Buon Compleanno mio fratello

 Today is my older brother's birthday.

I took some time this morning to call him and wish him buon compleanno, happy birthday in Italian, as is my tradition. We got to speak for about ten to fifteen minutes unit he got another call. I think it was our mother calling my brother as I tried to call my parents house next and their line was busy. This is a good thing as people within families should talk to each other. Of course there are exceptions, though  the exceptions should not be used to explain the normal. 

On this day my brother turned 57 and yet while he knew what he was getting for his birthday there was a tiny note in his voice of child like excitement and enthusiasm for the reception of his gift. I'm glad that my brother has retained that aspect within his character that I saw and enjoyed when we were shorter. I may be off the mark on this point, but I recall my brother constantly building things such a models, Lego, Meccano and I'm still willing to say sorry that I broke a couple of his model cars by sending them down the staircase; oh and I never should have broken the walkie-talkie set we had or stopped in that puddle while we were on our bikes causing you get a wet foot. Though I also still laugh that the memory of my brother breaking a wall by going down the stairs fast and causing a mirror to fall off the wall and also break. 

The go-cart we shared was fun in so many places, the bow and arrow set was interesting to say the least, the string burns I got from the kite were not his fault as no-one can control the wind, looking after the rabbits and chickens was a joy under the rule of a job shared, also my brother was a better shot with the air-gun we walked around with. My brother saved me a few times physically, emotionally and from an educational perspective. I also recall my brother showing me calculus as he was learning it thus giving me a leg up in high school. 

I also feel that once or twice he took the fall for us both. The one thing I am sure of in my head is that he never threw me under the bus, as that saying goes. While our age difference is about one and one-half years my brother always lifted me up by placing me in his world as such he did not step down but had me step up. 

I love my brother and wish him all the best and want to say thank you. 

(Mio caro fratello io spero tutti bene per te e grazie)

Never Stop Asking

 First off please don't punch anyone on this Boxing Day. 

This author had the idea of a Christmas special for the Awkward Question of the Week (AQW) where a number of questions would be presented and the list just got to long to be to make sense. So this article is just an augmented version of the AQW.

 Are there some studies that should never be done because so many people just can’t handle the answer? Here are some considerations: 

• Age of birthing person (previously known as mother) and the resulting autistic children count?
• The number of people per capita aware that some vaccines given to children that contain aluminum.
• Support by the Government of birthing person so Government becomes the father figure?
• Lack of a physical father figure leading to higher incarceration rates in young men?
• Percentage of teachers divided by sex/gender and race who take sexual advantage of their charges?
• Percentage of homeless people homed under Government supervision that have died under the care of that same Government verses the population norm?
• The number of people per capita, by culture and country, who feel that the Afghanistan government should use USA abandoned weapons much like a used car lot to gain cash to help their people in the form of foreign aid? (this implies that no foreign aid be sent to Afghanistan)
• Is cereal soup?  

Over the last 40 years there has been a swing towards the current position of acquiescence and this author feels that this current situation has been arrived at because much of the demos has forgotten to ask awkward questions such as those listed above; of the ones in power. Society has become softer and it now has also become more malleable as more and more trust was placed away from the individual in favour of the authoritarians without decent facts. 

In the NEWS this author has witnessed reports where hospital access and deaths were supplanted by case numbers in regards to COVID-19. This is a cause for concern as the initial measures were put in place approximately 20 months ago with the statement; 'two weeks to flatten the curve.' This stance was taken to ensure that hospitals and health care systems would not be over whelmed and they weren't.  

While it is said that hind-sight is 20/20 in this case there is nothing to view, because the sheer amount of data points to be considered from across the globe will take years to en-mass and process. The first few years will be spent deciding on the data points to be used and here are just a few things up for consideration; gender, age, height, weight, diet, latitude, stress, travel habits, exercise habits, inbound travelers, and population density.

This, for this author, demands a more awkward question than any given above - why did so many countries roll-back the COVID-19 death numbers after the fact? I'll leave that conclusion to the reader, the reader who should return to the old school practice of asking questions. 

Play stupid games, Win stupid prizes.

This chapter is going to be a series of rants across a variety of subjects. There will be some factual errors coupled with slips in reasoning every once in a while. For those who follow religion please understand that the infallible God made a fail, just take a look around. For those who don't follow a theology remember that evolution is based on a plethora of 'oops'.

A Reaction to COVID-19

This is a multilayered concern for this author as the impact has gone far beyond the interest in just saving lives for that is a fruitless endeavor. Life can not be saved, only prolonged and this does not mean that life should be shortened without good reason. The question then gets boiled down to considering both the cost and the reason.

 

Looking to the Governments: Everything comes at a cost and the cost benefit analysis must be made at each step because an inflexible solution implies an inflexible problem and compare that idea of the initial solution being sub-standard else the problem would be no more.  The vaccine papers provide no benefit as it has been shown that the vaccinated and the non-vaccinated can both catch, carry and spread COVID-19. 

Looking to the Journalists: The US Constitution declares within the First Amendment that the freedom of the press is sacrosanct. This concept has, in this authors opinion, been hijacked by the mainstream media for it is not a NEWS outlet that that has freedom but anyone who can publish. The forth estate was an after thought to the ideal of checks and balances of the three departmental system of government as an additional auditor of that system and so it must be asked, "are you holding up your end of the deal?" Based on current ratings it seems to this author that the answer is NO!

Looking to Business: The Government has drafted/conscripted you without handing over a single shilling from the Queen. In fact the Government makes demand of that very same shilling from you all along with a service and duty allotted to the police. 

Looking to the People: Your local shops are/were owned by people in your neighborhoods and after years of service those people are now being erased from your lives due to Government ordered closures. Over the years these local people became both familiar, friendly, if not even familial. Does anyone beyond this author wonder where the recognized, friends and family have gone because of the actions of business under the direction of Governments within the umbrella of the label COVID-19.

 

 At what point does doing the same thing over and over without a change of outcome not comes across as insanity?

A Reaction to Statue Removers

To those who topple status there is a simple message - STOP BEING STUPID! Of course a simple message can often be misunderstood without context, so here is the context. Without regard if the statue is removed by a government or a group of social agitators the statue was installed for a reason. The reason may have been dictatorial ego and later on that can be pointed out with an additional plaque at a latter date.

A number of examples can be sited about statue removal and how things could have been done or be done better: 

1.  A statue of Stalin in Prague, was erected in 1955 and torn down in 1962. Stalin must not be forgotten because what he did must not be forgotten lest people don't notice a similar person doing a similar thing.For example moving the Enemies Of The People (EOTP) to gulags at the toll of 2.65 million and that backfired in the long run. 
   
2. Cecil Rhodes, who was an Englishman, made his money in Africa through the exploitation of Africans to the point where an entire country was named after him, and that would be Rhodesia. Later on in his life, one might say he tried to repent by starting the Rhodes Scholar program at Oxford University, which gives a tuition free education to select students from outside of England. 
3. Thomas Jefferson is the third example. Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who was born in 1743 and who died in 1826. He did have slaves, as was a common practice of the time, though he committed the uncommon practice of giving them freedom upon his death; both items should be put on a plaque on or adjacent to any and every statue. 
4. Winston Churchill is the forth and final example. Plainly put; dear statue removers if  the statue was of Hitler, how do you think that a statue toppling would go for you?
   

The brutality of dictators and tyrants is well known or at least it was at one point in time, or a least in history. Some tyranny still does exist to this day and  there is a trend in the Western world currently for the few to control the many and as such the ideal of 'a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth' is starting to slip away from the people.

The tyrants are still walking the planet in plain sight in far off lands such as Africa, China, India and other places. The last this author has heard the supply and demand situation has set the price for a human slave in North Africa at under $200.00 USD, young girls fetch a higher price by the way. This begs the question, when someone complains about a Thomas Jefferson statue then why does that same person not complain about what is going today not in their backyard. 

A Reaction to Meatflation

Just to be spicy, this author requests that the reader imagine a flat chested woman with three babies in her pram with the words 'Supply change management problems.' In the USA the media machine along with the Democrats have coined a new phrase, named meatflation. The idea behind meatflation is that because everyone was pushed out of work due to COVID-19 stopped buying meat and they are now returning to work and thus prosperity increased therefore; a higher demand for meat happened and as such the demand out stripped the supply, thus providing for a raise in the cost of meat. Perhaps the Democrats might finally realize they have been participating in capitalism. 

A little more information may change the narrative for some. Due to the COVID-19 lock downs many of the meat processing plants were closed. This forced many farmers to slaughter their cattle and not sending it to market. Additionally, once the Democrats took the White House, Congress and Senate, President Biden cancelled a key pipeline from Canada to the USA. On top of all of that, interstate rules crippled the trucking industry.

To sum things up, meat shortages locally meant that much of the meat has to be imported from Brazil, add in a rise in fuel costs both domestically and abroad has increased costs again, labour shortages because of employee sparsity due to lock down(s) raised wages thus increasing costs again, and less competition due to local store closures allowed for fewer options resulting in price gouging thus increasing once costs again. 

Dear reader please take the time to replace any and every comma in the paragraph above with a plus sign. Also, please abbreviate the list as you seen fit for the sake of simplicity because the education system provided to you probably stops you from following them in your head.

 

In Conclusion

 There is an old saying that says 'don't put all your eggs in one basket.' This author would like to proffer up another - 'carry two baskets of eggs in-case one basket slips.' While there has been and still are proclamations that diversity is our strength this author has been left wondering about the focus of such assertions for they seem rather limited to the following few items: observed sex, skin colour, sexual preference, weight, gender identification, and religion; these things at some discretion can be argued to be facts. The items listed just now are truly out numbered by the single word 'thoughts' and it is by thoughts that mankind moved from the position of 'banging rocks together' towards you the reader reading of this work authored by the author; else we are just monkeys in shoes.

 

 

Thank you for your precious time and the closing point is a simple question:  

 - What is the game you are playing and what prize will you hand off to your children?

 

 

 

The Rule Golden

There was recently a discussion on the death penalty and this discussion has interested this author for quite some time; give or take 30 years. There are a number of factors that come into play in this discussion, which is probably why this topic is so highly contended. Below is a list of contentious points, in paragraph form, to be considered by the reader. 

One typical rebuttal to the death penalty is that after the person is executed and what if new evidence shows up that proves said person didn't commit said crime worthy of execution. This author will accept that point and yet upon reflection will demand a response to - what will be done to remedy the situation that an innocent was technically kidnapped and held against their will for twenty plus years when that very same new evidence comes to light? When the answer is cash, then it must be accepted a year of life experienced in misery has a defined value thus perhaps proving that Universal Basic Income (UBI) can be a thing after all.

The second argument often put forward is that the 'state' must not be given the power to take a person's life. This argument in the eyes of this author is wrong in that it deifies 'The Government' because most governments already have this power under abortion rules and the abortion clinics they finance. To see where your country lands on the idea of sanctity of life, simply learn the laws around the murder of a pregnant woman and see if it is filed as the death of one or two people. 

 

A short tangent away from this discussion by returning to the previous paragraph for a moment, has Plato's Philosopher King ideal been made manifest in this the current year with the exception that the leaders of today are for the most part not the most ideal of men as Plato described?

 

Now back to our scheduled programing on killing certain people. 

The original Golden Rule, as found across most major religions, states that a person should treat others they themselves would like to be treated. Please reconsider the title of this article and please understand the rule needs to run in both directions and as such what one does to others shall be done to you. So when the facts of a crime are irrefutable then the consequence of that crime must carry the same merit and when the facts of a crime are in question then too must be the punishment, including both incarceration or death.

 

Simply put, when you are so unsure of the concept  that an eye for an eye and and tooth for a tooth can you sanction that when the public, whom by the way are the government, kidnap a man and hold him against his will within the same rule set, this author has a question - should a proven killer not be killed and a proven thief not be robbed? As for proven rapists well we don't have to worry as that retribution already happens within the prison system.

Of course now another head of the judicial Hydra needs to be addressed and that is the concept of bail. The practice of bail creates a two tiered system of the cashed and the cashless resulting in the free and the incarcerated; again without any judicial review. It is the understanding of this author that the origin of bail, under old English law, was a payment to the family of the murdered to make up for future lost wages, which would go to the family, in short the murderer bailed out the family and this turned out to be a form of insurance post duel. The not so big surprise is that the politicians stepped in the middle and shifted where the funds would be directed; fundamentally away from the family of the dead man towards someplace else. 

A crucible, as a noun, is a device used in science where some knowledge is gained by burning away everything that is not the thing you are looking to gain knowledge about. The courtroom was originally intended to be the crucible of law where the end results is that the facts remain after all of the other stuff was burned away. The opinions are burned away, the politics is burned and all that remains are facts over someone's ideal or truth. 

When this author was shorter, that being an euphemism for younger, fact and truth seemed united and since that time there has been a linguistic divergence where the words 'fact' and 'truth' have drifted ever further apart. Or perhaps when this author was smaller so was their brain and this paragraph is putting forth a distinction without a difference. 

Regardless of stature, weight or cranial capacity the initial argument still stands. Why should a person who feels that murder is fine not be murdered, a person who feels that theft is fine not be robbed, the rape thing has already been undressed, and yet why should a person not yet charged be imprisoned without a trial or at the very least compensation.

 

There was a time in years now gone when the rich could buy an 'indulgence' from the Pope for committing a sin and those years gone by were are the 1400s, or the Fifteenth century, and upon reflection this author must assume that the basic nature of humans and societies simply don't change.

How not to lock things up

 In motor sport racing, specifically F1 racing, there is one thing most drivers try to avoid and that is over breaking thus causing a lockup. The lockup and subsequent slide causing a flat spot on the tire and a sideways slide causing two problems; the first problem is that the tire is left less than optimal and the second problem is that if you are going to far sideways you are not going forward; the energy one had has become misdirected. 

The racing metaphor above is a reflection on the current social and political environments that have been thrust upon us all. While race car drivers strive for the finish line for that specific race or the championship of the annual race season because that is not how societies work. Societies don't have a preset finish line in so much as they run out of gas or perhaps a better conclusion is that the car simply breaks down. 

Now it is the task of this author to map the introductory metaphor to the real life being perceived. This is not a new task, just a different approach. Social media has quickened the life of many people thus leaving them less time to respond for there are expectations of immediate response on both sides. This is something this author has observed now for many years. 

It is at this time this author would like to make a request of the reader - please provide a legal citation outside of a court order that compels a person to answer a phone call or to respond to an email or any other public commentary. Therefore in countries that have an obvious or a tenuous implementation of free speech then it must be asked; why do people speak on any topic. Based on that premise the obvious question to those people who speak up must be - what is  your goal? The underlining task for the rest of us is to see if we can trust those who speak-up and what they speak-up about. 

Let us now look at who is speaking up. In current history there has been a number of persons who are now needing to slam on the breaks or they are very close. The question this author has is, why is the dive off the race line into the curve needed now. Now we can look at the obvious drivers will be listed:

1. The People on welfare - Please finish the statement - Here is the list of what I am going to pass on to my children.
2. Black Lives Matter - Look up the death toll of people in Chicago Illinois and note the number of people not killed by police. 
3. The LGBT+ Community - Do you all really get along so well enough to still be considered a community anymore or have you ever been? Please remember that while you think that the enemy of your enemy may be you friend today they were your enemy yesterday.
   
4. Transgender Athletes - After all of the women quit the sports in which you now participate, what will you be a champion of? Remember that in a single person race you come in both first and last.
   
5. The Politician - Can you please accurately finish any document or long form speech with the phrase 'Here is why this will help my country ...'?
6.  Critical Race Theorists - Please explain how your racism suppresses the racism that came before yours.
   
7.  According to their livery, those who follow Islam don't like the LGBT+ community and so where does the I fit in? Here is the confusion, because the I hidden in that plus sign must mean Islam or Intersex as it seems there can't be room for both. 
8. The Environmentalist - Please identify and give up every and any thing sourced from fossil fuels. Let me help you out; all plastics, rubbers, steels, batteries (including lithium), electrical item with a source from a non-nuclear plant.
   
9. The Feminists - Please confirm that you are happier being taxed in a world with higher costs based on a two person household income over simply raising children and making sandwiches. 
10. The Politician (Team-2) - Explain why all of these emergency rules, mandates and laws being put in place under an emergency situation don't have an automatic sunset clause built in.

So now that we have the typical ten teams found in F1 we have to looks to the fans, which is otherwise known as the people who LISTEN and SEE, and so here we go and so for them I have questions:

1. If, upon learning that 60% of men or more in prison are from single mother homes would you consider being more careful with condoms?
   
2. Why is the term 'looting' considered a racist act - please explain?
3.  Who held the first 'queer' parade the testosterone or the estrogen?
   
4. Should women have a chance of winning in a female competition?
5. Do your politicians answer to their constituents or someone else? 
6. Does CRT actually fix things or just provide money to those who can buy land from received donations? 
7. Have you read Machiavelli yet? 
8. What do you have left now - anything? This author is not against having concern for the planet and though it took us about 15,500+ years to get to this place; can we please have more than a decade or two to fix the entire thing. I don't have a God complex and I'm surely not someone who has the arrogance to propose that any human has such power. 
9. Due to higher food and fuel costs home cooking will once again become the new normal - does the kitchen really sound all that bad now? Please learn that a warm potato in your pocket will warm your core and afterwards that by eating that potato your will build sugar that will give you the energy to work more so you can buy another potato, if one is a available. 
10. People without hope have nothing to gain and that makes them very dangerous. Please keep that in mind as you move forward on this ever lengthening path that you have set
    

 

This is about it for now and I may return to this later...

Stepping away from plane anger

 Dueling banjos or more.  (https://youtu.be/i5vfw5f1CZo)

How does one handle multiple assaults on ones happiness and keep one's cool. Acting in anger or with anger, same difference, is never a good thing because when you don't like the drama being thrust upon you going about your day in anger only thrusts drama on others thus making those people angry too and so the drama and anger spreads. 

Once again I learned wisdom from my father. My father is currently entangled in a situation not of his making though his involvement is obviously his choice. My father typically has a calmer demeanor than I in these sorts of situations and perhaps that is in part of the wisdom of age. I respect my father for both his inaction and his actions, fore he knows when to fight. Also I'd like to applaud my father for he tells you his mind; he does not imply, he does not indicate, he does not suggest and from my perspective my father plants his feet where he stands on a situation, this is also know as his position. 

On to the situation my father involved. My father keeps his airplane in a hanger at an airport and there are some political games being played by another airplane owner and these games are being played in a full-throated manner. These political games include gathering community support, the involvement of public media outlets at the local and national levels, letters to local politicians; leaving only the 'hunger strike' and 'political violence' boxes unchecked. 

Of course you can not have a politic of one or of all in unanimity because who needs politics when there is a 100% consensus. This is an ongoing story still to be concluded.

The story is not the purpose for this entry, which is the example my father set and what I took away from his telling of the tail. There have a number of things going as of late that have left me frustrated, these include but are not limited to my work in general and more specifically many middle of the night shifts, the Governments reactions to COVID-19, society's general indifference to their fellow citizenry, and some personal stuff, which well personal. Oh and yet again I lost a filling and part of tooth. 

It was a lesson that I have learned in the past and had simply forgotten due to the plethora of things in my life that all seemed to be going all at the same time. A pebble can be easily stopped with the toe of your boot, yet once that pebble hits two more, which in turn hit two more pretty soon there is an avalanche of frustration that blindsides you. 

The end result being me not wanting to play at all. Once I got a better grip on myself and figured out that I needed a strategy I built a mental pigeon coupe, complete with pigeon holes and stuffed the appropriately named pigeons in their holes. This was followed-up by making squab starting off with the plumpest and easiest to catch of these fowl things. 

==QUOTES==
“Keep this thought handy when you feel a fit of rage coming on— it isn’t manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human, and therefore manlier. A real man doesn’t give way to anger and discontent, and such a person has strength, courage, and endurance— unlike the angry and complaining. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.”
— Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180 AD)
 
 “No plague has cost the human race more dear: you will see slaughterings and poisonings, accusations and counter-accusations, sacking of cities, ruin of whole peoples, the persons of princes sold into slavery by auction, torches applied to roofs, and fires not merely confined within city-walls but making whole tracts of country glow with hostile flame.”
— Seneca (Died: April 65 AD) Discussing hate

Stop kicking the can - An Idealist Economic Plan

Capitalism has raised more people out of poverty than any other system to date. This claim is substantiated by personal eye witness accounts of in the city of Toronto Canada it has become almost typical to see people begging for change while they are to busy on their cell phone to say 'thank you'. 

This article will point out point out some actions and considerations for the people and politicians to consider on how ease out of the economic and fiscal mess we have created. The ideas and ideals are just a framework towards improvement and are based on this authors understanding of Canadian rules and regulations. . 

1. Politician salaries are to be set by public referendum. The cost of living would be presented as part of the referendum. When the politicians want a raise of 5% they would also run the risk of getting a pay cut of up to 5%. Each citizen would then mark off on a scale from 5 to -5 allowing them to indicate their wish towards a change in the political payroll, the voice of the people would be the average of all votes and so if the politicians are bad, the citizenry can be mathematically 'mean'.
2. Provide a $1000.00 Baby Birth Bonus upon the first birthday of a baby. The monies would be placed in a compound interest account in the babies name yet still owned by the government. Upon the age of attending University the money can be used for tuition tax free or the money can be used for prescribed tools for a trade tax free. Additionally the named baby can wait till the age of 25 years and apply the money to the purchase of a home, tax free; additionally, two named persons can combine their earnings within a legal marriage. If the money is used frivolously, taxes shall be applied. 
3. Minimum wage is to be incrementally increased by age. Consider any job that pays minimum wage, the inexperienced youth is at a disadvantage due to the experienced person being a better candidate for the job, thus keeping the youth out of the job market. Eventually the employer will see the advantage of hiring the youth. May I say "yout's" as an homage to the movie - My Cousin Vinny
4.  Stop nationalized birth. When a person is born on Canadian soil this currently guarantees Canadian citizenship which should not be allowed unless the parents are already Canadian citizens or foreign born nationalized citizens. Being born on Canadian soil to at least one Canadian parent makes that person an indigenous person with all of the applicable rights and privileges. 
   
5. Stop 'taxing' corporations and charge them 'fees'. Taxation is for the citizenry who can vote and be incarcerated for a crime. Corporations can not vote nor can corporations be incarcerated therefore they shall not be taxed, though they can be charged fees for the use of public infrastructure.
   
6.  Slow the allowing of foreign corporations to own Canadian land and properties. Foreign ownership will come with additional fees which would exceed the local ownership by a citizen owning the land and leasing out. The leasing corporation would still need to owe fees for services.
   
7.  Slow the allowing of foreign corporations to own or harvest Canadian resources. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) takes a protectionist stance on Canadian talent with a general rule that 50% or more of transmitted content must be Canadian made. This same protection based attitude is to be applied to the natural resources, be that resource such as an annual crop, a multi year resource such as lumber, or a limited resource such as nickle, gold, diamonds, or petroleum.
   
8.  Publication of platforms and planks. This position will at first blush be considered political over economic, though the reader must understand that the two are always intertwined. Each corporate media outlet shall provide both platform and plank for each political party on the centerfold, or other predominate area, as applicable, for public review by the public in a printed or printable format;  unedited.
   
9. How is this a good thing? This is the final paragraph in the list as it should be. Each piece of legislation must include a numbered list that references each main section of the legislation with a plain language explanation as to why is that specific section good for the people. A Readers Digest  version as it were.
   

i. (An after thought) - Have cross disciplinary students pick up a law and write out and submit the 'How is this good' conclusion for some existing legislation as a team. This cooperative effort will show how a society works for those of  a young age.

Conclusion:

The ideas and ideals above will be noted by some to be Canada focused and that is a problem for those people. For while a country is a landmass with borders both natural and political, a county is also an ideal and when that ideal dies so dies that country. 

Please keep in mind - progress can't happen without change, though change does not necessitate progress. 

This leads this author to wonder why a person or persons would want to relocate to a country were they feel that cultural changes are required. Wars are not always fought with the immediacy of bullets because social persuasion is also a viable tactic. One must consider the immediacy and the caliber of change that is being demanded and that has to be taken into account. 

 

When a person demands to affect change in a new country such that the new country replicates their country of origin; it must be asked; is that person a migrant, a conqueror or just someone promoting colonization?