Tag Archives: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

Never argue with a spoon….

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Ffolkes,

“Anyone who has got a book collection/library and a garden wants for nothing.”

~~ Cicero ~~

bonsai_3399256k

The Survivor Bonsai ~ 100+ years old, survived Hiroshima Atomic Blast

Image from UK Telegraph on the 60th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima


Good morning…. The rather simple title for today’s Pearl took me an inordinate amount of time to create; although there are no set parameters for the title, nothing suitable floated up in my mind, for what seemed like forever. I finally settled on the simple vagueness you see, simply because it was the first one close to acceptable. In a way, it reflects perfectly how this whole deal will progress today, as I just don’t seem to be able to pull it together….

Ah, well, we’ve been here before, haven’t we? Well, I have, anyway. And, I don’t much like it here, so, I’m going to again go with our most ruthless intro technique, wherein I just give up in the middle, dumping us down the page. I hate to use it, but, it’s obvious we’ll never get anywhere unless I do…. I’ll ask y’all to kindly tighten up those restraining belts; Luigi hates to do it this way…. Hang on, we’re going in….

Shall we Pearl?….

“…there are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind.  This is one such period, if you haven’t noticed already.” — The Illuminatus! Trilogy

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    You may ask, but, I can’t tell you, because I’m not paying attention. All I know is, it’s classical music, designed for children to listen to, for relaxation and fun. No, I don’t know why I picked it, but, yes, it’s pretty good….  I hope you enjoy it, non sequitor as it may be….

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Classical Music for Children

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buddah-out-to-lunch_s

“IDIOT, n.  A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling.  The Idiot’s activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action, but “pervades and regulates the whole.”  He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable.  He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

A most perfect opening for a rant on today’s world, wouldn’t you say? Naturally, it presents itself on a day when my brain is incapable of handling it with any aplomb. Rather than waste it completely, I’ll merely add an archived rant, which will, if nothing else, justify its use…. It speaks to the very issue outlined by our friend Ambrose, in a way…. Close enough for our purposes, anyway…. It’s a little long, but, hey, y’all don’t have anything better to do, right?….

From January 9, 2013:

“Is this an out-take from the “BRADY BUNCH”?” — Zippy the Pinhead

I’m rather hoping it is, in sooth…. if not, we all are in serious trouble, up the proverbial creek without a hint of a paddle. Not that it should be anything new or unfamiliar, as most of our history has been spent thus occupied. Of course, previous centuries didn’t have the distinct advantage of having either the Brady’s, or Zippy, in all his insane wisdom, as cultural icons, as well as ethical touchstones….. They had to make do with Socrates, and Plato, and stuffy old guys like that….. Aristotle was practically a rock star in his day, and remains a pretty smart dude, by all evidence, but I still prefer Carlin, I think, for the most cogent philosophy for modern times….

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.” — The Constitution of the United States of America Amendment 6, 1791

For a moment, I wondered what my unconscious mind was thinking when it made me copy and paste this amendment into the pearl, as a pearl…. especially as it seems to be in conjunction with the Zippy quote…. Here I am, five minutes later, still wondering what the hell I was thinking…. It happens that way sometimes…. just give me a few moments here, and I’ll come up with it…. Aha! Got it! Naturally, I only needed to go back to basics…. The answer to the question of how the two quotes are related is…. Reality….

Aye, that’s right, reality. It’s what we do here, explore reality, and all its implications, ramifications, and delineations. Also, it’s temperature. Well, perhaps that isn’t the right word, but…. Reality, as is clear and obvious to the most casual observer, exists in varying degrees (hence: temperature…. see?). The degree of reality that is included in an out-take from the Brady Bunch is clearly not the same degree of reality that is implied in the Sixth Amendment. I’d say, the Amendment would hit around 8 or 9 on the real scale, with 10 being the Reality of Amber, where all roads lead. (See Roger Zelazny’s book, The Courts of Amber…..), whereas the highest the Brady’s could hope for would be a 2 or a 3 on that same scale. They’re too oppositional in nature to be rated otherwise, as well as being on opposite ends of the scale of Relative Importance to ME and YOU…..

Now we get to the meat of this matter…. Of late, there has been a lot of public discourse regarding gun control, as a result of the media’s steadfast love of gore and manipulation. Another school shooting took place a few weeks ago, wherein some crazy idiot got hold of some firearms and used them in an insane manner. This, of course, all morality aside, is still a reprehensible act, and, IMHO, most easily solved by just taking one of his own guns and using it on him, at the time of his crime. Bang, problem solved, and since he’s standing there over the bodies he has made, no question of guilt. In such cases, the why of his guilt should not matter; whatever it is, it is reason enough to put him down, in defense of humanity. The other questions can be answered after the children have been defended….

Sadly, there are two segments of humanity who don’t agree with this logical outcome. One segment is what I term the humanitarians, a misleading term, since it usually involves the denial of much of human nature. The other, of course, is our old nemesis, the BRC…. our Beloved Ruling Class…. Neither of these groups will agree that allowing people to have guns should be allowed, or that killing the killers is a proper solution for the issue. In both of these positions, they are dead wrong, and, more, they know they are. This serves to make their arguments more shrill, more emotionally based, and, in their eyes, more valid, in some strange form of weird logic….

“Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, so don’t kid yourself…” — Frank Zappa

One of the most edifying parts of this discussion, for me, is how it makes it so easy to identify those who are wearing the uniforms, and from what camp they are from, according to their colors and insignia. You can tell the humanitarians, they’re the ones wearing the faux-camouflage pants, in support of the troops, they’ll assure you; they want the police to be the only ones who carry guns, believing, for some unknown reason, that police are somehow more moral or ethical than other people. (Of course, they also would have trouble if you asked them to define the words, “moral”, or “ethical”, in any other terms than those used in a philosophy paper they memorized in college, or in seminary….)

The BRC are always easy to spot, as their sense of entitlement provides them with all the armor against opinion, or law, they ever need. They want guns to be only held by the militia, (which they control), or the police (whom they also control), because it makes them nervous as hell to know there are guns out in the land, in the hands of people who would use them, for certain, if they attempt to perform their illegal lying, cheating, and stealing anywhere in their presence. It also makes them nervous knowing that they would be in danger for real, if the truth about what they do is ever made public with enough evidence to convince the masses to act…. They don’t want to have to worry they will be over-matched in firepower when that day comes along….

SIGH…. I’ve opened a can of worms, again, I know it….. I’m not going to claim to have all the right answers to the situation we find ourselves in today. Though it is a different world, technologically and culturally, from the time when the Second Amendment was written, deciding to abandon its precepts on that basis is not, and should never be, enough to justify any change in a law that is so important to the common man, the very people for whom the laws were created, to protect them from the self-same usurpation that is now being attempted. Once the law is amended, and weakened, the term “slippery slope” becomes very real, and a valid fear for those people.

To put a cap on it for now, I’ll say this…. Quite simply, I do not trust those who would take the right to bear arms from the people. I have seen NO evidence, in history, or in recent current events, that ANY governing body, or ANY group, or ANY single person, of ANY persuasion can be trusted to have guns, and use them solely for the benefit of the people, without turning them to their own purposes, first. NONE. You can’t show me any, either…. Go ahead, I’m listening….

I have studied people every day of my life, and I know too much of human nature to ever believe what I’m told of another person’s intentions; even the best intentions can change in mid-stream, turning its back completely on any commitments made previously. People lie, they cheat, they break in their minds, and they can’t, as a whole, ever be trusted to act rationally on a consistent basis….. at least, not any more rationally than can I myself….

“In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.” — Oscar Wilde

Such being the case, I’d rather keep my guns, thanks. I’ll accept the risks that go with that freedom, which includes the risk of bad people getting their hands on guns, and doing bad things to others. Don’t worry, if they do it in front of me, I’ll help…. and not by running away and hiding…. Life is dangerous, ffolkes, and one either learns to get along with that idea, or one spends a lot of time worrying about shit that can’t be changed…. A very unhappy state of affairs, to my way of thinking, and not very realistic in the long run….

“When the panorama of human existence becomes chaotic and confused, it is quite soothing to watch the sun rise in the East.” ~~ gigoid

Note from the future (today, 8/16/2015): I’ll leave you with a quote I find to be a very good way to explain to people just why I do this at all….

“Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know even if the knowledge endures only for the moment that comes before destruction than to gain eternal life at the price of a dull and swinish lack of comprehension of a universe that swirls unseen before us in all its wonder. That was the choice of Achilles, and it is mine, too.” — Isaac Asimov, The New Hugo Winners

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Comedy_Tragedy

Off the proverbial cuff….

I never meant to kill that period of time,
it didn’t give me any choice.
It tried to hem me in without reason, or rhyme,
refused me any vote, or any voice.

You have to admit, I buried it deep and fast,
just as if I cared.
I knew, though, it would never last,
or ever be fully repaired.

No news, no pictures can bring it back,
once is all we get.
No pleas of public good, or even public lack;
in stone the past is set.

Futuristic visions now occupy my dreams,
I’m ready to go on.
Look! It fills up the screen, and it gleams!
Where’s the moment I’m sitting on?

Now, I remembered, at long, long last,
is all we really can hold.
Every moment goes by so bloody fast,
we’d best fill them all with beauty, warm and bold.

~~ gigoid ~~


Written 4/30/2013.

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ankh
    

    I was going to try to create a fresh, old-school pearl for this section, but, Smart Bee doesn’t wish to cooperate today. I did manage to pull out the following pearl though, which, due to its nature, and construction, is capable of acting as a solitary pearl, of the same weight and value of an entire seven-star necklace… I’d say, Mr. Futagil has the proper credentials to make his words of value to all of us…. Enjoy!….

Eat less and chew well.
Ride less and walk often.
Have fewer clothes and launder often.
Worry less and work harder.
Waste less time, and continue to learn.
Talk less and listen more.
Frown less and laugh often.
Speak less and act more.
Blame less and praise others.
Take less and give a hundred times over.

~~ Kenzo Futagil, describing the secrets of life. ~~

~~ He lived well over a hundred years. ~~


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Today’s Pearl is one of those I’m happy to have completed; the internal cost of such days approaches the red zone on the spreadsheet of Life, so, I’m always glad when it’s done…. Now all I have to do is get through the rest of today, dealing with the nonsense and idiocy so commonly found outside the room where my computer lives…. I suppose, given how the day began, I’d best get started, before Time itself comes to a complete halt…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; I’ve come to realize there’s no choice…. not for me….

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

dozer3


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
No tango tonight for you, Mortimer….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“A man’s happiness, — to do the things proper to man.”


 — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ~~


~~ Meditations, viii, 26 ~~


Just as if they had been dotted on top of the myriads of glowing suns in the Milky Way, this image depicts some of the brightest stars of the southern sky: on the right, in a rhomboidal shape reminding that of a kite, are the four stars of the constellation Crux, the Southern cross; in the lower left part, instead, shine the two most brilliant stars of the constellation Centaurus, the Centaur.
Just as if they had been dotted on top of the myriads of glowing suns in the Milky Way, this image depicts some of the brightest stars of the southern sky: on the right, in a rhomboidal shape reminding that of a kite, are the four stars of the constellation Crux, the Southern cross; in the lower left part, instead, shine the two most brilliant stars of the constellation Centaurus, the Centaur.


The Southern Cross


 Image from Space.com




Good morning…. It’s a big world out there, and our last outpost of sanity is under continuous attack, by the forces of Entropy and Chaos…. This…. whatever this is, keeps them at bay in my little corner of Space/Time, as it has for close to four years now…. Join me now, as I once again take up the gauntlet, to do battle with every ounce of reason and rationality I can find…. Often it isn’t much, as is patently obvious…. But, we, or rather I, persevere, though there are times when we wonder why I bother….


Then, I look in the mirror, and see the dregs of sanity lurking there, and I am content…. It’s still a long road before me, so, I’d best get started…. As you might be able to tell from the state of this introductory section, it could be rather an uphill journey today…. Luigi, tell the tower we’re taking off, and not to worry about the fighter escort today. I’m feeling MEAN….


Shall we Pearl?


“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


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fats






Image from radiofreeamsterdam.com via Google Images




Yesterday we visited the days of old; today we’re returning to the same era, to listen to another all-time great…. Fats was the MAN, when I was young…. Nobody did it quite the same…. Enjoy, ffolkes; Fats is another cultural icon worth remembering….




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Fats Domino















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Dont keep calm




    Last year, in 2014, I came up with some pretty decent rants…. Here is one from August of that year, simply because I can, and I’m lazy today….(Whattyamean, today?….)(Oh, hush…) Enjoy, ffolkes….


From 8/31/2014:


“Stupid is as stupid does.” — Mama Gump


Yesterday, during a rant in section one of the Daily Pearl, I made a comment, wherein I accused Bill Clinton of being an idiot, and a husband, in the same breath…. While his persona exhibits elements of both adjectives, neither one fits completely comfortably; if it was a suit, you’d think it was poorly tailored. He IS an idiot of course; letting one’s lust control their actions while in the White House as the President, is kind of a give-away on that…. and he IS a husband; it says so right on the license available for anyone to see somewhere in what, oh, yeah, Arkansas, or Alabama, or wherever it was they got married… Who knows, maybe it was in D.C. after they left Little Rock, or whatever… But, obviously, he isn’t terribly good at either one….


Any who, I wanted to clarify that, while also acknowledging that, in truth, Bill is a VERY smart guy…. I don’t care who you are, you don’t get to be a Rhodes Scholar if you don’t have a few neurons to bump together… He also plays a pretty mean sax, which is also an indicator of superior, or at least multi-talented, intelligence…. All of which goes to prove that intelligence alone has little, if any, survival value. Possessing a high IQ does not give one the ability, necessarily, to USE it in a way that helps one advance, in any respect….


Ethically, morally, or in terms of worldly success, as in being rich, famous, or celebrated in some fashion, smart guys don’t always win against the mundanes, simply because they are often not paying attention to what is important to those with less on their minds… In Bill’s case, he tried to take his multi-tasking to a new level, and failed, miserably…. Common sense often escapes the most intelligent members of this species; they tend to be a little less balanced out on the fringes of the bell curve…. too much going on in their heads, that ends up distracting them from what they’re doing in the real world, and that they are being watched, always…


That’s all…. just sayin’….. Smart don’t mean smart, if you know what I mean…. Sometimes, a little bit of street cred, a little low animal cunning, as it were, can go a long way to being more useful than having a degree, or being able to quote poetry…. Unfortunately, when someone like that learns the law, then turns to politics, there is no end to the harm they can cause…. Witness just about every president in my lifetime…. Most of them weren’t the most intelligent, though smart enough to get through law school; they are definitely the most corrupt, and the most vicious sociopaths, that is for sure and for certain, but, overly intelligent, they were NOT…..


Sorry, but, I just calls ’em as I sees ’em, ffolkes, and that’s the way it’s been for my life; I can count, on fewer than the fingers on only ONE of my hands, the number of presidents I respect, at all, and only one of those is still alive…. That one will go down in history as an ineffective president, because he had the unfortunate quality of possessing both intelligence, and integrity, not to mention compassion…. which are three qualities that no other president since 1962 has possessed. to any appreciable degree, and definitely not together in the same man, other than the one…. If you disagree, fine…. comment, and tell me why, so we can discuss it…. But, please, make it worth my time, because there isn’t a lot of evidence I’m aware of for you to choose from..


Any who, that’s it…. just wanted to make clear why I thought Bill was an idiot husband…. I’ll avoid any comments as to WHY he is uncomfortable as a husband, married to a woman who is just as sociopathic as he is…. a woman completely lacking any sort of real compassion for others, because it is subsumed in the vast furnace of their ambition….


There is no room for compassion in one who wishes to lead a nation, especially one with the power and resources of this one, along with the historically traditional imperative, and true national pastime, of proselytizing democracy, and our twisted versions of Christianity, on anyone in the world who doesn’t have them…. whether they want them, or not….


Sometimes, that interference in the lives and interests of other nations in the world in the guise of business, to spread our capitalist markets, which require constant expansion to prevent collapsing under their own weight…. Or, our insistence on playing busybody is justified with the pretense of humanitarianism, with rationalizations ranging from saving them from godless communism, to fighting the evil of “muslim extremists, and/or rebel insurgents” who are fighting terrorist civil wars, “killing their own people, including, gasp, children and old people!”


These wars, though being fought over what seem to me to be all-too-familiar sounding, minute, yet firmly idiotic differences of interpretation of scripture, are still CIVIL wars, even if religiously motivated ….  I won’t comment on this scripture, allegedly also “divine” in origin, in the book of collected dogmatic delusions that were  left to guide them by their version of a mortal, yet, somehow, also immortal, and, thus, divine, (by the time-tested use of “ipse dixit” reasoning) prophet of the ONLY god, or Allah, or Baha’u’lah, or whomever they worship/idolize/follow/are enslaved by…. Well, I wasn’t planning to comment, but, I suppose I just did….


However, my point remains valid, despite my opinion of Islam, or Christianity, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, or any other religion…. As far as I’m concerned, they are ALL the possessors of a SMALL piece of the Truth about Reality in this Universe, but, they have erroneously chosen to misinterpret the meaning of their piece, and have beaten their dead horses, killed by that error, into a sad, bloody pulp, unrecognizable, and useless for anything other than making everyone’s life more difficult, and divisive…. I can’t say it much clearer than that, about religion, or politics, either….


Instead I’ll say that it’s a shame there is probably no one to run against Hillary who can win, because she’ll be, unfortunately, as cruelly self-serving, as dishonest as, well, a politician, as unaware of, and as little concerned with the plight of the common man,  and as falsely “transparent” in their actions and words, as any man who has ever held the office…. including Tricky Dicky and LBJ, who were about as underhanded, and corrupt as any politician who ever lived….


The scary part of that, if not the scariest part of the whole shebang we call the future? If there IS anyone who can win against her, things in this sad old country, and, no doubt, the rest of this sad, old world,  will go from bad, to very much worse, in a very short time…. Think about it….


Just watch…. I hate being right in these cases, but, my track record is, sadly, practically unblemished, as I have called just about every election at the national level, for all those years of repetitive foolishness I’ve witnessed….


“It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” — Noel Coward


“…there are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data

available to the so-called normal mind.  This is one such period, if you haven’t noticed already.” — The Illuminatus! Trilogy — Robert Anton Wilson


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Three final notes on this subject from 2015, as it becomes more relevant each day:


“If you ever see me getting beaten by the police, put down the video camera and come help me.” — Bobcat Goldthwait


“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. — Douglas Adams, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”


“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” — Edmund Burke (1729-1797), in a letter to William Smith


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Comedy_Tragedy




    As noted in the previous section, I’m feeling a bit lazy today; hence this antiquated poem from the archives…. Enjoy, for what it’s worth… Written sometime in 2013, it’s one of my favorites, such as they are….




Accentuated Lessons


Bold statements of calculated intent

Become common rule of the malcontent.

Avarice assumes such attractive wear

Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.


Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands

Legally proper in all the signatory lands.

Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul

Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.


Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards

Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.

While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor

Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.


Escape from reality is illusory at best

Often we falter and fail its daily test.

Only when focused on inner strength

Does peace stay with us for any length.


Peace lies within, always…..


~~ gigoid ~~




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buddah-out-to-lunch_s




    Today’s final old-school pearl is a tricky one…. All of the following are observations on Life at Large, in a manner of speaking…. At least one of them is a trick pearl…. It looks okay, and sounds okay, but, when one stops to look more closely at the concept, it turns silly on you…. which, somehow, doesn’t detract from its rightness…. Go figure, and, of course, which pearl that may be is left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…. You should KNOW you never get out of here without having to use at least three neurons!…. Enjoy, ffolkes….


“Fear always springs from ignorance.” — Smart Bee, paraphrasing the Bhagavad Gita


“Cato said the best way to keep good acts in memory was to refresh them with new.” — Francis Bacon (1561-1626) — Apothegms, No, 247


“It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.” — Goethe


“With two hearts do people live; a small one of deep softness, the other of  steel.  And kindness is too often a shield, generosity too often a sword.” — Kahlil Gibran


“I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.” — Richard Feynman


“You’re never too old to learn something stupid.” — Smart Bee


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


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Today’s process of creation felt a little choppy, but, hey…. we’re done. Y’all know what that means right? You’re on you own again…. Go do something constructive, or, at minimum, patently explainable in small words, of three or fewer syllables. Wouldn’t want to confuse anyone, now, would you? No, of course not…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I can dodge the bullets….




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








dozer3




À bientôt, mon cherí….





		
	
					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Lately, it all seems less filling….

			
						

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Ffolkes,




“Hand me a pair of leather pants and a CASIO keyboard — I’m living for today!”


~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~


Morpheus the koala

“You said you want me to WHAT?”


earthshaking

“FfYou ffhave fNO ffidea ffhow ffGOOD ffthis ffffeels! Thpptt!”



     To begin, let’s get this out of the way…. Both pictures are from the SFGATE.com Day In Pictures photo feature, one each from two consecutive days, yesterday and the day before…. I’m including both, here at the beginning for a couple reasons…. First, I like them. Second, they both go with the excellent outcry from our old friend Zippy, which just happens to coincide with my mood…. my mood now, not when you’re reading this, though it may extend that far into the future…. who knows? For now, though, it’s just right…. Third, I named these two with my own file names, to remind me of the anthropomorphic images that crossed my mind upon first viewing them… The captions you see are what came later, after percolating….


The first one I call, Morpheus the koala… Isn’t he the cutest, sleepiest little thing you’ve ever seen?…. That, of course, is before the second thought that occurred to me, to wit: I wonder what he’s thinking, with that expression? From that perspective, he obviously is a bit suspicious, and not altogether sure of what he’s looking at…. which, given the nature of the koala, isn’t a surprise; plus, I don’t think their vision is very acute…. Logically, their first instinct, when they see anything, is to figure out whether it is predatory, thinking of them as food, or, is it food for them?


The writer who writes the comments under each picture on SFGATE saw the expression yet another way, by, quoting a look-alike from a movie …. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”, quoting, of course, Yoda…. thus, proving they were too lazy to do any research, lacked creativity, or felt compelled to go for the cheap laugh by the pressure of working on a deadline….


The second picture I titled “earthshaking news”, but, my actual first thought was that it must be an Irish squirrel, on his way home from the public house, with a snoot full of rye whiskey under his belt (although “belt” may be a more accurate term for what he did with the rye, rather than where it ended up….). He reminds me of the old saw, that says, “An Irishman is never too drunk, so long as he can lay on his face, clutching the grass to keep from flying off the Earth”…. In truth, the little beastie is probably just cooling off his, well, private parts, on the cool branch…. That, or he’s expecting an earthquake…. hence, the title….


Why look, ffolkes! We’ve come to a point where it is not only appropriate to bring this introduction to a close, we can do so with the knowledge we actually composed something that actually has the look, the feel, and the traditional structure of such a device. Not only that, but, it’s seemingly ambiguous enough to act as a segue into almost any subject…. I sure wish I knew how this happened… I could do it again, if I could figure it out, and get it down on paper, or, at least, in my head with a note to remember it….


Unfortunately, I’ve already used up all the common sense, and typical patterns of behavior for one day, so, we’ll just toss this one overboard with all the others from the past, just as if it had never been exactly what I need, or want…. SIGH…. Sometimes, being odd is not much fun…. but, then I remember the alternative, shiver clear down to my toes, and give myself a happy smile, knowing that “normal” just isn’t for me…. Now, if I could only decide whether I’m serious about that, or not, I’d be able to at least ring it in with a Treble Bob Major, if not a Minor….


Shall we Pearl?…..




Where is the Life we have lost in living?

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?


~~ T. S. Eliot ~~


 Choruses from the Rock




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


“Stupid is as stupid does.” — Mama Gump


Yesterday, during a rant in section one of the Daily Pearl, I made a comment, wherein I accused Bill Clinton of being an idiot, and a husband, in the same breath…. While his persona exhibits elements of both adjectives, neither one fits completely comfortably; if it was a suit, you’d think it was poorly tailored. He IS an idiot of course; letting one’s lust control their actions while in the White House as the President, is kind of a give-away on that…. and he IS a husband; it says so right on the license available for anyone to see somewhere in what, oh, yeah, Arkansas, or Alabama, or wherever it was they got married… Who knows, maybe it was in D.C. after they left Little Rock, or whatever… But, obviously, he isn’t terribly good at either one….


Any who, I wanted to clarify that, while also acknowledging that, in truth, Bill is a VERY smart guy…. I don’t care who you are, you don’t get to be a Rhodes Scholar if you don’t have a few neurons to bump together… He also plays a pretty mean sax, which is also an indicator of superior, or at least multi-talented, intelligence…. All of which goes to prove that intelligence alone has little, if any, survival value. Possessing a high IQ does not give one the ability, necessarily, to USE it in a way that helps one advance, in any respect….


Ethically, morally, or in terms of worldly success, as in being rich, famous, or celebrated in some fashion, smart guys don’t always win against the mundanes, simply because they are often not paying attention to what is important to those with less on their minds… In Bill’s case, he tried to take his multi-tasking to a new level, and failed, miserably…. Common sense often escapes the most intelligent members of this species; they tend to be a little less balanced out on the fringes of the bell curve…. too much going on in their heads, that ends up distracting them from what they’re doing in the real world, and that they are being watched, always…


That’s all…. just sayin’….. Smart don’t mean smart, if you know what I mean…. Sometimes, a little bit of street cred, a little low animal cunning, as it were, can go a long way to being more useful than having a degree, or being able to quote poetry…. Unfortunately, when someone like that learns the law, then turns to politics, there is no end to the harm they can cause…. Witness just about every president in my lifetime…. Most of them weren’t the most intelligent, though smart enough to get through law school; they are definitely the most corrupt, and the most vicious sociopaths, that is for sure and for certain, but, overly intelligent, they were NOT…..


Sorry, but, I just calls ’em as I sees ’em, ffolkes, and that’s the way it’s been for my life; I can count, on fewer than the fingers on only ONE of my hands, the number of presidents I respect, at all, and only one of those is still alive…. That one will go down in history as an ineffective president, because he had the unfortunate quality of possessing both intelligence, and integrity, not to mention compassion…. which are three qualities that no other president since 1962 has possessed. to any appreciable degree, and definitely not together in the same man, other than the one…. If you disagree, fine…. comment, and tell me why, so we can discuss it…. But, please, make it worth my time, because there isn’t a lot of evidence I’m aware of for you to choose from..


Any who, that’s it…. just wanted to make clear why I thought Bill was an idiot husband…. I’ll avoid any comments as to WHY he is uncomfortable as a husband, married to a woman who is just as sociopathic as he is…. a woman completely lacking any sort of real compassion for others, because it is subsumed in the vast furnace of their ambition….


There is no room for compassion in one who wishes to lead a nation, especially one with the power and resources of this one, along with the historically traditional imperative, and true national pastime, of proselytizing democracy, and our twisted versions of Christianity, on anyone in the world who doesn’t have them…. whether they want them, or not….


Sometimes, that interference in the lives and interests of other nations in the world manifests in the guise of business, to spread our capitalist markets, which require constant expansion to prevent collapsing under their own weight…. Or, our insistence on playing busybody is justified with the pretense of humanitarianism, with rationalizations ranging from saving them from godless communism, to fighting the evil of “Muslim extremists, and/or rebel insurgents” who are fighting terrorist civil wars, “killing their own people, including, gasp, children and old people!”


These wars, though being fought over what seem to me to be all-too-familiar sounding, minute, yet firmly idiotic differences of interpretation of scripture, are still CIVIL wars, even if religiously motivated ….  I won’t comment on this scripture, allegedly also “divine” in origin, in the book of collected dogmatic delusions that were  left to guide them by their version of a mortal, yet, somehow, also immortal, and, thus, divine, (by the time-tested use of “ipse dixit” reasoning) prophet of the ONLY god, or Allah, or Baha’u’lah, or whomever they worship/idolize/follow/are enslaved by…. Well, I wasn’t planning to comment, but, I suppose I just did….


However, my point remains valid, despite my opinion of Islam, or Christianity, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, or any other religion…. As far as I’m concerned, they are ALL the possessors of a SMALL piece of the Truth about Reality in this Universe, but, they have erroneously chosen to misinterpret the meaning of their piece, and have beaten their dead horses, killed by that error, into a sad, bloody pulp, unrecognizable, and useless for anything other than making everyone’s life more difficult, and divisive…. I can’t say it much clearer than that, about religion, or politics, either….


Instead I’ll say that it’s a shame there is probably no one to run against Hillary who can win, because she’ll be, unfortunately, as cruelly self-serving, as dishonest as, well, a politician, as unaware of, and as little concerned with the plight of the common man,  and as falsely “transparent” in their actions and words, as any man who has ever held the office…. including Tricky Dicky and LBJ, who were about as underhanded, and corrupt as any politician who ever lived….


The scary part of that, if not the scariest part of the whole shebang we call the future? If there IS anyone who can win against her, things in this sad old country, and, no doubt, the rest of this sad, old world,  will go from bad, to very much worse, in a very short time…. Think about it….


Just watch…. I hate being right in these cases, but, my track record is, sadly, practically unblemished, as I have called just about every election at the national level, for all those years of repetitive foolishness I’ve witnessed….


“It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” — Noel Coward


“…there are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind.  This is one such period, if you haven’t noticed already.” — The Illuminatus! Trilogy — Robert Anton Wilson


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


At last! This bled out of me last night, in a frenzy of typing, editing, and staring off into space…. I feel LOTS better now….






A dream, caught weeping….


“Never a dull moment to spare”, he said

with a crooked grin, and a broad wink.

“Can’t keep Reality hanging by a thread….

what would Chaos, or Entropy think?”


So, we plucked up our dreams of old,

to carry us on, in dutiful, strong arms,

stuffed a candle in the remaining fold,

for luck, and perfect proof against charms.


Storms follow the sun,  but, never stay; 

lessons round every corner, all free.

Past fleeting doubts, in a sad disarray,

the journey becomes the reason to be.


Simple kindness manifests untold riches,

in defiance of common cause’s demise.

Bold courage, hanging in stitches,

mends wounds that come as no surprise.


Still, waters run deep, ’tis said by many.

Too much pain cannot apprehend

the salient, sharp points of epiphany,

nor, plainly, to wisdom aspire to pretend.


Folly dogs even the simplest truth,

fumes of toxic ignorance and bile,

alienated as a loose rotten tooth;

it often hides itself, for a long while.


Sought after eons ago, we cried out,

to believe, to suffer no more doubt.

But found instead good reason,

for love, and truth, from season, to season.


~~ gigoid ~~




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


Y’all probably can’t see behind the screens, but, I’m here, late, rushed, but, content…. I bled out that poem last night, then slept like a baby (well, like a huge, hairy, old, restless baby, anyway….) for a good seven hours straight, only awakening twice to turn over…. I feel much better, and can slide right in here, just as if it were all of a piece…. which, come to think of it, it is…. 


So, here’s an old school pearl, for your reading enjoyment this fine holiday weekend morning…. I have no clue at all as to the parameters; I’m letting SB have its head…. Enjoy!


“By words the mind is winged” — Aristophanes (c. 450-385 B.C.) — The Birds (414 B.C.), line 1447


“There’s more to living than not dying.” — found inscribed on my eyelids this morning…. gigoid


“If 150,000 people do something really stupid………it’s still stupid.” — Smart Bee


“The mind, conscious of rectitude, laughed to scorn the falsehood of report.” — Ovid (43 BC) — Fasti, iv, 311


“A man can only do what he can do.  But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.” — Albert Schweitzer


It is not every question that deserves an answer.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 581


“By letting go, it all gets done.” — Tao Te Ching


Damn near perfect…. So be it….


gigoid has spoken.


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


Well…. I hardly know what to say at this point. It would, no doubt, be for the best to wind this up now, and be on our way. Not being the sort to challenge the dictates of Reality, at least, not when it slaps me right in the ear like this, I’ll go along with that….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….




Y’all take care out there, 

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….


Sometimes I sits and thinks,

   and sometimes,

I just sits.


gigoid, the dubious


PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.


Kowabunga!













					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Once limited to peripheral accusations of pyloric incompatibility….

			
						

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Ffolkes,


I AM one of the most stubborn people alive, it seems… Hmmm….  I had thought to write that line differently, using the words “must be” where now stands “AM”, in shouting mode, but, once written, it became clear that there was no doubt at all connected to the idea, so, I went with the more positively certain incarnation…. Come to think of it, though, if I am flexible enough to accept the change in words, then I’m not as stubborn about change as I had surmised, so, the entire exercise devolves into sheer obsolescence, as its internal logic falls apart…… So much for THAT beginning…


All that remains is the original concept, that I am, or must be, pretty damn stubborn, to continue writing this amount of material each day, when there is so little response to what is written…. For over 2000 words a day, I pour my soul into this blog, usually taking a few leisurely shots at national politics, or one or more of the churches that abound in our society, all for the purpose of getting my head emptied of the stuff that might sit in there and rot, causing more trouble than it’s worth, for me, and for others who may come in contact with me, thereby suffering the consequences of being the only one there when my angst blows…. It’s not a pretty sight….


Of course, I could stop watching the news altogether…. I did that for a while, but found that it creeps in around the edges, and forces itself into one’s sphere of attention, like it or not….. Plus, as an inveterate, addictive reader, I tend to inhale newspapers whenever I see one, no matter how old; I’ll read just about anything with words on it, including, in a pinch, cereal boxes (Some of them have some way cool stuff on the back for kids, so they’re fun!….Nutritional information is more interesting than it seems at first glance, too….). It’s hard to completely keep free of all the news in this society, as it tends to push into our awareness regardless of how much we try to avoid it….


It helped that for a long time, I had no television; not being current in the events of TV-world has been quite lovely, to be sure. I never did care much for most of it anyway, and find that I don’t miss it much. Now that I do live with one again, I find myself still preferring to read, or jump on the computer to fill my need for words to eat; my brain consumes a massive number of them on a daily basis, so I need a rather large supply, in ALL sizes and shapes, to keep up with my appetite for them. A book each day has been my goal since I was about 10 years old, a goal I’ve managed to achieve, and more….


I read as much as my physical condition allows me to do, which is not as much as I would like…. I tend to prefer to sit while reading, and that particular activity has a limit to it these days, due to the insidious advent of pain, that builds up if I sit still too long, or stand too long, or walk too long, or do ANYTHING for too long… “too long” being a very short period, unfortunately…. But, I find I can go from one position to another, from sitting, to standing, to sitting, to lying down, in rotation, for much of the day, if I’m careful, and never become too painful. It makes it a bit choppy when trying to write, but, for reading, a good place marker keeps me from wasting a lot of time when I change position or activity….


I suppose one of these days, I’ll have to break down and buy a smart phone, or a Kindle, or other tablet computer, so I can do all my reading on that, wherever I am, standing, sitting, or in between….. I’ve been waiting for the technology to become cheaper, as it does over time after new items come out; the prices now for smart phones and tablets is becoming reasonable…. They still are overcharging for access, but, that, too, will go down in time, as the competition in the market increases….. Soon, we’ll all have our Google glass computers, built right into our VR glasses frames, with complete audiovisual connection to the entire world network, probably with voice-activation and virtual monitors on any handy surface….


Oh well, all that will come soon enough… In the meantime, I’ll continue to read using all the different methods I’ve accustomed myself to using, and be content with that…. And, I’ll continue to write my 2000+ words every morning, to get the crap out of my head, and onto the Net…. where, hopefully, some of it may stimulate some cogitation amongst the other denizens… I can hope, can’t I?….


Shall we Pearl?…..


“Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion.  Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787

_____________________________


“Learning to look in the mirror without judging too harshly, letting the voice of society cut us without judging too lightly, letting the voice of imagination blind us, but, rather, seeing ourselves with truth and compassion, aware of who we are, where we need to get better, where we need to forgive, is the goal of a healthy life.” — Callan Williams


Oh, how sweet! A beautiful sentiment, worthy of any true knight in shining armor…. Y’know what, though?…. Fuck that…. bugger them all, and let them figure out their own shit….  Sorry, my curmudgeon woke up…. and, though I usually agree with Mssr. Williams’ ideas, I’m sorry, but this sounds really, really new-age bullshitty….. In all honesty, if I heard someone say this to me, live and in person, I believe I would probably puke on their shoes….. What a bunch of Pollyanna crap! It reminds me of the current school of philosophy that tends to look at all students as poor, or victims, and attempts to build up what they believe to be the problem, i.e., self-esteem among the students, when all that is really needed is some damn honesty among the faculty….


Our culture is not only being held hostage by one party in one house of Congress, but by one attitude that tends to become overused, i.e. compassionate uplifting of the poor and ignorant, regardless of how they feel about it…. It’s the Mother Teresa syndrome, where the only way for the person to feel good about themselves, and to feel like they are “better”, they must be offering help and sustenance to someone poorer, and less able to fend for themselves…. never stopping to figure out the simple fact that viewing the world in this way is what keeps it that way….


It is their own insistence on helping those in poverty that creates the condition in the first place…. the proper solution is to change society so there are jobs and resources for these folks to help themselves, not to give them what we feel they need…. But, too often, ignorance walks hand in hand with compassion, because the compassionate tend to allow feelings to dictate their actions, rather than reason. Feelings are important, and need to be considered before acting, but, the actions should never be based simply on what is felt, or it will never achieve the necessary relation to reality to reach the necessary goal…. which is self-reliance, not universal empathy. Empathy is a useful tool, but, not the only tool we possess, to be relied upon exclusively….


“The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.” — Lazarus Long, aka Robert A. Heinlein

_____________________________


I’ve never been completely sure exactly why I like the poems of Emily Dickinson so much, but, then, I’m not one to question my own taste. Whatever the exact reason may be, you’ve got to appreciate the absolute genius of her use of metaphor, so patently obscure, it is beautiful, if only for its ethereal sense of unreality….




The feet of people walking home

With gayer sandals go –

The Crocus – til she rises

The Vassal of the snow –

The lips at Hallelujah

Long years of practice bore

Till bye and bye these Bargemen

Walked singing on the shore. 


Pearls are the Diver’s farthings

Extorted from the Sea –

Pinions – the Seraph’s wagon 

Pedestrian once – as we –


Night is the morning’s Canvas

Larceny – legacy –

Death, but our rapt attention

To Immortality. 


My figures fail to tell me

How far the Village lies –

Whose peasants are the Angels –

Whose Cantons dot the skies –

My Classics veil their faces –

My faith that Dark adores –

Which from its solemn abbeys

Such resurrection pours.


~~ Emily Dickinson ~~


_____________________________


I realize the rant today left a bit to be desired…. I just didn’t have the proper amount of anger and outrage collected to fuel it to the point of explosiveness I enjoy so much…. But, then, it’s hard to work up a lot of hard feelings over the improper use of empathy….. Hey, it got me through one section of today’s effort, so, it will have to do… They can’t all be brilliant, can they?….. Having thus forced down my portion of crow, we’ll get on down the line with an old-school pearl, my favorite excuse for actual work…. Here is a randomly chosen pearl, on a subject which is not yet clear…. Smart Bee will know what I’m looking for, to save this Pearl from obscurity, and the shame of irrelevance….


“How it is that our memory is able to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?” — Duc de La Rochefoucauld


“I often have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word I am saying.” — Oscar Wilde


“…there are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind.  This is one such period, if you haven’t noticed already.” — The Illuminatus! Trilogy


“Never argue with a Scorpio–even if you win, you lose” — Smart Bee


“It is the mark of our whole modern history that the masses are kept quiet with a fight. They are kept quiet by the fight because it is a sham-fight; thus most of us know by this time that the Party System has been popular only in the sense that a football match is popular.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Short History of England. 156


“The only game that can’t be rigged is peekaboo.” — Cruickshank’s Law #4


“I see a good deal of talk from Washington about lowering taxes. I hope they do get ’em lowered down enough so people can afford to pay ’em.” — Will Rogers


You know, I think this is the first time ever that SB has done this to me…. Taken together these seven pearls, each of which is relatively okay as a stand-alone thought, form a picture of an idea so outrageous, so amorphous, so irrelevant, it boggles the mind…. “What idea is that?”, you may well ask…. and that’s the problem…. I have no frigging idea where this went, or what it means…


The only part that makes any sense to me at this point is the one in the middle, because, hey, I’m a Scorpio… I guess that’s the ultimate point SB is making… If it doesn’t work for us Scorpio ffolkes, we just change the rules by which the game is being played…. It should be noted that this is far more effective when we don’t let the other players know we’ve done so… So, the rule for reading this pearl becomes, cast your mind free, and don’t expect to find a point…. It’s just a hedonist pearl, all feel-good, and no thorns…., other than those we poke ourselves with….

_____________________________


I am hesitant to even proof this one; it has a perilous feel to it…. Oh well, no whining aloud allowed…. Well, better than I’d hoped for; that’s something, I guess….. I don’t think Papa Hemingway has anything to worry about in terms of this ever being compared to anything of his, but, just in case, I’ll go ahead and post it anyway…. Sometimes, ya just gotta settle for what is, and not worry about what might have been…. See ya….


Y’all take care out there,

and May the Metaphorse be with you;

Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…

and everyone else, too…


When I works, I works hard.

When I sits, I sits loose.

When I thinks, I falls asleep.


Which is Why….




—

Sometimes I sits and thinks,

and sometimes

I just sits.


gigoid


dozer3