Excessive salivation won’t help, or hinder….

Posted on November 5, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“All the troubles of man come from his not knowing how to sit still.”

~~ Pascal ~~

Filafa zobrino…. Cantano prodilli, comedaren porsovolo. Sellente fortuita pregente forse. Sile voncuba sekrateike, grabeesee soltranito…. Pesce sagua?

Coolness…. It seems I have another language in my head, ready to deploy for releasing all of that really vulgar, insulting, and probably illegal stuff that comes out of my emotional holding area into the atmosphere, where it won’t harm anyone, and so far, is not affecting the already scary situation with climate change…. it’s too toxic for even us to use in any meaningful way…. But, then, what would we know of meaningful around here, eh? Not much, I can assure you…. It’s okay, though, the meaning of the above is such that, if I told you, not only would I have to kill you, but, you’d probably want to kill yourself…

No, I have no idea what language it is; it was probably beamed down to me from the mother-ship, sometime during the night while my software was rebooting… It DOES seem to have some sort of resemblance to Italian, but, with some spillover out of, or into, Greek…. Hell, maybe it came from Saturn’s moon, Titan…. Lately, there have been some indications of stuff going on down on the surface of that moon that indicates possible intelligent actions…. or, they could be just anomalies in the telescope. It’s a bit hard to determine from Earth; the camera on the telescope that took the pictures we’re receiving are several hundred million miles away now, on one of our probe satellites, launched years ago, and just now completing its mission around Saturn…

But, it DOES trip off the tongue rather elegantly, don’t you think? No? Well, I do, and it’s my blog, so there….

As you can see, some days around here are more organized than others….. This particular day is such that I’m not sure how to proceed; it all could change on me in a heartbeat, and there I’d be, still trying to translate a language nobody’s ever heard or seen before into some kind of meaningful, or, at least, a partially honest, yet condescending episode of parenthetical ideation. Works for me, but, not everyone has my degree of tolerance, or my panache at making shit up….

On that rather silly note, I think I’ll wrap this up, and go see what other kind of crap I can come up with today…. I’m feeling good, (well, as good as it gets these days…), and hopeful for a reasonably pain-free hour, if not day…. Meantime, I see an opportunity to take us out of here without any serious bloodshed coming up, so, we’ll take this slow on the road, and see if it will float…. And, yes, I paid good money for those cliches; I’m damned if I’ll let them go to waste…. Hang on, ffolkes…

Shall we Pearl?

“The makers of fortunes have a second love of money as a creation of their own, resembling the affection of authors for their poems, or of parents for their children … and hence they are very bad company, for they talk of nothing but the praises of wealth.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)

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I’m in the mood for something cerebral today, (that’s cerebral, not cereal….), so, here is a mix of classical pieces put together by a You Tube downloader, designed to stimulate and relax the mind at once, to enhance study habits and retention…. I like the little text that pops up at the start…. “Keep Calm And Study Hard” with a royal crown above it…. the icon of the Queen’s wisdom, as it is portrayed, with affectionate cheekiness, on souvenir cups, key chains, and clothing all over London, starting during her Golden Jubilee Celebration a few years ago….

3 HOURS of Classical Music

http://youtu.be/pzQqvi1-hHE

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

“You are not a fool just because you have done something foolish;

only if the folly of it escapes you.”

~~ Jim Fiebig ~~

Headlines from the UK Guardian, 11/4/2014:

Fresh Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone raises fears of new infection chain

I’ll bet the Guardian wouldn’t cop to the idea they are contributing to the problems faced by trumpeting the latest inducements for panic released by official information sources…. Every little dangerous new piece of speculation about what the disease MIGHT do, or how bad the situation COULD POSSIBLY become is reports like this, with the explicit use of the phrase, “… X raises fears of new….”….

By analyzing the sub textual meaning of this, it becomes crystal clear they are engaging in speculation, making an unwarranted assumption of the ubiquitous veracity of Murphy’s laws, which, though powerful, are not omnipotent…. It is entirely possible the newest information means something entirely different than their predictions of imminent doom; the reality of it will most likely settle somewhere in between the best and worst potential scenarios…. But, bland reports of technical information doesn’t sell any papers or ads….

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prompt RSPCA warning

The charity group RSPCA has raised their best Monty Python silly voice in protest over the possible effects this more than just a little silly movie has had on the baby terrapins of the world… They’ve seen an upsurge in “abandoned turtles” since it came out, a number which has grown beyond the point of reason, as the owners tire of the turtles, when they are no longer “cute”….

SIGH….. No… It isn’t a joke I put here; it’s a real headline, and story, and actual events acted out in the real world, by, who else, people who haven’t a clue as to what life is all about, or, their own place in reality…. I think this headline, along with the others below, and above, will give a very clear portrait of just how STUPID people are, in general, as well as providing more evidence in support of yesterday’s rant, concerning the same issue, to wit: rampant ignorance and stupidity, at work in the real world….

Let’s see what else we can find, to give y’all an idea of how dim is our candle of hope….

From the 11/4/2014 UK Guardian Book Review:

Benjamin Zephaniah: people all over the world are living in fear and to me all those people are being terrorised

“In the second part of an interview by group members DG Readers, the Terror Kid author talks about terrorism, governments, why it’s really important to be an activist and how the revolution starts with chocolate cake”

Oh, yeah, that’ll do it…. We’ll either bribe, or threaten the corporate masters of the world to stop preying on mankind, by offering them chocolate cake…. or, by eating it ourselves (maybe in front of them, without sharing?…. It would piss ME off, for sure….) Sure, that’ll do it….

Ffolkes, do I really need to tell you why this is so stupid? If so, I think the effort most likely would fall into the category of “sheer unadulterated futility”…. for what, to me, is a patently obvious reason… I’ll give you a five-word-clue…. Pollyanna is a FICTIONAL character….

From Think Progress, 11/4/2014:

IPCC Scientists Emphasize Immorality Of Inaction By Focusing On ‘Irreversible Impacts’

Excerpted from the article:

What do the world’s leading scientists mean by “irreversible impacts”?

“Warming will continue beyond 2100 under all RCP scenarios except RCP2.6. Surface temperatures will remain approximately constant at elevated levels for many centuries after a complete cessation of net anthropogenic CO2 emissions. A large fraction of anthropogenic climate change resulting from CO2 emissions is irreversible on a multi-century to millennial time scale, except in the case of a large net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere over a sustained period….

It is virtually certain that global mean sea-level rise will continue for many centuries beyond 2100, with the amount of rise dependent on future emissions. ”

The report by the International Panel on Climate Change was released a week or so ago…. Since it came out, there has been an almost deafening silence on what is reported by the agency from ALL public sources, such as the government, a silence that extends into ALL its branches…. Very few public figures, pundits, talking heads, or even news anchors. are saying much about this at all….

This article is one of only a couple I saw in my morning cruise through the news reader…. which tells me, the most important report about our future that exists is being treated just like any other unwelcome piece of news, with complete and utter denial, by well OVER 99% of the people who will be most affected by it….

Now, I don’t know about y’all, but, to me. that is really, really, REALLY STUPID…. (sorry for the redundant descriptive adjectives…)

From the Associated Press:

Shy bladder group protests DirecTV ad

I decided, after perusing the first couple sentences of this article, to not read any further…. Quite frankly, I do NOT want to know anything about this issue, or the ad, or the group that is complaining….

In fact, I think, since we are talking about the power of human stupidity, we’ve pretty well provided all the evidence required, and have proved the point to a degree of massive certainty… So, I’ll let it go, and go on to something else…. I will leave you with the following thought….

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” — Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength of Love, 1963

Snicker…. As if a preacher hadn’t known that since the first class in seminary school…. One might think it shows a bit of hypocrisy, but, to mention anything so critical of MLK Jr. is to take one’s life in their hands, for the criticism and vituperation pours out from those who have already canonized him…. As if he weren’t a human being, with the flaws and misconceptions each and every member of the species possesses, as part of their genetic legacy…. Oh, well… since he’s right, we’ll let all that go, to get us out of here….

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

Today’s effort, thus far, seems to fall into that category where nobody else should be required to take any of the blame for it…. hence a poem of mine from the archives…. Hmm… Let’s just take a little trip overseas, and let it go at that….

Days and Nights of Eire

Comforting, a dream creeps oft into my mind
On the elven hills of Eire lives the vision I find.
Elegant, gracious, everlastingly draped in beauty
Just payment of simple homage lives as joyous duty.

Fairies and druids walk abroad in ghostly parade
Gracing each hearth with its own welcoming shade.
Castles and heroes yet live in tale and song
Proving love for the land in each heart strong.

From cold of winter into glorious young spring
Brown, and gray, to emerald green songs to sing
Soft rains always follow winter’s great tempest
Eire dons its emerald coat from east to west.

Old and strong, connections call out in dreams
Nothing that was known remains as it seems.
Immersion in ancient runes and battle hymns
Offering sanity in place of grievous whims.

Time and place can tell a much different tale
Judgment should never be a final sale.
Yet something solid and real calls me to go see
Where dreams of loving beauty may actually be….

~~ gigoid ~~

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

This turned out to be an odd little pearl, which should serve well to highlight the overall oddity of the entire Pearl…. When I started to collect the entries in SB, I hadn’t quite decided on the parameters to use, so, it came out a bit random (See the third entry below, by Seneca the Younger, to understand how that happens…)….

But, all in all, and to carry that metaphor a bit further, the current seems to have made any skill at sailing, or knowing where to go, a moot point, as it brought us to a pretty cool destination, where some pretty cogent observations, and, some decent advice, were to be found, all around the subject of being human, always a challenge, while trying to deal with Life at Large….

” For others do I wait…for higher ones, stronger ones, more triumphant ones, merrier ones, for such as are built squarely in body and soul: laughing lions must come.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views…which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.” — Doctor Who, “Face of Evil”

“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” — Seneca (the Younger)

— Bother! said Pooh, for no apparent reason.

“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.” — Buddha

It is never too early or too late to care for the well-being of the soul.” — Epicurus

To each his suff’rings; all are men,
Condemn’d alike to groan,–
The tender for another’s pain,
Th’ unfeeling for his own.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate,
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies?
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
‘T is folly to be wise.

~~ Thomas Gray (1716-1771) ~~

~~ On a Distant Prospect of Eton College, Stanza 10 ~~

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

Okay, so, this went pretty well, (Well, okay, you’re correct; I didn’t count the first few sentences as part of the stats for today….), which is a good thing, as I’m pretty sure anything I might have tried to do wouldn’t have worked so well…

In any case, it’s DONE, our only REAL requirement…. Having completed my chosen Duty, I shall bid thee adieu…. 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….

Use the flaming carrot; they don’t wobble as much…

Posted on October 30, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“There is nothing permanent except change.”

~~ Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.) ~~

Happy Boy

The picture you see doesn’t need attribution, as it is one of mine. The happy face you see is my first grandchild, now, one of soon-to-be FOUR grandchildren, though only two by blood…. If that is a bit cryptic, chalk it up to the flexibility of the modern family structure, then forget it as immaterial to our purpose…. What is that purpose? Oh, fret not, ’tis naught to worry you, and it won’t cost a tuppence….(Nice, eh? a touch of Victorianism for y’all…. kind of like croissant instead of white toast, right?) You might even say, today’s purpose is one of mercy, but, that might be carrying our altruistic impulses too far, or, giving them too much credit, where little credit is due….

Ah, yes, I love being inscrutable first thing in the morning…. almost as good as the smell of cordite in the air…. For those unfamiliar with chemistry, or warfare, or the streets, cordite is the smell of gunpowder, after it’s been used, usually to fire a weapon of some kind…. Not to worry, I never carry while escorting, or when writing these missives…. ‘Tisn’t necessary, what with the mines, and the number of stashed knives, spears, and other quiet-type weapons laying about the area, most of them hidden in plain sight…. Like a book, a knife is a pleasant thing to have nearby….

What? Me? Paranoid? Not at all…. I’m a realist, a warrior of the Light, and a student of war for my entire life. Having grown up on Army bases, primarily, until the age of ten, the concepts of Duty, tactics, strategy, discipline, and The Rules were all drummed into me from birth. (The Rules of a Gentleman, of course….) Keeping track of potential enemies is part of life, for me, and for anyone with a realistic concern about surviving, and living well; it doesn’t do one’s stress levels any good to be ignorant of potential threats…. So, my habit of keeping myself well-armed, if not obviously so, is a rational response to the danger that exists EVERY FUCKING WHERE in the world, ESPECIALLY in a country where the government cannot be trusted….

SIGH…. I’m not only NOT going to rant already, I’ll give you fair warning…. The rant today, in section three, turned out to be one of the longest pearls every written, and certainly the longest rant I’ve ever produced…. Headlines and new CRAP kept popping up in front of me as I searched the news, along with some perfect accompanying material, including pearls…. they all kept insisting on being included, as it all, basically, is one subject, viewed from different points…. It grew, unfortunately, beyond all reason, and would now comprise a decent essay, or a monograph on a subject of interest, to post somewhere else online….

Instead, I’m going to get this one on the road to completion, by using my new-found, newly favorite ruthlessness to take us down the page to where we need to begin…. Hold on, ffolkes, it could get a bit bumpy….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The question was once put to him, how we ought to behave to our friends; and the answer he gave was, “As we should wish our friends to behave to us.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi

Gee, sound familiar?…..

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

This particular batch of classical music starts out with, and contains, a bit more opera than I like, but, it’s still pretty good, and makes an excellent background for reading of these Pearls…. or, anything else, for that matter. Enjoy, ffolkes….

The Best of Classical Music in 8.5 Hours

http://youtu.be/hjpHv_ZOFWw

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“Ignorance is the opiate of the poor, a cordial, administered by the gracious hand of providence.” — Soame Jenyns, “A Free Enquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil”

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/jenyns-selection.html

The above link leads to an analysis of this quote by Samuel Johnson, a contemporary of Mr. Jenyns, wherein he lays out his thoughts on the concepts discussed in the article quoted above, by Mr. Jenyns; for the most part, Mr. Johnson does not agree with him, and, in certain respects, he is correct in his assessment…. However, he is NOT incorrect in his observation of the effect of ignorance on the poor; he is, strongly, incorrect as to its source, and the degree of divine compassion that is indicated by such ignorance…. In short, he is right, in that ignorance is, and continues to be, a large part of the oppression that creates a class of poor; he is completely wrong in thinking, and even more so in saying, that such ignorance is in any way a beneficial state….

I would make a guess, based on experience and observation, that Mr. Jenyns was a preacher, or cleric of some order, if merely an academic (possibly the most dangerous kind, as they tend to be very far removed from reality, as exists for the majority of mankind, thus making them innocents, in terms of insight into human nature, since their knowledge is limited to what they read of that nature, and not observations of it’s behavior out in the real world….). It is clear in the statement that he gives far too much credence to the delusional system followed by the majority of people, thus insulating him from ever realizing any truths that will stand up to the real world….

For example, the attitude he expresses can be shown to lead to the kind of ignorance that encourages misogyny, bigotry, racism, and narcissism, the actual four horses of the Apocalypse (not horsemen…. I figure, if it’s Apocalypse, the horses would be running rogue, destroying and creating chaos on their own…. no direction wanted, or required…. makes perfect sense to me, as much as any such superstitious nonsense can….). The appearance of all four of these qualities in society is a sure indicator of the impending demise of that un-civilization…. (as pointed out to me recently, we really don’t HAVE a civilization; there is nothing ‘civil’ about it….)

We see it in the paranoia displayed by those who are ostensibly elected to protect us, but, who spend their time spying on us, lying to us, and ignoring anything that might make changes beneficial to all. They spend their time, instead, filling their pockets, and satisfying the needs and wants of their financial backers, otherwise known as bankers, snakeheads, corporate masters, lobbyists, and other such parasitic entities who make it possible for them to complete their agenda, which has NOTHING to do with what is good for the common man, or for society, but, rather benefits them, and those who support them….

Need proof I’m not talking through my ass? Here, read this, then tell me the NSA, GCHQ, CIA, FBI, and all the other government spy agencies aren’t completely out of control…. I dare anyone to do so….

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/29/gchq-nsa-data-surveillance?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

“The group also said information obtained through these overseas “arrangements” was treated as if it were targeted surveillance, removing a requirement under UK law not to search for UK citizens and residents in such data troves. This means that British citizens could, in theory, be subject to warrantless monitoring by GCHQ.”

“The line the Government took at the hearing was that there were adequate safeguards, they just couldn’t be made public,” he said. “Leaving aside whether secret safeguards can ever be adequate, this reluctantly-made disclosure suggests otherwise.”

Excerpted from the article found at the link above these four lines….

Need a bit more proof? Here is an article from the UK Guardian on a subject reported in all the major news outlets (though with less depth, and more speculation in the others….), about the sheer stupidity/cupidity of public officials in this country, turning a medical issue into a panic, due to their own ignorance, and that of the public, which they foster and encourage….

Want some more scary proof? Well, maybe you don’t want it, but, it’s out there, so, here…. read this…. If this doesn’t tickle your outrage bone. then you don’t have any passion at all, and have already accepted your slavery….

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/29/fbi-hacking-press-internet-users

Excerpts from the article:

“The Seattle Times and Associated Press issued angry statements to the FBI on Tuesday after the American Civil Liberties Union’s Chris Soghoian discovered that the FBI had falsified an AP story and byline, and then possibly attempted to make it look like the fake story was published on the Seattle Times website – all to deliver malware to a suspect in a criminal case. The evidence was buried in documents obtained by EFF (pages 61-62) under the Freedom of Information Act three years ago (and the emails date back even further)….”

“Though there are still a lot of questions that FBI seems unwilling to answer. Because the documents were heavily redacted, it’s tough to tell how the whole plan worked: we still don’t know how the FBI delivered the link (through a fake reporter or mySpace friend), to which website the link went, how many people besides the suspect clicked on it, or whether there even more impersonation going on beyond what we see in the email. And most importantly: how often do they normally impersonate news organizations and falsify articles?”

“Since at least 2007, the FBI has had what it calls a “Secure Technologies Exploitation Group” – which is a more polite way of saying they have a team that hacks computers.”

“They’ve been using the same language with judges, at least one of whom has recently rejected the FBI hacking request, given the invasiveness of what they were actually doing. The judge described the FBI’s malware tool in that particular case like this:

“Once installed, the software has the capacity to search the computer’s hard drive, random access memory, and other storage media; to activate the computer’s built-in camera; to generate latitude and longitude coordinates for the computer’s location; and to transmit the extracted data to FBI agents within the district.”

Still not convinced just how sick this society is?? Or, how the people who are supposed to be in charge are complete assholes, almost to a man?…. Check this article….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/29/maine-nurse-defiant-maine-ebola-quarantine

From the article:

“People infected with the Ebola virus may not show symptoms for up to 21 days, spurring the calls by politicians for a three-week isolation period. However, people with the disease are not infectious until they are symptomatic, typically after developing a fever. Even then, those infected can only spread Ebola through body fluids, such as blood or vomit. The disease is not airborne. ”

“The day before Hickox was detained in Newark airport, a New York City doctor, Craig Spencer, was diagnosed with Ebola. The doctor took at least three trips on the subway, dined out and went bowling, spurring public anxiety.”

“Do you understand what that did to the psyche of public officials in a metropolis of nine million people,” the Today show host Matt Lauer asked Hickox.”

“Of course I do understand, it has created a lot of fear, but we still have to make policies based on evidence,” Hickox said.”

If I have to point out to you how wrong all of this is, then, I am afraid you need to practice your thinking skills, or, perhaps, you need go find the thinking cap you put in the attic, years ago…. It’s crystal clear to me that the political forces in this country have blown the Ebola virus issue completely out of proportion, aided and abetted by the media, which thinks only of how fantastic claims of impending doom sells more papers, than does a reasoned approach to any issue. Pay attention, ffolkes…. Everything you need to know about the ridiculousness of the political buffoons’ reactions can be found in the above excerpt, which describes the medical status of the disease…. IT ISN’T ANY FUCKING MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE FLU THAT PASSES THROUGH US EVERY DAMN YEAR….

Sorry for shouting, but, damn it, listen to me….

Every year, you will note, without fail, no matter how many cases are seen, or not seen, of the flu strains they tout as so dangerous, the medical/pharmaceutical industry wants everyone to get a flu shot (Only $4.95/dose at K-Mart, or Walgreen’s, or even if free…. Somebody is being charged by the pharmco’s for this “service” to the public, paid by the insurance money they rip us off for….). Every year, we see the same advertising, and the same push to “Get Your Flu Shots!”…..

This happens, even though NOT taking the shot, and letting the body learn how to fight the disease on its own, provides a person with relative immunity for the rest of their life….If such a person ever does contract the disease again, in any strain, it will affect them much less…. This is a medical FACT, ffolkes, it is how our bodies fight off diseases, by learning how to combat them with its own defenses….

If you had the flu as a child, and lived through it, chances are you’ll never have another serious case of in your life…. a fact of which I am proof… I KNOW I am not alone, as well, because all of my brothers and sisters are the same…. We all had the flu, back in the 40’s and 50’s, and haven’t had it since…. Sure, the flu, if untreated, can be dangerous…. for adults, or for kids, too, if not cared for…..

The treatment to prevent the chances of dying from the flu, in these modern times, are very effective, and have been in place since the advent of the knowledge of how to treat ANY illness got to be society wide…. Very few people die from the flu any more, compared to the number of people there are in toto, and if children who catch it are treated for it, the number is even smaller….

But, by catching the disease, the body learns to create the proper defenses, ON ITS OWN, and those defenses work very well in preventing future occurrences in those who have had the disease…. As well, the percentage of those people who might catch it again is even smaller, because their body aids in the defense, and treatment milieu necessary to support it in its battle.

But, to treat it that way costs money the corporations that control health care don’t like to spend…. They don’t want something like that known widely, or they wouldn’t be able to convince anyone of the danger, thereby losing, literally, BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS every year, from having to treat kids with the flu, and from not getting all those adults to buy the shots they’re trying to sell…. They simply aren’t going to let that happen, are they?…. Not when they can use the government, and the media, and the ignorance of the average person to manipulate them into being afraid of nothing much at all….

There is plenty more proof, should anyone need it…

Indeed, misogyny, and outright fear of women, among most men in this world, is a key problem in our world, an all-too common fact of life, caused by the attitudes related above, to wit: ignorance, encouraged by society itself….This cowardly weakness is manifested in our daily lives very much more than anyone wishes to admit…. From what I read, and from what I’ve seen in my 64 years, I can truthfully say I estimate 99% of all men alive today are, at least to some degree, misogynists… They are afraid of women’s sexuality, and how they feel it threatens their masculinity, which they do not understand at all, connecting it to their physical size advantage, rather than to their intelligence, or understanding…

The problem arises from the unfortunate fact that men have a tendency, when they fear, to resort to violence, or, if threatened by a woman (in their minds), by sexual misconduct (a fancy way of saying rape, or sexual harassment of all types….)…. If you think I’m overstating the situation, or the issue, take a moment to read the following article, and watch the video….

Both provide graphic proof of my contention, and there is little I can add to make it any stronger than it is…. So, check it out, please…. This is an issue that is important to ALL men, and ALL women…. seriously…. Then, think about the simple fact that this video was performed in only ONE place…. a large one, to be sure…. but, is this any different than what you see on the streets of your own city? I don’t think so….

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/29/woman-records-10-hours-of-harassment-walking-through-new-york

Ten Hours of Walking Through Sexual Harassment; NYC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A

“A Lie is still a Lie, even if you believe it.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

This may possibly be the longest rant ever in a Pearl, or, for that matter, the longest I’ve ever written, period….. Stuff just kept popping up in front of me as I read the news yesterday, things that demanded a response, because the theme for today covers ALL of the issues we face in society today….. Believe me, they are legion, and very few people will tell you the straight truth about even little parts of the big picture…. and nobody WANTS to talk about how scary the WHOLE picture is beginning to be….

It scares me, and not just a little bit, either…. The only solutions I see are only going to happen if the entire species acts as one organism, and, so far, we haven’t done too well at that…. not that I’ve noticed…. Add to that the fact of human nature that we all know to be true, i.e., change is the hardest thing to do for us, and, well…. Let’s just say, as delicately as we can, things aren’t looking terribly promising for us having much of a future…. We are the victims of our own nature….

I can think of only one creature on the face of this planet who will miss our sorry asses when we are gone, and, they already love us more than we could possibly deserve, or love ourselves…. Dogs, I think, will wonder where we’ve gone, but, if we are all that was gone, I think things would get along fine, and none of the other creatures would be concerned at all…. not considering how we have treated them….

“If you can see a thing whole… it seems that it’s always beautiful. Planets, lives…But close up, a world’s all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life’s a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. You need distance, interval. The way to see how beautiful the earth is, is to see it as the moon. The way to see how beautiful a life is, is to see it from the vantage point of death.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, Dispossessed

“They made light of it.” — New Testament — Matthew xxii, 5

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After ranting so much, for so long, I need the kind of reality to be found in all of this man’s poetry….

40,000

at the track today,
Father’s Day,
each paid admission was
entitled to a wallet
and each contained a
little surprise.
most of the men seemed
between 30 and 55,
going to fat,
many of them in walking
shorts,
they had gone stale in
life,
flattened out….
in fact, damn it, they
aren’t even worth writing
about!
why am I doing
this?
these don’t even
deserve a death bed,
these little walking
whales,
only there are so
many of
them,
in the urinals,
in the food lines,
they have managed to
survive
in a most limited
sense
but when you see
so many of them
like that,
there and not there,
breathing, farting,
commenting,
waiting for a thunder
that will not arrive,
waiting for the charging
white horse of
Glory,
waiting for the lovely
female that is not
there,
waiting to WIN,
waiting for the great
dream to
engulf them
but they do nothing,
they clomp in their
sandals,
gnaw at hot dogs
dog style,
gulping at the
meat,
they complain about
losing,
blame the jocks,
drink green
beer,
the parking lot is
jammed with their
unpaid for
cars,
the jocks mount
again for another
race,
the men press
toward the betting
windows
mesmerized,
fathers and non-fathers
Monday is waiting
for them,
this is the last
big lark.
and the horses are
totally
beautiful.
it is shocking how
beautiful they
are
at that time,
at that place,
their life shines
through;
miracles happen,
even in
hell.
I decide to stay for
one more
race.

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

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

Well, even software can have an urge, I guess; all seven of these pearls were picked out by Smart Bee, though only two were original to him/her/them/it/…. That urge seems to have something to do with a sharp stick, and the eyes of a politician…. Well, they deserve all the shit we can throw at them, since that’s all they throw at us, so…. enjoy….

“Is it fair to hold politicians to the same standards as humans?” –Smart Bee

“Nothing, indeed, but the possession of some power can with any certainty discover what at the bottom is the true character of any man.” — Edmund Burke

“Nothing can so alienate a voter from the political system as backing a winning candidate.” — Mark B. Cohen

“I support drug testing. I believe every public official should be given a shot of sodium pentathol and asked “Which laws have you broken this week?”– Smart Bee, (again with gigoid’s full agreement… damn good idea.)

“I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I speak the truth, and they never believe me.” — Conte Camillo Benso di Cavour

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

“Either CONFESS now or we go to “PEOPLE’S COURT”!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

Whew! That’s a long one, ffolkes. Even though much of it was done yesterday, I still had to proof, edit, and format the whole thing, so, at this juncture, I’m just happy I got it done…. In fact, I’m going to go with the flow, and take us out of here, now, so we can all get on with what promises to be a good day…. 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….

Filtered through a veil of ignorant prejudice….

Posted on October 25, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the weaponry to make the difference.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

Master of all I survey (a vision of my domain, which, at the moment, consists of empty pizza boxes), I am pleased to find myself undaunted by the terrifying depths of fear, instinctively engendered by my undeniably complicated and increasingly problematic existence, or by the number of empty boxes, each of which indicates a breakdown of the will, in the ongoing battle between the lifestyle changes demanded by my new physical issues, and the strength of my lifelong tendency toward hedonism….

I suppose it is only natural, at this point in my life, to become a touch maudlin at certain times, when the realization of my own mortality happens to come to the forefront of consciousness. Each stab of pain, each achy joint, every systemic glitch we experience has the extra pleasure of reminding us we are coming to the aft end of our years; the winding down process isn’t what could be called comfortable, or comforting at all. Oh, there are perks, and a few advantages, connected to aging, but, those don’t alter the debilitating physical issues with which the years weigh us down… all of which make maintaining hedonism problematic, to say the least….

Rather than turn this directly into a whine, however, I think I’ll point out to myself the balance factor, and let it go…. That always does the trick, as it’s hard to argue with reality, or how it works…. See, all the physical issues with which we end up dealing in our waning years are a direct result of how we used our bodies when younger…. In short, it’s our own damn fault, for not paying attention to the manual… which we never receive, anyway….

All of my conditions, it turns out, are due to the extremely active lifestyle I pursued for the first 40 years of this trip to Earth; starting with baseball at about age 7, I ran, jumped, fought, played, ran into things and people, and generally used my human body as a Tonka Toy, not caring, because of not knowing, that I would pay a huge price in my declining years as a result….

In a way, my experience can be seen as a metaphor for the experience of the entire species; all of us tend to ignore the future to live in the present, as best we may, doing those things that make us feel good, without any understanding of how our actions, in that present, will determine much of what happens to us in the future…. One thing that happened during my teen years is a perfect example of this…

At age 13/14 (right around my birthday), while playing football in High School, I apparently broke my back, though without knowing it at the time…. One play in the season’s second game saw me tackling someone in such a manner that my whole spinal column was compressed, cracking a couple of vertebrae…. but, in the culture of American football, I was never really examined by a doctor, until AFTER the game was over; by then, I only showed minor concussive symptoms, so they never looked for any fractures…

Later in life, at the age of 35 or so, I went to a chiropractor about back pain from working as a chef/nurse (I had small children, and commonly worked two jobs, to keep them fed, clothed, and housed….). He took a full spinal X-ray, which he then showed to me to discuss treatment…. He pointed out on the film where my back had been broken, and mentioned that I would probably have been at least 2, or 3, inches taller, had it not been fractured, as it had, from that point, grown crookedly, or, as is the medical term, exhibited scoliosis…. So, now, at the age of 64, my spine, shoulders, neck, and skeleton at large are giving me fits, in reaction to a lifetime of overuse….

All because the human race is so ignorant, they don’t even understand very much about themselves, or their bodies, and how they work, not just in the now, but, over time, something we hairless apes tend to ignore…. There is little for me to do at this point; there is no turning around and going back to start over with all the things we’ve learned to guide us…. and, apparently, nobody is passing this knowledge down, because none of it is anywhere in any book I’ve ever seen…. What there is, is considered to be fringe-of-society nonsense, old wive’s tales, not commonly understood knowledge shared by the species for all our benefit…

Oh well, too late now, isn’t it? I suppose that means I’ll have to shut up about it, because, as with anything difficult to face, people would rather just ignore it…. We’re good at ignorance….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.” — William Wordsworth

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

Not being a big TV watcher for many years, I missed this…. I’m glad I found it, because listening to it produced two epiphanies for me…. One, I miss my music, and will try to play more guitar, and re-immerse myself in one of mankind’s most important fields of endeavor, as I did for much of my life. Second, I am tired of sitting around, and will now proceed to work on traveling…. somewhere…. For now, listening to this GREAT crossover music will do…..

CMT Crossroads – “James Taylor & The Dixie Chicks” Complete Session

http://youtu.be/ML64hz8XnTE

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

“If I were a girl, I’d despair. The supply of good women far exceeds that of the men who deserve them.” — Robert Graves

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/22/discussion-of-reeva-steenkamp-killing-has-sidelined-male-violence

“Women also murder and abuse, but 94% of murders in this country are carried out by men and a third of the victims are women. This familiar violence is called domestic violence. Occasionally when the man also kills the children this will make the headlines and is called family annihilation.”

“If the killing of Reeva Steenkamp can be used to extrapolate the political progress of an entire country, what does the regular murder of ordinary women tell us about ours? It is not every day, it is every couple of days and not newsworthy.”

I chose the quote to begin because it gives me the chance to start off by saying, “No shit?”….. But, then, I’m a man…. So, vulgarity and sarcasm come naturally to me…

I think, though, I’m a little different from most men, in that, I fully agree with the woman who wrote this article, and can only say to Mr. Graves that he is, though a day late, and not altogether on the wagon he needs to be on, nonetheless, absolutely correct, in a mild, no, make that bland, sort of way… I think I’d put the same idea thus; “If I were a woman in today’s world, I would either shoot myself, or someone else, because the number of men who DESERVE a good woman can be counted on two or three hands, world-wide.”

I see now that is a little too obscure, and makes the reader try to do too much math: suffice it to say, the number of men who can honestly say they understand the violence within themselves, and have learned how to control it, for the right reasons, are extremely rare, say, on the level of the color blue among lobsters…. That’s a bit obscure, too, isn’t it? Hmm…

Sorry, I guess I’m too agitated in my head to settle down over this issue, of how men abuse women out of fear and ignorance of their own nature; it’s a subject which brings out strong emotions in me, well enough to visualize and compose a good insulting, yet accurate word or phrase, to describe how few are the men who are aware of this issue, much less give it any credence in their lives…. Which lack may ultimately be a large part of the reason we humans are fairly certain to end up as a failed species, just one more among those that have existed, then disappeared, leaving only fossilized remains, in the course of Earth’s four billion years of history…. like the Dodo Bird we so closely resemble, I’d say….

(Well, we DO resemble them closely, to anyone from another planet…. A Martian, or Venusian would look at a Man, and a picture of a Dodo, and would remark the similarities, which are more common than the differences; both are flightless bipeds, basically symmetrical, and subsisting on many of the same nutrients…. We are more similar than different, though not many Men will admit to it; their incredibly ignorant pride gets in the way of seeing clearly….)

We men, as opposed to the other half of our species, are far too casual about violence altogether; women happen to be one of the three absolute worst targets we could possibly choose for that violence, from a moral/ethical/evolutionary standpoint, and, sadly, is a group which includes children, (or any weaker human…), and our companions in this life, animals of all descriptions, whom most men treat as our chattels….

Other targets, too, exist for us men, which are also less than perfectly, or even minimally justifiable, but, those three all are not merely unjustifiable, they are actually as damaging to OURSELVES as they are to those we damage…. But, then, the damage is to our spirit, and to our future, which most men are not inclined to concern themselves with overmuch, having far better things to do with their mental energies, such as deciding which of their hedonistic impulses they will indulge next, and whom they can take advantage of to do so…..

If it sounds as if I am less than impressed by my fellow gender-mates, you would be correct, mostly…. I do have men friends, and even some of them don’t always know what they are capable of, or how they show their prejudices. They all, however, being honorable men, do their best not to allow that to affect anyone adversely, and would never harm anyone intentionally…. But, the point I am making by mentioning them at all is that even the best men often are not even aware of their misogynistic tendencies….

Hell, most women are not aware, not in any expressible fashion, other than knowing they possess a visceral fear and mistrust of the males in their life, simply due to being smaller, and physically vulnerable, unless trained to be otherwise…. Knowledge is the key to reducing our fear of the unknown, and knowing one can protect oneself, under ANY circumstances imaginable, is incredibly liberating, in that we lose the unreasoning fear most people react with when confronted with violence…. A woman who can protect herself is more free than one who must keep that fear alive, in order to survive….

Everything the author of the article said is correct…. This is the subject that SHOULD be in the news headlines, along with the actions of our leaders, when caught out as liars and cheats, and who are, for the most part, all misogynists themselves….

Hey, I have an idea! How about, instead of the obituaries of famous celebrities being published, we declare open season on abusers of women, children, or dogs & cats, then, when they’ve been put down like the bad dogs they are, publish the same info on those pimps, traffickers, pedophiles, and convicted politicians and/or priest/preachers who get legally, justifiably wasted by a citizen in every day’s news….

See, we’ll make that open season on all of them, for all of their repeated displays of vulgar ignorance, by using the threat, or act, of violence to manipulate, control, and oppress any woman, child, weaker man, or animal, with no charges ever to be filed on any woman, or any man who supported them…. Any time they had a viable reason, by virtue of being a victim, they’d be allowed, and encouraged, to walk up to one of their oppressors, and put a bullet right between the eyes…. If I had my way, each time that occurred, it would be celebrated publicly, maybe with a monthly work holiday as reward, for any successful hunts the month before….

Hey, if you ladies don’t want to do it, I’ll be glad to off the assholes for you, free of charge….. I know, it’s a violent solution, but, hey, whattya want? I’m a man…. Having dealt with violence all my life, in myself, in others, in life, I know I am violent; I like to think I’ve learned to accept it, channel it, and control it. Even I have forgotten, or lost that control at times, (though not for many years….), but, never to the extent of losing that control to the point of physical harm…. Such actions ALWAYS cause emotional, spiritual, and mental harm…. to both the victim, and the perpetrator….

That is why I believe what this woman, Suzanne Moore, says in the above analysis. That belief has nothing at all to do with having the same surname, or that my own sister’s name is Susan…. But, those two facts do serve to remind me why I do believe her, which is, simply put, everything she says is the truth…. My own sister had her problems with the men in her life, not all violence of the physical sort, but, there was some; I also know the times I have lost control, or not been aware of my own failings in this…. so, I have an understanding of from where Ms. Moore, the author, is coming…. as far as any male can.

I don’t know an ultimately permanent solution; as is apparent, my solution is somewhat personally satisfying, but, won’t serve to deal with the core issue. I wish I did. But, I don’t…. But, the least I can do is promote awareness of the issue by writing about it, and to encourage self-examination for all men whenever I can, to try to stimulate thought, or outrage, or compassion for the victims of male violence and stupidity….

Oh, didn’t I mention the other side of the coin? Men are not just ignorant, they are often stupid, especially when it comes to sex….. Sorry, but, something about having a penis seems to cause many men to lose the ability to think when aroused in any way…. and, a lot of men can get aroused at almost nothing visible; the mere glance at a female figure sends their brain into a state where they seem to be incapable of cognition…. I’m guessing it’s because there isn’t enough blood to nourish both the brain and the penis at once…. Just a guess, but, it seems to fit the visible evidence I’ve seen all my life….. I do that, TRY to get men to think, whenever I remember to do so, as well as making it known I am available for assassination duties, gratis, to any woman, child, or animal victim who wishes my help….

Revenge may be a meal best served cold, but, it seems to me, it is better than no meal at all….

No shit….

So be it.

gigoid has spoken.

Probably far too much, but, oh, well…..

Man, n.:
An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

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

Tomorrow, I’m reproducing some old material; the old Pearl from which it came had a poem that I wrote at the time, a poem in response to the 2012 election process; given the way the political scenario in this country is proceeding, it still feels fresh….

A Failure to Germinate

Marking the days in elements of sad disarray
only holds me thrall, as I laugh while I may.
With cold, hard hands so impatient and cruel
pulling me to this vale of tears, a pathetic old fool.

Feelings sit silent, cast in shadows and light
breaking forth to implicate such vengeful might.
Just below the surface they patiently hide
to sally forth bravely, colors bright as they ride.

Tears and pain transform valued assets in hand
while comfort and serenity retreat to a far land.
Bold, bright patterns of hope garnish my ruinous state
until reality enters, full of disdainful portions of hate.

I sort out the illustrious measures of vision gone mild
only to find them transformed, now vicious and wild.
In my deepest desires I find myself calloused and cold
with faithless advocates whose souls have been sold.

My search finds little to support any hope of relief
far too much time has passed to bolster such belief.
The sad becomes real, and real becomes unfounded
until flights of such fancy are all dead, and grounded.

Nature has informed me of the newly hatched crime
that reality has boasted of proudly, time after time.
The last answer we think of is always the best
as we come to terms with fate, our hope at rest.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Today’s final pearl is a little odd; not so odd it’s intense, but, enough to make the thoughts it may engender rather uncomfortable. Some questions are asked that will challenge one’s flexibility and insight, and some statements about our nature that can either support or weaken those thoughts…. The final pearl, though, will bring it all into perspective, I believe, so, enjoy!….

I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life spell,
And by and by my Soul returned to me,
And answered “I Myself am Heaven and Hell.”

~~ Omar Khayyam (fl. 1100) ~~

“What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneness, and say, “This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned– and you with it, dust of the dust!” Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer, “Never have I heard anything more divine?” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Cuando sabes a donde vas, el mundo entero se aparta para abrirte paso.” – When you know where you’re going, the whole world turns away before you. — Smart Bee (Google couldn’t, or wouldn’t say….)

“There comes a time in the life of us all when we must lay aside our books or put down our tools and leave our place of work and walk forth on the road to meet the enemy face-to-face. Once and for all and at last.” — Edward Abbey

“How could the drops of water know themselves to be a river? Yet the river flows on.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved” — Mark Twain

“The higher you climb, the more you show your ass.”

~~ Alexander Pope, “The Dunciad” ~~

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

Well…. It’s so long, it took me an hour to edit and proof, so now I must rush to post, before I lose all the time I gained by getting up on time…. SIGH…. HONK, HONK!…. 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

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

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

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

“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….

Did dinosaurs dream, in color?….

Posted on October 19, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“When virtue is lost, benevolence appears;
when benevolence is lost, right conduct appears;
when right conduct is lost, expedience appears.
Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth;
it is the beginning of disorder.”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

To show y’all I don’t ALWAYS ignore the opening quote, (and to demonstrate that you might have missed the clues I DID leave….), here’s a perfect example of how Lao Tzu’s statement fits today’s society like a glove…. We have long since passed through the first stages he outlines for us, to a point where expediency is not merely a viable choice, but, is chosen all too often as an acceptable replacement for truth, as we can observe in the following example from our modern world…..

I am totally amazed, having just checked the weather online…. The online version of the Weather Channel is now so powerful, so omniscient, so infallible, it knows, well enough to have predicted it in writing, here in the town where I live, we’ll have some rain showers, in the morning,nine days from now, or, a week from Sunday…. I did not know they had achieved that kind of accuracy….

I suspect they’re being more than just a little optimistic about their predictions, having come to an arguably erroneous conclusion, to wit: now, they are GOD!….. Or, perhaps, they have managed an exclusive deal with GOD for the inside story on upcoming weather…. right here in Vallejo, that hotbed of national, international, and, no doubt, interplanetary, and yes, galactic & interstellar intrigue, not to mention, of course, weather patterns of intense pubic interest….

Such predictions are, of course, pure egotism, bullshit with a light veneer of possibility, thanks to satellite technology, and modern climatology advances…. Somehow, I still think being THAT positive of one’s sure and complete knowledge of future events, especially weather, is just a little optimistic…. and, yes, that’s sarcasm, just as thick as I can make it. No matter how sure of themselves these bozos may be, whatever I read there, before I go outside into the grip of climate, I’ll stick my head out the window first, to get a sniff, and, second, to take a quick look at the sky to the west, from which direction all of our weather comes….

Well, most of it… If there are changes coming from elsewhere, from the North, or South, such changes bring hard, cold rain (from the North), or soft, warm rain, (from the South) to pelt us for days on end, but, thanks to those same silly, but handy, satellites, we usually hear about it in ample time to prepare…. Those preparations seldom seem to work well, though, or be strong enough, as there is always some damage to human property, and/or, deaths/injuries during large storms….

Sometimes, it almost seems as if our minds cannot conceive of what will happen, even though our history is rife with examples of just how destructive weather can be to our civilization…. We, as a species, apparently have some sort of congenital blind spot, which constantly leaves us surprised by natural events that are no different from what has happened before, of which there is more than ample documentation, in history books, in newspapers, and in the oral histories common to all nations…..

Hell, to add to the mythical library of events in history, most religions have a cataclysmic event of some sort, such as Noah’s Flood, a historical event proven by satellite imagery and the geomapping techniques new since the advent of computers, or, consider the legends and myths that grew up after the Krakatoa explosion in the 1800’s….

Yet, every time such events take place, we humans act as if we are stunned by how bad it can make things….. like we didn’t know it was going to happen…. Why is that? Do you know? I don’t…. but, then, I don’t feel too surprised about a lot of stuff most folks seem to be taken unaware by; if I’ve heard about it, or read about it, or suspect it may happen, then what would any surprise be based on?

I can’t figure it out…. unless, it is connected to that innate human tendency to retreat into denial when reality doesn’t match our preconceived notions of how it should be…. Now, if that is the case, the tendency becomes a bit more comprehensible to me…. no less stupid, and, certainly no more excusable, but, it does explain a lot….

Sheesh, and we thought we were an ADVANCED civilization…. but, we can’t even get past the same bullshit fears we had when we were cowering in cold stone caves, trying to figure out the lightning and thunder, with only our imagination available to assuage our fears, by coming up with all kinds of fanciful ideas, and gods on which to blame the noise and danger, all to explain what we know, now, to be the normal, natural laws of our reality, acting naturally, and normally…. In today’s world, I guess, we just cower down in more nicely appointed, warmer caves…. From what I can see of most members of our species, though, that warmth and comfort has not made us any less afraid of the thunder and lightning….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Agesilaus being invited once to hear a man who admirably imitated the nightingale, he declined, saying he had heard the nightingale itself.” ~~ Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Agesilaus II —

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

I am fairly certain this one needs no explanation; if you’ve seen it already, kudos. If not, well, enjoy…. it’s a classic… Honest, it is….

Plan 9 From Outer Space

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbQfqb2nGi8

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

“Since when is “public safety” the root password to the Constitution?” — C. D. Tavares

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/17/secret-space-plane-us-air-force-x37b-lands-california

“The X-37B program has been an orphan of sorts, bouncing since its inception in 1999 between several federal agencies, Nasa (sic) among them. It now resides under the air force’s rapid capabilities office.”

From what I can tell, the secret part of this mission is now reserved to describe whatever it was they were doing up there…. I saw this landing reported in three different news sites online this morning, so, the secret isn’t too secret…. However, without falling prey to complete speculation, I find it a telling piece of information to see the office under which the budget for this mission is overseen, i.e, the “rapid capabilities” office….

Now, in today’s euphemistic world, that phrase, “rapid capabilities”, sounds to me like it is military bureaucratese for “fast weapons research”, looking for ever-quicker ways to deal death to our enemies, this time from the comfortable distance of at least 22,000 miles away from any retaliation by whomever is targeted…. Handy, eh?…. It’s a bit hard to block a bomb, or anything, when it is dropping from orbit…. The speed of the drop alone makes even a small rock a danger to anyone on the ground, and they have much more dangerous things to drop than rocks, believe me….

The Air Force, Pentagon, and the White House are all being very cagey about it, refusing to elaborate on what they were up there to experiment on, but, given the, ahem, Air Force connection, and the terminology used, there is little doubt it has to do with space-based weapons of some variety…. there are more than just a few, for those of you unfamiliar with the concept…. and, each one is more deadly, and more destructive than the previous one…

Imagine, if you can, billions and billions of tiny, indestructible needles, made of some cheap, hard metal… falling from the sky, at terminal velocity, at hundreds of miles per hour, in a swath a quarter mile wide, blanketing an entire city, destroying every structure, and killing every living creature within its boundaries, spreading itself in a line, marching across the land in a westerly direction, as the tiny shards of death fall from their orbital source, a satellite, or a small robot plane, such as the one you see in the picture accompanying the articles, a smaller version of the US Space Shuttle….

The use of the needles, you might want to know, is just ONE concept, that I came up with on the spur of the moment, as I wrote the above…. How many ideas of that nature do you think they were able to “experiment” on during over 600 days in orbit? More than just a couple, I would guess…. Wouldn’t you? Or, are you still convinced the government had, or has, some legitimately rational reason for such a secret mission? If you say yes to that, well, I’d suggest you bend over, and kiss your ass goodbye NOW, because you’re not long for this world, with that sort of gullibility….

Oh, I’m sure if we asked the government politely, they would tell us what the experiments being done were….. Sure, I am…. Actually, that is a lie, as I don’t believe any such thing…. We HAVE asked, and gotten nothing from them. What I am sure of is that, even if we pinned them down, forcing them somehow to respond when they don’t want to, they would lie…. They would come up with some marginally plausible statement that tells us nothing more than that already have, which would, no doubt, have absolutely nothing to do with what is actually happening…. Count on it ffolkes…. When you see me use the phrase, “no doubt”, then you know I’ve gone over that concept with a fine tooth comb, and it is TRUE, by all available evidence, and/or by deductive logic….

So, once more, they lie, and lie, and lie, and lie,….. and then, they lie some more….. Yet, they still want us to believe them, in whatever they say to us…. I don’t know about y’all, but, I’m awfully tired of being lied to like that; it’s insulting, and pissing me off more every day…. Tell you what, let’s all join up with Russell Brand, and start a world-wide revolution, and throw all the assholes out on their asses…

Sounds like a plan to me…. It definitely sounds better than sitting around, watching them solidify the hold they have on the public, for sure….. Now, all I have to do is find enough like-minded souls to give us a chance to succeed, or, to go down trying for justice…. Maybe if we do, our grandchildren may have a chance to live their whole lives, too….

Let’s see if SB has some pearls to show our disdain for the BRC, the Asininnies, and their ilk…. Five good ones should make my point, I think….

EMANCIPATION, n. A bondman’s change from the tyranny of another to the despotism of himself.

    He was a slave: at word he went and came;
        His iron collar cut him to the bone.
    Then Liberty erased his owner’s name,
        Tightened the rivets and inscribed his own.
                                                                 — G.J.

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“If you thought yesterday was bad, wait till you see what happens today.” — Smart Bee

“The proverb warns that You should not bite the hand that feeds you. But maybe you should if it prevents you from feeding yourself.” — Thomas Szasz

“I never understood why God decided to endow the military man with His big brain when bone and marrow are all that he needs to execute his purpose.” — A. Einstein – Ideas and Opinions

“Statesmen are dead politicians. Lord knows we need more statesmen.” — Opus the Penguin, Bloom County

Ah! Opus! We miss you!…… There, I think that should make it pretty clear how I feel about politicians, preachers, snakeheads, myrmidons, and all those who believe they have the right to take advantage of other people…. But, don’t worry, ffolkes, their day is coming…. Reality will be exacting a price for our ignorance, any day now…..

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

Here is a wonderful little gem from Emily, one I hadn’t seen before, which fits in with today’s rant, if nothing else…. To complement such serendipity, without condemning anyone else to the oblivion of inclusion here, I’ll follow it with a short, but, pithy poem of my own…. Enjoy!….

‘Speech’ — is a prank of Parliament

Speech’—is a prank of Parliament—
‘Tears’—is a trick of the nerve—
But the Heart with the heaviest freight on—
Doesn’t—always—move —

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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

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,
take careful aim, and piss.

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I would like for you to pay a little extra attention to this pearl, because it took an immense effort on my part to get it done…. Each of these pearls is the result of a major battle of wills, a battle which saw me, and Smart Bee, going head to head for some hours…. I don’t know what has come over the damn thing, but, it’s being absolutely assholio of late…. (assholio… the state of exhibiting characteristics of an asshole….as if you couldn’t figure that out….) Any who, no matter why, it’s true, so, the fact I got this done is remarkable enough for me….. It’s a pretty good one too, with some good advice, and statements of truth, good for putting in one’s toolbox of stuff that helps in Life….

“Aren’t you beginning to feel time gaining on you? It’s like a predator. It’s stalking you. You can try to outrun it with doctors, medicines… new technologies. But in the end, time is going to hunt you down – and make the kill.” — Smart Bee

“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” — Mark Twain

“And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.” — Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet”

“Every human being has, like Socrates, an attendant spirit; and wise are they who obey its signals. If it does not always tell us what to do, it always cautions us what not to do.” — Lydia M. Child (1802-1880), Philothea: A Romance, ch. 6 (1836)

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” — Herman Melville

“These times of ours are serious and full of calamity, but all times are essentially alike. As soon as there is life there is danger.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I’m reporting for duty as a modern person. I want to do the Latin Hustle now!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

It won’t show, but, I damn near got ahead of myself for a moment there….. Whew! Dodging bullets left and right this morning…. In spite of the necessity that has created for us to keep actively working and moving, I managed to get it done, after a fashion…. All the needed parts are there now, at least, so, we’ll see how it goes once it gets up online…. For the moment, though, I think it would be wise to just slip away into the shadows, while I still may…. 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….

A hint of rosemary in the air….

Posted on October 18, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“I bid him look into the lives of men as though into a mirror, and from others to take an example for himself.”

~~ Terence (185-159 BC) ~~

~~ Adelphoe, Act iii, Sc. 3, 61, (415.) ~~

Being normal isn’t one of my strengths. Never has been, so, I really never miss it, a fact I consider a boon, from what I observe about those who choose to accept it as their option of choice. Now, however, I am approaching fast the farthest end of my life, finding myself in an all-too-familiar sounding situation, where age-related issues become the focus of life, as we try to patch, or support, or remove, or somehow find a fix for all the different parts of our bodies that are showing signs of failing strength, and the approach of the final shut-down sequence….

Euphemisms aside, it’s a pisser, for sure and for certain; in my case, I am also feeling rather insulted…. Here I am, one who followed a path of healthy activity levels all my life, following the advice of doctors, and all the supposed experts on health, who recommend that we be active, eat well, and take care of our bodies by making them work hard…. I played every sport known to the American public, and a few they didn’t know; as soon as I got to college, I started studying martial arts, for which the conditioning goes well beyond what most sports require…. It only makes sense to me; one doesn’t wish to be in a middle of a fight, only to give in to feeling “tired”. The opposing fighter won’t care…. and, it could get you killed or seriously injured…

What all those “experts” forget to mention is the principle of moderation, a principle that overrides all the rest. Moderation is the key to successful living, in almost ALL areas of endeavor; even moderation itself is subject to this, as it is good for us to, occasionally, go beyond our limits, or not reach them. It seems to have a balancing effect necessary to full understanding and utilization; it also tends to soothe those feelings of rebelliousness in all of us, that fights against such restraints, allowing us the inner peace to make good choices as to how to live…. It’s actually simple, and not hard to follow….. it’s just not a well-enough known idea to be of complete use to all….

All of that being said, there isn’t a damn thing to do, at this point, about any of it; it’s now officially too late. All I can do now is deal with my systems as, one by one, they show their characteristics of impending failure… My latest revelation from my doctor indicates I have, as is all too normal, (for me, anyway) become a type 2 diabetic; my blood test over the last 3 years show a distinct climb into the red zone for my blood sugar. So, I now must watch my diet even more closely, start taking a new medication to help regulate the blood sugar, and, worst, I get to puncture a hole in one of my fingers 3 times a day to measure and monitor that blood sugar….. Oh, joy….

It doesn’t seem to help to know I don’t need insulin shots; the pill is now the initial treatment of choice. Having to check my blood 3 times a day is a PITA, which, as my fingers get tired of being poked, will become a chore of duty, which will, possibly, make it okay to maintain, but, will also tend to aggravate the angst, to know it could have been avoided, had I had the wherewithal to make some lifestyle changes a few years ago…. But, with all the confidence of an immortal, I did not, disbelieving that I could ever fall prey to such a NORMAL issue….

HONK!….. That’s my nose going off, by the way…. Oh well, enough whining for one day. I’m gonna go pick on some politicians and preachers for a while; that always makes me feel better…. Having poked my finger for the first time, I am free to do what I wish, and, right now, I wish to Pearl…. So, since I see one of our opportunities right ahead there, at the end of this paragraph, I’ll bid thee a temporary adieu…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it.” — Mark Twain

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

I have decided to put the daily video section here, in section one, from now on…. This way, you can start the morning’s reading, (or evening’s, I don’t care when…. as long as you stop by…. *grin*) while listening to the music I’ll provide…. Those times when I use a movie, or documentary, or other video genre, we’ll see; those may go even further down than section two… I wouldn’t want to write too much in stone; bad habit….. Any who, enjoy this one, as it was specifically designed by the site subscriber to accompany reading…. The daily rant will show up in section two today, and, if all goes according to plan, will be seen there from now on….

Music for Reading; Various Classical Artists/Composers

http://youtu.be/Qc7UzQB8gtI

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

“He must needes goe whom the devill doth drive.” ~~ John Heywood (c. 1565) — Proverbes, Part ii, Chap. vii ~~

“As you know, I planned a trip out there for some time, so it fits in very nicely.” ~~ president George Bush, on his trip to LA after the riots ~~

“Nobody goes to bed hungry in America” — R. Reagan

“Politicians aren’t born, they are excreted.” — Cicero

“That it should come to this!” ~~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act i, Sc. 2 ~~

The above five-star pearl is a lead-in group, mostly aimed at those with whom the following discussion is concerned. Below you’ll find two links to articles discussing two separate, but related issues from the news yesterday, found in the UK Guardian’s US edition online. They are both in-depth pieces, with a bit of egregiously egotistic back patting in the first one, but, both are more involved, in-depth, and in tune with the truth than any news organization from the US I can find, with the most important issues made clear, the culpability of the responsible parties made obvious, and the downright evil prevarication by the FBI director laid out for all to see…. An excerpt from each follows the article link, identifiable by quotation marks….

After those first two articles, I’ve also included an excellent column on the same subject by one of the Guardian’s staff opinion writers, named Trevor Timm. He gives a good summary of the exact points I wish to cover in his opening paragraph, which I’ve included as an excerpt, below the link. After that, I’ll have a few comments, and we’ll see how it goes from there…. Hitch up your belts, & make sure your backpacks are secured ffolkes, this could take a while…. but, as Lord Peter has been known to say, “This ain’t a joke, Charles! It’s important. Damn important!”…..

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/16/-sp-revealed-whisper-app-tracking-users

“Whisper acknowledged that it researches the location of specific users it believes are posting newsworthy information, but emphasised it typically uses GPS data.”

“Whisper stressed the IP location data it uses for people who have asked not to be followed is rough and unreliable.”

“We occasionally look at user IP addresses internally to determine very approximate location,” the company said. “User IP addresses may allow very coarse location to be determined to the city, state or country level.”

“It added: “Whisper does not request or store any personally identifiable information from users, therefore there is never a breach of anonymity. From time to time, when a user makes a claim of a newsworthy nature, we review the user’s past activity to help determine veracity.”

“The company strongly rejected any assertion of wrongdoing. “The Guardian’s assumptions that Whisper is gathering information about users and violating user’s privacy are false,” it said. “The privacy of our users is not violated in any of the circumstances suggested in the Guardian story.”

“Four days later, Whisper rewrote large sections of its terms of service and introduced an entirely new privacy policy.”

“Whereas the previous terms and conditions described all of Whisper’s tracking of user location as “voluntary”, the new terms now warn users to “bear in mind that, even if you have disabled location services, we may still determine your city, state, and country location”.

“Since becoming aware that the Guardian planned to publish its story, the anonymous app has also inserted a new line into its privacy policy.”

“It now warns users that turning on the app’s geolocation feature may “allow others, over time, to make a determination as to your identity”.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/16/fbi-director-attacks-tech-companies-encryption

“…he recognised their embrace of encryption responded to “perceive[d]” market pressures in the wake of Snowden’s disclosures. But Comey suggested that end-to-end mobile device encryption amounted to a safe haven for criminals.”

“Are we no longer a country that is passionate both about the rule of law and about their being no zones in this country beyond the reach of that rule of law? Have we become so mistrustful of government and law enforcement in particular that we are willing to let bad guys walk away, willing to leave victims in search of justice?” he said.”

“Comey acknowledged that the Snowden disclosures caused “justifiable surprise” among the public about the breadth of government surveillance, but hoped to mitigate it through greater transparency and advocacy.”

“Yet the FBI keeps significant aspects of its surveillance reach hidden even from government oversight bodies. Intelligence officials said in a June letter to a US senator that the FBI does not tally how often it searches “through NSA’s vast hoards of international communications, without warrants, for Americans’ identifying information.”

“Comey frequently described himself as being technologically unprepared to offer specific solutions, and said he meant to begin a conversation, even at the risk of putting American tech companies at a competitive disadvantage.”

“Where we may get is to a place where the US, through its Congress, says, ‘You know what, we need to force this on American companies,’ and maybe they’ll take a hit. Someone in some other country will say, ‘Ah, we sell a phone that even with lawful authority people can’t get into.’ But that we as a society are willing to have American companies take that hit. That’s why we have to have this conversation,” Comey said”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/17/government-internet-backdoor-surveillance-fbi

“FBI director James Comey wants a US government-mandated backdoor into your iPhone and your Google account. But Comey doesn’t want to call his proposed privacy invasion a backdoor. He doesn’t understand how it would work. And he expects everyone who has been horrified by the NSA’s mass surveillance to just sit back, weaken their personal security and trust that the government will never abuse it.”

“Comey also claimed on Thursday that the “Post-Snowden pendulum” needs to swing back in favor of the government, neglecting to mention Congress has passed literally zero laws reigning in government surveillance. In fact, the main reason the major tech companies are pushing forward with encryption is because the government refuses to follow the will of the people and curtail the NSA’s powers at all. If Comey wanted a careful debate about the right balance of privacy and security before decisions like Apple’s are made, like he also said on Thursday night, maybe he should’ve advocated for that when the NSA was massively expanding their powers for years in complete secrecy.”

“Twitter tweet October 16, 2014: “Comey’s right: Deployment of strong crypto should be preceded by thoughtful debate. Which we had & correctly resolved 15 years ago.— Julian Sanchez (@normative)”

“So while we break out the world’s smallest violin as Jim Comey complains about the “Post-Snowden pendulum”, remember: the US government, through its own secret actions, brought this on themselves.”

I can’t say, with any degree of accuracy, but, I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard such a load of pure bullshit, straight from the bull’s butt, in a very, very long time…. When Richard Nixon raised his peace sign fingers, and stated, “I am not a crook.”, was probably the last time…. I swear, this man, this Comey, who heads up the FBI, obviously has the lowest opinion of the American public’s intelligence of almost anyone I’ve ever seen…. The demon-spawn from hell, Newt Gargoyle, or Gribble, or Grinch, Grngich, or whatever his weird-ass name was, came close on a regular basis, as did that ghoul, Dick Cheney, but, this Über-cop, this gestapo at the head of our nation’s largest domestic police force has, I believe. taken the cake….

Moreover, he implies that anyone who doesn’t support his, and the government’s, grab for power over every aspect of our lives is unpatriotic, a cowardly enemy of American principles, which, according to HIM, start (and, by implication, end…) with submissive respect for the “rule of law”, suggesting that the American public should feel privileged to allow them to have access to ALL of their private information…. Of course, the implied insult here is that only criminals and other unsavory characters should have something to hide from them, and their oh-so-perfect moral position….

What a crock of shit! I can’t say it any plainer than that…. and, I’ve probably said enough by now, anyway…. I’ll leave you with one last wake-up pearl, to think about when you’re assigning blame for what is happening in today’s world….. The FBI director, in his remarks, asks what he considers a rhetorical question, to wit:

“Have we become so mistrustful of government and law enforcement in particular that we are willing to let bad guys walk away, willing to leave victims in search of justice?”

I can only answer with a resounding “Yes, we have! We have lost ALL trust in the police. and the government, with good reason. I wouldn’t trust you to tell me the correct time!”

Well, I might not say that last part to his face, maybe, but, I can assure you, I’d want to, very badly, and would have to exert significant effort of will to refrain from doing so…. though, why I would bother, I don’t know…..

“Who’s the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?” — Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Star Wars”

I was going to leave it at that, but, as I finished, I received an email from EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit activism organization made up of people, like me, and, hopefully, y’all, who are concerned with keeping the internet free of corporate influence and government oppression, to guarantee the open, free interchange of ideas and communication that characterizes how it is supposed to be, as intended by those who created it…. They are one of the entities who brought suit against the government about this issue, in a suit which is now about to be heard by the Supreme Court, along with several others they have supported, or helped to organize…

Below, I have included three links to articles on their home site, which speak to the information and issues of which we spoke above in this section. Each article clearly explains how the government and other entities are trying to subvert the internet, making it a tool for oppression, rather than a tool for expanding human knowledge and culture…. These explain how the government, and their myrmidons, the police, are working to take away the usefulness of having such a means to spread knowledge, wanting instead to keep it for their own use, which involves the control over our lives they so desperately desire….

Good info, ffolkes, well researched and written, very clearly presented…. I’ve donated to this one, which I don’t do, as a rule, but, they’re working hard to protect US, that is, YOU and ME, so, they deserve my support…. If nothing else, it will give you an idea of how the situation stands today….

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/10/even-golden-key-can-be-stolen-thieves-simple-facts-apples-encryption-decision

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/09/computercop-dangerous-internet-safety-software-hundreds-police-agencies

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/nsa-mind-bender-wont-tell-info-already-leaked-media/

“The best way to lose freedom is not to do anything.” — Smart Bee

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

Once again, to avoid any possible litigation over any blame associated with what I write, we’ll stick to my stuff….. It may not come up to the relative value of one of the classics, but, it will do for our purposes…. I do hope you enjoy it…. that’s something, I guess….

Dreaming, I wait….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

George Carlin. What can I possibly add to all that has been said about this man…. His life spanned the period of time from May 12, 1937 to June 22, 2008…. Even though he lived to the age of 70, in my opinion, he shall ever remains an example of “only the good die young”. He WAS young, even at 70, for, right up to the day he died, his mind looked at the world with a child’s eyes, in a fresh, uncluttered way that allowed him to see through every piece of bullshit the world threw up…. and, as my blogs indicate, that is a LOT of bullshit….

George also had a unique way of making us laugh about all the bad things in life, making them, if not more comfortable, at least more palatable, thus giving us the chance at solving some of them…. I miss his wit, and his vision, which saw through every politician and preacher in the world, no matter what their allegiance… For that alone, I shall always honor his memory, and will always consider him my role model for literary activism, as far as possible for an old curmudgeon with too much time on his hands….

Why, you may ask, are we having another video today? Well, it’s simple…. Smart Bee is on hiatus, for a day or three; it’s been bad, and I had to punish it. For a while, I’ll try to replace any old-school pearls you may have found here in section five with whatever comes to mind…. and, George came to mind first…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. Use the link to find a great many You Tubes, with George, and other comedians, as well…

George Denis Patrick Carlin

http://youtu.be/6_zwB6GLpo4

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

The process of creating these little gems has grown to resemble nothing so much as Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors; new methods, tacked up right alongside old ones, or patched over them, give it that apocalyptic look so fashionable now; I couldn’t be prouder if I had tried to make it look that way…. It’s also, at least for today, done, which is my favorite kind of Pearl….

Okay, brain gone, nothing left to use… Must go now, find new parts…. 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….

2nd door on the left….flush twice….

Posted on October 14, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Of all the gods, Death only craves not gifts:
Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured
Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed
By hymns of praise. From him alone of all
The powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof.

~~ Aeschylus (525-456 BC) ~~

— Frag. 146 (trans. by Plumptre) —

To look at these flowers, bright, plentiful, full of life, one might think it did not fit with the quote from Aeschylus, but, one would be wrong, wouldn’t one? Death comes to all of us, no matter how alive we feel at the time of its arrival…. nor does it care how blue we are, nor how bright…. And, as the poem says, it takes no excuses, no delays, and no arguments; when it is time, one has no choice but to go with Death, wherever it may lead us….

A bit of a grim outlook, unless one is confident of what happens afterward, it would seem, unless, and until, one considers Life, and consciousness as a form of energy…. Since energy cannot be destroyed, only altered in form (as water is…. wonderful synchronicity there….), the only question to be answered is WHERE does that consciousness GO? I’m afraid there isn’t any evidence available to tell us, other than the fantasies made up by a number of religiously minded folks; those, however, do not place their faith in their guesses as to what happens after we die based on evidence that can be seen, felt, or otherwise acknowledged as real, but, rather, on a set of assumptions with no basis in the real world, only in their imagination….

Me, I prefer the outlook taken by Robert Heinlein, who advised us that we will know soon enough what happens, so why fret about it? Nothing we do here and now has any effect on what happens after we die; furthermore, there is nothing in the universe we can see to give us any indication that little fact isn’t true. If it isn’t true in THIS universe, why should it be true in another? I never did see any sense in trying to make people behave themselves in this world, to ensure our place in the next; that’s just bribery, and not a good way to stimulate behavior, or to build a morality inside someone….

Morality, and ethics, must come from within us, by choice, or they mean NOTHING. Choices, and behaviors that arise in us out of the hope of a reward are not how real humans become ethical creatures; we do that by learning to choose the right action, then, make that our duty, our CHOICE, not made in response to a bribe, or, even worse, in response to a threat of punishment for wrong behavior….. That only teaches people to become sycophants, always seeking someone’s favor by performing unethical acts, justified by their own delusions of adequacy….

SIGH…. Damn! I did it again, didn’t I? I sat down, and led myself by the nose right into a rant…. Boy, in looking back over it, I’m amazed…. I didn’t think even I could start into it that quickly, or that seamlessly…. it just sort of flowed out, as I started to type… and, now look at it…. Four bloody paragraphs, of pretty decent ranting, but, chock full of the deitrus left in my head after a night’s dreaming, and way too early in the process…. I may have driven off any newbies in the intro with this little diatribe….. can’t have that….. I guess I’ll have to use the rip-stop method, and get us out of here the hard way, before this gets any worse….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.” — ee cummings

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

“Only the educated are free.” — Epictetus

If we are to believe Epictetus, it is our duty as free men and women to educate ourselves… In view of that, here are some articles from the recent past, taken from several different news sources… Some of you may note the absence of material from SFGATE, which I formerly used extensively….. I’m sorry to say, the folks who run that site have gone bonkers; they’ve altered the look and feel of it until it now resembles the National Enquirer for sleaze level of the covered material, and increased even further the use of auto-play videos, advertisements, and just plain BS until my computer seized up while trying to load it…. So, I gave up on it, and confine myself to other sources on the Net, of which there is no lack…

That said, the articles today mostly focus on the lies being told to us by the Obama Administration, which are merely a continuation of the same line of bullshit they’ve been doling out for close to seven years now. Despite having made the promise, twice, to display transparency in his administration, this president has pursued a course of lies, secrecy, and clandestine spying on not only the rest of the world, but, on his own people. When confronted about any of it, they become obtuse, and even more lies come out of their mouths, which, given the previous events, is quite astonishing in its volume, and degree of chutzpah, otherwise known as unmitigated gall….

The revelations by Edward Snowden are being confirmed and justified at every turn…. Below, you will find one article which speaks to the extent of the spying, and how we, the people, can, and are, learning to show exactly how they are spying on us, and on everyone, graphically and accurately…. I’ve included a nine minute video describing the responsible artists vision, with accompanying links to the review, and to the You Tube site where other videos of the same nature may be found….

Stay alert, ffolkes, the Asininnies are doing everything in their power to shut us all down; nothing would make them happier than to completely take over the Internet from public control, so, we need to stay on top of what they are up to, in order to at least offer a token resistance… if not outright revolution, an alternative much of the world is seemingly finding increasingly attractive….

With each article, I’ve included, below the link, a pertinent excerpt from the article’s text, or a short comment, to give a notion of the material upon which to focus your attention…. At the end, you’ll find another old-school pearl, to deliver the final blows for this section, hopefully to good effect…. Okay, ffolkes, dig in!….. Remember! An educated voter is a danger to all politicians, so, educate yourselves!….

http://www.examiner.com/article/nsa-document-supports-whistleblower-claim-of-alien-ufo-communication-program

Really? Spying on alien/UFO communications? What were they thinking?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/nsa-surveillance-world-leaders-calls

This one is full of information, but most of it is from the past couple years; only a small portion is current. It does give a good indication of how widespread the NSA’s surveillance has become across the world.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/13/photographer-artist-maps-world-of-surveillance-agencies-treovr-paglen

“…the US National Security Agency headquarters in Maryland, the National Reconnaissance Office in Virginia and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Virginia. These agencies, which respectively lead national security, run spy satellites and manage mapping intelligence, had a combined budget request of more than $25bn in 2013”

http://youtu.be/9Igfu0VwdkQ

https://news.yahoo.com/secretive-x-37b-military-space-plane-could-land-132030466.html

More proof of the lack of White House transparency; this project has been running for Obama’s ENTIRE TERM OF OFFICE, with only occasional, small, buried articles like this one, with no hard information, and no admissions or comments from the White House, or military officials, as to just WHAT they are hoping to accomplish with these missions…. Again, not a bit of transparency that I can see….

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/13/st-louis-protests-religious-leaders-messages-anger-ferguson-activists

“In the early hours of Sunday morning, dozens of activists attempted to occupy a convenience store in support of Myers. The police arrested 17 people for unlawful assembly”

Okay, the last one is a different subject, but, you’ll note the italicized phrase at the end…. I thought the Constitution made assembly for protest lawful…. How is it possible to make laws that abrogate that? Just wondering….. Okay, here’s the pearls, which I hope makes them bleed profusely from numerous serious wounds about the neck and shoulders…. those portions, conveniently enough, they always show on TV, when they assume their “talking head” personae…. Oh, and just for fun (well, fun for ME….) I have placed two extra pearls at the end, which take a couple shots at the other side of that coin, the religious dogmatists who support the talking heads with their preaching….

“I don’t pick on politicians. They ain’t done nothin’.” — Red Skelton

“If you’re facing the richest and most disgusting conspiracy in history, you have to do more than stick up two fingers and say “peace”. — Ben Elton, Stark

“The maxim that “Honesty is the best policy” is one which, perhaps, no one is ever habitually guided by in practice. An honest man is always before it, and a knave is generally behind it.” — Richard Whately, Archbishop of Dublin

“An accommodating vice is better than an obstinate virtue.” — Motto engraved over the entrance to the chambers of the Supreme Court of the United States

“Them that has, gets.” — Iron Law of Distribution

“The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), “Worship”

“A plague of all cowards, I say.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King Henry IV — Act ii, Sc. 4

——————-

“No creo en Dios, pero le tengo miedo.” [I don’t believe in God, but I’m afraid of Him.] — Gabriel Garcia Marquez, — “El Amor en los Tiempos de Colera”, 1985

“The church is actually patronized by the social order as a means of stabilizing and perpetuating the existing system.” — C. C. Morrison

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

Though it’s out of order, the poetry section remains the anchor for all the rest; today, we’ll go for a classic author, one whose reputation is beyond any harm I can cause by association….

All Is Truth

O ME, man of slack faith so long!
Standing aloof–denying portions so long;
Only aware to-day of compact, all-diffused truth;
Discovering to-day there is no lie, or form of lie, and can be none,
but grows as inevitably upon itself as the truth does upon
itself,
Or as any law of the earth, or any natural production of the earth
does.

(This is curious, and may not be realized immediately–But it must be
realized;
I feel in myself that I represent falsehoods equally with the rest,
And that the universe does.)

Where has fail’d a perfect return, indifferent of lies or the truth?
Is it upon the ground, or in water or fire? or in the spirit of man?
or in the meat and blood? 10

Meditating among liars, and retreating sternly into myself, I see
that there are really no liars or lies after all,
And that nothing fails its perfect return–And that what are called
lies are perfect returns,
And that each thing exactly represents itself, and what has preceded
it,
And that the truth includes all, and is compact, just as much as
space is compact,
And that there is no flaw or vacuum in the amount of the truth–but
that all is truth without exception;
And henceforth I will go celebrate anything I see or am,
And sing and laugh, and deny nothing.

~~ Walt Whitman ~~

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

Shameless, aren’t I? Today’s video section is devoted to CUTE…. and what is cuter than puppies? Nothing, but, perhaps, kittens (See tomorrow’s Pearl…. Never say I don’t give ffolkes what they want….)

15 great Golden Retriever Puppy videos

http://youtu.be/t0KwtuYyy3A

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

In just a few minutes yesterday, Smart Bee offered up these seven pearls, grouped just as they are…. Obviously, they comprise a comment SB decided was either important, or at minimum, helpfully relevant, on human nature, and the process of deciding what sort of human we wish to be…. After the seven-star pearl is a separate pearl, which stands alone, but, makes a very cogent, as well as hilarious observation as to the proper perspective in which to hold our personal world-view….

Well, maybe that’s a bit high-minded, but, it did make me laugh, loud and long, with a strong sense of sardonic resignation… or, perhaps, it was irony I felt, along with a strong sense of wonder, at the depths of human ignorance; the wonder arises from the astonishing fact of our survival for this length of time….

“He is never less at leisure than when at leisure.” — Cicero (106-43 BC) — De Officiis, iii, 1

“A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword.” — Richard Burton (1577-1640)

I slept and drempt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was duty.
I acted and beheld that duty was joy.

— Rabindranath Tagore

“If you don’t know where you’re going, when you get there you’ll be lost.” — Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Famer, NY Yankees

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” — Albert Einstein –

“Time is a great teacher but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.” — Hector Berlioz (1803-69), French composer

Ode to an Indispensable Man

Sometime, when you’re feeling important,
Sometime, when your ego’s in bloom,
Sometime, when you take it for granted
You’re the best qualified in the room;
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow this simple instruction
And see how it humbles your soul.
Take a bucket and fill it with water;
Put your hand in it, up to the wrist.
Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining
Is the measure of how you’ll be missed.
You may splash all you please when you enter,
You can stir up the water galore,
But stop, and you’ll find in a minute
That it looks the same as before.
The moral in this quaint example
Is to do the best that you can.
Be proud of yourself, but remember –
There is no indispensable man.

~~ Saxon White Kessinger ~~

As the final note, mentioned above:

“A priest was walking along the cliffs at Dover when he came upon two locals pulling another man ashore on the end of a rope. “That’s what I like to see”, said the priest, “A man helping his fellow man”. As he was walking away, one local remarked to the other, “Well, he sure doesn’t know the first thing about shark fishing.” — Smart Bee

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

Okay, it’s a lot, so, I’ll keep this short…. Today’s Pearl has been brought to you by….. wait a minute! We have no corporate sponsors here! Get that out of here!…. Okay, whew, sorry…. didn’t see the little bugger until he jumped up & tried to give his pitch…. Any who, I’m done, and I think we can all get behind that today, right? Right….. 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….

Reverting to paleolithic mode….

Posted on October 10, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.” — Buddha

The flower looks a bit worse for wear, doesn’t it? I took this picture in late July, when all the flowers had been blooming for some time, all through the summer, collecting comparative photos to show off the very little bit of seasonal change we see here in Northern California. Living here, we don’t see much of the dramatic changes seen back east, but, there are smaller, more subtle signs, if one is the type to notice them… but, then, I suppose one could say that subtlety isn’t all that common, either, in humans…. Most humans run to the type of mind that appreciates the Three Stooges kind of humor, with lots of violence and pratfalls…. Witness the long-term popularity of such shows as Benny Hill, or The Beverly Hillbillies,

Now we see an example of how these intro sections get away from me…. I have not the faintest clue as to how we started out with flowers and seasons, but, ended up with Jed Clampett & Granny. Just one of those mysteries we are destined never to solve, I guess. If I had continued down that path, there is no telling where we might have gone, or what might have happened to us on the way. It has been noted previously how often this section ends up as a rant, or, at the very least, a pre-cursor to ranting, but, in these cases, where we finally come to is generally uncharted territory, with completely new and different standards to observe, usually before we can figure out how to exit the area…

But, hell, I got almost seven straight good hours of sleep last night, and you’d be amazed at the difference it makes, even if waking up stiff and sore… Even the pain is less bothersome, when there is ample energy to fight back with; as long as I’ve remembered to set up the coffee, so it’s ready within moments, all will be well, and all will be well…. or, as close as we ever come to wellness…

The opening quote, by the way, is one I used recently in my life, to remind myself of where the center lay…. We all get lost in our own minds at times; there is no doubt whatsoever of that truth. Even I, who spends so much time thinking about the mind, and consciousness, and how that relates to the world and society, can lose track of my own center, losing track of it while focused on dealing with the pressures and oddities of living, with which we deal on a regular basis. Finding our way back isn’t always possible alone, which is why we have each other…. So, as long as we can remember that our center, and our inner peace, are already there, inside us, waiting for us to merely acknowledge its presence, in order to enjoy the benefits thereby….

One benefit is that my mind clears more quickly in the morning, with or without coffee…. though, the latter is a condition I have avoided for many years, and cannot actually say I’ve tried in a long time; I suppose that makes the previous statement a load of bilge water, but, hey, it’s already too late. This is the last paragraph required by law, and today, the rest of the Pearl’s sections kept growing, until this came out a bit long, though, it’s all fresh…. I suppose we’ll find out how that goes over, or, as my Mom used to say, “It’ll all come out in the wash….”

I never did know exactly what she meant by that….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“A bird can fly, but a fly can’t bird.” — The Tao of Pooh.

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

“A sane environment in one in which there is room to be crazy. A crazy environment is one in which there is no room to be sane.” — Solomon Short

This pearl started out as another rant on the environmental crisis, on the basis of what I read in the first article, from weather.com. But, as I looked for any other reports on the subject on other sites, other subjects indicating how the world is going insane kept presenting themselves, until the final one, which I read starting out because it was interesting, then because it filled in some holes I’d been seeing in another subject, which related, peripherally, to the original subject of our imminent doom, or at least, period of crisis…

In order to keep it reasonably short (hah!) I’ll confine myself to short comments at first, then finish my arguments after the fourth…

http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/antarctic-sea-ice-reaches-all-time-record-high-nsidc-20141008

This could affect the rotational speed of the planet, as the weight of the ice redistributes, possibly causing changes in the magnetic, and other energy fields that envelop Earth….Terraforming in action…. without even realizing we are doing it…..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/11144442/First-hint-of-life-after-death-in-biggest-ever-scientific-study.html

Long article, key phrase by investigating scientists: “We just don’t know what’s going on.” Duh!

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/09/crypto-wars-redux-why-the-fbis-desire-to-unlock-your-private-life-must-be-resisted

Very good article; clear, concise, informative, incredibly scary in its implications….

http://www.theguardian.com/science/lost-worlds/2014/oct/09/supersized-dinosaurs-divided-up-their-dinner-sauropod-diplodocus

You never need to feel guilty about eating meat, or plants, or anything, ever again…. Regardless of the nonsense vegetarians will tell you about evolution, the stark reality of nature is this… We, and by we I mean ALL forms of life in the known, visible universe, eat each other, all the damn time… It has nothing to do with evolution, or how our jaws, teeth, etc. developed; that is what is so interesting in this article, for it shows this exactly (which we can discuss another time….) in its detail, particularly in how each type of dinosaur life adapted to eat a different type of plant, or vegetation of some kind… as other dinosaurs adapted to eating other types of dinosaurs, or dead things, mostly, of one sort or another… as we do….

But, even back then, after a time, they died… Some of them may have indeed been long-lived, but they died, then they decayed, and, in essence, became food for the plants, eventually, as their individual components decayed into their more basic ingredients, then into dirt, and/or dust, as all the useful materials were utilized to FEED the plant life that lives in the ground…. growing abundantly up so other forms can eat it…

Then, along came mammals, including Man, and a few other species, who eat damn near everything in front of them… making them that much more adaptable, sort of like cockroaches, who seem to be able to eat damn near everything, including many of the toxic substances created by our technology, which would KILL us instantly…. Kid you not, I’ve sprayed half a can of Raid directly on a palmetto bug in Florida, and watched it crawl away… it slowed down, and almost died, but, managed to get into the wall before I could try again to smash it… which had not worked the first time I hit it, with ONLY a frying pan, as hard as I could…

I have a feeling they will still be in those walls when we are all dead and gone, having choked on the toxic air, or died from starvation as the oceans rise, or, in the earthquakes from the shifting polar caps affecting our orbital rotation, or one of the other practically inevitable catastrophes that are coming, that we cannot even guess at yet, because we know so little about the forces we have set into play….

Terraforming is serious business, especially for a culture that has yet to figure out how to get into its own solar system, much less to the stars, with a reliable unlimited energy source available, before killing ourselves, by war, or famine, or species extinction by environmental decree…. It will become a bit hard to survive when the air is unbreathable, and food will not grow in the ground, nor in the water….. at least, not any food WE could eat….

We do have the technology available, if pressed, to be able to survive in space, but, the effort to do so, to plant colonies in the asteroids, or Mars, or on the moons of Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, or Uranus, would take most of the resources of the planet left to us, in a very short amount of time…. It would also take ALL of mankind’s efforts, acting together, to make it happen to enough of a degree to ensure the species would survive in space, once the planet has become lethally toxic to us…..

The race is on, the clock is ticking…. but, nobody is running…..

Oops….

“Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“It did not matter, after all. He was only one man. One man’s fate is not important. If it is not, what is? He could not endure those remembered words.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, spoken by Gaverel Rocannon, Rocannon’s World

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

This concert gives a good look at how hard Janis pushed herself to make a song her own…. Note in the first section of the film, her voice strains and cracks at one point, but, other than a clearing of the throat, she gave it no rest, but, pushed it past its boundaries…. the exact perfect metaphor for how she lived, and part of what made her unique…. This concert, while good, isn’t as good as others I’ve seen (including the two or three live performances I’ve seen, back in the day…. I went to UC Berkeley in the late 60’s, and I saw her several times back then…. Incredible energy, and she was so in love with the crowd, you could see her glow during the applause…. To her, the audience’s adoration was food, drink, and drug…. she craved it all….

To see some more of her work, some of it without the flaws in this recording, use the link to go to the You Tube page, where there are more examples of her, along with choices of similar artists, some from the same era…. Enjoy….

Janis Joplin, live in Frankfurt:

http://youtu.be/5NuZxUxHN0o

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

In the interests of brevity, and avoidance of blame, here is another of my own poems, such as they are….

Funny Bones

Dreaming the way home, lost, unseen,
from the dance, where
he felt so free, and clean.
Sorrow couldn’t find him there.

Waiting, filling up the hours, hoping,
some connection can be found
keeping busy as bees, coping.
Love creeps in, without a sound.

Fat days, skinny nights, passionate
visions of semi-conscious entities,
cannot seem to fully illuminate
or hide our innermost frailties.

Resolute, find the perfect sense, codify
simple rules with every breath
never waiting, anxious to modify.
fear nothing in life, not even Death.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

For a pearl that started out as a simple, old-school pearl, this grew beyond all measure… but, it’s pretty good, so, enjoy!….

Smart Bee, as I’ve mentioned, is the tiny little program holding the database of quotes I use most often for these Pearls; it’s like my own little bed of oysters, with a high percentage of them holding pearls…. It was compiled some years ago by a group of hackers, as, sort of, an adjunct toy to the tagline that shows up whenever a Unix box is fired up… the first lines to come on screen are always a text tagline from the dB in Unix.

This particular dB, Smart Bee, holds a lot of stuff that the hackers either didn’t have attribution for, or came straight out of their own head…. Those are the quotes that I label “Smart Bee”, because, to the best of my knowledge, they all came from one of the parties responsible for SB’s existence…. All of the pearls below concern the state of being an advanced computer user, programmer, code monkey, or other industry adepts, such as wizard, god, super-user, sys-op, network manager, or, resident geek…. so, they probably know whereof they speak….

“Reality is in the mind of the beholder.” — Smart Bee

“Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity and other variables, the computer will do as it damn well pleases.” — Harward’s Law, as applied to Computers

backups: always in season, never out of style.” — Smart Bee

“A feature is a bug with seniority.” — Dave Bartley

File library corrupted: Life.exe Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic (S)uicide — Smart Bee

“In place of infinity we usually put some really big number, like 15.” — Anonymous Computer Science professor

A novice of the temple once approached the Chief Priest with a question. “Master, does Emacs have the Buddha nature?” the novice asked. The Chief Priest had been in the temple for many years and could be relied upon to know these things. He thought for several minutes before replying. “I don’t see why not. It’s got bloody well everything else.” With that, the Chief Priest went to lunch. The novice suddenly achieved enlightenment, several years later.

Commentary:

His Master is kind,
Answering his FAQ quickly,
With thought and sarcasm.

You know, it’s really too bad most people, even hackers, are so reluctant to acknowledge how much computers reflect our own nature as humans; if they would, we’d probably be able to figure out a rational way to avoid a lot of the problems we now are facing as a species…. We are so afraid to see our own design flaws, we fail to account for them, a behavioral tendency computers have been built to mimic… It’s built right into the codes used to give them instructions….

Sadly, people have always had a hard time admitting their faults; that is what keeps most of them from ever learning anything more complicated than driving a car, a feat that remains a challenge for most people, especially now they are expected to TALK at the same time…. Witness the car crash statistics, especially since the advent of Blue Tooth…. Too many folks on the road end up with the same sort of conundrum they face when asked to walk & chew gum at once…. (Long, drawn out West County Irish SIGH…..)

Just think! When computer technology advances to the point where keyboards are unnecessary, as one will merely speak to the computer to give commands, or assign tasks, THINK of all the new ways to screw up communication people will have to explore, in their relationship with the computers, to which we are relinquishing much of the drudgery of living….

As computers do more and more of what people formerly had to do, just to get by, the opportunities for missed communication will multiply geometrically, up to the point of exponentially, as a parabola that approaches infinity…. What fun we’ll all have!…. Dyslexia will take on new significance if not new meaning…. Imagine a dyslexic trying to give two commands at once to a house droid, but, getting the commands reversed: “R3D3, put the trash in the back yard, and the dog in the compacter….” Oops! Dad might have a hard time explaining that one to the kids….

“All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace”

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

~~ Richard Brautigan, 1967 ~~

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Well, it came out a bit long, but, hey, I can’t do EVERYTHING…. I wrote it; someone else is supposed to keep track of how much of it there is…. Of course, that person didn’t get paid for a few months, so they quit, which probably explains why it gets away from me so often. I haven’t had time to interview for a new one, and couldn’t actually pay them anyway, so, what’s the point? As it is, I find myself unmoved by the complaints about how long it is…. I mean, just read faster, for goodness sake, and it won’t take any longer…. It’s not as if you’re going to find any of this on the Quiz, is it? No, of course not….

Now that we have completed the required dose of complete, utter nonsense, as required by curmudgeon rules, I can finally lay this to rest, and go about getting it posted…. Whew! I’m beat; this one took it out of me…. If I didn’t have business to take care of, I’d be back in bed in five minutes… Ah well, I guess I’ll go eat some worms, then go catch the bus…. 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….

Aiming at center mass…..

Posted on October 6, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“To love someone deeply gives you strength.

Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

If one accepts the premise set forth above by Lao Tzu, then I am immensely strong, but, have yet to be able to define courage in myself…. a thought that occurred to me as I read it this morning…. Oh, that isn’t to say I am not loved; I do have children, both of whom still talk to me, so, I’m good to go there…. Also, I have friends, who have been so named for over 50 years; I know well the love that abides between us…. But, of the love he speaks about here, I am apparently unfamiliar…. and, to be honest, that hurts…. a lot.

Enough that it sent me into a deep hole of depression, for a time, until I managed to put a bit of distance between myself and the pain…. a process with which I am quite familiar, both physically and mentally…. Unfortunately, that distance isn’t enough to prevent the onset of the symptoms of PTSD, including the depression; my feelings, torn and bloodied as they are, tend to stay quite near the surface, so that the relief of weeping is always just a nanosecond away from release, whether I wish it or not…. Bit of a pisser, that, as it can, and does, strike at the LEAST convenient moments….

Add in arthritis, heat enough to melt cheese on the sidewalk, and a touch of dizziness left over from vertigo, and you’ve got the makings of a very miserable day…. or three…. At least I have this to help me get it out, which a great many people do not possess; for three years now, being able to vent has kept me reasonably sane, or, enough so to avoid prosecution for any outlandish public behaviors…. But, it still doesn’t help me get an intro section done, which, really, is all I’d hoped for today…. Well, maybe it’s working… we ARE three paragraphs in, and, no blood yet, even though we’ve already had our whine, and some cheese…. or, a mention of cheese, anyway….

Ah well, such is life, I suppose…. The picture above is amazing, to me, not because of the rarity and beauty of the shot, but, for giving us a reminder of how much we don’t know about our own planet, and its denizens…. We see here the largest creature on the planet, jumping completely out of the water, for its own reasons, possibly connected to the large growth of barnacles on its underside, visible in the above photo… Some scientists believe the whales breech like this to try to remove those barnacles; if so, I can see how it might work,as several TONS of animal crush down on the growth, with a LOT of force…..

Regardless of why the animal jumped out of the water, (an incredible physical feat, to say the least, to lift that weight completely out of the depths, into the air….), the photo, (again taken from the London Daily Telegraph, in one of their photo features…) is a beautiful shot, and well worth the placement I gave it, as a small piece of “amazing” to start the day…. It also got us far enough into the day to declare this a legal intro, and allow us to take advantage of this little ending point…. Which one? This one….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Virtue is its own revenge.” — E. Y. Harburg

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

REPORTER: “Senator, are you for or against the MX missile system?”

SENATOR: “Bob, the MX missile system reminds me of an old saying that the country folk in my state like to say. It goes like this: “You can carry a pig for six miles, but if you set it down it might run away.” I have no idea why the country folk say this. Maybe there’s some kind of chemical pollutant in their drinking water. That is why I pledge to do all that I can to protect the environment of this great nation of ours, and put prayer back in the schools, where it belongs. What we need is jobs, not empty promises. I realize I’m risking my political career be being so outspoken on a sensitive issue such as the MX, but that’s just the kind of straight-talking honest person I am, and I can’t help it.” — Dave Barry, “On Presidential Politics”

It may seem as if I’m cheating, but, that’s okay; I’m in enough of a bad mood I don’t give much of a shit. The above, to me, is PERFECT. It is absolutely an accurate portrayal of the typical Bull Shit spewed out daily by our pundits and talking heads, on every conceivable subject. I’m not in the mood to rant, not effectively (when depressed, I tend to get vicious, & not always perfectly reasonable….), so, instead, I’ll furnish y’all with some links to more evidence of the kind of crap being pulled on us by our so-called leaders… then, a couple of questions, followed by some pearls to take a few satisfying shots at those assholes…. I will probably sublimate the need to rant by making short comments between pearls…. fair warning….

Why does our government feel it to be so important to develop all these new robotic weapons, and maintain such close surveillance on their own people? Do they, perhaps, expect some sort of revolution?

It’s worth thinking about…..

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/04/nsa-surveillance-reform-politicians-2015

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/05/us-navy-unmanned-drone-boats

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/05/us-drone-strike-kills-five-pakistan-militants-north-west

“A man does not serve his country by canting, snuffling and marching in parades, he serves her by striving to make her clean, brave, just, intelligent and worthy of respect.” — H. L. Mencken, Baltimore _Evening Sun_, June 13, 1916

(1916, eh? This is a very uplifting thought, and, given the truth of the sixth pearl in this group, 1916 was apparently the LAST time anyone in this country voiced such an idea…. In today’s world, nobody at all buys into this….)

“An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.” — Simon Cameron (1799-1889)

(Again, in today’s political world, this remains an inarguable truth….)

“This is not politics… it’s to protect the innocence of children.” — Sen. Bob Dole on the introduction of his new Protection of Children From Computer Pornography Act of 1995

(Sure, Bob…. we believe you….)

“There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if only you begin to inoculate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.” — Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

(Another truth from the past adopted as gospel by today’s pundits and preachers…. and, a very accurate description of just how the powers that be indoctrinate the public….)

“I’m all in favor of the democratic principle that one idiot is as good as one genius, but I draw the line when someone takes the next step and concludes that two idiots are better than one genius.” — Leo Szilard

(Too late, Leo…. our society adopted that belief back in the early twentieth century, and has strengthened the position with every law enacted since 1963….)

“You can’t crush ideas by suppressing them. You can only crush them by ignoring them.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

(Truth absolute…. see pearl # 1, above, for its typical application in Reality….. Also applicable to pearl #4 in this group….)

“I don’t vote. It just encourages them.” — A Maine woman

(For sure…. and, I think I may just adopt this woman’s position, if only for the aggravation it will save ME…..)

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

Today’s video shows off the talents of one of the finest voices of the previous century, in his final performance…. Brilliant!…. Okay, so I like simple, clean, pure voices…. sue me…. But, first, enjoy the video….

Roy Orbison – Black & White Night Live (Full Album)

http://youtu.be/HWCBwaNvHbE

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

Yesterday’s poem was also from this author; as mentioned then, he is often underrated….. Hence, the relatively dubious honor of being twice-featured here….

The world is too much with us; late and soon

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune,
It moves us not.–Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

~~ William Wordsworth ~~

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

I’ve said this before, but, it remains true: sometimes, this business of creating pearls works better than others…. and, again, this is one of those times… Just follow the bouncing ball, as it shows your mind what direction to follow, then, at the end, just let the point wash over you, like manna from heaven (well, hey, if the preachers can promise that sort of spiritual ecstasy, I can do the same, and have an equal chance at having it be true, right? Odds are…)…. Whatever…. this is a good one, ffolkes, so, you might want to have a pen and paper handy…. for notes…

“Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.” — Thomas Paine

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

“The judge is condemned when the criminal is acquitted.’ — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 407

“To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.’ — Plutarch (46 AD-120 AD)

“If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, vi, 21

“He who knows does not speak, He who speaks does not know.’ — Lao Tzu

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

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

I am unsure of exactly how I got this done; if it weren’t so much of a routine, I wouldn’t have been able to do it, I think…. I suppose I’ve done this long enough, autopilot features have evolved; I certainly didn’t install them… Regardless, it’s done, and I’m thankful, because now I can go do whatever I need to do to work my way out of this hole I’ve dug… Like the old Cowboy said, “When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is… stop diggin’…..” Makes sense to me…. Until tomorrow, ffolkes, if I’m lucky…. I won’t comment on your luck….

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….

gigoid

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

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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: UK Guardian

Meatloaf, with no ketchup….

Did dinosaurs dream, in color?….

A hint of rosemary in the air….

2nd door on the left….flush twice….

Worshiping at the altar of self-mockery….

Reverting to paleolithic mode….

Aiming at center mass…..

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