Morning sux, redux….

Ffolkes,

Hajime…. I am unsure why, but, I woke up grumpy; so be it…. This generally means a nice, vitriolic rant for later, but, since we are already ‘later’ than I’d like, we’ll pass on that, & go with an archived piece; the fresh treatise upon which I’ve been working isn’t ready anyway. Leelu isn’t happy with me, either, so, I guess it’s all of a piece, so to speak. Grumpiness, mad cat, late Pearl… I have a feeling I may not be attending Bingo Night tonight; too many opportunities to lose it altogether. Since I like the people who organize it, I’ll probably be nice, & stay home.

If you have come this far in today’s narrative, it may occur to you today’s title is actually connected to the Pearl, which is NOT my habit, nor my wish. It just came out that way; I made it up while still in extreme grump mode, and, it seems to have stuck, no matter what I do. Oh, well, that’s just one more to add to my list, which is reaching epic proportion, and it’s barely 6 AM. Now I’m getting worried; is there some cosmic event my perception has picked up subconsciously? Is the Universe about to go critical? Is the Space/Time Continuum shaking in its proverbial boots?…. Tune in tomorrow, & we’ll have a report on all of that…..

For now, and today, I think, perhaps, ‘t would be a good thing to get this slow on the toad. In keeping with that most perceptive insight, let’s do this, which is fast, and may cause a bit of vertigo, but, what the hell? The morning’s shot anyway. Hang on, ffolkes, this one moves wicked fast….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Human, do you know how interesting it is, this thing you describe? Avata does not have a god. How is it that you have a god? Avata has Self, has the universe. But you have a god. Where did you find this god?” — Frank Herbert

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    Today’s music is a lazy compromise; I wanted to hear some guitar, but, was too lazy to figure out to whom I wished to listen. This is the compromise, with 3 hours of classical guitar, by various artists…. It will do for our purposes today. Enjoy, ffolkes…

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    I am working on a piece for this section, but, it keeps growing in different directions, so, it isn’t ready yet. To sublimate, here is a reasonably short discussion of a similar subject, from the archives, about three years ago…. Enjoy, ffolkes; at least you don’t have to hear me go off this morning; well, not with any oomph, anyway….

From 4/18/2013:

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

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

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Well, it’s done. As we all know, that is our primary goal, & once reached, we tend to bail quickly. How quickly? Oh, about like this….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. That isn’t meant as a threat, but, you take it however it occurs to you….. I’ll be here anyway, as long as the Net is still up & running…. See ya….

À bientôt, mon cherí….