Disbelief, Depressing Data and Discovery

The word of the week is inexorable.

 Sept 18 – Other Thinking?

Why do people refuse to believe some things, no matter what the evidence?

I'm a rational person, and while I understand that not everyone can grasp every concept, it's difficult for me to grasp that some people won't even try. Which is a problem, as some of those same people are in positions where putting their beliefs over rational evidence-based thought is a recipe for disaster.

They're called 'Confident Idiots' in case you were wondering:

For the last few months, I've seen more and more CI's chime in on a range of hot-button topics such as Climate Change and Vaccines... and too often I can't help but step in to point out the sheer magnitude of their misunderstandings. For some, the links I provide to peer-reviewed hard scientific evidence are enough, but far too many more cling to their long-held misconceptions, and that's interesting... as well as immensely frustrating. In point of fact, some cling so hard to their beliefs that they try hard to spread the misinformation, utterly convinced by half-truths and doubt that everyone else is in the wrong, and they're doing the right thing.

Which, as you probably know, is paranoia, coupled with cognitive dissonance.

To wit, I found out today that one particularly vocal CI fellow on a few of the pages I frequent had dozens of fake Facebook accounts which he used to spread his 'correct' agenda( about climate change )against all evidence to the contrary. He was vocal enough in telling me that someone else in a thread noticed, and flagged his accounts... all of which promptly disappeared as FBook removed them, as having more than one personal account is a violation of their TOS policy.

Oops. 

Well, he won't be shouting into the online wind anymore, at least. Too bad there's a dozen more where he came from, and thousands more ill-informed folks who spend far too much time in online echo chambers confirming their opinions( not facts )with similar CI folks... it's a never-ending cycle of misinformation traded between people who can't think objectively, or logically.

Isn't the internet great?

Sep 19 – Cholesterol? Say what?

Well, THAT came out of nowhere.

Last week, I went in for a free public health sponsored blood test to check for several aging factors common to men, and today I got the results back.

The good news: my prostate's fine. The bad news: my cholesterol's borderline-high. Huh.... didn't see that one coming.

It was a bit depressing getting that news today; it seems that every time I think that I'm turning my health around, something else rears its head for attention. So I spent a bit of the evening tonight after work checking out cholesterol sources in the meals that I tend to have, and I found one of the culprits: eggs.

Turns out that eggs have a LOT more cholesterol than I knew - the amount of bad cholesterol is actually fairly low, though the overall cholesterol level is high:

It's not all bad news. In the last few decades, medical science has determined that the majority of cholesterol in eggs is actually necessary for the proper functioning of the human body, and that only the levels of LDL-cholesterol need to be tightly watched.

Other parts the picture including cutting back on saturated fats, dairy products, carbohydrates such as potatoes and white bread, all of which I can do fairly easily. I'm looking at getting myself tested again in early 2018 after effecting the diet changes, to see how much my cholesterol levels will have dropped.

I'm not going to spending too much time obsessing over it either, as I don't need the anxiety to come back in any shape or form.

Moving onwards... 

Sep 20 – Stealth Vans

Well, this is kind of neat!

It always amazes me that people find creative ways to turn bad situations into good, and one such growing problem is that of housing. For those who choose to live minimally in mobile tiny houses, there's always the issue of where you can park them for the night if you're not willing or able to do so in an RV park.

One excellent solution is to 'stealth' your vehicle, so that nobody knows that you're actually living in it and so you can park it anywhere, moving around from place to place so that you're not conspicuous about occupying spots overnight.

I think it's a great idea, though I don't myself want to spend more than a year or two doing so in the service of saving up for a more permanent residence. The savings can be substantial however, to the tune of tens of thousands a year in rent not paid.

Something to think about.

Sept 21 – Son Of Zorn!

Barbarians and modern urban living don't exactly mix.... or do they?

Zorn is an animated warrior from a faraway island in the Pacific Ocean who returns to Orange County, CA, to win back his live-action ex-wife and teenage son. It's a different show than you think it might be, given the premise, for while it plays heavily on the differences between the mythical land of Zehpyria and our modern world, it also strikes an excellent balance of humor and the serious examination of how a modern mixed family would try to function.

Unfortunately, like every good show that's been broadcast by the Fox Network in the USA, it was canceled after the first season, which sucks because I really would like to seeing where this story went, as I'm up to the fourth episode already.

But, at least I can finish watching the first season and enjoy it...

Sept 22 – Safety

Take a moment to read this and make yourself safer online.

First, don't fall for 'Like Farming' posts, which although I've seen far less of lately, they're still suckering in my friends and family a regular basis.

Like-farming is simply the practice of harvesting Likes from Facebook, to build a page's numbers that can then be turned over for cash for other uses and will usually see the page renamed to something completely different. People see the words 'Like and Share to Win' then after they've done so, they completely forget about the page and never follow up... because if they did, they'd realize that unlike a real contest, Like-Farming pages do NOT have Official Rules, Disclaimers, Official Websites, Contact Information, Contest Close dates, Winners Lists or anything remotely resembling the sorts of things that you would see in a reputable contest run in Canada or the USA. Don't be fooled!

Below is an example of a typical Like-Farming post, which as you can see has netted a cool 196,000 people who can then have their non-private information used for whatever purpose the new page owners desire to make them( not you )money. It's a HUGE business, suckering and millions of people every day to stockpile their information and use it for commercial purposes without their knowledge or consent:

Second, secure your devices by reading through this short article and ensuring that you've locked down your information, which is one of the most easily accessed yet most valuable things online right now. Device privacy is crucial in our modern connected world, where a weak link in your connected devices means that hackers can tease out more links to your personal and private information, culminating in access to your financial or health details that can have lasting effects on your life. Lock things down now, before anything bad happens!

Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Sept 23 – The Expanse

Spaceships! Explosions! Drama! Great CGI!

I was aware of the series when it premiered back in late 2015, but as I hadn't read the novels on which it's based, I put it on the back burner and forgot about it.

My mistake: it's great! Set 200 years in the future, The Expanse has physics-based space travel and combat, well-written and interesting characters, and a plot that builds for long-term story payoffs - yay!

Now, it's 2017 and The Expanse has been renewed for a third season, to premiere in 2018... and I still haven't read the books, though I did pick up the first one - Leviathan Wakes - a few months ago to read a few chapters, and a few more this week now that I'm on the ramp up in writing my second novel. I most likely won't be able to watch through more than the first season by the time the third season comes out, but that's okay; I'd rather catch up on the novels first and then dig into the TV series for the visuals and see if they match what's in my head.

I will say it's no Babylon 5, but then what these days is?

Sept 24 – Star Trek: Discovery

Tonight, the new Trek series premiered, which is why my blog's a bit late as I wanted to add my thoughts on the show.

Oddly enough, my girlfriend( who is a dyed-in-the-wool Trekker )didn't want to watch Discovery tonight, as she said "It's not real Star Trek" by which she meant Trek from when Gene Roddenberry was around, like Next Generation. Which also holds true for Voyager, Enterprise, I should add... but she has a point.

Discovery is set up as a prequel, prior to Kirk and Spock's era, but after the timeline of Enterprise... which nobody really cared about anyway, from the ratings.

So, what did I think?

Well, as sometimes happened I dropped the ball. While CTV premiered the show's first episode live on air, I missed that it was at 8:30pm Eastern... so while I was typing up my blog after getting home from visiting my parents, I should have been watching ST:D instead.

If I want to see more episodes, I'll have to subscribe to CBS All Access through a USA portal, or get a subscription to Space.ca here in Canada where it's streaming. Or, find another source online... though I'm loathe to do that, as I'd rather support the creation of new things in some tangible way; art isn't free, and I'm frankly tired of the same-old-crap we get for free these days that passes for story.

If I manage to watch it this week, I'll let you know what I think, after I re-check the broadcast times... *annoyed mutterings* I can't believe I muffed that tonight.

Looks like another full week ahead of me, with one evening earmarked for a writing group presentation and the rest spent working on my projects( novel / Glowforge ). It's all about making the best use of my time, and getting myself back to higher-energy levels of health. It's been a slow climbing battle in 2017, but I'm almost there, and feeling better every day, despite the silly health surprise this week. Onwards!

Memorials, Mist and Morons

The word of the week is accrochable - yes, it IS a word!

 Sept 11 – Bitter Sixteen

You never know what's going to happen, in life.

None of those who were in the Twin Towers in NYC sixteen years ago could have known that their lives would be forever altered by the actions of a crazed few terrorists.

Those that lost their lives in the tragedy are still being identified, with the scattered remains 1 in 3 of the victims still unable to be positively identified. Closure for their families is not complete without being able to bury their loved ones.

"Time is an imperfect healer."

Yet the lesson remains with us today: live each day with intensity, experience life and don't let it go by without making the effort to grasp it fully... as tomorrow might not arrive one day.

Sep 12 – Lego Milennium Falcon!

There's yet another super-expensive Lego set... and I love it!

It also happens to be the second-largest Lego set ever released, with 7,541 pieces weighing nearly 20 pounds! Unsurprisingly, the sets sold out within a few days of its release on September 13th, despite the $899.99 CAD which will probably double the the year for those lucky enough to have got one... talk about investment potential! One little gripe: it's not quite a 1:1 minifig-scale, so that the interior layout is an approximation of what the actual ship's looks like to scale.

For your viewing edification, you can watch a short time lapse of one owner's 12 Hours and 43 Minutes that it took to single-handedly put together:

You can also compare it to THIS custom 11K-piece one-off monster that likely costs $2K USD in pieces alone, but IS made out to match the minifg scale perfectly:

SPECIAL BONUS: Adam Savage on Tested builds the new Falcon with his team and compares last year's 'Ultimate' Milennium Falcon to this one...

Sep 13 – The Orville... is good!

It took a little doing, but I managed to watch The Orville tonight.

For those of you unfamiliar with the new show from Seth McFarlane, it's a sci-fi comedy designed to parody Star Trek, and I felt it did a good job, overall:

( no spoilers )Like any new show, The Orville will have to find its legs in the first season, after the writers get more comfortable with the characters and the story of their world. I found the humor a touch lowbrow and the pace somewhat on the slow side, but if those are my only nitpicks after seeing only one episode of a new show, I think it's doing quite well.

The set design was excellent, with clean lines and bright colors used instead of the typical dingy and dark sci-fi we're used to seeing ever since the 1990s. I have some confidence that Seth McFarlane knows what he's doing in television by now, as evidenced by his excellent track record as a writer, so I'll be happy to tune into further episodes of The Orville, once I figure out how to get stream them from the USA...

Sept 14 – The Last Jedi... comic?

Oh, Mark Hamill... what are you up to?

The Star Wars star told fans this week NOT to read an old comic from the 1970's, as it contained spoilers for the upcoming film, The Last Jedi, this December:

Now, I'm not the kind of Star Wars fan who wants to know everything about a film before it's released - far from it! I want to go into the movie spoiler-free, at least as much as possible given today's pervasive social media and the preponderance of idiots on such who love spoiling things for people...

But: I think he's pulling people's legs, as a diversion for his amusement.

We'll see; I actually own the comic, which unsurprisingly has jumped in price on eBay from pennies to over $100 USD in some cases, which just goes to show how dumb AND desperate some people are to give in to their fanboy urges.

I'll wait for the movie, thanks.

Sept 15 – Mist Opportunity

Ergh... that was disappointing.

I started watching the new Netflix series The Mist, based on Stephen King short story of the same name... and it was terrible. About two episodes in, I suddenly realized it was a 'character drama' with Big Bad Monsters thrown in as the driving force for the thin plot... and that killed my interest in it.

I had no desire to sit through episode after episode of trying to untangle the mess of badly-written character dramatics meant to be 'interesting' yet are anything but, since the characters are so flat and the plot so contrived. I ended up skipping through all of the remaining episodes of the first season without missing anything, because if you can't care about or relate to any of the characters, then it's a complete waste of time.

Sad, because I had such high hopes for this been more than a C-grade attempt at a horror-based drama that I might've been interested in... and I doubt we'll get a second season based on the ratings to date.

Sept 16 – Climate Crazy

Oh, Strumpet... will your ego doom the planet?

Yet again the POTUS has pontificated that he refuses to let the USA sign off as part of the Paris Accord in support of saving the planet, due to his massive ego.

How soon is it's until he's gone, again? Three years?

I find myself frustrated from day-to-day with the sheer ignorance of so many people out there it comes to the reality of climate change. It's very simple:

It's happening.

All the evidence, all the facts, all the research: it ALL points overwhelmingly that and the climate changes reality and that instead of arguing or debating the topic, we should have already moved forward as a planet in DOING something about it. Preferably a whole lot of somethings, like what the Paris Accord is all about.

Instead, people believe the garbage that Strumpet is spewing, preferring to post laughably incorrect memes about how man-made climate change is a hoax while sticking their collective fingers in their ears to ignore the EVIDENCE. It's stunning how loud so relatively few people can be when they're spouting such ignorance; obviously the POTUS is setting the example for them.

Too bad the planet is going pay the price.

Sept 17 – Sad Socialization

Today I attended a memorial, and a celebration.

My friend Chris passed away twelve days ago, on September 5th, and today his family held a memorial service for him in Sooke. My lady and I attended, under cloudy grey skies, driving through the wooded rural roads out to his parent's secluded home perched high on a cliff overlooking the harbour.

Several hundred people attended, with standing-room only, which spoke volumes about the character of my friend and how beloved he was by so many.

The memorial took two hours, with family and then friends speaking their hearts about Chris. About his generosity, his kindness and his always-present smile, which was a genuine window into his soul. They told stories of his antics, his propensity for clumsy accidents, of his love of sports and above all, of his love for his friends and family that defined him as a person, through and through.

It was an experience I will never forget, to see how one person can touch the lives of so many and change them ALL for the better, simply because of who he was and how he chose to live each day: to the fullest, with passion and a glad smile. I was also glad of the opportunity to catch up with friends from Staples, some of whom had traveled far to be there from as far away as Alberta and Nova Scotia.

Chris will be missed greatly by all of us, but never forgotten, not for a moment, if today was any indication: the impact he had on our lives was both profound and subtle, and we all owe it to his memory to live, as his brother said, as though he's still with us... doing what we love, as Chris did, and always with a smile.


It came to me as we left: I've never met a better person than he.


Heading back from Sooke, my lady and I stopped in at another invite, the 50th wedding anniversary for the president of our RC boating club who had kindly invited us a few weeks ago. It was a much lower-key affair without a sombre core, and we were glad for the opportunity to sit down while we chatted with mostly-strangers for an hour before heading home, feeling exhausted from our emotions.

The week ahead's looking busy, as is the rest of the fall. Now that the massage work I've had has really taken, I'm going to dive back into swimming more often in the next few weeks, as my access card expires soon - my abdominals are at the point where the gentle exercise will do them good, and I can certainly use the tone-up. Morning laps in the pool, here I come!

Fairs, Film and Friends Lost

The word of the week is contemplative.

Sept 4 – Fair Part 2!

Today was our second day at the Saanich Fair.

My girlfriend and I arrived a little early so we could look around; though it was again rather a hot day, it wasn't as bad as it was on Saturday and also wasn't nearly as crowded. We got a lot of pics of the setup, which was pretty cool, with a large pond to float the boats:

The water was cool and refreshing, too!

By 5pm, most people had left the fair and the VMSS folks started to take down the display area, though by 5:30pm most of these folks have left as well. At the end, it was down to just two other VMSS people, my girlfriend and I to finish up, with stacks of tables, chairs and sundy items to load into two vehicles. We could have left as well, but neither of us felt right now doing that, as the other two people were older gentleman neither of whom were in peak physical form for weathering exercise in the heat. We finished up by 6:30pm, managing to cram everything into a truck and a van, then heading home ourselves across the mostly-empty parking fields after waiting in line with many other patient vehicles to exit.

All in all, it was a more relaxed day than Saturday. Next year though, if we do end up volunteering, we'll make a point to ask for the morning shifts, or even just pass on the duty if enough other people a party signed up... we'd like to see more of the Fair, especially if the weather isn't nearly as oppressively hot.

Sep 5 – Shock

My good friend Chris died suddenly today.

I have known Chris nearly as well as I'd like, having only met him during my time at Staples back in 2012, but we clicked right away. He was a friendly fellow, always willing to help and as it turns out, we shared a love of boardgames as well as some mutual local friends, so it was natural that we'd end up hanging out.

Chris was only in his early 30s when he passed away today from a heart condition called pericarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart lining suspected to be caused by a viral infection such as a cold. I had no idea this could happen, and his sudden loss shocked everyone who knew him.

I managed to write this today before work, which I feel expresses much of the friendship I shared with Chris and speaks to the character of the man I knew:

The world truly is a poorer place without him, and we'll all have to find a way to cope. 

Somehow.

Sep 6 – Ponderings

Losing a close friend really makes you think about life.

Really, you should be thinking about it all the time, but so many of us get wrapped up in the details of the everyday that we don't stop often enough to appreciate what we truly have going for us. Thoughts on dying seldom enter into people's daily lives, yet we'll all die, someday.

We take too much for granted - we've also all heard that.

I like to think that I've given more thought to what I have going on in my life over the years than many, though I don't pretend to be as introspective as the better philosophers throughout history. I think about where I've been, where he and where I'm going, and all the places that I've walked along that path.

I'm also incredibly grateful that I've rarely walked it alone.

True, there are some aspects of your life that you have to figure out for yourself: nobody's going to be able to fix things for you as an adult.

It's the people in your life that are the most important thing, those who by blood or circumstance or choice share the path you walk, coming and going as you all meander along the ways that your choices take you hither and dither. Knowing someone is the same as being friends, associates aren't family and those we choose to share our lives with( and they, us! )form the bedrock of our days. We assume that they'll always be there, and that will always have time to catch up.

Never take the people in your life for granted.

For myself, I take some comfort in that I've left this blog as a record of part of my life( around 20% )which is something, and I'm hoping to leave behind a good body of writing as well. I also hope, should I depart earlier than expected, that the good memories I made with many folks will linger on with them and provide comfort for many years after I'm no longer around to crack puns.

Then again, I might set up an email auto-pun generator.... hmmm.

Sept 7 – Why Game?

Why do I like boardgames, as opposed to video games?

It's interesting question; I've pulled back from online gaming in the last few years, a stark contrast to when I first arrived here in Victoria 10 years ago. Back then, I didn't know anyone here, so it made sense for me to continue gaming with my friends online in Neverwinter Nights as well as my friends from back east on Xbox Live playing cooperative games like COD and the like.

Gradually, that changed as my NWN group wound down and I lost interest in the first-person shooter games that demanded too much of my time in order to keep my skills( which were merely adequate )at levels needed to not drag down my teams. It just wasn't interesting to me anymore, and slower-paced games online held little similar interest for me, nor did MMO's like Warcraft or any of the others.

So that left boardgames, and thankfully Victoria has a thriving community for such at places like the Interactivity Cafe. But why do I play the games?

This article takes a look at the whys rather nicely, including this particular bit:

Also noted in the article is the fact that you're gaining face-to-face with people instead of through my computer interface... or alone with your phone. Personally, I've installed dozens of games on my previous phone, but only a few on my new one because I found that I just don't play them unless I have nothing else to do such as when I'm on a bus... but even then, I'd prefer to read.

Thus: I like boardgames because I can play them with other people when we get together in the same room.

So simple, and yet so true.

Sept 8 – Jobs For Me?

I'm still trying.

This month I've applied for three separate jobs within the government, doing my best to tailor my applications to the positions to show my strengths and qualifications. I've had discussions with several people about the positions to get their opinion on what the highlight, and I'm feeling much better about my chances of making it through the process then I did before the summer started.

It's crucial that I keep trying this fall.

It may not seem like much, but even a slightly better position would mean several hundred dollars more per paycheque, which currently for me have most every dollar spoken for... not a healthy way to live, but that's the way it is right now.

I'd hoped by now to be at least six months into my new business, generating revenue from my Glowforge, but that didn't happen, and neither did any of my job applications, so I'm here now and having to deal with things as they are.

All I can do is keep trying to make positive change in my finances, while reducing my stressing about same and continuing to move forward with my writing projects.

Sept 9 – Moving Film

In the late afternoon, my lady and I went to see a movie downtown.

We went to the old Vic Theatre, home of the Victoria Film Festival, to see the lauded Japanese animated feature In This Corner Of The World. The film is a rarity in that it's completely hand-animated, and it's just gorgeous visually:

The story follows the life of a young Japanese girl as she grows up prior to WWII and then her experiences during the war. It's moving and poignant, sweet and funny and tragic all at the right moments and it doesn't leave you with a Hollywood ending but rather pondering life's lessons and greater meanings.

It was the perfect thing for me to see this week.

Sept 10 – Breaks

Today went by quickly, but well.

Breakfast in the morning with a friend turned into a perfect lunch with my lady at Garrick's Head Pub: we were the only ones on the patio outside, and there was a Spanish guitarist playing nearby as part of the weekend market. The sun was shining and though we're in the shade, it wasn't too shivery... and we both enjoyed just relaxing outside in each other's company until the early afternoon.

I'm So glad I can eat their Sunday special again - YUM!!!!

As well, the weather has finally broken this week, with several overnight rain showers that have washed the haze from the sky, along with cooperative winds that have kept the smoke from the mainland's wildfires away. Both my sister and I have had steady headaches this last week, but as of yesterday they've cleared up, which leads us to suspect that they were in a large part related to the particulate matter in the air clogging everything up around here.

It did make for some good pictures though, like this picture of the moon from 6:30am on September 7th, which turned out rather well I think:

All for now; I've a busy 5-day week ahead, and lots to do each evening for the rest of the fall...

As I mentioned last week, I'm feeling pretty much back to normal, walking to work and home again in all things in between without any leg twinges. My abdominals are only complaining a little here and there, and so I'm looking to take up swimming in the mornings again for at least two days each of the next few weeks. It should be both relaxing and invigorating before work.