The printer that worked

 

Loan forgiveness

You may have heard that President Biden forgave up to $20,000 in student loans for Americans. Needless to say, there are folks who don’t think this is fair. I’d like to address that.

Some argue the gesture with the question: Why should people who currently have student loans outstanding get their loans partly or fully forgiven when there are countless others who have already paid them off? It may seem like a good question until you reframe it.

Why should people today get to survive car accidents now that we have seatbelts? It’s not fair to the people who died in the past from being fatally ejected from their cars in an accident.

Why should present cancer victims get to survive now that we have better treatments? It’s not fair to the people who suffered horribly and then died in the past from cancers that used to be incurable.

Why should mothers get paid to stay home with their kids? It’s not fair to the mothers who stayed home all of their lives to raise a family and had no income and no independence.

Do you see a common thread here? It's about progress. I have a firm belief that the real reason Biden forgave those loans was to create an environment where countless people would tell their friends and family how much better their lives are without this debt hanging over their heads. These positive stories may at some point in our future motivate governments to make post-secondary education free for everyone. Some already do. 

It's how we progress as a society and make opportunities to better ourselves more accessible for more people instead of just those who can already afford it. There were a lot of people complaining that they never had an opportunity to go to college or university. That's exactly the point. The reason they probably never got to go is because they didn't have the money and the debt load would be too high or too risky. Society does not get better, and growth is not sustainable if the majority of people can't afford to complete their education. A well-educated society can do more complicated things that earn more money and in turn pay more taxes. Never mind all of the other benefits that come from having learned people in the majority. Yes, I just used the word learned in a sentence. That's pronounced 'lern-ned'.

Bluetooth jumper cables

 

Small things 30 Sep

• We went to Montana’s lately. They only have chicken fajitas now. No more steak fajitas. For what it’s worth, you can also have a fajita with no chicken. $14 for a sizzling pan of vegetables.
• The next time you’re thinking of donating books to a thrift store, consider giving them to the neighbourhood Little Free Library, so that readers can have an opportunity to read them for free, instead of an already rich mega-corporation getting the books for nothing.
• A woman at work has a word for certain types of men: ‘douchenozzle’
• Backups are cheap compared to regrets.
• Any unsolicited message with the words 'great opportunity' isn't.
• Very few people actually use the extended warranty.
• Halloween is basically the only thing stopping stores from stocking Christmas decorations on shelves in September.
• One thing I was not prepared for as an adult is all the cardboard boxes I’d have to break down and put in a bin every week.
• Aim to die broke. Give to your beneficiaries before you die, it's more fun. Spend it all. Your last check should go to the funeral home and it should bounce.
• Biggest mom burn I ever saw: "They used to be called jumpolines. Then your mom jumped on one back in 1982."

Goodwill

 

Memories of Green (cover)

The Blade Runner motion picture soundtrack is one of my favourite collections of atmospheric electronica by the master Vangelis (RIP). This artist does an amazing cover of the piece I fell in love with first - Memories of Green. 

He plays it slow, but I don’t mind, it lasts longer that way, and you get to revel in each echoing note.

Ikigai: a reason for being

 

Things I learned lately 30 Sep

• There is so much made up stuff on the internet. I mean, I didn’t just learn this, but I’m learning just how much stuff that is presented as truth, but is in fact total BS. A lot of it isn't even consequential stuff, it's just crap that seems funny or interesting and it's all made up.
• In 1910, Imogene Rechtin tried an 18 month campaign designed to end kissing of any kind, in order to stop the spread of germs and disease.
• We spend a lot of resources getting rid of our poop and doing not so great things to our ecology in the process, when the stuff is ultra valuable as a natural fertilizer. Much more eco-friendly than the artificial stuff we use in its place. In Japan's 18th century, shimogoe, literally meaning 'fertiliser from the bottom of a person' was greatly sought after by farmers. Farmers went so far as to steal peoples' shit.
• The old officer’s mess in Currie Barracks is now an inn and restaurant. The Inn on Officer’s Garden.
• The White House has a curated collection of over 1,800 vinyl albums in its archives, donated by the RIAA between 1973 and 1981. Most, if not all of those records have never been played.
• There was a time when Japan prohibited foreigners from entering the country, and restricted Japanese citizens from leaving. There was one tiny exception, a 2 acre man made island in Nagasaki Bay that was connected to Nagasaki by a bridge leading to a military post. This was Dejima, the only place that traders from around the world could do business with Japan between 1636 and 1854. First the Spanish and the Portuguese came, but they were expelled for attempting to spread Christianity. The Dutch East Indies Company then took over. They had to surrender their sails when arriving, and had to ask for them back in order to leave. No Westerners were allowed across the bridge, and the only Japanese to enter Dejima were designated traders, interpreters, sex workers, and various cooks, gardeners, and clerks. There was only room for between 10-20 men to stay on the island at a time. Meanwhile, shiploads of lumber, silk, livestock, and other goods changed hands between countries that weren't allowed to interact otherwise.

Small things 16 Sep

• I secretly enjoy listening in on other grocery shoppers and their family members discussing what they’re going to buy. Especially when someone wants something and the person in charge says no. Or they discuss whether the thing they’re looking at is really in the recipe they’re thinking of. Or if they’re truly ‘out’ of that thing. “We have 2 cans of baked beans in the cupboard.” “Are you sure?” “If they’re there, I’m making you eat both cans in one sitting.”
• If you stop to listen to a musician or street performer for more than a minute, give them some money.
• When you forgive others, they may not notice, but you will heal. Forgiveness is not something we do for others. It's a gift to ourselves.
• If I had the power to gift the world one thing, it would be the ability to just fall asleep as soon as you want to.
• When you lead, your real job is to create more leaders, not more followers.
• The subject of an email is even more important than the message itself. That's because it's often the only thing they'll read.
• A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others.
• Be the person who ends meetings early.
• A corn dog is basically a meat twinkie. Discuss...
• “Here comes my husband.” [4 words to ruin a 1st date]

Frosted mini wheats farm

 

It’s not by Socrates, but it was in a book

The tale of the 3 sieves as told by Socrates has saturated the internet. Sadly, it is not a Socrates story and may have roots in a Protestant missionary in India in the 1800s. But it did appear in a book:

“But perhaps we ought to think of the three sieves, before we allow ourselves to speak of others,” observed the Bishop.

“And what is that story?” said Mr. Arden.

“It is not a story!” he replied, “but a maxim, which all will do well to attend to when they speak of those that are absent. The maxim is this, that before we allow ourselves to find fault with any one behind his back, we should ask ourselves three questions. The first, ‘Is it true?’ The second, ‘Is it kind?’ The third, ‘Is it necessary?’”

Rev. Charles B. Tayler, Lady Mary or Not of the World (London, 1845, p. 205)

Laser money eh

In Canada, our money puts on a laser light show when you aim a laser pointer through the clear maple leaf. 

Take that 'Merica!

It's been a while but I think geo quiz time is back

This is near the source of what river?

Go ahead, take your best guess...

"Pfft!"

 

Things I learned lately 16 Sep

• Montreal Canadiens sniper Jean Beliveau scored 3 goals in 44 seconds during a power play against Boston in 1955. The next season a rule change was introduced where a minor penalty assessed player could return to the ice if the other team scored a goal.
• A single bat can feast on over 1,000 insects in one night.
• In 1949, the White House had to be completely gutted and rebuilt because of neglect over the decades. To maintain the appearance of a continuing icon, its exterior was always left intact and it was completely gutted on the inside.
• NASA warned Steven Spielberg that his movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind could cause a 'UFO panic'.
  
  
  
• A lot of people like the colour blue as their favourite. The reason for this is our association with blue things, like the sky and the ocean.
• People think that the reason plants and trees are good for the environment is because they convert CO2 to oxygen. That is true, but more importantly, they use the carbon from the CO2 to grow and make more plant material. They truly are carbon sinks.
• The Howard Johnson's restaurant chain is now completely done. The last Ho-Jo's in Lake George, New York has shut down.
• Paul McCartney had no problem with Weird Al Yankovic parodying "Live and Let Die," but he's famously the most vegetarian, so he didn't want it to be called the planned "Chicken Pot Pie." Yankovic ended up scrapping the whole thing.

Small things 10 Sep

• Worst headline: 73 year old man finally inherits family fortune. 
• CAPS LOCK. Messing with logins since 1980.
• You know you’re high when you’re driving and you see the flashing lights of the crosswalk behind you and you pull over thinking it’s the cops. Then you get really paranoid when nobody comes to your window.
• Wanna know the secret to why your spouse makes too many pancakes at your house? When the batter is too thick, they add a little liquid, then it’s too runny and they add more mix. This repeats endlessly, and then there’s enough batter for 30 pancakes.
• My computer isn't the only thing that goes to sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity.
• Criticize in private, praise in public.
• Dumb guy wonders how the chicken learned how to fry the ‘chicken fried rice’.
• “My mom is paying.” [4 words to ruin a 1st date]
• In the entire series of movies did anyone even once see Harry Potter clean his glasses?
• To be clear, it’s not that we don’t have enough water, it’s that we don’t have enough fresh water where it’s needed.
• If KISS started in their 60s: "I... want to rock n roll for a spell, and party every other week."
• Never use ‘hamburger helper’ unless the hamburger is ready to accept the help.
• Imagine if new parents wanted to name their newborn girl Kristen and the registry writes Kirsten by mistake.
• Imagine if men spent as much effort getting to know their women as much as they spend getting to know the athletes of the sports they don't play.
• Caller ID? Pfft. I don't just need to know who's calling, I need to know WHY you're calling.
• Are hot dogs sandwiches? Discuss...
• Before you speak, let your words pass through 3 gates. At the first gate, ask yourself, "Is it true?" At the second gate ask, "Is it necessary?" At the third gate ask, "Is it kind?"
• No one is as impressed with your possessions as you are.
• OK, I’m on my 4th vaccine and I still don’t have 5G. What the hell?

The first King Charles meme for Canada

 

Copyright nonsense on YouTube

Here’s another example of why music copyright is broken and I hope it motivates you to vote against any political party that doesn’t agree that it needs to be fixed.

Rick Beato has a 5 year old YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/RickBeato) with over 3 million subscribers, where he discusses all things music. He started out teaching chords and ear training and then used existing published music to help inform viewers about music theory, music styles, specific brand or model of instruments’ effect on music, and so much more. Then he launched a series called “What makes this song great?” and that’s not only when he became popular, but also attracted the attention of the copyright Nazis. The way YouTube handles pieces of copyrighted music on other peoples’ videos is that they demonetize the video. What this means is that instead of the video creator getting a share of ad revenue based on clicks and visits, the money instead goes to the copyright holder. It’s not a death blow to the video creator, but you end up making the video for nothing, but at least your audience can still watch it. Even if you only used a short sample of the song. Another thing that can happen is that YouTube can just entirely block the video from being available. Now you’ve made the video for nothing, period. People can’t even watch it once it has been blocked.

But where things get really stupid is when the RIAA sends a ‘strike’ notice. You only get 3 strikes according to copyright law. What happens once you get 3 strikes? YouTube shuts down your video channel. Let’s back up a bit. The reason 3 strikes exists is to motivate people not to UPLOAD copyrighted music. But Rick Beato doesn’t do this. Let me be clear. Rick plays the parts of the song, and not the whole song in one movement, himself, on his own instruments. He is in fact not breaking any laws, because he’s not performing copyrighted material as a paid performance, he’s teaching music theory and music appreciation. It is the basis for every video he has made. By the way, there is no recourse to 3 strikes. If they gave Rick 3 strikes, whether they’re valid or not, it’s over. You can also get a copyright strike if you dispute a demonetize decision or block and lose the dispute, which is why Rick has never bothered to file any disputes. It’s just too risky because the RIAA, the publishers and the artists have all the power here. Which is insanity, because it’s self-defeating. When someone makes videos about why an artist’s music is great and gives a complete explanation as to why, this is what I would call FREE ADVERTISING! It introduces older music to younger audiences. Also, most of the artists he showcases in fact LOVE what he’s doing and support him 100%. Rick even said he has no issue with a claimant getting the money from the YouTube views. In his case, a million views pays about $1,200.

If you visit Rick Beato’s channel and do a search on the word copyright, you’ll find a treasure trove of his complaints about blocks, take-downs and demonetization of his videos and even discusses copyright claims from one artist to another, a topic that always gets me hot. Here’s Rick talking about one of the ridiculous scenarios he found himself in recently:

The description reads: “My latest video was demonetized (claimed) by 16 record labels for using 10-20 second clips for demonstration and teaching purposes. It is a clear case of Fair Use but impossible to fight.”  

There is no real transgression here because people are not going to Rick’s channel to listen to entire songs by the original artists - they don’t exist. He’s simply teaching, showcasing and demonstrating master musicianship in the most fair way possible and getting punished for it. Seriously, rights holders need to give their heads a shake. And we need to start electing people that see this law for what it really is. 

Bullshit.

Explaining months to an alien

 

10 songs I can’t get enough of lately (Sep 2022)

• 10CC - For you and I
  
  
  
• Groove Armada - Hands of Time
• Daniel Caesar - Japanese Denim
• Domi & JD Beck - Smile (pictured)
• Joey Dosik - Game Winner
• Turin Brakes - The Road
• Brittany Howard - Stay High
• Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey
• Max Webster - Summer’s Up
• Roxy Music - India

The arrival of the electric bill

 “The arrival of the electric bill”, Alberta, oil on canvas, 2022

Things I learned lately 10 Sep

• Wild boar trample natural habitats, devour crops and harass livestock. They contaminate water sources by wallowing in wetlands, and carry diseases that can spread to domesticated pigs. There’s a bounty on them in Alberta worth $75 per pair of ears, but nobody will tell hunters where they can find them.
  
  
  
• Out of the 56 nuclear reactors France has, only 24 of them are running at the moment. France promises to restart all 32 remaining reactors by winter to provide extra electricity in light of the reduced supply of natural gas from Russia.
• There are some day planners whose covers are made of a kind of textured plastic that if you use your fingernails on them, it sounds like you're a DJ scratching a mix with a turntable and some vinyl records.
• The 3 densest cities in the world are all in the Philippines.
• A movie based on the old Ultraman TV series is coming out soon.
• In Norway, CEOs make 11x more than their average worker. In the US, it’s 350x more.
• There are over 86,000 people in Japan over 100 years old.
• 6% of Americans think they could beat a grizzly bear in a fight. I say let them do it. Best Darwin Awards ever.

Your latest PSA - Plesz Service Announcement

The bad folks who create tasty bait phish messages to try and get your login information and other personal details continue to hone their techniques. Now they'll even use compromised Facebook accounts to phish the friends of that account with messages baited with phishing links. We're at the point now where not even legitimate accounts can be trusted to be phish-free.

Never, under any circumstances, provide login information unless you explicitly went to a legitimate login page yourself via a saved favourite or known trusted URL.

You may have been swayed by a warning of a bad situation. You may have been enticed by a prize. You may have your heart strings tugged by a request for assistance to a good cause. You may be offered the gift of a government energy rebate. You may have fallen for the claim of a critical account problem. There will always be a sense of urgency. These kinds of enticements are by design. They are trying to bypass your logic and common sense, and tweak your emotions.

The malicious links you click will take you to login sites that look legit. They won't necessarily have typos. You might even get something via Messenger from an actual friend, or an SMS text from (supposedly) someone you do business with. Don't walk into the trap.

Any time an unexpected link or attachment message warns of impending doom, never take the bait. Always follow up by contacting the party via other, known, legitimate means. That means calling the number you have on file or on their legit website. Even responding to the sent email could be a trap, especially if their email service has been compromised.

Here's a typical scenario:

You receive an email or SMS text or voicemail or Facebook message that your bank account has been compromised and you need to log in to fix it.

There's a 99.999% probability that it's a ruse, a fake. But all you'll think about is the 0.001% chance that it's real. Fine. Check it out, but not by responding to the initial communication. Never do this. Instead go to your bank site the same way you always do. Or call their number - the one that's published on their web site, not the one in the message. Or go into your branch. Check if your account is safe. It will be.

Bonus tip: No legit institution demands Bitcoin as payment for something you owe. No legit institution threatens sending the police.

Remember my motto: "If it's unexpected - suspect it!"

Best use of an old TV

 

Small things 26 Aug

• Remember when retailers said that if we insisted on raising minimum wage, they’d replace everyone with robots? Well now that they can’t find workers, where are the robots?
  
  
  
• What happens if you’re already autistic and you get a vaccine?
• Millennials. Walking around like they rent the place.
• Going into a grocery store without a bag realizing that this store doesn’t provide bags, “It’s OK. I’m just getting a few things.” Then trying to balance 8 things all the way back to the car, when I could have just gone back to the car and grabbed a bag.
• The problem with getting old is that you have a thought, but then you have a second thought and they ricochet off of each other and go off in random directions, never to be seen again.
• Supposedly the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So today I had to reboot my computer a few times to try and get the internet working.
• Facebook should only allow you to change your relationship status 3 times in a year. After that it defaults to 'unstable'.

Bird dawg

 

Tesla Model S ‘Plaid’ on the Nurburgring

Do you still think electric cars are boring? Check out this professional driver taking a Tesla Model S Plaid (It’s the souped up version) around Germany’s famous test track. 

Make sure to look at the speedometer. That’s how fast he’s going in km/h. He’s taking some curves at over 110 km/h. Then he pegs it at 268 km/h (166 mph) on the straight. 

Insane.

Rhymes with mannequin

 

Things I learned lately 2 Sep

• Calgary’s newish University District is getting a walk-up McDonald’s counter in November.
• A cognitive bias can kick in when people encounter evidence that runs counter to their beliefs. Instead of re-evaluating what they’ve believed up until now, people tend to reject the incompatible evidence. This is called belief perseverance.
• The world’s population will very soon reach 8 billion.
• Billy Idol is 66 and still making music.
• A British wildlife sanctuary has been forced to separate five parrots who wouldn't stop swearing at visitors. Keepers say the birds encouraged each other to keep cursing, and had to be moved from the main outdoor aviary. Billy, Eric, Tyson, Jade and Elsie were removed from view. They recently joined the Lincolnshire Wildlife Centre's colony of 200 African gray parrots in August, were put in quarantine together and quickly overwhelmed the staff with their naughty language.  
• Never tell a car salesperson how much you love the car after a test drive. They’re banking on a strong emotional attachment and will try to make the connection stronger to keep you engaged.
• Never tell a car salesperson that this is the only make and model you like. See above.
• Never tell a car salesperson that you really need a car, because your greatest leverage against a bad deal is the power to walk. If you seem desperate, they expect that you will make a deal.