We’ll obfuscate the prepositions after lunch….

Posted on April 8, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Some of y’all may have noted that today’ post is very late, for me…. I had a early morning appointment with my doctor, to go over stuff before I travel, and I got back to find the power off, after a severe wind storm last night…. So, it’s now, 11:40 AM, when I’ve normally been posted for three or four hours….. C’est la vie, I guess, so I’ll just bite the bullet and get to it….

Sovereign myrmidons drew new pictures without resistance, so the dance of woodland fairies held court, in the palace under the hill, near the old wise woman’s cottage. None of the fabled ogres came to observe, or object, as one last merry tune played, before the dawn chased them home, while in Cobh, a dragon wept in silent sympathy…. Echoes of gay laughter haunt the empty hills, while in the cottage, the old woman stirs the fire, humming an ancient tune….

Well, that was a bit odd…. I’m totally in the dark as to either why I wrote that, or what it means, but, it IS another paragraph, which, by my count, makes it enough to call this an intro section, pitiful as it is…. Due to the lateness of the hour, part of the following will be taken from the archives, so I can get this up before dinner time…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Okay, what I’ve found here are three sections of a Pearl from late in 2011…. they all seem to go together, so I left them in place, with a crooked dividing line to separate, rather than the straight lines that separate the current sections….
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I heartily accept the motto — “That government is best which governs least”: and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe — “That government is best which governs not at all”: and when men are really ready for it, that is the kind of government that they will have.” — Henry David Thoreau

A just lament from a pastoral patriot, one who carried a more pure vision of what the founding fathers were trying to achieve for their ancestors (us) than can be found in today’s society. Today’s government is too busy attempting to legislate morality to stop and consider the truism, as vocalized by Will Rogers, “The people never suffer as much as when Congress is in session.” It’s too late to change it now, however; we missed our chance already. Our beloved ruling class has too much invested in the way things are to ever entertain the faintest notion that things would get better, or be better, if they’d just stop trying to regulate everyone’s behavior to suit some outdated, discriminatory Judeo-Christian notion of propriety. Besides, there’s no money in it, and we all know that is priority number one for politicians.

Back around the 16th or 17th of December of last year, (2010) Michelle Bachman gave an interview ahead of the Iowa caucus preliminary elections, during which she stated unequivocally that, if elected, she would assert all her influence to reform the Supreme Court, to bring it more in line with Biblical Law. Yup. She said that. No shit, I’m telling you she did. Like all her peers in that particular flock of Republican geese who gathered in Iowa for the caucus, she gives me the distinct impression that any of them, if elected, would consider themselves King, or Queen in Ms. Bachman’s case, and would magically assume the power to change society with a wave of their royal scepter.

I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that she holds that image of herself (as a white-robed, chaste Christian soldier in God’s army, waving her newly interpreted King James version at the evil influences rampant in the Supreme Court and Congress, and all the Democrats while we’re at it, by God, banishing them all to a fiery lake of molten lava in deepest Hell) in a dear place in her heart, where she can take it out and look at it any time she feels picked on by those mean old media bullies, while some romantic Disney movie music plays in the background….. can you believe this crap? At this rate, they may as well just cancel the Republican Convention next year right now; there won’t be any viable candidates left if they keep opening their mouths…..

“It’s said that ‘power corrupts’, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable.” — David Brin, The Postman
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“What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms!”” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Letter to Colonel W. S. Smith, 1787

I am serving notice here, to all and sundry who would abridge my freedoms for the sake of security, expediency, or any other reason: I will resist you unto death, yours or mine, it matters not at all to me. I would rather die than submit to such indignity, and will use all of my not inconsiderable martial skills to remove you from this plane of existence, should you be so unwise as to ignore this warning. I don’t believe in leaving live enemies on my back trail; that’s just basic strategic policy. You should should write it down, lest you forget, to your unending dismay….and my sheer delight…..
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“Joyous distrust is a sign of health. Everything absolute belongs to pathology.” — Nietzsche

So, what he’s saying here is that Doubting Thomas was correct, and that is heartening; for those having chosen to tread the path of reason, doubt is one of the most formidable tools available. In order to reason, first one must admit to being ignorant; only then will the mind learn how to walk toward the light of knowledge. Doubt is especially potent when used to examine the outrageous assertions made by public figures, and should be applied liberally in the special case of political pundits. Every word that leaves their mouths must be examined for veracity, because it is a proven fact that they will lie at the smallest opportunity.

One of my favorite bumper stickers was originally stated by someone who understood this principle; it says “Question Authority”. It doesn’t mean deride authority, or challenge authority, or any other adverbial direction; it just means to apply one’s natural tendency to doubt to those who are in authority. It’s an unfortunate fact that, given the opportunity, those in authority will abuse the privileges that accompany Duty, and they always require close observation to prevent them from falling prey to temptation. Doubt is the liberator of truth from the clutches of evil, and is worthy of our respect for that…..
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As mentioned, this is one of my poems from last year, during a two month period when my urge to create them exploded, having been dormant for about 40 years…. 50-some poems later, they’re still leaking out on occasion, but, not yet on demand…. and I really need one for today, so, back we go to the old stuff…. As every day this month, this is for the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here: http://www.napowrimo.net/ (I still don’t know if I’m doing this right, but, oh well….)

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

Often I stand to watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans, to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, season to season.

~~ gigoid

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Rather than go an entire day without creating SOMETHING, here is a harlequin pearl, a seven star, with some rather pointed pieces…. There IS a point they all point at, but, it may not be entirely clear what that is without a bit of number crunching, so you may want to have a calculator at hand…. Lucky you, though, as it won’t be on the Quiz….

“The major problem–ONE of the major problems, for there are several–one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well known fact that those people who must WANT to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.” — Douglas Adams, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”

“It is the individual’s task to differentiate himself from all the others and stand on his own feet. All collective identities… interfere with the fulfillment of this task. Such collective identities are crutches for the lame, shields for the timid, beds for the lazy, nurseries for the irresponsible….” — C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections

“Lies written in ink can never disguise facts written in blood. Blood debts must be repaid in kind. The longer the delay, the greater the interest.” — Chinese author Lu Xun, 1926

If you knew 9 more things, you’d be an idiot. — Smart Bee
(Are you talkin’ to ME, tough guy????… )

“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.” — Buddha

“All is flux, nothing stays still.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.)

“Contrariwise”, continued Tweedledee, “If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.” — Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832-1898), Alice in Wonderland
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“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.” — Buddha

And isn’t that fortunate for us all?…. This took forfuckingever to get done… it’s past 1:30 PM, and I’ve yet to proof…. Be right back…. ‘Kay, it will have to do…. it feels a bit fractured, but, the pieces seem to all be in one tidy area, so we’ll go with it…. I’m outta here….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Standing by with unqualified operators….

Posted on March 30, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Well, let’s see what kind of trouble I can get into this morning….. Murphy threw cold water in my face today, precisely at 0437…. That’s in the AM, by the way, in case the use of military time didn’t clue you. He didn’t bother to explain why, just grinned at me, then disappeared, so I’m sure he’s got some sort of booby trap set up for me, to hit me when I’ve relaxed and forgotten about him. SIGH…. there are times, such as this, when I wonder what life might be like without his unkind attentions, and though it might affect the balance of the universe somehow if he weren’t around to see to that, I’d be willing to try it out, just to see if I could deal with it any better than I do with him dogging me…. In fact, I’d give serious money to try it…..

Sadly for me, money won’t buy my freedom from Reality, or the elements of Chaos and Entropy that are as much a part of life as are Order and Beauty….. There are people who believe that money CAN buy happiness, but they are deluded, and exist in a way that prevents them from ever really connecting with the universe deeply, or experiencing the finer parts of life, that only come when one is open to compassion and love. Moreover, they are completely unaware that they are missing out on anything….. I suppose that means that I must once again come to my own terms with the events that Murphy perpetrates in my life, and just smile as if it didn’t hurt…. For me, the alternative is unacceptable….

Wow, how did I get so serious? It’s too early to rant; even I have limits, and two paragraphs in is NOT where I like to begin letting it all hang out, even if the target deserves it…. Hell, I’m barely awake, even though I’ve been up an hour now, and have sucked down an appropriate amount of coffee. I’m so out of it, actually, that I just tried to think of a joke to put in here, and it caused a stabbing pain right behind my eyes, like I’d been struck by a brilliant blast of light right in the face, or a left fist to the temple…. ouch!…. Maybe serious isn’t so bad….

Nah, I’m not in a serious mood…. Of late, I’m experiencing a bit of how the universe maintains balance over the long run, as the past two and a half years of relative misery is countered by a period of positive support by reality, in the form of an influx of resources.

I’ve been steadily using those resources to set up my life for retirement on a different level than it has been thus far, and the concomitant release of built up stress is delightful, as well as liberating…. I’m only glad I am able to appreciate it; I’ve known many people who would complain about even good things that happened to them, but, as I’ve said before, I’m not one to look a gift frog in the gums…..

Why is it that the quality of what I write in the intro is so variable? I can’t seem to find a method, or a format, or anything that is consistent, allowing me to segue into each day’s work smoothly, unless I go through all these rambling, blathering contortions….

Of course, in the course of writing these every day, I DO get a lot of practice at different styles, and get to let out my imagination to play, especially when I do a fictional opening. But, I can never seem to get it just the way I want it…. Oh well, I guess you could say that is a metaphor for life, in a way…. we can’t always get it just the way we want it…. So, I’ll just get on with the rest of today’s dive, and go with the flow, like I had some kind of choice….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I just stepped on a factoid!” – Zippy 😳
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If the intro section is any indication of how things will go today, I am firmly convinced that ranting would be problematic, for one of us, if not both….. Rather than chance any ripped clothing, or lost hair, I’m going for an old school rant, which is to say, a pearl, very pointed, and very obviously sarcastic about its subject…. Today, just in case it isn’t so obvious, I’ll tell you, this one is about our Beloved Ruling Class, and their hobby, governing nations….

“Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. — Plato, The Republic. Book VIII. 558

“A stiff neck usually supports an empty head.” — Smart Bee

“The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.” — Charles Eliot Norton, True Patriotism, 1898

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

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Abigail Adams, Paris, Feb. 22, 1787

“A politician will always tip off his true belief by stating the opposite at the beginning of the sentence. For maximum comprehension, do not start listening until the first clause is concluded. Begin instead at the word “but” which begins the second, or active, clause. This is the way to tell a liberal from a conservative–before they tell you. Thus: “I have always believed in a strong national defense, second to none, but … ” (a liberal, about to propose a $20 billion defense cut).” — Frank Mankiewicz

“Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How’s that again? I missed something.” — Robert A. Heinlein

As a chef, and an artist, of sorts, I know that odd numbers are more attractive to the eye, and to the mind, than even numbers…. So, I should stop here, with seven pearls, which, I might add, made their point beautifully. But, the following pearl just seemed to fit perfectly as the last comment for this subject, and I couldn’t resist adding it as a post-script…..

And, as in uffish thought he stood
The Jabberwork, with eyes of flame
Came wiffling through the tulgey wood
And burbled as it came

— _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)
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Having decided NOT to rant today, due to a distinct lack of outrage, I’ve sublimated with old-school pearls, in sections one and three, one with the BRC as its target, one focused on the priestly hierarchies, both of which hopefully demonstrated my opinion (low) of both entities. In keeping with that sentiment, and to replace the rants with what is at least my own work, I offer this poem, that I wrote last October, prior to the Presidential election by about two weeks….. I hope you enjoy it….

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

I often stand and watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, from season to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

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In 1980, when my son was a baby (born in December of 1979), we started watching Sesame Street, both together, and by ourselves, just about every day. When he was about five months old, he was so alert, and interested in the world around him, that we could plop him down in his car seat, on the floor, where he would sit, serenely watching the entire hour-long show, making happy noises, babbling to the muppets, and closely watching all the action on the screen.

I learned, by watching with him, that the show was made for children, but with the knowledge that adults were watching, too, because much of the humor in the show was too obviously aimed at the adults…. I also found I enjoyed watching it, though it was, of course, somewhat repetitive in nature at times….

One of the best skits, or lessons, that was repeated frequently was one called, “Which of these is not like the others?”, wherein a group of four items…. pictures, letters, fruits, balls, or statements…. would be shown together. One of the items in the group was obviously different, such as one blue bird in a group with three red birds, or a puppy with three kittens, etc…… The lesson for the kids, of course, was to teach how to recognize patterns, and differences between patterns, a useful skill for all humans….

Having decided earlier today not to rant, I’m substituting old-school pearls, in place of my customary thousand words on various targets. This pearl is patterned after the Sesame Street skit, and has one aphorism grouped together with several others (you are adults, and can have more than just four to pick from….), which is a of a different nature than the others….

All of them have been painted with a coating of sarcastic impudence, I hope, as they speak about organized religion, tongue firmly in cheek. The single exception is an idea that is contrary to all the religionists believe to be true, thus setting it apart, as being rational…. It shouldn’t be too hard to find, and the others will give you an idea of how today’s rant might have progressed, had I written it…. Enjoy!

“Religion is the fashionable substitute for belief.” — Oscar Wilde

“Cockamamie is a word that comes to mind.” — Smart Bee

PHILISTINE, n. One whose mind is the creature of its environment, following the fashion in thought, feeling and sentiment. He is sometimes learned, frequently prosperous, commonly clean and always solemn. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which live was first breathed… There is grandeur in this view of life … that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being, evolved.” — Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Give a man religion and he’ll starve to death praying for a fish.” — Smart Bee

“Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething.” — Mark Twain
(Sorry, couldn’t resist….)
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“And never think about the past. No regrets, ever.” — Robert Heinlein

I’ve always tried to take this advice; it’s good stuff….. In keeping with that policy, I’ve decided to post this mess, even though I haven’t proofed it, or checked it to see if it will be either legally actionable, or, worse, terminally boring….. I’ll do that now, & be right back…..

Well, okay, that’s not bad, all things considered. I’ll take it…. And, before I can change my mind, I’ll be on my way, out into the Big Blue Room, to see what kind of mischief I can find to get into out there in the real world….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Psst! I got rhododendrons, cheap…..

Posted on March 14, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Well, hell…. Hellooo! Anyone in there? I know there is nobody OUT there yet, as this is not yet posted; the apparent issue is that there is no one in here, either…. I’ve been up almost an hour, have even had a few sips of coffee, so there is no reason for this vast featureless plain I see in my head, void of anything to draw the eye or the mind, currently serving as my sole source of imagination. If I were into horror fiction, I could easily build up a lot of tension, just gazing out over a landscape, empty of hope, empty of life….

I’m pretty sure I know the problem here…. I’ve been thinking a LOT the last couple of days, trying to make decisions about all the stuff I’ve been planning to do when my Social Security benefits begin. That day is fast approaching, and I’ve been attempting to prioritize all of it into a list that is workable, regardless of how much in resources I will have to use.

I have certain goals for the influx of cash that is coming, as well as plans for how to organize my new monthly income, more than twice its former size once it is all in place. The problem is, there are too many choices, and I am having trouble deciding which ones are the most important…. Coupled with not knowing any exact figures makes it a chancy proposition, at best….

Any who, since I seem to be like the donkey who starved between the pile of hay and the pile of carrots, and, the influx is still a few days in the future, at least, I wanted to make today’s Pearl a special one…. Unfortunately, my brain decided to take the day off to chew on what I’ve just been describing as my mental quandary, so I’m going to have to fake it, again…. 😳 I have no shame, you see…. and very little pride left. Poverty, or near-poverty, will do that to a man….

Okay, enough…. I’m being self-indulgent, and, given how I see my future, that could easily get to be a bad habit…. Now the question arises, what am I going to do about it? Well, first, I’m going to finish this Pearl, which I have started, and thus, have a duty to finish. If you know me at all, then you know that duty comes first…..

All I have to do is figure out how to carry it out, without injuring myself, or anyone else, and without relying on cheap tricks, such as deus ex machina, or other such morally reprehensible acts…. I don’t feel a poem trying to get out, so, you won’t have to worry about trying to decode my metaphors there…. I’ll make it simple, with some Emily, or someone else who writes clean and simple; it always makes a nice contrast to my own heavy prose….

Now that I’ve blathered about all of this irrelevant BS, I guess we can get on with today’s effort…. I’m depending on Smart Bee today, to find stuff that will SAVE THIS PEARL!!! It needs it….. It really and truly does….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Okay, here’s today’s offer…. I’ll stick to old-school pearls, no ranting. I think it’s the only way I’m going to be able to carry this off; my ranting state today would probably come off like something from Rush Limbaugh, or Geraldo, or Hannity, or whatever that guy on Fox is called….. not in terms of content, but of quality (no remarks, please….). Since I won’t give that idea the consideration it doesn’t deserve, I’ll instead submit the following group of pearls, which speak about how to live life, in such a way that, when you are nearing the end, you can still look yourself in the mirror of a morning….

“Even as a great fish swims along the two banks of a river, first along the eastern bank and then the western bank, in the same way the Spirit of man moves along beside his two dwellings: this waking world and the land of sleep and dreams.” — Upanishads

“To stake all one’s life on a single moment, to risk everything on one throw, whether the stake be power or pleasure, I care not – there is no weakness in that.” — Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

“He would be the finer gentleman that should leave the world without having tasted of lying or pretense of any sort, or of wantonness or conceit.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 2

“When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.” — Thomas Jefferson, Writings

“When Po-chang was asked about seeking for the Buddha nature: “It’s much like riding an ox in search of the ox” — Smart Bee

“Happiness is the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

“I would have been here right after you called, but I had to shake the weasels.” — Deloris, from Roger Rabbit

If you don’t get it, that’s okay, it’s pretty subtle, and obscure…. in fact, just as much so as I could make it….. 🙂 Nevertheless, I think it will say what it needs to say….
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Today’s choice in poetry will no doubt cause some head-scratching, but, it can’t be helped….. As you may or may not know, I try to use very little conscious thought in directing my choices for pearls, and/or the content therein, beyond a certain standard of quality. This poem may seem as if it doesn’t fit in, but, it does, so, deal with it, okay? Thanks…. Just kidding, it’s a great piece, and more relevant than it may seem at first…. enjoy!

Dialogue In Verse

_Jack._ Seest thou not yon farmer’s son?
He hath stolen my love from me, alas!
What shall I do? I am undone;
My heart will ne’er be as it was.
O, but he gives her gay gold rings,
And tufted gloves [for] holiday,
And many other goodly things,
That hath stolen my love away.

_Friend._ Let him give her gay gold rings
Or tufted gloves, were they ne’er so [gay];
[F]or were her lovers lords or kings,
They should not carry the wench away.

_Jack._ But ‘a dances wonders well,
And with his dances stole her love from me:
Yet she wont to say, I bore the bell
For dancing and for courtesy.

_Dick._ Fie, lusty younker, what do you here,
Not dancing on the green to-day?
For Pierce, the farmer’s son, I fear,
Is like to carry your wench away.

_Jack._ Good Dick, bid them all come hither,
And tell Pierce from me beside,
That, if he thinks to have the wench,
Here he stands shall lie with the bride.

_Dick._ Fie, Nan, why use thy old lover so,
For any other new-come guest?
Thou long time his love did know;
Why shouldst thou not use him best?

_Nan._ Bonny Dick, I will not forsake
My bonny Rowland for any gold:
If he can dance as well as Pierce,
He shall have my heart in hold.

_Pierce._ Why, then, my hearts, let’s to this gear;
And by dancing I may won
My Nan, whose love I hold so dear
As any realm under the sun.

_Gentleman._ Then, gentles, ere I speed from hence,
I will be so bold to dance
A turn or two without offence;
For, as I was walking along by chance,
I was told you did agree.

_Friend._ ‘Tis true, good sir; and this is she
Hopes your worship comes not to crave her;
For she hath lovers two or three,
And he that dances best must have her.

_Gentleman._ How say you, sweet, will you dance with me?
And you [shall] have both land and [hill];
My love shall want nor gold nor fee.

_Nan._ I thank you, sir, for your good will;
But one of these my love must be:
I’m but a homely country maid,
And far unfit for your degree;
[To dance with you I am afraid.]

_Friend._ Take her, good sir, by the hand,
As she is fairest: were she fairer,
By this dance, you shall understand,
He that can win her is like to wear her.

_Fool._ And saw you not [my] Nan to-day,
My mother’s maid have you not seen?
My pretty Nan is gone away
To seek her love upon the green.
[I cannot see her ‘mong so many:]
She shall have me, if she have any.

_Nan._ Welcome, sweetheart, and welcome here,
Welcome, my [true] love, now to me.
This is my love [and my darling dear],
And that my husband [soon] must be.
And, boy, when thou com’st home, thou’lt see
Thou art as welcome home as he.

_Gentleman._ Why, how now, sweet Nan! I hope you jest.

_Nan._ No, by my troth, I love the fool the best:
And, if you be jealous, God give you good-night!
I fear you’re a gelding, you caper so light.

_Gentleman._ I thought she had jested and meant but a fable,
But now do I see she hath play[‘d] with his bable.
I wish all my friends by me to take heed,
That a fool come not near you when you mean to speed.

~~ Christopher Marlowe
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I found this image on a WordPress site the other day, and had to save it to share…. in fact, it may be a bit of a cheat, but, this will serve as a complete pearl, all by itself…. I could speak a long time on this stanza, and have in the past. Today, though, it will serve as well on its own…. enjoy!__________________________________

Okay, so I ended up cheating a lot… so sue me. I told you it might happen, so, I figure I’m good, if only for insurance purposes. Plus, there is the added bonus of no bloodshed, and no major disruptive incidents requiring a call to the local mental health facilities….. These all make for a good morning, even if nothing else of particular note happens…. A day without legal action is a good day…. On that encouraging note, I bid thee adieu, with sincerest apologies for all the above…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
—

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

gigoid

In the mall of the fountain Ming….

Posted on March 8, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Picture, if you will, a man…. his head is bowed, as he sends his thousand-yard stare into the ground, every line of his figure speaking of inner turmoil and emotional pain. He rocks back on his heels, his head flown back, uttering a cry of absolute anguish to the heavens…. “I’m a fucking idiot!” A huge voice comes out of the sky, and says, “I know….”

Now, if you can extend your imagination just a tad further, placing an image of my face on the man…. Yep, that’s me…. the f__ing idiot. (Why hide the curse now? I dunno, just felt like the thing to do…. Leave me alone, I’m writing on instinct here….) Just one more bozo on the bus, without the advantage of the horn or the big shoes…. and not a squirting flower in sight! SIGH…. it’s a sad day, ffolkes, for sure….

What’s all the fuss about, you ask? Who knows?…. No, actually, this is all just putting myself through the wringer for the dumb-ass move I made yesterday…. I was reading the Pearl from yesterday, and noted that my rant spoke to a certain issue, which I glibly described as “global warming and overpopulation”, whereupon, just as if I knew what I was talking about, I proceeded to speak about climate change….

Now, climate change is indeed an issue of note, and it IS connected directly to the issue of global warming… but, neither is directly connected to overpopulation, which was NOT the issue whereof I intended to speak…. Any who, it should have read “global warming and climate change” which is what the POTUS was addressing; overpopulation, while a serious issue, is not the same thing, and should not have been anywhere near the discussion at the time…..

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…. consider that I’ve said that six times, just like the priest would want me to do…. Besides, what can we do now about population control? Hand out more condoms? Doesn’t seem to be working too well at this point, so maybe we should re-think that particular issue, eh?

Well, the intro isn’t the place to worry about that kind of stuff…. though, it has yet to be determined exactly what kind of stuff DOES go into an intro around here… That particular item seems to change its shape every day, as I go through new and exciting (hopefully) formats and scenarios in my search for the ultimate opening. My random approach doesn’t seem very effective in finding same, but, hey, it keeps me off the streets in the morning, so, bonus….

I’m now certain I’ve piddled around long enough to call it a wrap on this intro section, but, even if I weren’t, I’d stop here, as I’m completely out of ideas about where to go with it….. Heading out for the daily dive seems like the best solution all around…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“Capt’n! The spellchecker kinna take this abuse!” — Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott

“Dew knot trussed yore spell chequer two fined awl yore mistakes.” — Brendan Hills
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Smart Bee is having a tough morning, pearl-wise; I can’t seem to find a single worthy quote…. so, I’m going to fall back on my vast repertoire of Past Pearls, which I try not to abuse by using too often. In fact, I think this is only the second time in almost two years I’ve done so…. Any who, this particular pearl is a tough one… I wrote it last July, on the third of that month, and it remains as valid today as it was then…. Perhaps more so, as the situation has changed not at all, nor will it, until people start to realize the extent of the problem…. I won’t say “enjoy”, as you won’t…. I will say, “listen up, please”…..

“I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.” — Chang-tzu, Taoist

So, as it turns out, I am a coward. What I mean by that is, when it comes to emotional pain, I will go through all sorts of contortions to avoid it. I will distract myself, I’ll deny, I’ll forget…. all time-tested methods of putting something unpleasant aside. I can say in my own defense that a) I’ve already experienced enough turmoil in my life, and don’t need more, and b) I have yet to start lying to myself about being a coward in this area…..

How does the butterfly koan apply? That’s for me to know, and you to figure out…. No, really, sorry, I didn’t mean that, just fooling around. It applies because the world exists in duality; we perceive that universe by defining and evaluating those dualities according to their relation to each other (light/dark, etc.) as well as according to our own preconceptions and/or preferences. Sometimes what we perceive is clear and readily defined, while at other times, one can make no “heads or tails” of what we see, hear, taste, smell, or feel. And sometimes, the perceptions are just so powerful that we cannot easily deal with what we are perceiving, so we retreat from them. Or I do, anyway….

Now, my cowardice in this respect is, perhaps, justifiable. I put myself through a lot of hard times during certain periods in my life, and the emotional toll was heavy. I am now more in balance, but the feelings and thoughts I had can come back in full force, at unexpected moments… Such is the case when I read about the sex trade, and think about how many of my sisters in the world are still being abused, physically and mentally, by the misogynistic assholes that perpetrate the atrocities so prevalent in that trade.

I have previously re-blogged several articles from blog sites written by women who have survived, and left, the sex trade. The stories they tell, and the insights they have come to have, are incredibly powerful, and wrenching to the emotions. It is a rare thing for me to be able to stop myself from crying after reading the first paragraph, and it can take me ten minutes to read a two page article, as I have to stop and compose myself before returning to the story being related. I am always astounded by the strength of mind it took for them to get where they are, and I grieve for the pain and misery they still must contend with, as survivors of Hell, burdened with PTSD (my old friend….).

Reading their stories also has the effect on me of wanting to buy a gun, and start eliminating some of the traffickers from the planet. This urge arises out of my anger and guilt, for it is males who perpetrate the atrocities, and I am ashamed of how low others of my gender can sink. But, alas, until I CAN afford to buy one, that little dream will have to wait…..

All I can do is to try to make people aware of the extent of the problem, by directing them to the stories told by the women who have lived through that Hell, with re-blogs and pearls such as this one. That is why I say I’ve been a coward, because my mind cravenly hid the awareness that connects to the outrage I feel when I get started on this issue, not being brave enough to put my emotions up on that higher level….and used the technical glitch I’ve been having with WordPress as an excuse (I’m currently unable to connect to any other WP sites if I’m signed in… I just get sent to a blank page while the browser falls into an infinite loop….).

Hence this somewhat dispassionate discussion of the issue. I’ve managed to get through this without bursting into tears, so I’ll consider myself lucky, and make myself a promise to re-blog for them as soon as I can get there to do so…. and I’ll not let myself chicken out…. This is an issue that will not go away; we men will never be free until we free our sisters from this bondage….

To read some of these articles yourself, use the WordPress search function to find these three sites, by blog titles…. Diary of A Dublin Call Girl; rmott62- Are We Not Human?; and Stella Mar, a Manhattan Call Girl…. All three have powerful messages that need to be spread around the planet….
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For some reason, this just seemed to fit…. not that I have any intent of checking out of this hotel anytime soon…. But, it kind of goes along with the other material…. It’s a bit long, but I know that won’t scare any of MY readers…. Any who, please enjoy a bit of the classics….

A Poet’s Epitaph

Art thou a Statist in the van
Of public conflicts trained and bred?
–First learn to love one living man;
‘Then’ may’st thou think upon the dead.

A Lawyer art thou?–draw not nigh!
Go, carry to some fitter place
The keenness of that practised eye,
The hardness of that sallow face.

Art thou a Man of purple cheer?
A rosy Man, right plump to see?
Approach; yet, Doctor, not too near,
This grave no cushion is for thee.

Or art thou one of gallant pride,
A Soldier and no man of chaff?
Welcome!–but lay thy sword aside,
And lean upon a peasant’s staff.

Physician art thou? one, all eyes,
Philosopher! a fingering slave,
One that would peep and botanise
Upon his mother’s grave?

Wrapt closely in thy sensual fleece,
O turn aside,–and take, I pray,
That he below may rest in peace,
Thy ever-dwindling soul, away!

A Moralist perchance appears;
Led, Heaven knows how! to this poor sod:
And he has neither eyes nor ears;
Himself his world, and his own God;

One to whose smooth-rubbed soul can cling
Nor form, nor feeling, great or small;
A reasoning, self-sufficing thing,
An intellectual All-in-all!

Shut close the door; press down the latch;
Sleep in thy intellectual crust;
Nor lose ten tickings of thy watch
Near this unprofitable dust.

But who is He, with modest looks,
And clad in homely russet brown?
He murmurs near the running brooks
A music sweeter than their own.

He is retired as noontide dew,
Or fountain in a noon-day grove;
And you must love him, ere to you
He will seem worthy of your love.

The outward shows of sky and earth,
Of hill and valley, he has viewed;
And impulses of deeper birth
Have come to him in solitude.

In common things that round us lie
Some random truths he can impart,–
The harvest of a quiet eye
That broods and sleeps on his own heart.

But he is weak; both Man and Boy,
Hath been an idler in the land;
Contented if he might enjoy
The things which others understand.

–Come hither in thy hour of strength;
Come, weak as is a breaking wave!
Here stretch thy body at full length;
Or build thy house upon this grave.

~~ William Wordsworth
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In keeping with today’s theme, I’m re-printing here a pearl, part of a five-section pearl, from when I was even more prolific than now. This one is from a Pearl I posted on March 24, 2012…. It’s got a little bit of everything in it…. enjoy!

Here are a few historical observations on our preferred form of public entertainment……

“Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.” — Plato, The Republic. Book VIII. 558

“Democracy is more cruel than wars or tyrants.” — Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium CIV, c. 63

“Termiter’s argument that God is His own grandmother generated a surprising amount of controversy among Church leaders, who on the one hand considered the argument unsupported by scripture but on the other hand were unwilling to risk offending God’s grandmother.” — Len Cool, American Pie
(Okay, it’s not political, but, hey, funny, right?….) (and kind of appropriate, if I stop to think about it…..)
(kind of sounds similar to the current controversy over creationism and evolution….)

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence the act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and state.” — Thomas Jefferson, to the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptist Association in 1802
(Whoops! How’d he get in here?….)

Man is a religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion – several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight.” — Mark Twain — The Damned Human Race
(Okay, okay…. busted! Religion and politics seem to have merged in my mind this morning…. funny how that happens…. but it still fits the category, so, deal….)

and, on a final note, let’s combine the two previously revealed (reviled?) culprits in one fine, almost-a-limerick plea for mercy….

Dear Lord, observe this bended knee
This visage meek and humble,
And hear this confidential plea
Voiced in reverent mumble:
Give me Shylock, give me Fagin
But O God spare me Ronald Reagan!

— Ansel Adams

If God is omnipotent, why does he need my money? (Sorry, couldn’t resist…. I’m done for now…..)

See? Not everything from the past is old and grey and useless…. sometimes it’s new, black and white, and useless….
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So, you may have noted that today’s Pearl contained very little new material…. This is due to necessity, which dictates I take a trip to Kaiser this morning, so, I opted to produce a Pearl out of the past, since I’ve got so much material, not even I have any idea just how much there is to choose from… but, it’s a LOT!

So, to save some time, I raided the past…. Deal with it, is all I can suggest…. As I look back over what I’ve done today, I find it hangs together pretty well…. I’m keeping it, as it fits my needs perfectly…. As we are all humans here, you will naturally expect me to act in a self-serving manner, so, it won’t surprise you to be escorted out briskly, now that I’m done with you…. See ya…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Don’t laugh; Americans are often ludicrous…

Posted on March 7, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Well, crap….. What a way to start the day…… I suppose there’s no getting around this one, so, you’ll have to excuse me for a bit, while I deal with the oh-so-damned-important issue that Murphy has thought up for my delectation this morning…. I’ll be right back, hopefully…. Bloody ass….

What a PITA…. No, you don’t really want to know….. Murphy has been conspicuously absent for a couple of days, and I should have known, given his proclivity for mischief, that he was cooking up something special for me, and, sure enough, this morning I awoke to this, this,…. hell, I’m not sure how to even describe the scene that greeted me on awakening today. So, rather than put everyone else reading this into the state I’m in, we’ll just ignore what happened, and take it as a good omen that it didn’t cost me any money, only time and angst, of which I, sadly, have in plentiful supply….. Well, okay, it also took an entire roll of paper towels and some vigorous scrubbing, to get rid of the obscene graffiti, but that comes with the territory, I guess….

None of that, however, is of any help with this intro, or in getting this Pearl started, and it has distracted me so much that I’m close to using emergency procedure #7, which, given its nature, I try to use only once in a decade; its effect on the nature of space and time is somewhat unpredictable, and I’m not sure we can afford any wobbles just now in the space-time continuum. It’s suffering enough right now from global warming and overpopulation, and doesn’t need further stress that could lead to a breakdown of unimaginable proportions. Planets careening out of orbit, suns exploding, lions mating with sheep, it would be a universe gone mad…. You can see why I hesitate to use #7 very often….

Or, I suppose I could go with procedure #5…. I haven’t used that in ages. Of course, it’s an expensive one to use, being constructed of platinum as it is, and only able to withstand a single use before melting down…. Platinum is hard to find, and not cheap, so I think I’ll wait on that one, too… I reckon, since all the others don’t seem to be quite the right procedure to get this done, we’ll have to fall back on emergency procedure #1, with which, I’m sure, you thought you were familiar…. and, you’d be right, as I use it often, more often than any other….

What is procedure #1, you ask? Well, you are smack dab in the middle of it…. that’s the one where I sort of ramble around a conversation, drifting from one nonsensical paragraph to the next, all without ever saying a damn thing that could be considered to be literary, or even relatively intelligent…. You will note, please, at this point, we have now reached the required five paragraph minimum for an intro, and, as is plain to see, not a damn thing said that could be construed as “writing”…. more like babbling, I would say….

Having thus fulfilled the minimum requirements, I’m going to go with the flow, as it were, and head off to dive…. It seems like the best idea for all the concerned parties…. I can get out of this ridiculous situation, and you can cease having to keep from getting the splashes on your clothing…. What a deal! Shall we Pearl?…..
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“It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion.” — William Ralph Inge, D. D. 1860 – 1954

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

I have noticed that the Congress, and the POTUS, are currently at odds, as usual, over the economy, and arguing over how to address an issue over which they have absolutely no control…. I just don’t get it, actually…. There is no evidence whatsoever that anything the government does, or has ever done, about the economy has any effect at all on it…. none.

Zero. Zilch. Nada damn thing…. The economy of the world, or even just this nation, is not subject to any manipulation by us; it’s too big, too amorphous…. It’s like trying to herd cats…. a lot of effort for small results, and you end up with a bunch of pissed off felines… If you know anything about cats, you will realize that this is never a good thing….

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

It’s actually kind of fun watching the contortions they go through for issues such as this; since I know for a fact that none of it will have any real effect on the issue, I can enjoy the parade without worrying about whether it will actually do anything useful…. It is a bit depressing to watch, since I am aware of just how little can be done, but, the show can be entertaining, and it does pass the time…

The most depressing part is knowing that the public is actually buying all of what they are saying, and really do expect something to change for the better… But, then, I am always amazed at the depth of human stupidity. I don’t know why, as I KNOW how dumb people can be… I am one, you know…. but, it always is a surprise to see just how deeply that stupidity is ingrained in the human condition…

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

I’m not sure how scientifically minded many of y’all are, but, I am… scientifically minded, that is, and I can tell you without fear of contradiction (from anyone with any reliable scientific knowledge, anyway….) that the atmosphere of this planet is, without doubt, and without evidence to the contrary, on the very edge of becoming unbreathable for humans….

The millions of tons of carbon monoxide, and other toxic substances, that are being pumped into the air EVERY SECOND, and that has been pumped in now for over a hundred years, has reached the point where it will begin a process of leaching oxygen from the air, and the balance of gases we need to survive will change…. Hell, it IS changing, and fairly rapidly, until it is no longer of a balance that we can safely breathe; moreover, once begun, the process is irreversible. The process is beyond our capability of stopping… This is scientific FACT, not speculation, not a guess…. The process has already begun, the only question remaining is, how quickly will it happen?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daniel: “We’re damned if we do, we’re damned if we don’t; we need other options…” — from Stargate
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The verses you see below are from the poem, The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot…. which I thought would be the perfect poem to accompany my little politirant above…. but, it’s too long, so I’m including the most famous, and, most relevant, verses from the poem, and furnishing you with a link, should you wish to peruse the entire work; it’s pretty long, but well worth the time and effort to get all the way through…. But, I understand the limitations we all have on time, so, I give you this abbreviated version, and hope you enjoy it as much as I do…..

Excerpted from The Waste Land

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

~~ T.S. Eliot

Link to entire poem: The Waste Land
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Having ranted above, arguably, sufficiently unto the day, we will, of course, go old-school for the last pearl today…. I really like the harlequin style pearls that have been resulting of late from choosing pearls without any preconceived notions, so we’ll go with that technique again today…. after a short break to feed my remaining vice…. Enjoy!….

“In the beginning was the word. But by the time the second word was added to it, there was trouble. For with it came syntax…” — John Simon

“Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.” — Diogenes (B.C. 412-323)

“Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!” — Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William S. Smith, Paris, Nov. 13, 1787

“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

The soul’s dark cottage, batter’d and decay’d,
Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made.
Stronger by weakness, wiser men become
As they draw near to their eternal home:
Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view
That stand upon the threshold of the new.

— Edmund Waller (1605-1687) — On the Divine Poems

“Reality? Nope, not for me, …It makes me laugh.” — Smart Bee

As far as I can tell, this is just about a perfect seven star pearl…. The conclusion, of course, is left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader….. 🙂
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All in all, this didn’t come out too badly…. I’ll take it. It isn’t often it’s so clearly acceptable, but, hey, even this blog has to get it right occasionally, right? Right…. Hence, I send it on its way, to stand alone, just as if it was important, or even sane… We know better, though, don’t we? Fear not, I’ll never tell…. and, before I get fully into piffle mode, I will bid thee adieu until tomorrow…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Fully hydrogenated crankcase oil, please…..

Posted on February 3, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
As I sit, staring at the keyboard, strange new feelings assault my senses, poignantly bittersweet, like memories of high school. I call the feelings new, though they are as old as Father Time’s beard, because they are new to me. Never before have I felt this way, both proud and sad, both joyful, and miserably mad…. Not for nothing have I lived all this time, for only a few years past, such as I am now experiencing would have shocked me beyond recovery, and I would not be here today. How, then, can I live now? With courage and resolve….. How else can I accept this? How else can I learn to be strong enough to carry on?…..

Okay, that’s not bad…. a little stiff & formal, maybe…. It doesn’t mean diddly squat, but it’s not bad….. it could use a bit of polish, here and there, but the overall effect works, I think, don’t you?…. Oh, I’m sorry, I did it again, didn’t I?….. Oops…. I don’t mean to get y’all so worked up so early…. Nor did I, when I awoke, intend to take you on a trip to nowhere, and leave you there, with no warning…. it just happened. I do these little story beginnings here in the intro to get the juices flowing, and to see what kind of stuff is floating around in there, always forgetting that ffolkes are forever telling me to finish one of them….

I’ve done a couple that I really do intend to finish one day; they are still sitting on the desktop, waiting for me to give them some time. There is one, with a talking tiger, and another, with an assassin and a little girl, that I liked a lot, and will one day get back to…. But, for the moment, I write every day mostly to get the crap out of my head, crap that otherwise will fester and rot, and don’t want to take the time to work on one story, when I have so much inside me that needs to be purged….. But, I will eventually get to them, if I live long enough….

Hmm… now what? I suppose I could just be normal, and call what I have already written a sufficient introduction to today’s Pearl…. but, normal is a word we avoid around here as much as we can, as it just makes us unhappy…. 🙂 Besides, if you want normal, there are literally millions of blogs out there where you can find that….. Here, you won’t find much that fits into the normal range, and if you did, I would expect you to let me know, so we can fix that little issue…. We are quite fond of that facet of life that we call entropy, and the flexibility and strength required to stand up to it every day is considered admirable in our world….. Change is GOOD! Mostly…..

“If you rely on Murphy’s law, everything will go as planned (but don’t count on it.)” — Sullivan’s Observation

Even if change isn’t good, since we mostly don’t get a choice about whether or not we will change, we tend to just go along with whatever the universe throws our way; it just works out better than the alternative….. Plus, we like the bonus stamps we get for cooperating…. If THAT isn’t enough, it gives us the chance to use the royal “we”….

Before it becomes any clearer that you should be calling for the doctors, I should probably dive in to today’s Pearl. I don’t have the time to fuss with talking them out of a temporary commitment to a locked facility…. Besides, y’all wouldn’t do that to me, would you? Would you?…. Well, before I get too many answers I don’t like, Shall we Pearl?…..
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“People see what they have been conditioned to see; they refuse to see what they don’t expect to see.” — Merle P. Martin

This statement is one that will find some strong agreement here, as it is as clear an indictment of the unwashed masses as I’ve ever seen; it places some of the blame on their oppressors, as it should, but still manages to show where people are responsible for their own ignorance, in spite of how they may be conditioned…. One may not be responsible for their conditioning, but they are still responsible for what they refuse to acknowledge as truth, and Mr. Martin has given them little room to wiggle out of that responsibility…..

In some ways, y’all might think that I tend to obsess about those who are manipulating society. and the impending global catastrophes that I see as inevitable. In a way, you could be right…. it COULD be called obsession, since I do take at least one shot a day at the BRC and the priestly hierarchies; if I don’t hit them regularly, I just feel empty, and incomplete….. But, I don’t lose any sleep over it, so I think my concerns are still in the rational stages of evolution. What can be challenging is finding new ways to approach the subject, that will show the assholes for what they are, and what they are doing to the rest of us, and still not bore the reader senseless…. it’s hard to motivate someone who has fallen asleep….

“The worth of the State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it, and a State which postpones the interest of their mental expansion and elevation to a little more of administrative skill, or of that semblance of it which practice gives in the details of business… will find that with small men no great thing can be accomplished.” — John Stuart Mill, ‘On Liberty’, 1859

The other day, someone asked me a question about a statement I had made, to the effect that I believed that the usurpation of the Constitution began within minutes of it being signed…. She asked me how I knew that, and at the time, I gave her the answer that occurred to me at the time, to wit: I know this because I know human nature, and the money lenders and bankers wouldn’t have wanted to wait even a minute to try to get their two cents into the process, in order to start turning it to their advantage….. Mr. Mill has, with this statement, shown us how they went about that perversion….

During elections, and often in the time prior to the announcement of the candidates and their platforms, there is a loud lamentation that there are no GOOD candidates to be found, that the men and women who end up running for office are NOT the most qualified for the job, but merely those who WANT it for their own reasons (you can bet that altruism is NOT one of those reasons….). In fact, to my mind, the single most qualifying characteristic I would like to see in ANY candidate would be a lack of desire to get elected; in other words, in order to be well-qualified, they have to NOT want to get elected…. It’s the only way we can trust them not to steal so much….

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

What we have in reality is that ALL of those who run for office are people who WANT POWER; the exceptions are too few to be statistically significant, so I use the word ALL with that caveat. Sure, occasionally, a person who really doesn’t want to be in office, but happens to be the most qualified, gets persuaded by friends that they can do some good, and they are popular enough, and intelligent enough, to get elected. Once in office, though, they generally discover that their opportunities to do good for others are severely limited by the efforts of their peers, who have no interest whatsoever in looking after the people, unless it serves their own purpose.

“Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.” — Elbert Hubbard

It’s hard to say whether writing pieces such as this one is a part of my five minutes, or whether it is part of the other side of the coin, which prevents me from reaching my limit…. Either way, I’m starting to understand that, since I’m shouting into the wind, pretty much, with these political and social diatribes, I need to keep them fairly short, and uncomplicated, or I will lose my audience to boredom with the repetitive nature of what I’m writing. Yes, we need to be aware that most of our Beloved Ruling Class are assholes, and need to be culled from the human herd….. but railing about it too much will only defeat my purpose, which is to educate and stimulate, hopefully to action that will serve to help the situation….

So rather than exceed my limit for the day, we’ll leave this here, and hope that what I’ve written will cause at least a touch of bleeding in the BRC, even if it’s only a scratch…. Better now to go look for some poetry, to soothe my fevered brow….

“I know everything about everything, except that.” — Smart Bee
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Ahhhh!….. Yeats! A bit long, but worth reading every line….

A Dialogue Of Self And Soul

i{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 consecrates 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 wooden 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 intellect 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

If but imagination scorn the earth
And intellect is wandering
To this and that and t’other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth……. from above…. Is it not obvious why I love Yeats?…..
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“The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies.” — Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was a fascinating fellow, a man of many contrasts…. His published words are usually considered to define him, as free-thinking, intelligent, and altruistic, in addition to his passion for politics. His private self was, by all accounts, sometimes less admirable, as he was prone to an aristocratic indifference that did not appear in his public persona. But, whatever his faults, he was, above all, a true Patriot of this country, and not only passionate in his defense of it, but eloquent in both the justification for its existence, and in defining its underlying principles.

He showed in his writings, both public and private, a clear understanding of how our country could prosper in the future, as well as the problems it could encounter from agencies in the world that wished to see it fail, or at least struggle to maintain the independence of its citizenry. He was one of the first to point out the danger that banks and corporations pose to the workings of Congress and the government, by their willingness to bribe and pay off whomever they could, to give themselves an edge in the making of the laws (an event that, almost unarguably, took place the first time during the Constitutional Convention itself… I have no doubt the bankers were very involved in trying to influence that body’s results, and spreading money around to do so…. Fortunately, they were largely unsuccessful, at first….)

Since I’ve already ranted once today about the BRC and their clandestine efforts to control reality, I’ll limit myself, and try to avoid repetition, by going old school from this point…. Here are some of Jefferson’s quotations on different subjects, all of which together give an idea of the range of his thoughts, and the depth of his insight….

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) — Declaration of Independence (Heavily influenced by George Mason, a fellow patriot, taken almost verbatim from similar documents written by Mason, for the state in which he lived….)

“When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.” — Thomas Jefferson, Writings

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg.” — Thomas Jefferson

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

“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter To Francis Hopkinson, Paris Mar. 13, 1789

“The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.”― Thomas Jefferson
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I am hesitant to try to judge my own work, other than on a basic level that, hopefully, prevents me from posting stuff that is pure trash, as I am fully cognizant of Sturgeon’s Law, to wit: “90% of Science Fiction is crap. But, then, 90% of everything is crap.” Let it be known that, for my own part, I do try to keep from posting material that would be considered odoriferous in the slightest. Of course, I probably fail on a regular basis, but, so far, nobody has actually complained…. so, I’ll take it.

Today’s effort isn’t bad, all things considered, so we’re going to go with it, trusting to luck that anyone who might object to what they read will at least be civil, should it offend them overmuch…. If not, well, we’ll deal with that if it comes…. I enjoy a spirited dialogue, especially if it is stimulated by something I’ve written…. perverse, maybe, but, hey, everyone needs a hobby…. Since I can feel the babbling just bubbling, I’ll end this here, and let y’all be about your business… Thanks for stopping by, and….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Milling around the foyer in fabulous shoes….

Posted on January 20, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Morning insinuated itself into my awareness slyly today, sliding past the pillars of sleep’s palace, to poke me in the proverbial ribs. Even before getting out of bed, there were signs that might have given me a clue about how things would be, such as when the lamp went flying away from my grasp as if I were trying to tickle it, not switch it on, taking itself and most of the nearby chess pieces to the floor. Spoons jumping out of cups, toilet seats taking a vicious swipe at exposed flesh, shirts that try to strangle one to get them on….. It seems the inanimate world had a conference last night, and decided to declare war on me, starting today at sunrise.

I can deal with it….. This isn’t a new battle in this house; I’m constantly negotiating compromises and truces with the kitchen appliances, or spending the day fixing or repairing old junk, just to stay on the microwave’s good side. Every one of my appliances, knick knacks, and decorative posters has, at one time or another, been the subject of a pitched conflict over whether or not I have the right to use them as I deem fit.

I admit there are times when I’ve lost my cool, and done harm to innocent spoons. I’ve been unconsciously cruel to various pieces of clothing in the past, it’s true, though it wasn’t intentional, merely unconsciously inconsiderate. And the floor is always complaining that I never sweep or mop…. hey, what does it want? I’m a bachelor!….. The world is lucky if I shower often enough to keep from curling the paint….

Ah well, such is life in the hours before dawn…. one can never predict exactly what will happen on the cusp of the day. Possibility is everywhere, and the choices we make can make or break the entire day, depending on how well we approach the task of waking up.

Me, I’m an old hand at getting it done, no matter what it takes. Why, I’ve been known to spew out five or six paragraphs of absolute bilge water at the slightest provocation, just to get a Pearl started….. Oh, right, that’s what I just did, isn’t it? Oops….. I’d better salvage what I can, while I can…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“.. I think I’d better go back to my DESK and toy with a few common MISAPPREHENSIONS…” — Zippy the Pinhead
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I found the Heinlein quote below, an old one, with great potential for a rant. Some time in the last day or so, however, my outrage seems to have boarded a train, or a bus, and gone on vacation. No note, no phone call, just gone…. What a pisser! Any who, I decided to just let the old sub-conscious mind have its head, and pick some other pearls to go along with it. I can’t say it is the most obvious, or the most powerful, pearl ever put together, but, it has its points….. Those points, of course, are left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader, with no promise of recompense, but assurances of value…. enjoy!….

“When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.” — Robert A Heinlein, “If this goes on –”

“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” — Thomas Paine

“Still one more thing, fellow citizens: a wise and frugal government, which shall refrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), inaugural address, 1801

“Yes, evil comes in many forms, whether it be a man-eating cow or Joseph Stalin, but you can’t let the package hide the pudding! Evil is just plain bad! You don’t cotton to it. You gotta smack it in the nose with the rolled-up newspaper of goodness! Bad dog. Bad dog.” — The Tick

(Oops, how did this slip in here?…. Ah well, it kind of fits in, so, we’ll show a little literary compassion, and let it stay….) (Just think of how satisfying, and entertaining, it would be to use that rolled up paper on a Congressman…. Republican, or Democrat, it would be hilarious, as well as potentially lucrative….)

“Americans like to talk about (or be told about) Democracy but, when put to the test, usually find it to be an ‘inconvenience.’ We have opted instead for an authoritarian system *disguised* as a Democracy. We pay through the nose for an enormous joke-of-a-government, let it push us around, and then wonder how all those assholes got in there.” — Frank Zappa

“And that’s the Truth! THPPPPT!” — Edith Ann (Lily Tomlin)
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After that, I’m feeling a bit serious…. hence, Dylan Thomas, a serious poet, and a serious subject….

And Death Shall Have No Dominion

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead man naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

Dylan Thomas
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“Nothing unreal exists.” — Kiri-Kin-Tha’s Law of Metaphysics

For the uninitiated, this is from Star Trek, a line from the fourth movie, The Voyage Home. It is the answer, and question, posed to Spock by the computer, near the beginning of the movie, just before it asks him, “How do you feel?” Though the quote, and its author, are part of a fictional story, and do not, as far as I know, exist in real life, the idea is nonetheless a potent philosophical assertion, and deserving of some meditation upon its implications, and ramifications. I like it, as it creates a series of doorways, one after another opening for welcome, inviting me to come in and examine its furnishings for their value…. A bit fanciful, perhaps, but then, it IS from Star Trek….

“Trekkies” have always taken the concept behind the show and movies much more seriously than most of us, and have created an entire panorama of alternate universe stories, legends, and characters as an adjunct to the original tales. I am certain that some fan, somewhere in the world, has put together a book that lays out Kiri-Kin-Tha’s philosophy for study, complete with Laws, Axioms, and Arguments. They probably even included material from other fictional works from the ST venue, weaving them into a coherent treatise, all of which is completely fabricated….. People can be pretty amazing when they are obsessed, indeed…..

“Nothing unreal exists.”….. fascinating, as Spock would say. It is reminiscent, in a backwards fashion, of the question posed by the door to Ravenclaw Tower, in the final Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows, when Professor McGonagall is queried, “Where do Vanished objects go?” by the door, in order to gain entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. “Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything.”, she answers immediately. “Nicely phrased”, replied the door….. I say backwards only because the ST movie came first in real time, by about 25 years or so…. As can be seen, however, the concepts involved in the two similar episodes are more than mere ideological throw-aways, but have some valid basis for their existence…

This is the power of Imagination at its finest, in my mind. People will take a good idea, and run with it into landscapes where it has never before been conceived, turning it into passionate variations on the original theme whose quality rivals that of it progenitor. At the height of the frenzy over the Harry Potter movies, a few years ago, I visited a site called MuggleNet.com, curious as to what the fans of the movie and stories were doing.

I was completely astounded by the prolific writings by fans, who wrote entire novels, short stories, and alternative plots by the dozens, all populated by the characters from the books by J.K. Rowling. Romances between the various characters abounded in the imagination of the fans, as well as the creation of new characters, and inventive new kinds of magical spells, objects, and creatures. The variety and depth of talent displayed is incredible, and goes to show how powerful is the influence of obsession on our imagination.

And hence one master-passion in the breast,
Like Aaron’s serpent, swallows up the rest.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 131

Of course, obsession has the unfortunate tendency to go beyond the bounds of reasonable action in pursuit of its object of attention. It can easily consume all of the mind’s available store of common sense, submerging it in the raging river of passionate belief in whatever idea has emerged as the passion of choice. Pope was speaking no more than simple truth when he wrote these lines, which point again to the same fatal flaw that exists in other areas of human nature, the weakness of will that makes us choose paths that are self-destructive in their intensity, or in their ultimate logical end. Too many of us tend to make our choices in life without using even the most basic of mental tools we have, including imagination; the use of those tools can be hard, in the sense that it is harder to think than it is to allow others to think for you…..

Thus, we come to another point where the subject under discussion can be expanded, and further explored. Or, we can leave it here, with the ideas already discussed as a springboard for private consideration. I have a feeling it could get a bit esoteric from this juncture, and I’d lose a lot of ffolkes to the fatigue factor. I am feeling that a bit meself, having now been sparring with this Pearl for a bit over three hours. I should have eaten some philosophical oatmeal, to increase the fiber content of my output, I guess….

Rather than go any further down that road, we’ll bring this pearl to a close….. Perhaps you can take a bit of what we discussed with you, and chew on it later…. it doesn’t seem to get any less crunchy over time, so it can’t hurt…. Fewer calories than jerky, and it won’t require flossing afterward…..

“You can get anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant (‘ceptin’ Alice).” — Arlo Guthrie
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Okay, I’ve gone over this not-so-little effort, and can only be glad it took a long time, because it certainly did. Nearly four hours this morning, long enough to bring on some stiffness from sitting too long. I’ll have to go out & spend a bit of quality time with my body out in the Big Blue Room today, I guess, or I’ll start to calcify into one of those petrified old statues you see in public parks everywhere…. “Old Fart with Stick”….. that’s me all over. Ah well, enough incoherent rambling for one day…… Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

To save time, they stalled….

Posted on January 13, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Well, a new day dawns, and it should be a doozy…. Last night, at about 5:30 pm or so, my internet connection came up, and I am now back online, whenever I wish, rather than whenever I can. WHAT AN INCREDIBLE RELIEF! Sorry, didn’t mean to shout, but I’m just so damn happy! Giddy, like a school boy with new shoes…. well, you know what I mean…. Today will be the first whole day I can spend visiting all the sites I haven’t been able to get to for months, to let my blogging buddies know I’m still alive, and am still able to comment…. it will be grand, to be sure……

T’is morning now, a Sunday, and I wouldn’t dream of calling it a doozy…. no dignity there…. Not that we are terribly concerned about dignity around here….. I gave up trying to preserve that months ago…. But, a doozy is what it will be, even if I don’t call it that. First, I get to create a new, or old, routine, of writing and posting at my leisure, instead of thinking about it all day until I can get to where I could post. Second, in a couple hours, my daughter is coming to pick me up for our periodic visit with Zackary, my grandson, and her nephew.

It is a pain, for sure, to only be able to see him every few months, but, t’is better than not at all, which could happen, given that the boy’s mother is a vindictive, narcissistic, extremely selfish woman, who only had a child to fulfill her own fantasies. The child is a secondary matter to her; his importance to her lies in how she can view herself as a mother, and in the future, she will turn on him, as he becomes more independent, and tries to form his own personality. I’ve seen it happen, unfortunately, as I know another woman with similar characteristics….

Ah well, it’s too early to start ranting on the flaws in human nature, though it is certainly easy to do. Human nature has some flaws that stick out pretty obviously, so it isn’t hard to find part of it to pick on. I’m just in too good a mood to start in on that so quickly. Already today, I’ve had indications that Murphy is out there, looking for something to piss me off…. He did spend a lot of effort yesterday, making it hard for the technician to get his part of the hook-up completed….

(Sometimes, Murphy assumes a disguise to fuck with things…. yesterday, he assumed the guise of a mid-level manager with his head firmly up his ass, who wouldn’t authorize a piece of simple work, forcing the tech to leave, and come back later, after another manager had authorized the work….. A five hour delay, with just a simple disguise. Not bad from Murphy’s point of view, I suppose…. Once the manager authorized the work, the whole process took eight minutes to complete, start to finish…..)

Ah me, it’s nice to be able to meander a bit…. No worries, no hurries to get done before I run out of gas, so to speak. Plus, I get to cruise and peruse the headlines in the news first, if I wish, to find fresh material about which to rant. Such luxury! I’m pretty sure I could get used to this….. Let’s not tempt fate, or Murphy, any further….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Their nature, by training and instinct, is to argue and procrastinate. Yet we continue to elect lawyers.” — Ben Franklin

When I saw this, I couldn’t help both laughing, and sighing, for the statement is both funny and sad. Funny because of the irony, and sad because of its truth…. I don’t really know what it is about lawyers that seems to impress most folks; to me, their actions speak much louder than anything they say, especially considering that ‘talking’ is what they do for a living, and they use words as defensive, as well as offensive, weaponry. Yet, in spite of the endless examples of how a dishonest lawyer has cheated and hurt someone, people keep insisting they are moral, ethical people, just because they have studied the intricacies of our legal system. It makes no sense, because those are the LAST people one could expect to be honest, as every advantage offered by the system comes from using it for personal gain, and honesty doesn’t fit into that picture….. Corruption does…..

“It is not honorable to take mere legal advantage, when it happens to be contrary to justice.” — Thomas Jefferson [Third United State President]

The founding fathers of this country were very concerned with the concept of justice, versus that of legality. They had left England originally to seek a place where they could find such justice, and when they designed the Constitution, it was with this in mind. This is why a jury can find a person not guilty, in spite of the court’s evidence, even in spite of the law, and the verdict will stand. They recognized that justice cannot come from the law, but from society itself, in the form of the peers of each citizen. This, to them, was the honorable way to maintain the rights of the people over those of the BRC…..

“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” — Thomas Paine

As you can see, it wasn’t only Jefferson who mistrusted those who populate the governing classes, or the only one who saw the danger in allowing institutional forces, such as corporations, or churches, to have influence over the operation of the government. Jefferson, Franklin, and Paine were, perhaps, more vocal than others of their time, but they were speaking the words that all their peers were feeling, and thinking. They wanted to warn their ancestors of the danger involved in letting the selfish among us gain control of the purse strings of the public treasury, and how much could be lost by not paying attention….

Have we listened to them? Not well enough, that is for sure…. Corporate interests are in complete control of Congress, and the churches are not far behind in their influence. (The established churches somehow managed to gain a boon I’ve never understood, when they got tax-free status…. Why? What have they done to deserve such favoritism? Why shouldn’t their money be taxed?…. I’m still waiting to hear ANY answer, much less a logical, or justifiable one….) And, the laws, and legal system, have been bloated and enlarged to such a point that ONLY a trained lawyer has any chance of finding their way through the maze to anything approaching justice…. which in most cases, amounts to justice for the corporations, not for people….

Knowing the law is essential to knowing how to break it with impunity, and only the lawyers now have that knowledge. They deliberately keep the system complicated, cumbersome, and unfriendly to human interaction, because they know that is the best way to ensure their own value as the ones who can make it work to their advantage. It’s quite obvious, if one bothers to even look at the overall situation, and is, perhaps, another example of how easy it is to fool the general run of humanity…. because, as Ben said, we keep electing them, don’t we?…..

“I think we’re all Bozos on this Bus!” — Firesign Theater

“This only grant me, that my means may lie too low for envy, for contempt too high.” — Abraham Cowley
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Chorus of Athenians

Strophe I.
Ye shades, where sacred truth is sought;
Groves, where immortal Sages taught;
Where heav’nly visions of Plato fir’d,
And Epicurus lay inspir’d!
In vain your guiltless laurels stood
Unspotted long with human blood.
War, horrid war, your thoughtful walks invades,
And steel now glitters in the Muses’ shades.

Antistrophe I.
Oh heav’n-born sisters! source of art!
Who charm the sense, or mend the heart;
Who lead fair Virtue’s train along,
Moral Truth, and mystic Song!
To what new clime, what distant sky,
Forsaken, friendless, shall ye fly?
Say, will you bless the bleak Atlantic shore?
Or bid the furious Gaul be rude no more?

Strophe II.
When Athens sinks by fates unjust,
When wild Barbarians spurn her dust;
Perhaps ev’n Britain’s utmost shore,
Shall cease to blush with strager’s gore.
See Arts her savage sons control,
And Athens rising near the pole!
‘Till some new Tyrant lifts his purple hand,
And civil madness tears them from this land.

Antistrophe II.
Ye Gods! what justice rules the ball?
Freedom and Arts together fall;
Fools grant whate’er Ambition craves,
And men, once ignorant, are slaves.
Oh curs’d effects of civil hate,
In ev’ry age, in ev’ry state!
Still, when the lust of tyrant power succeeds,
Some Athens perishes, some Tully bleeds.

Alexander Pope
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“The world is so constructed, that if you wish to enjoy its pleasures, you must also endure its pains. Whether you like it or not, you cannot have one without the other.” — Swami Brahmananda

I wasn’t going to use this on this particular morning…. it is a very deep, complex subject that deserves my full attention and focus. Though a simple idea in and of itself, it describes Reality, capitalized on purpose, to indicate the Real Reality, the one we cannot ever really describe with words, but nonetheless, know exactly what it feels like, especially when it slaps us upside the head, smartly….. as it is wont to do upon occasion. This is its closest approach to having any consideration for our convenience, as it doesn’t have to remind us of how hard it can be, but graciously does so with its every blow to our figurative heads…. or even to our literal heads….

That’s one of the tough parts about Reality…. it doesn’t compromise. At all. Ever….. It is what it is, and it is up to us to deal, not Reality. This, I think, is the hardest part for many to learn, and yet is the key to successfully embracing the idea. The duality of natural law, the very oppositional nature of Reality itself, which is supported by all of our perceptive organs and abilities, is clear, and immutable. One characteristic, of an idea, of a thing, of a person, of anything, does not exist without a complementary opposite, anywhere in our universe. It is all duality, yet not. We see ONE, but the ONE always has another side, from which the letters read ENO…. and that perception is the ultimate clue to the nature of how the world exists as it does….

“You are blind and I am deaf and dumb, so let us touch hands and understand.” — Kahlil Gibran

“Sometimes you have to be silent to be heard” — Stanislav Lee

This duality, clearly as it exists in Reality, is all too often not perceived as such by those people who tend to not rely on their mental acuity to get by in the world. Commonly, people act as if there is truth to the delusion of believing that life is fair, or that the universe cares one way or another whether we survive, or feel happy, or sad, or anything. Life happens, and our reaction to that event is what determines our degree of comfort, and nothing else. And, in order to completely understand the experience, one must also feel the discomfort that is engendered just as often by circumstance as it is by design.

“A person can only feel as much joy as they have experienced pain…. How would you know you are alive, if you had not once been dead?” ~~ gigoid

I can cite examples of the duality that IS, with ease…. We see because of the presence, or absence, of light. We hear because of the presence, or absence, of sound. Touch, smell, taste, all the same…. Our perceptions of everything that exists in the physical world is based on this duality of nature, so it seems unnecessary to go further to find the evidence of the veracity of the claim…. Of course, this does not go into the realm of the non-physical world, the world of thought and imagination, but that discussion is worthy of its own time for consideration….. This also does not fully accommodate the concept that the universe may exist in other dimensions, or with other laws, for which we do not have the perceptive ability to comprehend, or even note…. But, then, given that, there’s little point in speculating, now, is there?….

We just need to realize that the world we live in is just fine the way it is…. It is the people in the world who need to make changes…. Now all we have to do is figure out how to convince, or trick, them to make the changes that will help all of us, rather than just the few…. Worth a shot, I think….

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” — Nietzsche
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It’s early days yet, but, I can tell you this much…. I like it. Here t’is, 2 PM, and I’ve visited with my grandson, son, and daughter, shopped for groceries, taken pictures, written a Pearl, and am now ready to post, so I can take a nap. All I have to say is, it’s about damn time…. Amazing how small things can make a huge difference in our lives….. Long live the internet! Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Somewhere, the moon is flowing….

Posted on January 12, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
At long last! So long, it feels good just to use such an ancient cliche such as “at long last”….. If all goes well, this Pearl is the first of many to come that will be published without the need to leave my warm little cave, braving the elements long enough to find a Wi-fi spot out in the Big Blue Room….. The only question now is, did it actually happen? The envelope, please….. Yes…. No…. Okay, there it is….. There is now no remaining doubt whatsoever that Murphy takes a personal interest in my affairs…. It is now 0600 on the morning of the 12th, and the red light continues to blink on my new modem, indicating there is no connection yet….. SIGH…..

It’s actually okay, in the sense that I halfway expected this to happen. It would have made my life much too simple and comfortable to have had the process go smoothly, and I should know by now that Murphy just isn’t going to allow that to take place on his watch. If it weren’t so damn weird, it might almost be flattering to have a force of nature pay so much attention; hell, the way its going, I could break a record or something, for the worst run of luck in years. With my luck, the prize would be a lifetime supply of peanuts, or popcorn, either of which would kill me, should I choose to eat them au naturel…. them, I mean, not me…. I seldom go au naturel of late, sadly….

Now, I must call to have the network folks, from whom I’m getting the service, deal with the connection issue, but I’ll be polite and wait until 0700. No telling what has to happen, so there is little point in speculating. We’ll just ignore it for the time being, along with the EXTREME ANGER that is hovering right behind my rationality this morning….. If I let that out first, it could delay getting the service started, as everyone would need to go get bandaged up & stop all the bleeding, so as to keep from dripping blood on their keyboard….

So, we’ll take care of some housekeeping, instead….. Yesterday, I spoke about Occam’s Razor, and made a guess as to when William of Occam lived, saying the 12th century…. naturally, I was wrong….. Correction: William of Occam lived in the 13th and 14th centuries, 1288-1348 or so… different articles gave different birth and death dates, so we’ll go with Wickipedia’s version, as I remember it…. I’ll Google before publishing, of course…. That is, if my service EVER GETS STARTED!…..

Sorry, it’s getting a bit crowded in here, what with all the emotion threatening to burst out into reality…. I can’t afford to let it out yet, or the consequences may even get worse than currently implied…. I’m hoping a bit of pearling will take away at least some of the built-up angst, before it gets to a point where it breaks free of my grasp. It may be the only thing between me and an explosion of some magnitude, so we’d best get to it…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill.” — Sun Tzu

I don’t think its possible to say this too many times, as the truth it speaks only grows more plain with each repetition. I’ve also heard the same concept expressed this way, “The best way to defeat an enemy is to turn him into a friend.” This one, perhaps, is better suited for children to learn from; the warrior’s viewpoint can be learned a bit later in life. This idea, though, is best given to children at a young age, as it is a valuable tool in everyday life, if used consistently…. Those who never learn this valuable lesson suffer a distinct disadvantage in almost every human interaction they have in life, as they don’t know how to proceed in a way that enables them to succeed with the least effort expended.

“True myth may serve for thousands of years as an inexhaustible source of intellectual speculation, religious joy, ethical inquiry, and artistic renewal. The real mystery is not destroyed by reason. The fake one is. You look at it and it vanishes. You look at the Blonde Hero–really look–and he turns into a gerbil. But you look at Apollo, and he looks back at you. The poet Rilke looked at a statue of Apollo about fifty years ago, and Apollo spoke to him. ‘You must change your life,’ he said. When the true myth rises into consciousness, that is always its message. You must change your life.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

In this blog, I talk a lot about how the world needs to change, if there is to be any hope of our species continued presence on the planet into the foreseeable future. Our lack of concern, as a species, for the effects of our actions will ultimately be our undoing, if it is not changed, and soon. The cumulative effect of our depredations on the environment are eventually going to reach a point of no return, if it has not already done so, and it will be too late for any changes to matter significantly. This is physical fact, not speculation; the evidence is overwhelming, and no intelligent person can deny it, without risk of abandoning their intelligence altogether….

The changes in society that need to happen, sadly, are contingent upon a change in human nature, one that I’m pretty sure I don’t see happening to any great degree. There are just way too many sociopaths who are in positions of power over all of us, people who don’t care at all about others or what happens to them, and they are not willing to give up ANY of what they have to benefit anyone else.

Even the clear evidence that their own actions are going to result in their own demise is denied by them; their sense of entitlement does not allow them to consider that they are subject to the same laws as everyone else, and they believe they will overcome any challenges to that sense, by dint of their secure hold on the resources of the planet, and their long history of being able to do exactly as they wish….

“As soon as you are willing to discard observational data because it conflicts with religion, you are giving up any hope of ever really understanding the universe. As soon as you pick religion as the touchstone of reality, then we have to start discussing how one can demonstrate the correctness of one religion over another when different *religions* disagree.” — Wilson Heydt (whheydt@PacBell.COM)

“The answer is simple: kill the heretics. History shows us that this is the actual solution that competing religions apply — trial by combat or trial by ordeal. God is the final arbiter. What a sad waste of human potential it has proven to be.” — Paul Hager (hagerp@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu)

As can be seen by this exchange, religion isn’t the answer to the needed changes in society…. In fact, religion, for the most part, is merely the support system for those in power, encouraging the ignorant masses to obey earthly authority in exchange for the promise of everlasting life in Heaven after dying… a very convenient set of tom-foolery, that has kept much of mankind in thrall for millennia, and allowed the Beloved Ruling Class to go about their business of lying, cheating, and stealing from everyone else with the Church’s full cooperation and approval. Dickheads, all of them….

No, no bitterness here, of course not…. Well, I guess I am a bit bitter about the thousands of years of oppression and slavery that the BRC and the Churches have saddled humanity with for the past 5000 years. But, I try to put it aside, at least long enough to spout off in condemnation of their duplicity in another rant such as this one….. if I get too strident, nobody will listen, or, worse, the wrong people will listen, and come try to convince me of the error of my ways… Ah well, if that happens, it will be interesting to see the effects…. I have a feeling it will be an explosion of some size and duration, and in fact, may touch off a number of events that will draw the attention of, I hope, the right ffolkes…. That’s obscure enough, I think….

I find it interesting to note that my friend, Lou, who blogs about the same kind of stuff at times, has been suspended, again, for something…. Once I’m fully online, I intend to find out why, as it may be an indicator that the BRC, along with those covert minions of the stealthy theft of our rights, the priesthood, are becoming more bold in their attempts to curtail the flow of information…. We’ll see, and I’ll get back to you on that…. In the meantime, I’ve run out of steam here…. Be alert ffolkes, for any way to change the world…. Almost ANY change we make will be better than the way things are heading now, that is for sure, and for certain…..
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..       :
.                  .               .   . .
.           .                .               .. . . *
*          .                    ..        .
.             .     . : .   .    . .
.                         .   . . .   .
. . *:. . .
.                                 . .   . .. .         .
.     . . . …    .    .
.              . . . .    . . . .
.    .     . …   ..   .       .               .
. .    . *.   . .
.                   :. .           .
.   .    .    .
. . .    ./|\
. .. :.    . |             .               .
.   … .            |
.    :. . .   *.      |     .               .
. *.             You are here.
. .    .               .             *.                         .

🙂 Don’t worry…. I’m right here with you…. 😉

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveler in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
‘Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveler in the dark.
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
How I wonder what you are.
How I wonder what you are.

According to Google, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” was written by Jane Taylor, as a poem, and published in 1806. I’ve always liked it as a lullaby, as it doesn’t speak down to the child, and encourages imagination and wonder, which we all need to have as early in our lives as possible….. Also, it doesn’t contain any scary images common to many other children’s pieces, like falling out of the cradle from the top of a tree in “Rock-a-bye Baby”…. I never did like that one….. How can it help a young primate, with an innate fear of falling, to get to sleep with a song like that?…. Doesn’t compute, in my world….
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What with the enforced waiting time while the internet gods decide whether or not to allow me access to the virtual world, I find myself in an odd mood. I’m resigned to waiting however long it takes, but not with the serenity I had hoped for in my soul. To be honest, I feel like biting someone, hard, and it is arguably a good thing I live alone just now….. So, I’ve gathered a few pearls, that alone are each quite strong, and on another day, might all have been saved for their own pearl. But, I’m feeling lazy, and besides, together, they make a nice little pearl, a picture of the goings-on in my head this morning, sort of…. Well, more like one of those “ghost” images you can use to copy a hard drive from one computer to another…. At any rate, it’s a picture of something, for sure….. I’ll leave the framing and title for the Gentle Reader to provide out of their own imagination, purely as an exercise….

“There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.” — John Lennon

“He knew that insofar as one denies what is, one is possessed by what is not, the compulsions, the fantasies, the terrors that flock to fill the void.” — Ursula K. LeGuin, _The Lathe of Heaven_
(DEEP insight!…)

“I think the dragon’s asleep.” — Famous Last Words

“I count religion but a childish toy … there is no sin but ignorance.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Once, there was NO fun… This was before MENU planning, FASHION statements or NAUTILUS equipment… Then, in 1985.. FUN was completely encoded in this tiny MICROCHIP.. It contains 14,768 vaguely amusing SIT-COM pilots!! We had to wait FOUR BILLION years but we finally got JERRY LEWIS, MTV and a large selection of creme-filled snack cakes!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“”Why Not” is in fact an excellent reason.” — Smart Bee

It seemed for a moment or two I wouldn’t find the proper closing pearl, but Smart Bee comes through once again….. Enjoy!
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As a response to the patience I’ve used up this morning, I will now show an act of faith in the inevitability of my eventual access to the online world, and bring this Pearl to a close, minus the two bits of data to be filled in when Google becomes available. I am now just waiting for AT&T to activate the phone/data line in my room, at the behest of the service provider I’m getting the connection from; I can’t do anything but wait for them to finish their dicking around and get it done, so I’m going to go read for a while, since I can’t do any further damage here….. All things being equal, this should be published within a reasonable time, so….

As might be guessed, it took much longer than predicted, or expected, and still isn’t done; it is now 1430 PM…. I do have assurances (verbal, but sincere-sounding….) that it WILL take place…. Well, I’m showing the faith part, but, I’m still waiting to see any results for my patience….. Kind of reminds me of the whole prayer thing, y’know?….. A lot of sweat and effort with no visible effect….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Saving the pieces for posterity…..

Posted on January 7, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
For the first time since starting this blog, I’ve missed posting for two days, which one or two of y’all might have noted. On Saturday, I woke up with a raging head cold, spewing fluids from one chamber in my head to another with every cough and sneeze, and aggravating all my incipient pain. It has been, to be brief, a miserable two days, to be sure. I did write…. enough material, in fact, that today’s post won’t suffer for originality, at minimum. In fact, I’m adding an extra section today, just so I don’t have to sit on this stuff for too long….

Having done virtually nothing in the past two days but sleep, to the tune of about 19 hours a day, I’m feeling fairly rested, if still a bit congested. I’ve decided to acknowledge my age, and not test my limits by trying to act normal yet, so, I’ll get to the library later, to post this, but I’ll probably nap first, and afterward, to make up for the effort I know it will entail….. Another point for foresight, eh?…. It’s times like this I kind of wish I could have afforded to keep my car; it would be nice not to have to try to depend on bus schedules, especially with the cold, wet weather we’ve been having. Makes it hard on us poor folk, don’t ya know?….

I wrote an intro section on Saturday, but, most of it has turned irrelevant in the ensuing time, so it is being done over. I hate to throw out anything already composed, but, it really was whiny, anyway, and isn’t any loss. It’s not as if I ever run out of stuff to write, is it? I can’t seem to shut it off, not that I’d wish to, but, some overt control would be welcome at this late date….

Strangely enough, my head is relatively empty this morning, at least of material I want to put down. It is most likely a good thing I already have enough done for today; last time I wrote too much ahead of real time, I got all lost and confused, if only in my own head, and it was a mess, figuratively speaking. Today, instead, you’re getting everything I did while not posting, just to get it out of my way….. Don’t worry, it’s not bad, and not TOO long….relatively….. Without further ado, Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its one sure defense.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), Notebook, 1888

I’m positive I’ve used this in the past; it’s too good, and too familiar an idea for me to have passed it up. Since I have no idea when I did use it, it’s okay to use it again, according to the loose rules I go by around here…. This idea is one I embraced many years ago, even before the Beatles used the Blue Meanies vs. Laughter & Love as a metaphor for life, in their movie, Yellow Submarine. It seems I’ve always known that things that live and thrive in the dark, things that exist only to cause pain and misery in the world, cannot stand up to the light of laughter, or the power of love. It is almost a sad sight to watch a bully deflate and slink off when laughed at, rather than accommodated….. It might be sad, if it weren’t so satisfying….

In the twentieth century, George Carlin was probably the best defender of liberty, one of the most adept at using irreverence, and original critical thought, to poke fun at the ruling cadre. He was merciless at exposing the true motives held by those rulers, making it plain for all how the crap that people put up with in life is deliberate on the part of the ruling classes. His biting wit was graphic, clear, and undeniably true, for he never made statements that weren’t drawn from real life experience, with vivid evidence of chicanery on the part of the elite, in support of his assertion of their evil intent. He did all this, and made us laugh about it, and at them, and, most importantly, at ourselves….. Only the very best can do that…..

He took his vorpal sword in hand
Long time the manxom foe he sought
Till rested he by the tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought

— _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)

In today’s world, manxom foes are much easier to find, so thoughtful moments by the tumtum tree aren’t required as often. By this bit of nonsensical reality, I’m trying to make a point, one that escapes me completely, now that I’ve started the process. I really did have a thought that made this verse appropriate, or at least comprehensible from an odd viewpoint, but, for the life of me, I can’t find it anywhere in my head.

It had to do with bullies, and the Beloved Ruling Class (two interchangeable entities, to be sure….), and was actually, according to my memory, quite elegantly powerful in its indictment of the BRC as assholes….. It’s too bad I can’t remember it…. Just go look at a picture of a politician, or the Pope, or somebody of that ilk, and spit at the image…. you’ll get the idea, and feel better, too…..

“The last Christian died on the cross.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Now you’re talking! That’s the way, Friedrich, you tell ’em! I happen to agree with this statement quite strongly, and couldn’t have said it better. Tom Jefferson was of the same opinion, in fact, ….

“But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State.” — Thomas Jefferson, [letter?] To S. Kercheval, 1810

Tom was quite outspoken in his indictment of the entire class of those who lie to others, for power and personal gain…..

“They [preachers] dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversions of the duperies on which they live.” — Thomas Jefferson

Ah me, such rants as these can go on forever, if we let them. There is always more ammunition to fire off, so we don’t have to condemn all of them at once, I guess. We’ll leave some for a later date….. For now, let me leave you with more timeless wisdom from our favorite insane person…..

“I know things about TROY DONAHUE that can’t even be PRINTED!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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” I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear friend, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

This statement, to me, is the modern version of a literary Holy Grail….. Not merely the beauty of the ideas expressed herein, but the elegance of the expression is of such power it is almost magical. “…you will… live along some distant day into the answer.” Even though presented in prose form, this is poetry at its finest. I say it is the Holy Grail because I can only hope to seek such power and grandeur, such obvious compassion, and love for life, in my writing, and wish with all my being that I find it….. Here is a poem from Rainer….. for balance….

Black Cat

A ghost, though invisible, still is like a place
your sight can knock on, echoing; but here
within this thick black pelt, your strongest gaze
will be absorbed and utterly disappear:

just as a raving madman, when nothing else
can ease him, charges into his dark night
howling, pounds on the padded wall, and feels
the rage being taken in and pacified.

She seems to hide all looks that have ever fallen
into her, so that, like an audience,
she can look them over, menacing and sullen,
and curl to sleep with them. But all at once

as if awakened, she turns her face to yours;
and with a shock, you see yourself, tiny,
inside the golden amber of her eyeballs
suspended, like a prehistoric fly.

Rainer Maria Rilke
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“Reality is the flaw in the perfection of nothingness.” — Nyarlathotep, Reed College, Portland, OR –

“So sure are you! Tried have you? Always with you it can’t be done. Hear you nothing that I say? Try not. Do! Do! Or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda [The Empire Strikes Back]

“And I said to myself be still, wait without hope. For hope would be hope of the wrong thing. Wait without love. For love would be love of the wrong thing. Wait without faith. For the faith and the hope and the love are all in the waiting.” — T.S. Eliot

“Food, sleep, fear, propagation; each is the common property of men with brutes. Virtue is really their additional distinction; devoid of virtue, they are equal with brutes.” — The Hitopadesa (600?-1100? A.D.)

O love, could thou and I with fate conspire
To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,
Might we not smash it to bits
And mould it closer to our hearts’ desire?

— Omar Khayyam [tr. FitzGerald]

So, there I was, still in relatively massive discomfort, cruising through Smart Bee, and letting my unconscious mind pick out pearls to make a pearl. (Or are those oysters?…. Never mind….) Once again, I am unsure of exactly what my unconscious is trying to say, but, damn, it sure said it well, didn’t it? In reality, or as close as we ever approach that state on this blog, it makes a very cogent statement about the structure of human nature, if not exactly claiming to be a complete explanation, or even representation, of that nature. Given my current mental condition, I think it’s the best for which we can hope….. It’s just been one of THOSE days, y’know?….. But, really, this isn’t a BAD pearl, it’s just obscure… so it should fit right in, right? Right?….. Well, maybe not….. Ah, the hell with it…..
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(This is an extra pearl, brought to you by the cold virus, rhinus virusii, and by the word, “plonk”……)

“When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.” — John F. Kennedy

For a long time now, I’ve been ranting periodically, about a certain flaw in human nature I have observed, a flaw that all of us possess to some degree. This flaw is the tendency to manipulate other people for personal gain, rather than mutual benefit. We all manipulate; if we didn’t, we’d starve. This is a lesson we learn in our first days on Earth, as we find out that our cries will bring attention, food, and comfort. To varying degrees, our lessons in this sort of manipulation of other people continue on to adulthood…. The difference in degree we learn arises from several factors, both environmental and genetic, and is the crux of the problem our species faces now…..

You see, after a certain point, most folks don’t wish to make others do for them what they can do for themselves; it is more satisfying to accomplish something when one knows exactly what one has done to achieve it. But, a certain number of people decide, at an early age, usually, that they enjoy the power of getting others to follow their suggestions, and start finding ways to make their manipulations acceptable to others, even though those ways are immoral and unethical. These folks learn how to lie with a straight face, convincing the naive to allow them to act or think for them, because it is to their advantage. In reality, the entire manipulation is designed to benefit only the perpetrator of the lies…..

So, time passes, and these trained liars become preachers, and politicians, and lawyers, and anyone else in society who learns they can have far more than they ever need, or deserve, by hoarding resources for their own use, by writing laws, by manipulating society in ways that are advantageous to them, rather than being a boon to society. They lie, they cheat, they steal, and they tell everyone they are doing it “for YOU!” Most insulting of all, they use the pretense of “morality” to disguise their true intentions.

“Morality is the best device of all for leading mankind by the nose.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

These foul flibbertigibbets have their flunkies to make the laws for them in Congress, they have the hawks in the military to protect them from the “heathens”, they have their judges in their pockets to rule in favor of business rather than people. And, they have the preachers proselytizing the great, unwashed masses of humanity to control them, masses who never question anything they do, but continue to put their heads down and slog away, trying to win a game that was fixed from the start…..

When looking at JFK’s statement above, one might believe that he had the public in mind when he said this, and that he was indeed a champion of the people. Myself, I have a hard time seeing anyone worth over a billion dollars as a champion of the people, no matter how sincere they might sound. More likely, what he says above is merely a sop to public opinion, stated as a means of convincing the common man that he has something in common with them…. a tough sell for a boy who grew up in the biggest compound in Hyannisport, the bastion of the truly rich.

He would, by this assertion, have us believe that exposure to poetry will moderate the impulse to cruelty among the powerful, a statement which, if examined critically, is seen to be completely untrue. I haven’t seen ANYTHING in particular that has that effect, not in this world…. Technically, the statement may be true, regarding art as the touchstone of judgment, but asking me to believe that a Kennedy, a person who has never had to suffer any such judgments, actually AGREES with it, well, that’s asking too much….

“As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.” — William Shakespeare, “King Lear”

To my mind, politicians, and anyone else who lives by the insane dictates which they do, are like these gods to whom Will refers; they do what they do to us, just because they feel they can, and don’t give a rat’s ass for what anyone else believes. That may sound like a strong indictment, which, hopefully, it is…. In my own defense, I defy anyone at all to disprove the statement. Show me the evidence, if you have any, of how the government, or the churches, or the corporations, or the police, or the courts are acting in a way that is beneficial to the public. I’m willing to look at whatever anyone may have to show me, though I am quite convinced that nobody will be able to do so, as I don’t believe there is any such evidence……

“Perhaps we are wiser, less selfish and more far-seeing than we were two hundred years ago. But we are still imperfectly all these good things, and since the turn of the century it has been remarked that neither wisdom nor virtue have increased as rapidly as the need for both.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

This is a statement you may confidently place in the “fer shure” column, and forgeddaboutit. All the wisdom we need is already present in the world, I think, but the amount of virtue, or rather, the amount of influence that virtue commands, is severely limited; it is that lack that our nature shows when put to the test of Reality.

It is unfortunate in the extreme that, in this world, there are those who exhibit the flaw, those who don’t, and literally, billions of folks who don’t know, and don’t have time or energy to care, what we’re talking about. The most unfortunate part of this, is that the former group comprises the Beloved Ruling Class, and will, in all their insane glory, bring the rest of us with them down the path to our inglorious demise, unless we can bestir ourselves to wake up and throw them all out on their asses…..

“Small is the number of them that see with their own eyes, and feel with their own hearts.” — Albert Einstein
__________________________________

“We have standards and expect you not to exceed them.” — Smart Bee

Plainly, I have succeeded in not exceeding any standards whatsoever…. I am just content that I was able to piece together this Pearl; I wasn’t certain I was going to have the strength of will to push through all the residual pain hanging about. It’s done, though; that’s enough for me….. If all this stuff stays in my head too long, it can cause serious issues, and not just for me…. The rest of the world tends to have to put up with it, too…. Hopefully, it isn’t too whiny, or too self-serving; Yoda’s advice about not trying, but, instead, doing, is always timely, isn’t it?….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

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

We’ll obfuscate the prepositions after lunch….

Standing by with unqualified operators….

Psst! I got rhododendrons, cheap…..

Don’t laugh; Americans are often ludicrous…

Fully hydrogenated crankcase oil, please…..

Milling around the foyer in fabulous shoes….

To save time, they stalled….

Somewhere, the moon is flowing….

Saving the pieces for posterity…..

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