Dean, you forgot to log in as a black gay guy

 

Things I'd like car designers to know

• Seniors don't all want giant SUVs that seat 7.
• Seniors do want vehicles that are raised enough to make them easy to get in and out of.
• 141 HP for a 1400 kg vehicle? Come on. Minimum 0.12 HP per kg curb weight please. Minimum. 
• Lots of luxury features shouldn't only be available on the biggest models you make.
• A panoramic sun roof should by now be standard on all vehicles.
• Enough with the AWD. It is wasted on most people and wastes gas and horsepower. Just put Nokian WR G4 'all weather' (not all season) tires on at the factory and winter accidents will drop 40%.
• There are a lot more colours in the spectrum than black, white and 50 shades of grey.
• Y'all need to invent a vehicle device that stores excess engine heat to later be released at the next start in cold weather.
• Is there a good reason why some vehicles have the gas filler on one side versus the other?
• Steering wheels should automatically raise up and away when the driver door is open.
• Heated steering should be a mandatory feature in Canada.
• Make a volume knob that doesn't become unreliable after a few years.
• Somebody please make a car exactly like a Mercedes B250 for Canada, since Mercedes is too stupid to sell it here anymore.

Kitty did a nope

 

Your password's in danger because IT security sucks

The reason you have to change passwords often is because IT security is bad.

Password complexity requirements for the most part are not a mandatory element of data security. There aren't teens in their underwear in basements trying to guess your password 50,000 times, because most services that require a password lock you out after the 3rd wrong guess.

Instead password requirements are a side effect of poor server security. Because if the servers of the world storing our login passwords were properly secured, we could all get by on 12 character passwords using pretty much any characters we wanted to and they would never expire.

Don't believe me? When was the last time Google or Apple or Office 365 asked you to change your password because it had been used too long?

Having said that, the main reason we're asked not to use passwords for too long is because of the expectation that sooner or later our passwords will be compromised due to poor server security, and the fact that we tend to use the same password on a lot of different servers. Once a particular password is compromised, any other site account you use it on is basically hacked. In other words, if the login server at your kid's school is compromised and you happen to be using that same password for 23 other web logins, you better change every single one of those login passwords. The compromise will be made public, on that you can be assured.

This is one of the reasons why when I'm asked whether I believe that storing photos and files online is safe, my answer is yes, with a caveat. If your password is short and weak, you've probably given the keys to the vault away. But if you use something relatively long and unique (but not necessarily complex), you should be fine as long as you're not also using that password somewhere else.

"But couldn't Microsoft or Google or Apple get compromised?" Not likely, as this would crush their business model in a matter of days. All 3 of those companies now make their livelihood from selling data services. They are doing everything they can to protect their asses. And their assets.

Apple had a lot of egg on their face years ago when they allowed people to brute force guess iCloud account passwords without limit and celebrity photos were stolen. That flaw is now long gone.

Better watch out

 

Small things 27 Nov

• Not that many years ago people thought having coloured toilet paper would be cute.
• How wonderful to live on a planet of creatures that like to be petted.
• There's no point trying to be liked by everybody if you don't like everybody.
• Is anyone really surprised that Donald Trump is trying to force himself on folks even after they said no?
• The Turing test is based on the concept of 'can a computer convince a human that it is not a computer, but a real person?'. Captchas are based on the concept of 'can a human convince a computer that they are a real person, not a computer?'.
• In my 20's I once got visited by the police because a military buddy and I were sitting on the hood of my car in the parking lot of a donut shop, listening to music turned up pretty high on my ghetto blaster, which was sitting on the roof of said car. They cited me for disturbing the peace. That was the most gangstah I've felt in my life so far.
• "There's no iron in the iron used to iron your shirts. Which is, ironically, both ironic and un-ironic." ~Jeremy Irons probably
• "If we stopped eating beef, pretty soon there would be herds of cattle roaming the streets." ~some dumb guy probably
  
  
  
• You have no idea how much impact complimenting someone for something they have done has. It energizes. Invigorates. Motivates. Elevates. Do it. Often.
• Am I the only one who suffers micro attacks of mild vertigo every time I scroll through my Facebook feed when friends have posted 'live' photos that move ever so slightly as you look at them?
• Smoke brisket, not meth.

Very bad, would not recommend...

 

Play the whole album - Low - The Great Destroyer

If you have a Spotify or any other music streaming service that lets you listen to entire albums in one go, I've got some homework for you.

There are certain types of music and the bands that play them that surprise the hell out of me. I mean sure, I have always been attracted to unique music, but this band connected with me the second I heard them. I wasn't introduced via this particular album. Instead it was the very last track from the album Things we lost in the fire. I mean, first of all, how many albums' last tracks are the one that stick with you? Anyway, while that song sums up what I think Low is about sonically, that album doesn't have many songs that I love. Just the one. So if you want a diversion just to get the gist of how I discovered this band Low, go listen to In Metal first, then we'll continue (YouTube link).

Okay, so now that you've heard the song that got my attention, welcome to the first track from The Great Destroyer, Monkey. My feeling is that Low wanted to say to the world, "We're not going down in history as a quiet shoe-gazer band and here's our proof." Slow-core indeed. I wondered if I was unique for loving this song and its relentless drums and distorted synth line. But then I discovered that Robert Plant loved it so much, he covered it on his album Band of Joy. Imagine if the Carpenters decided to pay homage to 9 Inch Nails. Yeah, I know, it's not for everyone, but I dare you to listen to it more than once and tell me if it isn't starting to win you over. If not, don't worry, there are still more subtle, approachable gems hidden here.

The next song may as well be my retirement anthem. Now that San Diego has won my heart for best spot on the planet, California hits me where it hurts. I sing along every time.

Though it breaks your heart

We had to sell the farm

Back to California where it's warm

Mimi and Alan's vocals play off each other so well. I can see the sunset reflecting off the Pacific Ocean every time I hear it.

The next song I like from this album is Cue the strings. Mimi and Alan carry this tune almost solo, with a spare accompaniment of electronic strings. Fitting, no?

From this song through to the end of the album, things tone down a little compared to the brash opening half. The songs are decent, but the standout here is Broadway, so many people. You are transported to Broadway. You can see the storeys-high screens and you realize that you're not in Kansas anymore. My favourite part is the coda, which starts around the four minute mark and marathons for a solid three plus minutes. If I was putting their live set list together, this would be their encore song.

The music is simple, powerful, pure modern grunge with gorgeous vocal harmonies. What's not to like?

You need to buy a drink first

 

Cat climber

Check out this rock wall climbing kitty. 

The tail shows how much it enjoys the experience too.

Turns out the cat lives there. 

The owner took it in as a kitten and it started out watching humans climb, then starting doing it too.

I won

 

Things I learned lately 27 Nov

• The city of Montreal was founded on my birthday, but in 1642.
• Nazi Germany called itself The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", because it alluded to their belief that they were the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918).
• Anti-Covid propaganda is so rampant and so effective that Covid patients in some places are convinced they don't actually have Covid at all, even though they are in critical condition in hospital.
• KFC has deployed autonomous vehicles in China. Think ice cream truck, but fully electric, smaller, no driver, no human and it sells KFC. Pizza Hut is looking to use these vehicles as well.
  
  
  
• Prince's Purple Rain tour bus is up for auction.
• There are only 2 Arby's left in Calgary and they're both in the SE quadrant.
• Tim Hortons will be testing reusable, returnable cups for a deposit. Tim's would then sanitize and reuse those cups. Burger King is planning it too. Coming to Toronto in 2021.
• You can preserve certain fresh herbs by freezing them in olive oil. The herbs will infuse the oil while freezing, and the ice cubes are very handy for cooking. Just pop one out and use as the base of a dish. Works best with rosemary, sage, thyme, and oregano. Dill, basil, and mint should always be used fresh.
• If you ever wondered how to access Apple Maps on something other than an Apple product, just use the Duck Duck Go search page. Any place you search for uses Apple Maps to show you the results. Then just click 'open map'.
• In the 1950's, donut shops were some of the first food businesses commonly open late at night. They became hot spots for police working the night shift since it gave them a place to grab a bite, fill out paper work, or even just take a break. This is why donuts became associated with police.
• Canadian researchers watched 40 episodes of 'The Dr. Oz Show' and found that nearly 40% of the medical advice is not evidence-based, and 15% goes directly against evidence.

The self checkout vicious circle

 

"Yes I'll have the not available 'agel. Number 5."

 

A primer on universal basic income

[Strap in, this is a long one]

Several countries around the world have either tried universal basic income (UBI), or are thinking of trying it to attempt to solve or mitigate economic issues in their society. The Ontario Liberals were experimenting with it just before the Conservatives won the last election, but it was cancelled for political reasons even before it had a chance to produce enough data to make a sound decision. The Canadian federal government is currently toying with the idea as a means to mitigate the problems born out of the Covid pandemic, so I felt it's a good time to give folks a primer on what UBI is, and why it might be an idea worth exploring.

One of the biggest assumptions put forth by those against the concept of UBI is that suddenly people are going to be given money they haven't earned, which will make people lazy and all quit their jobs. The fact is, our governments already give us money in one form or another, from Employment Insurance, to family allowance, to welfare, to education funding. UBI is simply a different way to manage the money that is distributed, and I would argue, a more efficient and fair way as well. Let's look closer.

The biggest problem we face in our lives is the inability to make ends meet when circumstances change. We lose our job, or have to quit a full time job to return to school. We get sick and run out of benefits, if we had any to begin with. We want time off but we don't get vacation pay. We're injured or disabled and can't work every kind of job. The work we do is seasonal. All we can find is part time work. A partner dies or leaves and we lose the benefit of access to their shared income. There are so many examples of situations where we lose income and suddenly we can't quite pay our obligations, whether it be rent, a mortgage, a car payment and the associated costs, or bills and groceries, just to name a few.

In a world that was more fair, all jobs would come with benefits. All jobs would pay a living wage. The economy would be structured to make it less likely for you to lose your job. Never mind the factors that are unpredictable and mostly unpreventable. So at some point, you're going to need financial assistance. It's just a question of when and for how long. But you don't just get what you need when you need it. There's a game we have to play, of proving that we qualify, proving that nothing else in our situation would make us qualify for less (such as living with a supportive partner), and so much more. It's never free money, it always has strings attached and the game is rigged against us. Take my word for it. I have worked all of my adult life and only needed EI help 3 times. The first time I didn't qualify for any money because of my severance, the second time I did qualify, but there were special rules attached and then after I got work again, they took the money back because I earned too much that year (which I was never warned might happen). The third time I got money but it wasn't near enough to make ends meet considering my mortgage and car payment. My story is certainly not the worst. So the system is not only rigged against you, but there is a hefty bureaucracy employed to decide who gets what, when, and for how long. Estimates put that overhead cost of each program at billions.

UBI is the alternative. There are no rules. Once you become an adult, you get paid. Everyone gets paid the same amount. Every month. Forever. Do you have a job? You still get the money. Married? You still get it. Retired? Still paid. There's only one down side. All of the other programs are gone. EI, welfare, family allowance, mother's allowance. They're done. So how does that work?

It requires financial discipline and planning. Basically, if you're working and you earn enough money to make ends meet, you shouldn't be spending the UBI, you should be saving it. If you need to use some of it to get by, you should be saving what's left. That way, if you lose your job, you not only get the UBI anyway, you have access to all the previous UBI you managed to save. Let's say for sake of argument, that UBI ends up being $1500 per month. If you're doing well with your salary, that's $18,000 per year that you can be putting away for a rainy day. Under the current system, you have to have worked a certain number of weeks to qualify for EI, and then they only pay you for so many weeks, then it's over. In the UBI scheme, you are your own EI bank. Have you worked for ten years and now need help for a year while you go back to school? $180,000 should cover it, assuming you didn't make any interest on it. Of course, this really puts the onus on the person to have their ducks in a row, but that's what it's all about. 

There are two major upsides to this program. The overhead cost is almost nothing. Everyone gets the money, there's nothing to decide. The other upside is that you have the freedom to use the UBI as you see fit. Unemployed? Live off the UBI. UBI not enough? Get a part time job to lift yourself even further above the poverty line. Are you trying to start a business but need some bridging money to keep paying bills until the business starts earning? Have you managed to sock some UBI away? Start using it. UBI would lessen the need for food banks, homeless shelters, etc.

Now, I make it sound like rainbows and unicorns, but UBI has its challenges out of the gate. Someone has to pay for this. That's called taxes. You're already paying EI premiums. Now you'll be paying UBI premiums. Except, unlike the current situation, the is no maximum contribution. If you earn a lot of salary, you pay more into the pot. Now, some will argue that this is self-defeating and that the top earners in industry will leave. But as soon as they see that people who have disposable income tend to buy more, and the added people who are spending makes for a strong economy, that attitude will evaporate.

Someone is going to have to figure out what the fair payment amount per month should be. It has to be enough to be a livable income to afford basic necessities, and it has to be indexed to the cost of living, meaning PEI residents might earn a different UBI than someone in Manitoba.

There are some who say that all a UBI will accomplish is motivating people to quit their jobs, sit on their couches and play video games all day while eating fast food. This is simply not a realistic prediction based on the fact that UBI will not make for a luxurious lifestyle, or even a normal one. Also, the point of UBI is not to make it so you don't need to work. The point is to both bridge the bad times and give you enough of a cushion to get the kind of education that would earn you a great salary. This is the key. Which means that an overhaul of post-secondary tuition would need to be part of the plan. You should not need to go into debt to further your education. Which has a net benefit to the economy in time.

One of the reasons this topic has emerged so much lately is due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Various governments, including Canada, have felt it necessary to save the economy and the people in it with a variety of payments during the peak of the shut down period, notably CERB in Canada. It has been argued that had we been using UBI, this wouldn't have been necessary because people would have been able to live off UBI plus however much UBI they had saved. I'm certain the government might also need to give everyone a pandemic financial booster shot too. Considering the devastating impact disasters have on our economies and the fact that most experts expect the number and intensity of disasters to increase in the future, this pandemic situation likely won't be the last event that forces us to either isolate from each other or be displaced for lengths of time. UBI could soften that blow.

Workplace automation is an expected result of the continuing advance of technology, robotics and AI. You don't hear much about it in the news, but countless jobs have already been lost to technology and that trend is not expected to stop or slow. Which means that the economy is going to need an overhaul if we're going to be able to house and feed everyone in the future. It's been suggested that the cost of UBI could be subsidized by taxing the extreme profits corporations will enjoy as a result of low overhead with a skeleton workforce. After all, robots and AI don't need vacations, sick time, breaks or benefits. Or even offices and parking spaces for that matter.

Lately, I've begun to realize that even though some corporate CEOs are trying to set a new example of levelling the income playing field and eliminating the idea that a CEO or executive could make hundreds of times what an average worker in the company makes, most corporations have paid little attention to the outcry of income inequality. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. So the introduction of UBI would finally create an opportunity to start levelling the field. There was a time when a CEO only made 30 times more than the average worker. That seems reasonable to me. I'll even be generous and propose 50 times, so long as that includes bonuses and perks. Oh, multi-million dollar athletes? Yeah, we're coming for your money too.

Incidentally, UBI is not by any means a new idea. Richard Nixon wanted to overhaul the welfare and tax system to develop a negative income tax to replace welfare and other benefits. The idea being that below a certain income threshold, the government pays you. The less you make, the more you get. The opposite being true as your income went up.

There have been several experiments with UBI type schemes over the decades. Some studies have looked at employment levels during the experiments with basic income and negative income tax and similar systems. In the negative income tax experiments in the United States in the 1970s, for example, there was a five percent decline in the hours worked. The work reduction was largest for second earners in two-earner households and weakest for the main earner. The reduction in hours was higher when the benefit was higher. Participants in these experiments knew that the experiment was limited in time.

In the Mincome experiment in rural Dauphin, Manitoba, in the 1970s, there were also slight reductions in hours worked. However, the only two groups who worked significantly less were new mothers and teenagers working to support their families. New mothers spent this time with their infant children, and working teenagers put significant additional time into their schooling. Under Mincome, the reduction of work effort was modest: about 1% for men, 3% for wives, and 5% for unmarried women.

A 2018 study of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, which has paid out an average of about $1,600 annually per resident (adjusted to 2019 dollars), and considered the largest scale universal basic income program in the United States, running from 1976 to the present, seems to show that although there is a small decrease in work by recipients due to reasons like those in the Manitoba experiment, there has been a 17% increase in part-time jobs. The study theorizes that employment remained steady because of the extra income that let people buy more also increased demand for service jobs. This finding is consistent with the economic data of the time. No effect was seen when it came to jobs in manufacturing, which produce exports. Essentially, the effects of higher spending supported overall employment. Case in point, someone who uses the money to help with car payments can cut back on hours working as a cashier at a local grocery store. Because more people are spending more, the store must replace the worker who started working less.

Ontario tried a limited income pilot as well, which you can read about here. 

The bottom line is this - UBI may not be perfect, and the idea really needs significant examination and thorough analysis, but it may be what saves our economy in years to come. Because the fact is, if you don't have any money, you can't buy anything. Then the economy crashes. In our current system, spending and growth is all that matters.

Dad jokes for Biden

 

Things I learned lately 20 Nov

• 
  
  'Black magic woman' is a Fleetwood Mac original.
• Manfred Mann's earth Band covered two songs from Bruce Springsteen, 'Blinded by the light' and 'For you'.
• Nazareth wrote 'Love hurts', right? Nope, that was The Everly Brothers.
• Boney M covered 'Rivers of Babylon', a The Melodians original.
• 'Bette Davis eyes' was a Jackie Deshannon original. Kim Carnes covered it and made it a hit.
• 'The first cut is the deepest' was a Cat Stevens original. Rod Stewart covered it.
• The Cyndi Lauper hit 'Girls just wanna have fun' was a cover, originally performed by Robert Hazard.
• The 1975 Captain & Tennille song 'Love will keep us together' was a cover of a Neil Sedaka song from 1973.
• The Germans sometimes refer to beer as "flüssiges brot", meaning "liquid bread".
• When the pandemic hit and affected passenger flights, some airlines, including KLM, used some of their passenger jets to transport cargo in the cabin. Boxes were secured to the seats, enabling about 6 large pallets worth of cargo in addition to what is put in the belly. This cargo tended to be emergency medical equipment related to Covid.
• There are more people living below the poverty line in the US (40,000,000) than there are residents in all of Canada.
• Joe Biden's German shepherd will be the first rescue dog in the White House.

Play the whole album - Dire Straits - Dire Straits

If you have a Spotify or any other music streaming service that lets you listen to entire albums in one go, I've got some homework for you.

I know they put out a lot of great albums, but I still feel to this day that nothing compares to Dire Straits' self-titled debut album from 1978. I remember when this record came out while I still lived in Montreal, and it took off like a rocket.

The opening is perfect. The sounds of a port in the fog. Then that guitar slashes through the fog like a knife. What a way to announce your arrival to the world. Down to the waterline.

Water of love opens with beautiful steel guitar licks the likes of which you don't typically hear in modern popular music. The chorus is very catchy. I love when this song comes up on my Spotify playlist.

Setting me up has a nice upbeat feel to it. But you're listening to this and you think to yourself, "Is this a sneaky way to mash zydeko, country, and blues together and unleash it on the unwary public?" Yes, yes it is. Sly devils.

Six blade knife shows that sometimes less is more. Slow, deliberate, smoky and oh so cool.

Southbound again revisits that zydeko feel and you're thinking that this is all Dire Straits have in the tank. Are we in for a big surprise.

"Then the sultans, yeah the sultans they play Creole. Creole." The sultans of swing was that song that made us all stop and ask, "Who are these guys? And who is Guitar George?"

Three more songs round out the album and they're worth a listen if for nothing else but the slick guitar work. I tell ya, if you know someone with an audiophile grade stereo system, you owe it to yourself to listen to this entire album on it from start to finish.

Because itty bitty speakers just don't do it justice.

Things not to say before losing

 

Small things 20 Nov

• Hell has gone green and switched out the hot coals for Lego pieces. Same pain, less emissions.
• "I'm not getting the vaccine. It contains a tracking device." he tweeted into his smart phone, while it was tracking his every move....
• The reason it's taking so long to develop a Covid-19 vaccine is they haven't figured out how to make it also cause autism yet.
• Make sure your vaccine is from Pfizer, not Pfizer Landscaping.
• Wearing a face mask has taught me one thing. Pee-yoo my breath stinks!
• When a new package or container of something is opened and the old package or container still has some left. Yeah. That tweaks my OCD.
• YouTube has created a whole generation of kids who think they can be YouTube stars, because they watch other YouTube stars.
• That day when your grandchild says, "I don't want you to pick out and purchase my new clothes anymore".
• "These new car exhausts are so noisy!" ~old people probably
• I love how each new season treats the landscape like a new canvas for a different themed art piece.
• That look on the neighbour's dog's face when he wants to bark at you, but then realizes he knows you and likes you. It's halfway to a barking face, lips pulled back, looking goofy as hell. Of course I help it along with the happy high voice greeting "Hey buddy! How's my little buddy?" He wants to bark, but he just can't.
• Adobe. Can't handle when more than one of its products is installed on the same computer apparently. Case in point: Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat DC. Nope.
• "Yes, I tried out my green thumb during the pandemic. I planted my ass on the couch and watched while I grew really big!"

Catflix

 

Play the whole album: Roxy Music - Avalon

If you have a Spotify or any other music streaming service that lets you listen to entire albums in one go, I've got some homework for you.

Although I had known of Roxy Music's earlier work, when Avalon was released in 1982, it was a revelation. One of the most romantic albums I had ever heard, the songs shed some of Roxy's earlier soul vibe and adopted a more smart pop mood.

'More than this' did well on the charts. 'The space between' is definitely in line with the new wave music that was being shown on MTV, in fact, this song could easily have been Spandau Ballet or Prefab Sprout.

The title track 'Avalon' is my personal favourite. It's where the romanticism comes in. 'India' is a beautiful instrumental with a rollicking rhythm that you just never want to end, but the way it does is perfect.

'While my heart is still beating' gets us back to the crooning that Bryan Ferry is famous for. 'The main thing' gives a subtle reminder of the soulful playfulness that Roxy Music is capable of.

'Take a chance with me'. Wow. Those guitars, if you haven't been paying attention to them so far, really set the mood here. Rarely do you hear a song with such a long, deliberate introduction, but it does a great job of setting the stage. "As they say, two can play. Keep that song away from me."

'To turn you on' is pretty self explanatory. Bryan Ferry is such a romantic. Moving on.

So, when the rain is falling and you just need someone else to set the soundtrack to your day, this is the album to bring up and play from beginning to end.

Allergies!

 

Small things 13 Nov

• "Make America rake again" ~schwag you can buy from Four Seasons Total Landscaping (site of a messed up Rudy Giuliani press conference)
  
  
  
• POTUS won't go-tus
• Can we call him POUTUS now?
• Waiting for election results in 2020 was like waiting for an mp3 to download in 1994.
• There are 3 things many workers now know thanks to Covid. You actually can work from home. Most meetings are avoidable. Pants are over-rated.
• The saying "avoid it like the plague" doesn't have much weight anymore, considering that a lot of people don't do that.
• Remember when milk crates were acceptable furniture? Good times.
• Still waiting for Serious Putty..... [Someone in the back: "It's called C4"] Uh, never mind!
• I wonder if it's time to abandon political polling. It's more often wrong and just leads to strategic voting, the dumbest democratic idea ever.
• Mansplaining could be called "correctile dysfunction".
• Yes, we admit it. White folks steal lingo from other cultures. We tried to come up with our own lingo and landed on things like 'awesomesauce'.
• Before cable tv, the only channels you had access to fell between terrestrial television operates on analog channels 2-6 (VHF-low band), 7-13 (VHF-high band), and channels 14-51 (UHF). You could only get reception of tv stations that were within a reasonable distance and you needed an antenna, either mounted on the roof (for longer reach), or rabbit ears on top of the tv. The direction the antenna pointed mattered and was often different for each channel because of where the tv tower was located. One common annoyance was that if someone asked you to adjust the position of the rabbit ears, the moment you touched them the signal improved because now you were also acting as an antenna. But the minute you let go, reception often dropped off, so others in the room watching tv would try to convince you to stand there and hold the antenna.
• For your cat's birthday, just line up a bunch of things on the edges of tables, dressers, counters, etc. so they can knock it all onto the floor.
• Stop pressing the spatula down on the burger while cooking. No! Stop.

Come on Google

Here's something I don't quite understand. I live mostly in the Google environment, except for the fact that I own an iPhone. Yeah, I know, right?

No but seriously, I use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Photos (even to back up my iPhone's camera roll), Google Keep, and I own a couple Google Home devices.

The thing that I think could work so much better is reminders. If a Google event happens, I'll see a notification if I happen to be looking at my phone, but that's it. I don't have my phone on my person 24 hours a day. Sure, I could purposely look at the Google notifications, but that sort of defeats the point of notifications.

Here's the thing. I own Google Home devices that are constantly listening to what's going on around them. I know this not because I'm a paranoid, tinfoil hat wearing myth monkey, but because the minute I say the words, "Hey Google!", it goes into response mode.

Yet, when there is a reminder pending, all this device does is light up a tiny little LED. So again, if I'm not looking at the device, and I don't usually, I don't know there's a reminder.

Wouldn't it be nice if this always-on, intelligent device, as soon as it heard my voice in the background, said, "Excuse me Karl, is that you?" [me: "Yes."][or me: "Not now!"] "OK. I just wanted to let you know that you set a reminder to [insert what the reminder was here] for 7:30 PM. Do you want me to cancel that reminder?" If I had said "Not now", it would just hang on to the reminder for a while longer. Would that be so hard?

Google?

Snoop, how could you?

 

It was all a bad dream

So here's how I expected things would go some time during the period of 6 to 8 November 2020.

Biden gets the electoral college seats he needs to get to 270 and is declared the new President Elect of the United States of America.

Cut to a shot of a currently empty White House podium, when seconds later, Donald Trump emerges from backstage and walks to and stands behind the podium, where we expect he will give the most non-conciliatory concession speech in the history of American politics.

He smiles at the camera, then reaches around behind his head and appears to unfasten something, then slowly pulls a body suit off of himself revealing a scantily clad....

.................... Andy Kaufman. He smiles a huge smile and in his Latka voice says, "Surprise!"

Cut to Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida, where we see a very balding, tanned Donald Trump lounging on a lounge chair in the sun, doing his best impression of Leisure Suit Larry.

He looks straight into the camera and says, "See? I told you that Republicans were stupid." He then takes a sip of a massive pina colada through a giant bendy straw.

End scene. Fade to black.

Bunk beds Barack!

 

Things I learned lately 13 Nov

• This city of Winnipeg was once named Ouinipigon, in 1734.
• Bangkok's Thai name is Krung Thep Maha Nakhon.
• The people who harvest latex from rubber trees in Thailand earn less than $220 per month.
• Kanye West got around 60,000 votes nationwide. 10,000 of them were in Tennessee.
• I may be mistaken, but Trump may be the only president to lose the popular vote twice.
• In advance of the 2020 general election, Madame Tussauds wax museum in Berlin displayed the likeness of U.S. President Donald Trump in a dumpster as part of an exhibit with the sign, “Dump Trump.”
• The letter K is more visually striking, so marketing people like to substitute it for the letter C. Kraft. Krispy Kreme. Ketchup (used to be catsup). Klik. Kool-aid. 
• TAOSHIWCBPFDMREYNLUGVKJQZX The order of the English alphabet from most used letter at left to least used letter at right.
• The abbreviation o.k., in fact short for 'all correct' (more specifically oll korrect) was first seen in widespread print on Saturday, March 23rd, 1839 in the Boston Morning Post. By 1844 it was being used in print across the US. By 1865, railway telegraph operators were using ok to acknowledge received Morse Code messages.
• During WWII, women were so convinced that proper ladies had to wear stockings, that when you couldn't buy them anymore due to military use of nylon, women had faux stockings painted on their legs.
• Even as late as the early 20th century, freckles were considered to be ugly, and some went so far as to poison themselves with topical mercury compounds to remove them.
• Beauty contests in the 1930s had women wearing coverings over their face so they could be judged by their body alone.
• 
  
  NASA landed a spacecraft on another asteroid.

The 'work from home' collection - fall 2020

 

Remember that lawsuit?

"Woman gets almost $3 million for spilling hot coffee on herself while driving"

Actually, no. That's not what happened.

Remember that time a woman burned herself with hot coffee she had bought at McDonald's and sued the company? Do you remember how she was portrayed as a dumb person who filed a frivolous lawsuit, and McDonald's was portrayed as a victim?

Well, this wikipedia article tells the whole story as opposed to the greatly shortened version that was told by the press. Reading all of the details may not change your mind about the incident and the lawsuit that followed, but a lot of folks made up their mind about the woman based on a lot of missing details.

Trump probably

 

Poorly explain what you do for a living

Feel free to add your own in the comments.

• I try to stop people from acting stupid and sometimes just make them feel stupid. (corporate trainer)
• I take away stuff nobody wants in a truck and hoard it in a big pile. (waste management)
• I watch tiny humans exit big humans and keep them around a while until they don't die. (neonatal nurse)
• I bust through your door and soak all your stuff in a lot of water. You usually thank me afterward. (firefighter)
• I tell computers to do things. Sometimes they listen. (programmer)
• I hide and take pictures of you speeding. Then I either blackmail you with them or shame you in front of a judgy person until you pay. (photo radar)
• I blow through a curvy tube to make the air wiggle. When people hear it, sometimes they wiggle too. (saxophone player)
• I constantly try to rearrange the 26 letters of the alphabet in new and exciting ways. (writer)
• I shoot people. (portrait photographer)
• I pick random balls out of a bigger ball and place them in a row. It makes a few people happy, but most people end up sad. (lottery number picker)
• I answer the phone for people who have more important things to do. (receptionist)
• I explain to people in graphic detail the horrible things I'm going to do to them and they let me do it anyway. While they sleep. (surgeon)
• I sit around waiting for some of the money I gave away to be given back. (pensioner)
• I let strangers into peoples' homes and try to convince them to move in. (real estate agent)
• I pretend to know what someone is destined to do for a living based on incomplete and probably faulty information. (guidance counsellor)
• I smell a lot. And I will go out of my way to make you smell a lot too. I'll just spray smelly stuff on you and make you pay for it. (perfume counter sales)
• I try to subvert Darwin's Law by preventing stupid people from killing themselves. (safety staff)
• I fire things into the air and hope they stay up there for a long time. (rocket engineer)
• I give people a lift, but only if they're going where I'm going. (transit driver)
• I stalk other people for you. (private investigator)
• I deal with people who might need a time out. (police)
• I take unassuming white powder and lace it with other ingredients to transform it into something you might become addicted to. (baker)
• I make major decisions about many things that I have no qualifications for. I depend on the opinions of others. (politician)
• I'm a hoarder enabler. Everything I build lets you collect more stuff. (cabinet maker)
• I clear paths for big, heavy boxes with people or little boxes in them. I try to help them not get stuck or crash into each other. (snow plow operator)
• I take a sip of stuff and spit it out, then say whether it's good or not. (taste tester)
• I always push people around and talk behind their back. (aide to people in wheelchairs)
• I take other peoples' family members for a walk so that I can pick up their poop. (dog walker)
• I make money from your money and maybe let you keep some of it. (investment banker)
• I test criminals to see if they're smart. (detective)
• I try to convince you that our cars are precious and your car is worthless. (car salesperson)
• I prove that you can sell ice to an Inuit person. (water bottler)
• I make people nauseous, give them vertigo, and make them scream. They almost always come back for more. (fair ride operator)
• I draw lines on the ground just so you can mess it up. I'll keep doing it again when you're done too. (sports field groundskeeper)

Ska smart

The Melbourse Ska Orchestra plays Get Smart

This is so much fun.

Horse mask

 

Small things 6 Nov

• "Dear White House movers: ask for the money up front." ~Conan O'Brien
• Who decided that eyes and teeth aren't part of healthcare?
• Geology rocks, but geography is where it's at.
  
  
  
• Rick Moranis! Watch this funny Mint Mobile ad. 
• Ever seen an actor nail an American accent so well the first time you saw them perform that you assumed they were American? Then saw them act in Brit TV and think, hmm, decent Brit accent. Then find out they are in fact British? Yeah. Gillian Anderson. I had no idea.
• The problem isn't misinformed people. It's confident misinformed people.
• The next time you notice people staring at their phones, just remember, they could have been staring at you.
• Toast is the ultimate processed food. Think about it. You have to process the wheat to get flour, process the flour to get dough, then bake the dough. Then cook it again in the toaster. It's so processed, it's got no flavour. So what do we do? Slather it with butter and jam.
• Dads hate stopping on road trips because then all of the vehicles they worked so hard to pass for the last hour get back ahead of them.
• Saying that Covid deaths were actually deaths from underlying causes is like saying that someone hit by a moving vehicle died of structural failure.
• Never try to catch a falling knife.
• Would you name your newborn daughter Karen at this point?
• To all those parents who want their 13 year old child to understand the importance of honesty, but also to understand that when 12 year olds eat for free, they're 12.
• "Fiction gives us empathy. It puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gifts of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over." ~Neil Gaiman

Biking in Utrecht

A summer bike ride through Utrecht. It's a bit long, but the video gives a really good example of how entrenched bike culture is over there. 

I like how well behaved the cyclists are and how courteous they are toward each other.

The best part is at the end. The infrastructure! Incredible.

3 things revealed

 

Things I learned lately 6 Nov

• In 1847 Robert Liston is said to have allegedly performed the amputation of a limb in 28 seconds, also accidentally amputating his assistant surgeon's fingers, causing the patient and the assistant to die of sepsis, and a witness reportedly dying of shock, making this surgery the deadliest in history. Assuming it's true.
• Bohemian Rhapsody spent 9 weeks at number 1 on the UK charts in 1976. It ranks as the 3rd best-selling UK single of all time (behind Elton John’s Princess Diana tribute Candle in the Wind and Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?)
• Facebook has reinvented itself by creating Campus, only for college students.
• Toothpaste tablets. No tubes, no mess, no waste. One month's worth costs $10. 
• Teflon itself isn't toxic, it's the by-product of Teflon when it's overheated, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
• McDonalds is bringing the McRib back December 2nd nationwide (in the US so far). No word on availability in Canada.
• 86% of Canadians support the idea of a national pharma-care plan and 77% say the government should put a high priority on increasing prescription drug coverage. 
• Norwegians used to have a car brand named Troll.
• When making a sauce for your pasta, you should add some of the water you used to boil the pasta into the sauce. This will help the sauce bind better to the pasta and make it taste better.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil is not for frying things! It has a very low smoke point and will break down. For higher (but still not very high) heat, you want regular Olive Oil, not Extra Virgin.
• Dodge used to have a Canadian sub-brand named Fargo. It ended up Canadian anyway.
• GM used to have a Canadian sub-brand named Acadian, which made models like the Canso.