Definite traces of apoplexy….

Posted on May 16, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“All men are created unequal.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

Looking south from La Bufadora, Ensenada, Baja Mexico

Hajime…. Today’s effort, which has already suffered a start-over, is rather eclectic, general, and long enough to choke a horse. But, it’s okay, because it’s all proven material, having come from yet another deep dive into the archives. As noted previously, I’m leaving on a trip tonight, and won’t be posting tomorrow morning, unless I have time to find one to re-blog (yeah, that’s the ticket….). So, I’ve tried to put together a worthy one to hold y’all until I can return to the keyboard with something fresh…..

In order to keep from making it TOO long, I’ll make this intro short, as has been our habit of late. It’s a good habit, I think, especially considering some of the intro sections we’ve created in the past, many of which approached a thousand words or more. But, we’re not going that route today; in fact, now I’ve related that, we’re done here. Let’s go on to the rest of today’s mess, before Murphy notices we’re gone, okay? Okay….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Since everything in life is but an experience perfect in being what it is,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection,
one may well burst out in laughter.”

~~ Long Chen Pa ~~

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We are going with our default today, simply to save time & energy, of much use elsewhere in today’s schedule…. Enjoy!….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/hDhTqF3_JWs

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Today’s rant is a general, all-purpose rant against the Asininnies, from the early part of 2013, while my supply of angst was nearly limitless. It’s a bit lengthy, as I took shots at most all those I consider to be part of the problems we face in today’s world. I hope you enjoy it….

From 3/15/2013:

“Republican views of the world differ from Democratic views of the world. The reason for this is that these views are based on different compilations of misinformation.” — Smart Bee

There are moments, such as this one, when I believe the people, or person, who put together the database known to me as Smart Bee, is perhaps the most intelligent creature on this planet….. I’ve been ranting about politicians for years, trying to show people how dangerous it is to believe ANY of the stuff that either party is slinging at us to try to convince us they are worthy of our votes. Now, in one short aphorism, of two lines, we are given a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of the crap we hear from them…. Essentially, this says that every one of them is full of shit, and everything they say and do is destined to fail, because it is ALL based on incorrect information, or, to be more accurate, on unwarranted assumptions about reality…..

The most important part of this description is its impartiality of indictment. Both parties are brought into scrutiny, and found wanting, of any real knowledge of the truth, because they are both basing all of their premises on false beliefs, just for starters. Add to that, since they are politicians by choice, their genetic predisposition is to self-aggrandizement, and they show an inherent inability to tell the truth. It becomes rather easily seen why our society has become, well, insane…. It’s a short trip to crazy from where they begin the journey…. and they don’t take any detours on the road….

You see, both parties are convinced of a complete falsehood, one that humanity has been struggling with for centuries…. This lie is so basic, it colors and affects everything they do to try to manipulate the world into going the way they wish it to go. As long as they continue to try to do this, our society is doomed to failure in the long run, for the lie goes against the very nature of reality…. Simply put, these people believe they can legislate morality…. They believe that they can make laws, and people will go against their very nature to follow them, in spite of the fact that the law they propose is contrary to what comes naturally to humans, to wit: self-centered, grasping behaviors that only benefit the perpetrator, and no one else…..

We have laws against stealing…. and the most accomplished thieves we see in our culture wear suits and live in Washington D.C. We have laws against killing each other, but, people still get killed, and, if the killers do so while wearing a flag, or a badge, they are considered heroes, no matter how many they kill. We have laws that supposedly protect women, children, and the aged, from suffering abuse, but, just look around you, and you will see no end to the depredations that society allows to be perpetrated upon these three most vulnerable members of our society, all very much within the legal limits of the public morality, as given in the law books….

“[…] For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner […] on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. […] That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that.” — Carl Sagan

The people who get involved in politics, and religion, for much the same reason, believe they are special, and entitled to take all they can from the universe, because they are the be-all, and end-all of the evolutionary ladder. It says so right there in the Bible….. They don’t care that reality says differently, because their sense of denial has been fine-tuned since shortly after they were born, and they are capable of ignoring facts right up until they slap them in the face…. (Witness the Republican melt-down in the last Presidential election, when the Republican party got slapped in the face by their own lack of contact with reality…..)

In spite of all the massive amounts of evidence to the contrary, these folks believe in their own divine entitlement as the lords of creation, chosen by God to do with this planet as we would, without regard for any of the other creatures that live here with us, or for the beauty and balance of the land that sustains us. As far as they are concerned, other people and animals, and natural resources, are theirs to do with as they wish, with God’s blessing…. The fucking assholes…..

I apologize for the vulgarity, to my readers, but not to those at whom it is directed…. To them, I say, fuck you, and fuck you again…. I regard all politicians, priests, preachers, police, lawyers, judges, and corporate misogynists of all shapes and sizes to be INSANE…. floridly, and viciously insane, without any of the moral standards that the rest of mankind embraces. These assholes are responsible for our imminent demise through environmental destruction of the ecosphere, as well as for the endless preying on the weak and vulnerable to suit their own depravity, and lack of moral fiber.

“All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.” — Joseph Conrad

Sexual slavery, corporate collusion to fix wages and prices, legislative corruption and oppression, judicial malfeasance and more corruption, governmental incompetence, religious repression and collusion with politicians, all serve the purposes of the ruling class to a T, no matter how much suffering it causes to others…. As long as they have what they want, nothing anyone else says or does matters at all….

I hate to be a harbinger of bad news, but, I call ’em as I see ’em, and I see what is real…. None of what is wrong in the world will change, until the major portion of mankind makes a change of spirit, and the people, as a whole, decide that the few among us who are bold enough to act must, in fact, act. The evil among us will not go away, or stop, of its own accord, and waiting for them to come around to a more amenable state of mind isn’t going to work, as that just isn’t going to happen.

If we wish to survive, they have to go, and mankind must find a new way to get along with each other than the out-dated ways we have been trying for millennia… Those old ways leave too much power in the hands of people who will give in to the temptation that goes along with such power over others, and must not be allowed to happen any more, not if we wish to survive to see any future at all….. The universe doesn’t care one way or another, so we’ll have to be responsible for our own actions…. as we have always been, and have always been afraid to admit….

“If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will not produce food either.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

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Today’s poem is from a poet who has graced our pages before. Simply put, she’s one of Mankind’s treasures, though she was a broken spirit, with a lost soul, who finally ended her own pain. Before she left us, she gave us the power of her genius; it wasn’t enough to save herself, but, what she wrote gave it all to the world….. I hope you enjoy this example of that genius….

Insomniac

The night is only a sort of carbon paper,
Blueblack, with the much-poked periods of stars
Letting in the light, peephole after peephole . . .
A bonewhite light, like death, behind all things.
Under the eyes of the stars and the moon’s rictus
He suffers his desert pillow, sleeplessness
Stretching its fine, irritating sand in all directions.

Over and over the old, granular movie
Exposes embarrassments—the mizzling days
Of childhood and adolescence, sticky with dreams,
Parental faces on tall stalks, alternately stern and tearful,
A garden of buggy rose that made him cry.
His forehead is bumpy as a sack of rocks.
Memories jostle each other for face-room like obsolete film stars.

He is immune to pills: red, purple, blue . . .
How they lit the tedium of the protracted evening!
Those sugary planets whose influence won for him
A life baptized in no-life for a while,
And the sweet, drugged waking of a forgetful baby.
Now the pills are worn-out and silly, like classical gods.
Their poppy-sleepy colors do him no good.

His head is a little interior of grey mirrors.
Each gesture flees immediately down an alley
Of diminishing perspectives, and its significance
Drains like water out the hole at the far end.
He lives without privacy in a lidless room,
The bald slots of his eyes stiffened wide-open
On the incessant heat-lightning flicker of situations.

Nightlong, in the granite yard, invisible cats
Have been howling like women, or damaged instruments.
Already he can feel daylight, his white disease,
Creeping up with her hatful of trivial repetitions.
The city is a map of cheerful twitters now,
And everywhere people, eyes mica-silver and blank,
Are riding to work in rows, as if recently brainwashed.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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Our final pearl of the day is a short, five-star statement which speaks of some of the more subtle, but, important points about how to live life well. Short it is, but, I guarantee, it’s long on wisdom…. Sometimes, it’s the shorter pearls that pack the most punch….

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“It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person,
“Always do what you are afraid to do.””

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

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“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair,
but manifestations of strength and resolution.”

~~ Kahlil Gibran ~~

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“It is not good for man to achieve all they wish.”

~~ Heraclitus ~~

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“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
~~- Aristotle ~~

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“How admirable, he who thinks not,
Life is fleeting,
When he sees the lightning!”

~~ Basho ~~

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Oddly, for a change, today’s thrown-together-in-a-rush Pearl came together smoothly; so smoothly, I’m caught without much to say here at the end. I’m not going to predict its quality, any more than I would ever do so, but, it feels okay, and we’ll let it fly solo, just as it is. So be it. Hopefully, I’ll have time to find a re-blog for tomorrow; after that, it’s all up in the air as to what may occur. But, then, that’s pretty much always the case, and not just here on ECR. See y’all down the road a piece, ffolkes. I may be late, but, I’ll be here, come what may….. See ya…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Platypae are indefatigable….

Posted on March 17, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss.”

~~ Leonardo Da Vinci ~~

Practicing dignity at an early age….

Hajime…. Having engaged last night in an epic battle for sleep, (which I fought to a draw), I greet the new day with some anticipation, if only for the passing of the night. A small bonus; it’s St. Paddy’s Day, a day when every Irishman in the world goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to, while pulling at a Guinness or five. It’s also said an Irishman is the only man alive who will step over ten women to get a bottle of stout, but, then I never did believe that one. I am, after all, part Irish, and I hate stout….

I see I’ve managed to lose my way with my usual efficiency in such matters. ‘Tis of little consequence today; I’m late, I’m tired, I hurt, and the day stretches out ahead of me with a promise of more. C’est la vie, as they say in Burgundy and the Cote du Rhone, which are across the channel from Cork/Cobh, hiding behind the Isle of Guernsey. Well, I guess the Cote du Rhone is also on the other side of France, but, hey, I’m talking mostly to Americans, who are famous for NOT knowing any geography. And, now, I’ve managed to insult my own audience…. SIGH…. Today, that’s a big, West Counties sigh, complete with huge indrawn breath, and a sad expression of sympathy.

Such dramatic expression is handy, as well; for example, it got me this much further down the page without much effort, with the possibility of leading us in yet another direction. Since to do so would be to lose our way even more so than we already have, I think we should pass on that, and go directly on to the oyster beds, before I completely lose my way. It shouldn’t take long, as Luigi decided to start his St. Paddy’s Day binge a bit early, like yesterday, and Guido had to be called in to get us on our way. I guess we should probably do something about Luigi; he’s getting a bit unreliable…. Ah, well, that’s for later…. For now….

Shall we Pearl?

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

~~ Simone de Beauvoir ~~

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Riverdance-Cloudsong-Photographer-Jack-Hartin

Riverdance

Image from thriftynorthwestmom.com via Google Images

Here is my celebration for Saint Patrick’s Day. I’ve seen this company’s show three times now; it gets better every year, and that is saying something. For your enjoyment, here is a full show, well worth it just for the music; the dance and joy is a bonus…. Enjoy!….

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Riverdance

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https://youtu.be/gdVF2pefNpg

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Given my battle during the night, you probably knew we were going to the archives today…. I’ll try to keep it light….

From 2/9/2014:

“The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just keep your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.” — Frank Zappa Playboy Interview, April 1993

Hmm…. Frank’s take on matters are such that I generally find myself in complete agreement with what he says. Here, he has again put his finger on one of the more obvious facets of Christianity, one that defies all logical explanation in lieu of subservient belief, to wit: faith vs. knowledge, and the Christian’s unfortunate tendency to embrace the former, without any appeal to the latter….. To my way of thinking, that is not only foolish, but cowardly….. but, perhaps, that’s just me….

The fruit of the tree of knowledge gives mankind the go-ahead to use the brain with which we were furnished at birth; the preachers would have us abrogate that use, having us, instead, give over all our power of belief into the hands of the faithful, who, naturally, have only our best interests at heart….. Sure they do…. NOT. I’m sorry, but, no matter how many times these folks say so, I am not going to accept that they know better than I what is best for me…. Nope, not even if there were twenty Bibles out there, all proclaiming how true they are…. Oh wait, there are twenty of them, aren’t there?…. Oh, well, you know what I meant….

Why do people fall for this? I cannot understand how people, who are normally reasonably intelligent, will, by conscious choice, bury their heads in the sand to buy into this, without ever taking even one moment to examine any of it for truth, or even logical assumption. Is there some kind of mind-control drug in that incense? Maybe in the sacramental wine…. Whatever it is, it turns normally competent, intelligent people into mindless slaves, and does so with their complete agreement and approval….. To my mind, it is one of history’s saddest, most incomprehensible features, when I look at just how easily people fall for such egregious, and so obviously self-serving idiocy, as most of the dogmatic proclamations of the major religions tend to offer up.

“I hope I never get so old I get religious.” — Ingmar Bergman

I am compelled to add, “Me, too!” to this sentiment…. In the recent past, I’ve been taking a lot of shots at religions, and need to make clear that I do not hate Christians, or Buddhists, or Muslims, or the followers of any religion. I think they are being silly, deliberately and evilly so, at worst, or at best, misguidedly so, but I don’t hate, or fear them, as is the case on their part whenever they consider me, or my criticisms of their beliefs. I don’t hold that against them, either, as it is logically consistent for them to do so, given the limitations of their dogmatic position. Since, however, the fervor with which they will often defend their position can reach a rather fevered pitch, I tend to treat many of them like a stinging insect, so I will move, and speak, slowly and carefully, so as not to frighten them more than they already are….

Ethical and moral behavior is not confined to those who follow the precepts of one religion or another, despite what any of the proponents of those religions will try to tell you. In fact, if you look closely, the number of folks who are believers have a much higher percentage of failure in that area than do the non-believers, which only makes sense…. The believers all have a sense of entitlement that gives them the idea that the rules of behavior don’t always apply to them, in terms of how they treat people who are not of the same faith, so, to those who are not of their own sect, they don’t bother being truthful, or honest, or ethical, as those people don’t count, in their eyes. People who make their own moral codes tend to follow them, and are much more tolerant of those who do not share their beliefs.

Basic human nature dictates these responses in people; thus, one can see how dangerous it is to remain ignorant, in the Biblical sense. Those who choose to buy into the myth of the Garden of Eden, giving up all their personal independence of mind for the comfort and safety of dogma, will always fail to act according to their own morality much of the time, generally acting, instead, out of their sense of entitlement, and the belief that all of their sins will be forgiven, merely by the act of confessing them. Only those who consciously choose their moral code have the courage to act it out, it seems, except for those few people who actually try to live according to the morality that is espoused, and is seldom embraced by their less ethical peers.

Having the strength of mind to make one’s own moral code also implies the courage to act it out…. This is why I choose to deny the dogma I’ve been exposed to all my life, as being illogical, and, ultimately, immoral…. It makes more sense to me to make my own decisions on such matters, and tell the busybodies who assume they know best for all to go jump in a lake…. Even better, just shut the hell up, and get out of the way, so the rest of us can get something relevant done, without having to put up with all the nonsense from that quarter….

“What is a church? Our honest sexton tells, ‘Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells.” — Crabbe

Note from 2014: Since the validity of the above remains strong, I leave you with the following pearl, to finish off this discussion with the proper tone of accusation, and indictment, of those guilty of this sort of crime against humanity….

“The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is that the surrendering and humbling of the self breeds pride and arrogance.” — Eric Hoffer

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Finisterre

This was the land’s end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic,
Cramped on nothing. Black
Admonitory cliffs, and the sea exploding
With no bottom, or anything on the other side of it,
Whitened by the faces of the drowned.
Now it is only gloomy, a dump of rocks —-
Leftover soldiers from old, messy wars.
The sea cannons into their ear, but they don’t budge.
Other rocks hide their grudges under the water.

The cliffs are edged with trefoils, stars and bells
Such as fingers might embroider, close to death,
Almost too small for the mists to bother with.
The mists are part of the ancient paraphernalia —-
Souls, rolled in the doom-noise of the sea.
They bruise the rocks out of existence, then resurrect them.
They go up without hope, like sighs.
I walk among them, and they stuff my mouth with cotton.
When they free me, I am beaded with tears.

Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is striding toward the horizon,
Her marble skirts blown back in two pink wings.
A marble sailor kneels at her foot distractedly, and at his foot
A peasant woman in black
Is praying to the monument of the sailor praying.
Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is three times life size,
Her lips sweet with divinity.
She does not hear what the sailor or the peasant is saying —-
She is in love with the beautiful formlessness of the sea.

Gull-colored laces flap in the sea drafts
Beside the postcard stalls.
The peasants anchor them with conches. One is told:
“These are the pretty trinkets the sea hides,
Little shells made up into necklaces and toy ladies.
They do not come from the Bay of the Dead down there,
But from another place, tropical and blue,
We have never been to.
These are our crêpes. Eat them before they blow cold.”

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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Our final pearl today is an eclectic, slightly humorous random, harlequin version of an old-school pearl. I hope you enjoy it, for it is one of my better efforts in a while….

The lake rises above the trees:
The image of Preponderance of the Great.
Thus the superior man, when he stands alone,
Is unconcerned,
And if he has to renounce the world,
He is undaunted.

~~ I Ching ~

“It really doesn’t matter if you’re the prey or the predator, if you want to live to see the sunset, you’ve got to start the day running.” — Realist Bee

“Are we THERE yet?” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Brains first and then Hard Work.” — Eeyore, Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“A life lived in fear is only half lived.” — Spanish proverb

“You can observe a lot just by watchin’.” — Yogi Berra

“The best way out is always through.” — Robert Frost

“If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.” — The Cowboy’s Guide to Life

“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself
(I am large, I contain multitudes).”

~~ Walt Whitman, Song of Myself ~~

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Well, it’s done, in spite of some severe demands for attention from our resident familiar, who, for some reason, seems to think today is HER day. Maybe she’s Irish, mixed in with the very apparent Siamese; must be the Calico in her. At any rate, it’s done, and pretty damn fresh, aside from the rant and the poem, which speak for themselves. I’m going to take this opportunity to take my leave, as it were, so, I’ll leave you with my usual caveat, to wit: See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. Consider it a matter of submitting to the inevitable….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Justifying obsequious ramifications….

Posted on February 27, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“There is no debt with so much prejudice put off as that of justice.”

~~ Plutarch — Of those whom God is slow to punish ~~

You said there would be treats….

Hajime….. Pale, sweaty, yet, undaunted by the demands of reality, he arises to begin the day, sans coherent thought, as is his wont. Still, the prospect of yet another day on this beautiful planet, with its immense complexity of life, and it’s uncommonly evocative vistas of uncompromising grandeur. Even considering the negative aspects of current reality, there remains the continual reminder of the immortal, eternal nature of the Universe at large, and the ever-present hope that lives in the human heart, with, or without reason.

Okay, that’s enough pedantry for one morning. I’m a bit late, having again slept reasonably well, so, I’m in a bit of a rush to maintain the schedule to which I try to keep, loose and flexible as it may be. I got a fair amount done yesterday, so, we’ll make it, with the help of the archives, if needed. For the time being, I’ll make the executive decision again to pursue a policy of brevity in expression, at least, here in the intro. It seems to work out better on such days when I do, so, hey, why not? It can’t be any more problematic than our usual blather, right? Right. So be it, and here we go….

Shall we Pearl?….

“It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible,
but also for what we do not do.”

~~ Moliere ~~

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Image from Photostock Royalty-free Images

On the page where I viewed a video yesterday, sent by a friend, I found these two videos. The first is a jam of “Why I Sing The Blues” with a group of performers that is hard to believe got together all in one place. Just about every blues player in American music history of the last 40 years was there; every one of them had a blast doing the song, as is clear by their expressions of joy the entire time… The second video is a compilation of a couple hours of blues, just for your enjoyment… so, enjoy!….

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The Blues
~ Best of the Best Jam ~
& Blues Mix

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https://youtu.be/vnlwxS-36AU

https://youtu.be/D93PBlwBp8s

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“There is no freedom without the power to defend it.”

~~ Subtle Bee ~~

I had intended to create a discussion based on the above assertion, but, didn’t have time; for y’all it’s probably a good thing, as this subject can push a couple thousand words out of me in no time. Instead, I’ll leave you today with the following observation, then include a discussion of personal responsibility/self-awareness from the archives, from 2012, which includes a verse we utilized yesterday…. I hope you enjoy this little break from fresh ranting… Me, I’m gonna go listen to some blues….

“The average man never really thinks from beginning to end of his life. The mental activity of such people is only a mouthing of cliches. What they mistake for thought is simply repetition of what they have heard. My guess is that well over 80% of the human race goes through life without having a single original thought. Whenever a new one appears the average man shows signs of dismay and resentment.” — H. L. Mencken: “Minority Report: H. L. Mencken’s Notebooks”

From 9/9/2012:

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: “Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most.” — George Bernard Shaw

This is a wonderful anecdote, and one I feel very firmly about, as it is one of the clearest lessons in self-awareness I have ever seen. This one is so simple an idea, that even the ignorant asses who make up the political scene in this country would be able to understand it. They probably couldn’t do it, as they never, ever think about themselves other than as an important person, who doesn’t need to make changes in himself. Anyone who does think of themselves would never, ever consent to be put into a public office…. the two things (introspection vs. public office) just don’t mix…. That is because of the following, from a pretty smart fella, who lived quite some time ago, but seemed to have a good head on his shoulders….

“Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom. For herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself; he has no desire for that of which he feels no want.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)

“…he who is neither good nor wise” is a perfect description of anyone who wants to be President of this country. I’ve said it before, and I’m saying it again, because it bears repetition, that anyone, anyone at all, who actually WANTS to be President can be classified as clinically insane, usually a paranoid schizophrenic, with grandiose delusions of adequacy…. NOBODY is adequate for that job… nobody. And anyone who thinks they are is simply not all there…..

And it’s just a box of rain
I don’t know who put it there
Believe it if you need it
Or leave it if you dare
And it’s just a box of rain
Or a ribbon for your hair
Such a long, long time to be gone
And a short time to be there

~~ Box of Rain by Phil Lesh & Robert Hunter ~~

Ah me…. politics and politicians are such an easy target. If it wasn’t so much fun, I might call it a naughty habit, and leave them to their devices, which surely are many….. Since we’re pressed for time today, we’ll leave them be, and just caution y’all to watch out, because their antics can be dangerous, if they are left without supervision for long….

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A Sorcerer Bids Farewell To Seem

I’m through with this grand looking-glass hotel
where adjectives play croquet with flamingo nouns;
methinks I shall absent me for a while
from rhetoric of these rococo queens.
Item : chuck out royal rigmarole of props
and auction off each rare white-rabbit verb;
send my muse Alice packing with gaudy scraps
of mushroom simile and gryphon garb.

My native sleight-of-hand is wearing out :
mad hatter’s hat yields no new metaphor,
and jabberwock will not translate his songs :
it’s time to vanish like the cheshire cat
alone to that authentic island where
cabbages are cabbages; kings : kings.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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Today’s final pearl is a classic style old-school pearl, random harlequin style, with a somewhat subtle message for us. In fact, so subtle, I have yet to figure out what it may be… ‘S okay, we’ve got all day to try to reason it out, so…. have fun!….

“Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It is because modern education is so seldom inspired by a great hope that it so seldom achieves great results. The wish to preserve the past rather that the hope of creating the future dominates the minds of those who control the teaching of the young.” — Bertrand Russell

“Fishing gives you a sense of where you fit in the scene of things. Your place in the universe. I mean, here I am, one small guy with a fishing pole on this vast beach and out there in the blue expanse of ocean are these hundreds of millions of fish… laughing at me.” — Anonymous Smart Bee

“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” — Leonardo da Vinci

“As for myself, I always willingly acknowledge my own self as the principal cause of every good and of every evil which may befall me; therefore I have always found myself capable of being my own pupil, and ready to love my teacher.” — Giacomo Casanova

“The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.” — Rabindranath Tagore

“In the end, everything is a gag.” — Charlie Chaplin

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

Not too shabby for what I’d call a rush job, hurried. It seems to hang together, though, so, we’ll let ‘er fly solo, and see what happens. I shall, as is also my wont, return tomorrow, to give this ol’ horse another workout, to see if we can’t improve on our time, and the elegance of our ‘look and feel’. Fat chance, right? Okay, I’ll stop now, since we are in the closing section. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. I can’t figure out if it’s a gift, or an obsession, but, either way, I’ll be here….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Epic questions of no import….

Posted on February 12, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.”

~~ Terry Pratchett. ~~

The Road Goes Ever On….

Hajime….. The process here at ECR has become a bit choppy, in terms of how smoothly it progresses. This, in turn, may, or, may not have an effect on the Pearls. Either way, I don’t really care, as long as they’re done. Quality, as you know, is NOT job 1 around here; we leave shit like that to Ford. I do make every attempt to make it as good as I can, but, hey, I’m human, and definitely bozoid, so, I know better than to expect reality to match my expectations…. Hell, I’m damn close to having none, anyway, what with the state of affairs on this sad old ball o’mud…..

Without going into THAT subject, which would, no doubt, keep me here relatively indefinitely, we’ll go for some brevity again, & cut this short. In fact, we’ll cut it REALLY short, & end it here. Surprise!…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other.”

~~ Euripides, Orestes (408 BC) ~~

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

royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

We’re going default today, because, for some reason, I am now running quite late. Don’t know why, but, what is, is. This compilation comes from page seven of the You Tube list of choices in this venue, with the picture that drew my eye…. Enjoy!….

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

Classical Music

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

https://youtu.be/Ne48vhEhCBI

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

I’m not late, particularly, but, the piece I’m working on for this section keeps growing on me. Here, to sublimate, is an older piece, from the day after my 63rd birthday, that came out pretty well…. Try to enjoy it, ffolkes; it’s all we’ve got today…. Oh, and, don’t fret about the time/space anachronisms you see today; we were shameless in using the Tardis to get this done, so, I don’t believe ANY of the times will match, or even resemble each other…. Oh, well….

From 11/2/2013:

According to my usual modus operandi, this section would, and may yet be, a rant of some nature. It’s been a while since I took any real shots at the churches, but, then, they are a bit less of a worthy target than are the politicians of the world. Let us not even begin to think about how the shadowy master class of corporate vampires deserve all the disdain, vituperation, and vicious criticism we can heap upon their nasty little heads; whatever we do will never be enough to pay them back for the damage they’ve done to others, and to our world in general…. No, I’d say I have no real lack of usual targets for my critical regard…. What I have is a lack of angst and/or emotional drama to drive that big ol’ truck…. The one I’d like to flatten them with, as they cross my road to the future….

It would be simple to cruise over to a news site, and pick up a current headline or two to work with; there’s no lack of material there, for sure. Even that doesn’t attract my interest; I guess my birthday gave me a good enough chance to get a lot of that out, and there’s not enough left today to drive any further attempts at ranting…. Too bad, actually, as I did have some rather interesting introspective moments yesterday, as the import of my increasing age grew in my thoughts, taking on a deeper meaning than is usual for me during my day…. I love when that happens, though, even if the contentment and serenity it brings me is such that I don’t want to write about it…. It feels too good to talk about it…. Kind of how a joke is like a frog; if you take either one apart to try to figure it out, they both die….

Since I wouldn’t want anyone with the discrete sensibilities of my Gentle Readers to be confronted with that kind of issue, I’ll just fade back ten yards, and punt…. Here is another old-school pearl for your delectation…. Since I’m not ranting about anything today, I’ll let Smart Bee pick out which pearls it thinks should be included, with, possibly, a few comments of my own, in parentheses to avoid any further confusion….. Remember, ffolkes, this is VIRTUAL wisdom…. don’t try to use it as if it were real….

“If you dig a deep enough hole, someone will want to jump in.” — Smart Bee

(It’s always good to start off strong….)

“My indignation, like th’ imprisoned fire, pent in the troubled breast of Aetna, burnt deep and silent.” — Thomson

(SIGH…. if only it had, we’d have a rant today….. 😦 ) 😆

“The silence drew off, baring the pebbles and shells and all the tatty wreckage of my life. Then, at the rim of vision, it gathered itself, and in one sweeping tide, rushed me to sleep.” — Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

(At first I thought this was here just because it’s so bloody brilliant, in both content and style of execution… Astounding imagery, and powerful yet simple language, expressed with such beauty, the heart aches with it….. It also stretches beyond that, into the outer reaches of credibility and connection, to form a tenuous bond with reality, right here in this pearl…. Amazing, isn’t it?….)

“When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right.” — Eugene V. Debs

(Mr. Debs, a political activist and reformer in the early twentieth century, had a lot of interesting things to say, many of them equally as true as this one…. If you have the time, look him up; smart guy…..)

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” — C. G. Jung

(Yep….)

“We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme. It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are more concerned with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent, nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today. Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive. We are sorry if this impression has come across.” — Monty Python

(Actually, this sums up my opinion of 99% of the politicians I see in public, with incredible accuracy….)

(No apology from me is, or ever will be, tendered for making these assertions, either…. fuck ’em all……)

(When I say, “fuck them all”, I’d like to be clear that I don’t intend that in any positive way at all…. What I mean is, FUCK THEM ALL!!!…. and the white horse they say they rode in on, too…..)

“And never, ever cut a deal with a dragon.” — Smart Bee

(I’m with SB on this one…. The last pearl brings all the rest together perfectly, while at the same time reminding us that we already know the important stuff… I mean, it’s just common sense, right? Any dragon master knows this…..)

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

Time, and again….

Life, and/or love, will seldom fit
into any box we keep for them to sit.
Loose and limber, without any reason,
always somewhat out of season.

Surprise, surprise, they seem to say,
we can’t help it, it’s just our way.
If only you would learn, instead of know,
maybe you’d find yourself with one to show.

Deal, just the way it is, now and here,
follow the path, on the other side of fear.
Finding the future isn’t all blood, sweat, and pain,
far, far more than mere joy we stand to gain.

The sages all say not to try, just do,
sounds as simple as putting on a shoe.
I’d say we could really go places,
if we could but learn to tie up the laces….

~~ gigoid ~~

11/1/2013

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

Naked Pearls

Getting There….

*********

“The great man is he who does not lose his child’s heart.”

~~ Mencius ~~

*********

“You can easily judge the character of others
by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.”

~~ Malcolm Forbes ~~

*********

“They may forget what you said,
but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

~~ Carl W. Buechner ~~

*********

“It costs so much to be a full human being
that there are very few who have
the enlightenment or the courage to pay the price…
One must abandon altogether the search for security
and reach out to the risk of living with both arms…
One has to embrace the world like a lover…
One has to accept pain as a condition of existence…
One has to court doubt and darkness
as the cost of knowing.
One needs a will stubborn in conflict,
but apt always to total acceptance
of every consequence of living and dying.”

~ Morris L. West, “Shoes of the Fisherman” ~~

*********

“The highest condition takes rise in the lowest.”

~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 781 ~~

*********

Life at its noblest leaves mere happiness far behind;
and indeed cannot endure it. .
Happiness is not the object of life:
life has no object:
it is an end in itself;
and courage consists in the readiness
to sacrifice happiness
for an intenser quality of life.”

~~ George Bernard Shaw, Letter, Dec. 1900, ~~

*********

“I exist as I am, that is enough.”

~~ Walt Whitman ~~

*********

“Soon you will have forgotten the world,
and the world will have forgotten you.”

~~ Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” ~~

*********

Happily may I walk.
May it be beautiful before me.
May it be beautiful behind me.
May it be beautiful below me.
May it be beautiful above me.
May it be beautiful all around me.
In beauty it is finished.

~~ Navajo Night Chant ~~

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

It’s done. Beyond that, deponent sayeth naught. Not only that, but, I’m dropping y’all like a hot penny today, right here, and right now. Well, now…. no, make that now…. Okay, so, when it’s done, it’s done, and I’m outta here…. Bye! See y’all tomorrow, should I survive my own chutzpah until then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Curving around square corners….

Posted on February 9, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Misfortune shows those who are not friends.”

~~ Aristotle ~~

Is that a spider?….

Hajime….. I know, I know; the picture is a repeat. I don’t care, because it’s so cute. Besides, I’m up too late, again, to worry about it now. I did manage to get most of this done yesterday, leaving only one section undone for this morning. That, however, has since gone beyond my current capabilities in its scope, so, we’ll be archive diving for that. Go figure. Other than that, we’re good to go…. Also a go figure….

I suppose I COULD wander around a bit, make up a bit of nonsense, or, just blather a bit. But, I’m really not in a space to do that, either; my sleep isn’t what it could be of late, & I find myself pretty tired a lot of the day, not having stored up sufficient down-time to fully recharge the batteries. But, duty calls today, so, fatigue is irrelevant. Ah, for the days of my youth, when I could throw it off like a cheap coat in the sun! Now, it’s more a matter of moving a small mountain in order to get out of bed…. SIGH….

There. Obligatory complaining out of the way, we can get on with this mess. We won’t even bother excusing ourselves for using such abrupt measures. Our insurance is all paid up, so, to hell with the collateral casualties!…. On to the oyster beds, ffolkes!….

Shall we Pearl?….

“If you judge, investigate.”

~~ Seneca ~~

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

The Harp Twins

Image from Tumblr.com via Google Images

I love finding new music, especially instrumentalists I’ve never seen or heard before. I once saw a harpist play a solo gig at a bar in Napa, CA, who was, quite frankly, the best I’ve ever seen, playing all the band parts alone for the songs she included. She could make the harp sound like a piano, a guitar, a violin, and even horns…. amazing. These two are pretty damn good, too, from what I’ve been listening to while typing…. Enjoy, ffolkes. it’s some damn fine music….

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

The Harp Twins

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

https://youtu.be/JhOhGhq0e54?list=PL51BDC64111A4EF17

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

As promised, a discussion from the archives, on a subject near and not-so-dear to my heart, sanity/insanity….. Enjoy!….

From 2/15/2013:

“How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it takes a really long time and the light bulb has to want to change.” — Smart Bee

Boy, if it wasn’t for the power of metaphor, I would be lost!….. This statement, though presented in a manner that makes it obviously a joke, is actually quite serious in its relevance to sanity, psychiatry, and how the mind works, in general. I worked for many years in the field of mental health care, as a therapist, and I can tell you quite honestly, that this is absolutely true, in many cases of what the rest of society terms insanity….. a word, and a concept, that most of society avoids at all costs, and completely misunderstands, for the most part…. You see, every person who lives in this society on Earth today is just a little insane, with some of them reaching higher levels through their own efforts to excel…… 🙂 Society itself is insane, you see, and one needs to be the same in order to effectively cope….

It may surprise some ffolkes to know that they are insane; I know it surprised me when I first became aware of this fact. We all go through our lives with a certain image of ourselves, and very rarely does that image in our minds look insane. But, let me assure you, there really isn’t any visible way to be able to tell if a person is insane, as it is completely invisible, under most circumstances, as long as the person isn’t speaking, or acting in some way that provides a clue as to their inner state of mind. Even for those of us trained in recognizing its presence, through the use of observation of other defining characteristics, there is no guaranteed method for spotting someone with a mental condition, unless they give it to you up front by acting out in some overt fashion.

Sure, there are tells, as a gambler would say…. when one eye is happily spinning in the opposite direction as the other, it’s a pretty good sign of some inner turmoil…. Pacing and mumbling to oneself, back and forth in a small area, while ignoring all around them, can be another dead giveaway of someone who is experiencing a few extra perceptions in comparison to the rest of us. Sometimes, really bad grooming can be a sign that the person’s mind isn’t focused on how they affect others, and staring at a wall, holding what appears to be a conversation with oneself, can be another indication that not all is well in that person’s world….

But, without some overt signs such as these, you just can’t spot mental illness, and it is extra hard to see it in one’s own image, since we tend to clean that up before we look at it, or try to share it. And, since EVERYONE ELSE is also insane, at least a little, it can be hard to spot, for the same reason one cow in a herd is hard to pick out. You may have heard the old saw about “one in four people are insane, so if you have three sane friends, it’s you”….. What would be more accurate to say is, “all of you are insane, but three of you are coping well with it in an effective manner, and one isn’t…. ”

It’s helpful to know that the overt signs one may see are indicative of the severity of the condition, i.e., the more acting out one observes, the more severe the break in the mental state. But, that isn’t always accurate, as normally sane folks, acting in the grip of strong emotion, can show the same kind of acting out, with the difference of not having it occur all the time, but only when provoked. Thus, it can be seen, it can be very difficult to judge whether a person is insane, or merely temporarily out of control…..

This is where I bring it all together, by referring back to the original pearl…. Coping with life can drive anyone crazy, and does, every day….. Some cope with it better than others, and those are the people who are considered to be sane, as they can deal with reality without resorting to outlandish ways of dealing with their fears. Those who cannot find ways of coping with their fears, which arise from what reality gives us to deal with, end up acting in ways that are strange and uncomfortable for the rest of us, and are often dangerous, in a physical sense, for them, and for those around them…..

In all my experience, with every kind of mental illness I saw in almost 30 years working in mental hospitals, the primary characteristic of those who got better, was that they made up their own minds to do so…. That’s it…. Simple as it may seem, deciding to give up the methods they used, and make a change, was always based on a personal decision on their part, and was THE key ingredient in the regime of ideas, medicines, therapies, and treatments used to combat their illness. In other words, it took a long time, and they first had to want to change….. Without that, nothing worked…. It is a well known aphorism among mental health therapists that, “they get better IN SPITE of what we do, not because of it….”

So, if you’re getting worried about your own coping skills, just keep in mind that to remain sane, it means you have to want to do so…. But, that’s all it takes, if your are sincere, for you will do whatever else is needed, once your will power has been engaged…. That’s what people do….

“Great minds think alike, apparently so do we.” — D. Bennett

“Falsely luxurious, will not man awake?” — James Thomson (1700-1748) — The Seasons, Summer, Line 67

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

Today’s poem first appeared on ECR the same day as the discussion above, since it fits in so well with the subject matter….. It’s always been one of my favorite poems, by one of my favorite poets…. Enjoy!

Mad Girl’s Love Song

“I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell’s fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan’s men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you’d return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)”

~~ Sylvia Plath

Brilliant! Absolutely, insanely brilliant! 🙂

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

Now, THIS is a pearl of virtual wisdom! Nine classic gems, forming a necklace of peerless brilliance… I think I’ll call it….

Naked Pearls

Use it, or lose it….

*********

“He who ceases to learn cannot adequately teach.”

~~Headmaster Bee ~~

*********

“Mere longevity is a good thing
for those who watch Life from the side lines.
For those who play the game,
an hour may be a year,
a single day’s work an achievement for eternity.”

~~– Gabriel Heatter ~~

*********

“I think the one lesson I have learned is
that there is no substitute for paying attention.”

~~ Diane Sawyer ~~

*********

“If you’re going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance.”

~~ Whimsical Bee ~~

*********

“The wisest man is generally he who thinks himself the least so.”

~~ Nicholas Boileau-Despréaux ~~

*********

“There are as many nights as days,
and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course.
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness,
and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning
if it were not balanced by sadness.”

~~ Carl Jung ~~

*********

“Laughter is by definition healthy.”

~~ Doris Lessing ~~

*********

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift;
the rational mind is faithful servant.
We have created a society
that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift.”

~~ Albert Einstein ~~

*********

“Life is not meant to be easy, my child;
but take courage — it can be delightful.”

~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~

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

I suppose it isn’t a surprise to learn cats don’t understand deadlines. Ah, well, she’ll have to learn, I guess, for we all must bow to the gods of necessity at times…. even cats, though they would have us believe otherwise. That said, to our common cause of no good purpose, we’ll take our leave for another day, to see if we can find out why we keep falling into the royal ‘we’, when we write…. SIGH…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, whether we figure it our, or not….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Turning four into seven….

Posted on January 24, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The absurd is the essential concept of the first truth.”

~~ Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1955) ~~

No, ffolkes, it isn’t a myth….

Hajime…. Don’t worry, we’re not going to jump straight into Camus’ world first thing. Hell, I’m coffee deficient; it’s a wonder I can type. No, I figured we could just wander around in my head for a bit, little as there is to see in there at the moment. Before I started to type, I had a vision of opening with a fantasy paragraph, but, that sort of went south with Camus; it takes away some of the shine of having a thought at all, but, hey, we do what we must, right?

“Forever,” she smiled, “is just long enough.” Gazing into her eyes, he knew he’d come home….

There…. How’s that? What, you may ask, the hell is it? Easy, it’s the last line of a romance novel I’m never going to write, because having to fill in the stuff leading up to such a trite ending would probably reverse all the good work I’ve done the last four years in keeping myself sane…. Oh, not that I have anything against romance novels, or romance… It’s just a bit sappy, don’t you think? A nice ending, but, sappy, for sure….

Hmm… I would say that’s probably enough wandering around, if such is any indication of how it’s going to go, wouldn’t y’all? I suppose it would also be good if I gave up on the rhetorical questions, since nobody else is actually here to answer them, if a rhetorical question even needed one. Now we’ve stumbled over into nonsense, it’s definitely time to go. No fooling, and no fooling around; we’re using the Tardis, now….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Pretty much all the honest truth telling there is in the world is done by children.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes

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

One of my blogging friends turned me on to this series of videos, in a comment left on yesterday’s post. After watching it, I had to go get it for today’s post, just because it is, well, excellent….. Uplifting, cerebral, absolutely wonderful…. and, there are more where this came from…. Check it out, ffolkes, this is definitely grand craic….

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

Symphony Of Science
‘We Are All Connected’

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

https://youtu.be/XGK84Poeynk

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

Okay, I admit it. I’m lazy. It’s not something I worry about, because I also know the meaning and value of work; duty after all requires action to fulfill. But, all truly smart ffolkes are lazy, for that is how they have spent much of their life, thinking of ways to make stuff easier, faster, or more efficient in some new way, in order to simplify their life…. Well, that’s how it works for me, anyway. It was good enough for me to have been valedictorian in school, without appearing to break a sweat….

That said, to no good purpose, I’m sure, the following is a relatively short discussion of courage, from a couple years ago, on a day I went for a stroll through my psyche, again, in the intro section. It’s pretty interesting, if not good, so, it will do for today’s mess…. I like it, and, it’s all damn straight, IMHO…. but,then, I did write it….

From 2/25/2014:

Terrible things could happen now…. they could, you know. And, should they happen, 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

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 aphorism….. Time after time throughout our short span of existence on this world, we find examples of men or women who had prior knowledge of an issue, and, by their silence, allowed it to take place, to the detriment of all…. It doesn’t make it right, 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 is 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, most of mankind, I’m afraid, are cowards…. I’m not an exception, though it IS something I’ve worked hard to mitigate…. Fear is a hard thing for most of us to admit, even though it isn’t considered abnormal; its strength, with 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 to themselves, or to 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, ffolkes; 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!”, 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

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

Soliloquy Of The Solipsist

I?
I walk alone;
The midnight street
Spins itself from under my feet;
When my eyes shut
These dreaming houses all snuff out;
Through a whim of mine
Over gables the moon’s celestial onion
Hangs high.

I
Make houses shrink
And trees diminish
By going far; my look’s leash
Dangles the puppet-people
Who, unaware how they dwindle,
Laugh, kiss, get drunk,
Nor guess that if I choose to blink
They die.

I
When in good humor,
Give grass its green
Blazon sky blue, and endow the sun
With gold;
Yet, in my wintriest moods, I hold
Absolute power
To boycott any color and forbid any flower
To be.

I
Know you appear
Vivid at my side,
Denying you sprang out of my head,
Claiming you feel
Love fiery enough to prove flesh real,
Though it’s quite clear
All you beauty, all your wit, is a gift, my dear,
From me.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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

All simple, powerful statements today, about how to approach this world of complexity in which we find ourselves…. All good to know stuff, ffolkes; nothing too deep, just right out there to see…

“I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.” — H. L. Mencken

“It is ridiculous to lay the blame of our wrong actions upon external causes, rather than on the facility with which we ourselves are caught by such causes.” — Aristotle

“The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them should be constant.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD), How Nobleness of Mind may be consistent with Prudence, Discourses, Book ii, Chap. v

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

“Reality is not a constant.” — Subtle Bee

“Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old.” — Aeschylus, “Agamemnon”, 584

“I leapt headlong into the sea, and thereby have become better acquainted with the soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly song, and took tea and comfortable advice.” — John Keats

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

“But if a man happens to find himself … he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life.” — James Michener

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

Shoot, this is getting too easy. I guess I’ll have to go back to sweating over this in the mornings…. Nah, I sweat enough, of that I have no doubt. On that odd note, I’ll leave this be, lest any further fussing cause it to fall apart altogether. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should there be sufficient reason to warrant such arrogance…. No doubt there will be….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Spontaneous paradigm regeneration…. Myth, or dogma?

Posted on November 5, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.”

~~ Titus Livius ~~

Serendipity ~ Unexpected Charm

G’day…. Bass ackwards isn’t all that unusual for us, but, I hadn’t thought to begin the day thus, in spite of what I now see were significant clues I missed. Oh, well…. at least I’m here, and posting. It was looking like it was going to be a tough three days, but, fortunately for all concerned, that didn’t happen, for which I’d give thanks, were there anyone I thought was all that worried about getting any. Since there isn’t, we’ll just go on for now.

Y’know, I’m not really all that coherent right now, even if these words, so far, have given no such indication. I’m right smack-dab on the edge of sheer, unadulterated insanity, thanks to the vicissitudes of modern life under the corporate aegis that covers the world. Every day, I spend an inordinate amount of time persuading myself to forgo giving in to my homicidal urges; it’s getting harder every day. It’s gotten so bad, I’ve gone so far as to go out and about relatively unarmed, just to I don’t overreact to someone’s rampant stupidity with a weapon in my hand.

Moreover, I’m afraid, if/when I do end up tumbling over the edge, my angst will come out upon a myrmidon, or, a dogma dog, or worst yet, an innocent (if such exists) bureaucrat, who is merely passing his own time in Hell, slaving away, living a life of delusion. If I lost it on one of them, I’d no doubt suffer a good five minutes of guilt, which I HATE. So, rather than take the chance of leaving a trail of bodies behind me, I’ve been staying in a lot, which the cat loves, and I get tired of FAST….

Ah, fuck it, this is turning into a whine tasting, way too early in the day. Instead, I’m going to tell Luigi to do what he’s always wanted to do, and try to set a new land/water/air speed record getting us to the oyster beds, to take our minds off our daily troubles, and experience a bit of sheer, real, terror for a few moments…. It’ll distract us all, guaranteed…. Luigi, you’ve got your head….

Shall we Pearl?

“What you keep to yourself you lose, what you give away, you keep forever.”

~~ Axel Munthe ~~

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

Image from alexpress.com via Google Images

Today we’ll return to yesteryear, to what may be the most well known band to ever play in public. The “lads” are playing here in a live show from 1965, so, the audio quality may suffer…. But, I’ll bet the memories will come just fine…. Enjoy!….

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

The Beatles
Live ~ Empire Pool 1965

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

https://youtu.be/uc8wtwASPhY

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

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

I wrote this rant on a day I also spoke of omens in the introduction; the WP suggestion bots referred/reminded me of it yesterday. It’s a good ‘un, I think, so, here ’tis again, just because I can…. and, because it’s worth repeating often….

From 2/1/2013:

“The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly deceived.” — Oscar Wilde

Oscar’s speech, and his grasp of the art of conversation, were legendary for showing wit along with intelligent insight. Often, with aphorisms like this one, that depth of insight became quite shiny….. It doesn’t seem like much, at first glance, but is actually quite good advice, though given with tongue firmly planted in cheek. In one simple sentence, he condemns modern society for its lack of integrity, and offers to mankind the only true way to be content with our lot…..

In this society, we, the people, are deceived on what is essentially an hourly basis, by our leaders, by our priests, by businesses, by the police, by each other for the sake of expedience; almost every minute of our lives we are being lied to by someone, especially if one watches a lot of TV. We have, culturally, become so inured to being lied to that we have come to assume it is not just okay, but is the only way to get ahead in life…. Sadly, this may be true…. The presence of honesty in human interaction has become so rare that most people just expect the lies, and learn to live with them per Oscar’s suggestion.

In its simplicity, and in its Zen-like attitude, what Oscar shared is very much Eastern in its outlook. It isn’t a common idea in Western culture to “go with the flow”, but rather to “fight on”; the concept of acceptance to deal with challenge is foreign to most of us raised under Christian standards. But, regardless of where one is raised, the lies are still out there, being used by those in power to confuse, distract, and manipulate the voting public, and I think we can count on them to continue in that vein for as long as it continues to work for them….

So, maybe it is time to look at what Oscar said as a challenge, rather than advice. Perhaps, if the public began to NOT accept the lies, but began to question those in authority, to demand that the truth be told, then maybe there is a chance for us to survive the coming collapse….. Maybe…. it may already be too late….

I read an interesting article the other day, and I use the word ‘interesting’ in its most dangerous sense, as is common in Eastern culture, where being wished an “interesting life” is a curse…. The article made this statement, to wit: the climate is not changing. It has changed…… In other words, the moment that the environmentalists have been fearing for years has arrived, and we have reached a point of no return.

The millions of tons of particulate matter (“pollution”) we have been pumping into the air for the last 100 years has reached a point where irreversible changes in the balance of the planetary ecosystem have been made, and the climate, which has just begun to alter its centuries-old patterns, will now continue to grow more unpredictable, and more violently destructive than has ever been seen before in history. These changes are not going to stop, and in fact, will worsen over time…. and, I am unhappy to report, this is not fear-mongering, this is not speculation, this is not a lie…. this is demonstrable fact. See for yourself, here:

http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/worldclock/

I am so pissed off about this that I am going to have to stop this pearl right here; I’m already trembling from the jolt of adrenaline the anger stimulated in me. Those in power over society have ignored the warnings that scientists and environmentalists have issued for decades, and their intransigence is now going to kill all of us, slowly and with great pain for many, as life on this planet becomes more and more of a challenge, to live, nay, just to survive. There is only one reason this is happening, and that is the FACT that the Beloved Ruling Class has, for centuries, lied and cheated the rest of humanity, and have arranged matters so that they are the only ones who are truly comfortable… most of humanity has to struggle to obtain just enough of the resources being hoarded to live in hunger, barely able to survive.

Bah! I am incensed, and can hardly contain my rage…. It makes me want to go out and start….. well, I started to say “killing”, referring to the members of the BRC, but, on second thought, killing is too good for them. I think I’d rather keep them alive, but make them suffer, just as much as they have made others suffer their entire lives….. It’s time, ffolkes, for humanity to step up, and boot the assholes out…. They are killing us, and I think it is about time we did something to return the favor, don’t you?….. Think about, but don’t take long, because it’s already too late…..

“If I had a Q-TIP, I could prevent th’collapse of NEGOTIATIONS!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Rare gift! but oh what gift to fools avails!” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book x, Line 29

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

I found this via Google, but, forget where; if you really need to see it yourself, and, you’re reading this, then, you can Google it yourself. But, then, why bother?….

Conversations among the ruins

Through portico of my elegant house you stalk
With your wild furies, disturbing garlands of fruit
And the fabulous lutes and peacocks, rending the net
Of all decorum which holds the whirlwind back.
Now, rich order of walls is fallen; rooks croak
Above the appalling ruin; in bleak light
Of your stormy eye, magic takes flight
Like a daunted witch, quitting castle when real days break.

Fractured pillars frame prospects of rock;
While you stand heroic in coat and tie, I sit
Composed in Grecian tunic and psyche-knot,
Rooted to your black look, the play turned tragic:
Which such blight wrought on our bankrupt estate,

What ceremony of words can patch the havoc?

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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

Here’s the deal with this one; I haven’t the slightest clue as to the exact meaning, or, why SB would only give up these seven pearls, and no others, in an entire day. Hence, the icon you see adorning the space at the top of this final section. If you can figure out a way to express the concept being forwarded, please do so in the comments; I’d love to get a clue….

“By definition, when you are investigating the unknown, you do not know what you will find.” — The Ultimate Principle

“Security is mostly a superstition. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” — Helen Keller, The Open Door (1957)

“Euripides was wont to say, “Silence is an answer to a wise man.”” — Plutarch — Of Bashfulness

“It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.” — Abraham Lincoln

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

“What makes old age so sad is not that our joys but our hopes cease.” — Jean Paul Richter

“Don’t try to have the last word. You might get it.” — Lazarus Long

Oh, wait…. I see now…. Hah! Not bad, not bad at all…..

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

I’ll take it, and not just because it’s done, either. ‘Tain’t bad for a first try back on the regular schedule, which, truthfully, bears little to no resemblance to anything regular. Nonetheless, it’s still done, and I’m outta here, to go try to cause some trouble for the mundanes…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; there seems to be no escaping it….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Three platters of the Gorgonzola Nuggets, please, with extra irony….

Posted on July 20, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“I take a simple view of life: keep your eyes open and get on with it.”

~~ Laurence Olivier ~~

Pluto as seen from Charon

Artist Ron Miller’s Images of Pluto and its Moons

http://gizmodo.com/stunning-pluto-art-makes-me-want-to-hike-the-norgay-mon-1718832094

Good morning…. While perusing more old Pearls, I found the following in an opening section…. It’s pretty cool, so, let’s start the day the same way we did in February of 2012….

Patterns of light, both bright and fearful chase each other madly ’round and ’round, mad peals of laughter shrieking through the cool night air. Ghostly figures of unheralded regrets vie for position closer to the oddly shaped harpsichord in the foyer, while the thief of lost hope and hsi cohorts silently steal away. As the outer walls grow nearer, madness fades, and the silent myrmidons forge ahead, further into the day, further from the night’s insanity, until reality assumes a more familiar form and face, and faded regrets hold no more power over the hearts of the unmindful……

As is often obvious, reality can be pretty fluid in my world. I don’t insist that it stay in familiar patterns just to make me more comfortable; that never works in any case. Also, I find that reality becomes more palatable, more amenable the less one tries to have any influence over it; it seems to resent, and resist, any such foolery, and has been known to revolt altogether when attempts are made to make it conform to any preconceived notions. And to be honest, I don’t blame it at all….. let’s see what’s in the hopper for us today, shall we?…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“Ambition has but one reward for all:

A little power, a little transient fame,

a grave to rest in, and a fading name.”

— William Winter

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

Image from en.wikipedia.org via Google Images

J.S. Bach is well-known to all but a few humans, for good reason, as he left humanity a very large legacy of some of the finest music ever produced. Here for your listening pleasure are all six of the Brandenburg Concertos…. Telling anyone to enjoy this is superfluous verbiage, so, I won’t say it, but, please do…. Was that convoluted enough for you?….

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

J. S. Bach

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

https://youtu.be/NCPM8DEsvmc

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

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

Yep…. Y’all know what this logo means…. It’s another example of gigoid’s laziness, for which he is making no apology whatsoever…. You try getting up at 0100 to twitch, wishing for oblivion, & see how perky YOU are at 0430…. I’m exhausted, having had no more than 3 straight hours of sleep for what seems like months…. Oh, wait, it HAS been months…. Ah well, such is life at this moment in time, and, using the powers of a Time Lord for personal business isn’t allowed…. Ah well, let’s go take a few shots at some lawyers, okay? They usually deserve whatever crap we can throw their way….

From 1/11/2014:

“Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.” — Charles Lamb

Mr. Lamb makes here an assertion that he has, no doubt, been forced to defend, physically, in more than one bar…. especially in those bars near the courthouse…. Actually, any OTHER bars would most likely appreciate this, and reward him with a groan, or even a chuckle or two, (in some parts of town, they’d even buy him a drink….) even though most folks tend to become angry and depressed when thinking about lawyers…. It goes with the territory, you see. Lawyers, as all of us are aware, come in only two varieties, one of which is socially acceptable, and one that is socially outcast…. a distinction based upon how they approach their practice of law….

One type of lawyer is the kind who goes into the law because they believe in it; they like justice, they like to see that justice work….. These barristers try to help others find justice, even when the system of law is obstructive to that purpose, by the intent and influence of the OTHER kind of lawyers who inhabit the field. These people use their knowledge of the ins and outs of the legal system to help others find their way through it, motivated by impulses of a morally superior nature….

The second type of lawyer is that group of people who make it through law school, with the sole purpose making the law work FOR them, to furnish them with power, money, and control over others, whether as a lawyer, a judge, a politician, or a banker, which are the four ways that most lawyers choose to use their education….. They are motivated by avarice, entitlement, and self-love, and have no investment at all in helping others, unless that somehow advances their own agenda….

Now I’m depressed, and pissed off…. I have had my own experiences with both kinds of lawyers; I even count one of them among my long-time friends, mostly because he is a person who spends a lot of time agonizing over the motivations involved in pursuing the law, and his own struggles with dealing with the other type in the system…. He would have been the first kind of lawyer, had he stuck with it; as it is, he is not currently practicing, and is much better off for it, IMHO….

But, there are so fucking many of the kind who are in it for what they can get out of it, they tend to seem like the ONLY kind…. It also seems as if every one of the lawyers in that group is involved in the government of this country, at one level or another, which, arguably, is a fucking nightmare for the rest of us…. These Asininnies have penetrated to all levels of society, taking over in positions that need their expertise, and cementing their own part in keeping the status quo intact…. From the White House, to the halls of Congress and Senate, to the Supreme Court, our country is in the hands of assholes with law degrees, all vying for the primary position of power, and not a single one of them concerned AT ALL with anyone else in the country….

It’s been this way for a good long while now, and shows no signs of ever becoming different…. because people have stopped noticing, or don’t care, because they’re too busy trying to stay alive in the impossible world that has been created for us…. I could rant here about how this is going to kill us all, but, you’ve heard me on that subject before, and it won’t change anything to go over it now…. I don’t see that there are a lot of options left in the world for any of us, not without some seriously revolutionary spirit developing, enough to actually fight back AGAINST all those who would maintain things as they are….

That’s the issue, ffolkes, right there…. The people now in power want the status quo to be maintained, as long as they possibly can, so they resist all efforts to educate the world about the need for change. They won’t quit doing that, unless someone else MAKES them stop… and, honestly, do you see anyone at all who will do that? Neither do I….. I am willing to help, if I could see anyone at all who had any chance at making any changes, but, I just don’t see it anywhere….

“THEY” have too much control, and “THEY” are willing to let things go on the way they are as long as their profit margin doesn’t fall below their expectations…. Add to that the fact that “THEY” don’t give a shit about what anyone else wants, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of where we stand, here, January 11, 2014, in America, as well as on Planet Earth at large…. You can thank the Asininnies, and you can thank yourselves, as I do, for we all played our part in the story line….

And of course, No soap, radio….

(The Joke: Two elephants are sitting in a bathtub, scrubbing away. One elephant pauses and cries out to the other, “Pass the soap!” And the other elephant shouts back, “No soap! RADIO!” All the kids burst out laughing at the hilarious rejoinder and they slap one another on the back with glee. The sucker in the group cracks up, too and exclaims how funny it is — only to be mocked by the rest because there is no joke.)

Get it, ffolkes? This is no joke…..

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

Sometimes, introduction is superfluous…..

Gold Mouths Cry

Gold mouths cry with the green young
certainty of the bronze boy
remembering a thousand autumns
and how a hundred thousand leaves
came sliding down his shoulder blades
persuaded by his bronze heroic reason.
We ignore the coming doom of gold
and we are glad in this bright metal season.
Even the dead laugh among the goldenrod.

The bronze boy stands kneedeep in centuries,
and never grieves,
remembering a thousand autumns,
with sunlight of a thousand years upon his lips
and his eyes gone blind with leaves.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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

If you know anything about Kokopelli, you’ll know why he adorns the top of today’s final section. If you don’t know anything about him, when you’ve finished this pearl, you’ll have a better idea…. Trust me…. Or not, up to you….

perfect is boring.
the only way to make it live
is to get a bit of blood in it,
to make it messy —
and human.

~~ callan williams ~~

“All life is an experiment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“How did the great rivers and seas gain dominion over the hundred lesser streams? By being lower than they.” — Lao Tzu

“Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.” — Ausionius

“Only ideas that we actually live by are of any value.” — Hermann Hesse

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

He who knows man is clever;
He who knows himself is enlightened.
He who conquers men has force;
He who conquers himself is truly strong.

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

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

Today’s Pearl is one I’d call a stealth pearl; it was created without the full knowledge or use of my mind; after this long, I can do this in my sleep…. Of course, I’m not getting any sleep, so, that’s sort of irrelevant just now; maybe I can use it to get some sympathy…. Nah, that’s too easy. I know, I’ll just post it, and practice my cat attitude, wherein I don’t give a shit what happens, as long as I can get my nap…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided I’m still coherent enough to do so….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Rambling for rubles….

Posted on July 5, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Euripides says,–

Who knows but that this life is really death,

And whether death is not what men call life?

~~ Diogenes Laertius — Pyrrho, viii ~~

Scenes from a train V….

Good morning…. But, then, you knew that, or you wouldn’t be here, reading this nonsense, would you? Of course not…. If nothing else, we here at ECR have respect for our Gentle Readers, such as they are. On that you may depend, if naught else…. It won’t pay the rent, or feed very many people, but, it’s got to feel better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, I would say…. Having said that, to no good purpose other than to fill in a bit more space between the front and rear of this paragraph, I believe I will take this opportunity to get the hell out of this seemingly never-ending initial blurb, so we can actually get started…. Here’s how we’ll do that….

Shall we Pearl?….

“If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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

Rather than spend a long time agonizing over our selection today, I decided to just go with our default choice for this section, to wit: classical music. Here is another mix of artists and composers to chill out your morning reading….

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Classical Pearls

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

https://youtu.be/pdUOtJLHGQQ

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

“My nose feels like a bad Ronald Reagan movie…” — Zippy the Pinhead

Yesterday was July 4th, our holiday to celebrate the birth of the nation. For much of my life, I was one who could be called patriotic; having observed history now for over 60 years, my patriotism has turned mostly to sorrow, for promises unkept, and a dream that died…. The warnings given by our founding fathers, to watch out for professional politicians and corporate influence in government, were mostly ignored during the last century, and we are now paying the price for our lack of attention…..

I intended to comment copiously about all the events and issues that have soured my patriotism, but, find myself unwilling to even go there today. I’ve been in pretty severe pain for days now, and feel I would become too worked up to do it justice…. It’s such a great opening line, I hate to let it go, so, I’ve found an older politirant from the days before my second retirement kicked in, and my sense of outrage was pretty much left in the “ON” position for a couple of years…. It’s all still completely valid, so it will do…. Think about the events of yesterday, in light of Zippy’s comment, and you’ll see what I’m talking about…. We’ve all been stuck in a bad B movie, since the days of Reaganomics, and the final assault on the Bill of Rights….

From 3/7/2013:

“It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion.” — William Ralph Inge, D. D. 1860 – 1954

I’ve seen this little statement before, and like it a lot, for its honesty in describing our Beloved Ruling Class in relation to the flock of sheep that comprises most of mankind. And, yes, this is the beginning of another politirant….. This one is prompted by the most recent activities that our leaders, if such word applies, have been shown to be engaged in by the news outlets I watch…. to wit: the legislation under review and up for vote in the House of Reps that is concerned with the economy, to wit: the “sequester”, and the recent comments by the POTUS re: global warming and climate change…. Let’s see what we can note about these issues, shall we?….

I have noticed that the Congress, and the POTUS, are currently at odds, as usual, over the economy, and arguing over how to address an issue over which they have absolutely no control…. I just don’t get it, actually…. There is no evidence whatsoever that anything the government does, or has ever done, about the economy has any effect at all on it…. none. Zero. Zilch. Nada damn thing…. The economy of the world, or even just this nation, is not subject to any manipulation by us; it’s too big, too amorphous…. It’s like trying to herd cats…. a lot of effort for small results, and you end up with a bunch of pissed off felines… If you know anything about cats, you will realize that this is never a good thing….

Yet, because the public demands that something be done, the politicians start their idiotic posturing, pontificating, and, otherwise polluting the airwaves with nonsensical suggestions as to what should be done to fix the problems. NONE of those ever work, nor will they ever work; the economy does not move according to any rules that we can control, or even know, and any action we take is just as liable to have a bad effect as a good one….. But, the public wants the government to fix it, so they try to make noises as if they actually could do something helpful, when in fact, anything they do is as liable to hurt as to help….. Sad, but, true as the day is long….

It’s actually kind of fun watching the contortions they go through for issues such as this; since I know for a fact that none of it will have any real effect on the issue, I can enjoy the parade without worrying about whether it will actually do anything useful…. It is a bit depressing to watch, since I am aware of just how little can be done, but, the show can be entertaining, and it does pass the time… The depressing part is knowing that the public is actually buying all of what they are saying, and really do expect something to change for the better… But, then, I am always amazed at the depth of human stupidity. I don’t know why, as I KNOW how dumb people can be… I am one, you know…. but, it always is a surprise to see just how deeply that stupidity is ingrained in the human condition…

Of course, this stupidity is part and parcel of why we are experiencing the second issue I mentioned above… global warming and overpopulation. I will be very interested to see exactly how the POTUS intends to address the issue, as he has promised to do, several times now since his inauguration. Since the issue is well advanced beyond the point that most people think it is, it will be a telling factor in deciding how seriously the issue is being taken, and whether or not it will have any chance at all of being either enough, or soon enough… Both of these are critical factors, as the point of no-return for the ecological balance of this planet is so near, it may have already been passed some months ago…..

I’m not sure how scientifically minded many of y’all are, but, I am… scientifically minded, that is, and I can tell you without fear of contradiction (from anyone with any reliable scientific knowledge, anyway….) that the atmosphere of this planet is, without doubt, and without evidence to the contrary, on the very edge of becoming unbreathable for humans…. The millions of tons of carbon monoxide and other toxic substances that are being pumped into the air EVERY SECOND, and that has been pumped in now for over a hundred years, has reached the point where it will begin a process of leaching oxygen from the air, and the balance of gases we need to survive will change, hell, IS changing, and fairly rapidly, until it is no longer of a balance that we can safely breathe… This is scientific FACT, not speculation, not a guess.. the process has already begun, the only question remaining is, how quickly will it happen?

“In the game of life you get to choose where you keep your brain – heads you win, tails you lose.” — Smart Bee

So, we’ll see where the POTUS keeps his brain, as he speaks in the next few days about this issue… Whatever he decides to do, you can bet that it won’t be enough, and it won’t make a damn bit of difference, other than in a few Presidential approval polls, perhaps. After all, even though he is a fairly reform oriented politician, he is still a politician, and you can lay good money, without fear of losing, on the fact that whatever he does is designed to benefit him and his Presidency, and any benefit for the public is a secondary concern….

He IS a politician, after all, and his primary concern is for his own success; it’s NOT the welfare of the people… He has merely discovered that being the “People’s Champion” is currently a good political stance to take…. if it ever becomes too itchy a coat to wear, he will take it off in a heartbeat…. Count on it…. You don’t get to that level of the game without being a complete asshole in some respects, and I don’t think anyone who WANTS to be President can be accused of not being ambitious, and, in the process, sociopathic….

“No people in the world ever did achieve their freedom by goody-goody talk and moral suasion: it being immutable law that all revolutions that will succeed, must begin in blood, whatever the answer afterward. If history teaches anything, it teaches that.” — Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889)

In this case, we aren’t talking about freedom, unless by that one means, freedom to stay alive…. and the BRC isn’t going to do anything about it, I don’t believe…. Or, rather, I’ll believe it when I see it, and, so far, no dice in that respect. I’m enough of a cynic to believe, sadly, that it isn’t GOING to happen, either… because I don’t believe that the POTUS, or the rest of the BRC, gives a damn about the rest of us, as long as they have their own….. This much is obvious from history, but, when did mankind at large ever pay any attention to history?….

If you have some evidence that contradicts that belief, I would dearly love to see it…. Truly, I would, because, quite frankly, my own intelligence, and the evidence I have now, forces me to conclude that we humans are shortly about to come to a bad end…. not with a bang, not with a whimper, but, choking to death in our own planet’s toxic air, victims of our own stupidity, and cupidity….

Daniel: “We’re damned if we do, we’re damned if we don’t; we need other options…” — from Stargate

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

Blackberrying

Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries,
Blackberries on either side, though on the right mainly,
A blackberry alley, going down in hooks, and a sea
Somewhere at the end of it, heaving. Blackberries
Big as the ball of my thumb, and dumb as eyes
Ebon in the hedges, fat
With blue-red juices. These they squander on my fingers.
I had not asked for such a blood sisterhood; they must love me.
They accommodate themselves to my milkbottle, flattening their sides.

Overhead go the choughs in black, cacophonous flocks —
Bits of burnt paper wheeling in a blown sky.
Theirs is the only voice, protesting, protesting.
I do not think the sea will appear at all.
The high, green meadows are glowing, as if lit from within.
I come to one bush of berries so ripe it is a bush of flies,
Hanging their bluegreen bellies and their wing panes in a Chinese screen.
The honey-feast of the berries has stunned them; they believe in heaven.
One more hook, and the berries and bushes end.

The only thing to come now is the sea.
From between two hills a sudden wind funnels at me,
Slapping its phantom laundry in my face.
These hills are too green and sweet to have tasted salt.
I follow the sheep path between them. A last hook brings me
To the hills’ northern face, and the face is orange rock
That looks out on nothing, nothing but a great space
Of white and pewter lights, and a din like silversmiths
Beating and beating at an intractable metal.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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

SB decided to take the day off, so, I had to go to the archives for this section’s pearl; it’s not bad, all things considered…. Of course, I probably forgot something, but, hey, it’s the last section, so, who cares?….

From 9/5/2012:

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” — H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

Sometimes, I think we have already arrived at this point in time….. but, if not, then we are not far away…… with this firmly in mind, please find the following, all of which lead one gently to an idea that may, or may not, make you feel better. Which, of course, is NOT the purpose…. nonetheless, the conclusion framed by these quotes is one you NEED to know……

“It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.” — Bertrand Russell

“Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.” — Dalai Lama

As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian (politician’s too!) can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose. — Bhagavad Gita

“Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an audience.” — Diogenes

“Anyone who isn’t confused doesn’t really know what’s going on.” — Edward R. Murrow

“The only real failure in life is the failure to try.” — Smart Bee

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

Sometimes, by the end of the day’s effort, I’m destroyed; today is one of those days…. The process of deciding, and writing, and formatting all of the above, due, no doubt to the underlying angst involved in the subject matter to which we tend to gravitate, has left me grumpy, and damn glad to be done…. Perhaps tomorrow will be better…. It’s our only hope, Obi-wan!…. See ya, ffolkes, like it or not….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Pish weighs more than tosh….

Posted on July 2, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.”

~~ Amelia Burr ~~

Scenes from a train II….

Good morning…. To aid in the attempt to make that official, we’re diving right in, straight out of the clubhouse, & right off the dock…. Luigi had the day off, anyway, so, it’s all good…. With no further adon’t, much less any ado….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity – these are strictly confined to man; he invented them. Among higher animals there is no trace of them. they hide nothing. They are not ashamed.” — Mark Twain — Letters from the Earth (1905-1909)

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

As a long-time Deadhead, I wanted to take part in the 50 year Anniversary of the band’s inception; unfortunately, the timing was wrong, and tickets went too fast…. As I expected, however, the Deadheads who DID get to go to the first two concerts have already posted parts of it on You Tube for the rest of us to enjoy…. Here is the second set from the performance on 6/28/2015…. Enjoy!….

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

Grateful Dead 50th Anniversary
Fare Thee Well Tour
6/28/15

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

https://youtu.be/n6fc_Cxe0dE

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

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

Every now and then, I find it’s a good idea to reprint the following; it’s my version of housekeeping, or full disclosure, or something like that. Any who, it’s pretty self-explanatory, so, you can dive right in…. No rant today; lucky you….

From 11/11/2012:

“An Irishman is not drunk as long as he can hang onto a single blade of grass and not fall off the face of the earth.” — Smart Bee

Makes me glad to be at least part Irish…. 🙂 Actually, I just like it because it made me grin when I read it, and because the visual image is so wonderful…. I can just see myself, or, Oscar Wilde, or George Shaw, lying on the ground somewhere, fearfully clutching at the grass to keep from going into orbit….. brilliant!…. Just thought I’d share…..

Any who, in looking for a last pearl for this section, I realized that the above section, regarding God, and human nature, could have been condensed into a shorter, more succinct expression. Actually, I realized that I had already written that shorter version, many years ago, (about 33 of them…. I was 29 or so….) when I formulated my own philosophy, Peruaosophy…. (Perua = pearl, osophy = the study of, in Greek…). None of the other philosophies I had explored had matched my own experience, precisely, and I was still searching for one that did so, when I decided, hey, if Descartes and Socrates could have their own, why can’t I? Hence, the following, which I haven’t posted in some months…. I find it to be a good thing to review periodically, as it is chock full of everything I hold to be true, and important in life…. Feel free to comment on any axiom you wish to discuss, and…. enjoy!

Peruaosophy

The wisdom of pearls…
(The world is my oyster; which way to the pearls?)

Axioms

1) I think I am; that’s close enough.

2) The nature of the Universe is Change. Unpredictable, innovative transformation of Reality is the Norm. If you have a problem with this, you’re in for a rough ride in Life.

3) Thou art God, you know. Let’s do lunch.

4) Excellence is its own reward.

5) Girls think differently. So do boys. Don’t fight it.

6) Axiom #2 X axiom #5 = And God so loved the world, He said, “Quit whining!”

7) Do your Duty. Respect Life. Honor the Truth. Share your Love.

8) Go back. Everything you need to know is in the first seven axioms.

~~ gigoid ~~

And, there you have it…. this is what I’m all about, ffolkes….. 😉

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

Some poets need no introduction….

Gold Mouths Cry

The bronze boy stands kneedeep in centuries,
and never grieves,
remembering a thousand autumns,
with sunlight of a thousand years upon his lips
and his eyes gone blind with leaves.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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

This pearl is a classic, old-school pearl, in more ways than one. I won’t bother to detail all of the ways it metaphorically applies to the subject of Life, at Large, and, at Small (such as real-time…). However, allow me to assure you, you couldn’t go very far wrong by just taking it all in, & absorbing the ideas, thereby making all of it a part of your internal structure of beliefs…. This one will, without a single doubt, be on the Quiz….

“As many men, so many minds; every one his own way.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Phormio, Act ii, Sc. 4, 14, (454.)

“In his own soul a man bears the source from which he draws all his sorrows and his joys.” — Sophocles.

“Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we storm heaven itself in our folly.” — Horace (65-8 B.C.)

“But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having.” — EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow, “Cynthia Horner’s Eulogy”, Apr. 1994

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

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.” — Lao-Tzu

we can never be born enough.
We are human beings;
for whom birth is a supremely welcome mystery,
the mystery of growing:
the mystery that happens only and whenever
we are faithful to ourselves.

~~ e. e. cummings. ~~

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

Today’s Pearl will join a host of others as one whose actual construction went completely unnoticed by me; where this all came from is as much a mystery to me as it must be for you…. SIGH…. Some mornings, I guess, the nose grows faster than others…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, unless I can come up with a good reason not to do so….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

gigoid

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

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Pish weighs more than tosh….

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