Based, as always, on arbitrary parameters….

Posted on June 25, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I know it’s going to be a long day when taking a nap tires me out….. Yesterday was one of those days, and though I’m not precisely bursting with energy, today does NOT feel the same…. thankfully. Though, being one who doesn’t buy into the whole pie-in-the-sky routine, I’m not sure what that means…. It’s not as if I believe there is actually some bearded, white-haired old Caucasian dude sitting up there in the sky, on a gilded throne (tacky….), waiting for me to acknowledge his divinity with worship, who, I am told, will display a tantrum of childish pique if I don’t do so…. At least, that hasn’t happened thus far, so, I’m not going to hold my breath over it….

I will, however, remark that it makes it hard to feel productive when one gets up, as I did yesterday, after dozing off for a good two hours, only to feel like the only possible, logical choice is a return trip to go another few rounds with the pillow. It also makes it a bit sticky the next morning, (that’s today, ffolkes…. let’s keep up….), as I try to salvage some of yesterday by speaking of it today…. I know it takes the chance of having the entire group get lost in time, as I tend to mix my time zones when writing, which often leads to losing track of which one I’m currently inhabiting…..

Life can be tough when one wishes to pursue the quest to create the perfect Pearl; it’s not the simple, stress-free activity it appears from the outside, let me tell you…. It CAN be fraught with all sorts of danger, and/or vicious beasts, all angry at being provoked…. those preachers and pundits get a bit testy when crossed, or, worse for them, exposed for their lies and chicanery….

However, I’m not a coward, and I’ve been at this for some time now; it’s merely the morning’s ambiance that has me nervous; it feels like Murphy is lurking, and I hate it when he holds off his surprises for later…. They’re always so much more complex, and, thus, harder to spot, when he takes the time to make them that way, the butthead…. I would try to fool him into thinking I’m not ready for them, so he lets whatever it is out of its cage early, but, I’m not sure I’ve got the chutzpah today…. Hell, I can barely keep my eyes open again, so, maybe today will be more like yesterday than I’d thought…. Hmm, how can I turn that to my advantage?….

I know, I’ll trick Murphy into thinking he’s already tricked me today; if I go back to bed, he’ll get all confused about the time, and think he’s losing it…. I don’t get the chance to fool with him like this very often, so, hey, we’re going for it…. I’ll come back later, ffolkes, to finish this intro, and bask in having bested that blasted asshole, who spends so much of his time fucking with me, or with my friends….. Plus, maybe if I sleep a bit more, I’ll come up with some sort of direction for this Pearl, which, thus far, is completely lost…. Brave, and unafraid, but lost….

I’ll be back….

I’m back… I think. Enough so that I know my tricking of Murphy worked, well enough, it seems, to have dodged whatever nasty bullet he had planned for today…. and, in celebration of a successful display of cowardice, we’ll close off this intro (you hadn’t noticed that, had you?….), and get on with the rest of today’s mess, such as it may be….. Method #4 should work nicely, I think….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Human life nearly resembles iron. When you use it, it wears out. When you don’t, rust consumes it.” — Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BC) — Carmen de moribus

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As noted, today has displayed a high probability of being slated for strangeness; to be frank, which is difficult, as I’m Ned, not frank…. but, if I were, I’d say we’ve already reached that stage…. I know I have, and if that’s true, it would be even more difficult to avoid having the strangeness bleed into this pearl…. Since we’re being frank, I have to say it’s too late….

To salvage what otherwise might turn on us, I’m putting in a headline here, one with some pretty good information….. Read this, if you would, please… then, we’ll talk…. That is, if I can think of anything worth saying about it…. Most all bets are off at this point, as to whether or not we can pull this off…. Myself, I think we can, though it may cost a couple of broken bones…. no big deal, as long as they’re MY bones, right?…. Okay, I’ll stop now, & let you read this….

http://blog.sfgate.com/hottopics/2014/06/23/recap-heres-30-recent-studies-on-the-effects-of-marijuana/#24367101=0

Excellent summary of recent research, almost all positive re: the effects of long-term use of cannabis and/or cannabinoids in general. I’m encouraged, both by the positive nature of all of what is brought out here, but, also by the recent court decisions right here in California, making the process of legalizing medical cannabis that much more of a done deal…. Soon, between the latest advances in the LGBT arena, and this one, American culture might just start to look as if the people were ready to enter the 21st century, along with the rest of the world….

Of course, that is partially an illusion; there are still a LOT of people in this country with what I like to call the dead-brain syndrome, characterized by bigotry, racism, misogyny, and a general refusal to use more than one neuron at a time…. They all go to a Christian church, wear blue suits with red ties and a flag pin, and spend most of their time in the modern world either closing their eyes, or their ears, so they don’t have to see or hear anything that offends their sensibilities…. Murricans, I call them, in close resemblance to their butchering of the country’s name…. These are people who cannot speak their own language without making it sound ignorant….

Sorry, got off into a minor pocket of outrage…. Stupidity is rampant in this country, and it offends me constantly…. Worse than even this stupidity is the even more prevalent attitude of deliberate ignorance, which has to be a choice…. a choice that infuriates me. When I see one of these fat, racist bigots talking on TV, spewing their ignorant hatred over all they see, it makes my fingers itch, for a bow, or a gun, or some other way to put an end to the idiocy of their existence…. It’s a bit harsh, but, there is no other cure for deliberate ignorance…. As I’ve noted in the past, stupidity can’t be helped, and has a certain charm; deliberate ignorance is ugly, and deserves any harsh treatment it engenders from me, or anyone else with any honor in their veins…

I see that I’ve managed to spew now for quite a while, without ever settling in to one theme, other than a very general poking at white Christian bigoted misogynists… of which there are millions of unpleasant examples to witness, in this country alone…. and they breed like fricking rabbits! Oh well, what the hell, it makes for more targets, eh?….. I am not sure exactly how we got into all this, as we started this section relatively positively…. Somewhere along the line, it turned on me…. which is okay, as it got all that built-up vitriol out of my head, where it has obviously been festering for some time…. Better out than in, eh?….

I think what I’ll do now is drop y’all like a stone, off the edge of the precipice upon which we just poised ourselves…. but, we’ll pad the landing area with a group of pearls, which will close off this section with some dignity, or, if nothing else, a bit of pointed humor…. Well, we can hope, can’t we?…. I think a five-star pearl will do nicely….

“Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom, in the pursuit of truth as in the endeavour after a worthy manner of life. — Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”

“Intelligence has nothing to do with politics.” — Londo Molari

“…this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no”religion in it.” — John Adams, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1816

“When asked what learning was the most necessary, he said, “Not to unlearn what you have learned.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Antisthenes, iv

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Here is one of mine that I haven’t reprinted in a while; it’s not bad, IMHO….

Dreaming, I wait….

In the most patient moments of rationality
kindness flows smoothly in a special milieu,
fallow thoughts speed first from equality
to give no anxious fever, anger to eschew.

Indignant mothers and step-sons in-law
shall fade simply from brilliant to grey,
intoning ritual dogma, fresh, avid, and raw,
falling, falling, in massive pastoral disarray.

Safety lives not, save brightly in ignorant bliss,
it follows us all, silent and infinitely frail,
foremost too often, soft as a virgin kiss,
alive, always eager, willing, and pale.

Intimate knowledge finds only the bold few
with courage and virtue to gift, unbidden.
No solemn royal version may pass in review,
true love for man, never to remain unhidden.

Sweet feathers of Emily’s hope uplift,
calm, drowsy episodes bursting with light,
With final glad cries we set ourselves adrift,
swimming in the oceans of natural delight.

When sorrow is banished, in ages yet to come,
roots solidly anchored, cold and remote,
Ample supplies of kindness sit silent and dumb,
and the old stranger shrugs on his faded coat.

Dreaming, then, I wait with shadows in the night
aspiring to inspire, a message from the muse’s heart
Never forgotten images, framed in color bright,
tempt me only, grieving, steeped in serenity’s arcane art….

~~ gigoid ~~

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I’ve been cruising my archives again, and keep finding rants or discussions worth reprinting; this fits in perfectly with my lazy nature, as well as providing me with material I know is already proofed….. It’s not much, but, it helps….. Plus, I’m finding that much of what I wrote in this period has a certain sharp edge I have trouble matching these days…. I was, at the time, living a much less comfortable life, and it shows in what I wrote during that period…. For now, it fills my need for something to finish this Pearl with panache, or, the closest I come to it…. Enjoy!…..

From 5/7/2012:

I don’t have an attitude problem–it’s supposed to be like this. — Smart Bee

I like this. It’s what I’ve said in response to any number of folks who have challenged me regarding my intransigence in the face of ignorant behavior. I am always tempted to add, “I am an American citizen, and it is not only my right, but my duty to challenge authority,” mainly because I believe it to be absolutely true, thought not an attitude currently favored by most of society, more’s the pity…. We’d be a lot better off if more folks took their duties as citizens more seriously….

“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.” — Thomas Paine

All of our founding fathers were convinced that only an educated populace had a chance of maintaining the freedoms they secured for us. They knew firsthand how unscrupulous churches and governments, working hand in hand, had oppressed and subjugated the people for centuries, and they were determined that it should NOT happen here. So they engineered a system whereby each citizen has the opportunity, and the right, to a complete grounding in basic knowledge, in order that they could make informed decisions regarding the laws with which they would be living….

“The Church hates a thinker like a criminal hates the police.” — Smart Bee (So do politicians…)

For over 200 years now, the beloved ruling class and their hidden supporters, the prelates of the churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues, have been repeatedly and subtly attempting to undermine the purpose behind educating people, trying to limit the amount spent on education, or luring people into believing the nonsensical alternatives that religion offers in lieu of independence of thought, thus minimizing the effects of the education received outside their influence. They (the politicians and priests/preachers….) continuously bombard the public with lie after lie, until the lies are accepted as truth, just because there is nothing else offered. They then use those lies to further confuse the public as to what is really happening, and go about their business of stealing and grabbing power wherever they find the opportunity….

“I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.” — George Carlin

So, my attitude is not the problem…. the problem is that not enough of us have this attitude, and the PTB have virtually no competition in their fight for our attention; there is nobody allowed on the political stage who is singing a different song than the one approved for public consumption by those who control such matters…. Hell, we’ll know we’re making progress if even one such person ever gets the chance to even speak…. In the meantime, all we can do is to have those of us who know our duty keep plugging away, calling them out for their lies, and making as much noise as we can, to try to draw some attention to those places where it isn’t appreciated, but is needed the most…..

“Every sensible man, every honest man, must hold the Christian sect in horror. But what shall we substitute in its place? you say. What? A ferocious animal has sucked the blood of my relatives. I tell you to rid yourselves of this beast and you ask me what you shall put in its place?” — Voltaire

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This one kind of got away from me a little…. That’s what happens when I have too much energy; it comes into conflict with my bone-deep, inherent laziness, and we end up with an epic pearl, which will surely drive the easily intimidated elsewhere…. So be it…. It’s way too late to go back & do it over, and, besides, I like it…. such as it is…. It will do, and that is the essential ingredient…. 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

Full page translations are our specialty….

Posted on June 10, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I am frequently (adjective TBA) (Okay, we’ll use “bemused” for wont of anything more accurate….) bemused to learn something new about people, especially myself….. In the process of checking my bank account online, to see if my SS allowance had been deposited, I became aware of the power of certain feelings, engendered by the mere presence, or absence of resources… In essence, just the mere fact of having a significantly useful amount of money to use is enough to stimulate feelings of extreme relief, almost a giddy joy, which is probably a reaction to NOT feeling the stressful worry that goes along with NOT having enough resources on hand….

In today’s world, most of us are only one or two months worth of paychecks from living on the streets, so when our bank account gets too small, it’s a source of constant stress….. Especially when food becomes scarce…. Of course, only the middle and lower classes of society are subject to this process, but, hey, that’s you and me, ffolkes, so it’s not as if you don’t know whereof I speak….

The most difficult feeling with which to cope, for me, is the one that comes to me when I realize that our BRC, our beloved rulers, and their corporate masters, along with their counterparts in the priestly hierarchies, don’t ever have to feel any of that…. They are already rich enough to have passed beyond the level where a month or two of income reduction, or shall we say, reduced profit, because that’s closer to the truth of the matter, won’t have any significant effect on their lives, and certainly wouldn’t cause them to lose their place of residence. In point of fact, they’re rich enough that they don’t have to even THINK about that issue at all…. I would guess that is a very powerful feeling in itself….

Now, I know you’re thinking to yourselves, “there he goes again, ranting in the intro…”, and, you’d no doubt be right. I didn’t intend to start off this way, but, having gone to look at my account, it struck me pretty hard how wide the gap has grown between the rich, and the rest of humanity…. The income differential grows larger each minute, as the system of thievery of the middle classes, and the parasitic assholes who reap the rewards of that theft, continue their pillaging of society without ever slackening pace…. rushing us all along the road to extinction with gleeful madness…

Such ranting has become less than profitable for me, and seems to keep some folks away, which is part of the reason why I’m looking around for new ways to interest my readers…. I hate feeling this crap, and hate the fact that the world is set up in such a way as to allow the rich and powerful to do pretty much whatever they want, and the rest of us suck hind teat…. SIGH….

It just makes me want to go out & buy that gun I keep promising to obtain…. But, I know that soon after doing so, I’d have to keep one of the first rules of gun ownership, to wit: If you are going to keep your gun loaded, then only pick it up when you are prepared to fire it….. My only problem with that is the difficulty in CHOOSING a target; there are a LOT of them out there that are worth one of my bullets…. It’s all the more attractive as I think about how GOOD I’d feel after taking down a couple of those assholes who have more money than morals…. tempting, indeed…

For now, though, I’ll content myself with that, and get on with today’s business, such as it is…. At least this will keep me from SPENDING all that money for a few hours….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If a person is to get the meaning of life he must learn to like the facts about himself — ugly as they may seem to his sentimental vanity — before he can learn the truth behind the facts. And the truth is never ugly.” — Eugene O’Neill

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I am beginning to enjoy creating these pictorial pearls; both the processes involved are fun, and good for me in more than one respect. It’s a total win/win issue, in my book, so, I’ll keep at it, as it seems to keep getting a bit better each time…. Let’s see what happens today…. I’ve got a seven-star group of pictures, five mine, one stolen from somewhere on the net that is terminally cute, and one from the London Daily Mail, I believe, with a papal picture, which, if it isn’t, should be in the public domain, and you’ll see why below, when you see it….

I’m trying a new technique with this pearl…. there will be a quote after each picture, but, no comments, unless necessary to comply with legal or ethical considerations… whatever that means…. Enjoy!…..

“Facts cannot prevail against faith, or adamant folly.”– Smart Bee

“Who is it that can tell me who I am?” — William Shakespeare, King Lear

Okay, one comment…. I like this Pope; as popes go, he’s pretty inoffensive, which is more than can be said of most of them. This one, at least, seems to be a true Christian, and seems sincere in his commitment to live his live after the manner of Jesus Christ, that misunderstood social reformer…. This picture gives a good impression of his nature, which to me seems to be one that is close to nature, and to joy, which is why his expression here is so infectious; he’s completely happy to be playing around, and is obviously enjoying his moment with the athletes…. It’s also a good picture to show off some diversity, with four different skin tones in the picture….

“Well, I used to look like this when I was young, and now I still do.” — Yogi Berra

If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper? — Smart Bee

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

“You can best serve civilization by being against what usually passes for it.” — Wendell Berry

“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” — Buddha, The Dharmapada

Well, there you have it…. If nothing else worthwhile happens, you can still say you’ve seen the picture above, of the little girl and her monstrously huge dog…. My eyes fill up just looking at this; you can tell by his whole demeanor, expression, stance, that dog would KILL for that little girl, and she knows it…. You can see the love on her face, and her determination to take care of him….. I keep this picture on my desktop, so I can open it up occasionally, and absorb the absolute love from both of them…. I AM a sucker for dogs & kids, that’s for sure….

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Once again, this poem is mine, because I’m tired, my brain is revolting, (No, no, not THAT way!…. it’s being recalcitrant, that’s all….), and I am a huge egotist… or something like that…. I hope you enjoy it; it’s one of my own favorites..

After the odyssey….

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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I’m getting fatigued, as mentioned; this has taken a lot of time and energy so far, and I’m not done…. Some of the following pearls came up while I was looking for a few of them for the above picture pearl…. The rest came now, or, will, as soon as I get to it…. Since I’m feeling this way, and have a lot to do today, to go spend a bunch of this money, I’ll forgo the Q&A session planned for here, and get on with collecting the rest of the pearls for this one…. Let’s see if SB can finish strongly….

“If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be … If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.” — Thomas Jefferson

I’ll drink your health; share your wealth;
run your life; steal your wife …
… you can call this song ‘The United States Blues’.

— The Grateful Dead

“It may be bad manners to talk with your mouth full, but it isn’t too good either if you speak when your head is empty.” — Smart Bee

“Solitude makes a wonderful mistress but a terrible wife.’ — Emerson

“A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)

“Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 19

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

Not too shabby, I think….

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Whew! Done. So done, I’m just gonna proof, and then poof…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

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

Posted on May 26, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shall we Pearl?…..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After the odyssey….

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

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

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

From December of 2011…

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

Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Further remonstrances should be unnecessary….

Posted on May 19, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Realizing such an overreaction would draw attention, I put away my weapon, and proceeded to thrash the idiot with my bare hands….. Having thus protected the next poor slob who tried to buy one of the asshole’s fake watches, (The fool didn’t even bother to put works in them, or set them to the right time….. just tried to foist off a fake Rolex on me, without any real idea of what a watch like that would cost, or look like…. What an idiot….), I walked out of the alley where I left his groaning carcass, giving him the opportunity for a leisurely introspection, wherein he could contemplate the error of his ways…. I turned south, toward the waterfront, where the ship that would carry me on the next leg of my journey only waited for me to board….

As I strolled down the Avenida del Revolucion, other, more honest vendors hawked their wares, to the early tourists and locals who crowded the narrow sidewalks, jostling each other in the crowded spaces between the shops and the street-side displays for each….. All the stalls were colorfully crammed with hundreds of items for sale, handy to the cars that crawled past, filled with other tourist groups and possible buyers…. The street vendors, each hawking the wares of the shop in front of which they stood, joined their cries to each other’s, almost a sing-song of prices and salutations, a commercial music that blended with and through the noise of the cars, and the blaring mariachi music from the speakers every fifty feet….

Then, of course, I woke up, and lost all sense of proportion, staring into the darkened room, wondering whether I was still in Mexico, shivering slightly in the cold air from the open window, behind me…. Pulling on a t-shirt, I arose, grabbed the essentials, and came out to try to start this Pearl….. The above two paragraphs are the best I can do, ffolkes; on looking it over, it’s not bad, but, it isn’t the best I’ve ever done, either….. Given the handicap under which I’m operating, I’m fairly content, as it is better than I’d hoped, given the level of spasming and pain I’m currently ignoring….. well, as best as I can….

Regardless of that, I’m not going to whine…. What I WILL do is try to put out a complete Pearl, fresh, (other than poetically…. I’m afraid I don’t have THAT in me right now…. but, I’ll pick something worthwhile to make up for any lack of freshness or originality on MY part….), and as compelling as I can make it…. It may not be quite up to snuff, but, it will have to do, because, well, it will….

On that note, I’m going to forgo any further folderol, or nonsense from my darker side, & jump into the rest of today’s effort….. which, as I can already tell y’all, is an effort, indeed….

Shall we Pearl?….

Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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“Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions are all based upon that large defect in your race — the individual’s distrust of his neighbor, and his desire, for safety’s or comfort’s sake, to stand well in his neighbor’s eye. These institutions will always remain, and always flourish, and always oppress you, affront you, and degrade you, because you will always be and remain slaves of minorities. There was never a country where the majority of people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), “The Mysterious Stranger”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/17/government-lies-nsa-justice-department-supreme-court

Is there any more question? Can it be laid out any clearer? It’s pretty clear to me….. Our world has been usurped, pirated by the myrmidons of the paranoid übermensch, the sociopathic monied elite, who seek to control every aspect of life on this planet, to further their own pathetic need to control and manipulate the rest of mankind for their insane personal ends….

Now, some might think that’s a long stretch of the imagination, to extrapolate such dire accusations from the shenanigans of one federal agency, or even two, apparently turning it all around into blaming the poor, faceless gazillionaires who control the resources of the planet; after all, most people now are inured to being lied to, stolen from, and getting their fannies reamed by those in charge of society, having endured that sort of treatment their entire lives.

Given that sort of background, what could be LESS surprising than to hear that someone in the government had lied, to protect someone else in another governmental branch?…. (Please note: both the liars, and those they lie about, are UN-elected officials, having been appointed to their positions….) Or that the Justice (?) Department was no longer bound by the Constitution, or, apparently, any other laws that are contrary to their purpose, thus giving them the legal right to lie, to the public, and to the SUPREME FUCKING COURT?….

Sadly, I’m not sure they needed to lie to the Supremes; that particular batch of lawyers, who, after first indicating which path to glory they preferred, mutated into judges, of such obvious degrees of corruption they became worthy of the attention of one or more of the Shrubs, those blatant corporate/spook soldiers who appointed them…. (Notice again how voting doesn’t come into this picture?…)…..

This particular current batch of Supremes seems to be more than ready to fuck things up all by themselves, casually casting aside numerous laws set, over time, as legal precedents by previous Supremes, laws designed to guard against societal discrimination, as being “no longer an issue of law”…. meaning, they are changing the law themselves, sans any need to ask for, or receive, approval from anyone else, such as Congress, the Executive Branch, or god forbid, the people of this country….

It’s pretty clear in this case, it all connects at a deeper level, where the inner workings of a clandestine organization are merely the tip of the iceberg, compared to how the ice is being used….. which is, begad, a terrible metaphor. But, I think it’s clear that ALL of the branches of our government are now corrupted by this attitude, of entitlement and the absolute belief that whatever rights we, the people, may have had, are not relevant to their goals…. all of which, in their eyes, makes those ‘rights’ immaterial, pathetic obstacles to be brushed aside, in the interests of expediency and paranoia….

Ffolkes, I don’t like to join hands with the ranks of those who believe in all sorts of conspiracies; most of the time the evil that we see is not a matter of conspiring to take over the world…. there’s no need for that, because it has already happened. It actually happened thousands of years ago; the problem has always been that not many people are willing to look directly at the evidence, or able to accept the FACTS…. which are, to me, relatively clear.

“By all means, let’s not confuse the issue with facts.”– Smart Bee

The 1% (which, actually, is a misnomer; 1% of the total number of humans alive is actually a rather large number, in relation to the small number of people who actually have real control of the resources of the entire planet…. 1% of 7 Billion is actually 70 Million people; there are many times many fewer people than that who are the actual masters of this society…. Planet wide, the true figure of people who are in the true ruling elite is probably closer to 7000, or perhaps, 70,000, not millions…. Sorry, ffolkes, but, numbers CAN’T lie…. and, remember, these people DON’T share…..), are perfectly aware they don’t NEED a conspiracy, when the controls they require have been in place for centuries…. As long as people are susceptible to money, or power over others, as long as they are subject to their own fear and ignorance, no real planning is required, as people will, all-too-often, freely give their freedom away, to those who promise to remove their fear…..

This has always been true, ffolkes…. The weak and ignorant, of which there are so many, spend their lives in fear of not being able to succeed, of being confronted with the harsh realities of life without the means to deal with any of it. The unprincipled rulers of mankind, with the willing and able assistance of the religious fanatics who support them, don’t actually conspire against the rest of humanity….

They merely live up to their own standards, which are based on expediency and self-promotion, and the ignorant masses fall right into line, giving their allegiance and obedience to temporal authority, while both the church and the rulers steadily, and thoroughly, empty their pockets of all they don’t require for basic living…. and more, if they feel they can get away with it….

I don’t profess to have any special knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes; all of my opinions are based on what can be seen right out in the public arena, based on what I read, what I see, and what I can deduce from that data. Everyone alive has the same opportunity as I do to see what is going on….

Sadly, most people don’t seem to have, or, to use if they do have, the simple intelligence required to put the pieces together, into a picture they can understand…. which, in turn, means they cannot control their own destiny…. Nor will they ever be able to do so, as long as they continue to give up the right to control their own minds, to the Beloved Ruling Classes, including the priestly hierarchies, and all the faceless myrmidons (police and military…), who do the bidding of the powered elite, the corporate snakes/monied assholes, (sorry, I decided elegant doesn’t work when describing these pricks, but, short, pithy Anglo-Saxon slang works just fine….), who prey on the rest of mankind….

I think, personally, it’s time for me to buy a gun…. and lots and lots of ammunition…. As an American citizen, I can only say that, I’m tired of my ass being continuously threatened with impalement, on the shaft of government indifference, or corporate immorality, and, I don’t intend to have it go on that way forever…. I’m sure we can find something that will work better, and won’t constantly be a pain in our collective ass….

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” — Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) — Churchill’s Commentary on Man

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There are times when the mere act of reading a poem, if done honestly, paying attention & trying to put oneself into the author’s mind, to fully understand the metaphor of life being portrayed, is a worthy experience in and of itself, with no more justification needed, or required, by either the universe, or the monitors of this blog, who are, as we know, non-existent…. Well, I know it; if y’all still have doubts, just submit another claim….

In the meantime, here is a poem, which long-time prisoners, er, readers, will probably recognize as having been seen here previously…. That’s just because it’s a good one, and, because I can…. Enjoy, please, as millions of history’s readers have done for a long time…..

A Dialogue of Self and Soul

{My Soul} I summon to the winding ancient stair;
Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,
Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,
Upon the breathless starlit air,
‘Upon the star that marks the hidden pole;
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done:
Who can distinguish darkness from the soul
i{My Self}. The consecretes blade upon my knees
Is Sato’s ancient blade, still as it was,
Still razor-keen, still like a looking-glass
Unspotted by the centuries;
That flowering, silken, old embroidery, torn
From some court-lady’s dress and round
The wodden scabbard bound and wound
Can, tattered, still protect, faded adorn
i{My Soul.} Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?
Think of ancestral night that can,
If but imagination scorn the earth
And interllect is wandering
To this and that and t’other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth.
i{My self.} Montashigi, third of his family, fashioned it
Five hundred years ago, about it lie
Flowers from I know not what embroidery —
Heart’s purple — and all these I set
For emblems of the day against the tower
Emblematical of the night,
And claim as by a soldier’s right
A charter to commit the crime once more.
i{My Soul.} Such fullness in that quarter overflows
And falls into the basin of the mind
That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind,
For intellect no longer knows
i{Is} from the i{Ought,} or i{knower} from the i{Known — }
That is to say, ascends to Heaven;
Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue’s a stone.
i{My Self.} A living man is blind and drinks his drop.
What matter if the ditches are impure?
What matter if I live it all once more?
Endure that toil of growing up;
The ignominy of boyhood; the distress
Of boyhood changing into man;
The unfinished man and his pain
Brought face to face with his own clumsiness;
The finished man among his enemies? —
How in the name of Heaven can he escape
That defiling and disfigured shape
The mirror of malicious eyes
Casts upon his eyes until at last
He thinks that shape must be his shape?
And what’s the good of an escape
If honour find him in the wintry blast?
I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch,
A blind man battering blind men;
Or into that most fecund ditch of all,
The folly that man does
Or must suffer, if he woos
A proud woman not kindred of his soul.
I am content to follow to its source
Every event in action or in thought;
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.

~ William Butler Yeats ~~

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Okay, finally, a bit of fun for us all…. I’ve been working hard to get this done before the pain gets to the point where someone has to die, and it’s going fairly well, all things considered…. Let’s see if Smart Bee is up to a bit of cooperation this morning, shall we? I’ve got my wet suit on, and my scuba tank is full…. Let’s dive, ffolkes…. Oh, yeah, take your knife; no parameters today….

Hug O’ War

I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

~~ Shel Silverstein ~~

“A little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Madison, 1787

“To think contrary to one’s era is heroism. But to speak against it is madness.” — Eugene Ionesco

“One must never precede any maneuver by a comment more predictive than, “Watch this!” (Keep ’em guessing.) — The Third Commandment of Frisbee — Dan Roddick

“Fear is the lock and laughter the key to your heart.” — Steven Stills

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

“What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?” — Ursula K. LeGuin

I really love this job….. too bad nobody will pay me to do it…..

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Well, ffolkes, (and that’s a deep subject….) (Sorry, really…. I’m an incorrigible punster, so, don’t incorrige me…) (Okay, sorry, I’m done….), here we are again…. I’m still uncertain as to whether or not I’ll continue to try to keep myself unblooded today; I suppose it will depend on how much pain I’m fighting when some idiot tests my resolve. But, at my age, I don’t really give much of a shit whether it does, or not, and if things get out of hand, I’ll just blame Murphy…. it’s about time he took some of the heat he dishes out…. 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

Precious moments of subtle grandeur…..

Posted on May 16, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

You probably can’t tell by looking, but, in this space, earlier today, three complete fictional beginnings to a story were composed, then edited to the point of deletion, each one being rather LESS acceptable than the one before…. I can’t recall ever coming up with so much CRAP so early in the day, unless of course, we count that time in Phoenix, of which, the binding documents of non-disclosure I signed then preclude any mention…. That’s okay by me, I wouldn’t want stuff like that to ever be associated with my name, if I can help it….

Unfortunately for TODAY’s Pearl, that leaves me here, too deep in to back out, but with not a damn thing to go here….. at least, nothing I’d allow past my inner censor. Hell, at this point, it’s all I can do to blink both eyes in unison; I’m that discombobulated this morning…. My eyes are giving me fits, trying to focus; my thumb aches like crazy, telling me it’s time to stop ignoring it, & go see the Doc about it…..

I just hate thinking of the probable treatment, a shot of cortisone…. it works great, but, I’m not real sanguine about using steroids, for anything, even the stuff for which it is commonly prescribed…. Just because we’ve used something for a while doesn’t mean they know what the long term effects are…. the medical profession has too many priors in that respect for me to ever trust them completely…. Remember the time they x-rayed some guy in the ER, & found he had a surgical tool, a pair of forceps, to be exact, still inside his abdomen, left there by a forgetful surgeon a few weeks previously?…. I do….

But, that’s all just avoiding the issue, which is the lack of stimulation/inspiration I’m experiencing today, that is keeping this intro in “Inanity Mode”, with long, wandering discussions of not very much, stretched, padded, and stuffed full of useless verbiage, all designed to take us just a little further down the page, until we find ourselves in an area where we can stop a moment, catch our breath, look around, and make the self-serving, but appropriate decision to bring this section to a close, having reached a point where such a decision becomes practicable….

Why, look! We’ve reached just such a point now! How about that, ffolkes? I even fooled myself today, into thinking this might work…. which it did, I’ll point out…. Here we are, five full paragraphs in, and we’re ready to cut loose with whatever is to take place today…. It’s always a surprise to me, and should be for y’all, as well…. Hope springs eternal…. as does my chutzpah…. though, to be honest, it doesn’t really spring, so much as creep, but, hey, it SOUNDS good, right?

Shall we Pearl?…. I think it would be for the best if we did….

In lazy apathy let stoics boast
Their virtue fix’d: ‘t is fix’d as in a frost;
Contracted all, retiring to the breast;
But strength of mind is exercise, not rest.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 101

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I’m in a lot of pain this morning…. but, I also decided not to complain about it; instead we have the above nonsense, while here, in section one, I’ll go with an older rant, on a subject that never goes out of style…. not here, anyway….

From 9/19/2012, I offer the following pearl, for your viewing enjoyment:

A while back, I wrote a comment regarding another a post on another blog, concerning the proposal made in that blog of writing some new amendments to the Constitution. Most of the suggested amendments made good sense, as they would remove many of the entitlements that Congress has awarded itself over the years. However, there was one suggested change with which I wholeheartedly disagree…. This is the response to that suggestion… The address of the original blog is included, in case you want to read it first….. To wit:

In Response to a Proposed 35th Amendment

From the blog site at:

http://lennemi.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/a-proposal-for-a-new-bill-of-rights/#comment-234

After reading the above blog, I posted the following comment:

Sir, or madam,

Excellent post, well reasoned and presented…. I have a few comments, if I may….

It has long been a delusion in human society that morality can be enforced, or induced at all, by legislation. This is an idea, as proven time and time again throughout thousands of years of human history, that is doomed to fail, every time it is attempted. That is not speculation, or guesswork. Look it up…..

Therefore, it is my suggestion that you forget #35, in favor of the Second Amendment already in place in the Bill of Rights; this concept is based on a false assumption, and making a flat statement of what (YOU believe) my rights are, or should be, is not acceptable to me as a citizen of this republic, or as a human being responsible for my own actions. Bearing arms is not a privilege, nor will I, and most likely at least 150 million, or more, other people in this country, accept that idea for a moment, a fact that should be obvious to any one with practical understanding of reality.

I do not, nor will I ever believe that Federal, State, or Local jurisdiction have either the right, or the authority to say differently, and I doubt seriously that there are very many in this country who do believe that. I reject utterly the statement that they, or you, or anyone else, has the right to decide for me what I will or will not own, or keep, or use in my defense. After guns, free speech would be the next to go….any bets?

That, my friend, is a fact of life, and of human nature. We only have those rights we can defend…. and this is merely another doomed attempt to legislate morality into human nature. Violence exists. Period. Get used to it, because you are not going to remove it from people’s core nature, or from reality, any more than attempting to remove guns will stop crime, or killing, or the tendency toward violence that is part of the nature of Man. Better to understand the impulse, and work toward educating people in how to cope with that part of themselves constructively, rather than destructively…..

The rest of your amendments are perfectly in alignment with what I believe is needed to improve the conditions of inequality and elitism so prevalent in today’s society, and would receive my full support.

To be honest, up to recently, I never owned, or saw a need to own a gun. As one who has followed the Warrior’s Path since my early teens (and probably before; I was raised on army posts from birth to age 10), and a long-time student of martial arts, and the theories of war, I learned how to deal with violence in many ways, with many techniques, a large number of which I had to apply in my work for years, physically controlling out-of-control psychotic mental patients, without hurting them, or getting hurt.

I got pretty good at dealing with violent people, especially in recognizing such outbursts before they manifested fully, and diverting it as needed. I am very familiar with violence, in a great many of its guises. That said, it seems clear that I have generally been able to deal with whatever physical violence may occur in my immediate vicinity.

Now, however, I’m not as fast as I once was, nor as well-conditioned; I’m better at foresight, it comes with age. And I can foresee a time when I could conceivably need the equalizing factor of a weapon like a gun, in order to live up to my standard of handling events without injury, as far as I can…..so, I’m probably going to buy one or two…

Because of that, and even more, because of insane (sorry, don’t mean to flame; but, it isn’t fully sane to attempt to change human nature) talk such as this, of watching society willingly slip on their slave collars…This is NOT going to happen in my world…. or, at least, not in the little piece of it I can control….

If anyone, or anyone’s brother, or anyone else, tries to take away the Second Amendment rights I now have, well, I can only say, good luck with that….. and bring lots of well-armed, battle-tested friends…you’ll need them….

Oh, and I’d keep in mind…. those folks, like the police in Sanford, Florida, who were complicit in covering up the murder there, aren’t going to disarm themselves, now are they?…. How far will you trust them to behave with honor, and respect for YOUR rights? Get real…..and I don’t mean that disrespectfully, but in hope that you will open your eyes to what is plainly there to see….

Note from 2014:

“Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice than they are compelled to do by their situation.” — Thucydides

Now, if only there were ANYONE left in our society who fit this description, we might be able to hold on to some hope…..

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Since I’m using archived material today, I’m going with this older poem of mine, which seems to fit in with the tone, if not the exact same tune we are singing today….

Rhyming is better than lying….

It’s all too, too much, he cried
I can take no more!
It’s all crazy, my brain is fried,
battered, bloody, and sore.

Talking heads shout out hatred and fear
jam for my morning toast.
Pointing fingers far, middle, and near
enemies everywhere, almost.

Women, gays, and seniors fall prey,
easy targets, slow and weak.
Convenient fools, wanting only to play,
used, and abused, even as we speak.

It enough to drive me floridly insane,
or want to buy a gun.
I may end up in jail, or in massive pain,
but, oh, it would be fun….

~~ gigoid ~~

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I don’t know how, but, I seem to have tweaked my lower back in my sleep last night; it’s giving me fits this morning…. But, I think I’ve got enough in me to finish this off, as long as I go old-school here in section three…. which I shall proceed to do…. Enjoy! This is all the fresh stuff you’ll get today….

“How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.” — Thomas Jefferson, “Writings” Vol. XVI

“No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor.” — Andrew Carnegie

“Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness; on the confines of two everlasting hostile empires, Necessity and Freewill.” — Carlyle (1795-1881)

“Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.” — Robert Lindner

“Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.” — John Adams (1735-1826)

“There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.” — Seneca

“For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will be the greatest enemy.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

I love it when a plan comes together…..

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Today’s Pearl has been brought to you by the word “stubborn”, and the number 13, which has always been my favorite of all the prime numbers…. and, no, I don’t know what that means about me, nor do I care….. This is done, and for now, that’s all I do care about, as I’m about to go obliviate my consciousness with large quantities of drugs…. See y’all tomorrow, one way or another….

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

Watching the Founding Fathers spin like a top….

Posted on April 6, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Having long been cognizant of the danger involved in living a life of free will, I accept that danger, without qualm or resentment, as the just cost it represents for the boon of living free. As our favorite Founding Father, Tommy J, was fond of saying, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance; it’s cost is counted only in the blood of its defenders.” Well, I think he said it; it might have been one of the others…. but, it SOUNDS like mi amigo Tomas, so I’m going with that. The danger, as it turns out, is not from the world at large, so much as from the Australopithecan inhabitants of that world, specifically a certain small part of the impossibly fecund group of naked, hairless apes who infest the surface of the planet with me….

Now, this may sound as if I have a rather poor opinion of my fellow man…. In that, you would be right, insofar as it goes. Individually I like some of them very much, and tend to try to spend what time I have to interact with those whom I can get along with, just like everyone else… The rest of them, as far as I am concerned, are pretty much superfluous, in most ways, and I figure the world would be a nicer place if they’d all just go away somewhere where they won’t bother those of us who only wish to get along, without trying to take advantage of anyone else….

The small group to whom I refer above, however, make the process of living with them a veritable pain the bloody ass, as they have no more desire in Life than to steal from everyone else….. These assholes will lie, cheat, & ultimately, will act, literally, in any way they feel will get them what they want, no matter how unethical, or immoral it may be. Their entire purpose in life is to see that THEY, and they alone, are in control of other people, and of the resources our society uses to maintain life and culture; in that purpose they are single-minded, quite ruthless, deliberately heedless, and completely uncaring, as to how much pain and misery they may cause to other people in the process of achieving their goals.

Now, the assholes who act like this are not a very large group of people…. but, for all of our history on this world, over 5,000 years, at least, this small group of snakeheads have conspired against the rest of humanity, diligently working to set themselves up as the oppressive, shadowy forces behind the Powers That Be in life, a task at which, for the most part, they have been quite successful. The number of people in the world who are in essential control is much smaller than the grand majority of people are aware…… These are NOT the people who get elected, or however they are chosen to lead a nation; the real power lies with those who control those leaders from behind the scenes, telling them what they can and cannot do…..

This number, of the true masters of our society, is, realistically, far less than a thousand men and/or women, world-wide…. Once the structure of control has been established, it doesn’t take a lot of manpower to maintain the status quo, since the vast majority of people in the world are not aware of the true picture of how society is arranged…..

This cluelessness, I might add, is a sufficient degree of ignorance to enable those in power to remain there as long as they wish…. They have had a very long time to practice the skills they need to remain both in charge, and in the background, and they are VERY, VERY GOOD at them, believe me…..

I know these people are out there; I also know that they know they are not completely invisible, due in part to others such as myself, who refuse to leave in place any of the wool they keep trying to pull over our eyes. They know exactly what writers and/or ffolkes are out there in the world, who are watching them WITHOUT being fooled…. Hell, they probably have our addresses, and an idea of how many weapons we keep on hand….

They don’t care, as long as they are able to maintain their control, and their obscurity from the public eye…. If, by chance, the majority of the blind, ignorant public became aware of how much they are controlled, and for how long they have been the dupes of these human predatory vultures….. well, those shadowy snakeheads wouldn’t last very long…. A mob of humans is an ugly thing, with no conscience at all, once it has been set in action….. There is little chance of it ever happening, but, hey, there’s always hope, right?….

I note from the above that my rant for today can be considered as done…. Since, despite the evidence presented thus far, my brain is NOT in what I’d call “sharp” status, I think I’ll take this as it lies, & not worry too much about how it got there… That’s probably for the best, as I don’t have a bloody clue as to how it all came to be…. Hell, I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing right at this moment, much less have I kept track up to now…. it didn’t seem necessary, and, now, it would be more dangerous than what we’ve already done, so, we’ll stop here….

Whew! Thank goodness…. it almost got away from me there…. Now that we’re back in the saddle, so to speak, let’s ride, or, dive, whichever is more appropriate…. I think we’ll dive, as we have the scuba gear, and nothing to ride, anyway…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” — Marcus Aurelius

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

“Come hether freind, I am ashamed to hear that what I hear of you… You have almost attayned to the age of nyne yeeres, at least to eight and a halfe, and seeing that you knowe your dutie, if you neglect it your deserve greater punishment then he which though ignorance doth it not. Think not that the nobilitie of your Ancestors doth free you to doe all that you list, contrary-wise, it bindeth you more to follow vertue.” — Pierre Brondell

When I found this, I thought it would make a good beginning to a rant, since it speaks to the concept of responsibility for one’s actions as a leader…. Then, I saw this one….

“Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other.” — Edmund Burke (1729-1797) — Reflections on the Revolution in France, — Letter i, On a Regicide Peace, Vol. v, p. 331

Recognizing the truth of this, I realized that, as in the rant in the intro section, I’m wasting my time, not even preaching to the choir, but to the flock of geese in the yard….. SIGH….. Oh, well, I suppose it had to happen sometime….. So, rather than bore y’all any further with such superfluous agitation, we’ll go with an old-school style pearl, to try to set some sort of example, to teach something about the true nature of our Beloved Ruling Class, and the shadowy corporate snakeheads who tell them what to do…. Let’s see what SB can find for us today, shall we?….

“Of all the forces in the universe, the hardest to overcome is the force of habit. Gravity is easy-peasy by comparison.” — Solomon Einstein (Terry Pratchett, “Johnny and the Dead”)

“The difference between fantasy and science fiction is that one hast honest politicians scrupulous lawyers, and altruistic doctors, while the other only has beings from outer space.” — William John Watkins

“Is it a bigger crime to rob a bank or to open one?” — Smart Bee

“Let thine occupations be few,” saith the sage. — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iv, 24

(I was going to put in an explanation of this pearl from Marcus Aurelius, but, I decided, no, you should figure out for yourself just WHY it is here….)

“Government lies, and newspapers lie, but in a democracy they are different lies.” — Smart Bee

“In the United States…politics is purged of all menace, all sinister quality, all genuine significance, and stuffed with such gorgeous humors, such inordinate farce that one comes to the end of a campaign with one’s ribs loose, and ready for “King Lear,” or a hanging, or a course of medical journals.” — H. L. Mencken

“As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.” — George Washington

SIGH…. as for the last quote, all I can say is, so much for THAT idea….. Good idea, George, but, nobody’s interested in that stuff anymore…. At least, nobody in OUR government….

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

“All poets are mad.” — Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy

Robert is, as we all know, correct in this assessment…. But, who’s counting, anyway?….. Here is another of my old poems, because nobody else deserves a fate like this today…. Here is one, written back in 2012, in reaction to the advancing effects of aging on my health and well-being…. Call it a lament, or call it a paean to patience…. You can call it what you like…. I just call it a poem….

Raging at Aging

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

“It may be said that his wit shines at the expense of his memory.” — Alain Rene Le Sage (1668-1747) — Gil Blas, Book iii, Chap. xi

“A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Dunciad, Book iv, Line 90

“Ahhh. A man with a sharp wit. Someone ought to take it away from him before he cuts himself.” — Peter da Silva

Aha! I finally found a place for these!….. I’ve been holding these three connected pearls for some weeks now, trying to find a place for them…. Since I’ve treated y’all today to a perfect example of the point of these three little barbs, I’ll just say that, all of these, taken together, form an idea that fits me like a Texas catheter, which, if y’all know anything about nursing, is an article of medical purpose which, once applied, will NOT fall off the appendage to which it is strapped, until it is meant to…. which is a delicate way of saying y’all should be careful when I’m slinging pearls around…. They can, if not respected for the damage they can do, make y’all wish you were never born….

That being said, here is another old-school pearl, whose only parameters for inclusion were set at “odd”, and “funny”…. Of course, you have to go by MY standards on both of those, but, hey, you’ll like it….. Trust me…

“Everything takes longer than you think it will.” — Murphy’s Law Corollary 2

(Including completing the consumption of this Pearl…..)

“During the invasion of Sicily in World War II, General George (“Blood ‘n’ Guts”) Patton was preparing to take the city of Palermo. He checked with his meteorologists and learned the day he had chosen would be incredibly rainy. So he issued an order to place copies of the New York “Times” immediately beneath the tailgates of the transports carrying his troops. In this way the men could keep their feet dry. His staff was mystified. Why the “Times”? Why not the New York “Daily News”? Patton was adamant; and one did not argue with the General. As five tons of old copies of the “Times” were being loaded, the General issued one of his greatest quotes to the assembled war correspondents: “THESE ARE THE ‘TIMES’ THAT DRY MEN’S SOLES.” –Smart Bee

(My abject apologies for that…. but, I couldn’t resist…. You may groan as loudly as you wish; you may even voice as many epithets as you desire….. Just don’t throw any of the articles from the pocket in the seat back in front of you…. Thanks….)

“Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.” — Aristotle

“America will tolerate the taking of a human life without giving it a second thought. But don’t misuse a household pet.” — Dick Gregory, The Shadow that Scares Me, 1968

The Preacher, the Politician, the Teacher,
Were each of them once a kiddie.
A child, indeed, is a wonderful creature.
Do I want one? God Forbiddie!

— Ogden Nash

“The believer is happy. The doubter is wise.’ — Hungarian proverb

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

I really love it when a plan comes together….

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

Having thus completed the obligatory number of rants, or rant-like substances, including two old-school pearls, I am now authorized to bring this to a close, without fear of annoying any of the bureaucrats who keep tabs on this sort of function…. The poem was a bonus inclusion, due to the habit of those same bureaucrats to completely ignore all poetry, as being outside their purview and/or perception. Now, aren’t you glad you stayed to the end?….

Okay, I’ll shut down my incredibly over-zealous ego now, putting the lie to the old saw about never knowing when to shut up…. I can bust a preconceived notion with the best of them, as long as I have something with which I can replace it, in the traditional pantheon of necessary incongruities, with which reality is decorated whenever we gather like this…. Plus, it gave me one last opportunity to practice my nonsense and blather, without actually having to open a new package….. On that obscure note, I will release you from all bondage, and begone….. See ya, ffolkes, if I’m still relatively sane tomorrow….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

We’ll call it “fashionably undead”….

Posted on April 2, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Considering the state of affairs in modern society, a relatively high degree of curmudgeonry among the citizenry is to be expected; a rough, gruff exterior is the protective barrier of choice in modern times, with good reason. We are all bombarded daily with demands upon our time, expectations upon our behavior, rules, regulations, and all sorts of other frequently frustrating demands that assault our senses, often transpiring right in front of us, necessitating our participation, if not our complete engagement, or investment….. Given all that, it isn’t particularly surprising to me that good manners have fallen by the wayside….

To a gentleman, as I was raised to be, certain behaviors are not optional; for most of today’s young men and women, those behaviors are not only unknown to them, but have been replaced with a set of expectations of entitlement, and behavioral irritants, that, for the most part, are more effective in keeping others at a distance than they are in enhancing interaction, or improving communication.

This change in what young people are taught, or NOT taught, more accurately, has resulted in a society where rudeness is the norm, compassion is seen as weakness, and manipulation of others is a survival skill….. I see most of this as the logical consequence of our BRC’s nasty habit of attempting to modify public morality through legislation, to wit: making laws to tell people how to behave toward each other….

This, of course, is really, really stupid…. and I don’t mean that in a nice sense, either….. It’s just plain idiotic to assume that the inertia needed to make ANY sort of weather change in Society at Large can be provided by a new law….. Hell, I can’t think of where the idea came from in the first place, as ANY parent of small children can testify as to just how completely useless and ineffective it is to try to teach morality through the use of punishment for bad behavior, OR for rewarding good….. People, even small, essentially unformed human beings do NOT respond well to that sort of teaching, and, in fact, will often rebel AGAINST any such type of behavioral modification, making it not just useless, but, counterproductive….

Which word, counterproductive, leads us back to reality, as our beloved ruling class continues to thrash about, mostly wreaking havoc, instead of creating order in the world, by the consistent, deliberate application of stupidity and greed….. It seems to me that it has become not only acceptable, but routine, to try to legislate morals among the populace of this nation, with the unfortunate end result of convincing those in power that they have not only the right to do so, but that there is need for it…. both of which are failures of logic, and can only lead to more problems…..

SIGH…..This isn’t REALLY a rant, you know, it’s just a discussion, one that seemed to fit in with today’s mood, enough so to bring it to bear on the introduction problem we always face in the morning…. It seems to have worked fairly well, though it’s hard to tell this early…. Sometimes, the intro has a delayed effect on the Gentle Readers….

I’ll often hear ffolkes moaning and groaning, while I’m preparing a poem, or searching through SB, as certain phrases or words from this introductory part of the morning’s mental buffet hit home, naturally producing the typical response to such chicanery. In fact, I’ve noticed a resemblance, at times, to a gathering of punsters, which produces a variety of sounds indicating the presence of “humans in dire mental distress”…..

All of which doesn’t alter the fact that I’ve once again faked my way through the intro, bringing us to the required point in the process where we can smoothly wend our way to the next section, knowing we’ve fulfilled all the legal and technical requirements…. That isn’t to say our ONLY purpose here is to meet standards…. In fact, we spit on standards…. who needs them? We certainly don’t…. Not only do we not need them, we HATE them…. We don’t want no stinking standards around here, so just take them away…..

Oops, I think my coherency just failed, so to speak…. I’m probably starting to break out in a bozoid fever…. that’s how it always begins…. It’s okay, I’ve got a plan for that…. It never works, but, I have one….

Never mind…. This is spinning rapidly out of my control…. I’m going to employ Emergency method #4, to take us out of here before anything catches fire, or explodes…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” — Albert Einstein
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m not certain that I have what it takes today to write anything particularly logical, or reasoned to any fine degree…. For the first time in several days, I didn’t sleep all that well…. Oh, it was GOOD sleep, just not enough of it: I didn’t WANT to get up when the furry alarm went off…. But, if I don’t, she picks on Pat, so, I pushed out of bed, and have been trying to wake up fully ever since, a matter of almost an hour now…. Some days it just doesn’t pay to begin the day at all….

Around here, though, we have a way to get around that little conundrum, called an old-school pearl…. I’ll just let Smart Bee pick out the parameters, and the pearls, and we’ll let it go at that, okay?…. Okay….. works for me…..

“It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 78

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” — Albert Einstein

“There’s no problem so awful that you can’t add some guilt to it and make it even worse.” — Calvin and Hobbes

“Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few.” — Pythagoras (BC 582-507)

“We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against Nature.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Eating of Flesh, Tract 1

“A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.” — Barbarella

“Life is not having been told that the man has just waxed the floor.” — Ogden Nash

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

Somewhere inside my mind, below the level of conscious perception where my ego resides, there is an area where poems percolate, words swimming together in an ocean of comprised of memory, perception, emotion, and reason….. I never know when there will be enough to begin leaking out into my consciousness, to create the verses which will give voice to my inner demons, because when I try to write one before it’s ready, I find nothing worthwhile, until the unconscious process, whatever it consists of, is ready to allow it all out into the light of day…. One unknown poet’s thought has always stuck with me; he said the following about writing poems….. “Poets never finish a poem, they merely abandon it.”…..

I can feel the chaos inside me swirling and mixing, but, trying to come together, but, nothing is ready to leak out into my awareness, so, we’ll go with someone else’s work…. Let’s see who we can find today to soothe my savage breast….. Okay, yes, that refers to music…. but, it works the same way…. try to stay focused, ffolkes, and enjoy….

Witch Burning

In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit
The wax image of myself, a doll’s body.
Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.
Only the devil can eat the devil out.
In the month of red leaves I climb to a bed of fire.

It is easy to blame the dark: the mouth of a door,
The cellar’s belly. They’ve blown my sparkler out.
A black-sharded lady keeps me in parrot cage.
What large eyes the dead have!
I am intimate with a hairy spirit.
Smoke wheels from the beak of this empty jar.

If I am a little one, I can do no harm.
If I don’t move about, I’ll knock nothing over. So I said,
Sitting under a potlid, tiny and inert as a rice grain.
They are turning the burners up, ring after ring.
We are full of starch, my small white fellows. We grow.
It hurts at first. The red tongues will teach the truth.

Mother of beetles, only unclench your hand:
I’ll fly through the candle’s mouth like a singeless moth.
Give me back my shape. I am ready to construe the days
I coupled with dust in the shadow of a stone.
My ankles brighten. Brightness ascends my thighs.
I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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

I know it will cause a lot of disappointment, but, I won’t be ranting today…. Since arising, I’ve managed to put together what you see for today’s post, in hopes of some angst showing up to provide the fuel to drive such an outburst, but, I’ve come to realize I’m waiting in vain. Nothing is going to come together in my head well enough today to make the effort worthwhile; any rant I attempt is destined to resemble a whine more than a rant, and I don’t want to get in the habit of settling for less than my best…..

What this means for y’all is another old-school pearl, of course….. I’ll set the parameters to look for quotes and/or aphorisms that will serve the same purpose as a rant, either about the BRC, the SCM, the DD’s (Dogma Dogs…. you know, preachers & priests….), or some other category of Asininny…. Poking fun at public icons is, patently, our favorite pastime here at ECR, with Smart Bee leading the way in that respect, so, this shouldn’t take too long…..

“A government that fears it’s people is a government that should be feared.” — Smart Bee

“Where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody.” — Agatha Christie

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

“Machiavel says virtue and riches seldom settle on one man.” — Robert Burton (1577-1640) — The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part ii, Sect. 2, Memb. 2

“…when all government… in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1821

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” — Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Collected Essays

“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Okay, so it took forfuckingever…. which is, as it turns out, just as well, since it came out so well…. It isn’t often I can find such a perfect closing line as Albert’s, especially as it applies to our beloved leaders, and the show they put on…. I only wish I could say the show is for OUR benefit….

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

All things considered, this didn’t come out too badly…. As a result, it’s actually done, and I can go on to try to mitigate what physical ailments are currently making their play for attention….. Since pain is only peripherally involved so far, it should be a fairly simple thing to figure out…. assuming, of course, I can whip my brain into submission…. I’ll let y’all know tomorrow how that went…. See ya, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Cops & donuts– Match made in heaven, or evil twins? Film at 11…

Posted on March 27, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Today we are happy to welcome the advent of a heretofore long-standing non-existent state of being, which, given its long absence, may or may not be entirely welcome…. There, is that obscure enough for you? I think it’s a cool bit of literature, myself, sort of teasingly compelling, but, then, that’s to be expected from me, as the author. Regardless of that, though, it’s still a real-time, official announcement, though not fully sanctioned by the PTB, due to my not telling them about it…. You see, I just found out a short bit ago, so, I didn’t have time to register… I’ll get around to it one of these days, if it ever happens again…. Can’t tell right now how long it’ll last…

Okay, so now that we’ve gotten to the second paragraph, I’ll clue y’all in to just WHAT THE HELL I’M TALKING ABOUT….. Basically, this is it… we, or rather I, am in an entirely unaccustomed, and completely unfamiliar state of mind, induced by the application of NINE straight hours of sleep…. Yep, nine…. I was not just amazed, but completely flabbergasted, one of the language’s finest words, if not our favorite condition to encounter in ourselves. Nonetheless, paranoia aside, I awoke, looked at the clock, & laughed out loud in joy…. once I’d cleared my head enough to calculate how long I’d been asleep….

It’s an astounding feeling, one I vaguely recall from those halcyon days of my youth, to actually arise feeling as if one has had enough sleep, fully able to throw off the perfectly natural impulse to go back to bed, with ease…. Though I don’t find myself any more clear-headed than I achieved when calculating my downtime (obviously, if this introductory section is any clue…), I FEEL wonderful, physically speaking, at least for the moment…. I’m sure gravity will have its usual effect on me over time, but, for now, I’m happy with how it feels to get this far into the day without suffering too much pain….

Okay, enough crowing… boasting becomes ugly quite quickly…. It would be easy to go overboard in my joy at having done what the rest of the world gets to do on a regular basis, so, I’ll cut this off right here…. Instead, I’ll try to figure out a way to get from here to the first section, without making too big of a mess, or disrupting the flight holding patterns of all the other pilots in the air… I know it makes the controllers nervous when I change course over the airport, but, on a day like today, they’ll never catch me anyway, so we can pretty much do as we like…. at least, until they catch us, which they haven’t been able to do yet…. Our chances are good…

Shall we Pearl?….

“Clear the laundromat!! This whirl-o-matic just had a nuclear meltdown!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Yow!…..
_____________________________

“It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved.” — Galileo Galilei

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Officials-Senate-considered-phone-company-option-5349450.php

As predicted in yesterday’s rant, the pundits in the House and Senate are now showing us the expected waffling and discord around the subject of data storage, all of which assures me I was right to say they will accomplish nothing other than producing a lot of hot air and paper, all without actually changing ANYTHING…. Any bets?…. I’m willing to wager just about every penny I can scrape together on this one….

In truth, I hate to be right in instances such as this…. What I related yesterday in my politirant can now be seen to be a perfectly accurate assessment of how the tactics of the White House would play out on this stage, according to the script they are trying to establish, as the one they want us to believe as the truth…. I mentioned how Congress would take up the challenge of reforming the NSA regulations on phone tapping and data collection, whereupon the bickering would begin, and nothing would actually get done… Read the article above, then tell me I was wrong…. Can’t do it, can you?….

Nope, they’re fulfilling my prophecy perfectly, which means, the next event to be staged will involve some sort of faux crisis, or as close to one as can be managed on short notice, to pull the attention of the media, and thus, the public, away from the spying issue altogether…. I’d rather not say I expect to see another school shooting, or some random college nut case who goes wonky during exams and takes a rifle up to a tower, where he starts picking off his co-sufferers…… but, that sort of event is usually what happens to draw our focus away from where the administration doesn’t want it to be….

SIGH, as I said, I hate being right like this, because it all seems so damn SORDID and CHEAP…. The American public is so fucking EASY to FOOL, it’s like taking candy from a baby, which politicians have been known to do. It is, to my mind, simply disgusting, and makes me want to puke when they feed us this sort of bullshite, expecting us not only to believe what they say, but support them in what they do…. the assholes. They haven’t the slightest clue that there are a great many of us out here who DON’T BELIEVE A FUCKING WORD of what comes out of their mouths….. In fact, it is my not-so-humble opinion there is a sure way to tell when they lie to us, by simply watching their mouths… if it’s open, and words are coming out, they are lying…. Be sure of it….

On that note, I am done ranting, for now…. I’m too angry to write well, or, for that matter, to think objectively, both of which are preferable in ranting mode… So, the rest of this section will be an old-school pearl, with the guiding parameters set to take shots at the BRC, or the Asininnies, whomever comes first into the cross hairs….

Honest politician — Oxymoron

“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” — Lao Tzu

(This is included to show the 180º, completely opposite philosophy of the one held by ALL our elected officials…. To a politician, enough is never enough…. it is in the nature of the beast….)

“In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments – there are consequences.” — Robert Ingersoll

(I can only wish more of our pundits knew this….or, at minimum, acted as if they suspected it to be true…..)

“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.” — Walt Kelly, Potluck Pogo

“If someone tells you he’s going to make a “realistic decision, you immediately understand that he’s resolved to do something bad.” — Mary McCarthy

“Oft hath even a whole city reaped the evil fruit of a bad man.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 240

“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

All things considered, not a bad set of charges…. I think any reasonable grand jury would vote for indictment….
_____________________________

“And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.” — Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Sometimes, prose can almost feel like poetry…. such as the above line from Mr. V…. Words are powerful, aren’t they? Other times, it almost seems as if a poem is a discussion, more prose than poem, yet, fills the mind with more than just the meaning of the words used…. I love language, it’s just so…. so… so COOL!….. Here is an example of the phenomenon of which I speak…. Enjoy!….

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

~~ Robert Frost ~~

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

Just for fun, here is an excerpt from an old Pearl, on the subject of poetry, that I think will make a nice bonus to today’s poetry section…. It might also be a surprise, for those of my Gentle Readers who know my opinion of Will S…… It fits well with my comments above, regarding how I feel about words…..

From 12/10/2011:

Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Romeo and Juliet — Act ii, Sc. 2

First, let me say that I’m not Willie’s biggest fan. Oh, I give him his props; he is arguably the best author of his, or any other age, as well as one of the most prolific. But, being somewhat lacking in expertise, in the area of Middle English slang, reading his work takes on a more forbidding aspect….. I get bogged down trying to struggle through the admittedly beautiful, but barely transparent language he used. I have a hard time reading it, as I have to stop frequently to puzzle out his meaning before I can go on with the story. It must, however, be admitted… he was, indeed, most incredibly talented at painting wonderful pictures of his time’s culture, using an incredibly extravagant number of words, strung together with great beauty. He did it a lot, too….

I’ve included this couplet from Romeo and Juliet, mostly because it is what I consider to be a ‘perfect’ example of the art of poetry. Perfect rhyme, perfect cadence, perfect illumination. “Sweet sorrow”. What a wonderful pair of words to have found each other in his play! Everyone alive has felt just that, no explanation necessary. These are words of such power that they still carry the same sense of rightness today, the same emotional content, as they did when they were written.

He wrote these lines so well, that the couplet has been preserved through over four hundred years by word of mouth, not by being transcribed to paper; even people who are completely illiterate have heard these lines; even as non-readers, they know who wrote them, and most even know the play it is from. Now THAT is is some powerful poetry……
_____________________________

Here we are, finally, in section three; naturally, since it has gone so smoothly, I haven’t a bloody clue as to what to put here…. I’ve already ranted, complete with an old-school pearl… The poetry section had a bonus, so this Pearl is already fat with material…. Anything more would be gilding the lily, to be sure…. But, what the hell, I’ve always enjoyed that procedure…. Futile as it may be, in the most real of senses, it sure does make some nice looking lilies, you know?

So, without further ado (or any more crap….), here is a seven-star, randomly chosen, harlequin pearl, with duly-executed side-comments, for your enjoyment, elucidation, delectation, and/or disbursement to the farthest reaches of your recycling bin….

“A proverb is the wisdom of many and the wit of one.” — Lord John Russell

“There are so many ways that we sabotage our own divinity, our own possibilities. and the mythologies of race and gender may well head the list.” — Callan Williams

(Oops…. How did that get in there? Oh well, it’s quite true, so, it can stay…. just don’t try to make it fit in with the others, okay?…. I wouldn’t want anyone to hurt themselves…. Just file it for later perusal, and you’ll be fine….)

“Is it clean in other dimensions?” — Zippy the Pinhead

(THAT’s more like it…. Okay, we’ll finish strong….)

“If a person offend you and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures. Simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.” — Mark Twain, Advice to Youth Speech, 1882

“Although most cowboys are not politicians and most politicians are not cowboys, they share the common experience of being able to do a fairly decent job of throwing the bull.” — Smart Bee

“I believe everybody in the world should have guns. Citizens should have bazookas and rocket launchers too. I believe that all citizens should have their weapons of choice. However, I also believe that only I should have the ammunition. Because frankly, I wouldn’t trust the rest of the goobers with anything more dangerous than string.” — Scott Adams

And here I wait so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all of these things twice

— Bob Dylan, “Memphis Blues Again”
_____________________________

As I thought, this one kind of got away from me a little bit…. It doesn’t seem to have caused itself much harm, though, and I don’t see any particularly large fields of debris on our back trail, so, my guess is, we’ve go a winner here… It’s good enough to float, and fly, so, I’m launching it just as if it mattered….. As for y’all, well, I’ll see y’all tomorrow, yes? Yes…. 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 the dubious

1000? 1000? You let him get to 1000? Oh, DAMN!….

Posted on March 24, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Provided I can manage to complete this Pearl of Virtual Wisdom today, including the act of posting, I will have reached a significant milestone, for a project that has long since achieved its original goals, ultimately growing past all suspected intent…. That is, it’s significant to me, in my life, having been the focus of my existence every morning now since August of 2011…. This will be my 1000th post on WordPress….. I know, I said that before, but, I checked this time, twice already…. I specifically noted yesterday’s post, #999, when the editing page uploaded it to my domain, before closing the sidebar summary… Last time I looked, 999 + 1 = 1000…..

Oh, yay….. I’m so proud and happy, I could just bust a button…. Sort of….. I mean, other than the way I’m busting them now, from having gained too much weight on those parts of my corpus where my buttons serve some purpose…. If I weren’t so excited and discombobulated by the emotions that aren’t reverberating through my soul, I’d probably think about letting out a really loud cheer, but, since I don’t want to scare Patricia, or the cat, I’ll pass on that, too….. Y’all will just have to take my word for it…. I’m jazzed….

I thought about fireworks, but, you can’t see them, so there’s little point in that…. I suppose, if I were a true geek, I’d spend the time to figure out how to show some fireworks on the site today, such as with an animated .GIF file, or a short video, You Tube style…. Or, maybe in the background, like a few sites I’ve seen…. Unfortunately for you, though not for me, I have yet to take the time to learn how to do any of those things, so I’m safe from that, and so are you. Besides, all the neighborhood dogs hate it when I set off fireworks….

I also thought about some other sort of celebratory activity to offer the Gentle Reader today, but, how much interaction can one stimulate on a once-a-day blog? A chess game in the comments? Boring. Some sort of contest? I suppose, but, Bitcoins are dead, and I’m not funded well enough to have very many winners show up. I COULD announce the QUIZ, and, since it would be coming AFTER posting the 1000th Pearl here on WP, nobody could say they hadn’t been provided with enough material with which to work, or time to study up on the archived material, with or without healthy, delicious snack foods…. But, if I do that, what will I threaten anyone with from now on?…. Graduation won’t be for another 9,000 posts, so it’s way too early to think about the final….

Wait a minute…. Stop typing, damn it….. Okay, shut down, I hear something……. Cheese it, it’s the cops!….

“Here pigs will fly, lightning will strike twice, hell will freeze over, and eventually, things will get really interesting…”– Smart Bee

Maybe not, but, that’s probably how it will feel to anyone silly enough to be here when we hit the ground…. You see, all the above, everything above this line, was written yesterday…. Well, actually, so was this line, but, hey, I’m TRYING to get back to real-time…. give me a moment, okay? I had to go get the correct tool for this…. Okay, success…. one last turn, and…. okay. There…. THAT won’t be happening again…..

Sorry about the hijack, there, ffolkes….. My evil twin, Judas, the Faithful, tried to fool y’all into thinking he was me…. To look at what he wrote, he seemed to have been doing pretty well at it, too…. But, it’s over now, and it really IS my 1000th post on WP, so, we have some good stuff lined up for you today…. What that might be, I haven’t a clue, but, we’re hoping anyway….

You probably won’t believe me, but, this line is the first one I’ve actually typed today, on Monday, the 24th of March….. Yep, we are now officially, and actually, back in real time, ffolkes…. and today will be the 1000th time I’ve had to complete one of these silly introductory sections….. I have to say, it’s been a long road to here, with a lot of poorly written stuff before getting to this, which may, or may not, be any better. In any case, we’re finally up (it’s actually 5 AM already….) and we’re good to go for our celebration today…… whatever form that might take….

You see, I deliberately didn’t think about anything like that, to keep from breaking tradition; we’ve gotten this far without showing any real intelligence, I don’t see why I should start today…. Not that acting intelligently would help, or anything, it just might make it SEEM more worthwhile to anyone viewing it from the outside world…. Since that’s out of the question, we’ll just trust to luck, like always….

Shall we Pearl?…. I think we should, this has gone on far too long already, don’t you think?….

Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights, and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with th’ abhorred shears
And slits the thin-spun life.

— John Milton (1608-1674) — Lycidas, Line 70
_____________________________

I’m going to switch things around a little today, & put the old-school pearl first; most days I put the rant here, to get it out of the way so ffolkes can get to the rest, which is often lighter, and mostly, less hard to chew, either figuratively, or metaphorically. Putting the rants here seems to be a habit, though not one ever examined, or thought out, so, I don’t think we’ll be trampling on a time-honored tradition or anything like that. No, we’re just randomly screwing with things, just to see what happens….. Hopefully, once I take this all apart, I’ll be able to get it back together again…. If not, well, here are some thoughts on Love, & so on & so forth….

“He is not a lover who does not love forever.” — Euripides

(I like that one….It happens to mirror my own feelings on the matter….)

“Unless you love someone, nothing else makes any sense” — E. E. Cummings (1894-1963)

“A person should take a bath once in the summer, not so often in the winter.” — from Kids Say the Darndest Things

“Communications are the lifeblood of a relationship, carrying the nutrients.” — Smart Bee

“God help the man who won’t marry until he finds a perfect woman, and God help him still more if he finds her.” — Benjamin Tillett

“We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

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

Hmm…. It seems the pearl’s contents settled during shipping, causing some alterations in direction…. this appears now to be more of a set of rules, or advice, for married men, or men in a long-term committed relationship, anyway….. Same thing from this end…. Believe me, I know….

In light of that, it’s probably just as well I found this last pearl, as it is the perfect ending for any man who is considering the ancient traditional method of destroying a perfectly good relationship, to wit: marrying their lover…. Having been there, done that, a number of times, I can say with complete confidence that it isn’t a particularly good decision in today’s world…. Better to maintain a healthy cynicism, and keep the following in mind….

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

Bitter? No, not at all, why do you ask?….

😆
_____________________________

Since today’s Pearl is a milestone, it will probably be best to include a poem of my own…. I COULD try to bleed out a fresh one, but, I’m not sure it would meet my standards today, so, we’ll just go with one of my older poems, and let it go at that…. At least you can’t blame anyone else for any of this, right?….. Since the first section dealt with an aspect of Love, here is my take on the emotion that, perhaps, defines us as a human being….

Beyond Agapé

Passion burns and shines like iridescent paint
yet solitude stands mocking such mundane complaint.
Schemes and dreams promise to tempt attraction
never ending effort spends wit in perverse reaction.

Hale and hearty reports of honor and love
draft recruits to collect manna from above,
while searching each soul for that which will serve
to bring pure sensation to each expectant nerve.

How simple to fall into complete helpless hope
of two hearts bound in tradition, with cultural rope,
living a simple life, shared, in joy and in grief
promises consummated, in consensual belief.

Reality dictates our degree of control over its state
insisting on changing whether or not we can wait.
Love will be present when we are completely at peace,
allowing ourselves, to give of ourselves, without cease.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

I had hoped to be able to produce a fresh rant today, but, the political arena is currently quiet, as the professional pundits prepare their next set of egregious lies, in their ongoing campaign to maintain the level of societal fear they require to control the populace. Since they won’t give me anything solid to chew on today, we’ll go with an old-school pearl, with parameters that SHOULD produce a set of pearls that will poke fun and/or ridicule at our Beloved Ruling (Cl)Asses, essentially the same effect my ranting would create in the audience…. Well, we’re hoping…. It’ll be fun, if nothing else….

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” — H. L. Mencken

“Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear — kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor — with the cry of grave national emergency… Always there has been some terrible evil to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant sums demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.” — General Douglas MacArthur, 1957

(Note: this seems to be a corollary, or, perhaps, a codicil, to the opinion of Hermann Goering, the WWII German Reich Marshall, who just “happened to be” the counterpart of General MacArthur, on the opposite side of the war….. However, the quote by General Mac shows how the theory was applied in our country, AFTER WWII, by our own elected officials, right here in the good old USA….. see below….)

“Naturally the common people don’t want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY.” –Goering at the Nuremberg Trials

hardcore signature virus: “As a juror in a Trial by Jury, you have the right, power and duty to acquit the defendant if you judge the law itself to be unjust.” — John McPherson, mcpherso@macvax.ucsd.edu

(Mr. McPherson is quoting, I believe, Alexander Hamilton, if not Thomas Jefferson….. Y’all know him, right?…. He was our first Treasury Secretary, the one our Founding Fathers trusted with the money?….) (This quote may not fit EXACTLY, but, I find it is always a good idea to remind people of this concept, as it is patently one of our most important rights as a citizen….. especially if we must consider our law MAKERS to be corrupt…. If you’ve been paying attention lately, you’ll know whereof I speak….)

“America!! I saw it all!! Vomiting! Waving! JERRY FALWELLING into your void tube of UHF oblivion!! SAFEWAY of the mind –” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action.” — Robert Hugh Moore (1912-1984), given as advice to his sons

Please note the name of the author of the last pearl…. It is the name of my father; his words are a piece of advice he gave me, and my brothers, on more than one occasion, before my tenth birthday…. I’ve included his words to me and my brothers (don’t know if he gave it to my sisters, but, it was part of OUR lessons from him, for sure….) because the words he gave us are the perfect ending to this indictment of the BRC.

Actually, in my mind, the last two pearls are perhaps the most powerful of the group, in terms of the proper viewpoint to maintain when thinking about our beloved leaders (yes, “beloved” is VERY sarcastic in this instance…. 5 points for Gryffindor….)

In fact, the whole pearl is one I would classify as a very powerful faux-rant, addressing how little we can afford to trust the elected officials in our government…. In fact, it cries out for one final pearl, to advise us exactly how closely we should be paying attention to what they are up to, especially since they claim to be doing it in our name, and for our benefit….

“This is a wise maxim, “to take warning from others of what may be to your own advantage.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Heautontimoroumenos, Act i, Sc. 2, 36, (210.)
_____________________________

I was up a bit late this morning, but, since I slept for eight straight hours without any significant breaks to deal with pain, or cat, I don’t much care….. Plus, this is one Pearl I want to be RIGHT, so I’m taking some time to try to make it so…. Having done so as well as I can at this point in the day, I’m going to trust my instincts, and let if fly…. See you tomorrow, provided ennui doesn’t set in so badly I fade away….. I’ve managed to avoid it so far, so, I’ll be positive, & just say…. 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 the dubious

Your majesty’s attire smacks of deliberate irrelevance….

Posted on March 23, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

There are times when a good round of really gross, anatomically incorrect, yet innovative, viciously antagonistic cursing does one more good than anything less vulgar can possibly accomplish, partially because of that selfsame vulgarity….. And, of course, when one breaks down completely, morals-training-wise, stooping to the forceful, heartfelt use of that crowd favorite, the time-tested, universally applicable Anglo-Saxon euphemism for the act of physical love, otherwise known as the F-word, is our only viable recourse…. We all know how much better the mere voicing of this honorable incantation can make us feel, don’t we? Well, those among us who refuse to be hypocrites do, anyway….

So, what happened today that prompted such a long-winded way to say I feel like saying “FUCK”, at the top of my lungs? Well, let me tell you…. Here on Earth, some of us have agreed to live with other species, domiciling together in a form of mutual support and honorable relationship, for no other reason than our own compatibility and liking for each other’s company….

There are several species with whom we have made such an agreement over time, a group that includes some rather exotic creatures, such as snakes, rodents, spiders, and fish of all varieties, including dangerous ones, such as sharks and/or piranha, along with the more mundane mammalian choices such as dogs, horses, etc….. Myself, I’m not sure how I’d enjoy cuddling with a piranha, or petting a python, but, to each his own..

Then, of course, we have cats….. I’m not at all certain that the relationship we have with them is completely agreeable to either party at times; there are too many instances where our purposes and/or desires come into conflict for us to ever be fully at ease in each other’s company…. I spend as much time chasing the damn cat with a squirt bottle of water as I do petting her, and that is mostly at HER insistence…. She seems to enjoy pissing me off & having me chase here around the house, spraying her with the water bottle…. Well, until I catch her anyway…. then, she tends to learn VERY quickly, whatever it was we were tussling about…. funny how that works….

So, this morning, this 4 lb. furry black menace decided that 2 AM was just the right time for me to be up….. the fucking asshole. She probably heard me making plans to go see my grandson today, & figured she could help out the most by making sure I was up in plenty of time….. Sure she did…. I mean, seven fucking hours should be enough for me to get ready, don’t you think? Apparently, she thinks that’s about right….. bloody nuisance is what she is….. Plus, she KNOWS I’m a softy at heart, and won’t actually HURT her, even if getting her wet isn’t one of her favorite things….. Like most of us do when dealing with our fuzzy companions, I bluster at her a lot, but she knows it’s all bark, and no real bite….

I suppose in her own way, she thought she was being nice, so it’s hard to get too upset…. especially given the weird hours I’ve been putting in of late. Three in the AM isn’t particularly unfamiliar to me these days, so two o’clock is hardly a handicap, or much of a change, for that matter….. So, I guess I’ll let her live…. She DID not only get me up, but provided the material for this intro, such as it is, so, I suppose I should thank her…..

I will…. after I finish being pissed off about being up at this hour, and having so much of the day to fill up, on so little rest…. At least I have good stuff to fill it with; a visit with Zack is always a bonus for me…. I only have the one grandson, so far, so I tend to savor our time together…. and, since I only get to see him a couple of times a year, they’re marked as special days on my calendar…. But, that’s not until way later, so…..

Shall we Pearl?

Cat: “A small, furry beast resembling a meatloaf…” — Smart Bee (honest, it wasn’t me!….)
_____________________________

“The gods too are fond of a joke.” — Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

One only need look at the platypus to understand this sentiment…. or look at our current crop of legislators…. If you’re anything like me, when you think of one of them, you automatically imagine them wearing their natural coats, which either consists of a big, loudly colored ruffed collar, a harlequin suit, and huge red shoes, or will closely resemble the fur of a polecat, aka, a skunk…. Oh, I know, those are both ancient, cheap shots, but, generally, I’m so direct and insulting, I thought I’d try to slip by y’all with a bit of style and elegance…. No such luck, eh?….

Actually, when I planned out the above paragraph in my mind, it seemed a lot more….. everything…. more funny, more relevant, more gripping….. just…… more. Having failed in that…. miserably, I might add…. we should go on to something more lucrative, or at least, potentially more interesting…. But, damn it, I don’t like to give up on a good pearl…. I know…. I’ll find some others, that match the tone and direction of this one from Ari…. Maybe, just maybe, if I can find enough of them, I can turn this into an adequate old-school pearl, thus saving this Pearl from an immediate disaster…..

Not that there is much that can save it, at this point, but, we’ve got to try, Mr. President!…. It’s too young and innocent to go down like this!…. Let’s see if SB has what it takes to save the day…. again….

“Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.’ — Aesop (620-560 B.C.)

“True artists scorn nothing.” — Albert Camus (1913-1960) — Nobel Prize speech (1957)

“For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) — First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.’ — Voltaire

“A bare assertion is not necessarily the naked truth.” — George Prentice

“Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, viii, 22

I suppose this just goes to show that sometimes you just have to dig deeper to find the jewels…. or, in this case, dive deeper to find the pearls…. Here they are, and they’re all from the deepest part of the ocean….. which may explain their relative elusiveness, as well as their esotericism….. Nonetheless, it does have a point, even if that point isn’t exactly scalpel-grade….
_____________________________

I have a feeling today is one of those days I’d best use something of my own here, so as not to bring harm to the reputation of anyone else by negative association…. So, here you go, with the first poem of mine that caught my eye, and my fancy, when I went to look for it…. It’s also one of the first I wrote in 2012, when I started writing poetry again, after a forty-some year hiatus…. This was written on 9/10/2012…..

When life calls, ready or not….

Memories are all we have sometimes
to keep our sanity intact,
with learned phrases and subtle rhymes
lessening life’s vicious, vibrant impact.

Presently all seems composed and intent
in stark contrast to hollow day,
forlorn patchwork emotions of unheralded bent,
fill up night’s bower, leaving hell to pay.

Such vigorous and elevated temper
brings us rare moments to ponder,
filled with lessons all need to remember
lest base perception lose valued wonder.

Laugh loud when entropy sticks fast
leaving shameless anger in its wake.
Let bygones pass quietly into the past
reaping only what is left to take.

Final words of wise imagination
tell us living well’s the best revenge, it appears
ever eluding choirs and congregations
finally finding home, never buried in tears.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“We ought never to do wrong when people are looking.” — Mark Twain

For a long time now, I’ve been immersed in the study of modern society, locking myself in to the close observation of what transpires in the public arena, using, for the most part, the same criteria to pick my subject matter as do the major news organizations…. Small wonder, they’re people, and so am I…. it only figures we’d do things in a similar way…. Unfortunately, as it turns out, this includes a strong preference for morbidity, seemingly, as 99% or more of what gets published in the major newspapers and online outlets is rather negative in terms of its subject matter….. Blood sells, as they say in the game….

When I have used articles from the news as the springboard for a rant, they generally fall into that same negative pattern; this, of course, is a natural hazard in ranting, and not entirely unexpected, or unwanted…. But, it does get old, as does any kind of negativity after a while, and it’s a good idea to occasionally give oneself a break from such anti-frivolity….

All of these contrary sort of thoughts occurred to me today as I went to look for something to rant about in the daily news…. I was pleasantly surprised to find the following article on what would be considered the front page of one of the news sites I frequent, SFGATE.com, run by the same folks who run the SF Chronicle newspaper…. It’s a charming little piece, not for its style or power of writing, but for the subject matter…. I cried, but, then, I’m a softy, with all my emotions right up near the surface, susceptible to babies, animals, & kids, and very partial to romantic interludes…. It’s such a heartwarming post, I defy anyone to read it and NOT feel at least a twinge of “Awwww”….

It also fits in with my own view on animals vs. humans as compassionate creatures….. I believe most animals on the planet to be far superior to any human, when it comes to essential morality…. Sure, they’ll obey their instinctual survival imperatives, to protect their territory, and to survive as either prey or predator, but, they’ll never do so out of of spite, or greed, or, ignorance, or sheer cussedness. (Okay, full disclosure… I HAVE known a couple of horses that were pretty fractious when it came to cooperating with people… but, they were anomalies for their species, I’m sure….I also knew this one blue jay that REALLY didn’t like people, too, but, hey, he probably had a reason…. We humans have a reputation for being assholes to other creatures….)

I have collected more than 2000 pictures from the internet over time, just for my own viewing pleasure…. A great many of them are examples of animals interacting between species, showing how the two, or more, species can get along with each other…. Also, I’ve observed animals all my life, and can state without hesitation that Man is the LEAST compassionate of ALL the mammalian species, and, really, hasn’t shown me any evidence that very many of them can be much much nicer than most reptiles, avians, or insects, in my experience (I THINK that covers the major phyla, doesn’t it?….) I haven’t studied the fish very deeply, in terms of interactive or relational skills, but, I know for sure and for certain that the sea-going mammals are ALL more intelligent, and more compassionate to other species, than is our own …..

So, I thought, for a change, I’d show a bit of compassion myself, and just give you the link to this uplifting post, then, follow it with some simple, easy-going pearls, with the only parameter being “nice”…. See? No rant, one of my poems, two old-schools, both light-hearted, and a “nice” link…. See how I can make nice when I try?…. At least as nice as a legislator, I think, and much more honest…. Plus, I don’t want anything from y’all, except your kind attention… Enjoy!…..

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Giraffe-licks-dying-zoo-worker-5340478.php

“Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they think laughable.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

‘He was once asked what a friend is, and his answer was, “One soul abiding in two bodies.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings.

— The Buddha

“By the accident of fortune a man may rule the world for a time, but by virtue of love he may rule the world forever.” — Lao Tzu

“At the touch of Love every one becomes a poet.” — Plato

‘How pleasant then to be insane.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“…just when I had you wriggling in the crushing grip of reason, too…” — Calvin & Hobbes
_____________________________

I’m not sure how to feel about this one…. It has taken somewhat over three hours to complete all of the necessary operations to get this done, interspersed with frequent breaks, and it still, as far as I can tell, could use some work, or something….. more…. But, since it’s already longer than intended (which is NOT unusual, I assure you….), I’m going to continue to demonstrate my compassionate side, and let it go the way it is….. Lucky you, eh?….

See you tomorrow, and, yes, I know I threaten you like that every day…. Y’all should be used to it by now…. I know I’m getting pretty calloused in that respect, so, maybe I’ll think about doing something about it, some day…. Sure I will…. Well, as they are fond of saying downtown, so be it…. Ta, then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

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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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Thomas Jefferson

Based, as always, on arbitrary parameters….

Full page translations are our specialty….

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

Further remonstrances should be unnecessary….

Precious moments of subtle grandeur…..

Watching the Founding Fathers spin like a top….

We’ll call it “fashionably undead”….

Cops & donuts– Match made in heaven, or evil twins? Film at 11…

1000? 1000? You let him get to 1000? Oh, DAMN!….

Your majesty’s attire smacks of deliberate irrelevance….

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