what have i been doing?

i lost track of time a little this week because i got sidetracked by something.

as i indicated i was doing, i spent the middle of last week sealing the furnace room, and cleaning the bottom of the carpeted side entrance and the tiled hallway between it and the kitchen, with the intent of moving some small furniture items in place in that part of the apartment. once the hallway had been vacuumed, scrubbed, vacuumed again, steam mopped and vacuumed one more time, i put the furniture in place, moved the items that belong on the shelf on to the shelf and started focusing on clearing things off and around the couch, in order to pull it away from the wall. i was about ready to take some pictures.

i think that what happened is that a small rat escaped from the furnace room when i had the door open and was in there cleaning. as mentioned, i cannot seal that space. i had been hearing something try to get in from upstairs for a few weeks, but there was no sign of entry anywhere, and no sign of activity anywhere, after i sealed up the cardboard the last time a few weeks ago and i after i cleaned up the little bit of activity in the laundry. it was only after i opened the door that i noticed anything. unfortunately, when i moved the couch out from the wall, it became clear that there was something under it and had been for a few days at most. there were only a small number of droppings, but they were fresh.

i reacted by doing two things:

1. setting up baitless traps against the wall. rodents are nearly blind. i don't want to feed it, i'm hoping it just trips on it.

2. dumping powdered bleach everywhere near the couch so that it would necessarily track through it

the idea with the bleach is that i'm hoping the rat will walk through it and get it on it's feet and legs or on it's body. rats spend a lot of time grooming. a rat with powdered bleach on it's body is likely to remove it by licking it off. it would not take much bleach to kill a juvenile rat, the hard part is getting it to eat the bleach.

i then let it sit and instead spent a few days in the bathroom cleaning myself while i waited.

over the next few days, i checked everywhere in the apartment several times and i found nothing - no droppings, no rat. i have not heard anything, either. it disappeared without a trace and without a sound. i don't know how it might have got out and suspect it didn't but i haven't found it yet. my best guess is it's under the pile of boxes blocking the side door and is probably dead in there. at the least, it's no longer running around in here and no longer leaving droppings but i'll have to keep looking for it.

what i've done since i got back to working on the space is

- removed everything on the stairwell to the side entrance (but not on the top landing in front of the door yet)

- vacuumed, scrubbed with carpet cleaner, vacuumed, scrubbed with cleaner again and then again vacuumed the carpeted steps. it's looking pretty clean.

- sealed the stairwell and the baseboards at the bottom of the landing

- installed two lights in the area, one 800 lumen and one 1500 lumen, and upgraded the pot light to 1500 lumen.

- sealed the window, including putting a blackout curtain in place

- revacuumed, rescrubbed with lysol, revacuumed, re steam mopped and revacuumed the hallway 

- washed all of my winter jackets, rain jackets, hooded sweaters, toques, face masks, scarves, gloves, etc and put them on the coat rack or the hat and glove holder. it's ready for the winter, or for the rainy season.

- set up a shoe rack and put all of the shoes that don't need to be fixed on it. the rest are in the garage.

- put all of my various bags up on the racks or on the wall

- placed some art on the wall

- further sealed up the ceiling under the stairs (on top of the carpet) to address some water leaks from upstairs

- further sealed the furnace room door

- moved the old tv stand in front of the furnace room door and put boxes for kitchen items on it (for now)

- moved the coffee table that's too big for the listening room in the hallway and put sealed containers of spices, a bag of plastic bags and a number of reusable containers, some with bottle caps, on it

- moved the three tier console table back into the hallway, but on the other side of the hall. put an electrical splitter behind it. will move further small appliances (pop machine, etc) to top of console table. unused kitchen items and old appliances on bottom of console table.

- sealed up pot lights to keep flies from upstairs out. step one. step two to come.

- vacuumed, scrubbed with lysol, vacuumed, steam mopped, vacuumed tile under couch

- moved couch back to where it belongs. vacuumed couch.

- sealed up cold air returns to keep vermin out and to block draft.

- put up floating shelf for networking devices on wall (modem, firewall, several daisy chained wired and wireless routers, switches) near cable in. moved devices to shelf.

- put legs on remaining studio tables (big keyboard table, small antique table)

- caulked remaining wall behind computer desk (for 3 studio pcs, studio chromebook, potential studio mac, etc)

- vacuumed, scrubbed with lysol, vacuumed, steam mopped, vacuumed tile under computer desk

- picked all boxes and pcs in studio up off the floor and put on table or desk

- picked all boxes in bedroom up off floor

- started putting cardboard up on ceiling in kitchen. ordered more sealing tape (oddly slow to come in).

- moved smelly old couch out of garage and outside to the curb.

- set up steel mesh over vent into furnace room (from outside, where i built the brick wall a few months ago)

i started again on saturday and stopped on monday afternoon to let the floor behind the desk dry, slept in the evening and then spent most of tuesday (which was warm here) in the bathroom, before getting the couch out in the afternoon. 

what's left to do before i shift back to the great cleanup and then to typing in the bedroom?

- i have enough cardboard broken down and ready to go to finish the bottom layer in the kitchen as soon as the tape gets here, so i should get the aluminum up by the end of the week. that was a primary goal.

- i have a very small amount of caulking left to do on the stairway down from the side entrance and i'd like to do another vacuum run of the carpet and floors there before i move on. 

-  once i get the cardboard up, i have a two-tired coffee table to move to beside the couch (parallel to the console table) that will be a side coffee table for the couch. i'll need to vacuum that space and it will probably be rescrubbed and relysoled.

- i want to finally finish installing the shelving in the kitchen and get the items that belong on the shelves on to the shelves.

- there's a small number of amazon haul items to finish with, but i mostly did that the previous week (all of my pots and pans are finally up on the wall)

- i need to move the rest of the furniture in the studio out to in front of the stereo before i can clean the rest of the floors and then move it back

- while the studio will remain uninstalled for a while, i can take things out of boxes and clean them and generally tidy the space up to prevent anything from living in there

- i am going to set up the drum kit because i need to in order to understand the best way to use the space

- finish cleaning around the removed couch in the garage

- set up the bike rack

- move the three bicycles currently in the unit into the garage and lock them to the rack

- tidy up further in the garage (tools, shoes, fans, electronics that need to be fixed, etc)

- a second waterproofing run over the brick wall and around the bottom of the wall

- another concrete run

- clean floors in front entrance

- clean floors between stereo and couch

- clean floors in kitchen and bathroom

- clean bedroom floors

- clean sheets

some items i'm looking to purchase in different areas - 

side entrance: 

- couch at bottom of stairs with computer system

- second video doorbell

- standalone mailbox

kitchen:

- small appliances

- step two for pot lights (extenders, reseal)

- needs more caulking and sealing (need a little bit more caulk)

- install light over stove

- update youtube laptop (needs new os and battery, update account access from koc)

listening room:

- small coffee table

- shelf for pi

- wall mounted monitor for pi

- wireless mouse and keyboard

- small ups or battery backup

- mini standalone exercise bike (not stationary)

library: 

- set up shelves (need glue, masking tape)

- get tall, skinny shelf

- security pc setup peripherals

studio:

- update further items as per use and journal. need old guitar analogs. set up mini tele (hannah montana guitar), find solution for ibanez replacement.

- may need to replace some electronics due to previous damage

- 486 pc is initial project (may go in garage)

- update shelving to get lingering items out of boxes.

- need to update power bars (need to get a ups for studio, long overdue)

bedroom:

- new filing cabinet

- fix celestions

- bluray for digital media

- tablet for sleeping

- peripherals for tying pc (offline multimedia presentation)

do i have any concrete suggestions for the situation in france?

the more traditional left tried to step in and co-opt the riots organized by the radical right immigrant movement and while they got some people out on the street for a few days, the size of the protests has come down dramatically. that's a predictable result. if the result of the co-option is that the situation fizzles out then that might be a gift to the status quo. 

the reality is that france spends a lot of money on education, but also that the state is threatening substantive cuts. the complaints seen in the english media appear to be disingenuous, in terms of representing the concerns of the students, which don't seem to be financial, exactly. it doesn't seem to be about underfunding, it seems to be more about a cultural perspective that the french education system is too intense. that doesn't seem to be grounded in fact, either.

so, if the reality is that the french system is not too harsh (but is maybe a little too lenient) and the schools aren't underfunded at all but are better funded than almost anywhere in the world, what is going on? why are the middle class white kids marching?

because it's cool. everybody's doing it. it's happening to protest like it's 1968.

or maybe like it's 1848.

but this doesn't present a lot of answers besides looking at the media landscape and asking what these kids are consuming that makes them decide that burning their school down or waving palestinian flags is "cool". the right-wing press wants to blame it on left-wing agitators, but this is the antithesis of historical materialism, and all evidence suggests rank opportunism by a very fake left rather than any legitimate organizing. the real culprit seems to be an internet media landscape that lacks filters or even metrics. you and i don't even know what they're consuming that's got them playing out the revolution and jostling for the next revolutionary beside them for the coolest kid spot in a legitimate attempt to try to get laid.

it really takes the issue out of the hands of the elected class. that is a difference between iran and france, at least for now - nobody's getting shot in france, except the teachers and the police. nobody's going to get sentenced to death. nobody's going to the guillotines. if the issue is a decentralized internet culture that delusionally romanticizes islamicist extremism by falsely equating it with leftist uprisings, the democracy has no available solution. you just need to step back and let them tire themselves out, like you do with a toddler throwing a tantrum.

the solution might be to respond through the grading system.

if it's not safe to go back to school, set up pandemic era distance learning for the kids that want to go to class, and let them study. if there's some set of kids that would rather be cool and go to the riot than be good students and go to class then fail them for it.

in the medium term, security may need to be increased to ensure that kids can get to school and students trying to stop them from getting to school or otherwise disrupt the situation may need to be charged with harassment. they can tell the judge they were just trying to be cool.

in the mean time, somebody has to show up and campaign on maintaining education funding. the situation only demonstrates the importance of funding your secondary schools. if france has debt issues due to irresponsible spending, the kids shouldn't be the ones to face the cuts. 

clearly, the biggest problem right now in france is runaway military spending, which needs to be addressed.

and regarding the cultural issues, it's important to remember that immature teenagers will grow up and that the education system will help them do that but that not everybody is going to learn and not everybody is going to succeed. some students will fail. some young people will spend much of their lives incarcerated.

the only real approach possible is to create counter media that challenges the idea that what the students are doing is sexy or cool and the only real source of that counter media is the young people themselves. it will need to work itself out, but the system needs to enforce educational and legal consequences in order to make counter examples.

you might remember when smoking was cool. you might likewise remember the wrinkly, toothless 40 year old that got trotted out in the 90s to show the kids what you're going to look like at 45 if you smoke. and that worked; not on everybody, but on a majority. the kids that will need to be failed will need to become the examples of what happens when you're cool and go to the riot instead of smart and go to class.

there's probably not a quick fix to this.

it does not appear as though netanyahu's most recent challenger has the numbers to overthrow him. israel's parliament is very complex.

right now, it doesn't look like this month's vote will result in a workable parliament and they'll have to do it again in a few weeks. but that doesn't often happen. somebody usually blinks.

i would put my money on the old man staying in power. his health may be thing that removes netanyahu in the end. he won't live forever.

a movement that won't criticize the iranian state or support people fighting it on the ground but instead flies flags in support of it's proxies in israel is not a left-wing movement.

one will recall that the iranian revolution began with student protests, before a counter-revolution resulted in a fascist theocracy.

i support exporting the french revolution to iran. i do not support importing the iranian revolution to france.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/oct/14/najmeh-amini-blasphemy-death-sentence-insulting-prophet

i'm just intrigued by the reality that the bourgeois press is largely in support of the rioting in france, while characterizing it as radically left-wing, while the socialist press is overwhelmingly critical of it. it's like the mainstream press has been given orders to create a strawman for the far-right press to tear down. they are working together to create a fantasy reality of the protests as left-wing, while the actual left is saying "we don't support this. this is not socialism. this is a developing fascist movement that has no revolutionary potential and no resemblance to socialism and that threatens the freedom of many vulnerable groups and threatens the revolutionary left.".

"Had Charles Martel not been victorious at Poitiers – already, you see, the world had fallen into the hands of the Jews, so gutless a thing was Christianity! – then we should in all probability have been converted to Mohammedanism, that cult which glorifies heroism and which opens the seventh Heaven to the bold warrior alone. Then the Germanic races would have conquered the world. Christianity alone prevented them from doing so." - adolf hitler, lamenting the victory of the french over the muslims in 732 that prevented a muslim conquest of western europe (and largely repeating the views of edward gibbon about the collapse of the roman empire, the first of hitler's three reichs)

i'm not sure why zetterberg thinks it's ai assistant will fare any better than clippy did 30 years ago.

the meta muse is functionally exactly the same thing as the talking paperclip that came with ms office 97, which was widely despised by all. it just uses more ram and has control over a bigger part of your hard drive.

i can't find footage of the taiwanese christian missionary that jumped into a lion enclosure in order to convert them to christianity.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6396422

despite being from a very bourgeois background, greta thunberg has decided to go riot with the lumpenproletariat in france.

does she calculate that dumpster fires are good or bad for carbon emissions? or does she even care anymore? 

that would make her a 23 year old high school student. and that's the correct way to interpret ms. thunberg.

she's retarded.

the international community should be putting immense pressure on ukraine to immediately hold elections and should be threatening the withholding of funds and the withdrawal of recognition of ukraine as an independent state until it does. it should be kicked out of the un until it holds elections, and it certainly shouldn't be given any more weapons until it does. 

this is farcical.

the last ukrainian election was in 2019. they've been repeatedly delayed since 2024, meaning zelensky is on par with mahmoud abbas in terms of holding to democracy. he is no longer elected and should be referred to as unelected.

ukrainians should indeed choose their next leader. the problem is that zelensky and his corrupt party are refusing to allow them to do that.

zelensky is currently running around 25% popular support, which makes him competitive but not a clear front runner in a new election.

https://www.aldeparty.eu/blog/news-11/ukrainians-choose-their-president-not-trump-613

these plants are not adhering to existing environmental regulations, are outdated and should be shut down, but nobody is enforcing the laws.

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/why-has-dark-smoke-been-coming-out-of-stelcos-stack/article_22195a90-7337-5639-b37a-584f692109f5.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-soot-grime-health-9.7313009

https://www.hamilton.ca/people-programs/public-health/environmental-health-hazards/air-quality-hamilton/black-particulate

the ndp should also be supporting positive reforms to ei and increases in funding for retraining programs for permanently or structurally laid off workers.

this is nonsense and will do nothing to protect jobs, as the federal government has been responsible for more layoffs over the last year than the tariffs have. you're more likely to get laid off if you work for the federal government right now than if you're in a private industry that's been affected by the tariffs. nationalizing stelco consequently might increase the number of layoffs, if it's nor paired with a subsequent increase in demand generated by a jobs bill and increases in deficit spending.

further, it's a right-wing economic policy disguised as left-wing by using strategically chosen buzzwords. nationalization is often promoted by the fake left but that kind of state capitalism is generally more similar to very old conservative ideas about mercantilism than anything related to socialism. state control over industry does not necessarily lead to greater worker control or greater worker percentage of profits, and in canada in 2026 there's little reason to think it would. it's all "general revenue"; you're just paying for mp's salaries. that's not socialism, it's not left-wing - it's state capitalism, it's fascism, it's extremely right-wing.

you protect jobs by increasing demand, not through nationalization. employment is not determined by the national origin of the owner of a company, it's determined by how many workers are required to generate enough product to meet demand for it. if the ndp's goal is to protect steel industry jobs in canada, it should be calling for a jobs bill and for the government to buy more steel, not for nationalization. nationalization is irrelevant to employment.

the reality is that this is not left-wing at all, it's supply side economics. the ndp is supporting reaganomics.

i don't personally support maintaining a steel industry in canada and would be happy to shut the filthy steel mill in hamilton down. we should import steel from other countries and offshore the pollution it generates in the process. the amount of employment it creates in canada by keeping it here is broadly trivial. i don't want this filthy industry here, in this country. let the americans deal with the pollution if they want it. good riddance.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/ndp-calls-nationalize-stelco-9.7379251

"So everyone's concerned, as they should be, about some of the implications of (the) tariff war with the U.S. But in real practical terms, what the federal government has done has been much more impactful when it comes to layoffs."

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ottawa-sees-highest-job-losses-070121743.html