but, all jobs are bullshit jobs.

that's the fundamental point.

now you can disagree with me, but i keep telling you i'm a fucking anarchist....

well, let's forget about the silly religious nonsense for a second and ask a functional question: why do we dispose of dead bodies in such a wasteful fashion?

the reason is that we realized, apparently at some point very early on, that dead bodies can make us sick. we didn't come up with useful ways to understand this until the last century, but we realized that something about these dead bodies was causing us harm. so, we buried them, or we burned them.

even the zoroastrians, who insisted on feeding dead human bodies to wild animals, had the good sense to remove them from human contact by placing them on placards in the sky. a persian city in antiquity would have these fifty foot platforms with dead bodies on them, to be fed to eagles and vultures. gruesome, but arguably more holistic than cremation or burial.

now that we do understand this, why don't we adjust to it? because we also understand something else - all of that organic material is just going to waste inside of a metal coffin.

again: i'm not a utilitarian, but i think we need to be more rational about how we recycle human remains, and so there's something kind of inspiring about this.

http://www.critical-theory.com/jeremy-benthams-preserved-corpse-haunt-nightmares/

if the situation were reversed, and somebody asked me to smoke away from the window, i wouldn't just get up and move, i'd check in to see if i was far enough away. i would register that concern and respect the request not to smoke in their window.

because that's just what canadians do in that kind of situation.

that's the cultural expectation in this country.

it follows that the entire concept of "smokers' rights", while quite american, is really deeply uncanadian.

the canadian cultural norm is that smokers should be expected to move when told they're causing discomfort. because, that's just what we do, here, in canada.

speaking of differences between american and canadian culture, what i'm dealing with with these smokers is a good example of it, and i've pointed this out before.

i have a neighbour who is smoking near my window, and it is bothering me. there is no reason she needs to smoke near my window other than that she wants to. i have asked her to smoke elsewhere repeatedly, and done various things to chase her off, but she doesn't care: she's going to smoke where she wants.

i simply don't understand this. i don't understand why somebody would reject the requests of their neighbours like this, and the reason i don't understand this is that i was raised in a more canadian manner - while this person may very well have been born in the united states.

a typical canadian response to a situation like this is to understand that smoking beside the window is causing your neighbour discomfort and to get up and move. canadians are generally concerned primarily with politeness, and rational means of conflict resolution. we place a high importance on the concept of compromise and are often willing to bend over backwards to keep the peace.

a typical american response is to make up a right to smoke on their property (in fact, canadian jurisprudence does not recognize anything like a right to smoke in your yard, nor does it have any constitutional protections for property, but does uphold ideas like nuisance, trespass and enjoyment insofar as it recognizes the damage caused by second-hand smoke) and tell their "annoying neighbour" that they can do what they want and to fuck off. and, american jurisprudence may actually be sympathetic to this viewpoint, in ways that the canadian jurisprudence simply isn't.

what's going on in my backyard here is really more than a conflict over smoking, and that's why it's proving so difficult to resolve. this is a cultural conflict. as a canadian, i expect this woman to be a good neighbour and smoke away from my window and can't comprehend why she won't relent. but, as an american, this woman is obsessed with her imaginary property rights, and unable to understand how i have any say in the question of where she's smoking.

if i were to move back to ottawa...

i just spent an hour comparing, and the market might even be better in ottawa, right now. certainly, the advantage of relocation appears to no longer be apparent.

i have a long time before i need to take that idea seriously, and it relies on the premise that i get a large payout. but, how would i do it? is it feasible?

i guess i would sell as much furniture as i can and just ship back my electronics & books & clothes. that would avoid the need to hire actual movers; i could probably hire a taxi-van to get my stuff out in two or three trips.

i asked my aunt about this years ago, as she moved from ottawa to fernie, bc, and she said you can buy space in a train and have it shipped. i couldn't imagine another way to do it, short of convincing my mom to  take a road trip. and, if it's just gear and books, and a bicycle, how much could that cost? a few hundred dollars?

so, if i get a $4000 payout, and the market here doesn't open up...

i'd then hitch back to ottawa. or, maybe take a bus, if i feel like splurging. could i hitch with the train and be a real hobo for a few days?

i guess the next step would be finding a place in ottawa to store the gear. this entire scheme is going to rely very heavily on my grandmother. can i use her storage bin? can i sleep in her spare room?

so, i have an algorithm. let's see if the inputs pan out.

i just saw an ad for something that is very enticing in an area of ottawa that i like quite a bit. windsor, you're losing me, here...