that I’ve begun the day with a personal note, choosing a direction to take seems like the next logical step. Sadly, I haven’t a clue as to what that direction might be, or even what it could be. I’ve arisen late, and refreshed in both body and spirit (for a change), and I hardly know what to do with myself. I’ve got all this energy, and nowhere to put it yet… which is probably why I continue to babble away, just as if I had something worthwhile to say. “Just look out the window…” you say? Well, it’s worth a try, I suppose….

Well, I looked…. In at least one respect, it was good advice…. by changing my viewpoint, I did find new potential subject matter within purview. Several objects I saw could be turned into at least a short discussion, but, I am not sure how interesting a description of the faded wall of the next house would be, or whether or not I could find a metaphor for the catalog of stuffed animals in the window that would be entertaining or instructive enough to warrant the effort. It’s a good idea, but, too late, I think, to save this particular opening foray against the day’s challenge. In fact, there may not be anything at all to be done about this one; it seems to have died an ignominious death before it ever lived…. It certainly doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere, does it?

Oh well, that’s okay, it’s happened before, and will, no doubt, happen again in the future. Perhaps one day I’ll find my niche, or my template, or whatever it is that will serve as a consistent way to open each day’s post. Perhaps not, in which case, we all will have to learn to deal with whatever I come up with… which, I suppose, is a pretty good metaphor for how to approach life… We have to learn to deal with reality, whatever shape it takes, so learning to deal with an intro section actually shouldn’t cause too much trouble for us, as long as we can translate the metaphor into real action… Piece o’cake, yes?…..

Shall we Pearl?

“A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.” — Louis Armstrong
_____________________________

Of late, I’ve been reading the news online, and in newspapers, and have noted a disturbing trend in what is reported. It is disturbing in several ways, most significantly in its clarity regarding the admissions made by government officials about their own activities….. It seems to me that the powers that be, at almost every level, from local government, to state, to federal, and all the way into the shadow government, consisting of the true rulers of mankind, the ones who control all the politicians and banker-types, telling them what can and cannot be allowed, are no longer trying to hide from the public, but are being seen and reported more often.

Normally, they make at least a token effort to cover up any potentially harmful acts on their part, such as theft, or outright lies, either ignoring questions put to them on those matters, or issuing denials spun in such a way as to imply fault in the question, or merely distracting the questioners with personal attacks; they have, and utilize, a number of effective techniques to spin things so they come out looking good. But, all of a sudden, in the last couple of months, they seem to have given up, at least partially, trying to hide their chicanery, and allowing what appears to be criticism, of what the elected officials have done or said, to appear in the news reports….. Here are two examples of what I mean…

“U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.” — from SFGATE, 6/24/2013
Link to entire article: http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/NSA-leaker-Snowden-expected-to-fly-to-Cuba-4617974.php

The above was excerpted from the above article, not just because it seemed to me to be the most accurate assertion in the whole report, but, also comes in as the most ironic statement, situated as it was. as the last sentence in the article.

“The deal calls for Loncke and three other plaintiffs representing the class to receive $9,000 each, with the others splitting $639,000. Their arrest records would be sealed and destroyed. Their attorneys would receive $350,000.”
Link to entire article: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/1-million-payout-in-Oakland-mass-arrests-4619816.php

This one simply astounded me… The lawyers received 33.3% of the total settlement!!! I know it’s rude to use so many exclamation points at once, but, I went into shock, with my mouth dropping open wide when I read that line, which was also the last line in the article (Hmm…. Is there a cynic loose in the SFGATE web editing offices?….)

Now, this points up two distinctly different issues, of course, but the fact that the articles both contained statements that imply criticism of the BRC is significant. In the first, the BRC overseers didn’t bother to keep the last statement out of the article, even though it clearly states that, not only is the government engaging in illegal or immoral activity, but is also not afraid to talk about it…. The officials spoke, probably admitting to an illegal act on the part of a government agency or official, but did so in direct violation of their own rules….

I know that this particular phrase has been used in the press for a long time, to indicate two things…. One, that the reporter has found out something bad going on in our government, and has managed to trick the administration into admitting it; and, two, some unknown official has bravely taken the side of the people to get the information out…..

Neither one of these is usually true…. The reporter is a shill, reporting whatever their contact tells them to report, and doesn’t give a shit about the people, as long as his or her name is at the top of the report…. Second, the official isn’t on anybody’s side but their own, and are deliberately feeding the reporter what the powers that be wish him to report, which almost guarantees it is a lie, plain and simple….

In the second example, I’ve italicized the significant line…. The lawyers in this case are the only ones who benefited by the verdict, obviously… What disturbs me is that they don’t even care that people are aware of how badly they have ripped off everyone involved….

Allowing the lawyers to make that much off the misery of the participants, misery of which they are a prime cause, is reprehensible enough, all by itself…. But, to publicly report it shows how little respect for the public that either the lawyers, or the ruling classes have for the general public…. They know that nobody can do anything about the way they have things set up, so they no longer care about showing their hands….

The BRC controls Congress, it controls the Courts, it controls the Executive Branch, and, most importantly, it controls the media…. Anyone who believes otherwise is whistling in the dark, and needs to reexamine all they believe about their elected officials, or, for that matter, reality. We are being lied to, and cheated, and having our rights taken away, one by one, under our very noses.

The assholes responsible are even trying to convince us all that it is for our own good, that allowing restrictions to rights is the only way to “protect” us from those evil terrorists…. Terrorists who would not even exist, were it not for those self-same immoral acts that cause resentment and anger….. which is the intent…. The more angry and resentful people are, the easier they are to control… Think about it….

I see that this has grown rather long, and still has a lot of room for expansion… There is no lack of available data to support all I’m saying today, everywhere I look… on liberal sites, on conservative sites, neutral sites, all of them are full of examples, both of how we are being screwed, and of how little it is being hidden any more. They don’t care, ffolkes, and they aren’t going to change…. I’m tired of ranting, even though it is rather self-sustaining, anger-wise, so I’ll cut this short here, and just say this, to the American public…

Wake up! It’s our only chance at survival, and more importantly, the only chance for survival for our children….. Too many of them are already indoctrinated to believe whatever they are told on TV, and that control is insidiously and steadily creeping into the internet…. Eventually, it will kill us all, if we allow it….

“HELLO, everybody, I’m a HUMAN!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

I’m not sure what to think of the above rant…. It’s a bit disjointed, and lacking in discipline, due, I think, to the amorphous nature of the subject under discussion… Precise definition of the human spirit is, to say the least, difficult, and fraught with danger, of inaccuracy, and of obsession. In light of that, I offer this, a poem I wrote a while back, that points out a method by which we can, at least, not become overmastered by reality….

Accentuated Lessons

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

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

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

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

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

I’ve ranted myself out, and don’t even have the energy to pull together an old-school pearl…. so, we’ll dip into the archives for one from 2012… enjoy!…..

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

Caution: Old School Pearl Ahead. Gird Your Grids For A Big One…..

“Two babies were born on the same day at the same hospital. They lay there and looked at each other. Their families came and took them away. Eighty years later, by a bizarre coincidence, they lay in the same hospital, on their deathbeds, next to each other. One of them looked at the other and said, “So. What did you think?” — Steven Wright

A monk said to Joshu, “I have just entered this monastery. Please teach me.”
“Have you eaten your breakfast?” Joshu asked.
“Yes, I have,” replied the student.
“Then you had better wash your bowl.”
— Smart Buddhist Bee

“TAPPING? You POLITICIANS! Don’t you realize that the END of the “Wash Cycle” is a TREASURED MOMENT for most people?!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!” — Wicked Witch of the East

“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

There, that should do it…. I’ve made this as clear as mud, obviously…. Don’t worry, though, it won’t be on the test…. In fact, it won’t even count toward graduation, not that we care about stuff like that…. But, it does make a good point, yes? Nod your head…..
_____________________________

It all feels disjointed, somehow. Everything seemed to come out in fits and starts, and I couldn’t seem to keep track of direction…. Probably getting the mushy-brain, pre-cruise brain syndrome, where all I can think about is how good it will feel to walk on that ship….. Ah well, gotta stay focused for another few days…. Let’s see how this came out….. Well, not too bad, all things considered… It will have to do, for I’m not doing it over….. Try not to hold it against me, okay?…. Thanks….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

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

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Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Steven Wright

Casting the runes unnerves some people….

Wanna help bury some dead platitudes?….

A Swift Kick In The Pants, Inc….

Plugging holes on the Wall of Logic…

Safely ensconced in a new/old cave…..

Democracy has become a joke in poor taste…..

Put the cheeseburger down, sir, and step back from the condiments….

Pug dogs don’t count as flammable items….

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