It’s okay; we’re cousins….

Posted on July 4, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“A note of music gains significance from the silence on either side.”

~~ Anne Morrow Lindberg ~~

Always Alert….

Hajime…. Today is the 240th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in this country. I have personally witnessed this 65 times in my life, though never with the degree of reluctance I feel today. I am reluctant to celebrate, or show pride in a country which is currently engaged in numerous unjust conflicts around the world, all of which have nothing to do with any sort of justice, or anything other than corporate greed. Anyone who thinks our nation is justified for the misery and death we have caused by our interventions is welcome to tell me why; I doubt seriously I’ll have any trouble pointing out the discrepancies in any possible evidence presented….

To be honest, I am sick to death of politics, and corporate avarice, and ignorance, and all the other human failings I see in play in our society, all of which are denied, or ignored by both the public at large, and those who claim to be the leaders of our culture. So sick of it, I intend to ignore today altogether, just to get a bit of space from all the negativity that I associate with the loss of honor I see as responsible for our current status as a nation. I refuse to show pride in what I see us doing; there is no ethical or moral justification for any of it. So, this is the last y’all will hear about it today; I’ll even pick an archived rant that speaks to another issue, to be sure….

Since that’s the case, perhaps it would be best to get on with it. I guess this intro section isn’t quite up to our usual standards, which cannot be termed as standards of excellence without the risk of being called a liar; nonetheless, it will have to do, as I’m not going to do it over. Hell, it’s been a struggle to get it this far; starting over isn’t in the realm of possibilities I’m considering. In fact, the only consideration I’m thinking of now is how to get us the hell out of here before this gets any stranger…. I guess I’ll just be ruthless, which looks like this….

Shall we pearl?….

“The more I traveled the more I realized
that fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.”

~~ Shirley McLaine ~~

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Violeta Parra

Image from billboard.com via Google Images

A few days ago, I included a South American activist/artist, Victor Jara, for our musical selection. Today’s inclusion is a contemporary of his, also from South America, a woman who is also actively working for justice for the people, through her music, and her actions off-stage. Abondanza!…

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Violeta Parra

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“Is it not a noble farce, wherein kings, republics, and emperors have for so many ages played their parts, and to which the whole vast universe serves for a theater?” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xxxvi, Of the most Excellent Men

From 4/17/2014:

“A government that fears its people is a government that should be feared.” — Smart Bee

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10769041/The-US-is-an-oligarchy-study-concludes.html

“The US government does not represent the interests of the majority of the country’s citizens, but is instead ruled by those of the rich and powerful, a new study from Princeton and Northwestern Universities has concluded.”

My initial reaction to this opening line from the article to which the link leads was, “Oh. Really? How droll….” In case it’s unclear, that is sarcasm….

My second thought was, “Duh…”, because, well, hey, no-brainer, right? It’s only obvious, and has been since the 1850’s, when the “military-industrial complex” became a real person, at least in the courts….. The third thought that went through my mind was, “Why did I have to read this on the front page of a BRITISH news paper, while never having seen a single article on the report from an American news outlet?”

But, then, hey, oligarchy, right? That means the elite, the rich, the BRC, or, as I’m fond of calling them, the Asininnies, don’t want to hear about it, so, none of the news outlets THEY control will ever show that report, or, if they do, it certainly won’t be on the front page…. Any more than they wish to have ANY of their shenanigans paraded in front of the public eye; they’re well aware of how badly the rest of the country would react to that, if the notion that they were oppressing the rest of us, and worse, shamelessly lying about it all, ever became a common perception….

I could spend a few paragraphs here, detailing to you just how they lie, or relating just how often, and how completely these assholes are fucking over the rest of society…. but, it isn’t necessary, when such a plain and obvious indictment is right there in front of me, a report that does nothing if not confirm what I’ve been trying to get across to the people out there who need to know, for a long time now….

“[E]lections amount to little more than choosing between the scum that floats to the top of the barrel and the dregs that settle to the bottom.” — L. Neil Smith

The perverted masters of society, consisting of that 1% who control the money and resources of our planet, usurped our system of government within DAYS of the signing of the Constitution, and have continued to solidify their control for the last 240 years since that event…. Their biggest victories have come from their purchases, which gave them exclusive possession of the souls and loyalty of the judges in the federal court system, first in the early 1800’s, then, later, to the huge win in the middle of that century, when corporations were first declared to have the same rights as real people, a decision which ensures the establishment in society of the legal precedents that ensure their complete control….

What normal, real person, with merely their own skills and efforts as resources, can compete, monetarily, or time-wise, with a corporation, to buy the loyalty of congress and the courts? Only its owners, or the owners of other governments, er, corporations, who have the resources to contest what they wish, can hope to supply any restraint upon what they desire…. No average person has the time or resources to spend on any issue that a corporation can bring to bear, thus guaranteeing the common man’s views will NEVER take precedence in the courts….

It ain’t a particularly pretty picture, ffolkes, but, it IS an accurate description of modern reality…. more than we could hope, and certainly more than we could ever need, or want…. but, accurate, nonetheless….

Enough so to thoroughly disgust me, to the point I’m not going to rant any more…. I’m getting too worked up…. I can feel my blood pressure going up as I type, never a good thing….. So, we’ll switch modes, and go find some pearls with which to round out this discussion, hopefully with some humor, or at the very least, some bloodthirsty accusations of perversion against those assholes who thing we are not on to them….. Enjoy!….

“Hope is very dangerous….” — Servalan

(In our society, it is not merely dangerous, it is toxic….)

“After 2% of the vote is in, the networks tell us who won. It makes the other 99% of us feel a bit unnecessary… How come the networks are so good at picking the presidential winner, and so bad at picking hit shows?” — Smart Bee

(You don’t think they have information they’re not sharing with us, do you? Nah…. of course not…. Why would they do that?….)

(If you believe that, I have a wonderful opportunity for you, a chance to own the biggest bridge in New York, for a very nominal price…. Cash only, no checks….)

“When neither their poverty nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content.” — Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

(This is required learning in the schools that produce the fleets of lawyers who inhabit the halls of government…. Check it out sometime, how ALL the actions our leaders take are designed to keep from arousing the public’s ire, by avoiding the stimulation implied in this rule codified by The Prince….)

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

“All military type firearms are to be handed in immediately… The SS, SA and Stahlhelm give every respectable German man the opportunity of campaigning with them. Therefore anyone who does not belong to one of the above named organisations and who unjustifiably nevertheless keeps his weapon… must be regarded as an enemy of the national government.” — SA Oberfuhrer of Bad Tolz, March, 1933

(I keep expecting to see a bill with this wording hit the floor of the House any time now, with a few minor changes to reflect the passage of time…. Every time there is another random shooting in this country, the pundits break out something like this to put through Congress, in the deluded hope that it might change something, which they refuse to believe cannot be changed, without changing human nature….)

“All you have to do is… Spot The Looney!” — Monty Python

(A very apt description of the voting process here in ‘murrica….)

“Being against torture ought to be sort of a bipartisan thing.” — Karl Lehenbauer

(One would think this is true, until you actually look at what they are DOING, instead of what they are SAYING….)

“Faith: not wanting to know what is true.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

(Another fine delineation of how the voting process works in the oligarchy we call home…. Plus, do you see how smoothly this dovetails in with what the preachers preach from their pulpits?…. Funny how that works, eh?….)

Okay, so that’s eight pearls, an even number, which will never do…. We’ll go with one last pearl, in what I know to be a futile attempt to bring one of them down for good…. I’ll try to make it a good one, a fitting finish to an epic melding of irritated ranting and old school pearling….

“For in religion as in friendship, they who profess most are ever the least sincere.” — Sheridan

(I probably don’t need to make this suggestion, but, you can substitute the word “politics” for “friendship” in this, without changing or reducing its validity…. which is why it’s here….)

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Territorial imperative….

Beauty must define,
as augment to existence,
as life must be more
than mere subsistence.

Nature demands more.
Truth helps.

~~ gigoid ~~

12/15/2012

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Naked Pearls

Like ice, on the verge of melting….

*******

“. . is to attempt seeing Truth without knowing Falsehood.
It is the attempt to see the Light without knowing Darkness.
It cannot be.”

~~ Frank Herbert, Dune ~~

*******

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

~~ Publius Syrus — Maxim 598 ~~

*******

“Doubt is the key to knowledge.”

~~ Persian Proverb ~~

*******

“You cannot learn to fly by flying.
First you must learn to walk, to run, to climb, to dance.”

~~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~~

*******

“That’s the way things come clear.
All of a sudden.
And then you realize how obvious they’ve been all along.”

~~ Madeleine L’Engle ~~

*******

“Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.”

~~ Colette ~~

*******

“I just forgot my whole philosophy of life!!!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

*******

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In the elegant words of Hasan, the Moor, “I have fulfilled my vow.” Though I won’t commit to labeling it ‘good’, or ‘bad’, or even ‘indifferent’, I will say it’s done. Which gives me the perfect excuse to bring this to a final conclusion, probably best stated as, “Huh?”. No matter how we choose to view it, we’re outta here, with our common caveat, to wit: I’ll be back. I’ll even go out on a limb, and predict that will happen tomorrow. Go figure…. See ya, ffolkes…

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….

A quarter-pound of inflatable Gouda….

Posted on June 30, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

~~ Inscription beneath his bust in the Hall of Fame ~~

St. Somebody’s Cathedral, Cobh, Ireland

Hajime…. I almost didn’t do this. The decision to go ahead & make the effort was a difficult one, as I am, again, rather short on material in my head that would be considered adequately erudite enough to warrant posting. Not to say that’s stopped me before; it’s just getting more onerous to make the decision, as the search for new material slams against the wall of angst in my soul. In and of itself, this is not a new conundrum; it is, however, new enough to cause ripples in the generally smooth path into which this process has evolved. It would be nice if Life didn’t bury us in irony, some day….

There would be little purpose to trying to explain the angst; half the time, or more, I haven’t a clue as to where it came from, anyway. I just consider it a leftover gift from the PTSD which continues to haunt my existence, & try to get through it without any new mental scars. Hey, it’s a pain, but, it my pain, and it works for me. Who knows? Perhaps, one of these fine days, (should any of that sort appear….), I’ll get over the 11½ years of damn near daily doses of violence; if not, well, it’s not as bad as it could be, I guess. How that might be isn’t something upon which it is wise, or happy, to dwell…

Ah, well, such is life, eh? We all have our little problems, and, like Plato observed, if everyone brought their troubles together, & laid them in a pile, most folks, after viewing the pile, would be happy to take their own, and go on their way. So be it. I guess I’ll put together a Pearl, to soothe the savage breast; this time of day, it always seems to be the right thing to do. I won’t even use a Tardis Toy, since I’ve blathered quite enough to get us to where we need to be…. We’ve got some decent material today, since I out-sourced today’s rant section by inviting a guest writer; there’s also one of my poems, which I happen to think isn’t bad. The old-school always takes care of itself so, I guess that means we can get on with this now…. Let’s do it….

Shall we Pearl?….

“In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments – there are consequences.”

~~ Robert Ingersoll ~~

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I’m late, again. As is standard for ECR in such instances. we’ll be going with a selection of classical music, compiled by some random You Tube subscriber. Also as usual, the one I picked had the most eye-grabbing picture…. Simple, yet effective….. Enjoy!….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/2kkbqSXV2o4

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Today’s rant is from a guest writer. Dean Baker is a poet, musician, and friend. In my opinion, he is perhaps the finest poet writing today, in terms of his depth of insight, his classical knowledge base, and, his straightforward, honest, often almost brutal clarity of vision when viewing society at large. Here is one of his rants, from the book whose cover you see below. I’ve included links at the end of the piece, where you can explore more of his work, and, most importantly, buy his books….. Enjoy, ffolkes; this one is a powerful indictment of humanity, and it’s crimes against itself…..

The Stupid

What’s in your diaper? asked as a parody of the American Express commercial to one of the small children nearby might be paraphrased for adults as What do you fear?

Some might answer: guns, Liberals, Conservatives, gays, blacks, Asians, wimmin, old farts, kids, goobers, the Government, the media, etc etc. Endless corollary examples of what is at its source unprincipled, and even unknowing at times, though not often; and what amounts to; The Stupid.

And of course The Stupid chimes in with, ‘Yeh reeeetards!’ You know, those easy response, fast solution, ain’t it simple for the rude and obscene (you remember those designations?) bellowing boneheads. Doesn’t mean there isn’t something to be said for native instinct – though of course I don’t mean ‘native.’ Let’s not go all retrograde here.

Obviously the idea of individualism will always be true, yet so will its abuse by those in power: you can do it. Never mind that we muddy the waters, allow the bankers to screw the economy and thousands of lives so situations become unsupportable since there you can be not stupid and still get boned by circumstances.

But then you’re put in a position of thinking, ‘Hey, by putting the emphasis on individual responsibility while simultaneously allowing wild government and corporate excess, what’s being said socially is: F. You. We don’t care. We got the power and the money. And guess who gave it to us? You.’

Now that’s Stupid.

All of which speaks to the fact of poor public education, enshrined deceit by governments and corporations engendering a fabric of willful stupidity in daily lives for those without power and money, thus without a voice. And those who are truly The Stupid express themselves in imitation of those in power: loud, pushy and overbearing.

Maybe it goes like this. You have a problem. It requires acknowledged and described details presented to authorities who are capable of contriving to bring a solution to the forefront of what you’re dealing with.

But dealing with it through the authorities makes for more problems. And your life doesn’t stand still like a bureaucracy does – and the bureaucraps don’t care because as long as you have a problem, they have a job.

But let’s not imagine a nation of so many smart people it’s been impossible after hundreds of years to arrive at a working solution for the convoluted daily strife of enshrined pettiness and zealous self-interest.

That would change everything, and we can’t have that – just the debates, the philosophies about why and why not.

You can see it could all be altered, the process begun anyway. But too many of the Very Important Stupid won’t have that – and more of the Want To Be Important Stupid will disrupt them. And on the micro scale the Already Important Stupid will do everything they can to prevent others whom they consider Stupid, or else, smart… to even have a voice.

So in this land of the free and the brave, plus other democracies extant, there seems to be a constancy only in the degenerating standards.
What standards? The free-floating retard soup which includes everyone. Each has a place. Only, there aren’t any places when the reasons for uniqueness are given rather than earned. Sort of like some crying baby that shits itself and figures in brilliance when the Stupid comes to clean it up. (Stupid because it’s cleaning crap, not because it’s loving, thoughtful, thinking ahead with diapers on hand, etc)

The Stupid makes no effort except demands of others. The Stupid resorts to violence, in words and tactics.

The Stupid sees no need to be reasonable and glories in its status as Victim. Or, sheep.

The Stupid is beyond intelligence, the reach of morals, the applied understanding of long range all-inclusive plans for a greater economy, country, and people.

The Stupid creates its own enemies and downfall through its unacknowledged methods of deceit, and denial.

As a fine psychologist – Otto Rank – replied one time, when asked, ‘What is beyond Psychology?’, “Stupidity.”

©Dean J. Baker

From Dean’s blog, at: https://tormentingthemonkey.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/the-stupid

Find Dean’s books at: https://deanjbaker.wordpress.com/awards/all-print-books-links/

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Retrospective, defined in folly….

Yesterday
I wrote a poem.

It bled out of my head,
like I’d been struck with
an axe,
right through the artery,
in the neck,
spraying blood around
everywhere,
like a pulsing garden hose….

It hurt, at first,
then came the feeling,

of quick relief,
of timeless beauty,
of pain avenged,
of lust aroused,

of outrage aflame,
of deep compassion,

of endless empathy,
of truest love….

Now it’s gone, cast away
like pearls before twine.

(Grin…)

You thought
I was going to call you
a pig,
didn’t you?

Hah!

Well, you’re not.
You’re a person.

I know, because
you’re reading this poem…
if that’s what it is.
I think it is,
so,
maybe it is.

Or, maybe,
it will be,
someday, when it
grows up,
and learns to rhyme.
Whew…
Just in time…..

That’s all.
Reality often sucks wind,
y’know?

S’okay, though….
It keeps us busy,
and out of some of the
mischief,
so much part
of our
nature.

We all can do
only what we
do.

Or, don’t.

Two sides, one coin.

~~ gigoid ~~

8/31/2014

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Naked Pearls

Randomness

*******

“EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!”

~~ Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (Page 7,023) ~~

*******

“Everyone is weird. Some of us are just proud of it.”

~~ gigoid, the dubious ~~

*******

“Do I dare disturb the universe?”

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

*******

“Sacred cows make the best hamburger.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

*******

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

~~ ee cummings ~~

*******

And you may ask yourself
“Am I right? … Am I wrong?”
And you may say to yourself
“MY GOD! … WHAT HAVE I DONE?”

~~ The Talking Heads ~~

*******

“So as this only point among the rest remaineth sure and certain,
namely, that nothing is certain. . .”

~~ Pliny The Elder ~~

*******

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This is one for the books, I think. It will be essential, today, to trust the process, so much so, I’m not going to go back & see what I’ve done. I’ll post it, and go back later, when I’ve reached some kind of equilibrium, which should prevent me from shooting myself with my non-existent gun. On that rather surreal note, I’ll also bid thee adieu for today, as I don’t believe I can do any further damage. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; don’t know exactly why, but, we’ll be here, nonetheless….

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….

Use all the available pitchblende….

Posted on June 26, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“To be alive is to take risks; to be always safe and secure is death.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

Summer Flowers

Hajime…. It has become increasingly clear to me how important this process is to my entire being. For the past week, the only part of my day which seems to have any constructive purpose is the time I spend putting this together, along with a small period following the posting of it, during which I try to surf to my favorite blogs, & catch up on comments. Once I’ve done some of that, I have tumbled, without warning, into the abyss of depression, whereupon I start pursuing activities which distract me from that, by sending me to other places in my mind; reading, going for a walk to do chores in town, or sleeping seem to work the best. For the rest, I weep, or recover from such depths of emotional storms.

That is why I have not been getting to the comments, or reading all the blogs & articles I’d like to be able to see. It’s a pisser, to be sure, for the contact with others provided by such surfing has become valuable, and valued highly. At present, I haven’t a clue as to when this might pass; in the past it has been known to last more than a little while. I always seem to find my way back to at least close to my center, but, it can be a trying time until I find the proper path, or stance to assume. One would think, given the strength and breadth of mind I claim to possess, it wouldn’t be such an issue; such qualities don’t seem to be any more defense against it than the chemicals doctors tend to rely on for it. But, it does keep my overall chemical balance in better shape, that’s for sure, and that is a good thing.

All that is really required is patience, and time, and finding that part inside where all we know of life resides. It’s there; we just lose sight of it at times, and need to find our way back to that point. I’m almost there, I think, but, only time can tell, and it’s not ready to do so. Or, I’m not; that’s more likely, and as soon as I can figure out why, I’ll be fine. In fact, I AM fine; I’m just not enough aware of it. I will be, so I’ll just hang on until then….

Now I’ve bored y’all with three full paragraphs of expository revelations of a personal nature, I suppose we should get on with the rest of this mess. So be it. We’ll use a Tardis Toy to get us gone without any further delay; I know just the right one, too. This one is fast, and slick; so fast, you’ll have to watch close, or you’ll miss it altogether…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“The true value of a human being is determined
by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from self.”

~~ Albert Einstein ~~

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I just felt like some oldies, so, here are perhaps the best example of oldies that can be found…. live. Let’s listen to the lads, like we did for so long, so long ago…..

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The Beatles Live

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https://youtu.be/ZcR5zODpEso

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I’m still rantless, mostly. Here’s one from a couple or three years ago; I checked it out, & it’s all still completely valid…. Go figure….

From 2/7/2013:

“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.” — Dr. Joyce Brothers

I find this to be a fascinating statement, from a person many of today’s youth won’t recognize as a celebrity. Dr. Joyce, as we called her when I was young, was a celebrity from back in the 1950’s and 60’s, who became famous at first as a prodigy child contestant on a quiz show, The $64,000 Question; she later found celebrity as a radio and TV talk show hostess, answering questions by callers about relationships, love, and life in general. She had a calm, friendly, confident manner that was easy for people to accept, and her brilliant mind gave her answers a certain depth and cachet that otherwise would have been lost, had she been less intelligent, or less charismatic…..

What I find to be interesting here is her reliance on the subconscious mind for accurate data resolution and interpretation, and her confidence in proposing that people explore that connection. I was around at the time, and the world was NOT in a place, philosophically speaking, where the reliance on subconscious activities was considered to be a mainstream belief. In fact, it almost put her in the category of mystics and clairvoyants, as far as established society was concerned….. To many, she might have well just said that we should all become witches….

I suppose what helped in the long run toward acceptance of this kind of thinking was her documented genius, that gave what she said a certain validity. In addition, she was at her most popular right at the time when society itself was going through some severe upheaval, during the late 50’s and early to late 60’s, so her ideas found more acceptance among the young, then spread to the rest of the culture as the Cultural Revolution went on, and society became more open to such free-wheeling philosophies.

Another effect of that time, that many people lose sight of, is the polarization that occurred in society, as the two intrinsically opposite philosophies, of liberalism and conservatism (as they are understood today….), became the two camps of ideology that would engage in a struggle for control of the government, and society, for the next 60 years, right up to today….. It’s a struggle between two ways of looking at life, and neither one is aware of being under the control of a third party, one that remains in the shadows, unseen and unheard, expect at their own command…..

Okay, here is where those of you who don’t buy into the conspiracy theory of life can skip on to the next section… to your own peril, but, hey, to each his own, right?….. I’m not particularly paranoid about such things as conspiracy; most of the time I think the things the ffolkes who believe in them see, that support their ideas, are seeing examples of human stupidity, rather than conspiracy. But, I am also a scientist, FIRST, and there is just too much evidence that supports the idea that there is a small percentage of humanity that controls the majority of resources (ie, food, land, money, armaments…), and as a consequence, have far more influence and control over the rest of us than is either just, or ethical.

This small group of mega-rich fanatical egotists believe that, because they can, they have the right to hoard all of those resources for themselves, and have the right to determine who should have any access to them. They believe this because they are allowed to do so, having grabbed all the controls (to wit: the guns and money….) long ago, and have arranged matters so that the great bulk of society is not only under their control, but is unaware of being in that position….

To tie this all together for y’all, let me say this…. I have a hunch that this is true. I don’t always have evidence that I can point to that is obviously definitive in the direction of proof of that assertion, but, if what Dr. Joyce tells us is true, my subconscious mind is aware of the facts, and can show me where to find them, if needed. That hunch tells me that, YES, there are a small group of assholes who are in control of society, for their own benefit, and they don’t give a fuck about the rest of humanity…. and there is evidence to support this hunch, even if it isn’t right out in the open where everyone can see it easily.

As yet, I don’t have any viable suggestions about how to go about kicking these punks to the curb; all I know is that we need to do so, and soon, before they kill all of us with their own brand of stupidity…. This isn’t to say they are altogether stupid, or that it is their primary defining characteristic…. but, they are human, and as such are subject to Murphy and his natural law…. So, I suppose it is a matter of watching for the right moment to catch them just at that instant when their own humanity will bring them down….. and hoping that moment comes soon…..

“Do you like “TENDER VITTLES”??” — Zippy the Pinhead

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Piraeus calls me, silently.

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

9/3/2012

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Smart Bee is on strike, apparently; I spent much of yesterday searching without success for enough pearls to fill this section. Nothing doing. Since it’s getting late, here is one from the past to fill in for today….. Enjoy!….

From 2/14/2013:

As is the case in many instances, when faced with a literary conundrum in the morning, I’m resorting to default, and firing up an old school pearl for your perusal and edification (if that can ever be said to be true of pearls….)…. The following seven pearls were, of course, chosen at random, and without conscious volition, but with an eventual destination in mind…. Today, we are fortunate to note that the destination is also random, as is the conclusion to which you will be led, willy-nilly…. That conclusion is, naturally, left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…..

“I am not young enough to know everything.” — Oscar Wilde

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

“A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes.” — Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

If a cat spoke, it would say things like “Hey, I don’t see a problem here.” — Smart Bee

“Some people think only intellect counts: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. But the functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy.” — Dean Koontz

“Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?” — Abraham Lincoln

“Do your Duty. Honor the Truth. Respect Life. Share your Love.” ~~ Axiom #7, Peruaosophy

I know, I’m a strange puppy…. If it helps, I mean well…. 🙂

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

I did it. I’m not certain exactly how, or even why; nonetheless, it’s done. So be it. I’ll be back again, ffolkes, to see if I can’t actually pull it together enough to do this right. Until then, y’all be strange, or cool, whichever works for you. See y’all tomorrow, given half a chance….

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….

Substitute candidates from Poughkeepsie….

Posted on June 21, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Since we cannot know all that is to be known of everything,
we ought to know a little about everything.”

~~ Blaise Pascal ~~

Tracy Arm Glacier Melt Runoff, Alaska

Hajime…. In the past five years, my sanity has been somewhat of a hit and miss proposition. Now, for some, this might be an issue, which could conceivably cause difficulties in life. However, I don’t suffer from insanity; I revel in it, so, the process is not the same as it is for anyone else, with a typical view of sanity vs. the opposite side of the coin. In my world, being sane is merely a judgment, usually made by others, for others, using only their own silly rules to make the decision, just as if they actually knew what was real, and what was not. Silly humans….

In my world, we believe in humanity, and reality; we, or, I, since I’m really not a royal, know our body and mind are NOT separate things; neither is our sense of “I” anything more than an illusion, created by the power of our imagination to help us find the sense of order our mind requires, to separate us from our perceptions, so the power of our intelligence can imagine itself as real, rather than merely the resultant outcome of a biological process. poorly understood. In truth, we are not separate from what we perceive; to believe so sets us on a path of delusion, for reality does not actually conform to our imagination, much as we like to believe it does.

This belief has led us into a real mess, but, since we are still in the intro, perhaps we should wait to explore such deep matters. In fact, it’s probably a deep and wide enough of a subject to fill up an entire section, with severely rant-like qualities. We’ll see how it goes. We like to rant, but, we don’t know if we are up to it. Uh oh…. Now we’ve done it; we’re stuck in the royal we again. Shit. We hate when that happens. Oh, ’tisn’t a necessarily bad thing, just weird. We know, we’ll use the old royal coping mechanism, so diligently applied by the real royals we see, to wit: sheer denial. We shall act as if we do not see, or hear….

We shall also end this intro here, before it becomes any more onerous, or moves any further from the confines of true reality. We shall hope to fall out of the ‘we’ mode soon, but, if not, well, so be it. Let us try to shock it out, by using one of the more radical Tardis toys to move us along. We shall push THIS button….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Think of doubt as an invitation to think.”

~~ Dubious Bee ~~

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

Image from amazon.com via Google Images

I often retreat into the past when I’m feeling this way, to find those things forgotten over time. I decided, once breaking out of the royal ‘we’, I was in the mood for some class and style. I can’t think of a better example than one of my first crushes…. Miss Peggy Lee….

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

Miss Peggy Lee

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

https://youtu.be/LCRZZC-DH7M?list=PLAeI1ntmJCZM8Rq6pArnBsNCsN_j-FLRr

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

The rant I’m working on isn’t ready; for all the hype and delay, it better turn out pretty damn good, I’d say, but, we’ll see. For now, here is a self-directed rant, with some pointers to take you on a journey through your mind’s interpretation of reality, to look at some of those things in our public life which are part of what I see as humanity’s issues of contention with reality…. In short, if you follow the dots, the picture will show why we’re all wobbly….

*****

“Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves.
Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an audience.”

~~ Diogenes ~~

*****

“You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.”

~~ James Thurber, “The Thurber Carnival”, 1945 ~~

*****

“Every sensible man, every honest man,
must hold the Christian sect in horror.
But what shall we substitute in its place? you say.
What?
A ferocious animal has sucked the blood of my relatives.
I tell you to rid yourselves of this beast
and you ask me what you shall put in its place?”

~~ Voltaire ~~

*****

“Like…If guns are outlawed,
the lawyer population will explode out of control.”

~~ Valley Bee ~~

*****

“JAPAN is a WONDERFUL planet
— I wonder if we’ll ever reach
their level of COMPARATIVE SHOPPING…”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

*****

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

Recently, there was yet another insane shooting spree by an idiot. This poem is one I wrote about three years ago, after a similar event…. I hope you enjoy it, though ‘enjoy’ may not the most precise word I’m seeking…. But, I hope you enjoy the process….

Modest sounds of impatient concern….

Crowds converge at the raw and grisly scene,
comatose to compassion, curiosity tugging at the hem
with sharp, oh, sharp tools made obscene,
filing the essence of future hopes in spite of them.

Yet who has won the keys to the treasure,
who whipped up the fear of another brother?
Who spent the dreams of the old in selfish measure,
with such arrogant blindness grave issues to smother?

Fateful decisions may prompt still another pause,
to catch and release collective images of insanity.
Surely legitimate anger arises with ample cause
wallowing in self-made entrepreneurs, fluent in profanity.

A quartet of eternities must pass to guarantee change,
regardless of need, or desire, or autonomous manipulation.
Ancient rules and modern aggression is only passing strange
when golden delusion grasps futilely at its related illusory station.

~~ gigoid ~~

8/18/2013

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

Naked Pearls

Random Thoughts on Life at Large

*******

“Who combats bravely is not therefore brave,
He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave:
Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise,–
His pride in reasoning, not in acting lies.”

~~ Alexander Pope — Moral Essays, Epistle i, Line 115 ~~

*******

“A man cannot speak but he judges himself…
no man thoroughly understands a truth
until he has contended against it.”

~~ Emerson ~~

*******

“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”

~~ Henri Bergson ~~

*******

“Man is not disturbed about things, but by his opinion about things.”

~~ Epictetus ~~

*******

“Happiness is the harvest of a quiet eye.”

~~ Austin O’Malley ~~

*******

“Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;

Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.

It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution’s power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.

It well may be.

I do not think I would.”

— Edna St. Vincent Millay

*******

“And now there is merely silence, silence, silence, saying all we did not know.”

~~ William Rose Benet ~~

*******

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

It’s done. I’m way late, and not at all sure I didn’t forget something, but, as we’re fond of saying downtown, oh, well…. Fuck it. That’s another favorite in the places I hang out, so, we’ll go with that, too. At least, we’ll do that until tomorrow, when I’ll try again to reach some sort of coherent plateau, where I might find my center. If not, well, I’ll try again the next day. So be it. See y’all then, if nobody catches me at it….

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….

Unavailable for comments or plastic ducks….

Posted on June 20, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

~~ Marcus Aurelius ~~

Wind Spinner

Hajime…. To avoid getting either maudlin, or whiny, I’ll forgo relating how I’ve spent the past three days, three days in which no Pearl was posted, for the first time in five years. Suffice it to say, I’ve not been having fun, nor have I been frantically writing down the thousands of irreverent, or psychotic, take your pick, thoughts that have paraded past my inner censors, without ever seeing the light of day. No doubt, that sentence will bring beads of sweat to the brow of anyone trying to decipher any real meaning, for it wound its way tortuously to a bad end. This, perhaps, more than anything else, should tell you how its been around here….

Nevertheless, here I am, bad syntax & all. I’m going to post this, come Hell or High Water, so, I suppose it would be best to just get on with it. If I take the time to compose a thorough introductory section, I have a feeling we’d never get out of here, or, get anywhere close to finishing this in time to even post it with today’s date. To make a long story short, I’m pretty frigging off the rails right now, without a clue as to why, or even why not. When I have a clue, I’ll be okay, but, right now, the price for one is out of my range, so, I’ll just have to fake it, as I have been now for three days. So be it.

Since, in spite of all planning I managed to find a somewhat cryptic note, we’ll use it to twist our way down the page, in the interests of fair play, while simultaneously pretending it’s not unusual. How’m I doing? No? Well, okay. We’ll just go on, without any further bullshit…. Hmm. Let’s do this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“If nothing went wrong today, you’re probably dead.”

~~ Murphy’s Last Law ~~

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

For a return to routine, default is perfectly appropriate, not to mention, lovely. Enjoy, ffolkes, if you wish. Hard not to with such music….

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

Classical Music

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

https://youtu.be/09t0twQlPSI

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

I’m working on a rant, which, naturally, isn’t done, as I haven’t written at all in three days. To fill in for today, here’s a relatively light piece from a couple years ago…. Enjoy!….

From 3/11/2014:

As iterated above, there will be no rant today…. However, having found the first quote in this group on the very first try today, I believe I can put together an old school variety pearl that will serve as well to take a few telling shots at the dignity of the BRC, as well as pulling as many of their covers as I can grab hold of…. Enjoy…..

“Governments are the world’s real terrorist organizations. They function by means of inducing fear in their victims to gain compliance.” — Westley F. Deitchler

(Now, if that isn’t the most truthful, most logical, and most accurate quote I’ve seen in many moons, then, nothing at all fits that description…. This is the absolute truth, ffolkes, and something EVERYONE ALIVE should be made aware of…. let’s hope the rest of what Smart Bee finds for us is as potent….)

“I could not milk the cow and leave it thirsty.” — Munyawera, current volunteer and former client — of Christian Children’s Fund — on why he donates his time to CCF.

(Now, if only we could find a politician who felt this way….)

“Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.” — Gore Vidal

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

— T. S. Eliot, Choruses from the Rock

(Nowadays, we KNOW where our information is, don’t we? And, if we don’t, we have the NSA, who tracks and collects all of it for us….)

“Is being an idiot like being high all the time?” — Janeane Garofolo

(I’m not sure of the answer, but I figure we could just ask any elected official to find out….)

“No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.” — Jacob Bronowski, in “Encounter”, 1971

And, lastly, just because we can….

“How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.” — Petrarch

Now, THAT’S what I’m talking about…..

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

Gently Came a Wounded Child

But you shall not escape my iambics.

Soft, sinuous patterns of unearthly beauty
blithely commune with sinking stars,
as pale shadows of former virtue hover
near, ever clean, ever tolerant.
These unbidden habits are worn with age and care,
ready now for dissolution,
welcoming gladly the kiss of Death’s handmaiden.

Unknown to all, the child stands aside,
weeping for the lost days of youth,
days that now shall never be,
nor yearned for ever after.
Only darkness shall lay upon the landscape,
cold, hard, eternal.

Such then are the signs and portents
as we enter into the unknown future,
they are grave indeed.

Uncertainty will be our sole companion,
as the search for hope yields no result.
The lamentations of the gods
shall sound the elegy for Man,
who never learned to see the gift that was made,
so many echoes ago, in the hopeful past;
thus will we pass this plane of existence
as we came, baffled and afraid….

~~ gigoid ~~

written 2/2/2012

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

Naked Pearls

It only seems like a joke….

*******

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

~~ Buddha ~~

*******

“There is no sun without shadow
and it is essential to know the night.”

~~ Albert Camus ~~

*******

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

~~ Rabindranath Tagore ~~

*******

“He who searches for truth must not appease his urge
by giving himself up to the narcotic of belief.”

~~ Hans Reichenbach ~~

*******

“Here is the world,
sound as a nut, perfect,
not the smallest piece of chaos left,
never a stitch nor an end,
not a mark of haste, or botching, or second thought;
but the theory of the world
is a thing of shreds and patches.”

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~

*******

“Do not look for all the answers at once.
A path is formed by placing stones one in front of the other.”

~~ The Giant from Twin Peaks ~~

*******

“So this is what it feels like to be potato salad”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

*******

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

It’s done. We’ll treat it like a gift horse, & go post it before I can change my mind. I’ll try to do this again tomorrow, but, at this point, I’m not making any guarantees. Most likely, I’ll be here tomorrow; odds are once again in our favor. Until then, be strange, because it’s cool out there….

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….

Snippets of old, sad songs….

Posted on June 11, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery;
none but ourselves can free our minds.”

~~ Bob Marley ~~

Random Building, Liverpool, England

Hajime…. I’d thought to begin today’s effort with a fictional opening. The resulting morass of insanity created in my mind was too much, even for me. Rivers of blood, fires raging, world’s colliding, dogs & cats mating; not going there so early in the morning. Besides, I figured, given the explosion of Gentle Readers who came by yesterday, I’d best come up with something a bit more, shall we say, attractively intellectual, if I hope to see any of them again. Of course, finding anything resembling intellectual in this head may be asking a bit much of reality, but, hey, it was a thought…. Not all of them can be good ones….

Since any elegance has been shot down so effectively, maybe I should wander off into nonsense for a while. It’s one of my best things, especially on a day like today, when Murphy hovers over my shoulder, tapping random fingers to create typos, and the forces of chaos are standing ready to bury anything resembling coherence. Trying for ANY directed thinking is probably not going to work; entropy rules apply on all levels during such a storm of inanity. I suppose I could shoot for sheer insanity, but, that always makes it hard to get back to even a semblance of normalcy. Maybe today isn’t the best time for that.

Oh, well. So much for thinking my way out of this. Leelu isn’t helping either; her only answer to my queries is, “Aren’t you going to throw that paper?” She’s kinda focused on routine at this time of day. Damn! It sure can be a pisser, ffolkes. Trying to come up with a compelling intro every day is NOT as simple as it may seem, especially for someone with my proclivity for self-abnegation, combined with an extreme talent for waffling. Hey! Wait! There’s the ticket! Yeah, that’s it; we’ll smother the whole thing in syrup! Then, nobody will be able to even tell how awful it was…. I knew I could figure it out….

On that odd little note, I think we’ll go on, before this becomes any more impenetrably obscure. I think, if we go on right now, we may be able to save this. It’s worth a try. We’ll just use this ruthless little number right here, which will get us out of here practically before I can fini….

Shall we Pearl?….

All of us who are worth anything,
spend our manhood in unlearning the follies,
or expiating the mistakes of our youth.”

~~ Shelley ~~

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

Yep. You guessed it. Today is a default music day. How do I know this? Well, it may come as something of a shock, but, I just know. So be it. Give yourself half a chance, & you’ll enjoy it. A whole chance could lead to even bigger things, but, I don’t want to spoil any surprises, so, just listen up, & pay attention. All will be well….

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

Classical Music

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

https://youtu.be/TC94iWNzmaQ

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

“Religion; humanity’s greatest folly, greatest curse.”

~~ Kevin Harris ~~

In the past five years or so, while writing this blog, I’ve discussed this concept any number of times. In doing so, I have progressed in my thinking from a tentative agnosticism to a firm atheism regarding the idea of a God. All my explorations and research into the subject have confirmed my initial unease at accepting the generally accepted view, to wit: I find absolutely no convincing evidence in reality to support the idea there is some supernatural being sitting up in the sky, who created all we perceive, and actively gives a crap about what happens to us. Sorry, but, that’s the truth; there just isn’t anything to be found to make that true; this makes believing in it a delusion, as far as I am concerned.

Once that is accepted, it becomes easy to see just how bad the whole idea has been for humanity. The difficulty arises from the simple fact that those who choose to believe such nonsense make a couple assumptions, neither of which is true, but, if held as such, cause the believer to act completely contrarily to all common decency, because they have made themselves separate from the rest of humanity, by choice. One false assumption made is to believe the idea that only they possess the actual truth about such matters. This gives them a false sense of entitlement, while simultaneously giving them permission to cease all rational thought, both of which are disastrous for society at large.

I could, and probably should, continue in this vein for some time…. However, to keep from overdoing it, I’ll retreat into the archives to finish this small indictment…. Here is a relatively short, but sweet, treatise on this subject, from a slightly different starting point, though nonetheless cogent for that. It will do until I build up enough new angst to finish this off properly. Plus, it will move us along, so we aren’t stuck here in today, forever…. Enjoy!

From 12/5/2012:

One day a gate breaks down between heaven and hell. So St. Peter arrives on the scene and calls out for the devil.

And the devil saunters over and says, “What do you want?”

And St. Peter says, “Satan, it’s your turn to fix it this time.”

And the devil says, “I’m sorry. But my men are too busy to worry about fixing a mere gate.”

And St. Peter says, “Well, then, I’ll have to sue you for breaking our agreement.”

And the devil says, “Oh yeah? Where are you going to get a lawyer?”

— Soupy Sales

It occurs to me, Soupy’s next line from St. Peter would have to be…. “I don’t need one, I’ve got a fix in with the judge….” That would give not only balance to the argument, but would accurately reflect the actual level of corruption implied in the picture of the universe painted by the Judeo-Christian model of religion. It would also probably more closely reflect Soupy’s sense of humor, which was much more pointed than he got credit for…. People just thought he was a little strange sometimes, not recognizing lines that were making active fun of the establishment (as we old hippies were wont to call the mainstream of American society…..).

In reality, this joke is another example of the bad press that the Devil always gets; it isn’t often you’ll see a joke that ends up with Satan coming out on top. No, he is always given the role of the asshole, the manipulator, the one who wants to drag us down into Hell for eternal torment. Everyone seems to forget that they have ascribed omnipotence, and omniscience to God, and that He is the one who a) made the Devil the way he is, and b) could change it if he wished…. which seems to indicate that he DOESN’T wish to rid us of Satan, but prefers he be around to tempt and distract us…. That sounds to me like just a bit of manipulation in itself; how ’bout y’all?….

The preachers would have us believe that God allows Satan to exist out of his sheer benevolence, forgetting this is the same God who, in the Old Testament, sent forty bears to a town to kill all the children, just because a few small boys made fun of one of His prophets. He is also the one who threw Satan out of Heaven for objecting to some of what He had done on Earth, then turned around and allowed him free access to us humans, just so He would have a ready-made way to test us at His convenience. Just a little self-serving, don’t you think? This God, to my way of thinking, acts more like a spoiled little kid than a deity capable of creating universes…..

Okay, I’ll quit now. It’s really too easy to shoot at dogma; it never tries to hide, and just stands there, looking dumb, as you sight in on its forehead. But, hey, it’s a necessary job, and somebody’s got to do it…. Boy, it sure would be nice, though, to see humanity grow up, and learn to face reality without crutches, and without having to invent a supernatural being to explain away the stuff that isn’t clearly understood…. But, I guess it is job security, in that sense, because it means I’ll always have something about which to write….

“I’m RELIGIOUS!! I love a man with a HAIRPIECE!! Equip me with MISSILES!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

Momentary Terror

Absently casual, memories pester endlessly
leaving only bleeding remnants, amiable and loving.
Coming awake, I cry to still the pain, shamelessly.

Elsewhen, time gives surcease, if only to live,
shoring broken pilings, worn and gray.
Passing on, I laugh at the pain, accept all it will give.

Time will build a shelter, warm and ever safe
save for Fate’s busy hands.
Enduring, I follow the pain, knowing it will chafe.

Fixed against a darkened sky of starry black
such beauty brings us to our knees.
Entranced, I welcome the pain, ’tis all I lack…..

~~ gigoid ~~

2/4/2013

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

Naked Pearls

Truth in advertising…

*********

“A man that should call everything by its right name
would hardly pass the streets
without being knocked down as a Common Enemy.”

~~ Lord Halifax ~~

*********

“Driven by the force of love
the fragments of the world seek each other
that the world may come into being.”

~~ Teilhard de Chardin ~~

*********

“Everything that I understand,
I understand only because I love”

~~ Leo Tolstoy ~~

*********

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

~~ John A. Shedd ~~

*********

“For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress.
And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
It is never too late to start doing what is right.
Never.”

~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~~

*********

“Nowhere is now here.”

~~Nakagawa Soen Roshi ~~

*********

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

~~ Basho ~~

*********

“An it harm none,
Do what ye will.”

~~ Wiccan Credo ~~

*********

“Do you love it do you hate it
There it is the way you made it”

~~ Frank Zappa, “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” ~~

*********

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

Okay, ffolkes. It’s done. Not only is it done, but, upon reading it, I have to say…. Now, THAT’S a Pearl! Full of smarm, nonsense, sense, and some pointed sarcasm, too. Not bad for an old fart with flat feet, flatulence, and a funny red nose. Since I don’t think I can possibly do any more damage than I’ve already done, I’ll leave you here, sans any further torment. I will, however, issue the usual caveat and disclaimer, to wit: it’s not my fault! If you can believe that, my work here is done. See y’all 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….

Passionate barbers will suffice….

Posted on June 9, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Clay is moulded to make a vessel,
but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing. …
Thus, taking advantage of what is,
we recognize the utility of what is not.”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

Cobh, Ireland

Hajime…. Most ffolkes, when able to sleep in a relatively normal fashion, probably wake up feeling pretty good. I can only wish that were the case with me, for it would sure be nice to wake up that way on occasion. As it is, even though I managed to garner six good hours of rest, I am in a foul mood upon awakening. Don’t ask me why, because, apparently, even that pisses me off; I asked myself that simple query, & damn near tore my own head off. This, sadly, leaked over to the point where even Leelu’s morning attention-seeking behaviors prompted a blow-off of steam out of my ears, along with some creative cursing, which probably shocked her delicate sensibilities…..

Now, of course, I can add guilt to the mix, as there’s no reason to take my angst out on an innocent cat (if there be such a thing….). Even though, by now, she ought to have figured out when to leave me be, there’s no justifiable reason to take my feelings out on any creature not deserving of it. So, I’m going to take a break, make up with her, then come back to finish this missive, such as it may be with all the handicaps I’m experiencing in getting it done. I did manage to finish some of it yesterday, during breaks in the fog in my head, which has been slipping in & out of my consciousness for a week or more. The rest will have to come out of whatever is in there this morning…. So be it….

It’s days such as this which make me wish, strongly, for a God upon which to blame the universe. It would be so convenient, if I could only bring myself to believe in such a convenient delusion. But, I can’t, so, that makes it my responsibility to pull my own chestnuts out of this fire…. Again, so be it. If I don’t, it won’t get done. To give us half a chance to do so, I’m going to take that break now, then return, & go on from there. Wish me luck, ffolkes; I have a feeling I’ll need some….

Shall we Pearl?….

“The man who carries a cat by the tail
learns something that can be learned in no other way.
He will never be dim, or doubtful.
Chances are, he won’t carry the cat that way again;
but, I say, if he wants to, let him!”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

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

Image from http://www.youtube.com via Google Images

My friend, chuq, who has a blog called In Saner Thought (here: https://lobotero.com/ ) told me he was listening to this yesterday. I hadn’t thought of it for a long time, so, naturally, here it is today for your listening pleasure. An iconic album, with three of the best of the time, playing together with verve, and genius. Enjoy, ffolkes; it doesn’t get much better than this in the rock & roll world….

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

Super Session 1977
Kooper, Bloomfield,Stills

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

https://youtu.be/SKgHhKmQZ50

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

“Hate, the price you pay
For thinking you got the only way…”

~~ Blues Traveler ~~

As iterated above, my state of mind is rather, well, shitty. Trying to rant would, probably, not be a good idea, as the results could conceivably bring charges. Since my lawyer is on permanent vacation, we won’t go there. I’m already feeling enough self-inflicted guilt, so, rather than torment y’all with another piece from the archives, I’ve cobbled together a self-directed rant for your reading pleasure…. Maybe, if I do it right, it will soothe my angst well enough to get through the rest of today sans any further debilitation. (Good luck with that, I’d say, but, hey, it counts that I’m making an effort, right?)….

So, with the opening lines from Blues Traveler echoing in your head, follow the bouncing thoughts through the seven pearls below, and you will find yourself at the end of a perfectly decent rant against the machine, and my work will be done for the day. Even if you end up confused, well, such is life, and that may be even more of a lesson than anything I can provide. Either way, it gets us down to the next section, so, we’re going with it, regardless of how it may appear, or, for that matter, not appear. So be it…..

“The revolution WILL be televised, but you’ll only be able to understand it if you don’t watch the television coverage.” — Russ Nelson

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” — Voltaire

“If you can see in a given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it.” — S.I. Hayakawa, educator and politician

“History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.” — George Santayana

“Much that is dreadful and inhuman in history, much that one hardly likes to believe, is mitigated by the reflection that the one who commands and the one who carries out are different people. The former does not behold the sight and does not experience the strong impression on the imagination. The latter obeys a superior and therefore feels no responsibility for his acts.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Well, it just seemed wrong to cheat on an ethics test.” — Calvin

“I feel better about world problems now!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

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

Today’s poem was selected simply for the title, which fits into the obvious theme for today…. From a bit over a year ago, during my time in Hell, I give you my lamentations….

gigoid’s lament

Not a bit of all the pain I feel
is worse than all I see;
all worldly truth, solid and real,
has faded away, never to be free.

Honor stripped of all regard,
while compassion simply fails;
Ignorance , powerful, hard,
crows as reason wails.

Crushing resistance, mandating the vote,
selling illusion, smiling all the while.
Pundits, speaking purely by rote,
arrange all the lies in a tidy pile.

Stupidity ’tis said, is a risky choice;
the price is always the same.
Reality has no pity, no warning ever voiced,
only a gravestone, carved with, our name.

~~ gigoid ~~

1/19/2015

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

Our final pearl for the day is fresh. It’s rather abstruse, from what I can tell, but, it’s all pretty clearly a lesson in life at large. Since it’s the only part of today’s Pearl that is relatively fresh, it can stay, no matter how it comes across…. I do hope you enjoy it; it IS pretty good, which means it may not entirely fit in with the rest, but, fuck it. I’m not in a mood to care…. Enjoy, if you will….

*******

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

~~ C. G. Jung ~~

*******

“The miracle is not to walk on water.
The miracle is to walk on the green earth
in the present moment,
to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.”

~~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~~

*******

“We are all born mad. some remain so.”

~~ Samuel Beckett ~~

*******

“What you leave behind
is not what is engraved in stone monuments,
but what is woven into the lives of others.”

~~ Pericles ~~

*******

“… denn da ist keine Stelle, die dich nicht sieht.
Du musst dein Leben andern.”
(… for there is no place that does not see you.
You must change your life.)

~~ Rainer Maria Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo” ~~

*******

“To demand ‘sense’ is the hallmark of nonsense.
Nature does not make sense.
Nothing makes sense.”

~~ Ayn Rand ~~

*******
“For after all what is man in nature?
A nothing in relation to infinity,
all in relation to nothing,
a central point between nothing and all
and infinitely far from understanding either.
The ends of things and their beginnings
are impregnably concealed from him in an impenetrable secret.
He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness out of which he was drawn
and the infinite in which he is engulfed.”

~~ Blaise Pascal ~~

*******

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

Well, ffolkes, there you have it. Since I already know just how good this one isn’t, we’ll leave it all to chance, and go post it while I’ve got the chutzpah. Which may not last too long. I’ll be back tomorrow, if only to make sure this isn’t the final words you hear from me. I don’t think I’d be able to live with that. See y’all in the morning, ffolkes, if I decide to let myself live…. Not to worry, that’s just rhetoric…. accurate, but still rhetorical. See ya….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Abrupt motions of cryptic intent….

Posted on June 8, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold,
it would be a merrier world.”

~~ J.R.R. Tolkien ~~

Random Government Building, Belfast, Ireland

Hajime…. The Pearl you’ll see today is a rush job, the natural result of being incredibly late in starting today. Since the reason has to do with the amount of sleep I got, (for a change, plenty), my only response is to feel the rush, without the urgency, because, hey, sleep, right? I could have arisen at a usual hour (3 or 4 AM), but, was able to turn over and sleep until I was done, an event of major proportion around here. Yay for me, and now we’re done with the excuses.

I’ll warn y’all now; I have no idea what will happen below. I’ve got zilch finished, so, it will all be the quickest work I can devise, whether from the archives, or, forced out of SB with no mercy. I’ll use the whip, if necessary, but, it WILL get done. So be it. To assist with this goal, the intro will be as truncated as I can make it. How truncated will it be? Just this much….

Shall we Pearl?….

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music.”

~~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~~

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

You guessed it. We’re going default for music, just because we can. I’ll pick one with a nice picture, and be done with it. Abondanza!….

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

Classical Music

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

https://youtu.be/tAkHdB77u2c

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

As intimated in the intro so strongly, we’re hitting the archives again today for our ranting material. I don’t know yet what kind it will be, but, we’ll try for a bit of either humor, or snark. Let’s see what we can find today….

From 2/24/2013:

“Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.” — Adam Smith

This is so true, I want to shout it out from the rooftops…. It is the kind of insight that leads to jokes like “Lord, protect me from the works of thy followers.” which are so prevalent in our society. We’ve all witnessed the excesses of fanaticism at times, and, I’m sure, have suffered indignity of some sort at their hands at some point in our lives. Nobody escapes it, as such fanaticism is like having roaches; they are impossible to completely eradicate. Of course, there are methods of killing roaches that are foolproof (placing them in a complete vacuum, for example), but it means killing off the entire species , and the rest of us would doubtless find objections to that scenario…..

“It is hard to be brave, when you’re only a Very Small Animal.” — Piglet, Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

These simple minded fools who become fanatics, whether it is over their country, their religion, their race, or their collection of plastic flamingos, all suffer from the same lack of courage as Piglet describes here. In their case, it isn’t because they lack the ability to be “larger”, like Piglet, but because their minds see themselves as “small”, in relation to all they don’t understand, and this gives them the same sense of constant fearfulness that comes with never knowing when some larger creature will notice you, and eat you, or not notice you, and crush you under foot, with careless indifference….

“Again, our observations of the stars make it evident, not only that the earth is circular, but also that it is a circle of no great size. For quite a small change of position to south or north causes a manifest alteration of the horizon. There is much change, I mean, in the stars which are overhead, and the stars seen are different, as one moves northward or southward. …All of which goes to show not only that the earth is circular in shape, but that it is a sphere of no great size: for otherwise the effect of so slight a change of place would not be so quickly apparent. Hence, one should not be too sure of the incredibility of the view of those who conceive that there is a continuity between the parts about the pillars of Hercules [the strait of Gibraltar] and the parts about India, and that in this way the ocean is one.” — Aristotle, De Caelo, Fourth Century B.C.

As a consequence of all that fear, most of the folks who assume fanatical stances refuse to see, or perceive, as much as they possibly can, and this includes reading, or watching, or listening to things that challenge the truth of what they have chosen to believe. The things they DO choose to believe never challenge them to think, or to go outside their comfort zone in any way; any such suggestion is viewed with anger, mistrust, and fearful rejection, no matter how nonthreatening it may be to normals…. If it doesn’t fit into their narrow little view of things, it is evil, and not to be trusted, in their minds, or what passes for one….

As the quote from Aristotle shows, mankind’s knowledge of the natural world has grown beyond the guesses and speculation that are rampant in the ancient writings about religion, and, thankfully, most of the world is able to understand, and accept the facts in question. It is only those whose fear of the universe is such that they cling to outdated, misguided systems of belief that, though they offer comfort to their preconceptions and misapprehensions, have nothing to do with the real world on any level. And, damned if they don’t get upset, and violent, when those misapprehensions are challenged in any way!…. Idiots….

Sorry, I get disgusted sometimes, especially when I think about those assholes who encourage the idiots, i.e., the priests, preachers, and other members of the priestly hierarchies…. I regard them as the WORST of humanity, in complete lock-step and purpose with that other group of reprehensible semi-humans, the BRC, or 1%, as they’re known these days in the news. The entire purpose of the religious institutions on this planet is to provide behavioral control of the population to the ruling classes, under the guise of religion, by manipulating the masses of believers into following whatever dictates the ones in power may come up with, in order to receive their heavenly rewards…. I swear, it’s the biggest, longest running scam in history….

I’ve already gone a bit overboard here, and really haven’t begun to roll with my indictment/rant yet. Since this is the last pearl for today, I’ll stop here, and just say this…. There are a lot of really stupid people on this planet, as well as a great many good, intelligent, compassionate ffolkes…. but, the money, and the power, reside with a very small number, with representatives from both groups, and as far as I can see, most of them are bat shit crazy, in the sense that they don’t care at all about any of the rest of humanity, as long as they get theirs….. We, the intelligentsia, are perhaps the only hope left to the world before it is too late…. Only if enough of us rise up and throw their sorry asses into the pits will we have a chance of seeing another millennium on our calendar…. THAT is a fact, not a guess; the evidence is there for anyone to see….

So, wake up, ffolkes, and folks, because the day is coming when you will wish you had listened to people like me…..

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

This poem is either the first, or second poem I wrote in 2012, after a 35 year hiatus from writing any at all. I hope you enjoy it….

A Failure to Germinate

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

9/27/2012

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

Naturally, Smart Bee goes on strike, just when I need it most. Go figure. Fortunately, for me, I’ve got archives, and a lot of ’em, to boot. Here’s one now….

From 2/23/2013:

“I represent a sardine!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

At this point, after reading that line, you might just be wondering if I’ve slipped my leash again…. and, you’d be justified in that thought. However, rest assured, I’m perfectly sane, if somewhat metaphorically, so it’s all good, right? Right…..

Now, such a bald statement from our old pal is liable to make one think at first that he is either kidding (not bloody likely….), or he is currently having hallucinatory delusions of being a seafood lawyer, or fish solicitor, as my British friends would say. While both of those are possible scenarios, similar in nature to Zippy’s previous episodes of verbal gymnastics, neither is correct in this instance, as I happen to know that he is teaching a lesson in metaphorical manipulation, or, as it is commonly known, lying his ass off, to keep you preoccupied while he is doing something else he doesn’t want you to see, or know about…. He’s tricky that way….

I suppose he might be trying to tell us he is a theatrical/literary agent of some sort, and has a sardine who a) has written the next best seller, entitled “The Truth About Tuna”, an exposé of the fishing industry, b) has a voice like Pavarotti, c) juggles three seahorses while riding a motorized wheelchair, or d) paints incredibly lifelike pictures of cruise ships, from an underwater view…. He might, if that is what he meant, but, it isn’t…. It is all just a distraction, a hullabaloo to draw your attention away from his real purpose, which has to do with several cases of motor oil, a rag-time band, two Senators, and a motel out on Route 666….. You really don’t want to know, now, do you?

No, really, ffolkes, I had a reason to show Zippy’s little gem off today, and it was really a good one…. So, it’s really too bad that, by the time I finished with the second paragraph above, I completely lost track of whatever it was I had to say about it….. That, of course, is embarrassing, but not as much as having to turn tail, right in the middle of a pearl, or what SHOULD have been a pearl, and go old school, just to save my ass from complete well, asininity (what else?….)….

So, here is what Smart Bee came up with, and taken together, the pearls all DO have a point…. just don’t ask me what it is, because even if I knew, I don’t think I can be trusted today to say it correctly, or even interpret it accurately…. So, you’re kind of on your own…. Don’t worry, they’re all safe, just pointed a little….Enjoy!….

“Look under enough rocks and you’ll find _something_ slimy” — Smart Bee

“And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Dunciad, Book ii, Line 34

“Don’t edit reality for the sake of simplicity.” — Smart Bee

“No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.” — Mandell Creighton

“A thief believes everybody steals.” — E.W. Howe

“I have a feeling that at any time about three million Americans can be had for any militant reaction against law, decency, the Constitution, the Supreme Court, compassion and the rule of reason.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world.” — George Bernard Shaw

Well, there you have it, such as it is…. Ta then, luvs…..

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

Having managed to hit the golden mean for today, I’m going to be as succinct as I can here at the end. It may be the quickest Pearl ever created, but, it’s not bad, considering. I’m going to trust the process again, & go get it posted before I lose my nerve. Y’all have a good one, ffolkes; I’ll be back tomorrow, hopefully with some fresher material. You may count on two things; one, I’ll be here; two, I’ll be here…. Sounds solid to 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….

Devising new strategies takes time….

Posted on June 4, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Life moves pretty fast.
If you don’t stop and look around once in a while,
you just might miss it.”

~~ Matthew Broderick ~~

~~ in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, screenplay by John Hughes ~~

Big Ben, from the other side….

Hajime…. Bedraggled, bothered, and bewildered, as is often the case around here at 4:30 in the morning, the old man sits again to write his sanity into being. Since only he knows whether or not it works, we’ll forgo any predictions; instead, we’ll merely note the severe case of separation currently extant, as it is patently clear the old fart hasn’t a clue about his own state of mind. If he did, he’d be writing this in the first person, rather than hiding his actual feelings in the third person. Go figure…..

Hmm…. What do you think? Is that sufficiently nonsensical? Does it distract anyone from reality sufficiently to begin a Pearl? It certainly distracted me; shocked me right back into first person, it did. Go figure, eh? See, I can be Canadian, if I try. But, when I do, all bets are off, for, I’m not only NOT Canadian, I don’t even like Canadian beer, very much. But, then, I’m not a big beer fan, anyway. Most of them seem too, well, too damn filling. Whiskey is much less filling, and one achieves the primary purpose for consuming alcoholic beverages much sooner. I’m all about efficiency, when I can find it…..

Having spent the last 72 or more hours in a deep funk, with tears popping up to embarrass me on a too-regular basis, I am now pulling myself out of that, into a more productive mien; Leelu is, I think, trying to help, in her own way. I’m going to assume that, because I don’t want to believe she doesn’t care. I know, I know, that’s anthropomorphizing something terrible, but, it’s what we humans do, for the most part; try to make reality fit what we want, or perceive, rather than just taking it as it comes….

SIGH. Oh, well, such is life, right? It’s all a crap shoot, once the balloon goes up, so, one may as well hedge their bets, or, find another game, which could be difficult, given the intransigent insistence on reality’s part to maintain a status having nothing at all to do with quo…. As it seems I’ve reached the point of abstruse complexity which somewhat precludes immediate comprehension, I think it might be best to find our way OUT of my head, and back onto the track which will lead us into the meat of today’s always messy effort. In short, it’s time to get the slow on the toad. If that STILL isn’t clear, well, the best I can tell you is, hang on, because you’ll need to be alert, as well as fast, to make it to the end…. Don’t fret, the music should help; it’s pretty decent.

Since I can’t speak for the rest of it, with any degree of confidence, anyway, we’ll just resort to our newest technique, and end this, right here, right now. If you watch closely, you might catch the transition…. or, not….

Shall we Pearl?….

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

~~ Mark Twain ~~

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

Phish

Image from http://www.jambase.com via Google Images

I only began listening to this band last year, when I happened across a video of a live webcast from Austin, Texas. I was amazed at the quality of their music, as well as the originality I had thought gone from the modern music scene…. Here is another webcast concert, from early this year…. Enjoy, ffolkes; these guys are damn good….

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

Phish Live
Riviera Maya, Mexico
1/15/2016

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

https://youtu.be/NJrTA7Sb5SA

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

“A right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from you.”

~~ Ramsey Clark ~~

As human beings, we are all subject to the laws of this universe. One of those laws is this; everything that lives, dies. In the final analysis, this is your ONLY right, as a living being. Nothing else in this universe is promised to you for being alive; death is our only unchosen duty. It is also one nobody can take from you; any other so-called ‘rights’ are nothing of the sort, for you only have those rights you can defend. Any of the things we regard as our ‘rights’ can only be taken; the universe does not gift them to you. If you believe it does, you are in for some rather nasty surprises, as long as you live, for nothing exists in this universe that is not subject to its laws. Not even us…..

Albert Camus made a statement I find to be true, to wit: “Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.” In reality, this often manifests with a human being trying to act as if the rules of life do not apply. We have become slaves to a set of delusional beliefs, none of which are supported by reality; this has led us to our current unstable position, with the most likely outcome the complete extinction of not only our own species, but, the unwilling inclusion of most other species who live here with us in that extinction, as we have fouled our own nest without any concern for the outcome, denying the connection we have to all other life in almost every aspect of our culture…..

This, naturally, is disappointing, especially as there are some of us who do NOT subscribe to the same set of delusional behaviors as the majority of our brethren. For these sages, life is not a competition, but, a panorama of beauty and grace, that can only be completely embraced by acknowledging our place as a part of the whole. Any other path leads us away from what is real; the further we get from reality, the harder we try to make it fit our preconceived notions, thus showing the characteristic insanity so common to our breed…

Not only is it disappointing, but, so unnecessary. Life, if approached with an open heart and mind, can be truly simple to live, with joy balancing pain, and the beauty in which we exist is seen for itself, whole and complete, not for its possibilities as a commercial commodity. Of course, there are some rules to living with such grace and intelligence, which naturally follow the same lines as those that exist in reality… Rather than continue to explore such an esoteric set of ideas, we’ll finish off this discussion with a few old-school pearls, which will, I hope, give us an idea of how such a life might be lived, with dignity, love, and joy as the hallmarks of existing… Good advice here, ffolkes, so, listen up.

*******

After all there is but one race – humanity.

~~ George Moore ~~

*******

“Happiness and freedom
begin with a clear understanding of one principle.
Some things are within your control.
And some things are not.”

~~ Epictetus ~~

*******

“Justice is having and doing what is one’s own.”

~~ Plato ~~

*******

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me.
If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them;
if I find them too obnoxious, I break them.
I am free because I know that
I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”

~~ Professor Bernardo de la Paz ~~

*******

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

~~ Kris Kristofferson ~~

*******

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

Retrospective, defined in folly….

Yesterday
I wrote a poem.

It bled out of my head,
like I’d been struck with
an axe,
right through the artery,
in the neck,
spraying blood around
everywhere,
like a pulsing garden hose….

It hurt, at first,
then came the feeling,

of quick relief,
of timeless beauty,

of pain avenged,
of lust aroused,

of outrage aflame,
of deep compassion,

of endless empathy,
of truest love….

Now it’s gone, cast away
like pearls before twine.

(Grin…)

You thought
I was going to call you
a pig,
didn’t you?

Hah!

Well, you’re not.
You’re a person.

I know, because
you’re reading this poem…
if that’s what it is.
I think it is,
so,
maybe it is.

Or, maybe,
it will be,
someday, when it
grows up,
and learns to rhyme.
Whew…
Just in time…..

That’s all.
Reality often sucks wind,
y’know?

S’okay, though….
It keeps us busy,
and out of some of the
mischief,
so much part
of our
nature.

We all can do
only what we
do.

Or, don’t.

Two sides, one coin.

~~ gigoid ~~

8/31/2014

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

Naked Pearls

How it is to be….

*********

“HELLO, everybody, I’m a HUMAN!!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

*********

“You cannot teach a crab to walk straight.”

~~ Aristophanes ~~

*********

“Dream as if you’ll live forever.
Live as if you’ll die tomorrow.”

~~ James Dean ~~

*********

“There may be many reasons for who we are, but there are no excuses.”

~~ Limon ~~

*********

“Learning isn’t a means to an end; it is an end in itself.”

~~ Robert A. Heinlein ~~

*********

“Simplicity is always a virtue.”

~~ Edward Abbey ~~

*********

“Do not the spirits who dwell in the ether envy man his pain?”

~~ Kahlil Gibran ~~

*********

“To perceive is to suffer.”

~~ Aristotle, De Anima ~~

*********

“Don’t ask me where I’m going,
Just listen when I’m gone
And far away you’ll hear me singing softly to the dawn”

~~ Pippin ~~

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

Okay, so, that went pretty well, all things considered. So well, I’ll not fuss with it further, but, will leave you with our usual caveat, to wit: I’ll be back, most likely tomorrow morning, with yet another misguided attempt at levity and/or intellectual fun and games. Or, maybe I’ll create another fresh Pearl. Whatever happens, it will be right here, tomorrow around this time. So be it…. gigoid has spoken, for better, or worse….

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….

Significant signs of sincere drivel….

Posted on June 1, 2016 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“The truth you speak has no past and no future.
It is, and that’s all it needs to be.”

~~ Richard Bach, “Illusions” ~~

Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, BC

Hajime…. In retrospect, there was nothing to be done; if there had, I’d have done it. Instead, here I sit, again searching for some small inspiration to get us to our desired destination. In the ineffable, incomparable way of life at large, nothing doing, at least, not so far. Since waiting around for it to show would be rather presumptuous (for it may never show at all), I suppose I’ll need to find some other source for material to put here. That, of course, is also a hit or miss issue, but, given the circumstances, it could be worse. How, I am not sure, but, I know Murphy, and, believe me, if given half a chance, it WILL get worse.

In order to avoid any such conundrum this morning, I’ll use the new degree of ruthlessness I seem to have found, and cut this intro without mercy. It won’t take long, and actually is quite fun, if one doesn’t fight it. All you need to do is put down your adult beverage, take a deep breath, and read on. As for my part, it works pretty well, all things considered. How does it work? Easy, I push this button, and we’re gone…. Watch….

Shall we Pearl?….

Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens.

[Against stupidity the very gods fight in vain.]

~~ Friedrich Schiller ~~

~~ The Maid of Orleans, Act iii, Sc. 6 ~~

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

Leonard Cohen

Image from http://www.pinterest.come via Google Images

One of yesterday’s commenters mentioned today’s featured artist; it’s been a while since we’ve included his work, so, here is a pretty thorough collection of many of his most popular pieces, all in one place. Enjoy!….

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

The Best of Leonard Cohen

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

https://youtu.be/L9WDRGxp0vA

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

Originally, I had a quote picked out for today, to lead into a discussion of the ubiquitous corporate oligarchy as it now exists in our world. However, reality intervened, to prevent any such fresh ranting today. Instead here is a more light-hearted discussion from early in 2014 to fill in for today. It’s a fun one, so, have fun…..

From 1/30/2014:

“We’re not into science fiction because it’s _good literature_, we’re into it because it’s _weird_. Follow your weird, ladies and gentlemen. Forget trying to pass for normal. Follow your geekdom. Embrace your nerditude. In the immortal words of Lafcadio Hearn, a geek of incredible obscurity whose work is still in print after a hundred years, “woo the muse of the odd”.” — Bruce Sterling, addressing a convention of SF writers

A few days ago, I experienced an epiphany regarding the solutions we need to find to the issues of global warming and climate change…. This statement is one that, though not exactly what I’m talking about, is in the right ballpark…. Finding answers to what is happening in the real world has been part of what science fiction writers have done, peripherally, for many years, in the sense that the stories they write explore the concepts involved in ways that demonstrate the questions, and can, hopefully, point the way to finding the answers we now need…

There have been many, many stories…. full length novels, novellas, short stories… all written over the last two hundred years or so, that talk about the most critical issue we now face, to wit: the climate changes produced by our insane pollution of the atmosphere. There has also been a lot of speculation and talk among the people who do the writing, and those who write about them, all discussing possible scenarios for possible futures….. Somewhere among all that talk and discussion, there MUST be an idea that we can use to turn the tide that we have so foolishly turned against us…..

In other words, in a metaphorical sense, we need to go out into the realms of fantasy and imagination, to find the elves, so we can benefit from the wisdom of their counsel…. Even though I already know what they will tell us…. The elves always give the same counsel…. we will need to find a Hero, who can step forward to assume the Quest to save mankind from the folly of his own greed and ambition…. Metaphorically, this is absolutely correct…. what it will translate to in real terms is yet to be seen, but, something needs to be done to find an answer, and soon, for the time we have to accomplish anything that will work is growing smaller rapidly….

“There is something inside all of us that yearns not for reason but for mystery… not for penetrating clear thought but for the whisperings of the irrational… not for science but for wizardry disguised as science.. not for rationally founded influence but for magic.” — Karl Jaspers

In the meantime, rather than ranting at you to get out there and try to find an elf, who can then lead us to his where his people have gone, far over the Western Sea,…. I’ll put together an old-school pearl, with some good advice and/or some snarky comments about the assholes who got us to this point in the first place….

“For me, all I can do is spit in the eye of my fears by living each day with as much passion and commitment as possible to what truly counts, such as love and justice. To give the into the fear and hopelessness would be to declare defeat, something I am not ready to do while there is still the will to struggle.” — Lawrence Paradis

“You shouldn’t think about *how* we’re doing this. You should ask yourself, ‘why?'” — Penn Jillette

“To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” — Agatha Christie

“A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity.” — Michael de Montaigne — Book iii, Chap. ix

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” — Oscar Wilde

“Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?” — Plato

See? There is a perfect example of why I seldom make precognitive assumptions about a particular pearl, especially BEFORE it is constructed…. This is a grand pearl, but, no snarky comments to be seen…. ‘S’okay, it doesn’t need them….

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

Blithely Untitled

A poem came to me today, willy, nilly,
along with a sharp blow to the head.
Since it left me feeling just a bit silly,
anything that rhymes should lessen the dread.

Manifesting destiny into a small, insidious group
we push on toward sanity, concentrating hard.
Full engaging moments spent navigating the loop
shall ever make a difference to victims found in the yard.

Still corpses of creatures, straight out of nightmare
fill up the corners of our tortured minds.
While ever saddened, the iconic male, most debonair,
gazes softly, ironically, at all the mutual interest he finds.

Moronic public statutes compel outbreaks of sanity,
responding to momentary impulses toward inducing peace.
Still, the motions get completed, in fertile stages of inanity
while the bulk of our inmates can find no surcease.

Reluctant motivation to continue is unbound,
striving to ascertain how far there yet remains to go.
No precognitive guesswork will make any less of a sound
to soften the final strains, or teach us to truly know.

~~ gigoid ~~

2/7/2014

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

Naked Pearls

The best wisdom at affordable prices….

*******

“A wise man first determines what is within his control;
all else is then irrelevant.”

~~ Epictetus ~~

*******

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

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

*******

“Joy is wealth and love is the legal tender of the soul.”

~~ Robert Green Ingersoll ~~

*******

“Always we hope
Someone else has the answer
Some other place will be better
Some other time it will all work out.
This is it.
No one else has the answer
No other place will be better
And it has already turned out.
At the center of your being
You have the answer;
You know who you are and what you want.
There is no need to turn outside
For better seeing.
Rather abide at the center of your being
For the more you leave it
The less you learn.
Search your own heart and see
the way to do is to be.”

~~ Lao Tzu ~~

*******

“we can never be born enough.
We are human beings;
for whom birth is a supremely welcome mystery,
the mystery of growing:
the mystery that happens only and whenever
we are faithful to ourselves.”

~~ e. e. cummings. ~~

*******

“…and remember you’re a Man, not just god,
and for you there aren’t and never will be any easy answers,
only questions, and no reasons,
only causes, and no meaning,
only intelligence, and no destination
and no kindly magic smiling down from above,
and no fires to goad you from below,
only Yourself and the Universe
and what you make out of the interface between the two equals.”

~~ Keith Laumer, _Night of Delusions_ ~~

*******

“On SECOND thought,
maybe I’ll heat up some BAKED BEANS
and watch REGIS PHILBIN..
It’s GREAT to be ALIVE!!”

~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

*******

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

Since Zippy finished off that most excellent old-school pearl with such panache, I don’t think I’ll need to get too fancy here at the close. Rather than make any such faux pas, we’ll just note, it’s done, and we’re done for today. We will, with great anticipation, see y’all again tomorrow, as long as the Universe holds together. It’s got a solid record of doing so; most likely, we’ll see y’all then….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….

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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