Rim shots for peace….

Posted on May 30, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.”

~~ Halifax ~~

Morning Glory in Blue

Hajime…. Bozoid, or not, it’s got to be done. Since my degree of bozoid is rather highly developed, that will require an incredible amount of focus, and will, in order to fulfill our chosen duty. Given the last night’s draw, having fought for sleep until successful (well, to a degree… three sets of two hours isn’t too bad… that’s more down than up, so, hey, bonus….), and the concomitant extra smegs of energy, I have no real excuse for not getting it done, unless I retreat into whine and sour cheese. Therefore, what you see is what I’ve got, and it’s all you get.

Today, that isn’t an insignificant amount of material. In fact, there’s a rather extensive diatribe in the ranting section, with a seven-star pearl that grew to nine, and a complex poem from about 4 years ago. I also think you’ll enjoy today’s music; I know I did, and will again. So, in spite of any possible glitches, or, spanners in the works, we have a pretty good example of a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom for your reading pleasure. I know, that’s a bit presumptuous, but, hey, I think so, and, in the final analysis, that’s all that matters…. Deal with it, just as if it were a part of Reality As We Know It….

Now I’ve set the stage, so to speak, I think I’ll use my somewhat underused executive decision making powers, as held by law and custom, I’ll cut the intro down to a proper size, with the simple decree, “it’s enough, and, it’s done.” So be it. I hope you enjoy today’s mess; I enjoyed putting it together, mostly, so, that will probably show through. If not, well, you can ask for a refund. You won’t get one, but, you can ask. On that curmudgeonly note, I say we should be on our way, and, in this blog, what I say, necessarily, goes….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Dope will get you through times of no money
better that money will get you through times of no dope.”

~~ Freewheelin’ Franklin, “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” ~~

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

Image from youtube.com via Google Images

Some days, you just need it to be as real as it can get. Today is such a day for me. When ‘real’ is called for, I call for Tom Waits….

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

Tom Waits
Live in Bremen -Full Album

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

https://youtu.be/oZi7qeyhPhw

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

I had a quote by Plato picked out, but, ranting is not in the picture for this morning; given the state of my mind, it wouldn’t be a good idea. Here for your reading enjoyment is a rather extensive discussion/diatribe, which pokes some rather cogent indictments against certain members of the BRC, or, as we like to call them, Asininnies…. Enjoy!….

From 2/1/2013:

“I wouldn’t recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they’ve always worked for me.” — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), journalist

So, this is going to be fun…. I think. I have no idea what to put here today. I’m not ready to rant; besides which, there’s nothing particularly rantable on tap… Oh, there’s stuff to talk about, silly stuff, bad stuff, even some good stuff…. but, none of it tickles my rant bone…. So, I’m just going to use some links to subject matter, as well as links to today’s headlines, to make short, hopefully pithy comments, infused with with and wisdom, (well, insofar as I am capable of doing so…you can never tell just how that will work out….), thereby defusing the otherwise potentially explosive possibilities that arise when I don’t rant….

First, one of my gentle readers left me a link yesterday, that led to some rather interesting information, about a concept that, oddly enough, I’d never before encountered in all my reading…. though, come to think of it now, I did read the book in which the the first appearance of the idea appeared, according to the article, a tome by Philip K. Dick…. I must have passed over the concept as part of the book’s plot, because it is a deep one, and deserves some thought….

Pronoia…. the belief that there is a conspiracy on the part of the universe to make my life better…. It is the exact reverse state of mind of paranoia, the belief in a conspiracy by reality to do us harm; as such, the concept offers the best sort of contrast to that, contrast that outlines and reveals the true state of mind we need, in order to see ALL the picture that Reality presents to us… The state of mind that shows us how to be aware of the true nature of Reality, that of duality….

It’s also a very nice way to think about living, as one of the natural results of following this train of thought is to become more compassionate, and more tolerant of others…. more able to love, and be loved… If you need an example of someone who displays the characteristics of a pronoiac, think of Elwood P. Dowd, the character played by Jimmy Stewart in the movie, “Harvey”….. Elwood believed in acting just as if the world was a place that had no other purpose than to give him different opportunities to find happiness, and, as a result of his beliefs, he found it, everywhere he looked….

Read the article, ffolkes, it will give you something to think about other than the gloom and doom that is our usual fare, if nothing else….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronoia_%28psychology%29

In another example of how frigging CRAZY this world is, and just how little respect for the public the BRC has, I offer the following, which, though it appears to be encouraging, is actually quite scary, and I’ll tell you why…. after you read what he said….

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Obama-I-care-deeply-about-net-neutrality-5193864.php

While Barry claims to value net neutrality, his minions at the NSA and the US Cyber Security Forces are actively pursuing complete CONTROL of that internet, seeking to find ways to be able to access ANY computer ANYWHERE on the planet, as long as it is connected to the Net. When he was first elected, I sent an email to the White House, in answer to a call for opinions on some subject or another…. My hope, though small, was that someone would actually READ what I sent, and possibly, a response from an actual person would be elicited….

No such luck… I never have received anything from them via this contact other than obvious form letters, asking for donations, telling me I should join this movement, or support the president in some project or another…. Since sending that ONE email, I have been inundated with two, and sometimes three or four emails a day from the White House…. That’s every day, since 2009…. I get begging letters, letters to try to engage me enough to click on links to send me to places where they can present more attempts to brainwash me…. This administration has embrace the internet, social media, and email as marketing tools of the highest order, and obviously, have learned a lot from the spam industry about how to use email as a marketing tool…

Not only that, they are definitely mining me for whatever data they can find…. They know my name, and that I’ve never responded, because I keep getting emails from them telling me my name isn’t on their list as a supporter or a donor…. I would opt out of getting them, but, I believe in the old adage about keeping one’s enemies close enough to know what they’re up to, at least on the surface….

Immediately upon emailing the WH, I also got new, begging-type emails from a number of liberal causes, all of whom are big supporters of the pOTUS’s agenda…. Even Al Franken, a smart comedian turned Senator, started hitting me up for donations, along with the Human Rights Commission, MoveOn.org, Causes, Greenpeace, etc….. all are dunning me to get my spare dollars, and put my name, and computer address, into their database….

No, thanks…. I’ll keep accepting the emails, because it gives me a fair idea of what’s up in those arenas, but, I won’t ever respond again to them, even though I have no fear of the delete button, and can get rid of them without mercy, or regret…. which I do, every day…. But, damn, I wish I was a good enough hacker to be able to send back an email bomb, that would explode their database when my data got entered…. That would be too cool for words….

I see this statement by the president as a self-serving one, designed to make people believe he has the same concerns they have; but, at the same time, he is actively working to make the internet completely his to control…. and THAT’s dangerous, because, people are BELIEVING him….

Lastly today, here is an article which I am including, even though I won’t read it…. If this project gets passed, it will be a significant victory for the Asininnies in the fight to save the Arctic (Oh, yeah, I get emails about that, too…) from the oil companies’ limitless avarice. I have a feeling, though, even if passed, it will never get built, due to eco-terrorist sabotage…..Though not one of them, per se, I know there are a LOT of people out there who are VERY committed to stopping this pipeline, and won’t give up….

Seems to me, though I’ve never studied those particular warfare techniques, it wouldn’t be all that difficult to stop the pipeline from being built, considering the vulnerability of the areas through which it must pass…..Time will tell, but, I think the shadowy corporate masters may have bitten off a bite from a very bitter apple, which may end up being more than they can chew, this time….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Keystone-XL-oil-pipeline-clears-significant-hurdle-5193660.php

Such articles tend to depress me, so I’m going to give this a rest now…. This will have to suffice as today’s rant, because, ffolkes, that’s all I’ve got in me today…. I’m pretty sure that most ffolkes would say it’s enough…. I’ll finish up with this short, five-star pearl, which seems appropriate to the above discussions….

“According to Descartes, Rush Limbaugh doesn’t exist.” — Smart Bee

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

“Prefer loss to the wealth of dishonest gain; the former vexes you for a time; the latter will bring you lasting remorse.” — Chilo

“Remember: it’s only American television.” — David Letterman

“Life, as we know it, does not exist.” — Smart Bee

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

A bit less than five years ago, after a hiatus covering nearly 40 years, I began writing poetry again. This one is one of those first attempts to stretch my mind a bit; it seems to have worked. Last night, for some unknown reason, while up in the middle of the night, the title floated up into my head. So, here it is, for, who am I to ignore messages from my own unconscious mind?

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

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

Naked Pearls

Guess….

*******

“Sure, understanding today’s complex world of the future is a little
like having bees live in your head. But there they are . . .”

~~ The Firesign Theater ~~

*******

“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.”

~~ Carl Sagan ~~

*******

“Be loyal.”

~~ Things We Can Learn From Dogs ~~

*******

“How could the drops of water know themselves to be a river?
Yet the river flows on.”

~~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~~

*******

“Sacred cows make the best hamburger.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

*******

“Never be boastful; someone may come along who knew you as a child.”

~~ Chinese Proverb ~~

*******

“It’s not only what we do,
but also what we do not do for which we are accountable.”

~~ Moliere ~~

*******

“Pain exists to measure pleasure by.”

~~ Tibetan Proverb ~~

*******

“The game isn’t over till it’s over.”

~~ Yogi Berra ~~

*******

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

It’s always a good feeling to complete a chosen duty; given my background, and my father, it’s about the best feeling there is in my world. I’m not sure I want to try to figure out what THAT means, so, we’ll take this opportunity to take our leave, before I do, or say, anything untoward. It happens. Instead, I’ll bid thee adieu for another day, with our usual caveat, to wit: I’ll be back tomorrow, ffolkes. Just try to 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….

Golly! It’s exactly infinite!….

Posted on April 3, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Love not what you are, but what you may become.”

~~ Miguel de Cervantes ~~

Typical tourist shot of Abbey & Ben

Hajime…. Well. Here we are again, this time with a degree of reluctance rather difficult to overcome. Another very long night, with the bonus of tweaking my back good and proper right before arising. Joy, oh, joy…. Since I am determined, in spite of all that, to post today, I’ll struggle through the process, & see what can be done. And, I won’t even ask for any slack.

I will, however, take some, or make some, one way or another, for, today, I’m going to need some to get through this without any unwarranted angst build-up, nor any dead bodies, if at all possible. Leelu hates the smell. At any rate, this little short diatribe-like outburst, which is here merely to fill in a bit of space on the page, is all the intro you get today. In fact, you have already reached the end of what I’ve got, so, we’ll just be on our way, just as if we planned it this way…. Slick, eh?…. Well, I think so, but, then, we already know where from I began the day…

Shall we Pearl?….

“A man can’t get rich if he takes proper care of his family.”

~~ Navajo Proverb ~~

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Betty Boop in 1934

Image from 123freevectors.com via Google Images

I’m feeling pretty down, altogether, so, we’ll go today with a bit of different entertainment. Here is a collection of all the various Betty Boop cartoons that got banned at one time or another, for various offenses against the public’s sensibilities, as legal at the time. None, of course, are anything perverted, other than with the usual human insanity, which, in Betty’s case, was mitigated by the size of her heart…. Enjoy, ffolkes, this is all classic humor and state of the art for the time…

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Betty Boop

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https://youtu.be/VkG9c1yy2lg

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There are days when I must trust the process. Today is such a day, for sure and for certain. I’m trying NOT to go into the archives for anything other than the poem, so, here is an old-school pearl, taking some shots at modern society, and a few of the things that I see we need to change, if we have any hope of making it to the twenty-second century….

“The world has taken on a thickness of vulgarity that raises a spiritual man’s contempt to the violence of a passion.” — Charles Baudelaire

“It’s silly to go on pretending that under the skin we are all brothers. The truth is more likely that under the skin we are all cannibals, assassins, traitors, liars, hypocrites, poltroons.” — Henry Miller

“The industrial way of life leads to the industrial way of death. From Shiloh to Dachau, from Antietam to Stalingrad, from Hiroshima to Vietnam and Afghanistan, the great specialty of industry and technology has been the mass production of human corpses.” — Edward Abbey

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” — Genesis 1:28

(As an aside, I would like to note, the statement from Genesis, in my mind, is the root cause of ALL our troubles here on Earth….This is not only a contemptible lie, it is sheer effrontery on the part of the one who thought this shit up…. Sheer wishful thinking, and, quite obviously insane….)

“If you close your eyes, You won’t see them dying” — Eric Bogle

“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.” — Lord Acton

“The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause the best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves.” — Albert Einstein

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Elemental, dear Watson….

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

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

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

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

Fuck.

It
hurts.

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

He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….

Ante up.
Deal.

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

I say,

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

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

because

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

I
will
take the complaints.

After all,
they
are
my bones.

~~ gigoid ~~

9/14/2014

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

Our final pearl is an old-school, random harlequin variety pearl. It’s a bit more obscure than most, but, winds its way to where it should be, eventually. Try not to take it personally, okay? I’m tired, and it’s all I’ve got…. Just think of the children before you decide to vent….

“The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.” — Socrates

“If you don’t know where you’re going, when you get there you’ll be lost.” — Yogi Berra

“Any certainty is a delusion.” — Subtle Bee

“Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.” — Cicero

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” — Mark Twain

“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” — Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

“And furthermore, my bowling average is unimpeachable!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

While making no claims as to quality, I can honestly say, it’s done. That, by the way, is also ALL I’m going to say about it. I will, as usual, try again tomorrow, given half a chance. For now, I shall bid thee adieu, with the hopes your day goes better than my night. See y’all mañana, amigos; I wouldn’t advise trying to 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….

Bombastic echoes in a lovely hat….

Posted on March 19, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Around existence twine,
(Oh, bridge that hangs across the gorge!)
ropes of twisted vine.

~~ Basho ~~

Cross-eyed? Sez who?….

Hajime…. Well, here we are again, ever so happy to be at our desk, bereft of mind, broken of body, and ready to rumble. I know I said I’d have a fully fresh Pearl, but…. reality intervened, so to speak. So, what you get is more wysiwyg, after a fashion. Oh, it’s all relatively fresh, but, completing it all became a bit of a chore when SB decided to portion out pearls at a miserly rate. So, we’ll go to the archives for a rant, and, a poem. Other than that, it’s fresh. Not up to snuff, but, it meets the minimum standard, our default.

I suppose I could chat a bit about my day off, but, as it turns out, it was little more than a period of rest, it seems, as I got little done of a productive nature other than sleep, which, for some unknown reason, came quickly and easily last night. Go figure. At any rate, I have some energy, which I will now proceed to waste shamelessly to get this done. That doesn’t make me a hero, though there are those who might think it does; they’d be off the mark, as there was no altruism or selflessness involved. Just rest and recovery for me; since it seems to have worked, we’ll call it a draw, and move on.

Now we’ve completed the obligatory meaningless drivel for the day, perhaps we should think about getting the slow on the toad for the day. I know I always enjoy life better when it’s in the bag, so, we’ll find a bag, and get in. Why, look! Here’s a nice, reusable shopping bag right here! Funny how that works, eh? We’ll take advantage of the handy prop, which we placed there earlier for just this purpose, so we can say we have lived up to the hype seen in all the ads. Not that we wrote, or even asked for the ads, but, like a hive of bees in your head, there they are. So be it.

That’s quite enough of that, I think. Ffolkes, we’re going on now, before this gets any further out of hand…. Luigi, wake the hell up & get us out of here, now!…. Hang on, ffolkes, Luigi’s still more than just a little hung over….

Shall we Pearl?

“Contrariwise”, continued Tweedledee,
“If it was so, it might be;
and if it were so, it would be;
but as it isn’t, it ain’t.
That’s logic.”

~~ Lewis Carroll, “Alice in Wonderland” ~~

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

Fred Neil

Image from thatsallfolk.free.fr via Google Images

It’s been a while since I listened to this man’s music; too long. He has one of the finest voices, ever, and is, quite simply, a powerful songwriter. He’s not very well known, though there are tunes he wrote which everyone alive has heard, and loved…. For example, “Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me”….. Enjoy, ffolkes…

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

Fred Neil

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

https://youtu.be/NPDGjzhGutU

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

As noted, here is a piece that should fit the bill for today; light, but with a touch of wit, not to mention a stiff dose of inanity… or, maybe that was insanity…. Ah, well, so be it….. Enjoy!….

From 6/14/2014:

In this section, we have been running a new style pearl, (there’s that royal ‘we’ again….), with pictures to go along with whatever quotes and/or comments I come up with…. The latest incarnation involves a new subject of interest, the Wise Old Pine Cone, who has been kind enough to allow me to photograph his wanderings around town, to record his interactions with people, and the environment, as he wends his way around the town….. Yesterday, I posted the photos of when I accompanied him to the local ball team’s night game, which came out fairly well….

Sadly, the Wise Old Pine Cone, by the time we left the ball park, had consumed WAY too many brewskis, and has yet to get out of bed…. He’s pretty small, and a few beers really do a number on him; I’ve seen him stay in bed for three days after a bad session with wine, and beer isn’t any better for him…. He’ll be alright, but, he’ll be out of action for a day or two, so, we’ll have to find something else for this section….. Let me think….

Okay, you’ve convinced me…. I’ll rant….

“There is nothing a man can do to guarantee success, but there is nothing that can defeat him if he won’t give up.” — Greg Praino

Well, perhaps I won’t rant today; it doesn’t mean I’m giving up, but…. I just went to look for a rantable headline from the news…. Of the eleven headlines on the world news page, eight were about various bombings, battles, or other war activities, mostly in the middle east, where the Islamic sects are all fighting to see who will become the sole arbiter of the Muslim future….. never realizing how silly and counter-productive they are being, in terms of survival…. But, then, most people engaged in war are not in a very intelligent frame of mind, anyway….

(And, how can a Muslim extremist group name themselves after an Egyptian goddess over seven thousand years old {Isis}? I thought they hated ANY other religion…. Ah well, stupid is as stupid does…)

The point is, I couldn’t decide WHICH subject to rant about…. There are plenty of wars being fought, none of which make any sense…. There are governments still robbing the people, or oppressing them unmercifully; the churches are still butting into everything, as is their habit…. I see where the Pope is trying to be a mediator between Israel & Palestine (good luck with that!….), and now, the Presbyterian Church is doing SOMETHING over in Iraq, or Iran, to get involved with that whole mess…. what a bunch of idiots!…

Cars and factories are still streaming carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide into the air by the hundreds of millions of tons, every day, so pollution continues unabated, and climate change keeps changing, so, we can kiss our asses goodbye, once we figure out how long we have…. Religious fanatics and fundies of all varieties continue to wage their holy wars, blaming all that is wrong in the world on anything but their own actions…. Bankers and politicians continue to work together to steal everything that isn’t nailed down from the public, all enforced by paramilitary police forces, blindly obedient myrmidons with guns, and really bad attitudes, due to their completely unwarranted sense of entitlement regarding their psycho/sociopathic need to be seen as authority figures….

All of the insanity I’ve previously commented upon here continues, relatively unabated, as the world skips merrily down what it BELIEVES is the garden path, completely oblivious, calmly seated in a handbasket, never even wondering why it is getting so bloody hot…. And people wonder why I rant….

I found no particular headline to get me started, but, as can be seen by the above, none are really necessary for me to find my anger about the state of the world…. My anger is based in the realization that NONE of it is necessary; if people would take responsibility for themselves, and stand up to the assholes who are oppressing everyone who puts up with it, we could fix this broken puppy….

I’m a realist, though, and, as far as I can see, realistically, it ain’t gonna happen…. so, I’ll pick a few pearls, to make how I feel about it clear, and be done with it for today…. I’m mad, but, so mad, I don’t even want to talk about it any more….. Here, take these…. No worries, you’ll live; there are only five of them….

“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.” — John Locke

“All I know is just what I read in the Congressional Record. They have had some awful funny articles in there lately. As our government deteriorates, our humor increases.” — Will Rogers

“I have never found, in a long experience of politics, that criticism is ever inhibited by ignorance.” — Harold MacMillan

“Look for a tough wedge for a tough log.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 723

“You know how dumb the average guy is? Well, by definition, half of them are even dumber than THAT.” — J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, ripping off George Carlin, who made that point YEARS before Bob finished puberty….

There you go, ffolkes…. a pointed, bitchy, but accurate, five-star pearl….. Let’s go on, shall we?….

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

Some days, only this poet will do…..

I measure every grief I meet
With analytic eyes;
I wonder if it weighs like mine,
Or has an easier size.

I wonder if they bore it long,
Or did it just begin?
I could not tell the date of mine,
It feels so old a pain.

I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.

I wonder if when years have piled–
Some thousands–on the cause
Of early hurt, if such a lapse
Could give them any pause;

Or would they go on aching still
Through centuries above,
Enlightened to a larger pain
By contrast with the love.

The grieved are many, I am told;
The reason deeper lies,–
Death is but one and comes but once
And only nails the eyes.

There’s grief of want, and grief of cold,–
A sort they call ‘despair,’
There’s banishment from native eyes,
In sight of native air.

And though I may not guess the kind
Correctly yet to me
A piercing comfort it affords
In passing Calvary,

To note the fashions of the cross
Of those that stand alone
Still fascinated to presume
That some are like my own.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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

Naked Pearls

Beginning to End

*********

“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live your life so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.”

~~ Old Indian saying

*********

“Belief gets in the way of learning.”

~~ Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love ~~

*********

“There’s an alternative.
There’s always a third way,
and it’s not a combination of the other two ways,
it’s a different way.”

~~ David Carradine ~~

*********

“It is sometimes expedient to forget who we are.”

~~ Publius Syrus — Maxim 233 ~~

*********

“A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are for.”

~~ John A. Shedd ~~

*********

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

~~ Yogi Berra ~~

*********

“There are places I remember all my life,
though some have changed,
some forever, not for better,
some have gone and some remain.
All these places had their moments
with lovers and friends I still can recall.
Some are dead and some are living.
In my life I’ve loved them all.”

~~ the Beatles ~~

*********

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

Having completed my vow, I’ll take my leave with less than the usual to-do. I will, however, issue the usual caveat, to wit: I’ll be back tomorrow. I figure that’s fair warning, and, I know for sure it’s the best you’re gonna get. See ya, ffolkes; the odds are running in our favor….

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….

Platypae are indefatigable….

Posted on March 17, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss.”

~~ Leonardo Da Vinci ~~

Practicing dignity at an early age….

Hajime…. Having engaged last night in an epic battle for sleep, (which I fought to a draw), I greet the new day with some anticipation, if only for the passing of the night. A small bonus; it’s St. Paddy’s Day, a day when every Irishman in the world goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to, while pulling at a Guinness or five. It’s also said an Irishman is the only man alive who will step over ten women to get a bottle of stout, but, then I never did believe that one. I am, after all, part Irish, and I hate stout….

I see I’ve managed to lose my way with my usual efficiency in such matters. ‘Tis of little consequence today; I’m late, I’m tired, I hurt, and the day stretches out ahead of me with a promise of more. C’est la vie, as they say in Burgundy and the Cote du Rhone, which are across the channel from Cork/Cobh, hiding behind the Isle of Guernsey. Well, I guess the Cote du Rhone is also on the other side of France, but, hey, I’m talking mostly to Americans, who are famous for NOT knowing any geography. And, now, I’ve managed to insult my own audience…. SIGH…. Today, that’s a big, West Counties sigh, complete with huge indrawn breath, and a sad expression of sympathy.

Such dramatic expression is handy, as well; for example, it got me this much further down the page without much effort, with the possibility of leading us in yet another direction. Since to do so would be to lose our way even more so than we already have, I think we should pass on that, and go directly on to the oyster beds, before I completely lose my way. It shouldn’t take long, as Luigi decided to start his St. Paddy’s Day binge a bit early, like yesterday, and Guido had to be called in to get us on our way. I guess we should probably do something about Luigi; he’s getting a bit unreliable…. Ah, well, that’s for later…. For now….

Shall we Pearl?

“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties
through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.”

~~ Simone de Beauvoir ~~

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

Riverdance-Cloudsong-Photographer-Jack-Hartin

Riverdance

Image from thriftynorthwestmom.com via Google Images

Here is my celebration for Saint Patrick’s Day. I’ve seen this company’s show three times now; it gets better every year, and that is saying something. For your enjoyment, here is a full show, well worth it just for the music; the dance and joy is a bonus…. Enjoy!….

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

Riverdance

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

https://youtu.be/gdVF2pefNpg

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

Given my battle during the night, you probably knew we were going to the archives today…. I’ll try to keep it light….

From 2/9/2014:

“The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just keep your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.” — Frank Zappa Playboy Interview, April 1993

Hmm…. Frank’s take on matters are such that I generally find myself in complete agreement with what he says. Here, he has again put his finger on one of the more obvious facets of Christianity, one that defies all logical explanation in lieu of subservient belief, to wit: faith vs. knowledge, and the Christian’s unfortunate tendency to embrace the former, without any appeal to the latter….. To my way of thinking, that is not only foolish, but cowardly….. but, perhaps, that’s just me….

The fruit of the tree of knowledge gives mankind the go-ahead to use the brain with which we were furnished at birth; the preachers would have us abrogate that use, having us, instead, give over all our power of belief into the hands of the faithful, who, naturally, have only our best interests at heart….. Sure they do…. NOT. I’m sorry, but, no matter how many times these folks say so, I am not going to accept that they know better than I what is best for me…. Nope, not even if there were twenty Bibles out there, all proclaiming how true they are…. Oh wait, there are twenty of them, aren’t there?…. Oh, well, you know what I meant….

Why do people fall for this? I cannot understand how people, who are normally reasonably intelligent, will, by conscious choice, bury their heads in the sand to buy into this, without ever taking even one moment to examine any of it for truth, or even logical assumption. Is there some kind of mind-control drug in that incense? Maybe in the sacramental wine…. Whatever it is, it turns normally competent, intelligent people into mindless slaves, and does so with their complete agreement and approval….. To my mind, it is one of history’s saddest, most incomprehensible features, when I look at just how easily people fall for such egregious, and so obviously self-serving idiocy, as most of the dogmatic proclamations of the major religions tend to offer up.

“I hope I never get so old I get religious.” — Ingmar Bergman

I am compelled to add, “Me, too!” to this sentiment…. In the recent past, I’ve been taking a lot of shots at religions, and need to make clear that I do not hate Christians, or Buddhists, or Muslims, or the followers of any religion. I think they are being silly, deliberately and evilly so, at worst, or at best, misguidedly so, but I don’t hate, or fear them, as is the case on their part whenever they consider me, or my criticisms of their beliefs. I don’t hold that against them, either, as it is logically consistent for them to do so, given the limitations of their dogmatic position. Since, however, the fervor with which they will often defend their position can reach a rather fevered pitch, I tend to treat many of them like a stinging insect, so I will move, and speak, slowly and carefully, so as not to frighten them more than they already are….

Ethical and moral behavior is not confined to those who follow the precepts of one religion or another, despite what any of the proponents of those religions will try to tell you. In fact, if you look closely, the number of folks who are believers have a much higher percentage of failure in that area than do the non-believers, which only makes sense…. The believers all have a sense of entitlement that gives them the idea that the rules of behavior don’t always apply to them, in terms of how they treat people who are not of the same faith, so, to those who are not of their own sect, they don’t bother being truthful, or honest, or ethical, as those people don’t count, in their eyes. People who make their own moral codes tend to follow them, and are much more tolerant of those who do not share their beliefs.

Basic human nature dictates these responses in people; thus, one can see how dangerous it is to remain ignorant, in the Biblical sense. Those who choose to buy into the myth of the Garden of Eden, giving up all their personal independence of mind for the comfort and safety of dogma, will always fail to act according to their own morality much of the time, generally acting, instead, out of their sense of entitlement, and the belief that all of their sins will be forgiven, merely by the act of confessing them. Only those who consciously choose their moral code have the courage to act it out, it seems, except for those few people who actually try to live according to the morality that is espoused, and is seldom embraced by their less ethical peers.

Having the strength of mind to make one’s own moral code also implies the courage to act it out…. This is why I choose to deny the dogma I’ve been exposed to all my life, as being illogical, and, ultimately, immoral…. It makes more sense to me to make my own decisions on such matters, and tell the busybodies who assume they know best for all to go jump in a lake…. Even better, just shut the hell up, and get out of the way, so the rest of us can get something relevant done, without having to put up with all the nonsense from that quarter….

“What is a church? Our honest sexton tells, ‘Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells.” — Crabbe

Note from 2014: Since the validity of the above remains strong, I leave you with the following pearl, to finish off this discussion with the proper tone of accusation, and indictment, of those guilty of this sort of crime against humanity….

“The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is that the surrendering and humbling of the self breeds pride and arrogance.” — Eric Hoffer

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

Finisterre

This was the land’s end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic,
Cramped on nothing. Black
Admonitory cliffs, and the sea exploding
With no bottom, or anything on the other side of it,
Whitened by the faces of the drowned.
Now it is only gloomy, a dump of rocks —-
Leftover soldiers from old, messy wars.
The sea cannons into their ear, but they don’t budge.
Other rocks hide their grudges under the water.

The cliffs are edged with trefoils, stars and bells
Such as fingers might embroider, close to death,
Almost too small for the mists to bother with.
The mists are part of the ancient paraphernalia —-
Souls, rolled in the doom-noise of the sea.
They bruise the rocks out of existence, then resurrect them.
They go up without hope, like sighs.
I walk among them, and they stuff my mouth with cotton.
When they free me, I am beaded with tears.

Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is striding toward the horizon,
Her marble skirts blown back in two pink wings.
A marble sailor kneels at her foot distractedly, and at his foot
A peasant woman in black
Is praying to the monument of the sailor praying.
Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is three times life size,
Her lips sweet with divinity.
She does not hear what the sailor or the peasant is saying —-
She is in love with the beautiful formlessness of the sea.

Gull-colored laces flap in the sea drafts
Beside the postcard stalls.
The peasants anchor them with conches. One is told:
“These are the pretty trinkets the sea hides,
Little shells made up into necklaces and toy ladies.
They do not come from the Bay of the Dead down there,
But from another place, tropical and blue,
We have never been to.
These are our crêpes. Eat them before they blow cold.”

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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

Our final pearl today is an eclectic, slightly humorous random, harlequin version of an old-school pearl. I hope you enjoy it, for it is one of my better efforts in a while….

The lake rises above the trees:
The image of Preponderance of the Great.
Thus the superior man, when he stands alone,
Is unconcerned,
And if he has to renounce the world,
He is undaunted.

~~ I Ching ~

“It really doesn’t matter if you’re the prey or the predator, if you want to live to see the sunset, you’ve got to start the day running.” — Realist Bee

“Are we THERE yet?” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Brains first and then Hard Work.” — Eeyore, Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“A life lived in fear is only half lived.” — Spanish proverb

“You can observe a lot just by watchin’.” — Yogi Berra

“The best way out is always through.” — Robert Frost

“If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.” — The Cowboy’s Guide to Life

“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself
(I am large, I contain multitudes).”

~~ Walt Whitman, Song of Myself ~~

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

Well, it’s done, in spite of some severe demands for attention from our resident familiar, who, for some reason, seems to think today is HER day. Maybe she’s Irish, mixed in with the very apparent Siamese; must be the Calico in her. At any rate, it’s done, and pretty damn fresh, aside from the rant and the poem, which speak for themselves. I’m going to take this opportunity to take my leave, as it were, so, I’ll leave you with my usual caveat, to wit: See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. Consider it a matter of submitting to the inevitable….

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….

Magic bullets engender dilatory responses….

Posted on August 27, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture.

Just get people to stop reading them.”

~~ Ray Bradbury ~~

Artist’s rendition of Life in the Mars Colony

Image by Ville Ericsson via Space.com

Good morning…. Remember Alice’s White Rabbit? That’s me, all over. “I’m late, I’m late, etc….” The date with which I’ve tasked myself is not, perhaps, as important as the Rabbit’s, though, ’tis to me, but, that’s one of those points we are wont to call moot. Well, some of us are. But, I digress, which, as y’all have previously seen, isn’t unusual, or particularly helpful.

Ah, well, so much for the intro. I had hope honesty, even if coupled with fantasy, might work; alas, ’tis yet another plan gone awry. This, of course, leaves us in the lurch, and though Lurch was one of my favorite characters, it’s not the place a nice blog likes to find itself. Therefore, with powers vested in me by the leasing of the Tardis, I declare this intro complete…. Luigi, you know what to do…. The rest of you…. look busy.

Shall we Pearl?….

“He who fights the devil with his own weapons, must not wonder if he finds him an overmatch.” — South

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

Jerry Garcia

Image from the Jerry Garcia Foundation website, at:

http://www.jerrygarciafoundation.org/?eml=dn/PlayingForChang-CheckItOutHere-body-inline-left-1-3/2015August26/2661282/6131962&etsubid=39846924

As a Deadhead in good standing, (I’m all registered as a user at Dead.net), I receive periodic emails from the remainder of the band, which has now morphed into the Dead & Company, now beginning a tour to live up to the band’s historic live reputation as improvisational wizards, along with the newest band members, taking the place of, but, never replacing Jerry and the others who have passed….

The Garcia Family started a non-profit foundation, with the purpose of bringing music to the children and people of the world. They’ve just released a song, with people from all over the world singing “Ripple”, one of the Dead’s iconic songs, with cameo appearances from several big musical names, such as Jimmy Buffet, and David Crosby. I’ve included it as today’s video, so, enjoy!…..

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

Ripple | Playing For Change | Song Around The World

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

https://youtu.be/MHo1fNnXFVU

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

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

Since I’m late, you know what’s going to happen now…. Here’s a short little mini-politireligirant that spilled out in the intro, from the archives….

From the intro on 6/10/2014:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Note from 2015:

Nothing’s changed much in the past year, has it? In fact, things look a bit less stable than even that short time ago…. Ah well, tomorrow’s another day….

“Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace.” — Eugene O’Neill

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

Yep. It’s mine, from the past….

When life calls, ready or not….

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 9/10/2012.

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

Naturally, we go once more to the archives to save our sorry ass….

From 6/13/2014:

Naturally, saving time means old-school…. I’ll be good, though, and find some fresh pearls, instead of pulling one from the archives… Aren’t I nice? Especially for someone still half-way buried in sleep…. Let’s see what happens; this could go several ways, so I hope it finds a good path…. I never quite know what to expect when I push Smart Bee to hurry…. sometimes it comes out well, and sometimes, well… it comes out, which is the BEST thing that can be said of it…. Let’s hope for better than that….

“Memory: what wonders it performs in preserving and storing up things gone by or rather, things that are!” — Plutarch

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

‘The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.” — Darth Vader (Star Wars)

Although a cloth be washed a hundred times,
How can it be rendered clean and pure
If it be washed in water which is dirty?

~~ Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.) ~~

“Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.” — The Wizard of Oz

“After being asked by a waitress if he wanted his pizza cut into four slices or eight: “Better make it four. I don’t think I can eat eight pieces.” — Yogi Berra

“The death of God left the angels in a strange position.’ — Internal documentation, programmer unknown

Well, it does show some of the effects of hurrying, but, it’s really not bad at all…. Makes a couple of good points, I think…. No worries, either way, it’s done…. so be it….

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

Done. I’m not sure at all how it came out, and simply don’t have time to care. This is it, ffolkes; WYSIWYG. And, I’m outta here. See y’all tomorrow…. maybe. Ah hell, who am I kidding? I’ll be here, come hell or high water…. or, the NSA, those clandestine a-holes….

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….

Potboiler or not, it’s quite a story….

Posted on January 18, 2015 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Do I look like someone who cares about what God thinks?”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

To Enlarge, click on picture

Casting hope aside, with endless sorrow, the ancient warrior took up his sword, settling the scabbard firmly at his side, ready to hand. No expression crossed the stoic face, despite the burning anger, and thirst for battle that gripped his soul. Only the hard presence of immutable will would be allowed to escape his control, until the one responsible for this atrocity had been served up to the gods of revenge, in pieces too small to identify. Only then would the ancient warrior be content to lay aside his weapon, to honorably die, joining those whose lives were his to avenge….

Often, in the small hours of the dark morning, my constant companion awakens me to begin the day, pushing me up with the hope of finding more peace than can be found abed, where time becomes an enemy in the lee of midnight…. I gaze at the screen, once my mind is caught up to my eyes, wondering what I can find here to ease the whirling, spinning maelstrom which confronts me out here in the real world of consciousness. I can feel the weight of time, sitting on my shoulders, bringing memories of both joy and pain, denying hope, politely, and, oh, so cruel, with its constant, relentless barrage of what seems to be a multitude of small, yet vicious invisible mites, biting, biting, each and every one of my nerves, one after the other….

My doctor, it seems, doesn’t believe in my pain, for he/she wants me to give up the most stable source of any real peace I’ve had in the past 40 years. The prurient, prudish morality of a soulless behemoth masquerading as a “corporate person”, otherwise known as a Health Maintenance Organization, has decided that it is within their purview to decide for me what the proper treatment for my condition is, without any consideration at all for what that arrogance will do TO me…. Because I insist on making my own decisions about the best way to treat my pain, and my PTSD, they are willing to literally blackmail me with the threat of my own pain to protect themselves from their own imaginary bogies, which they are afraid will leave them open to litigation, thus taking away from their profit margin, the purpose for their entire existence….

But, that, unfortunately, is ranting, which is, at this juncture, both too early, and too big a subject to try to address in the intro…. not to mention the inappropriateness of such a discussion in public, at all…. But, in the mood I’m in, (as indicated by the obvious self-portrait in the first paragraph….), what the fuck do I care what’s appropriate? In fact, now that I think of it, the opening quote from Zippy is perfectly apt for today…. Fuck ’em all, I say. Bring any of them to me, and I shall make them meat…. All I ask is your silence, and some help in disposing of the evidence….

No? Well, no worries, nobody has died yet….. but, the day is young…. A good portion of today’s Pearl was completed yesterday, and the day before, as my newly developed method of writing has become more of a routine, choppy though it is, with its necessary breaks every ten or fifteen minutes to find another (relatively) comfortable position in which to type, or to walk around to stretch, and allow the skeleton to come to terms with the pain currently assailing most of my joints…. It’s a bit choppy, but, it works for me….

Another advantage of this system is the increased vigilance it allows me, to stay on top of those little opportunities to get to the correct area on the map we use, such as this fine looking entry point coming up on our bow…. It’s so conveniently located we’re going for it, even if it does, again, throw the rhythm I’ve found into the toilet…. S’okay, I’m coming to rather enjoy the offhand way I am ordered about by my inanimate objects…. They’re only trying to help, you know, and they are severely underpaid, in my opinion…. But, that’s a rant for another time, and place…. Right now, we’re going in, so, I’d suggest you hang on to the nearest stanchion; our pilot today likes to cut things close….

Shall we Pearl?

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

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

As the first couple of paragraphs in the above section indicate, my soul is crying out for peace…. This isn’t a cure, but, I find it helps…. Maybe it is part of the connection I’ve always felt to the Druidic culture that flourished in ancient Europe, or, maybe it’s just the way it takes me away from reality…. whatever it is, it works for me….

Celtic Music – Sleeping Dreams And Fantasies Mix

http://youtu.be/n4zxO1xy6ec

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

“A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

Now that I have your attention, we have a different sort of ranting section for you today…. Right now, I am unsure of exactly what it will look like, or, where it might end up, but, having found the perfect opening picture and pearl, I’m going to let if fly, just so we can see what kind of trouble we can either cause, or get into, whichever seems more fun…. What else would you expect, when you find these two at the top of the section?….

With the proper tone firmly established, we shall move on to the more intellectual part of today’s experimental pearl…. an old school indictment of Asininnies, of the political persuasion, those we call Pundits, (or, sometimes, The Liars Club….). I’d hoped to include the rest of the categories of the larger group, (i.e. Dogma Dogs, Myrmidons, Snakeheads, Pimps, Illuminati, Mundanes, Droids, or, anyone else worthy of our ire….), but everything that came up was in this smaller group, which, apparently, Smart Bee seems to consider the most vulnerable target at the moment of choice…. Or, it could be these are what came up, with incipient laziness taking over at that point…. Here they are, such as they are….

“He’s not a politician. He’s just ethically challenged.” — Smart Bee

“Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. In democracy, what you get generally is bad government by a bully, tempered by the pen of several newspaper editors.” — George Bernard Shaw — Man and Superman (1903) Maxims for Revolutionists: Democracy

“You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think.” — Smart Bee

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand-fold in the future.” — Solzhenitsyn

“Bother! said Pooh, as he found a politician in his honey pot.” — Smart Bee

“How do you make sense of such madness? The answer is, you can’t.” — Pablo Guzman

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

Okay, now comes the fun part…. We’ve taken our shots at the pundits for the day; now we get to finish the new format with one final comment, which I’ve personally chosen to represent the metaphor of reality being highlighted in this unusual fashion…. This is what I came up with, as a final word on the Asininnies for today…. It’s a very nice statement of insight on life today, which, I promise, will be my last word for today on this subject…. In truth, the statement is a fine finish for any indictment, for it speaks to the reason any of us might feel the need to indict at all….

“The stars are made of the same atoms as the earth.” I usually pick one small topic like this to give a lecture on. Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars — mere gobs of gas atoms. Nothing is “mere.” I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination — stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one-million-year-old light. A vast pattern — of which I am a part — perhaps my stuff was belched from some forgotten star, as one is belching there. Or see them with the greater eye of Palomar, rushing all apart from some common starting point when they were perhaps all together. What is the pattern, or the meaning, or the *why?* It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined! Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?” — Richard Phillips Feynman (1918-1988)

As is patently clear to me, in a larger sense, Mr. Feynman obliquely implies the mindset adopted by those of our human brethren who choose ignorance and faith over knowledge and reason, thus limiting themselves to a pattern of looking at reality which keeps them, and consequently all of us, from living as we are meant to live.

If not for this intrinsic flaw in our very nature, we could be living in a very different world, walking in beauty, singing, in perfect harmony and rhyme, rejoicing in all the secrets of heart, soul, and reality, rather than merely humming along with the dirges, which are the only music playing in our current reality, a stark, dark, desperate world in which compassion and beauty are crushed under the heels of the boots worn by the god of war, namely, Avarice, and, Indifference…

I know…. Bummer, huh?

gigoid, the dubious

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

There are moments in life when the power and presence of serendipity makes itself felt, leaving no doubt in my mind there is more to this universe than we can ever really know…. This poem was the first I encountered today in my search for an appropriate entry for today’s poetry section; it’s the poem of the day on PoemHunter.com, my favorite site to find those verses I need for this part of each Pearl….. It’s a small piece, but, with that incredible characteristic of the very best of poems, brevity, mixed with powerful metaphor, to create a short epistle which gives us much, much more than just the few words use could be expected to give….. Plus, it fits in with my mood….. go figure….

A Coat

I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world’s eyes
As though they’d wrought it.
Song, let them take it,
For there’s more enterprise
In walking naked.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

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

This pearl is, to my mind, a good one. It’s composed of pearls whose primary characteristic is in how it must be examined more deeply than the first reading, to penetrate to the second, and third ideas that are buried within their shy outer bearing….. In short, when you read them, they should make you pause, and say to yourself, “Wait a second….”, then look again…. hopefully. Works for me, anyway…. Just look deeper than the shallow first concept, ffolkes, because the result is a pretty good picture of how to approach reality with something more than just a pretty face…., which, in spite of popular belief by many, not everyone has…. No matter anyway, reality doesn’t care….

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” — Yogi Berra

“Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.” — Erasmus

“The last good thing I saw on TV was the ‘off’ switch.” — J. Craig Brunson (craig@ukpr.uky.edu)

“Where no hope is left, is left no fear.” — Milton

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.” — Thomas H. Huxley

“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Poem for the Living

When I am dead
Cry for me a little
Think of me sometimes
But not too much.

It is not good for you
Or your wife or your husband
Or your children
To allow your thoughts to dwell

Too long on the dead
Think of me now and again
As I Was in life
At some moment it is pleasant to recall

But not for long.
Leave me in peace
As I shall leave you, too, in peace.
While you live
Let your thoughts be with the living.

~~ Theodora Kroeber ~~

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

Thankfully, it’s done. Just in time, too. I was about to break out in song…. Figuring, rightly, I’m sure, that would drive y’all over the edge, to which we come close enough on a regular basis, we’ll just use our advantage of position (here at the end….) to make our escape, before any of y’all catch on…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, unless embarrassment kicks in….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

View only with intimately innocent eyes….

Posted on October 22, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Cats know how we feel. They don’t give a damn, but they know.” — Smart Bee

This picture has NOT been altered in any way, other than to sharpen up the spider’s outline. It sure is a BIG one, isn’t it? Why, just looking at it, sitting there on the side of that house, it looks to be a good foot and a half long, wouldn’t you guess? I’ll bet the folks who live there don’t have to worry much about flies, or even stray dogs…. the spider would make sure NOTHING got into the house, unless it came to act as the dinner entree…. I wonder what it would be like to have a trained attack spider….

There…. now y’all can’t accuse me of never giving y’all any nonsense in the intro any more…. I must admit, what with the stuff going on in the world, and my own issues, such as the advent of diabetes, worsening arthritis, and ongoing wars with Kaiser P, it’s been a bit difficult to maintain the proper mindset for nonsense…. One must needs bring out the inner Zippy the Pinhead, and let the nose grow to its maximum degree of round redness…. or is that red roundness?…. Any who, as can be guessed, when dealing with HMO’s or postal employees, sobriety works much faster than silliness, so, I got out of the habit of getting strange, just for the hell of it….

As can be surmised, however, as a life-long bozoid personality, strange is never far off, so, it takes mere moments for me to adopt the mantle of humorous oddity that settles so comfortably upon my shoulders, whenever I let my inner Bozo out to play. Nothing is more fun, or more satisfying, than to bring a frown of confused annoyance to the formerly unhappy faces of those who surround me in public, or to drive entire rooms full of diners out of a restaurant, through the use of what is called, in the mental health industry, word salad…. Plus, there is, in my mind, NOTHING that compares to confusing myrmidons, such as county sheriff’s deputies, or rookie CHP’s…. they’re so cute when they scowl, don’t you think? And nothing is better than getting them right up to the point of apoplexy, only to discover I’ve done nothing illegal….

But, teasing the animals with badges isn’t all fun, nor is it always danger-free, even when NOT acting illegally….. There are far too many aggressive, stupid idiots wearing badges, who think nothing of abusing their authority, and filing false charges against any member of the public they don’t like…. especially one who makes them feel stupid…. but, I figure, it’s not my responsibility to make them feel good…. I do figure it is my job to make fun of them, and to give them every bit of crap I can, because you can be sure, they will be doing so to the public, eventually…. Too many police officers in today’s world are in the field simply because it gives them the opportunity to act tough, and to bully others….

But, I’m not going to rant, he said, piteously…. I promised I wouldn’t!….. Besides, at this point, I don’t have to…. I didn’t notice, but, we passed the legal limit some time ago…. Time does fly when having fun, eh? I’m thinking, since we’re already here, I’ll just dump us out of the intro right here, in this paragraph, so we can get on with the show before I get much weirder…. As is patently obvious, and, as I said above, strange isn’t far off, for me, so, we’ll just let it go at that, and get on with what we came to do…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably.” — Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804)

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

As promised, I pre-screened this video, and can faithfully, and truthfully say, it’s a good story…. It happens to be one of my favorite Holmes stories…. and Jeremy Brett was one of the better Sherlock actors, in my opinion…. He captured the fragility of Holmes’ mentality quite well; his “crazed eyes” are perfect, as is his infectious enthusiasm when portraying Holmes on the scent…. Enjoy ffolkes, it’s a bit less than an hour of solid entertainment, as the Victorian world of Watson and Holmes is brought to life on screen for your enjoyment….

Sherlock Holmes and the adventure of the Norwood Builder — Jeremy Brett

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-sqTZcp9mM

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

It has been some time since I posted this list…. It is comprised of 20 statements of the qualities one must display in order to live up to the name of gentleman…. I could spend quite a bit of time going over each characteristic, complete with examples of how poorly most men in this country do at meeting these standards, but, I am of the opinion that each of these speaks for itself.

Each statement of character is short, clear, and unambiguous; do this, and you will live with honor, integrity, and respect, not only of others, but, your own as well…. I once heard it said, and can certainly agree, the best way to teach this to your sons is to follow each directive, showing them HOW…. no words are necessary. Just live, and let them watch, and learn….

There… Now, isn’t that better than a rant? I must say, it was a lot easier on me….

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

The following entry is not a poem, but, to me, it is poetry in prose, simple wisdom derived from experiential observation and insight. If I ever marry again, I will seriously consider having the preacher/shaman use this for the ceremony…. This one is one of those I don’t really care if nobody likes…. I do….. But, I happen to believe that there are very few rational, compassionate humans who can find much in this to which they can object…. Enjoy!…. The sentiments expressed are the best we humans have learned to express….

“Marriage. It’s a hard term to define, especially for me, I’ve ducked it like root canal. Still there’s no denying that marriage ranks right up there with birth and death as one of the three biggies in the human safari. It’s the only one though that we’ll celebrate with a conscious awareness. Very few of you remember your arrival and even fewer will attend your own funeral. You pick a society, any society– Sunni, Fidembo, Pennsylvania Dutch– what’s the one thing that they all have in common? Marriage. It’s like a cultural hand rail. It links folks to the past and guides them to the future. That’s not all though; Marriage is the union of disparate elements– male and female, yin and yang, proton and electron. What are we talking about here? Nothing less than the very tension that binds the universe. You see when we talk of marriage, people, we’re talking of creation itself. ‘I am the sky,’ says the Hindu bride-groom to the bride, ‘You are the earth. We are sky and earth united.’ The ring please Joel. You are my husband, you are my wife. My feet shall run because of you, my feet shall dance because of you. My heart shall beat because of you, my eyes see because of you. My mind think because of you, and I shall love because of you. Are you guys cool with that? Then kiss.”

~~ Chris Stevens, “Northern Exposure” ~~

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

The following pearl is possibly the oddest pearl I’ve ever put together…. I’m not certain if it was Smart Bee guiding my hand, or if my subconscious was being cute…. What I do know is that, odd as it seems, it also seems to make some kind of sense…. which means this is a stealth pearl, one that delivers the message it wishes to convey by taking the mind through vistas unknown, but, ending up where one may bend over and pick up a solid rock of insight, put it in their pocket, and wander away as if entranced…. Or, just let it wash over you, and spread its balm of understanding via the process of cellular absorption…. Whatever….

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” — Walter Winchell

“I have two pets: A large main dog, and a small emergency backup one.” — Smart Bee

“Conservatives want to make people virtuous; liberals want to make them healthy. Both believe that using the state to accomplish their aims is legitimate. That is why both conservatives and liberals favor anti-drug laws, psychiatric coercions, and other assaults against individual freedom and responsibility couched in therapeutic terms.” — Thomas S. Szasz

“That which is incapable of proof itself is not proof of anything else.” — Shelley

“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot” — Charlie Chaplin

“Bush wears a hat so he knows which end to wipe!” — Smart Alec Bee

“We made too many wrong mistakes.” — Yogi Berra

“The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 16

“Let’s have a Tupperware party! Habeamus convivium ad mercem emendam.” — Latin For Everyday Occasions

Okay, that should do it…. what it will do remains to be seen, but, it should be, if nothing else, adorably cute…. or not.

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

This one defies all description…. Well, it defies all MY description, anyway. Such as it is, though, it IS done, which puts it into that category of my favorite pearls… i.e., the finished variety…. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…. I can’t seem to talk myself out of it…. HONK, HONK!…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

2nd door on the left….flush twice….

Posted on October 14, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ Aeschylus (525-456 BC) ~~

— Frag. 146 (trans. by Plumptre) —

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

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

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

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

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

Shall we Pearl?…..

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

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

“Only the educated are free.” — Epictetus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://youtu.be/9Igfu0VwdkQ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

——————-

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

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

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

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

All Is Truth

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

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

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

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

~~ Walt Whitman ~~

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

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

15 great Golden Retriever Puppy videos

http://youtu.be/t0KwtuYyy3A

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Rabindranath Tagore

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

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

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

Ode to an Indispensable Man

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

~~ Saxon White Kessinger ~~

As the final note, mentioned above:

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

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

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

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Oatmeal, techno-piracy, and the Legion of Honor…..

Posted on June 12, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Today’s Pearl is incredibly late getting started; this will require some patience on your part, and some rapid thinking on mine, or we’ll both be lost all day…. It’s sort of like that first button, which, if you don’t get it into the correct button hole, you’ll never get dressed up all right…. We wouldn’t want that, especially given the somewhat amorphous nature of this beast….

All that having been said (WITH, I might add, the inherent embedded apology…. went to a baseball game last night at the local yard, and didn’t get in until late….), we’re going to do the unprecedented, and not have an intro at all…. Well, I suppose this little bit could be construed as such, but, it’s so little, it doesn’t fit in much with the others…. S’okay, though, all shortcuts have been approved, and the apology issued here is good for the whole deal…. There will be a number of them (shortcuts), so, please, remain alert….

So be it…. gigoid has spoken…. On with method #4, so we can get this slow on the road (not a typo….)….

Shall we Pearl?

Don’t you hurry me, sonny, you hurry a miracle man, you get rotten
miracles, that what you want? — Miracle Max, played by Billy Crystal from William Goldman’s, “The Princess Bride”

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

So, here’s the deal…. Below is a link, to an article discussing some of the latest developments over at the NSA, and their continuing campaign to bullshit the American people as much as is humanly possible…. The article is in lieu of one of my own rants, even though I’d find this one a snap, mostly…. right up my ally, and I can FEEL the anger inside when I think about it…. But, I’ll let the author of the article expound on it today… Instead of a rant, I’ll be going with another short episode of the Travels of Wise Old Pine Cone, as I follow him around the neighborhood each day, watching him relate to friends, neighbors, and the environment at large…. Enjoy!….

First, the bad news….

http://theweek.com/article/index/262945/the-nsa-has-a-shocking-new-excuse-for-destroying-evidence

AMNESTY, n. The state’s magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

It’s getting to the point where the BRC had better begin thinking about leaving Eric Snowden alone; Al Gore has come out in support of him, and the public has always been on his side…. If they continue to verify his claims in such prominent ways, it would be in their best interests, I think, to let him be, from a legal standpoint…. I don’t think the public is going to allow them to sacrifice him to their gods of paranoia…. End of short rant….

Now, the good stuff…..

Wise Old Pine Cone stopping in to tour the training center nearby….

Wise Old Pine Cone posing against one of his favorite plants as a backdrop….

Wise Old Pine Cone, being a curious git…. blurry on purpose, to avoid details on someone’s package…

Wise Old Pine Cone, taking a short nap….

Wise Old Pine Cone, reminiscing about the old days….

Wise Old Pine Cone, with another of his Cone friends…

Just so you know I’m not being a troll about being up late, here is a shot of the park outside the center field fence at the ball game I attended last night…. As you can see, it was late; the game was just over, and the lights were still on as people wound their way home….

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

Again, we’re going with one of mine, this time because it’s faster…. This is one of my own personal favorites, because it speaks about my Dad, and what I learned from him…. I’m 63 years old, and he’s been gone since 1984, (thirty years!…. Time does fly…), but, I still miss his calming presence….

Ah Ain’t Sho, but Mebbe So….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

“Memory: what wonders it performs in preserving and storing up things gone by or rather, things that are!” — Plutarch

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

‘The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.” — Darth Vader (Star Wars)

Although a cloth be washed a hundred times,
How can it be rendered clean and pure
If it be washed in water which is dirty?

— Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.)

“Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.” — The Wizard of Oz

“After being asked by a waitress if he wanted his pizza cut into four slices or eight: “Better make it four. I don’t think I can eat eight pieces.” — Yogi Berra

“The death of God left the angels in a strange position.’ — Internal documentation, programmer unknown

Well, it does show some of the effects of hurrying, but, it’s really not bad at all…. Makes a couple of good points, I think…. No worries, either way, it’s done…. so be it….

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

Yes, indeed…. so be it….. I’m not going to push any harder, or any longer…. In fact, I’m done, and I’m outta here…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Full page translations are our specialty….

Posted on June 10, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

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

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

Shall we Pearl?…..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After the odyssey….

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

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

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

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

— The Grateful Dead

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

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

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

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

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

Not too shabby, I think….

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

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

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

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: Yogi Berra

View only with intimately innocent eyes….

2nd door on the left….flush twice….

Oatmeal, techno-piracy, and the Legion of Honor…..

Full page translations are our specialty….

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