Selling icons to Philistines…

Posted on October 26, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that balances are correct.”

~~ from “Manual of Maud’Dib” by the Princess Irulan ~~

~~ From “Dune” by Frank Herbert ~~

This picture, together with the two previous pictures here at the top, were taken in Templeton, CA, at the cemetery where my friend Carol was laid to rest. This particular shot shows the very spot where her remains were buried, straight ahead in the exact center of the photo…. It was only a couple of weeks after the service, so no headstone had been placed as yet…. It’s a nice quiet spot, and suits Carol’s simple, beautiful soul. It is where she always wished to be, home in Templeton, where we grew up….

Beginning a Pearl with a reminiscence is always dangerous, as it can so easily bring me to tears; since it is a nice, quiet picture of a soothing scene, as well, we’ll just let it rest…. perfectly appropriate, under the circumstances, and go on to the rest of today’s effort. As the opening quote says, beginnings are delicate times; we will now proceed to be delicate, as far as we are able….

I should probably give a small warning, and disclaimer. Today’s Pearl is a long one, as I found some very relevant material for the rant section, so much so, it grew to be HUGE…. but, as it states, it’s important material, to me, and to everyone else, too, even if they don’t know it… Since it IS so long, I’ll show more of my ruthlessness, a lesson learned hard, to send us on to the rest of the mess…. In fact, I’ll take the advice from Tom J. at the end of this section, and do that now…

Shall we Pearl?……

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” — Thomas Jefferson

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I found this GREAT concert video from a performer, and band, popular for a long time, though now neither is as prominent now…. It’s some great music, and some funny dialog, as the band members, and Allison, spend a lot of time sharing funny stories and affectionate tales of each other’s talents and personalities…. a very intimate concert, lasting over two hours…. Also, the link has more examples of their work, along with some similar artists…Enjoy!

Alison Krauss & Union Station Live Louisville 2002

http://youtu.be/HKgTra0QldE

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Today’s Pearl is a special one, and, to my chagrin, one of the longest I’ve ever put together…. But, it’s all material that is important to me to convey to the world, whether or not they ever make up their minds to listen to it… I last posted today’s rant(s) in 2012, as a Pearl with three sections, of the variety that had a rant/poem/old school pearl format. At the time, I didn’t think it would be all that valuable in the future, but, with the way things are going, the next election for the major offices in 2016 will be a replay of the 2012 fiasco….

The most likely scenario I see coming up, in this period of time leading up to the next national election, in 2016 shows us we will probably end up making a decision between a pair of Republican Über-Conservative candidates, competing against a Woman of Destiny/Charming Liberal ticket on the Democratic side, with a severely confused, polarized, mostly ignorant and/or gullible, amorphously diverse mob of adult-sized naked apes, making up the congregation of more than a hundred and twenty million voters, all of whom will be under the (false) impression they are to decide who will be responsible for the rapine and pillaging of the public treasury for the next four to eight years…..

Trust me, ffolkes, it’s going to be a disgusting mass of extreme vituperation, rampant sleaze, thinly veiled misogyny, sycophantic pandering to special interest groups, and, simply, sheer insanity, with an overall circus-like atmosphere, replete with high drama, and low comedy…. which makes the following all that much more relevant…. Now, isn’t that the saddest damn thing you’ve ever heard?…. I think so….

From 9/26/2012:

SIGH…. the only reason I did not write this in 1988 is that I did not see the article from which it was taken until today, when I found it in some dark, nearly invisible, obscure corridor of the Internet….. I firmly believe it is never a good policy to suffer a fool gladly, thus, my code of honor demands a response…. Today’s missive begins the tale, but, by no means ends it….. Be warned, and be nervous, if not terrified…..

“I don’t know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.” — George Bush in Free Inquiry magazine, Fall 1988

The depths of ignorance displayed by this statement, by a man formerly holding the highest office in this country, is, quite simply, appalling…. The only response possible, for anyone who has actually read the Constitution of the United States, would run something like this….

Actually, George, if you weren’t a complete horse’s ass, you would already know, the Pledge of Allegiance has no legal standing, in relation to the Constitution of this country, or for that matter, in relation to what our forefathers were thinking when they founded the nation. In fact, what yoi said here, as such an upstanding Constitutional scholarly type, is, in reality, completely contrary to everything that makes a true patriot, or, for that matter, an American citizen, whose duty requires them to study and know what the Constitution says, and means.

The part in the pledge, which was originally written in the early twentieth century, (and, which no one at all is legally required to take, or state…), with the words, “under God”, was only added in the middle of the twentieth century, by the same Congressional idiots who perpetrated McCarthyism, and the Red Scare, on the American public. Before that time, it read, “one nation, indivisible… etc.”, not “one nation, under God, indivisible…” as it is now (unjustifiably) reads…

The pledge itself is not legally required by the Constitution, and in fact, could be construed as a Constitutionally illegal statement, considering the intended separation of church and state that is the backbone of what our forefathers wished us to have as our legacy…. That consists of true freedom, not the Christian usurpation of freedom…..

A person’s religious belief, or lack thereof, is protected by the Constitution, and a patriot is one who supports the Constitution, not a church, or a corporation, and doesn’t require statement of loyalty to a symbol….. Thus, logically, and legally, a true patriot is one who objects to such usurpation, and believes in the meaning of the document, not the false image of loyalty implied by the pledge…

And if his name be George, I ‘ll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget men’s names.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King John — Act i, Sc. 1

(I know, I don’t much like Will’s stuff, but, law of averages, remember?….. Give me a break, it was the only George quote I could find….)

This kind of thinking from the Shrub, whichever one it was, Junior or Senior, is the same kind of narrow-minded fundamentalism that the colonists were escaping from in England back in the 16-1700’s when they came to the New World. The churches and corporations, both of which were singled out as dangerous to the republic by Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Adams, Hamilton, and many of the other founding fathers, have tried to usurp the Constitution ever since it was ratified. Numerous letters and communications amongst our founding fathers, from one to another, as well as in public venues and statements, were filled with precautionary admonitions about allowing corporations and preachers to have access to, or influence over, members of government.

Their fears were well justified, as we now are facing just the situations they predicted….. Corporations/bankers, and the ilk, (along with their strongest supporters. the religious leadership of the world’s religions), have been, and currently are manipulating our “professional thieves”, otherwise known as politicians, to vote for laws that favor them (Really, “corporations are people?”… I don’t think so…). It is very telling, to me, to observe how the ranks of our “leaders” are rife with fundamentalists, and religious nuts of all varieties.

“Men tend to have the beliefs that suit their passions. Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty. Only kindly men believe in a kindly God, and they would be kindly in any case.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967)

It’s difficult sometimes to tell which ones are more dangerous, or more disgusting: the corporations who buy votes from those who fit the definition of “good politicians” (…. a good politician is one who stays bought…..), or the religious demagogues who want to oppress everyone who doesn’t believe the same set of dogmatic constraints as they do. Neither one is particularly hard to spot, but they are protected by their tame dogs in Congress, who will do and say anything to make sure the cash keeps flowing…. right into their pockets.

“Some men rob you with a six-gun — others with a fountain pen.” — Woodie Guthrie

As indicated by the almost 500 words yesterday, and again today, you can see that the Romney/Ryan ticket disturbs me; I have no problem ranting without end right off the top of my head about the lies and distortions of reality that continuously fall from their lips. As I mentioned yesterday, a lot of people are catching on to this, as Ryan was roundly booed offstage at the AARP meeting he attended, where he tried to sell their rape of Social Security (Smart? No. Arrogant? Completely.).

Even this is disturbing to me, as it shows me just how little they care, that they are showing themselves to be only interested in lining their own pockets, and the pockets of those who own them. They aren’t even trying to hide their lies anymore; they just keep repeating them, even after having been shown to be false, believing that if they repeat the lies long and often enough, people will buy it…. even if only to shut them up….

“Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book iii, Chap. xi

Unfortunately, they are right, to a large extent. Millions of people in this country, who have hung on to their prejudices and bigotry with desperation, as the minorities have become majorities, are supporting these assholes, merely because they are white. They don’t realize, or seemingly care, that these are the same assholes who will be screwing them over completely as soon as they get sworn in, preferring to trust in the lies, because it soothes their fears of having a black President.

“Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.” — Smart Bee

This is why I keep reiterating this point…. this election is bringing this country to a crossroads. The outcome will show whether we intend, as a nation, to continue to fight all attempts to curtail the freedoms that were bought and paid for by our forefathers, with blood, sweat, and tears, or will become just another religious, corporate-controlled entity, with a nation consisting solely of slaves, numbering in the hundreds of millions of people, and their masters, whose number is, at most, no more than five figures….

I don’t know about y’all, but I’ll be at the polls as soon as they open, and will urge everyone I know to do the same…. Vote early, and vote often (just joking…), but vote. We need to send a message to these fools, that there are still patriots and citizens of this country who believe in the vision embraced and established by the men and women who began this noble experiment in self-government…..

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” — Aldous Huxley
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Note from 2014: This is another rant, hence it’s position here in the second section of today’s Pearl…. Today, it goes here, to supplement the above arguments…. When first posted, it made up the third section of the Pearl on 9/26/2012:

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence… From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security, and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable…. The very atmosphere of firearms every- where restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” — George Washington (Bogus?)(Who cares? I don’t, it doesn’t make it any less true if it was said by someone else…. I know for certain, Tom Jefferson would have said it, if he’d thought of it first; for all we know now, he might have done so….)

I am constantly hearing people these days spouting off about gun control, and how guns should be outlawed. This is a viewpoint that I have never understood, because it makes a totally unwarranted assumption, (more than one actually, but this one is, I believe, the most important….), to wit: guns cause violent behavior, and if people couldn’t legally own them, violence would stop.

This, patently, is incredibly naive, and, at minimum, severely unreasonable, given that there is absolutely no evidence to support such a contention. There is no evidence whatsoever that violence is NOT part of human nature; this is a psychological/psychiatrically proven FACT, not subject to debate. People have violent tendencies, especially when influenced by strong emotion….

Moreover, violence is the primary response of a great many people. to almost anything they don’t understand, and, who have never learned how to use their reason to control their emotions. Thus, the majority of humans never understand the violence within themselves, allowing their fears, very strong emotions, indeed, to control their behavior, for it is our naturally induced response to cover fear with anger, with its ever-present danger of slipping over into violence….

In short, many people, when afraid, simply strike out in response; this simple fact carries over into other, more complex situational behavior, without those involved ever even being aware of the process within themselves…. and, this tendency extends into every level of human societal interaction; our political pundits, though they speak of violence often, have no clue as to how their own fears control them, any more than do religious leaders, or the average joe on the street who buys into all their BS…. Hence, we have politics, and religion, and sports, and, advertising, and, racism, and bigotry, and misogyny, and, eternal, unending war between men….

Though I’ve never owned or carried a gun, I am a firm believer in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, in its most literal sense. Without the right to bear arms in our own defense, we, as citizens, would be at the mercy of whomever was in office at the time, and would have no recourse at all to any redress of grievance against those officials, since they could not be forced to comply with law.

I do NOT trust any elected official to act in MY best interests; human nature also decrees that they will act in their OWN interests first, with no compulsion to even consider anything else. Making it a law that only police and government lackeys could legally be armed is a sure way to guarantee that the average citizen would be at the mercy of these so-called leaders, mercy being a quality they have never, heretofore, demonstrated in any fashion.

In fact, here’s an example, straight from a horse’s mouth, as to how many of today’s ‘officers of the law’ feel about the citizenry they are supposedly there to protect and serve, to wit:

“In our society, sometimes you have to penalize (innocent) people for the good of everybody else.” — A Pittsburgh Cop 10/16/93

As I said, I don’t own or carry guns…. However, I’ve trained myself to be dangerous without the use of them, and feel no fear that I cannot deal with an armed man to my benefit; this is simply because it is the person holding the gun that is the danger, not the gun itself. Speed, power, and accuracy are the key elements to controlling a violent situation, along with even more valuable assets, forethought and preparation, added to the ability to keep a clear mind under duress.

When a person is holding a gun, they feel ten feet tall and invincible, but they remain human, and humans can be controlled with superior strategy and tactics. It does no good to hold a gun, when the target won’t sit still, or even remain visible….. To an experienced warrior, that sense of invincibility becomes a liability to the gun-wielder.

However, most Americans do not have this sort of skill set, nor the state of mind that makes it work. In the hands of a skilled warrior, a gun becomes a dangerous weapon indeed, for it will be used to achieve the warrior’s goals, as any weapon would, not employed to merely bully others into doing what is desired, which is the usual use of these kinds of weapons in the hands of the ignorant and deceitful. And, it should be noted, politicians, by the very nature of their sociopathy, do get rather deceitful in the pursuit of their self-centered ends. The desire to be in public office, to me, is a sure sign of a sick mind, as a healthy one has no need to assume power over others, being content to be in control of themselves.

So, I would say to those who would get rid of, or, in any way, alter the intent of the Second Amendment…. “Get a grip on reality, and shut the fuck up….. Truly, your lack of sophistication and knowledge of human nature gives you no right. or reason, to speak……”

“When you’re a child, you pledge allegiance to the flag. When you grow up, you swear to uphold the Constitution. Compare and contrast to the President’s current actions.” — Larry Wake (lkw@csun.edu) (He was referring, of course, to one of the Shrubs….)
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Well, that turned into quite a little rant…. I guess I needed to get that out. In reading back over it, I have nothing to regret, for it is all the plain and simple truth. So, I’ll send it out there, with the ever-present invitation to come back at me with any thoughts you that may occur to you….. Arguments, for or against, are welcome and appreciated. Constructive criticism is also welcome, wherever it is deemed to be warranted; ignorance will be ignored if harmless, or ruthlessly exposed for what it is if not, at my discretion. But, please don’t get upset if I don’t answer a comment; I intend to answer all comments, and try to get to all of them, but my internet time just now is limited, and I’m probably missing some comments.

Flaming, or fanaticism, or personal attacks will be either cheerfully deleted, or prosecuted/persecuted, depending on the severity of the idiocy therein…. 🙂 Oh, and keep always in mind that I pay little attention to my attempts at humor, other than as an artistic tool; making fun of it can only improve it, I’m sure….. 😉

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In looking for another poem, I found this; it’s great…. Nothing more needs to be added, except, I’ve added the link to where I found the poem, so that, if you wish, you can see some of this poet’s other works…. Enjoy!

Dog Eat Dog

It’s a dog eat dog world, a dog eat dog world, a dog eat dog eat dog eat dog world.
Live like a dog die like a dog, as the old saying goes,
The plant you water is the plant that grows, everybody knows,
Give blows, get blows
Down’s how the water flows
Live like a dog die like a dog
It’s a dog eat dog eat dog eat dog world.

Dog bites matty dog for a piece of meat,
Child hits matty child for a taste of sweet,
Woman claws her matty because she looks so neat,
Man robs his matty man because he wants to eat,
Policeman kicks his matty thief because he likes to beat.
It’s a dog eat dog world, a dog eat dog world, a dog eat dog eat dog eat dog world.
Live like a dog die like a dog, as the old saying goes,
The plant you water is the plant that grows, as everybody knows,
Give blows, get blows
Down’s how the water flows
Live like a dog die like a dog
It’s a dog eat dog eat dog eat dog world.

Preacher lies to the congregation cos that comes naturally,
Shopman cheats his customer for maximum profitability,
Politician takes all the bribes he can, constitutionally,
Lawyer robs you with a pen completely legally
Country bombs its matty land nationalistically.
It’s a dog eat dog world, a dog eat dog world, a dog eat dog eat dog eat dog world.
Live like a dog die like a dog, as the old saying goes,
The plant you water is the plant that grows, everybody knows,
Give blows, get blows
Down’s how the water flows
Live like a dog die like a dog
It’s a dog eat dog eat dog eat dog world.

~~ Nim Lee ~~

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dog-eat-dog-4/

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This may be one of the oddest, yet most powerful pearls I’ve ever created…. It has a symmetrical structure, augmented by the balanced us of quotes from our friend Zippy, and that font of wisdom, Smart Bee, with only two entries from flesh and blood contributors, both of whom are pretty well known as men of more than the common degree of intelligence, if not precisely one of wisdom….

In all, it makes a fine set of descriptive images for those individuals purportedly in charge of society, along with some rather cogent and accurate indictments of evil, and a bit of advice on how to spot the demons in human disguise…. Enjoy!…. Weird as it is, it will create an echoing sense of justice, and righteous indignation, in those who are paying attention….

“Concentrate on th’cute, li’l CARTOON GUYS! Remember the SERIAL NUMBERS!! Follow the WHIPPLE AVE EXIT!! Have a FREE PEPSI!! Turn LEFT at th’HOLIDAY INN!! JOIN the CREDIT WORLD!! MAKE me an OFFER!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Morality is learned, not legislated.” — Smart Bee, with gigoid’s full agreement

“At twenty, a man is full of fight and hope. He wants to reform the world. When he’s seventy, he still wants to reform the world, but he knows he can”t.
— Clarence Darrow

“The only way you can protect your rights is to protect those of others!” — Smart Bee

“If you really want to do something new, the good won’t help you with it. Let me have men about me that are arrant knaves. The wicked, who have something on their conscience, are obliging, quick to hear threats, because they know how it’s done, and for booty. You can offer them things because they will take them. Because they have no hesitations. You can hang them if they get out of step. Let me have men about me that are utter villains.” — provided that I have the power, the absolute power, over life and death.” — Hermann Goering

“Ambition is in fact the avarice of power.” — Smart Bee

“Now I’m being INVOLUNTARILY shuffled closer to the CLAM DIP with the BROKEN PLASTIC FORKS in it!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well, there you go…. I keep telling y’all, it’s all in the twist of the wrist….

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I’ve gone bonkers, stark, raving mad…. but, with dignity, so, all is well…. I’ve also created a humongous Pearl today, so, rather than try to be funny or profound, I’ll merely say, ta then, and be on my way, so you can get on with your day as well, having been so long delayed here…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Meatloaf, with no ketchup….

Posted on October 24, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.”

~~ Thomas Jefferson, “Writings” Vol. XVI ~~

One wouldn’t think so, but, the quote from Jefferson, above, is perfectly appropriate for the picture…. which is shot of the flower I picked, and brought to leave at the grave side of my friend Carol, when two other classmates of mine went with me to visit her, at her final resting place, at the Templeton town cemetery (Templeton is the small farming town in Central CA where we all grew up….)…. and, I should have know better than to try to start the day with a reminiscence….. Now, I am leaking copious amounts of salty fluids out of my eyes, making it difficult to see what I’ve typed; damn this frigging PTSD!….

I suppose there is nothing actually wrong about crying; under the proper circumstances, it can be quite cathartic, and may even release tension and/or built up feelings of guilt, or loss, or whatever emotion assails us, when we get to the point where we must cry, or burst…. But, this is different…. Any time I feel ANY damn strong emotion, whether happy, or sad, or in any way poignant, my tears begin to flow, almost as if I were a child of two or three, with no emotional control over my feelings at all. For a man of my age, and capabilities, it is not merely embarrassing to have it strike as it does, willy-nilly, with no warning or pattern I can find, it is demeaning, as well…..

How we got into this emotional morass is simple, and my mistake…. I should know better than to start of talking of Carol; it brings out my strong emotion every time, as she is sorely missed. Carol was the kind of person we all know some time in our lives; she’s the one who always had a smile for you, no matter how she felt herself; one of those people whose presence makes others feel happy. She baked, and, I am positive, though I was not there, that her house was the one all her children’s friends hung out at, because there were always cookies, or a cupcake, and a warm smile from Mom… I envy her husband, for all the years he was allowed to have with her; we grew close in the last couple of years before she died, and I am glad, for she was one of the BEST people I have ever known…. and I say that, even though I never even ate one of her cookies…

It is fortunate, for me especially, that writing a blog is not a form of performance art, at least not in the sense of having a camera on us, recording us as we pound away at the keyboard…. though, in my case, it would be, if nothing else, NOT boring, as I never sit still for very long; I am up and down from the chair every few minutes to ease some painful bone or another, with these movements interspersed with periods of absolute stillness, as I compose in my head, then mad, desperate typing, as I try to get it down before it fades away, into that limbo we authors fear the most, where our best ideas get lost, never to be seen again….

Okay, well, that was something…. I’m not really certain just how to view the above…. it’s done, so, it stays, naturally. But, I am pretty sure I’ve never done anything quite like it…. In addition, I must say, I’m glad for that, and I hope never to go through this particular opening process again, as it hurt, in a lot of different ways, not all physical…. I’m STILL trying to clear out my sinuses from the crying jag I’ve already gone through, THRICE…. I’s okay, though; it got us this far down the page, so, silver lining, I guess…. Whatever the method, we’re here, so….

Shall we Pearl?…..

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

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Having fulfilled my promise to pre-screen any more video movies, I can honestly say, this show, a long running BBC series, is NOT one of the reasons I stopped watching TV…. This, in spite of being on TV, and, no doubt, chopped to pieces by commercial interruptions, is excellent…. Fortunately, in this format, on You Tube, one need no longer put up with those ads, so, the story unfolds seamlessly, without the jolting stops and starts…. Moreover, it is one of the best of the Holmes stories, well adapted to the screen, with a wonderful cast of very strong actors…. Enjoy!….

Sherlock Holmes: The Copper Beeches

http://youtu.be/epb0TwwrwHI

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“The last vestiges of the old Republic have been swept away.”

~~ Governor Tarkin ~~

Governor Tarkin’s words from Star Wars, Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back, assume an eerie precognitive accuracy in today’s world. Our country, which began, perhaps, as the world’s first truly democratic republic, has been so completely taken over by corporate interests, who hold private, dangerously delusional ambitions, which, over time, has prompted them to establish and maintain a world order according to their own avaricious agenda, one which has effectively altered the way the government operates, to the point we can no longer call it anything other than what it is in reality, an oligarchy…. government by, and for, the rich….

Absolute control of virtually all the monetary and physical resources of the nation (and, really, the whole planet…) is, and has been for some time, firmly under the control of a very small number of very rich assholes. (Well, the last word isn’t part of the actual definition, but, is most certainly my own opinion…). That control now extends to define every domestic and foreign policy carried out…. by ANY administration…. Even the makeup of those government administrations is controlled by those with money; they’ve paid the courts enough to ensure the laws will favor anything they wish to do to maintain that control, by putting their own stooges in a position to make the laws they need, and to judge those laws the way they wish….

For example….

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/22/torture-obama-cover-up-cia

“At this point, it’s becoming hard to believe anything Obama says about torture. The New York Times’ Charlie Savage reported Sunday that this administration is considering reinstating the Bush administration’s absurd interpretation of the United Nations treaty against torture, signed by the US decades ago, so that the US can claim the UN actually meant that any torture happening outside one’s own country essentially, you know, doesn’t count. Military and intelligence lawyers “say they need more time to study whether it would have operational impacts.” Really? I thought we stopped torturing people five years ago.”

“If Obama were to adopt this radical interpretation, sure, it would contradict all of his promises as he came into office, but as legal professor David Lubon describes, it would also directly violate US law.”

— excerpted from the above article

“Extreme avarice is always mistaken; there is no passion which is oftener further away from its mark, nor upon which the present has so much power to the prejudice of the future.” — La Rochefoucauld

It has become obvious, at least, to me, the unseen, shadowy masters of society no longer particularly care so much about keeping their agenda hidden…. The future La Rochefoucauld predicted is NOW…. The current collection of Obamadrones, who inhabit the White House, originally promised, as part of the pre-election set of lies the public wished to hear, ( Specifically designed, very effectively, as it turns out, to convince voters to put them in office….), to be the “most transparent administration ever”, along with murmurs about closing Guantanamo, and getting us out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East wars….

But, what has actually happened? Guantanamo is still operative, and, as the article shows, isn’t going anywhere soon, in spite of all the controversy; the torture continues, too, despite the insistence it does not…. just another lie, as it turns out. This administration is responsible for continuing the illegal spying done by the NSA, as well, having never even bothered to deny anything…. They just keep taking journalists and potential whistle blowers to court, for having given away their secrets, with charges based solely on provisions of that most evil document, the Homeland Security Act, a poorly disguised euphemism for Big Brother’s Mandate, a document that abrogates virtually every one of the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution…..

Yet, we still have troops on the ground all over the world, and, we are STILL bombing a number of foreign countries in our search to kill “terrorists”, with planes, AND with robot drones…. It’s said we spend $75 million/day for that bombing; I wonder who’s getting that money? Arms dealers, ya think?….

In order to distract critics, a fair amount of reform has been accomplished in the healthcare field; but, a close look at the resulting structural changes shows that, in essence, once again, the major winners are not the people, but, rather, the insurance companies, the HMO’s, the pharmaceutical companies, and all those other nice folks who charge the little people up the ass for their medical care, which, when one thinks about it, should be the right of every citizen, regardless of their position, or financial status….

What is society for, if not to share common knowledge (i.e., medical expertise and accumulated knowledge which is the legacy of the species, not the doctors, or the government…), to provide a clearing house for such skills so that all members of that society have access to them, to obtain the benefits of living in the group? If not for this, what is it for?

Perhaps I am not the most qualified judge, but, I know for certain, the legacy of the species does NOT belong exclusively to those who possess them, or to those who control them… They belong to us all, and it is only human avarice, and the predatory nature of man, with its unfortunate tendency to fall into evil, that precludes such a boon… As long as the corporate masters have their way, somebody will have to pay them to get what is actually theirs by right….

On that subject, here is a good article, with some excellent points of reason, which, by contrast, sound out cleanly and clearly amongst all the crap one generally finds in the mainstream media….

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/oct/21/-sp-the-truth-about-evil-john-gray

Given what is in this article, I am not certain of how to continue; to my mind, there is little hope of changing human nature, especially at this late hour…. In spite of all the technological advances and civilization we have built up over the last millennia, we are STILL just a weak, frightened hairless ape, with the same set of emotional and reasoning patterns and responses we carried with us when we still were huddling in caves, cold, naked, and afraid of the dark…. Seriously, I am often amazed at how our species STILL acts according to the same primitive emotions, and even more primitive attitudes, of aggression, theft, and violence that characterized those creatures, living in the wild, struggling to make sense of the mass of perceptions their too-massive brains took in…

We are still just hairless apes, no more civilized than those poor, ignorant savages; we just dress better, and have learned a few tricks since our cave days…. Our emotions, and the cult of ignorance adopted by society, haven’t changed a whit….

This is long enough, and I don’t have any viable solutions to offer…. so, we’ll call this a rant, and be on our way to the poetry section, where we MAY find a small piece of what DOES make us different from the other creatures with whom we share this globe, and, one of the FEW characteristics about mankind that I find to be of any redeeming value….. poetry…..

“Give them an opposable thumb, and they think they’re special.” — Smart Bee

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

In my opinion, Charles is cool…. I say that, knowing full well the use of that word will date me…. I still think he’s cool….

Be Kind

are always asked
to understand the other person’s
viewpoint
no matter how
out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.

one is asked
to view
their total error
their life-waste
with
kindliness,
especially if they are
aged.

but age is the total of
our doing.
they have aged
badly
because they have
lived
out of focus,
they have refused to
see.

not their fault?

whose fault?
mine?

I am asked to hide
my viewpoint
from them
for fear of their
fear.

age is no crime

but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life

among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives

is.

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

Powerful stuff, eh?….

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

Here is an old school pearl of vintage variety; moreover, I let Smart Bee pick out most of it, only intervening to format each quote’s position in the pearl at large…. Let’s see how it came out….

F = MA;
Things fall down;
You can’t push a rope.

~~ The three laws of physics ~~

“Never promise more than you can perform.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 528

“Remember: Silly is a state of Mind, Stupid is a way of Life.” — Dave Butler

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe. And what do we teach our children in school? We teach them that two and two make four and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?” — Smart Bee**

“Life is the sum of all your choices.’ — Albert Camus

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read.” — Mark Twain

I ‘m weary of conjectures,–this must end ’em.
Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life,
My bane and antidote, are both before me:
This in a moment brings me to an end;
But this informs me I shall never die.
The soul, secured in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

~~ Joseph Addison (1672-1719) — Cato, Act v, Sc. 1 ~~

** (According to Dean Hannotte, a collector of quotes, with a web site here: http://www.hannotte.com/Quotes.htm, this was as quoted on page 8 of Richard Kehl’s 1990 quotation anthology entitled Further Departures ….. but, he didn’t say with whom it originated…. Hence, SB gets the credit for today…..)

There you go, ffolkes; not too shabby for one with so little direction provided at the outset…. sort of a series of comments on Reality, and our place in it, so to speak…. It’ll do to finish, quite nicely….

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

Due to circumstances completely within my control, I’m very late getting up to finish and post this mess… but, it’s done, so I’m not going to either belabor the circumstances, of bemoan my choice to not assume the necessary control of events…. In short, I don’t care, it’s done…. Moreover, I’m outta here, having done all the damage I can do…. so to speak…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Worshiping at the altar of self-mockery….

Posted on October 12, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies.” — Thomas Jefferson

I’m not altogether proud of this picture, obviously with good reason… It’s the best shot of the full moon I managed with my little Cool Pix camera, sitting on top of my walking stick to keep it steady as the moon rose over the trees…. It has kind of a hint of all that, the clouds, the trees, the moon… without ever quite bringing into enough clarity to make it compelling, other than as an exercise for the eye/brain imagery interface, to resolve the flaws when it gets into the brain, using our resident equivalent to Photoshop… sort of a Photoshop for the brain, so to speak… I suppose one could claim it is ‘mysterious’, but, that might imply one was TRYING to make it that way, which would be a lie….

According to Jefferson, then, I have naught to fear…. from truth, or lies…. Well, at least, in this instance, anyway….

Other than that, it serves only to anchor down the top of the page, after a very good quote, while, at the same time, yet, inadvertently, I assure you, providing material to fill the first paragraph…. SIGH…. I couldn’t have done it better if I’d actually tried, believe me or not. Oh, and, no worries if you don’t; believe me, that is….. I’m not very much offended by being misunderstood, even when that misunderstanding isn’t my fault, or doing; I just hit the miscreant with a brick, and go on about my business. So,as you see, as long as you put on the helmet we offered you at the door to the cabin, you’ll be fine. They (the helmets) are fully tested to be able to withstand much more than a mere brick wielded by an old man with arthritic hands & a grumpy disposition….

Golly, Wally, now what? The usual lack of creative material is currently holding sway in my brain, in spite of adequate morning ablution. This means it will get rantish later on (oops, I think I just coined another word, applicable to blogging…. rantish…. I like it…. It’s going in the dictionary….), but, it can’t be helped. I’m betting though, just the mere act of coining has distracted all of us enough we didn’t even notice how well the new word will fit well into a poem…. Spell Checker showed me several similar words that rhyme quite nicely, when I told it to add it to the list of acceptable words, one of which was an all-time favorite of mine, as it is another word that describes ME…. that word, of course, is dilettantish….

Okay, I’m going to be a nice guy…. I’ll stop here, without subjecting you to further early morning teasing. I know this hasn’t quite achieved the usual level of aggravation, to which y’all have become accustomed, but, we’ve got a ways to go, and I’m a bit tired this morning…. I guess opening that second bottle of John Daniel’s finest wasn’t a good idea, though, I must confess, it seemed like it at the time…. Of course, that was probably just the first bottle talking, but, hey, we listened, so, we have no excuses….. nor, are any offered, as my relationship with John is a private matter, between the two of us alone… and, I’m lying anyway, to prepare you for section one, where we will talk about our beloved ruling class; it’s best to give some warning, I think….

Of course, warning you gives you the chance to slip out, and just go on to the video section, but, hey, I’m required to make the attempt, if only for my own records, to cover my butt, which is hanging out quite attractively, don’t you think? I do…. But, whether or not the sight of my butt drives anyone away, we are going to go on with this, just because my dad taught me to finish whatever I start…. even the silly stuff….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity – these are strictly confined to man; he invented them. Among higher animals there is no trace of them. They hide nothing. They are not ashamed.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910) — Letters from the Earth (1905-1909)

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

REVOLUTION, n. In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. Specifically, in American history, the substitution of the rule of an Administration for that of a Ministry, whereby the welfare and happiness of the people were advanced a full half-inch. Revolutions are usually accompanied by a considerable effusion of blood, but are accounted worth it — this appraisement being made by beneficiaries whose blood had not the mischance to be shed. The French revolution is of incalculable value to the Socialist of to-day; when he pulls the string actuating its bones its gestures are inexpressibly terrifying to gory tyrants suspected of fomenting law and order. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/oct/11/russell-brand-revolution-alienation-despair

Perfect timing; Russell Brand, the British comedian/shock jock/social critic, just released a new book, entitled, “Revolution”. The above link leads, not to the book, but to a reporter’s review of it, including comments from the author as to his motivation for writing it, and for now espousing revolution in the world, for realio-trulio, no foolin’, no bullshit…. which, as you might imagine, is a concept I can get behind in a New York minute (which, as you may know, lasts about a nanosecond…)…. Can I call ’em, or what?

I’ve been saying for a couple years that the Asininnies were getting so egregious in their looting of society, they’re not bothering to hide as much, and that this would eventually lead to revolution… Of course, I was the one making the suggestion, but, I also knew, and stated, that society was going to mirror my own reactions, and the idea of revolution would become more real as time went by. It had to happen, as history provides us with many examples of following the same path in previous centuries…. This has all happened before, ffolkes; the names have been changed, not to protect the innocent, but, just because new assholes are born every minute…

“The United States has entered an anti-intellectual phase in its history, perhaps most clearly seen in our virtually thought-free political life.” — David Baltimore

And, WHY are the Asininnies so able to lie to the public so successfully? Well, because people, for the most part, and in the greatest number, are fools, easily led by the nose, and perfectly susceptible to manipulation, due to their gullibility…. They, the pundits and talking heads who get elected, KNOW this about people, and are shameless, and ruthless, in applying it as often as they can…. which is all the damn time, every damn day…

“If a lie is repeated often enough all the dumb jackasses in the world not only get to believe it, they even swear by it.” — B.B. Franklin

I was glad to see that the movie about Edward Snowden is coming out; it will certainly add to the situation described above, i.e., it will provide that much more evidence of how the governments of this world have worked to subjugate and repress the general population, increase the wealth gap, and, steal as much as they can, while they can…. Below, you’ll find a link to a review of the film, a link to the trailer on You Tube, and a player to watch that trailer here, if you wish…. I hope everyone alive with two working neurons in their head will see this, for then, revolution would be assured….

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/11/citizenfour-review-snowden-vindicated-poitras-nsa-journalism

“He means well” is useless unless he does well.” — Plautus

As far as I can see, Mr. Snowden has done well….

http://youtu.be/XiGwAvd5mvM

At this point, I will show mercy…. I could easily rant for a while longer, but, to spare you further torment like that, I’ll finish off this section with a relatively short pearl, to take the rest of my shots at the Asininnies, wherever they might be….

“There is a great deal of human nature in people.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

“The right to revolt has sources deep in our history.” — Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

“The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” — Isaiah, Isaiah 2:4

(Gee, why does it NOT surprise me to see this, and to realize that, when it comes to government, they stopped paying attention to this sort of idea long ago?…. In fact, I’m fairly sure it has NEVER been tried….)

“Cops do it with nightsticks.” — Smart Bee

“The remedy in the United States is not less liberty but real liberty — an end to the brutal intolerance of churchly hooligans and flag-waving corporations and all the rest of the small but bloody despots who have made the word Americanism a synonym for coercion and legal crime.” — Archibald MacLeash (b. 1892)

“The price of liberty is, always has been, and always will be blood: the person who is not willing to die for his liberty has already lost it to the first scoundrel who is willing to risk dying to violate that person’s liberty. Are you free?” — Andrew Ford

That should do it….. So be it. gigoid has spoken….

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

A great many people will never have heard of this artist, which is a shame, but, pretty much was the way he wanted it. Fred Neil was a legendary performer, not to the public, who only knew of him through two of his songs, which EVERYONE heard on the radio at one time…. Other than those, he produced only three albums, which never hit the mainstream….

But, among other artists, he was, and, is still regarded as one of the very best blues players/singers to ever live, with an incredibly creative talent on the guitar for making new melodies and riffs, and a voice that could rip out your heart with feeling…. The video is the best version of his most famous song, but, you can see more of his work, including all his albums, by following the link to the You Tube page…. Enjoy, ffolkes; if you haven’t heard him before, you are in for a huge treat… You especially must listen to his song, “The Dolphins”…. it is INCREDIBLE!…..

Fred Neil: Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me

http://youtu.be/M-Ql1284QLw

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

While searching for another poet, I came across this gem, which is new to me…. Since it also fits in with an ever-present theme here on ECR, I though it would go well, even if it’s a bit long…. It makes up for it with relevance….

Television

The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set —
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotised by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink —
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK — HE ONLY SEES!
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY … USED … TO … READ! They’d READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start — oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

~~ Roald Dahl ~~

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

To finish of today, Smart Bee came up with a seven-star pearl made up of some comments/observations regarding the bane of our existence as humans…. ourselves….

“And it shall some to pass that idiots shall roam the earth, and morons shall rule the masses.” — Smart Bee

“We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.” — George Bernard Shaw

“It’s not very pleasant in my corner of the world at three o’clock in the morning. But for people who like cold, wet, ugly bits it is something rather special.” — A.A. Milne’s Eyore

“When we talk of tomorrow, the gods laugh.” — Smart Bee

“The frightening thing is not dying, the frightening thing is not living.” — T-Bone Burnett

“Extinct is forever.” — A little reminder from Smart Bee

“A little learning is a dangerous thing but a lot of ignorance is just as bad.” — Bob Edwards

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

Here is your homework for tomorrow, ffolkes; as determined by SB, this will give you the best chance of surviving the night with your insanity intact…. Write an Essay: “Describe the universe in 500 words or less and name 2 examples.” I thought it would be a good addition to also have you explore one of your two examples (not this one), with proof of completion to be provided by a video recording of your trip…. If you need a camera, the equipment desk has a number of Go-Pro models for you to check out for use….

There…. I don’t believe I can do any more, or cause any more confusion, so, I may as well get on with the rest of today…. I hope y’all enjoyed today’s Pearl; it took some effort and thought, both of which I am currently in short supply….. and, no comments from the peanut gallery about always being in short supply of those products…. Do I insult you? Well, not directly, anyway…. I think it would be best if I just go now…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Monotheism typically requires optimistic pessimism, and pink underwear….

Posted on October 9, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.”

(Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.)

~~ William of Occam, Occam’s Razor ~~

———————————-

“Some people still think you need shaving cream to use Occam’s Razor.”

~~ Sardonic Bee ~~

Miranda, Moon of Uranus, photo taken by Voyager, from an article on Space.com

It seems the battle waging inside my head is leaking over into my process; not only do I have nothing in my mind, but, the vast power of that nothing terrifies me. For over three years now, I’ve used the process of creating this blog to keep me relatively sane, but, sanity seems to be receding in my rear-view mirror, as I type…. For some days now, my mind has taken me for a retrospective ride through my memories, not always to the most comforting destinations therein…. All of us, even those of us who consider ourselves to be Warriors of the Light, know we have failed in life at certain moments; we all have places in our memory which we don’t care to remember often, as they are proof of our weakness….

My problem isn’t that there are too many of them, though, some might say so…. they, however, usually are people who don’t have a clue as to what I’ve lived through, so I figure what they may say doesn’t count, and, in fact, shows their own ignorance & lack of morality more than it does any such failures on my part…. No, I’m talking about memories which we wish we could change, where our actions, and the decisions made, were just wrong, and weak, and, worst of all, may have harmed another creature, whether human or otherwise…. Things we can only admit to ourselves, in the privacy of our own minds…. things so egregiously immoral that we condemn ourselves for having done them….

But, nobody can change the past, and, after a while, weeping over past mistakes gets old, as well as futile…. I KNOW that there are many things in Life we cannot change; the most obvious of those is the past. Feeling bad over past errors in judgment is about as futile as it gets in this dimension, under these laws of universal nature…. and, as long as I continue to whip myself over stuff I can’t change, I’ll continue to suffer these paroxysms of emotionalism and angst…..

I am feeling somewhat stronger, and better, because I’m closer to being able to live with my mistakes again; thanks to the time I spent in therapy, I know how to get through it better, to regain my center, and my balance there…. But, this time, it has leaked over into this process more than in the past, so, that, I think, is something to work on….

All I know at this point is, I’m tired of trying to type while tears are making it tough to see the keyboard, so, it’s got to stop. Putting these Pearls together has been my salvation; I refuse to give it up, even if it does become more work than play…. I guess the fact that it can serve as both is what makes it so valuable to me…. but, that’s another of those things I don’t want to look at too closely, lest it disappear altogether for being exposed….

Now, maybe the picture I chose today will make more sense to you…. Just look at Miranda, the poor wee thing…. a moon of a huge, eccentric planet, with a tilted axis, and a massively elliptical orbit, that over the millennia has pulled, and twisted, and turned her insides out with gravitational stresses. Consequently, the face she shows to the universe has turned into a horrible caricature of a moon, with lines, cracks, and twisted features running in all directions. For such a beautiful name, her face is scarred and terribly disfigured…. as I feel inside…. But, it’s okay, because, I know I don’t need to sweat making any changes in the world…. I only need to make changes within me, as necessary and appropriate….

Shall we Pearl?….

“How are things? Just as they are.” ~~ Smart Alec Bee

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

What we have below is a pearl composed of elementary ideas re: the American experiment…. If I were to rant, these would all be part of it, in the sense of being all of one theme, of how it is supposed to work… The first thing to remember, is to acknowledge the veracity of the first pearl, just below, by A. F. Tyler, a truism of historical perspective with which we must view all the rest, including the actual historical events we have observed since the inception of our nation…. We must never forget to place the form of government we have in its proper perspective, to keep track of the bigger picture in which it exists, in space, and time…. To wit:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.” — Alexander Frazer Tyler (1748-1813), — The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic

With this in mind, we see the following pearls/ideas become even more important, as we realize our own duty, if we wish to have ANY of the freedoms enjoyed by our ancestors. In my lifetime, I’ve witnessed our society progress from abundance into selfishness; we are well on our way to complacency now, as indicated by society’s general refusal to acknowledge the danger of climate change, which is only a PART of the environmental issues with which we are threatened… Given the state of the environment, we may, or may not, have enough time to ever get to the point of apathy, much less dependency…. Nonetheless, if we pay heed to these pearls, it certainly can’t hurt, and it could very well help….

“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

“Millions of sensible people are too high-minded to concede that politics is almost always the choice of the lesser evil. “Tweedledum and Tweedledee,” they say, “I will not vote.” Having abstained, they are presented with a President who appoints the people who are going to rummage around in their lives for the next four years. Consider all the people who sat home in a stew in 1968 rather than vote for Hubert Humphrey. They showed Humphrey. Those people who taught Hubert Humphrey a lesson will still be enjoying the Nixon Supreme Court when Tricia and Julie begin to find silver threads among the gold and the black.” — Russell Baker, “Ford without Flummery”

“That truth cannot be material in any respect, is contrary to the nature of things. No tribunal, no codes, no systems can repeal or impair this law of God, for by his eternal laws it is inherent in the nature of things … It is evident that if you cannot apply this mitigated doctrine for which I speak … you must for ever remain ignorant of what your rulers do. I can never think this ought to be; I never did think the truth was a crime; I am glad the day is come in which it is to be decided; for my soul has ever abhorred the thought, that a free man dared not speak the truth.” — Alexander Hamilton

“…I am opposed to all attempts to license or restrict the arming of individuals…I consider such laws a violation of civil liberty, subversive of democratic political institutions, and self-defeating in their purpose.” — Robert A. Heinlein, in a 1949 letter concerning “Red Planet”

“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

“We have a presidential election coming up. And I think the big problem, of course, is someone will win.” — Barry Crimmins

“He serves the state best, who opposes it the most.” — Smart Bee

Well, there you go…. so be it. gigoid has spoken….

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

We all grew up with the Beach Boys, so, no introduction is necessary, I think…. just enjoy…..

The Beach Boys, 50th Anniversary

http://youtu.be/1ldm-_jKKes

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Again today, especially today, we’ll keep this in-house, to keep from affecting anyone else’s reputation….

Dreaming of Calliope

La belle dame sans merci speaks aloud through endless night,
torturing dreams, with powerful words and stentorian phrases.
Manifest visions bathed in unbearable grace and light,
destroying all direction, standing lost, in unfathomable mazes.

Fate plays a part, one that will never face denial,
as fear and courage eternally vie for ascendancy.
Conflict becomes valid, gifting strength in open trial,
but honest emotion wears no costume so fancy.

Blood, sweat, and tears stroll on avenues of gold,
unlikely heroines heralding as in ancient lore;
Sharp, competent knives cut through tales untold,
eternally shifting reality past the naked shore.

Drifting toward origin, bereft of mandate or cause,
finished, nay, abandoned, tied with a figurative bow.
No simple gift from muses to give comfort or pause,
save that all we need to know, we already know…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

All in all, the pearls below are not bad advice…. but, like all advice, it’s worth what one pays for it, exactly; for it to be of any value at all, one must pay heed….

“We shall not grow wiser before we learn that much that we have done was very foolish.” — F. A. Hayek

“Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It wasn’t reasoned into him, and cannot be reasoned out.” — Sydney Smith

Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead.” — Aldous Huxley (1904-1963)

“In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“I love to doubt as well as know.’ — Dante

“Most recently, I’ve read so much about the dangers of smoke and drink that I have finally decided to give up reading altogether.” — variation on a theme by Henny Youngman

“Devote each day to the object then in time and every evening will find something done.” — Goethe (1749-1832)

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

Well, ’tisn’t evening, but, ’tis done, and I am content with that….. It gives me the rest of the day to try to find more ways to keep myself out of the pit…. I’m sure most of y’all are familiar with the pit…. you know, the deep one we fall into when we give in to the pain in our minds…. Fortunately for us all, there are a myriad of methods to keep from tumbling into its depths; the trick is to have one or more of them handy when the pit materializes right in front of our running feet…. See y’all tomorrow ffolkes, and, that is the best, most hopeful thing I can say…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

‘Tis easier to blame the indigenous population….

Posted on September 29, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“He who dies for virtue, does not perish.”

~~ Plautus ~~

(B.C. 254-184)

There is a fascinating sort of beauty to fires such as this; I’ve been to Bass Lake, where this was taken, perhaps even stood where the photographer stood to take this shot. It does look like a very familiar outline, one my mind remembers well, if only for its similarity to so many other places I’ve been in the mountains of California. The picture itself is one I saw all over the Net, released during the recent spate of wildfires in California this past summer, and, though beautiful, is also very saddening…..

But, we aren’t going to let that sadness keep us from our appointed rounds today; I’ve missed too many days already (one is too many in my book….), so, I don’t intend to miss any more…. Even if I must cheat to get them done…. I am still a bit stupefied by the meds I’m still using to combat vertigo (it’s passing, much better, but, still a bit of edginess running along that eye nerve, when I move the eyes too quickly…. but, much better), as it makes me sleep heavily, and long…. hence my late start today….

In fact, I’m so late, this intro is going to be truncated rather severely, immediately following this paragraph, else we’ll not get to the rest of this mess anywhere near soon enough…. In fact, I’ve hear a rumor we’ll be using an entirely new technique, one both effective, and ruthless…. I wonder what it looks like? It couldn’t be any worse than….. Wait. Who are you? What are you doing ther…….

Shall we Pearl?….

“As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks that this mesh of a net is an independent, isolated thing, he is mistaken. It is called a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes.” — Buddha

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

The new intro-shortening technique seems to work rather well, wouldn’t you say? A bit of upset in the initial stage there, but, nothing too obvious; no tears, or blood, so, it must be okay. So much so, it’s put me in too good a mood to rant…. plus, I didn’t have time for any research…. so, easy money, we’ll just go old school for a change in this section, thus proving the old adage, that says…. well, I forget, but, I’m sure there is one to fit…. For the nonce, I have a perfect set of pearls for this space, one I’ve been saving for just such an occasion…. I give you then, the following pearl of pearls….

Hodge Podge, aka Oyster Stew

Ladies and gentlemen…. for some time now, I’ve collected pearls for use here on ECR, as part of the format, upon which we depend, to give us the structure that otherwise might never have shown its face. We’ll never really know, but, accept that there are certain things in life destined to remain mysterious…. and, we can’t chase all of them down to see which is which, now, can we? Of course not…. It’s much the same with pearls…. they work, for what they are needed for, or they don’t…. but, often, when they don’t, I find it hard to get rid of them, as they have something of their own, which I have found it can be worthwhile to consider, even without the direction provided by a set of parameters….. many of which are randomly chosen, themselves….

Any who, I end up with a lot of stuff that is pretty cool, but, doesn’t fit in anywhere with what I’m working on…. below you’ll find a rather extensive array of some of these random, extraneous, yet valuable pearls, collected, but not used as yet…. I don’t like to let them build up too far, as I then lose track of what is there…. even my memory has limits…. So, here are a bunch of them, just for fun, and maybe, who knows, a bit is virtual wisdom, to boot….. Abondanza!

“If you attack Stupidity you attack an entrenched interest with friends in government and every walk of public life.” — Robertson Davies

“For this invention [writing] will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practise their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.” — Plato (274-275 BC) in Phaedrus

“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain

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

“Lysander said that the law spoke too softly to be heard in such a noise of war.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Caius Marius

“The belief that words have a meaning of their own account is a relic of primitive word magic, and it is still a part of the air we breathe in nearly every discussion.” — Charles K. Ogden, The Meaning of Meaning

“Possibly the greatest threat to those who want to believe that everything in the Bible is true was advanced by an individual standing in wading boots in cool water up to his hind end, in fact, who revealed that most of the early witnesses to all that Jesus said and did were fishermen!” — Smart Bee

EXCERPTS FROM LIFE’S LITTLE INSTRUCTION BOOK, VOLUMES I AND II

35. Plant a tree on your birthday.
47. Don’t waste time learning the “tricks of the trade.” Instead, learn the trade.
53. Vote.
68. Be brave. Even if you’re not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
100. Read the Bill of Rights.
198. Feed a stranger’s expired parking meter.
209. Observe the speed limit.
267. Lie on your back and look at the stars.
271. When facing a difficult task, act as though it is impossible to fail. If you’re going after Moby Dick, take along the tartar sauce.
322. Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
393. Learn how to operate a Macintosh computer.
513. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams.
558. Never betray a confidence.
595. Be the first to fight for a just cause.
817. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
939. Never be ashamed of your patriotism.

— H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Just so’s you know…. I think #271 of Life’s Instructions is a really good one….. #558 is a solid truth, as well.

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

Here is some rather esoteric rock, by one of the SF Bay Area most beloved local performers, Boz Scaggs, at a live concert benefiting the Bridge School, an alternative school in Marin…. Enjoy, please… it’s different than the usual fare you hear, for certain…..

Boz Scaggs, Live 2004:

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

Any introduction for this poet is superfluous; you know who he is…. Now, enjoy one of his best….

Adventures Of Isabel

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

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

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

Here’s a pearl of indeterminate style, yet, somehow, seems to work… It may be the closing pearl that does it, bringing it all into focus, but, that may must be the drugs talking…. Y’all can take from this whatever you wish to take; it has more than enough to suit any taste…. Watch the ending, though, it’s kind of a rapid turn, & I’m not sure of the road’s ability to handle it at speed….

“Nothing endures but change.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.)

“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depends on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the measure as I have received and am still receiving.” — Albert Einstein

“Whatever happens at all happens as it should; thou wilt find this true, if thou shouldst watch narrowly.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD)
— Meditations, iv, 10

“Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.” — Phillip Brooks

“Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of the colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. Each time a person stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” — Robert F. Kennedy Speech, South Africa, 1966

“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), “Circles”

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

“The Stolen Child”

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

Like the pagan said about the gospels; “Well, it was a long time ago, and we can hope it all wasn’t true.”….from Clouds of Witness…

On that note, I believe I can safely, and with some dignity intact, take my leave for yet another day….. Regardless of the legality, or any implied lack thereof, should it be heretofore challenged in a court of law, why, y’all can give ’em my statement, yes? That would be, uh, how you say in English?….Oh, yes…. Fuck you, asshole….

Oh, for goodness sake! Not y’all…… I’m talking to, and about, those myrmidons over there, across the street, watching the house, hoping I won’t see them, standing there with their little orders from the asininnies to take me in for questioning…. I’m afraid they’re doomed to disappointment; I’ve far too much to do on my own agenda to even consider allowing them to alter any of it for THEIR purposes….. But, then, they still believe that they have the right, and/or the means, to force me to comply….. silly wabbits…

See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, and don’t worry, they won’t be here again, nor will they ever find this batch….. Ta, then…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

“The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.”

À bientôt, mon cherí.

No, no witch doctors…. I’m fine. Just a scratch….

Posted on September 15, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark;

the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

~~ Plato ~~

‘Tisn’t every day I start off with a trip to the ER, so, I suppose that makes today special, at least in that respect. So, rather than sitting here, trying to decide how to use the quote from Plate, in conjunction with my lovely picture of the sunset over the Northern Irish Sea, off the coast of Scotland somewhere, I am sitting here, trying desperately to ignore the dizziness that fills my head whenever I move it too quickly…. According to the nice young doctor at the ER, it is merely vertigo, a condition that can strike anytime, and is treatable, mostly, with medications to combat the two main symptoms of dizziness, and the nausea that goes with it most times.

For now, I’m just holding as still as possible, to prevent the dizziness…. and hoping I can hold it together long enough to get this done…. Fortunately, I had completed a good deal of it yesterday, during the breaks between sleeping to catch up, and battling the bones, which took up much of the day…. In at least one way, all this is a good thing for y’all, as it means the total amount to read will be much less than usual, and, minus any fresh ranting, as I am just not up to that now….

That being said, I’m going to also cut this intro to a degree unprecedented in previous Pearls…. In fact, we will be leaving this section very shortly, and going on to what is below… In actual fact, that is happening NOW….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“A man makes no noise over a good deed, but passes on to another as a vine to bear grapes again in season.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, v, 6

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

Phocion compared the speeches of Leosthenes to cypress-trees.

“They are tall,” said he, “and comely, but bear no fruit.”

~~ Plutarch ~~

— (46-120 AD) Phocion —

Above, you see my version of the typical tourist shot, of the British Houses of Parliament, including, of course, Big Ben, along with a glimpse of the obligatory double-decker bus, in this case, one of the tour buses, the “Hop on, hop off” variety prevalent in so many international cities now, as it makes a perfect way for tourists to see a great deal of a city in a short time, with the opportunity to get off to look more closely at something seen, and get back on when ready to go on getting the lay of the city…. I, naturally, had “hopped off” one of them, in order to walk out on the Bridge (never even asked which one it was….), to take the photo….

Today, it is here to show just one of the meeting places of the Beloved Ruling Class, this time in England, where that particular group of running dog lackeys has been shape-shifting, or, in their natural state, writhing sinuously around and through British culture, always managing to keep themselves in positions of authority and entitlement, for many thousands of years…. Many of them came to America in the early days, where they’ve been insinuating themselves into the US government since soon after its inception….

But, for centuries, aided by the natural Celtic tendency toward gullibility when confronted with claims of supernatural mandate, combined with an inherent national characteristic, or, if you will, curse, of possessing the emotional range of a teaspoon, and, an unbelievable stubbornness about ever admitting to being led by the nose, these latter-day Wizards of Oz continue to hide in plain sight, allowing their subjects to have complete (apparent) freedom, while, in truth, carrying out the same agenda as the elitists in this country have adopted, though for a shorter time, to wit: the long term con involved in converting the democratic forms of government, (call them Republican Democracies, or Democratic Republics, or, even, Constitutional Monarchies…. all same-same….) supposedly in place in both countries, into open Oligarchies, or the rule of the rich….

Now, I’m depressed again…. I’ll be back….

Obviously, I had planned to finish this today, after getting up…. Since my brain/body had different ideas for how I would start my day, I’ll have to leave it as is…. In looking it over, it is actually done enough; the point was made, and y’all will just have to do without the usual following verification/augmentation of the supporting evidence for my contentions…. I do see that I managed to put together an old-school version of a pearl, to act as a closing to this section…. so, we’ll take advantage of my forethought, and use it, here and now…. trusting to my instincts to see that it all flows together without any major welding required….

Whatever comes previously to this paragraph in this section, in the way of a rant, or discussion, or outburst of frustration and angst, sans rationale, or, whatever has tickled my fancy at that point, the following pearls will be included…. This group put itself together, at SB’s behest, apparently, as a means of poking some fun and sharp sticks at our alleged leaders in society…. Most of them are either obvious statements of how politicos think, if what they do can be so named, subtle indictments of their character, advice on how to deal with them, or Smart Bee’s take on what they want from y’all….

Also included, however, are two quotes from Thomas Jefferson…. One is included, patently, to provide contrast, and to demonstrate how the current crop of elected asininnies does NOT live by the same rules as did Jefferson…. The other is one of the warnings, or predictions, Jefferson issued to the people of this country who followed him, in his usual vein, which tells us to protect what they left to us…. His words have been preserved very well; the freedoms to which most of them referred? Not so well…..

“Vote Republican. It’s easier than thinking.” — Smart Bee

“A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.” — Jack London

“It is not honorable to take mere legal advantage, when it happens to be contrary to justice.” — Thomas Jefferson, POTUS III

“It had all the earmarks of a CIA operation; the bomb killed everybody in the room except the intended target.” — William F. Buckley

” We should declare war on North Vietnam. We could pave the whole country and put parking strips on it, and still be home by Christmas.” — Ronald W. Reagan

“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Vote Democrat. It’s easier than thinking.” — Smart Bee

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

Yesterday, over the course of an hour or so, I was able to put down the following poem, ripped out of me whilst in the middle of an episode of intense pain from arthritis, in my hands, shoulders, hips, and UNIVERSE…. It may not be a traditionally formatted poem, and, as far as I know, it doesn’t rhyme, as I wasn’t thinking at all about that sort of expression… This bled out at a pace at which I was challenged to keep up, complicated by having to write in short spurts, as the hands were the worst…. Any who, I don’t care if anyone enjoys this, or not; I had to write it, or go mad, with no visible path on which to return from the trip…..

Of course, there will be some folks, and even, possibly, some folks, who will automatically place me into the “unsaved, and incorrigible” category, which is fine; it’s exactly where I prefer to be, if I must be in a category at all…. I forget who once said, “Not all poets are mad, but, it helps.”…..
Though I don’t remember who said it, I do tend to agree….

Elemental, dear Watson….

Don’t worry,
it’s not me
you hear
screaming.

It is
only
my bones,
giving in,
to
cowardly,
pathologically,
repetitive,
fucking,’
complaints
of
past abuse,
and
all the fun
we had.
playing,
hard.

I don’t mind
too much;
I can spend my
TIME
in another space
in my head,
pretending
my bones
don’t
exist….

It
is,
indeed,
a shame
they
always
come
back….

Fuck.

It
hurts.

More proof,
I guess,
either
God isn’t,
or,
He is.

He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….

Ante up.
Deal.

He is?
Then,
I don’t fucking care
who
doesn’t like it,

I say,

He
is
a bully,
a coward,
a hypocrite,
and,
truly,
an enormous asshole.

I suppose,
God
is
what comes,
to,
and
from,
People,

because

they
feel
a need,
for
someone
to
blame
for
a
Universe
they
cannot
understand
or
accept.

I
will
take the complaints.

After all,
they
are
my bones.

~~ gigoid ~~

Generally, I let the poem stand alone; today, in searching for a quote to put above the picture at the top of the page, Smart Bee presented me with the following, which provides some rather compelling evidence of the validity of the stanza in the poem, which begins with, “I suppose”….. This monumental delusional tendency haunting the species. homo horribulus, (that’s us, ffolkes….), on this planet has apparently been manifesting itself for quite some time…. since the early days of our history, to be exact…. This one shows it to be present over 2700 years ago….

“For full indeed is earth of woes, and full the sea; and in the day as well as night diseases unbidden haunt mankind, silently bearing ills to men, for all-wise Zeus hath taken from them their voice. So utterly impossible is it to escape the will of Zeus.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 101

Sorry, but, I’ll still take the complaints….

~~ gigoid

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

“Any ordinary man can surround himself with two thousand books and thenceforth have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy.” — Augustine Birrell

This section is the only one incomplete as I begin today’s post…. I’m going with my gut on this, and will put some additional pearls, to accompany the rather fine sentiment above, and to finish off this post, one of the more fractured Pearls to ever come down the pike…

“The long historian of my country’s woes.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book iii, Line 142

“Gort, klaatu nikto barada.” — The Day the Earth Stood Still

“Nothing can be produced out of nothing.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Diogenes of Apollonia, ii

“If good intentions are combined with stupidity, it is impossible to outthink them.”
— Marion J. Levy, Jr.

“Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.” — H.L. Mencken

“The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.” — Seng Ts’an, Third Zen Patriarch, — from Hsin Hsin Ming, Verses on the Faith Mind

“…and I get on my knees and pray we don’t get fooled again.” — Pete Townshend

Wow…. SB is being really nice today…. Those seven pearls came one after another, with only two extraneous and useless quotes mixed in with them… Most excellent, as it went really quickly, as hoped…. Now, we’re done…. yay!….

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

“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.” — Bob Dylan

I get the feeling I am not the only one who feels like Bob…. But, all that is for another day. I’m done, and I’m outta here, to go hold still, and think of how to get through another day, with this added complication to adjust to…. SIGH…. Life is grand, isn’t it? See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

Bust it up, boys! It’s all gotta go!….

Posted on September 13, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hopes for the human condition is a fool.”

— Albert Camus

It’s really too bad I’m so late today; getting the little bit of extra sleep always does me good, but, then, upon arising, I must deal with the White Rabbit syndrome, which always afflicts me on these mornings…. My sense of duty is so strong, even letting myself get some extra Z’s will cause my inner critic to sound off, trying to flip me over into guilt, just because I had a tough day yesterday, and paid the price in sleep….. Oh well, nothing much I can do about either end of that, so, we’ll just pretend it isn’t happening at all, and go on to bigger & better things….. provided, of course, we can find anything like that around here….

It is now the usual time I post, and I’m just getting started; haven’t even been in to complete the day’s routines that come prior to starting. I hate to break routine like this, but, my skeleton insisted, so, what is done is done…. However, since I am late, I’ll try to keep this intro out of the usual ranting mode I fall into…. It shouldn’t be too hard, my mind is relatively blank this morning, anyway…. In fact, it’s so empty, maybe I’ll just forgo any sort of intro at all, and…. no, wait, too late, we’re already this far in…. Everything else would fall over in a heap, if I leave this right now…. gotta remember those weight-bearing walls stuff; the intro does more than just decorate the top of the page, y’know….

I realized, while completing some of this routine, I feel as if my life is on a cusp, that the decisions and directions I choose now will lead to a new, and important time in my life, and have been feeling so for some time now…. I’m not sure exactly what the feeling means, in terms of how to react, but, I know that caution is called for; I’m old enough to be a little leery of how snap decisions can affect us later in our lives…. But, I’ve always been one who tries to live like a tiger, who explores the world without fear, rather than a turtle, who remains whole, and alive, by pulling in their head, and ignoring the world, when danger threatens….

That said, I’m looking forward to the future, which, given my age, my understanding of reality, and my absolute agreement with what Camus said in today’s opening lines, is somewhat of a surprise…. There isn’t a lot of good news out there regarding our future; I suppose that goes to show, with us humans, our own little slice of reality is what concerns us the most, and, in the final analysis, the world’s events are less important to us, than those that affect us directly…..

That, my friends, is human nature, which, though we cannot change it to any real extent, we can learn to live with it, and adjust the way we allow that to control our decisions…. Right action doesn’t always, in fact, seldom, run parallel to what is true in reality; often, we must act in ways that go against the grain, if only to maintain our own dignity, and self-respect…

All of that being said, to little purpose beyond organizing my own thoughts, I see we’ve again come far enough to call this an intro, and get on with the rest of the daily mess…. I’m going to show some unusual flexibility in this regard, and go along with that assessment, thus freeing us to get on with it, such as we may…. Since we are in the exact position needed for this extraction, I’ll just throw this switch right here, and we’ll be gone, onward….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Wherever I go, there I am, Pooh mused.” — Found in Smart Bee, unattributed; possibly from “The Tao of Pooh”, in which we see Pooh as a metaphorical manifestation of the concept of the Uncarved Block, an elemental source of truth through simplicity.

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

“If you’re a circus clown, and you have a dog that you use in your act, I don’t think it’s a good idea to also dress the dog up like a clown, because people
see that and they think, “Forgive me, but that’s just too much.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/michael-stipe-talks-freedom-towers-dark-nationalism-on-9-11-anniversary-20140911?utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=091214_1601&utm_medium=email&email=alphagigoid@gmail.com

“The Freedom Tower was meant to inspire patriotism and instead embodies the darker sides of nationalism,” Stipe wrote. “The 9/11 attacks and the Bush administration’s response, buoyed by the media, and our shock at having finally been direct victims of terrorism, paved the way for a whole new take on ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ There was no longer any need to explain or publicly debate militaristic power, or the police state mindset. To do so was to be the opposite of a patriot.” — Michael Stipe, REM frontman, and NYC resident, who, on 9/11, lived just a few blocks from Ground Zero….

My first impression, upon reading the first few paragraphs of this article in Rolling Stone, was one of dejá vu, for every single thing Mr. Stipe is quoted as saying were thoughts that went through my head, at the time of which he is speaking, ie. the after-effects, and after-events of that day’s infamy….. He, too, as I do, holds the media at fault for egregiously fanning the flames of ignorance and fear, labeling all those who attempted to formulate a reasoned response to any, or all of it as being unpatriotic, even, treasonous….

The whole “French” thing that happened soon after the attacks, when France showed a moment of rationality before committing to war, is a perfect example of how both the media and the government were complicit in making things worse than they already were, deliberately using this to modify pubic opinion, harping on the public’s fear and anger, thus manipulating them into adopting the attitudes they needed, in order to accomplish their goals…. which is, as is patently obvious, the tens of BILLIONS of dollars that have, since that time, poured into the coffers of the arms dealers, all over the world…..

If anyone out there believes that isn’t true, well, ffolkes, come on down & say so; make sure you bring some evidence ffolkes can see, and feel, and touch…. In short, REAL evidence, not opinions… These are opinions, backed by such evidence, which can be found in any news distribution site…. I predict nobody will do so, because, as they know, there is no evidence to support their position….

In the 13 years since that day, the only people in the world who have benefited, in any way, from any of the subsequent events in the world, have been those who make munitions, arms, and the other equipment/tools necessary to the waging of a modern war…. Everybody else is in worse shape, and we are ALL that much closer to the END GAME, coming in a much nearer future than anyone will admit, the day when Mama Gaia comes to collect the bill for our foolishness, having previously ignored all her warnings of our impending EVICTION from Earth….

Every act taken by this government, along with every other government around the world, along with the media, and any other of those who ostensibly are the leaders, the movers and shakers of society, since 9/11/01, has moved the date of our eviction closer, until now, it is so close, people are having to actively adopt positions of complete denial, in order to maintain their focus on the living their lives, so they too, can be one of the rich elite, who, in spite of what they believe, are also going to die, right along with the rest of us….

Okay, now that I’ve depressed myself, and anyone who read that…. let’s have a few pearls, to try to shake off the blues…. or, to at least, learn how to sing them with feeling…. Okay, I know what should do the trick…. All it will take is to set a specific parameter, and we’ll see some gems, that may even be pretty enough to take our minds off the coming horrors, as people begin to realize just what we’ve done to ourselves…. The “mash up” as I believe the Brits call it, that is coming to ALL of us here on Earth, is going to be ugly, and harsh, and no fun, at all…. Sorry, ffolkes, but, the evidence is all there, and, it doesn’t lie…

“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.” — Mark Twain

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for good people to remain silent.” — Thomas Jefferson

“No public man can be just a little crooked.” — Herbert Hoover

“I judge people by what is in their hearts–not by the color of their scales.” — overheard in a bar on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.

“In our country are evangelists and zealots of many different political, economic and religious persuasions whose fanatical conviction is that all thought is divinely classified into two kinds – that which is their own and that which is false and dangerous.” — Justice Robert H. Jackson

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man except one thing: the last of the human freedoms— to choose one`s own attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Victor Frankl

“It was a JOKE!! Get it?? I was receiving messages from DAVID LETTERMAN!! YOW!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Note: the second quote in the above pearl, from Tom Jefferson, is one I’ve used before; this time it was found as part of an excellent blog post by another blogger, whom I consider a friend, also a published author, thanks to the help of HER (and my) friend, and blogger extraordinaire, Red Dwyer, whom you can find at her own site, below…. Thanks, Lizzie, for the reminder…

You can find that post, a good one, by Lizzie C, here: http://runningnakedwithscissors.com/2014/09/12/slo-patriotism-respect/#comment-11461

Red’s site, where you’ll always find a good post, can be found here: http://mommasmoneymatters.com/heart-vs-mind-4/comment-page-1/#comment-32626

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

In keeping with my new policy to seek brevity for these Pearls, and pearls, here is a short, very powerful poem, from a gritty realist from the 20th century, who, as a street poet, is, in my mind, one of the most powerful of social critics we have….

Cause And Effect

the best often die by their own hand
just to get away,
and those left behind
can never quite understand
why anybody
would ever want to
get away
from
them

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

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

While sitting at the computer yesterday, (or. it may have been that Tuesday, back in ’98…. Ah well, no matter….), I brought up Smart Bee, to look for a quote to go with the picture for the day…. SB was in a mood, for sure; if I didn’t know better, I would have thought he’d been watching the public channel of the legislature again, and saw something that upset its sensibilities somehow…. but, the TV is not working, so, it had to be something else….

Regardless of the cause, in a very short burst, the following pearls came sliding out, requiring only organization into the most effective order, which is my job…. That’s done now, so, here they are, for your delectation…. Oh, yeah, I think the target, one of the usual suspects, as well as the parameters used to pick the oysters, will be obvious before too long…. Especially since it’s the same target we aimed for in section one, above….

“Lust of power is the most flagrant of all the passions.” — Tacitus (55?-120?)

An Elementary-School student’s comment on politics: Some of our presidents never did much else and are famous only because they became president. — Smart Bee

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” — H.L. Mencken, “Little Book in C major”, 1916

BATTLE, n. A method of untying with the teeth of a political knot that would not yield to the tongue. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization.” — John O’Hara

“Giving power and money to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” — P.J. O’Rourke, former Gulf War correspondent, summing up what he learned during two years of research on how our government functions.

“Old men are dangerous; it does not matter to them what is going to happen to the world.” — George Bernard Shaw

On that final note, allow me to remind you the average age of a Senator in the US is…. well, it’s OLD; at least 70, if not higher, I’d wager…. Not only are those in charge of this nation dangerous men, as noted by Shaw, but, as millionaires (every one of them but, I think, two….), they are completely disconnected from the people whose interests they ostensibly serve….

In plain and simple truth, they are old, rich, white men, for the most part, whose only investment is in service to their OWN interests, first, and foremost…. Seriously, ffolkes, anyone who believes differently is clinically delusional, and would do well to think seriously about taking medication to help with that…. They have some now that work fairly well….

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

‘Tis fortunate, indeed, most of this was completed prior to getting up today; otherwise I’d have still been here at lunch time…. It’s done, though, and that’s the key point, so, I’m outta here, on a mission to get this posted…. See y’all tomorrow ffolkes, and keep your ears open for possible changes around here, if only in my personal location…. I’m getting itchy feet….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

Sir! Curb your cellulite!….

Posted on September 12, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.”

— Muad’dib, from Dune, by Frank Herbert

It was a tough choice, but, I’m sticking with the mouse…. This wee beastie is a Kangaroo mouse. Some photographer captured the image & sent it to the London Daily Yell (Telegraph), where it was included in their series of Weekly Animal Pictures. There are, no doubt, a number of people who, at this point, are thinking to themselves, “Why is he prattling on about a mouse, cute though it may be?” Pay them no mind; they are impatient, and deserve to wait. Instead, listen up….

The quote above, from Dune, was uttered by the character Muad’dib, which, in Fremen, the language of the people who gave him the name, means, approximately “Little old man of the desert” or “Teacher of boys”; it was the Fremen word/name for the type of mouse you see here, a co-denizen of the desert planet, Dune…. They called him that because the creatures were considered by them to be the ultimate survivors, able to thrive on the surface of Dune, in an environment that challenged the adaptability of every creature who lived there…. To survive, Fremen children were taught to emulate the habits of the mice, and to respect them as the teachers they were…

Why am I going with the mouse, rather than the brilliant quote, which would, obviously, make a perfect opening for a sober philosophical discussion of reality, and our manner of regarding it, or any number of related subjects? Easy….. which would YOU rather read? Yet another rant in the intro section, detailing one of the many horribly depressing issues we face as humans in a sick society, or a fluff piece about a terminally cute mouse? See, no-brainer, right? Right….

Now, the only question that remains is how to turn this fluff piece into an intro…. I had a few ideas originally, but, as usual with my planning ahead, it is now useless, as I can’t remember a single one of them…. Plus, the newest issue with my hands is surfacing, causing my left hand to go numb as I type… Oh, thrilling…

Oh, well, another little reminder from my abused body, of my poor decision at age 8, to become skilled at sports, at least as much as learning in classes, thus determining the course of my athletic involvement, which eventually led me into the martial arts…. and, a lifetime of physical activity, much of which stressed my body to its personal limits on a daily basis…. Which is what I am now paying for, in early onset of age-related conditions, and, quite simply, a world of hurt….

Ah well, I have drugs, and more drugs, and a long-time habit of being able to ignore much of the pain, by focusing intensely on whatever my mind is chewing on at the moment….There are times, of course, when the pain is stronger than my focus and will, but, fortunately, they are, thus far, not too frequent….. and, it passes off, eventually… As long as that remains true, I’ll be content to go on as I am, in pain, but, not debilitated to the point it interferes with my wants and desires…. It IS causing a bit of adjustment, and flexibility of planning, but, hey, that’s a piece of cake for a retired executive assistant….

I see now I’ve managed to whine, and meander in my head to a point where we can jump off this bandwagon, and get on with the rest of this mess… I am thinking, as well, it’s probably a good thing, because I can’t see me winding my way to anything particularly gripping by continuing in this vein…. So, I think it’s time to boogie on down…. whatever that means these days…

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.”

— The Litany Against Fear, a Bene-Gesserit lesson, from Dune, by Frank Herbert

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

“Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth.” — Socrates (470?-399 B.C.)

Yesterday, I found quite a lot of material about which I would normally rant; in keeping with my new policy, instead, I’ve gathered some of the links to the articles that stimulated either my outrage, my sorrow, my pity, or whatever rantable material was found… Think of this as, sort of, a RSS feed, without having to set up any connections…. and with parameters that are only known to my subconscious mind…. Trust me, it’ll be better than a rant, even IF I end up having to throw in a comment or two, as is my wont with this type of pearl…. I’m also working on avoiding typos, which have been annoying me no end of late….

For now, forget all that, just read, and think, and, if necessary, or just desired, feel free to comment on any of them… I’ll get to a response within a few hours or so, hopefully; and, always, eventually…. Enjoy!….

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/09/towards-internet-nation

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/09/senators-and-other-experts-appeals-court-nsas-phone-records-program-massive

At the time of the inclusion of the following list in this pearl, these were the most popular stories being read by the SFGATE readers on 8/11/2014 at their home page, at http://www.sfgate.com/….. where, if you like, you can find all of the links to the stories in the list…. It’s just a bit pathetic, wouldn’t you agree, in re: what the subject matter, as the headlines denote, implies about the taste, and the intelligence, of the average readers on the site? I’d say that is patently obvious, without my usual dose of doubt, but, then, we all know I’m a cynic…. This list, though, is pretty compelling evidence, to my mind….

    49ers suspend announcer Ted Robinson two games for…
    ‘Scarf Guy’ steals show at Apple keynote
    Bay Area boasts top counties in California
    What was that mystery mega-yacht in San Francisco Bay?
    Frank Gore and Bruce Miller believe running game can improve
    Best and worst of New York Fashion Week
    La Taqueria in San Francisco named America’s Best Burrito

Below, I’ve placed a trio of the more “serious” pieces of journalism than those on the list, from the same site, which show well the prejudices and flaws in the media moguls who run the site; they always take a very obvious company line when talking about any political or foreign policy subjects, parroting and supporting whatever the administration is trying to get the public to believe….

This site also tends to get into the old “yellow journalism” sensationalism crap, with headlines screaming of danger from this, that, or the other, labeling them with hyperbolic adjectives, screaming of extreme dangers, only to read the actual statements made, and learn it’s no big deal at all, and is unlikely to cause any real problems… Apparently, though, the SFGATE news director felt that wouldn’t draw any readers, so they “pumped it up” so it could create feelings of panic in the gullible…. The link to which I refer is the first one; check it out, and realize, if you will, this sort of thing happens all the time, everywhere, whenever they feel they can get away with it….

www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Scientists-Extreme-solar-storm-heading-to-Earth-5746629.php

There…. Do you see what it says on the link? “Scientists: Extreme solar storm heading to Earth” Once you’ve clicked over to the article, the following excerpt is what you will find, after a couple of paragraphs of basic information stretching….

“New calculations from satellite data show that the worst of the energetic particles streaming from the sun likely will go north or above Earth this time, Berger said late Wednesday…..So while the power grid may see fluctuations because the storm will cause changes in Earth’s magnetic field, it won’t knock power systems off line, Berger said. It may cause slight disturbances in satellites and radio transmissions but nothing major…..”We’re not scared of this one,” Berger said.”

Did you catch that? Headline: reason for panic trumpeted… and, the supporting quote? “We’re not scared of this one,” Berger said. ‘

Brilliant, eh?

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Ferguson-reforms-met-with-rancor-at-city-meeting-5745305.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Changes-surround-9-11-anniversary-commemoration-5747443.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

I often find it instructive to compare the news coverage by the media from different countries; my favorite site to visit overseas is the UK Guardian, which is the agency responsible for publishing the revelations regarding spying by the NSA, leaked to them by the patriot, Edward Snowden, to bring the illegal activities out into the public arena…. Below are two links, which cover two of the subjects from above…

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/10/nipplegate-dethroned-net-neutrality-fcc-public-comments

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/ferguson-courts-system-fines-residents-council

Differences found? Yes, a few, just on the surface… In the Guardian, there were four links on the front page to stories connected to the Net Neutrality issue, of which this link was one. There were two other articles, and one op/ed piece on that one subject IN A FOREIGN NEWSPAPER!…. On SFGATE, there was one fluff piece on it…. EFF is one of the organizations leading the legal battle against the corporations in that battle, so, they are very involved in that, and many other areas involving computers and the internet….

Another difference is in the 911 coverage; the American article is emotionally manipulative, and attempts to re-establish the fear generated by the original act, by, in the same sentence, the first one in the article, by reporting the celebration in NYC, then, at once, adding in a mention of the newest terrorist threats, from the newest acronym for a terrorist group, ISIL, and our president’s intention to intensify the illegal bombing in Syria, ostensibly as part of his stated campaign to, well, essentially, kill them all…. thereby, as noted, parroting the administration’s talking points and lies…. The Guardian’s article takes an entirely different tone and approach to the very same subject….

Also, the front page story on SFGATE, about the non-existent solar flare danger, was nowhere to be found on the UK site; apparently, it wasn’t important enough to print, as there wasn’t any danger involved, or, anything out of the ordinary to report….

Okay, so it turned into a rant anyway…. I won’t say, sue me, because, damn it, somebody would take that personally, and try to do so…. but, otherwise, all I can say is too bad, so sad. You’re all done now, anyway, so quit complaining, and just go read the poem, okay?

“And don’t think any more. I do the thinking around here.” — Sark

One last word, that came to me… well, later… but, in spite of what some may think, it fits with the overall conclusions to be made from the above diatribe…. plus, it’s such an appropriate indictment of today’s culture, of cruelly, and dangerously, asinine inanity that characterizes modern life in this country, from a historical sense, if no other, I had to throw it out here… I’m just crazy that way, I suppose…

“The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given more alarm than I think it should have done. Calculate that one rebellion in 13 states in the course of 11 years, is but one for each state in a century and a half. No country should be so long without one.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), in letter to James Madison, 20 December 1787

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

It’s a day….. I’m not sure, at this point, that I would like to commit myself further than that…. Such being the case, it is clearly best if I use a poem of my own, to keep from having anyone else’s reputation tarnished by association…. I’ll see if I can find one that either fits, or will give a break to your sensibilities, which are doubtlessly being given a workout today…. Enjoy, please…. Oh, technical note: reading this in a Missouri accent helps the comprehension level, as well as making it sound more genuine, more true-to-life…. Well, I think so…. and, I wrote it, so, you might show a bit of respect for my feelings on my own blog…. Now, I’m hurt…. just kidding, enjoy the poem…

Ah Ain’t Sho, but Mebbe So….

Fried eggs got nuthin’ on me
Ah’m not even sure of mah name,
or how Ah come to be;
no idea from where Ah came.

Ah does like a mystery tho’,
puzzlin’ things out so’s Ah knows,
good from bad fo sho,
Ah sho don’t want no rock pillows.

If’n Ah cain’t figure out what’s best,
Ah just falls back on mah Daddy’s words,
seems he knowed just whut’d stand the test,
‘n how to gentle the scaredest birds.

‘Course, he’d lived a good long time,
‘n had lots of stuff go on by;
Went to a war, n’ lost a piece or two,
never once used it fer an alibi.

He tol’ me once Ah’d best learn to learn,
school’s only cool if ya ain’t already a fool.
Yer own good measure you can earn,
by startin’ yer learnin’ with the Golden Rule.

Always seemed to me as Ah growed up,
he mostly only spoke if it wuz true,
‘n by doin’ that clued me to what’s up,
kept me from stuff that’d a made me blue.

Without ever sayin’ the word itself,
Ah learned ’bout honor, ‘n helpin’ others
not some fake stuff from some shelf,
but, knowin’ whut’s right, ‘n that we’re all brothers.

Ah’ve been around long enough now, Ah think
to get around the block at least two times.
I s’pose long as my head don’t shrink
Ah’ll keep on doin’ right, ‘n makin’ these rhymes…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

SATAN, n. One of the Creator’s lamentable mistakes, repented in sashcloth and axes. Being instated as an archangel, Satan made himself multifariously objectionable and was finally expelled from Heaven. Halfway in his descent he paused, bent his head in thought a moment and at last went back.

“There is one favor that I should like to ask,” said he.
“Name it.”
“Man, I understand, is about to be created. He will need laws.”
“What, wretch! you his appointed adversary, charged from the dawn of eternity with hatred of his soul — you ask for the right to make his laws?”
“Pardon; what I have to ask is that he be permitted to make them himself.”

It was so ordered.

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

While lamenting the necessity, I must acknowledge, and, take advantage of this opportunity to state the obvious, in light of the above entry from Bierce’s masterpiece, to wit:

And, the rest is history…..

Sorry, couldn’t resist…. it isn’t often such a perfect opening for a pun…. Since this section is now useless for anything else, I’ll just throw together a pearl, with the key word, with qualifier, “*fun*”, which should give us the results I’m seeking, after such a shameful start…. Besides, count your blessings; with that opening, I COULD have easily fallen into a religirant, but, refrained, to, no doubt, your immense relief… Mine, too, if you want to know the truth, and, since you’re here at ECR, I’m assuming you do, or, if not, can take it anyway….

Basta! Abondanza! Have fun, in any and/or all its conjugations, definitions, adjectival or adverbial status changes, stages, and permutations….. Y’all should be able to find something to enjoy from that list….

“When choosing between two evils I always like to take the one I’ve never tried before.” — Mae West, in “Klondike Annie” 1936

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams” — Willy Wonka, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”

“I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.’ — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Each generation has its sages. Ancient Greece had Socrates. We have bumper stickers.” — Smart Bee, chiming right in….

“Immorality: The morality of those who are having a better time.” — H. L. Mencken

“This is the Nineties, Bubba, and there is no such thing as Paranoia. It’s all true.” — Hunter S Thompson

“If nothing went wrong today, you’re probably dead.” — Murphy’s Last Law

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

I am, patently, a Bozo. This we know. I am, also, done. Go figure…. And, in the interests of practicing the promised brevity, I’ll now bid thee adieu for another day, with the caveat, warning, and disclaimer, as required by law, to wit: see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

Eleventeen of one, twelve dozen of the other….

Posted on September 9, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Brigadier, a straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.”

~~ Doctor, The Time Warrior ~~

A frog at lift off of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer

No, the picture has not been Photoshopped, nor is it touched up in any way…. according to the report I got it from…. It’s an official NASA photo, taken as a matter of course for the records they keep; in looking them over, as is their habit, to look for potential problems in the lift-off sequences filmed, they noticed the frog, which, according to its trajectory through the photos, fell into the picture from the sky…. So, this means the rocket took off while it was raining frogs…. According to the report, this was NOT part of the day’s weather forecast….. which goes to show, I guess, that the Doctor is speaking with the confidence of experience in dealing with Reality…. and, I might add, doing so with an admirable, and considerable aplomb….

Of course, using a picture such as this, while opening a number of potential directions for exploration, in truth, leaves me in a tight spot, in terms of, how in the world can I follow THAT? It’s interestingly weird, offers the opportunity for developing a discussion in several potential areas, hits the ECR approved standard for strange, while still providing the Gentle Reader with an amusing and comfortable entrée into today’s post…. which makes it, for this blog, completely unique in its degree of efficiency AND effectiveness…

In short, I’ve already done all that needs to be done for the blog to go on….. But, if you look more closely, it becomes clear that we haven’t actually said anything particularly significant, or gone anywhere that approaches the places we need to be… wherever that may be; as you may know, that’s always pretty much a crapshoot here, and the odds aren’t with the house. Hence, my confusion, although, to be perfectly honest, that’s nothing new, or out of the ordinary, any more than it is unusual for me to be lost in space and time…. Especially when dealing with this introductory section….

All that being said, to little purpose, I’m sure, now what the hell am I going to do? I’ll have to think about that…. (Between these marks, witness the passage of a vast, seemingly unending stretch of TIME…. hour upon hour pile up, one upon another, bludgeoning the sensibilities until all thought ceases, to fall into the black hole of the universe’s apathy, never to be found again…..until, at last, off in the distance, growing larger, and larger, we see salvation…. Finally, TIME once again speeds up, to deposit us softly, back in our original space, once more, ready to Pearl…..)

I believe I’m starting to feel a bit of Fall in the air…. The sun is setting earlier, and it’s getting cool more quickly once it has sunk below the horizon, after the nightly colorful show the sky puts on for us, with colors never before seen by anyone…. That’s because the chemical composition of the air has changed over time, as we humans have pumped a dizzying variety of them up into the atmosphere over the years, in quantities never before seen on this planet… thus, when we see the sunset, it is with a filter of chemicals that is all new, changing every day, showing us shades of the colors we are accustomed to, that not only have WE never seen, but, have never been seen before by the eyes of man, in all our history….

Amazing, isn’t it, how I can turn a simple discussion of the weather into a rant? I think so; it’s a bit inconvenient at times, such as here, in the intro, but, sometimes, I am so concerned, and so angry, it slips out at times when I’m not ready for it….. I figure it could be worse; I could be one of those folks who actually thinks anyone cares what I think…. Most people, me, you, and everyone else I can think of, don’t really care much about others; we are all naturally self-centered, to some degree. That is normal, and necessary, as otherwise, how would you be able to tell yourself from anyone else? Not so easy, is it?

Stop…. That is an instruction to myself, not you…. I’m typing away, here and now, making up nonsense, and my hands are falling asleep, the precursor to becoming extremely painful due to the arthritis flaring up…. I’m having to stop ever few words to shake them back awake…. This will NOT do…. How am I going to get all this stuff out of my head, if I can’t type? The voice recognition software available isn’t quite good enough to consider switching over to completely, not yet, so, this is a conundrum of a different color, to be sure…. Time out….

I’m going to have to shift, shuffle, and dance my way to the end, now….. I declare this intro done, and we’ll get on with the rest of today’s Pearl. The poem is already in place: I found a good one yesterday. The rest, well, I’ll have to figure that out, but, you may end up seeing something from the archives today, so, be prepared for that… For now, I’d best be on my way to the next section…. I even have the closing lines of this done, also from yesterday, when I found an appropriate set of closing pearls…. So, before my hands fall of the end of my arms…..

Shall we Pearl….

Today, to close the intro section, y’all get a two-fer, just because they go together so perfectly, as examples of both hacker/geek humor, and, pretty good all-around advice, on how to approach Life at Large….

“Beware the lightening that lurketh in the undischarged capacitor, lest it cause thee to bounce upon thy buttocks in a most untechnician-like manner.” — The First Commandment for Technicians

“Speed kills. Slow just infuriates…” — Smart Bee, in hack mode

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“Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not private enterprise.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)

I collected this yesterday, before I knew my ability to type was going to be compromised, intending to use it as the segue into a formal rant on the privileged elite, the group of Asininnies who comprise the shadowy corporate snakehead category of that group. (A ‘snakehead’, in slang, is a slaver, one who captures/abducts women and/or children to sell on the slavery market, which, in spite of what you may have been told, exists quite comfortably, right here in the USA, and all over the world…. believe it.)

However, due to circumstances which, this time, are out of my control, I’ll not be ranting; not freshly, anyway, until this crap with my hands eases off, and that is completely unpredictable, at least, at this point… So, you get lucky, because that means this will be an old-school pearl, with parameters set to find quotes/aphorisms that resemble the first one, above, or, are wearing similar clothes, thus looking the same…. Enjoy!….

“Washington, DC: 26 square miles surrounded by reality.” — Smart Bee

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

“INFLUENCE, n. In politics, a visionary _quo_ given in exchange for a substantial _quid_.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

LAWYER: Someone who can get a sodomy charge changed to “following too closely.” — Smart Bee

“A fool and his money are soon elected.” — Walton’s Law of Politics

“As long as the United States Government exists, there is no real accomplishment being a humorist.” — Smart Bee

“Reagan: He’s not the president, but he once played one on TV.” — Smart Bee

I knew it! Look at that pearl! It’s perfect! It takes shot after shot, each one hitting the net harder and faster than the last…. and, it has Smart Bee anchoring it at all three critical points; it isn’t often THAT happens…. So, I thought, since it looked so good, I’d try centering it, and sure enough, it is also balanced that way; note the pattern it forms visually, looking at all seven at once…. beautiful symmetry…. I’m glad I went looking for this one; it was well worth the effort….

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This doesn’t need much introduction; it is one known to many people, at least, to those who have made any study of poetry at all, beyond the little bit they dole out in public schools… It is only a small part of the epic poem by Pope, An Essay on Man (in several Epistles). That poem, in itself, is very possibly the best ever of its type, due in part to the very deep insight Pope seems to have had, augmented and enhanced by his skill at putting that insight into beautiful verse…. Enjoy this little piece of the epic, and, if you ever have the chance, go read the whole poem; it is well worth the time it takes….

From an Essay on Man

Heav’n from all creatures hides the book of fate,
All but the page prescrib’d, their present state:
From brutes what men, from men what spirits know:
Or who could suffer being here below?
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed today,
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?
Pleas’d to the last, he crops the flow’ry food,
And licks the hand just rais’d to shed his blood.
Oh blindness to the future! kindly giv’n,
That each may fill the circle mark’d by Heav’n:
Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl’d,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar;
Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore.
What future bliss, he gives not thee to know,
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always to be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor’d mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul, proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way;
Yet simple nature to his hope has giv’n,
Behind the cloud topp’d hill, an humbler heav’n;
Some safer world in depth of woods embrac’d,
Some happier island in the wat’ry waste,
Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold.
To be, contents his natural desire,
He asks no angel’s wing, no seraph’s fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky.

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

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As we all know, Life is tough, and it plays no favorites; no coupons, no discounts, and no mercy is given, at all. We deal, or we don’t, it is that simple…. In the face of such indifference, and not lack, but, absence of any compassion, as shown by the Universe at Large toward all Life, not just us homo bozoidus’s…. (Hmm…. on THAT coined word, ‘bozoidus’, it seems I may have to turn the Spell Checker completely off…. it really, really doesn’t like the word, and refuses to add it to the dictionary…. Does your software ever do that to you? Just wondering….)

Any who, here is a pearl, made up of some damn fine pearls, to give the proper tone and flavor to the rest of today’s Pearls…. (a sentence which accurately gives y’all the definitions of all three types of pearls, as I use the terms here on ECR; it might make future references a bit clearer, now that you understand the hierarchy, and their relation to each other as part of the same lexicon of coined words used on this blog….) Whatever the hell they are, or whatever the hell I THINK they are, they’re pretty useful, if given half a chance….. Now, do I have to tell you to enjoy it, or them? Or, can you get there on your own? Ball’s in your court….

“Happy is the house that shelters a friend.” — Emerson

“To be good, according to the vulgar standard of goodness, is obviously quite easy.
It merely requires a certain amount of sordid terror, a certain lack of imaginative thought,
and a certain low passion for middle-class respectability.”

~~ Oscar Wilde ~~

“Uncertainty and mystery are energies of life. Don’t let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity.” — R. I. Fitzhenry

“If you don’t like yourself, you can’t like other people.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“In comparison with heaven and earth, man is like a mayfly.”
But compared to the great Way, heaven and earth, too, are like a bubble and a shadow.
Only the primal spirit and the true nature overcome time and space.”

~~ Lu Yen ~~
(fl. 800 A.D.)

“Beware of the man whose god is in the skies.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“To survive, one must be able to adapt to changing situations.” — Tyrannosaurus Rex

As noted above, pearls are often different; thank goodness…. This one, as far as I can see, defies explanation…. Thus, I shan’t try to explain it, but, rather, I’ll just play it as it lies, so to speak, and be done for the day….. How ’bout THEM apples?….

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Apples or no, I’m done, and, just in time, before taking the computer, and Smart Bee, and all the rest of it, with me as I throw myself out the window, in an attempt to get away from the pain in my hands, shoulders, and hip(s). However, rather than whine about it, and make you witness my grand finale, we’ll call it a draw, and just go home…. or, in this case, off to the medicine cabinet, to find SOMETHING that will put me back to sleep, where my hands won’t bother me for a while…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided I don’t opt for excision of the faulty parts…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Sober reflection is due, to underscore the value of former mushrooms….

Posted on August 28, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“So live that you can look any man in the eye and tell him to go to hell.” — Smart Bee

Is that not the very face of utter devotion? Is he not completely focused on the next words coming from the person at whom he is gazing with such adoration, and hopeful expectation? This is, to me, the very best way to teach children about the joy and power of love, and the duty that comes with it, duty owed to the one who loves with such loyalty and steadfast purpose. Very few humans, in my experience, ever reach the same level of absolute trust and/or sheer devotion, motivated only by a heart innocent of deceit, or deliberate cruelty… I find most humans can rationalize almost any sort of ethical or moral failure, many do so without any sort of guilt or remorse…. But, not a dog, or any other so-called “lower” creatures in the entire animal kingdom….

Oh sure, there are some who are dangerous, or even, seemingly, harshly violent toward other creatures; but, none of them ever kills for pleasure, none of them ever make a habit of fouling their own nest, and none of them ever CHOOSE to be deliberately immoral. When they do act in a way that seems connected to a dark purpose, it is a learned behavior, and not natural to their innate nature; in fact, when they do act out of character with their inner spirits, most animals tend to display all the signs of illness, or even insanity. It is as if acting against their nature is instinctively proscribed for them…. It makes one wonder about which of the animals is really at the top of the chain of life…. Well, I wonder, anyway….

I’m not sure why I got so far into that, especially this early; I love animals, though, and regard them as better company, most of the time, than almost any human, but, that doesn’t explain how, or why, such an emotionally-charged, yet completely off-the-wall, less-than-earth-shattering subject escaped out of wherever it’s been hiding in my head, & found its way out onto the screen…. Apparently, that face, that wonderful, loving face, got to me, before I was prepared for it, with some thoughts I’d already washed clean of any sappy romanticism…. I suppose it’s just one of those things we closet romantics have to expect now and again, when we let our guard down, or temporarily put aside our training in curmudgeonry….

“But” he whined, ” now what?” After that start, ffolkes, your guess is probably as good as mine, and I have no clue…. I’ll have to put a team on that, & have them get back to me on a rush basis, okay? Let me just text over to my admin, so he can do that….. Shouldn’t take long, so, relax, grab a beer, or whatever is there, and hang for a few…. we’ll be right back with something new to ~~drag~~ ~~lure~~, um, bring, that’s it,to bring you back to your seats, and back into the grip of our will…. Bwwaaahaahahaha!….

Okay, I’m out of jail now; it only cost me about $5000 in bail, part of which I’ll get back when I show up for the hearing…. That’ll be after the lawyers take their insane percentage for whatever they do…. I once got one of their bills, in which I was charged one quarter hour of the hourly rate, which was, as it turns out, $250.00; the charge, then, for a quarter of that hour’s assigned value, was $62.50, for the difficult, complex, incredibly complicated procedure, known as, and listed as, “opening a new file”…..

Really; that’s exactly what it said….. I asked the lawyer if that meant that they charged me more than $50, for calling their secretary, having them walk to the cabinet to obtain a fresh manila folder, then making a label for it with my name on it? Or, I continued, was there something I’m missing here about how complex it is to open a file?…. I was really kind of hurt when he didn’t smile, or answer the question….

But, then, I’ve found that MOST lawyers I’ve met, at least the ones without scruples, don’t have one… a sense of humor, that is… Me, I’m a Bozo, and I don’t have any choice in the matter….funny crap follows me around….

In fact, I see some now…. let’s go see if we can make it blow water out its nose, okay?

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Hello seeker! Now don’t feel alone here in the New Age, because there’s a seeker born every minute.” — The Firesign Theater

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Yesterday I walked…. a lot more than is usual for me of late, though not enough to put me down…. In fact, my recent forays seem to have had a beneficial effect on my stamina, as I slept, and now feel pretty okay…. not bad for this time of day, when massive quantities of magic cream find its way onto my body, to help the morning background of pain from hips and shoulders…. the back waits until they’re done, so that helps some, but, this writing helps as much, to distract me from the worst of it….

I am, though, a bit tired still, so, here is a discussion from a long time ago, on this blog, anyway, back in the early days, before Pearls assumed their current manifestation…. The angst was there, but, it looked different….

From 12/17/2011:

“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” — James Madison

“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.” — Thomas Jefferson

The Homeland Security Act, passed shortly after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks, is, to my way of thinking, the first time in our history that the American people have voluntarily allowed abridgments to our personal liberties to be enacted. The way I see it, quote #1, by James Madison, called that one perfectly. Our beloved ruling class, having decided we have “too many rights” (a direct quote from the junior Shrub, btw) in the Bill of Rights, carefully orchestrated events to provoke an attack on our home shores, knowing they could then fool the public into accepting their abridgments on our freedoms. And, to proceed to Mr. Jefferson’s comment, WE LET THEM DO IT! Anyone who rose up to speak against this vile, manipulative legislation was immediately shouted down as being unpatriotic.

For most of my life, I have avoided guns. Being a fairly smart guy, I noticed at a young age that most of the folks who get shot were carrying guns; it makes sense to me to reduce the chances of becoming a target in this most simple way, i.e., never carrying this kind of weapon (though it would be a very big mistake to assume that I carry NO weapons; in fact I carry four at all times, all of different kinds, none of which are guns). However, since the PTB (powers that be) have begun to try to take away my rights, I figure I’d better grab myself a bunch more firepower, before I no longer am allowed to do so.

If worse comes to worst, I WILL fight, if they come for any more of my rights. I will not let the blood and sacrifice of my countrymen and forefathers, and my own father, for that matter, be in vain. I’m about done with putting up with these kinds of issues, and am drawing near the point of acting on my feelings. In one sense, I hope they stop and reconsider trying to further reduce our liberties, because if they don’t, I’m going to REALLY get mad, and they will find themselves with a whole new issue to deal with……I’m a Scorpio, a triple Scorpio, for that matter; I was born under the sign of the God of War. You do NOT want to make me into an enemy…..

The vultures are circling…they have the faces of presidential candidates and carry bowling balls in their buttered claws….

Note from 2014: Apparently, even back then, I was a trifle upset with the Beloved Ruling Class; these days, the same issues arise on an almost daily basis, as the second incarnation of the Homeland Insecurity Act was signed on New Year’s Eve in 2011, by our “transparent” president, who apparently didn’t want any crap from the public or the media about doing so….

Why else do it while the entire country is out drinking away the feelings of fear whipped up by the fanning of the public’s rage over the terrorist acts of that infamous day?….Which, in truth, was an act which entirely ignores our response to that terrorist act, wherein we have killed, many times more than 10 times the number of Americans who died that day, in revenge upon people who had no part in it…. In truth, our country’s response strongly resembled an enraged bull in a china shop, without the dignity of having a valid reason to be there….

I’m done now…. Obviously, this is a mini-rant, which I’ve turned into a full out, extra long rant on numerous occasions…. So, I’ll give y’all a break this time…. Next time we are supposed to go vote, you can return the favor, and don’t…. It only encourages the assholes when we do…..

“We need a president who’s fluent in at least one language.” — Buck Henry, comedian, 1992

“The bad thing about experience is that it teaches you the stuff you don’t want to know.” — Smart Bee

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Today, only one poem will do to follow that section, and it’s one of mine, from a couple years back…. It speaks directly to the relevant issues discussed above…. Enjoy!….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors and their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks;
Though they talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.

“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.

Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
we’ll take careful aim, and piss.

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

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The following pearl, made up of randomly chosen pearls, is, sort of, unique….. Now, you may wonder how the hell something can be “sort of” unique… according to the definition of the word, things either are unique, or they are not unique, period. But, then Daniel Webster had never heard of the concept of diving for pearls of virtual wisdom, or for that matter, even cared…. which goes a long way toward explaining why he might not be the best one to make any final decisions about “connotations”, as his entire persona was hardwired to focus on the “denotation” of words….

Also, in this case, it has no real bearing one way or another, because it’s just a trick, to get you to forget about anything that has gone before….. just in case you might be thinking about a civil suit for damages…. Of course, now I’ve descended into plain silliness, and am once again wasting time and words galore in the pursuit of nonsense…. S’okay, I’m used to it, and, by now, y’all should be as well…. Regardless, we were talking about this pearl…. All of the quotes you see, all nine of them, were spit out by Smart Bee in the order you see, one right after another…..

I’ve witnessed the million monkeys, ffolkes….. they have produced the works of Shakespeare, in its entirety, right here on this blog….. The odds of what you see approach the same level as the odds of the Earth falling out of its orbit in the next five minutes…. they are astronomically small…. That said, I’m going to let them speak for themselves, especially since I know the perfect pearl awaits you at the end, in the final entry, to make it all clear….. Enjoy!…. It isn’t often you’ll see a nine-star pearl, especially one that essentially was gifted to us by the Universe…..

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you- Nobody- Too?
Then there’s a pair of us?
Don’t tell! they’d advertise-you know!
How dreary-to be- Somebody!
How public-like a Frog-
To tell one’s name-the livelong June-
To an admiring Bog!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

“Adversity makes a man wise, not rich.” — Romanian proverb

“I don’t think math is a science. I think it’s a religion.” — Calvin

“Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.” — Latin proverb

“Almost all reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for.” — Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946)

“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.” — Albert Einstein

“A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.” — Eric Hoffer

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good;
And spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,
One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

~~ Alexander Pope ~~
(1688-1744)
— Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 289 —

“MERYL STREEP is my obstetrician!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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Well, that was something…. I’ll try hard to figure out what, but, later; for now, it will do….. Since that is the case, I really have no excuse to hang around any longer, so, I’ll submit to the demands of reality, this time, and be on my way into the day…. Should be a good one, I think, it it doesn’t get too hot…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

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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Tag Archives: Thomas Jefferson

Meatloaf, with no ketchup….

Worshiping at the altar of self-mockery….

Monotheism typically requires optimistic pessimism, and pink underwear….

‘Tis easier to blame the indigenous population….

No, no witch doctors…. I’m fine. Just a scratch….

Bust it up, boys! It’s all gotta go!….

Sir! Curb your cellulite!….

Eleventeen of one, twelve dozen of the other….

Sober reflection is due, to underscore the value of former mushrooms….

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