Pomegranates in lime coulis, to go….

Posted on May 29, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Grain grows best in shit.”

~~ Ursula K. LeGuin ~~

Dinner in Beijing ~~ Two Dollars Each

Hajime…. This morning, I find myself in an odd state of mind. I managed to get some sleep, though I couldn’t tell you why it happened. Since it did, I’ve got a bit more than my usual amount of energy; can’t say it’s exactly topped off, but, hey, better than the alternative, right? Then, as I sat to begin, I saw the opening quote, which I used yesterday on FB as a status report. To me, the small aphorism from Ms. LeGuin is one of the deepest pearls ever created; think a while on it, and you will see why….. It stimulates deep thinking, in me, anyway, and I tend to go into an introspective mode…. This is both a good and a bad thing, in re: writing….

Good, because it’s always good to look inside; bad, because what one finds isn’t always writable. Today, the latter is the case; I went deep inside, only to find issues not ready for public consumption. I did manage to leak out a poem yesterday, though it’s one of the oddest poems I’ve done. I’ve also repeated myself on the music today, simply because I spent much of the day listening to the artists on P4C, and wanted to share it. The old-school section turned out pretty well, too, so, perhaps we should just get on with this mess, before I wander into uncharted territory, & find myself with no way back…. I think, in fact, we’d best do this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Never cry over spilt milk. It could’ve been whiskey.”

~~ “Pappy” Maverick ~~

********************************

Playing For Change

I spent an hour or more listening to the playlist for P4C, and decided to go with it again today. You can’t miss, ffolkes; it’s all good stuff. Enjoy!….

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Sittin’ On The Dock o’the Bay

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https://youtu.be/Es3Vsfzdr14

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Morning Muse

Our discussion today comes from the archives. In actuality, when it first appeared, this was an intro section. At that time, I was spending a lot of time writing, so, much of what is there is rather long & involved. This one is a discussion of why I Pearl, so, I thought it might create some little bit of understanding, about me, and what keeps me doing this every damn day…. Well, I guess, in truth, that’s another story altogether, which we’ll save for another day, as this one is quite long enough for our purpose. Enjoy!….

From 2/28/2014:

Ffolkes,

“I will show you a philtre without potions, without herbs, without any witch’s incantation – if you wish to be loved, love.” — Seneca

One of the reasons I like aphorisms so much is demonstrated perfectly by this one, from our old friend Seneca, whose contributions to historical wisdom frequently grace these pages. Without fuss, without bother, and with great clarity, he delivers one short, pithy statement, that serves to provide the reader with a piece of knowledge that will serve them well their entire life, if they are able to absorb it, meld it into their own beliefs, and use it as a guide for moral, ethical, or merely honorable behavior…. In other words, good advice in a few words…..

It isn’t as simple, or as easy as it appears; I know, I’ve tried…. I’ve come up with a few, but, I’ve noticed that even those are a matter of recycling knowledge that has been part of human lore for generations. There is good reason behind the old adage about “nothing new under the sun”…. I find countless examples of statements from historical figures, like Seneca, or Plutarch, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, or any of their contemporaries, where the same idea has been re-stated, sometimes in a better way, others not so much….

But, no matter who said it, or how well it was said, many of these sages gave us pearls, of Real wisdom, that have proved their worth by their survival into the present, with the same degree of truth and relevance they held when they were first uttered. They also demonstrate another point that comes up here at ECR regularly, which is how little human nature has changed over the centuries since mankind first began making observations about himself as a species….

Each of the names I mentioned above, at one time or another, has given us some statement that describes a problem they faced in their society, usually from the pre-Christian era, which makes it well over 2000 years ago. I find that virtually every kind of issue that was described as being a problem for them remains as troublesome today, for us, as it was for them….

Mostly, those things are involved with how people get along, or not, i.e. the results of how they treat each other…. It seems we’ve always been plagued with a certain percentage of assholes in the demographics of our populations, whether we were living in caves, or in magnificent cities….. The assholes have always been with us, and have always made their presence known in such a way that we still hear about it today….

This is the primary reason for my own skepticism about the future; if we haven’t been able to find any viable, permanent solutions to the actions of those few of us who don’t give a shit about the others in the 5000 years or more we’ve been talking about it, then what makes us think we’ll be able to solve those issues now? Well, nothing, really…. I don’t think we will be able to solve that issue, and I don’t think we’re going to make it, in the long run…. not without making some major changes, and I don’t see any way that will happen….

All of this, I suppose, was a long winded, rantish sort of way to try to find something interesting to write about for an opening…. I didn’t really intend to come to such a moribund, morbid conclusion, at least, not so early, and not without some more lucrative ranting (lucrative in terms of venting more angst than this mild-mannered outburst could ever provide….), but, I suppose logic dictated the outcome more than desire, so, we’ll just have to deal….

I note, however, with some small degree of pride and satisfaction that yes, we DO have enough to call this an intro, even if it really doesn’t resemble one much at all…. For today, it’s the best I’ve got, and it will have to do…. I’ll try to be a bit more optimistic in what comes after, okay?…. More like the original pearl from Seneca….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding.” — Seneca

********************************

Blue chameleon

It’s hot today, with chances of pain & rain.
So it says on the news.
Guess there’s nothing to do again
unless it’s sing the blues.

The blues are gettin’ old, though.
So I say, & I should know.
I been singin’ the bloody songs, y’know?
For what seems a long row to hoe.

S’pose it could get better someday.
I’ve heard that tune before.
Always seemed out of tune anyway;
I ain’t waitin’ any more.

Bang those drums & kick the cans.
May as well raise some hell.
Clang together some old pots & pans;
It hides the little voices so well.

Never worry, don’t you fear at all.
We’ve got certificates of note.
Bureaucratic protections, officially small.
Non carborundum illegitimi, he wrote.

Time, and circumstance, wrote me today.
It came in the daily mail from home.
It said I shouldn’t write unless I say
you’ll be charged for the distance you roam.

~~ gigoid ~~

5/28/2016

Hmm…. strange poem. But, there it is…. I’ll think about it tomorrow….

********************************

Naked Pearls

Life Lived Well, Ed to Ed

*******

“Perfection is a minor virtue.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

*******

“Think not that thy word and thine alone must be right.”

~~ Sophocles — Antigone, 706 ~~

*******

“Bear, do not blame, what cannot be changed.”

~~ Publius Syrus ~~

*******

“In answer to the question of why it happened,
I offer the modest proposal that our Universe
is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.”

~~ Edward P. Tryon ~~

*******

“He only earns his freedom and his life
Who takes them every day by storm.”

~~ Goethe, from Faust ~~

*******

There is no w”ealth but life.”

~~ John Ruskin ~~

*******

“We live in the kind of world where courage is the most essential of virtues;
without courage, the other virtues are useless.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

*******

********************************

Well, there you go. It’s a Pearl; no doubt about that. Moreover, it’s done, our favorite state to find them. I think, today, we’ll leave it just as it is, & go post it before I lose my nerve. I shall, as always, return tomorrow, if my luck holds…. It’s worked so far, so, we’ve got a good chance…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Too shy to prance….

Posted on April 29, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.”

~~ James Russell Lowell, Shakespeare Once More ~~

“It all moves ~~ nothing stands still.” — Heraclitus

Sonoma Creek, Spring 2016

Hajime…. Today’s Pearl will be another truncated version of the usual post. Reality continues to demand my attention during the time when I generally put together these pieces; since trying to change reality is a rather fruitless pastime, we’ll go with what we can do, and be done with it. Moreover, I don’t feel I can even spend the time to be silly, or tricky, or even odd, to any significant degree, so, I’m also cutting this intro off at one paragraph, at whose end we have already arrived. What you will see below will be all we can do; as you well know, around here, we are firm believers in doing all we can do, for, after all, all you can do, is all you can do….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The deadliest bullshit is odorless and transparent.”

~~ William Gibson ~~

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royalty-free-clip-art-vector-logos-of-black-and-orange-floral-acoustic-guitars-by-seamartini-graphics-6573

Y’all must have known, after seeing the intro, what kind of music we’d have today. Obviously, we’re going to our default on that, so, enjoy!….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/1rlU2WQ_Wf4

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“I remember now.
I remember how it started.”

~~ Queensryche ~~

In truth, I do remember…. But, this rant grew on me, until, at the last, it fell apart on me. I suppose I got too ambitious, but, I can explain. You see, I found the pearls you will find below, which seemed to me to be a fine outline for an ultimate rant, one that would cover all the ideas I hold regarding human nature, and how it has contributed to the problems we face in the world today…. That, apparently, was too much to put together…. So, I decided to trust the process again, since I’m short of time and material for today, and go with the pearls themselves, in old-school style, and let the Gentle Readers create their own rant in the comfort and safety of their own mind…. Slick eh?

So, here are the pearls; it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what I would have written; they’re pretty clear to me…. I hope you enjoy this little cheat. Hey, it’s better than a thousand more of my words on what is essentially ‘bad stuff’, right? Right…. Let’s do this, ffolkes, and get on to the poem for today…..

“You are a slave!”

~~ Morpheus, The Matrix ~~

*******

“There’s nothing more demoralizing than money.”

~~ Sophocles ~~

*******

“… men say the gods have a king
because they themselves either are or were
in ancient times under the rule of a king,
For they imagine not only the form of the gods,
but their ways of life to be like their own.”

~~ Aristotle, Politics ~~

*******

“In God We Trust.”
I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

*******

“Security is the individual’s responsibility.”

~~ Reality Bee ~~

*******

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

*******

“Hardly a pure science, history is closer to animal husbandry than it is to mathematics, in that it involves selective breeding. The principal difference between the husbandryman and the historian is that the former breeds sheep or cows or such, and the latter breeds (assumed) facts. The husbandryman uses his skills to enrich the future; the historian uses his to enrich the past. Both are usually up to their ankles in bullshit.” — Tom Robbins

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Platitudes for Attitudes

Platitudes shake us, attitudes break us.
Life can be a real pain, y’know?
Still, if we don’t fight where it takes us,
it’s a pretty straight row to hoe..

A lot of what we see and hear
isn’t always in the best of taste.
Life at large can be one long frisson of fear.
Making an effort often seems a huge waste.

Pundits, dogma dogs, myrmidons, oligarchs & pimps;
assholes and predators every one.
Twisted, sick, anti-humans; anomalous, ignorant wimps.
Logic says, every time, lobotomize ’em, & be done.

Illusions, delusions, confusions, a dedicated data dump,
bilious, divisive, spicy with hatred and fears.
Inflation, immigration, promises from the clownish Trump
Leaving even our basest survival heavy with tears.

Ancient sages left signs on the path to peace,
for those with wit to see.
No need for undue effort, no quest for golden fleece.
All we ever need to do, is be.

~~ gigoid ~~

8/29/2015

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Naked Pearls

Thoughts on Life at Large

*******

“There is no wealth but life.”

~~ John Ruskin ~~

*******

“A propensity to hope and joy is real riches;
one to fear and sorrow real poverty.”

~~ Hume ~~

*******

“To laugh often and love much,
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give of oneself;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sing with exultation;
to know even one life has breathed easier:
this is to have succeeded.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“One doesn’t discover new lands
without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”

~~ Andre Gide ~~

*******

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

~~ Epicurus ~~

*******

“How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those
who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful
than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?”

~~ Kahlil Gibran ~~

*******

“It can’t rain all the time
The sky won’t fall forever
And though the night seems long
Your tears won’t fall forever.”

~~ The Crow ~~

*******

********************************

Well, I did it, in spite of myself. Don’t ask, & I won’t be compelled to tell an untruth to protect my ego, okay? It’s silly enough without garnering attention for such indulgence. I’m thinking, given our state of mind, it’s time to shut this down, & try again tomorrow. Maybe I’ll find some wherewithal, or perhaps bit of coherent thought hiding in a far corner of my mind to share. If not, well, we’ll see what we can do. In any case, we’re done for today, which I am sure is a great relief to all. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should reality fail to stop me, again….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

If not four, maybe seven….

Posted on April 26, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Grain grows best in shit.”

~~ Ursula K. LeGuin ~~

Life is persistent….

Hajime…. Life is change, it is said, but, do we listen? Not much, for even when we do, it changes anyway, in ways we cannot predict. Fortunately for me, I’m getting fairly used to it by now, save for those days our old nemesis, Murphy, steps in to lend a hand to Fate, with his own ironic twists to the changes we think we expect. SIGH…. since there isn’t a damn thing to be done about it, the necessity for adapting, as it always does, rests with me, to do with as I please. Of course, if what I please isn’t in line with reality, well, too bad for me. Ah, well, I suppose we all have things in life which can disappoint us; this, for some reason, is mine….

Boy, that was pretty useless, wasn’t it? When I began, I was trying to be helpful, or at least compellingly sincere. But, it worked its way right into something else, insidiously, in the manner of Murphy himself, hiding the end result until too late to do anything about it. Funny how our own unconscious processes mirror the way reality works, isn’t it? And, so much for putting together the brilliant, gripping introduction that was my original intended start to today’s Pearl, eh, what? I’d say it was yet another small lesson in the hazards of engaging in vaulting ambition, I suppose, if I were in the mood to be pious, or even more ridiculous, morally instructive. Fortunately for all of us, I’m not, nor do I often fall into that absurdity. Lucky you.

Okay, we are quickly losing our way, so, perhaps it would be best to get on with the show for today. I find that’s usually the best way to preserve at least a modicum of dignity, even if we never actually display any at all. Oh, well, such is life in the blogosphere, ffolkes. You can never quite tell just what you’ll come across on any given day. I guess that just goes to show the nuances of human nature, which embeds itself in everything we do; in this case, it will allow us to escape into the wilds of the inner blog, without really even trying. In fact, we’ll just fake the whole process today, and do it like this…. Watch closely, or you’ll miss the change….

Shall we Pearl?….

“It is good
to have an end to journey toward,
but it is the journey that matters in the end.”

~~ Ursula K. LeGuin ~~

********************************

I’ve been sleeping better lately, which sometimes means I get up a bit late to make my self-imposed deadline for posting each day. This, naturally, means we cheat, and go with our default musical choice, to wit: classical…. As always, the mix chosen was simply the most compelling picture I saw when perusing the choices….. Enjoy!….

********************************

Classical Music

********************************

https://youtu.be/AXrxCDeEkj4

********************************

I really wanted to have the rant on which I’ve been working ready for today; my fatigue yesterday prevented that, and arising late today finished off any chance of getting it done this morning, as it’s still evolving on me. So be it. Here is a discussion of virtue from late in 2012, not too long, to fill in quite nicely for today…. I figure, in today’s world, a discussion of virtue can never be out of place….

From 12/16/2012:

“Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.” — Buddha (B.C. 568-488)

This statement strikes a deep chord within me…. It comes to me upon reflection that there are basically two kinds of people in the world; there are those who will see a statement such as this, read it, think about it, and either accept it, or reject it, though it hardly seems possible to do the latter, given its degree of demonstrable truth. The other kind of person will start to read this, then give up after a few words, because the words have no meaning for them, beyond the word ‘treasure’. Once these folks discover that the ‘treasure’ isn’t jewels or gold, they stop all thought on the subject, and turn to anything else that will serve their self-interest.

In one sense, this dichotomy of nature is indicative of what is happening in the world at large today. On one hand we observe the people who reject the above statement, and live according to rules that are pathologically oriented to themselves, those who also believe in “do unto others before they can do unto you….”. Sadly, this group is the same one that the major percentage of elected officials and members of our beloved ruling class come from, along with all of those who spend their lives playing with money, i.e., the bankers. All of these folks refuse to acknowledge the veracity of any of the sentiments expressed by the Buddha above, and in many cases, do so with pride and arrogance…

Another group of folks lend their support to those in power, though they spend a lot of time trying to convince everyone that they are acting out of altruistic motivation rather than monetary. I call these folks preachers, for lack of a better word, and the group, in my mind, includes priests, pastors, vicars, sadhu, imams, Elders, or anyone else who considers themselves a holy man, with the right to interpret the words of gods for the rest of us. They want us to believe they are acting according to what Buddha has expressed above, but in reality, what they do bears no resemblance at all to virtue. They merely use the words to assume the authority by proxy. In fact, their very insistence that they are acting in the interests of others, or are at all inspired to virtue, to me, is a foul lie, and worthy of their own judgment…..

I could rant for a long time on this subject, as I regard it as the most critical problem in human nature, the root cause of our current dangerous position as a species threatened with extinction. The callousness and self-aggrandizement that characterizes those among us who wish power over others will, in the long run, kill us all, if we don’t put a stop to it. Unfortunately, that would require making decisions, and taking actions, that would challenge our own virtue, and place us at risk of becoming that which we are trying to destroy…. a conundrum, for certain. Time will give us the answer, and I, for one, fear to hear it…..

“It’s too bad ignorance isn’t painful.”

~~ Smart Bee ~~

********************************

Dreaming of Calliope

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

12/13/2012

********************************

This, ffolkes, is one damned odd pearl. It put itself together, with little assistance from me, beyond formatting. One or two were out of place, so I moved them where they made sense. Other than that, it’s a self-created pearl, with a message that SEEMS to be that life is strange, and these are things you should remember about it to make it through with some aplomb. Of course, you should already know what ‘aplomb’ is, before attempting to achieve it…. Always good to remember things like that; they save embarrassment later….. Enjoy! If naught else, it’s all good advice, from one viewpoint, or another….

*********

“The best way out is always through.”

~~ Robert Frost ~~

*********

“What most people need to learn in life
is how to love people and use things
instead of using people and loving things.”

~~ Zelda Fitzgerald ~~

*********

“Old age is no place for sissies.”

~~ Bette Davis ~~

*********

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

~~ Chinese proverb ~~

*********

“If life must not be taken too seriously, then so neither must death.”

~~ Samuel Butler ~~

*********

“Ears are what keep your feet from getting in your mouth.”

~~ Anonym+us ~~

*********

“If attacked by a lion thrust your arm down his throat.
This takes some practice.”

~~ Cyril Connolly ~~

*********

“The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*********

“Flowers are words which even a baby can understand.”

~~ Arthur C. Coxe ~~

*********

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable,
but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”

~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~

*********

“Imagine there’s no heaven… it’s easy if you try.”

~~ John Lennon, “Imagine” ~~

*********

********************************

Having completed my chosen duty for today, I can take a break, well-earned. Leelu will be happy about that; she gets antsy in the mornings, waiting for me to finish. She’s become an excellent companion, (not that she was ever anything else), and we are learning to adjust to each other’s habits fairly well. Now we’ve filled the standard requirement for chatty blather, which seems to have gone missing above, we may legally, and morally, take out leave, sans guilt (not that we ever feel THAT useless emotion…). As is our wont to comment on such occasion, so be it. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. Just try & stop me….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Deploy the ducks, Desmond….

Posted on April 24, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.”

~~ Graham Greene ~~

Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, BC

Hajime…. Our Pearl today is a bit of a poser for me, but, I decided that won’t stop us, not today. I’m going to visit my grandson, and I am determined nothing will get in the way of that. I am so focused on that, I’m going to give y’all an unprecedented opening, as short as I can make it. Today, literally, what you see is what you get, because I’m flipping the switch on our most radically efficient Tardis toy, right now. I’d hold on if I were you….

Shall we Pearl?….

“At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path toward it, and the will to follow that path, if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments.” — Aung San Suu Kyi

********************************

Johann Sebastian Bach

Image from openculture.com via Google Images

I decided yesterday I wanted something inspiring, classical, and new to this venue. I don’t believe I’ve used these, but, if I have, I shall expect y’all to respect my privacy, and say nothing about that. I’ll return the favor in the foreseeable future…. Right. Regardless of all that, I think you’ll enjoy these; a lot of people think they’re pretty special, myself included…. Enjoy!..

********************************

Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concertos

********************************

https://youtu.be/NCPM8DEsvmc

********************************

The fresh rant upon which I’ve been working continues to morph on me, so, we go once again to the archives, this time for another in our long series of indictments of the Dogma Dogs and their millennia-long deception, for which they will forever be damned, according to their own morality, what little of it exists… Deluded assholes, insisting on sharing their delusion with others, to our mutual denigration…. Enjoy!…. Or, not, up to you, as always….

From 11/24/2012:

“Happy is he who dashes the heads of his enemy’s children against rocks.” — Psalms 137:9

I don’t know about you, but that kind of strikes me as a little harsh, don’t you think? I mean, talk about exploring the deepest depths of evil possible to the soul of man! And we thought that our modern rock and rap lyrics were funky?….. Rappers get pretty nasty, but I haven’t heard this degree of nasty from anyone on the radio…. yet…. Not that I haven’t heard some egregious BS, but nothing so graphic and personal as this little song from the priests of Judaism…. fine upstanding fellows that they are…. NOT!!

First, I have to say, I hope this is a sham, or at the very least, a misquote. If it is an accurate reprint from that Psalm, well, it indicates a number of things to me, some about the past, some about the present…. Mostly, though, when I read it, I get a horrible visual image in my mind’s eye of some grinning moron holding a baby by the ankle, and….. no, I’m not going there, even for the writing practice…. I guess I’m a coward, if that means I’d have to continue to make graphic a concept that should never ever have even occurred to anyone, much less been written down….

What was the purpose of this, I wonder? As a teaching song? As a victory hymn? From an Old Testament version of the 3 Stooges? I’m not even sure I want to know that much about it, come to think of it…. It kind of makes one wonder, what kind of culture would have such a concept as a part of its morality…. but, sadly, through most of human history, if I’m not mistaken, acts like this, and others just as egregiously violent and cruel, have occurred over and over, and continue to do so today in some parts of the world, where civilization is only a thin veneer over the native cultures.

Our own society shows signs of the kind of culture that would grow out of such concepts, a sort of casual attitude about violence when aimed at an objectified enemy. The less humanity we ascribe to those enemies, the easier it is to perform inhumane acts against them…. Just another of the charming traits of which our species may boast….. It fits right in with our tendency to react with anger to fear, and with our tendency to act violently to achieve our ends. Sometimes, it’s enough to make me wonder how we got as far as we have down the evolutionary path.

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

This concept is probably what has saved us, at least to this point. We are indeed creatures of a dual nature, reflecting the duality of existence in which we live, and perceive in the universe. The light to our dark side, our saving grace, are these elements of compassion and empathy that we can also display, given the right circumstance and opportunity. The Dalai Lama, who has been known to show some rather deep wisdom, has said that compassion and kindness are his entire religion, and that mankind cannot survive without living according to the precepts of such characteristics. I happen to believe he is most likely correct.

The attitudes that that Old Testament culture created and sent crashing through Time are bound to lead us to extinction, for they completely ignore the laws of nature. Our own greed and unwillingness to accept our own place in nature will remove us from this life, as surely as we are stripping the earth of its material resources in our search for wealth and power. None of the people involved in that effort to achieve power are either aware of, or willing to consider, their own complicity and guilt, and will fight to their own death to preserve their assumed right to oppress the rest of reality in their personal quest for domination.

The sad part is that they are taking the rest of us with them down that road…. and it is all because basically, deep down where it counts the most, a lot of people are, quite simply, assholes….. Quite frankly, the universe will be better off without the great majority of them. It’s a shame all the good ffolkes have to pay the same price, isn’t it?…… Ah well…..

“May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you’re dead” — An Irish toast

********************************

Fatal Supplication

But what becomes of our deepest dangerous dreams?
Does fantasy rescue any part of life’s imperiled favor?
Reality becomes but silvery pairs of mismatched teams,
Dining with affable elegance, such diffident waste to savor.

Who decides what sorrows to carry bravely to term?
Will fragrant moments of sanity make hasty manifestation?
Only Time’s patient mutability sends messages so firm,
Yet salient impersonal vexation lends credence to ripe imagination.

Can folly bring out sadness and rampant visions of beauty?
What kindness can be found in distant open relations?
With countless faces the dead disturb with dire impunity,
From separate caches of wisdom come simple stylish privations.

Shall shallow emotion serve to provide such explanations?
When does avaricious intensity assume primary focus?
Plain answers slide softly through with multiple mitigations,
While conceptually indignant concepts engage a fatally personal locus.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/20/2012

********************************

Our final pearl for today is a collection of nine most excellent gems of brilliant luster, all speaking in a general way of Life at Large, with an ample portion of Things We All Should Know, But Often Forget. There’s also a bit of Things You May Never Have Considered, which provide just the proper bit of spice to liven it up. All in all, it’s a damn good pearl, so, pay attention. There might just be something you need….

“We are born naked, wet, and hungry. Then things get worse.” — Bumper Sticker

“We’re not talking about the same thing,” he said. “For you the world is weird because if you’re not bored with it you’re at odds with it. For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must accept responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.” — Don Juan

“At ebb tide I wrote a line upon the sand, and gave it all my heart and all my soul. At flood tide I returned to read what I had inscribed and found my ignorance upon the shore.” — Kahlil Gibran

“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.” — Oscar Wilde

“Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.” — Voltaire

“Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the present, it hopes for the future, and it does not brood over the past. It’s the day-in and day-out chronicle of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories and working toward common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things that are missing. If you don’t have love in your life, no matter what else there is, it’s not enough.” — Ann Landers

“I say love, it is a flower; and you, it’s only seed.” — (Bette Midler) The Rose

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” — Muir’s Law– John Muir, American Naturalist — My First Summer in the Sierra , 1911, page 110.

“You thought, as a boy, that a mage is one who can do anything. So I thought, once. So did we all. And the truth is that as a man’s real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he _must_ do.” — Ursula K. LeGuin, “A Wizard of Earthsea”

********************************

“Heaven doesn’t want me and Hell’s afraid I’ll take over….”

~~ gigoid ~~

How do you like the latest incarnation of our newest innovation, to wit: a final, closing pearl upon which to set loose my final creative urges, whatever they may be? I have yet to make a final judgment on whether to continue, but, today’s version is one I like. I found the above statement without attribution; not surprising, as I’ve heard it many times for most of my life. Since it fits my persona so well, I thought I’d just claim it for today, without any intent to harm, with merely the desire to be silly, and, perhaps, eke out one final chuckle from the Gentle Reader…. Without knowing how it will work, I’ll make my escape, with the usual caveat; I’ll be back tomorrow to try again…. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Pecans? Or, Icons? Same price….

Posted on April 9, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“He that feareth is a slave,
were he never so rich, were he never so powerful.
But he that is without fear is king of all the world.”

~~ E. R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros ~~

Where’d it go?….

Hajime…. Sometimes, one must take what one gets. That’s not too hard when what I got feels like a small, yet tasteful prize for hard work; in truth, that’s exactly what it was/is. To keep from falling into my usual chatty mode, I’ll be brusque; I got some damn sleep, after an extended battle to get there. And, I can honestly say, some is better than none. I’m gonna take it, and run….

Where to run is another question. In fact, it’s both a rhetorical, and a moot question this morning, as I managed to complete this Pearl yesterday, but for this opening section, and a few words at the end. Not bad for an old fart who can’t sit for long. Got a few mini-rants in over at my friend’s site, too, mitigated in effect by having found an excellent archived piece, a combination rant and old-school indictment, first thing, as a treat for today’s post. Since I also received a shipment of the proper treatment for some of my pain, it was a productive day, all in all.

So productive, I’m bound & determined to keep this to a reasonable size, so we can get right into the mess for today. As a matter of fact, it would probably be best to just end this now, just as if I’d planned it that way. Hell, nobody will know for sure whether I did, or not; for that matter, I’m not even sure if I did. There are some vague memories in there, but, I don’t want to take credit where credit isn’t due. Aw, crap. I’m losing it again, aren’t I? These damn threads of consistency are tough to maintain in the early morning, even WITH a half-cup of almost pure caffeine on board. To make it seem like it WAS a plan, we’ll use this switch right here to get us gone, before anyone notices. Watch your step, please…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“It is better to copulate than never.”

~~ Lazarus Long ~~

********************************

Antonio Vivaldi ~ The Red Priest

For a few years near the end of my work career as a psychiatric technician, I was working with severely developmentally disabled teens & young adults. Ninety or more percent of the individuals were bed-ridden, unable to walk or move about without assistance. As a result, they required 24 hour care to enable them to live a life with any degree of quality; in point of fact, most would not be able to survive at all without such care….

For about 11 months, I worked the night shift, during which time, as might be expected, it got pretty quiet, as none of these individuals could speak. To keep from going completely batty from the relative silence, I played music that would not disturb their sleep, of which, naturally, this piece was foremost in my regard, for its excellence, and that timeless quality that allows one to hear it time after time, and find new joy in each hearing. I defy anyone with any wit or heart to not enjoy this…. In this case, I think the correct admonition is, Abondanza!….

********************************

Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons

********************************

https://youtu.be/ygpf6mxTUeY

********************************

In recent posts, I’ve limited my fresh ranting, simply because of the time constraints I’ve found to be extant while I’m having pain issues. I have plenty of passion and angst that needs to be vented, but, not the solid block of time required to compose a coherent indictment of our BRC and the oligarchs who are their puppet masters. The little bit of time I’ve been on other sites has apparently fulfilled my venting requirements for the time being, so, for today, I’m using a rather extensive older piece, from a day in which my rage got the better of my pain… I enjoyed it, so, why don’t you?….

From 9/2/2014:

“The sunlights differ, but there is only one darkness.” — Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Dispossessed”

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Law-enforcement-employers-still-view-private-5722229.php?cmpid=hp-hc-bustech

One coined word…. OUTFUCKINGRAGEOUS…. though, not at all surprising, the information, and quotes, in this article are, to say the least, infuriating, and, oh, I don’t know…. it makes me want to take these assholes by the lapel, and just bitch-slap them, to see if THAT might get them to HAVE A FUCKING CLUE…..

Whew!… Okay, I feel a little better… Sorry to have shouted at you, or, in your apparent direction; it was never aimed at y’all, or anyone I’ve ever called “ffolkes”… No, my anger and outrage is confined to the bloody idiots, such as the one in the article who said, and I quote, directly from the article, “Obviously, when hiring someone who will serve as a public servant in law enforcement we do a thorough background check,” Corney said. “We turn over every stone. … Even now, it’s not a perfect system. So why would we want to restrict it?”

Do you hear it? The subtext in what he states here? “why would we want to restrict it?” Well, maybe, I thought immediately, because the law says you are supposed to?. Or, maybe, your “interpretation” of the law makes the (unwarranted) assumption that police forces shouldn’t be restricted by the same laws as the rest of the populace is required to follow?… Perhaps he feels they are ‘entitled’ to not be restricted in their efforts to…. what? To know everything there is to know about everyone? It seems to me, if they were really concerned about the relative trustworthiness of their job applicants, they would have them examined, thoroughly, by a psychologist, or even a psychiatrist, to determine their reliability, their moral and ethical strengths and weaknesses, and the suitability of their persona for this kind of important work…

A psyche evaluation makes much more sense to me; it gives them the information they SHOULD be considering in their candidates, not just their weak, stupid moments, but their tendencies, their decision-making skills, their flexibility, their courage, etc…. All of that, and more, would be much clearer, without having to invade their privacy, which still should be sacrosanct….

If all those who wished to be police officers at ANY level were required to undergo psyche evaluation, I think we would see a much different, much more intelligent, more efficient, and less violent institution, whose members would, once again, be viewed as they were in the past, as the best examples of integrity, honesty, courage, and, compassion for their fellow man, that our society can produce…. Instead, in today’s society, most police are seen, by the people they are supposed to protect, as examples of arrogant, entitled bullies, flaunting their immunity from the same laws they enforce upon a fearful populace, teeming in poverty, in so many inner city communities across this nation….

Unfortunately, in the minds of today’s modern police, and the mentality of most of those who end up in that field, the laws being enforced should not have to apply to them, or anyone in their position as the “guardians” of society…. In short, the field tends to attract those who need to be regarded as special, and important, just for doing the job they’ve chosen to do, no matter their motivation, or their talent for the job…. Being large, aggressive, and able to follow orders is more highly prized than compassion, judgment, or intelligence, in today’s culture of militarization, a process affecting of all of society….

I gotta take a break…. On Memorial Day, (today) this was the first news item that drew my attention, after finishing all the steps in posting the Pearl for the holiday (as per policy, and practice, I don’t recall mentioning it at all… I never do remember it IS holiday, until I’m done… Well, most of the time, if not never….)… When I read it, and saw the incredibly asinine quote you see excerpted above, I felt like a cherry bomb firecracker going off… I damn near fell out my chair, literally, when I read those words “why would we… etc.”; I was so astounded my whole body gave a big jerk, throwing me off balance, and almost out of the chair…

Any who, break-time…. I’ve been writing straight for twenty minutes, in a rage, and need to settle…. As Arnold said, playing the Terminator “I’ll be….”, well, you know what he said….

I am. Back. But, you knew that, didn’t you? I can always count on y’all to see what is necessary…. Now that I’m back, I’ll tell you…. I’m still mad as hell, and find myself wishing very badly I could justify typing the word “fuck” a few times more, just because it releases the anger so well. But, I also typed so much on this already, my thumb is screaming, so, instead, I’ll inform you that I went to look for some pearls to go with this diatribe… One for the top, one for here, in the middle, to solidify the concepts under discussion, and provide the impetus for the remainder of the rant that is just waiting to burst out onto the screen…

But, rather than take the chance of overdoing it, I’ll finish off these thoughts with the pearls I found… In fact, an entire seven-star old-school pearl, with parameters set to find whatever seems appropriate to the theme of the now-aborted politirant…. You can thank me later for sparing y’all from the rant itself…. I’ll just go sublimate, by going out into the Big Blue Room, & finding some poor officious bureaucrat to torment…. Sounds like fun!….. Y’all enjoy the pearl, and the pearls that make it special…. Hmm…. Since the poetry is next, I think I’ll format this into the center, to blaze the path….

*******

“Earthmen like Ramses, Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, Lee Kuan.
Your whole Earth history is made up of men seeking absolute power.”

~~ Spock ~~

Patterns of Force, stardate 2534.7.

*******

`Business!’ cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again.
`Mankind was my business.
The common welfare was my business;
charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence,
were, all, my business.
The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water
in the comprehensive ocean of my business!’

~~ Charles Dickens ~~

~~ A Christmas Carol ~~

*******

“People seldom improve, when they have no other model but themselves to copy.”

~~ Oliver Goldsmith ~~

*******

“I don’t know WHY I said that.. I think it came from the FILLINGS in my rear molars..”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

*******

“Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools
and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.”

~~ Thornton Wilder ~~

*******

“1935 will go down in History!
For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration!
Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient
and the world will follow our lead to the future!”

~~ Adolf Hitler ~~

~~ (1889-1945), prior to confiscating all civilian firearms ~~

*******

“Between the vision and the act lies the shadow.”

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

*******

Here’s a link I found, after finishing the above…. It’s perfectly appropriate humor to serve as the final word today on this subject, and is only here to lighten the mood a bit…. Enjoy!

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/slideshow/Who-were-the-most-hated-presidents-92564.php

Note from 2016: I found out later I had my holidays mixed up; it was actually Labor Day, but, hey, they’re all just made up days, anyway, put where they are to stimulate commercial activity…. They really have nothing to do with cultural relevance, at all. But, then, that’s actually a pretty good metaphor for our entire governmental range of activity, isn’t it? Yep….

********************************

Savory

Blown across steppes of imagination, a spore
finds a niche, takes root,
tries to live longer than now, before
chaos/peace descends, and desire is moot.

Feathered into fecundity, another possibility
builds a nest, hatches kin,
aims at immortality, sans responsibility,
chance manifests, as it does, again.

Leading toward peril, entropy saves creativity,
making tools, and lazy time;
solid signs imply such simple nativity,
as another snitch drops his dime.

Subtle compassion billows, passion to unfold,
covering hearts bloodied by time,
burning flesh made valid, unwaveringly bold,
turning love to brilliant rhyme.

Years weigh lightly, supported by youth,
gaining weight with each year,
only the old men know the actual truth,
peace comes only when we lose our fear.

~~ gigoid ~~

4/9/2013

********************************

Our final pearl for the day is really old-school. I call this a Random Harlequin pearl about Life As We Know It, for, it speaks of things many of us never, or seldom consider, as well as of things with which all of us are familiar, and can feel/see/understand without a qualm. Mostly, I think it’s just stuff it’s good to know, to think about, and, to remember…. All of it, by the way, can be found in your own heart/mind.

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.” — Ancient Sage Bee

“A good word is an easy obligation, but not to speak ill, requires only our silence, which costs us nothing.” — Tillotson

“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” — H. L. Mencken

“Great tranquility of heart is his who cares for neither praise nor blame.” — Thomas A Kempis

“At times the wolves howl and the moon is silent.” — Mystical Bee

“It takes a very long time to become young.” — Pablo Picasso

“Some actions have an end but no beginning; some begin but do not end. It all depends upon where the observer is standing.” — Frank Herbert

“Life is cruel? Compared to what?” — Edward Abbey

“At any price that I can pay, let me own myself. And the price is worth paying if you keep what you have bought… A man may apply his independence to what is called worldly advantage, and discover too late that he laboriously has made himself dependent on a mass of external conditions for the maintenance of which he has sacrificed himself. So he may be festooned with the whole haberdashery of success, and go to his grave a castaway. Some men hold that the risk is worth taking. Others do not. It is to those that I have spoken.” — Rudyard Kipling, speech at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, 1923, — quoted in _Kipling’s Science Fiction_ edited by John Brunner

********************************

Okay, ffolkes. I did it. Big surprise, right? Okay, right, sarcasm noted and ignored, check. Since I can’t seem to find much of anything other than tricks and traps to write here, perhaps I’ll take my leave, and try again tomorrow. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I’ll see y’all in about 24 or so hours, ffolkes. The universe seems to approve, at least to the extent of allowing me to continue, which I shall do until something makes it impossible to do so. In light of that, see y’all on the flip side…

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Little pieces of big….

Posted on March 4, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else.”

~~ Subtle Bee ~~

So…. where’s the fish?

Hajime….. There is a large mountain just ahead of me, blocking my way to consciousness…. I don’t know if I have it in me to get over it. The only option I can perceive is to put my head down and slog. Gee, spell-checker didn’t react to that word at all. Hmm. Well, if it can be phlegmatic so early, so can I…. The hell with the mountain; we’ll take the train, & go around. Why not, eh?

Since my first attempt at humor to open the day fell completely flat, let’s hare off in another direction, shall we? Given the penguin at the top of the page, we can probably get away with a lot today…. Damn good thing, too, because, frankly, I ain’t got it today. I have no clue as to why, but, I woke up without any energy, in spite of a reasonable time spent asleep (I think; I can’t be sure, as I was sleeping, & wasn’t paying attention….). I suppose it’s just one more item to chalk up to the aging process, and hope for the best, meaning it won’t happen often. Hope is free, thank goodness.

Well, since funny didn’t work, and chatty is boring, let’s see…. Where should I wander next? Oh, wait, I know. Since I don’t have much chutzpah today, why don’t we just be done, and go onward? It’s a thought, and a good one, I think. In fact, I’ll be the executive my title entitles me to emulate, and make that decision unilaterally, my favorite kind. It’s a Scorpio thing; you don’t want to know. In the meantime, since you don’t know, and don’t want to know, we can be off, just as if we were once on.

Okay, all common and uncommon sense is now gone. We’re leaving. Hang on, because we tuned up the engines, and the plane got pretty zippy. Don’t tell the insurance guy, okay? Okay. Enough nonsense, or whatever this is…. we’re outta here…. I’ve got a Pearl to process…

Shall we Pearl?….

“Experience is a good school, but the fees are high.”

~~ Heinrich Heine ~~

********************************

Yep, you guessed it…. Classical music again…. Hey, it’s our default, so, back off!…. Alternately, you may enjoy…. As usual, the mix you get was picked by the picture, which was the one that caught my eye….

********************************

Classical Music

********************************

https://youtu.be/hDhTqF3_JWs

********************************

I’m not up to a rant today, so, to sublimate the angst, here is a rather lengthy, but, cogent religirant, which I last posted in 2013, written in 2012… Enjoy!….

From late 2012:

Originally this morning, I had intended to write something less controversial here…. but, Smart Bee is being a bit recalcitrant this morning in coming up with suitable stuff…. so, I’m going ahead with this discussion of religious thought, even though I was trying not to be so sober today….SIGH…. “The best laid plans of mice and men, etc….” Such are the mysterious ways of Smart Bee….

I believe in god, I just don’t like him. — Smart Bee

Now, here is a concept I can get behind…. I am often unsure of how to express my own beliefs about the idea of a God, or god, capitalization depending, I suppose, on one’s sense of reverence regarding same. All the twaddle I was taught in Sunday School was an obvious pack of lies; even at age 5 I was unconvinced of the stories they told me. None of them seemed any more real, or plausible, than the cartoons I watched on Saturday morning, and there was certainly no bloodshed in the cartoons…. mayhem, yes, bloodshed, no…. But, the story of the crucifixion is enough to give even the most ghoulish of child nightmares, for sure and for certain…. What were they thinking?….

But, the statement above goes along better with what I would like to believe (which is no more, and no less, than any other human…. believing what we’d LIKE to believe is always more attractive than what MIGHT be true…. neither of which necessarily has anything to do with what is actually REAL….), because most of the stories and lessons we heard as children about God make him out to be a petty, narcissistic, vindictive asshole, to be quite frank.

Well, there is that, plus, most of the preachers, to me, seemed to me to be much more interested in other people’s business than their own, with many of the same characteristics of their ignoble so-called creator. None of them were much of a recommendation to me as proper examples of what a good man should be, and none of what I heard about god, or God, put (H)him in that category, either.

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” — Jesus Christ (Gnostic Gospel Of Thomas, Saying 70)

Or, better out than in…. so to speak. Which, as you know if you’ve been reading here previously, is something I believe in wholeheartedly….. Jesus, for me, falls into a similar category for me as God, or preachers…. kind of in limbo regarding all the stuff that was, and is, said about him. He was obviously a real historical figure, and not a mythical supernatural being, and as such his words and actions were recorded for posterity. The accuracy of what was written is, to say the least, questionable, if for no other reason that he spoke Aramaic as his primary language…. that is pretty well established.

What many fail to consider is this…. in order for us to hear his words, we have to hear what was translated through at least four or five languages, from the original Aramaic. First, it would have been translated to Latin, or possibly another middle eastern dialect of the time, then into Latin. Then it was translated to probably Italian, French, and Spanish; then into German and, possibly, it underwent its first change into English, back when it was still considered to be Middle English…. I’m pretty sure the first King James version didn’t occur until well after the Renaissance period.

So, my question is this…. how much of the original meaning of his words came through into the English translation? It’s funny, but when, as a teen, I asked this of my pastor, all I could get from him was that, because the words were inspired by God, then the meaning would have been accurately translated by all those different people, as they were doing God’s work…. which, even then, made me go, “Hmmm? Could you explain that again, in English, with something, anything, that approaches an answer?” (This was before I spoke Spanish, or German, or anything else but English….)

That seems to be a problem with preachers/priests… they tend to lump everything into the same mold, and expect us to believe that what they say is true, even though there is no direct evidence to support any such twaddle. “The Bible says God said it, I believe it, and that’s the end of it!” seems to be their logical train of deduction, even though there is no logic, or deduction, to it. I wasn’t born in Missouri, but, you’ve got to SHOW ME the evidence before I’ll waste my time trying to place any belief into such grandiose ideas. When one of the church minions asks me, sarcastically, if I expect God to send me a telegram, I usually reply, “Well, that WOULD be more persuasive than expecting me to take it on your word, now, wouldn’t it?” Idiots….

“God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in His arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos; He will set them above their betters.” — H.L. Mencken

This attitude, the elitist idea that those who believe are somehow superior to those who do not, is one of the root causes of most of the trouble our species is having today. The insane attitude that this planet, and all the other creatures on it, were placed here specifically for our benefit and use, is responsible for all of the pollution that continues to pump into the ecosystem, for all the abuse and chauvinism against the other life forms who live here, and for a great number of the social issues, such as poverty, racism, misogyny, and violence, that plague us as a culture. We are not only NOT the masters of creation, we are not even qualified to be our own masters; we cause ourselves as much trouble as we do the rest of creation, if not more, all because religionists insist that those who believe them are good, and everyone else is bad…. a stupid idea at best.

“God made Man to his image and likeness, and Man, being a gentleman, returned the compliment.” — Voltaire

Hence, my lack of faith in the nonsensical claptrap that the various religions attempt to pass off as truth. Reality, to me, is scary enough, without the idea of some insane supernatural creature, sitting up in some fanciful Utopia, looking down and giving a rat’s ass about what I’m doing with my life. It just doesn’t make any sense to me to try to visualize a god…. by the very definition of the beast, they cannot be imagined by a creature of lesser scope…. and telling me that you have a direct line to God, and know what he wants me to do with my life, only makes me wish I could order your new medications personally…. Oh, didn’t I mention it? We now have medications that will keep people from believing delusional material, or at least keep them from acting on those beliefs before thinking about them at least a bit….. but, who’s going to give it to a priest, when the doctor believes the same bilge?

Now that I’ve alienated any number of true believers out there, I guess I’ll let this discussion die a natural death. I could obviously continue indefinitely, but, the rest of the day calls, and I should get to it…. If you have any thoughts on these conclusions of mine, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below…. and remember, please, the rules of engagement prohibit outright flaming on this site…. Confine name-calling to short, impersonal epithets, and please, include some logical thought in your responses, as neglecting to do so wastes my time, and everyone else’s…. I don’t mind being called a fool, but, as I said, let’s see your evidence….

“I find your lack of faith in the Force disturbing….” — Darth Vader (Star Wars)

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“Language is a cracked kettle on which we tap out crude rhythms for bears to dance to while we long to make music that will melt the stars.” — Gustave Flaubert, “Madame Bovary”

An Old Man, Snoring….

Winter arrives with gusts of wind and rain,
clover spreads green amongst the hedges.
Urban gardens quiver, and dream of spring again,
gargoyles stoically crouch on corniced ledges.

Umbrellas sprout over heads shrouded and hatted,
dotting the sidewalks in colorful profusion.
Urban denizens pose sketches, framed and matted,
adding casual beauty to fill the illusion.

Hissing tires, swishing along with the wipers
join nature’s orchestra smoothly, as percussion.
Dripping gutters sound gong tones, true pipers,
a sudden roar of wind hushes all discussion.

Dreams of summer heat form the crux of desire
as winter chills our souls from without.
Sitting in warmth, gazing into an imaginary fire;
content to know spring will come, no doubt.

~~ gigoid ~~

12/21/2012

********************************

What we have here is a standard, seven-star random harlequin pearl, classic variety…. All good stuff, with a message for the ages…. Enjoy!…

“We start this life alone and we end this life alone, it is what we do in between with the people and the world around us that matters.” — Larry G. Smith

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. Don’t let yourself indulge in vain wishes.” — Rabindranath Tagore

“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

“Neither the water nor the moon make any effort to achieve a reflection.” — Deng Ming-Dao

“To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.” — Lao Tzu

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” — C. G. Jung

“Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.” — Bertolt Brecht

********************************

It’s done. It’s a mess, but, it’s done. I will make no claims to quality today, but, will make a stronger effort to do better tomorrow. Given today’s results, the odds are good on that. See y’all then, ffolkes, as long as my batteries hold out….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Defined by overt self-interest…

Posted on February 26, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“And it’s just a box of rain
I don’t know who put it there
Believe it if you need it
Or leave it if you dare
And it’s just a box of rain
Or a ribbon for your hair
Such a long, long time to be gone
And a short time to be there”

~~ Box of Rain by Phil Lesh, & Robert Hunter ~~

~~From American Beauty, 1970, The Grateful Dead ~~

Catnap while gigoid works…

Hajime….. There is a lot to be said for sleep. Mostly, it’s all been said, but, my appreciation for it has again been highlighted by its presence in my life again last night. I fell asleep early, and slept, fairly naturally, for eight solid hours, with only the usual interruptions for visits to the porcelain throne, as is normal at my age…. All in all, a grand night’s sleep, for the first time in what seems like ages…. I’m not sure just what to do with all the energy. SIGH…. Ah, well, it’s a nice conundrum to face, even so early, and I’m sure I can figure it out….

Well, now what? Gosh, it’s weird to have this much energy in the morning; the usual application of will to the morning routine isn’t even close to the usual degree necessary to type. Now, if only ideas were as plentiful as energy, we might get somewhere. As it is, I’m afraid a bit of brain-cudgeling will be needed to produce anything readable, and the odds on that are slim. I guess we’ll just have to trust the process again, and see if Leelu will give me enough time to get it done….

That said, let’s get to it. Let me at that ranting section, I’m ready to rumble….. In fact, let’s do it now, so I don’t lose any time or energy to vacillating, as we often will do here in the intro section. Today, we’ll use this little device from the Tardis, and move us right along to where we should be by now…. Watch closely, or you’ll miss it….

Shall we Pearl?….

“As war and government prove, insanity is the most contagious of diseases.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

********************************

We are going with classical music again today, just because I want to. I find it is the simplest solution to conundrums, since it’s music that has been filtered through the ages, until all we have to listen to is what is considered the best…. Enjoy, ffolkes… As usual, the mix you’ll hear was picked solely because I like the picture it showed….

********************************

Classical Music

********************************

https://youtu.be/tAkHdB77u2c

********************************

“The older we grow the greater becomes our wonder at how much ignorance one can contain without bursting one’s clothes.” — Mark Twain

Though there is sufficient energy, and angst, built up to rant, I’m going with an archived piece, simply because it is on the subject I wish to address, and says what I would have said, anyway…. Enjoy, ffolkes, it’s all still as true as the day….

From 4/18/2013:

MORAL, adj. Conforming to a local and mutable standard of right. Having the quality of general expediency.

“It is sayd there be a raunge of mountaynes in the Easte, on one syde of the which certayn conducts are immorall, yet on the other syde they are holden in good esteeme; wherebye the mountayneer is much conveenyenced, for it is given to him to goe downe eyther way and act as it shall suite his moode, withouten offence. _Gooke’s Meditations_

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

A reader commented to me recently that my rants have gone soft; she enjoys it when I rake someone over the coals, figuratively speaking, and asked me when I was going to get back on my white horse, or my soapbox, as the cliché may be…. I told her it is most likely a result of having some of the pressure of living removed, by the acquisition of my SS benefits, so much so that I’m finding it hard to summon up the outrage needed to rant effectively…. Like Voldemort told Harry, when he tried to use the Cruciatus Curse against Bellatrix Lestrange, in HP5-The Order of the Phoenix, “You’ve got to MEAN it, Harry!” Funny how not worrying about where the next meal is coming from takes some stress out of one’s life, isn’t it?….. Ha Ha…..

So, anyway, then I saw the above entry from the Devil’s Dictionary, and thought to myself, “AHA!” (I do that a lot…), “Now, here’s a subject worthy of a rant!”…. This is absolutely true, even though morality is sort of like reality…. there are as many versions of what it means as there are people…. of which, each and every one believes that what they perceive is the only correct version, obviously…. Right….

So, you can see the problem right away…. As a society, we have an unfortunate tendency to try to legislate morality, so that everyone is compelled to behave according to a commonly accepted pattern of behavior…. Supposedly, this legislation is supposed act as some sort of magic bullet, that will stop all the bad things from happening, like stealing, killing, and general misbehavior that is upsetting to the rest of society…. It never works, at all, but, we keep on passing laws designed to enforce a common morality anyway….

Such a drama is now being played out on the national stage, as the Senate just defeated the new gun control reforms that 90% of the populace wants in place. Out of a hundred Senators, it only took 45 Republicans to bring the proposed law down, meaning that once again, a very small percentage of people have forced their views on the rest of the public, to suit their own morality, and, more importantly, to suit their own special interests, who paid good money for their votes, dammit!…. I am somewhat piqued about this, but see little in the way of anything to be done that will make any difference, in the big picture…. No matter how stringent the laws, people who want guns will get them, and use them on other people…. The new laws would have made that a bit more time-consuming, but no less possible, or even less probable….

Since I can’t thing of anything positive to suggest, other than to stay alert to what may end up as a critical issue, I will fill out what should normally be a rant, with a number of cogent pearls, to try to jab the stick into the appropriate eyes…. and my friend will have to wait a bit longer for a good, old-fashioned brouhaha, as I get nasty and vicious in my denouncement of the BRC, the churches, and the corporate masters….. I will say this to her….. have no fear, my outrage isn’t gone, just temporarily dormant, and I WILL be back to rant….. meanwhile, enjoy these tasty gems…..

“The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.” — Sir Winston Churchill

Linear Model: An assumption concerning the nature of reality applied unquestioningly to every relationship as though God had determined that truth must always run in straight lines. — Smart Bee

“The clinching proof of my reasoning is that I will cut anyone who argues further into dogmeat.” — Sir Geoffery de Tourneville (ca. 1350)

“Has history ever recorded a time when the majority was right?” — Lazarus Long

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

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.” — Saul Bellow

“If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.” — Carl Schurz

********************************

Haiku VIIA

Making it all up
I go merrily along;
waters of Lethe.

~~ gigoid ~~

4/18/2013

Unsolicited Gratitude

Fear becomes familiar when reality bodes us ill
pain assumes first position, no matter our will.
Powerless, we founder, no strength to prevail
anguished and afraid, against unwanted Fate we rail.

Still, a grain of hope deep inside, hidden well against need
gives us reason to survive, our starving souls to feed.
Failure of courage burdens time, of being bested,
until our souls, in submission, become foully infested.

Bitter tears wash through us each day, with little care,
no thought, no feeling, no wish, or need to be fair.
Rendered clueless, confusion falls upon us, as prey,
we surrender a piece of our soul, little as we may.

Yet, always, a bright beam of hope is seen from afar,
no matter how dreary, or dark, it may seem where we are.
None knows, nor would consent to tell, it seems
from whence it hails, or why it so brightly gleams.

Saving our sanity, absolving our unwanted fears,
dispelling the myths and lies that come with the years.
Each man has known the precious gift that hope may give
And gives glad thanks, as long as he may live.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/12/2012

********************************

I had not intended to use so much archived material today, since my energy is so strong. However, SB has apparently gone on strike, and won’t give me anything worth sharing. This one is a good one, so, it will do for today….

From 4/19/2013:

As you may have noted, my brain is broken…. and I am not sure which tool is going to work to fix it…. What this means in terms of today’s Pearl is that you will have to put up with more than the usual degree of smarm, and the occasional random insult, as I try to cope with creating a Pearl out of what is laying around in my brain, rather than a true creative episode, building and sharing images of grand eloquence, made up of just the right words….. Today, though, those words are hiding from me, so I have to allow Smart Bee to have its head, so to speak, because anything in mine has to be viewed with suspicion, and handled with care, lest it explode, whereupon, we get blamed for an act of terrorism…. Of course, that last word is probably what comes to mind when y’all think of this blog anyway…..

Nevertheless, I’m going old school, and you can’t stop me…. (Believe me, you don’t WANT to stop me today….. just let me have my way, and everything will work out fine….)…. Here is a group of pearls, all of which are pointed in a certain direction, which SHOULD be obvious…. If it is not, well, I guess you’re S.O.O.L., as they say downtown…. well, they said that when I hung out there…. any who, here….

“Critics quarrel with other critics. With an artist, no sane man quarrels.” — George Santayana

“Our discontent begins by finding false villains whom we can accuse of deceiving us. Next we find false heroes whom we expect to liberate us. The hardest, most discomfiting discovery is that each of us must emancipate himself.”– Daniel J. Boorstin

“Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”– Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Rape of the Lock, Canto v, Line 34

“There’s a lot of stupid people out there. Just to prove it, think of how dumb the average person is, and then realize that half of the people out there are stupider than that.” — George Carlin

“A man that expects to train lobsters to fly in a year is called a lunatic and is locked up. But a man that thinks people can be turned into angels by legislation is called a reformer and allowed to walk free.” — Mr. Dooly

“All things that are born must die. Work hard for your own freedom from sorrow.” — Buddha

“Do not speak of what men deserve. For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead Kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of *deserving*, of *earning*, and you will begin to be able to think.” — Odo, The Prison Letters (Ursula LeGuin, _The Dispossessed_)

Oooh…. now, THAT’S a pearl of virtual wisdom, if I ever saw one….. Print it!…..

********************************

Done, and, in jig time…. I’ll take it. Let’s print it, post it, and be gone, shall we? I, myself, will be off for a spin around the Big Blue Room today, to take advantage of all the extra energy….. I will, however, issue the usual warning, & remind y’all, I’ll be back tomorrow…. Nobody big or bad enough seems to want to try to stop me, so, I’ll be here…. Ta, then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Assembled without instructions….

Posted on February 21, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“To know much is often the cause of doubting more.”

~~ Michel De Montaigne ~~

Warm winter’s welcome, London Style

Hajime….. Oddly enough, I once again have nothing. Rather than re-blog old material, I’ll merely give you what I do have done, and, be done with it for today. I’m not sure what’s going on, but, I seem to have misplaced my muse… I’ll look around today, & see what’s up with that; I doubt seriously reality will worry too much about my absence, just like it ignores me in general. Leelu will be happy, too, as it will free up more time for her…. Cat bonus!

Who knows what the future may bring. I don’t, but, I know what was in the past, and that’s what you’ll get today. One nine-star old-school pearl, naked, as they most often are these days. Skin is good. But, I digress, and must be off, into the Big Blue Room, to do battle with the forces of reality…. Or not, as I prefer to slip through without disturbing the Force. We’ll see how that goes. For now, let’s do this, before it gets any later….

Shall we Pearl?….

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

********************************

Naked Pearls

Observations on Life at Large

*********

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There’s more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line.
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.

~~ the Indigo Girls, Closer to Fine ~~

*********

“The sunlights differ, but there is only one darkness.”

~~ Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Dispossessed” ~~

*********

“The ruling power within, when it is in its natural state,
is so related to outer circumstances
that it easily changes to accord
with what can be done and what is given it to do.”

~~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, iv, 1 ~~

*********

“It is your resistance to ‘what is’ that causes your suffering.”

~~ Buddha ~~

*********

“Take your life in your own hands and what happens?
A terrible thing: no one to blame.”

~~ Erica Jong ~~

*********

33. Be gentle with the earth.

~~ Instructions for life ~~

*********

“He bids fair to grow wise who has discovered that he is not so.”

~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 598 ~~

*********

“No one is afraid to die without first being afraid to live.”

~~ Solomon Short ~~

*********

“If you understand, things are as they are.
If you do not understand, things are as they are.”

~~ Gensha, Zen Master ~~

********************************

There you have it; one Pearl, delivered, as promised, in good condition. Well, such as it is. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. That’s my intent, and, though I shan’t give a promise, you may count on it….. Ta, then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Sitting right and tight….

Posted on February 11, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

There is great beauty in going through life without anxiety or fear.
Half our fears are baseless, and the other half discreditable.

~~ Bovee ~~

Winter Memories

Hajime….. Since my life has evolved into one long session of being domesticated by a female cat, producing Pearls has assumed a smaller size and shape, at least in terms of how much time I am allowed to spend in the creative mode necessary to do so. In fact, I’m slipping in this intro section during a time I had to enforce as being time to type; otherwise, I’d be playing ‘chase the mouse’ or ‘roll the balls’ until one of us dropped… and, I think we all know which of us would drop first…..

Given the state of affairs in which I find myself, it becomes thus even more significant to have completed ANY of the material you’ll find below today. I’ve been bleeding it out in small pieces, as I find the time, much like those times in Hell when my pain makes it impossible to either sit, stand, walk, hold still, or twiddle a finger. So, you see, I actually already possess the necessary skills to do this; maybe that’s why I continue to do so. Or, maybe it’s the ever-present specter of insanity and darkness that threatens to engulf me when I DON’T get this out of my system…. Who knows? If I did, I’d probably be doing something else, so, I may as well go with the flow…. right?

Ah, hell, there I go again, waffling. Since I promised myself to stop that, I’ll play nice, & finish this torturous beginning so we can get something a bit more constructive, if not enlightening, done before they bring in my medications…. Oops. Did I say that out loud? Crap. Oh, well, there goes the credibility gap again…. Fuck it, I’m outta here, and so are y’all, because, hey, closed cabin…. Better hang on, Luigi’s back….

Shall we Pearl?….

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” — Robert A. Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

********************************

I was trying to decide what kind of music to include today, when I realized I wanted to hear the ‘best’ of whatever type I felt like hearing…. That, naturally, led me to think of this organization, for the music I hear every time is, without doubt, the best I’ve heard in my life, for it is ALL straight from the human heart…. every note, every voice, every instrument is played with love, and joy….. so, enjoy!….

********************************

One Love
Playing For Change

********************************

https://youtu.be/4xjPODksI08

********************************

The piece upon which I’ve been working is still incomplete; hence, yet another archived post. Here is a discussion of perception, and how it affects our daily lives, in a political/social sense…. Enjoy!….

From 1/12/2014:

Perception is, perhaps, the most elementally intricate quality we possess as living creatures. Through the five-plus senses we bring to the process, we receive information from the universe that gives us what we require, in order to be able to interact with Reality, (another term for the Universe… for the purposes of this discussion, anyway….) in some sort of way that is meaningful to us. This information comes to us in a variety of forms, and our minds must utilize the complex, yet subtle qualities of imagination, reason, logic, and all those mental functions that our minds have discovered to organize the information, functions whose etiology are basically unknown to us, as part of our basic nature. We don’t think about, or feel in any way, the process of seeing, or smelling, or touching, except in the context of the sense itself…. We just DO it….

Yet each sense is such that it works WITH all the others, in ways we don’t really understand, to give us the pictures in our heads that show us how our minds perceive the world outside us…. We, being the imaginative creatures we are, have evolved all sorts of ways to organize and utilize our perceptions, all of which are again connected (remember that complexity part…) to another facet of Reality, which is our motivation for what we do, an outgrowth of our judgments of what we perceive…. We perceive, we judge, we act on that judgment, all according to our basic outlook on life, and how we choose to accept, and use, what we perceive….

This subject, I know, is a bit esoteric for such a venue, but, I’m leading up to a point, which is this…. We all perceive the world differently, but, that doesn’t mean the world takes that into any account…. It’s one of our hardest lessons to accept when we are forced to admit that the Universe, in all its majestic glory, couldn’t give a tiny little crap for us, or for what we think of the way things are…. If we choose to interact with it in such a way that we are breaking the basic rules that everything works by, then we will have to pay the price, in the only way that the Universe uses to exact payment, to wit: extinction….

Now, given that, it seems to me that my ranting about all of this*** is a bit like that ant crawling up the elephant’s leg, with belligerent intentions…. In short, it’s not really a productive way to achieve whatever it is I’m trying to do, as I can see only one possible outcome, which, the odds, and logic, would tend to dictate doesn’t include any need for any worry on the part of the elephant…. All that is a long winded, pedantic way of saying that my rants, while satisfying on a personal level for the release they provide, are mostly a waste of breath, in a practical sense…. Nothing will change because I rant, in spite of the need for change being the whole purpose behind the rant…

The major part of that reason, I think, lies in the fact that I’m preaching to the choir…. None of the ffolkes, or folks, who read my blog, (with the possible exception of any bored NSA drones who may be assigned to do so merely because of my anti-government stance, shown by the use of key phrases indicating my opposition….), are in any position to make any of the changes themselves, even though many of them would be willing to do so, I think…. But, the people who inhabit the halls of our government in Washington, and in other capitols around the world, DON’T read my blog, nor do they agree with most of the things about which I rant….

Why is that, do you think? Why don’t the people who govern us agree with any of what I say in my rants? It’s all stuff that can be proven, and is certainly important enough to all of us to warrant discussion… But, they don’t agree… They have their own agendas, which don’t look like anything that anyone in the great unwashed masses could come up with, even though they supposedly represent US…. These are our representatives, ffolkes…. I found this short comment in an old Pearl, which I think sums up most of my point pretty well…..

(From May 12, 2012):

“Such bickerings to recount, met often in these our writers, what more worth is it than to chronicle the wars of kites or crows flocking and fighting in the air?” — John Milton (1608-1674) — The History of England, Book iv

Did you ever wonder why a group of crows is called a congress? I didn’t. It makes perfect sense to me…. Dark, sinister looking creatures who act in odd ways, even for birds. Their behaviors tend to lean toward stealing shiny objects from wherever, or stealing the food of people or other animals and birds. When they speak, it is in a voice that grates on the ear like fingernails on a slate. In groups, they mill around, cackling and grumbling and jostling each other, until they all fly off to different areas to carry out whatever nefarious schemes they have hatched among themselves.

No, I have no problem envisioning a congress of crows; in fact, I believe they are in session, now, in Washington, D.C. …. Why, look! Here’s a list of them now!…..

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/01/10/congress-is-mostly-full-of-millionaires-but-who-are-the-richest/#19551101=0

Them’s some affluent crows, ain’t they?…. That’s what happens when any politician is given the keys to the treasury….. One last query…. Who gets to say how much money members of Congress get paid? Answer: They are authorized to set that themselves…. Okay, one more… Who authorized them? Why, they authorized that themselves, of course….

I’m tired now…. I’ve managed to spout off now about the Asininnies, or, at least, about the 545 of them who inhabit the top levels of OUR democratic bureaucracy, for a good, oh, thousand words or so, and once again, it will end up being read by those who mostly agree… (I’m making the assumption, reluctantly, but, with confidence, that if they DIDN’T agree, they’d leave a comment to say so…. I know MY Gentle Readers would do so….), so, I’m perfectly aware that no changes will happen because of what I’ve written….

I don’t feel any better, either, damn it!….. 😦

*** It must be noted that “all of this” should be understood to include: global warming, and the impending ecological disaster, overpopulation, criminality of the Asininnies, most especially the egregiously selfish actions of the Beloved Ruling Class, the Shadowy Corporate Masters, Snakeheads in general, (human predators…. pimps, slavers, pedophiles, and the ilk…), and the Priestly Hierarchies….. Oh, yes, and, on the rare occasion, exposing Pooh’s evil twin….

********************************

Fatal Supplication

~~ gigoid ~~

9/20/2012

********************************

Naked Pearls

The Search for Meaning

*********

“Though leaves are many, the root is one ;
Through all the lying days of my youth,
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun.
Now I may wither into the truth.”

~~ W B Yeats ~~

“I am, therefore I am.” — Akira

“It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.” — ee cummings

“Become what you are.” — Buddha

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.” — Marcus Aurelius

“Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xii

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better or worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given him to till.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

“Once upon a time, I dreamed of becoming a great man. Later, a good man. Now, finally, I find it difficult enough and honor enough to be–a man.” — Edward Abbey

“The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.” — Albert Einstein

“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

********************************

Having completed my chosen duty, I shall, forthwith, take my leave, as is my wont upon finishing. Go figure…. I’m on cat time now, so, I’d best be on my way, with the usual caveat, a warning, as it were, that I’ll be back tomorrow to try again…. Go figure…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Pilfering parabolic pontoons proved perilous….

Posted on January 13, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The simple step of a courageous individual
is not to take part in the falsehood.
One word of truth outweighs the world.”

~~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn ~~

Leelu, Unconscious

Giving new meaning to “Relaxed”

Hajime…. I’m a bit under the weather today, so, it’s good to have a Tardis. It’s also good today’s Pearl is one of the shortest I’ve put together since the early days of the blog, before I had learned to ‘let go’, so to speak. In keeping with the rest of the piece, this introductory section shall also be short, in more than merely a relative sense. It will also be short, in a very real sense, as it is now done… Watch THIS, y’all!…..

Shall we Pearl?….

Were it not for the presence of the unwashed and the half-educated, the formless, queer and incomplete, the unreasonable and absurd, the infinite shapes of the delightful human tadpole, the horizon would not wear so wide a grin.” — F. M. Colby, “Imaginary Obligations”

********************************

My words aren’t needed here; just watch, & imagine….

********************************

Imagine
Playing for Change

********************************

https://youtu.be/bvFLKyAGzzI

********************************

Yesterday, I was working on a discussion/rant for this section, when I came across two quotes, which, taken together, make up a pretty fucking good rant, all by themselves…. I present them just as they are, in the order in which I found them; I also invite you to think in a linear, historical fashion, from one thought, to the other, in time, and in real space (i.e., history)… If you can do so, you will know the entire 1000 or so word rant I COULD have written, but, didn’t, so as to save it as an exercise for my Gentle Readers…. Imagine, a trumpet, playing a bracing introduction….

“Politics have no relation to morals.”

~~ Niccolo Machiavelli ~~

|
|
|
|
V

“It is not more and newer drugs we need,
but rather clean air.
Clean water.
Good fresh real food.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

Remember, ffolkes….
Cannabis cures cancer, and, helps the body heal & defend itself.
The US government has known this simple fact since 1974.
They classified it.

So be it.

********************************

Piraeus calls me, silently.

Sizzle, sizzle, crash, bang, boom.
Intellect burning with subsequent doom.
Lingering long over decisive style,
Whistling up chaos all the while.

Such frozen thoughts may shatter,
Should we infer, but, no matter.
Firing blanks is children at play
Blooded sages all gasp in dismay.

Nonsense is good sense at times
Mundane objectives trip lightly in rhymes.
Fallen angels dance on a pin
Until each sinner enters within.

Fast moments with natural rain
Bring ashes, yet still must remain.
Final thoughts clamor for more
Find them only on a far distant shore.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/3/2012

********************************

More Nude Pearls

Are You Experienced?

*********

“And it is not our part here
to take thought only for a season,
or for a few lives of Men,
or for a passing age of the world.”

~~ Gandalf ~~

*********

“Are all your stars shining?”

~~ JD Salinger ~~

*********

“Then here ‘s to the oak, the brave old oak,
Who stands in his pride alone!
And still flourish he a hale green tree
When a hundred years are gone!”

~~ H. F. Chorley,” The Brave Old Oak” ~~

*********

Joshu is my favorite Zen Master.
It is said that a monk once asked him,
“To be holy – what is it like?”
Joshu replied,
“To dump a mountain of shit on a clean plain.”

~~ Disk Sutphen ~~

*********

“When you live in the shadow of insanity,
the appearance of another mind
that thinks and talks as yours does
is something close to a blessed event.”

~~ Robert Pirsig ~~

*********

“The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups.
A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.”

~~ Jane Porter (1776-1850) ~~

*********

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues,
but the form of every virtue at the testing point,
which means at the point of highest reality.
A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger
will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions.
Pilate was merciful until it became risky.”

~~ C.S. Lewis, “The Screwtape Letters” ~~

*********

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone,
it has to be made, like bread;
re-made all the time, made new.”

~~ Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Lathe of Heaven” ~~

*********

“Ya gotta be subtle!”

~~ Mike Hammer ~~

********************************

I really don’t know what I can say after that last pearl. No. I mean, I REALLY don’t know what more I can say. Whatever I do say cannot possibly top it, nor reach its actual subtlety, which, also possibly, cannot be measured in mere numbers. But, then, you probably notice I don’t trouble y’all often with numbers…. far too subtle for my level of writing skill, I’m sure. But, I keep tryin’….. as I will tomorrow, dead or alive. News at 11….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

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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Tag Archives: Ursula K. LeGuin

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