Wednesday, November 15, 2017

but, let us not lose context.

why did canada end up as this peacekeeping country? the reason is that we didn't want to get involved in the wars. canada didn't go to vietnam; we accepted draft dodgers. some of them had famous kids. but, we were signatories to the defence agreements, and we wanted to be, and we knew we needed to be, and we understood that we had to contribute.

so, we took tactical positions.

these were never fully altruistic. when we sent our troops into this african country to fight a famine, or that asian country to build roads, it was always in line with the broader strategic interests of the western alliance. i don't know how many of us ever really fully understood this. but, we took pride in it, nonetheless.

and, thus, the question that trudeau ought to ask is this: what roads need to be built, and what populations need to be fed, to advance the interests of the west, without succumbing to it's most nihilistic tendencies?

and, the answer before us is that so much of the work is already done.

but, rather than seek out a solution for the sake of it, perhaps we should wait for the problems to more clearly present themselves.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
this whole narrative is some kind of surreal joke. and, it's designed to create something to run on in the next election.

i can't claim most people will anaylse this the way i do. maybe you'll get some nationalist responses around this. but, the ethnic component of the country has changed so dramatically, that i don't think it's a given.

in the 60s and 70s, canada was a mostly white and largely anglo country, so it could step into conflicts between western powers, and attempt to defuse cold war situations in ethnic lands from this kind of aloof british position of detached near non-alignment, and the population was able to grasp on to it as articulating a kind of alternative theory of empire. we were the conscience of the commonwealth. and, it worked because we could be obviously western and yet credibly neutral at the same time.

today, if we try to step in between just about any conflict, we're going to be seen as acting in the interest of this lobby or that. worse, so many new canadians don't have this attachment to articulating a friendlier kind of empire; they see the world in terms of racial conflict, colonizer and colonized. and, canada is just america lite.

what is happening in yemen is the kind of conflict that canada has historically stepped in to create a buffer to prevent. if we're in a new cold war, the yemenis are in the other camp. but, the reality is that we're selling the saudis guns, instead.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-offers-equipment-and-soldiers-for-peacekeeping-no-decision-on-where/article36985352/

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
“There are people who wish I wouldn’t refer to China as our enemy. But that’s exactly what they are. They have destroyed entire industries by utilizing low-wage workers, cost us tens of thousands of jobs, spied on our businesses, stolen our technology, and have manipulated and devalued their currency, which makes importing our goods more expensive – and sometimes, impossible.”- donald trump, 2015

see what he wants, here?

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
i think i'm catching a hold of something, here.

it seems to be that people think that trump threatened to stop trading with china. i don't know if there were specific articles floating around, or if the clinton people may have helped in the confusion. but, i take it that there's this perception that trump was threatening a trade war and, ultimately, a reduction in trade. i guess this comes out of the intuitive view that the obvious way to close a trade deficit is to decrease imports. or, maybe it's just a naive and ignorant reaction to what is perceived as conflict: if trump is saying things about the trading relationship with china, he doesn't like china (maybe he's even racist!) and therefore doesn't want to trade with china. as though a criticism implies he wants a boycott. i guess that's the logic of a moralizing fundamentalist, which so much of the contemporary pseudo-left really is at heart.

but, decreasing imports doesn't create jobs, necessarily. it might. a surer way that you create jobs is by increasing exports. and, the way that you close a trade deficit without decreasing gdp (and who wants that....) is that you increase exports.

what is a trade deficit? now, let me start by saying that i'm not really concerned about trade deficits so much as i'm concerned about self-sufficiency, food sovereignty, climate change and workers' rights. trade deficits are kind of irrelevant to me.

but, what is it?

a trade deficit is just when you import more from a country than you export. that's all it means. so, when the talking heads on the news say that america has a trade deficit with china, all it means is that china imports more goods into the united states than it accepts from the united states in return.

now, if that's the case, then maybe chinese workers are making things that american workers might make, and perhaps used to make. but, it also means that american manufacturers are being shut out of the chinese market. so, if you're looking to reduce the trade deficit, you want to do these two things, in some capacity:

1) decrease the amount of goods entering the country
2) increase the amount of goods exiting the country.

but, the first thing is just meaningless without the second. if you cut imports without increasing production, you just end up without goods on the shelves. so, what you want to do is increase exports, and then hope that the local production competes well against the foreign production.

in a situation where this is impossible - and mexico is closer to this than china - you may have to cut off open trade altogether and instead retreat to very managed trade. and, that's what he's doing in mexico, too.

all this aside, i should point out the bernie actually threatened to cut trade relations with china. and, maybe trump inaccurately absorbed bernie's position on this, in the minds of many. but, trump just didn't do that. what he was concerned about was reducing the deficit. and, what that always clearly meant was increasing exports.

if you're upset about this, you need to stop listening to democrats and democratic party propaganda. how many times does the actual left have to tell you this? they're just as dishonest and misleading as the republicans are. and, you'll end up just as clueless.

the last time i remember this happening like this was with obama and war. a lot of people thought obama was an anti-war candidate. but, he never said anything of the sort. and, he was one of the most violent presidents, in the end.

the media is dangerous. you need to be vigilant. you need to question. you need to verify. and, the internet exists.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
this was really the only thing that trump broadcast that was worth taking seriously.

this is the reason he cut the tpp: he wanted a military containment, not an en economic one.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/11/14/quad-n14.html

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
it's not my responsibility to educate you about transfinite arithmetic.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
so, i bought some cheap ink.

it's high yield for $20. the last package i bought was normal yield for $80. so, this could be less than 1/5th of the price.

i know that there are risks involved with this. i'm feeling like i need to take them.

it should be here before wednesday. and, the truth is that i won't be totally done by then, anyways.

so, i'll hold off on jacking up the price, for now. let's see what i get out of this.

it's 7:00. wow. lol.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
i may have less ink in there than i thought.

i think it's worse than that.

1) the size of the cartridges is steadily decreasing.
2) they base their metrics on very minimal coverage, and cover art tends to be very ink heavy. if they say you get 500 pages at 5% coverage and i'm printing at 50% coverage, each page i'm printing is 10 pages in the metrics. so, i'm only getting 50 pages, but it's fifty pages at ten times the metric - and there's your 500 pages.

i'm going to look for something more efficient. but, i think the reality is just that the price of ink is extremely high, and if you want a package like this it's going to cost me some money to make it.

again: it's not so so bad, really.

maybe i lowballed the cost.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
i still have a lot of extra cash.

maybe i can do some research into a more efficient printer, before i boost these prices too far.

$15 canadian for an lp is still pretty good. and most of my eps are lp length. $12 isn't too bad at all.

but, i have the prices low for a reason. and i don't really want to have the downloads priced differently than the physical media.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
no, i just need to boost the price.

eps are now $12.

lps are now $15.

that's what it costs.

sorry.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
my printer is out of colour ink, already.

that's about 40-50 pages printed, for an $80 cartridge - meaning it costs $2/page. and, if the disc has a front and a back, it's costing me $4-5 in ink per disc.

i had to do the experiment to figure it out. and, these are the results.

they're outrageous...

i can't sell eps for $7 if i'm spending $5 in ink. based on some basic research, i had ballparked $0.15/disc. so, i'm either going to have to find a cheaper source of ink, or i'm going to have to increase the price.

my estimated static costs were $1.75/disc, meaning that i was clearing $5.25 on an ep and $8.25 on an lp. if my static costs are now $6.45/disc, i'd need to charge $12 for an ep and $15 for an lp to balance out the costs.

i think that's unreasonable.

so, i'm going to have to search for a cheaper source of ink.

i know that the printer cartridge is not out. it has a chip in it. but, i have to find a way around it. maybe i can trick the machine into finishing off the cartridge, to start.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
in a really serious way, i'm just simply too civilized to enjoy sex.

jagmeet singh must cut  his beard.
i don't know why i have to explain this over and over, but apparently i do.

listen: there's not any way you can get around this. sex with a penis is a violent act. you can try and minimize it, but chances are you won't get much appreciation from it - nobody wants you to use your penis daintily. it doesn't matter if your victim by choice is male or female; the point of getting fucked is to absorb the aggression. and, so, if you're stuck with a penis, the only choices you have are to come to terms with the violence inherent within using it, or just choose not to use it. and, if you don't have that violence or aggression within you, if you're a person that lives their life with an attempt to minimize aggression and violence, and if you consequently find the idea of sex in a male role to be kind of revolting, then the thing is ultimately just fucking useless to you.

i don't know how to use the thing. i don't want to learn how to use the thing. i just want it to not be there.

but, i don't want to pretend that i'm a gay male, either, because i'm not.

so, i'm abstinent.

let's try a thought experiment because it might help you understand better: if i were to go off hormones and re-identify as male, would it affect my sex life? it wouldn't, because i'd still have that aversion to sex, because i understand that it is an unavoidable act of violence. and, this is empirical, observational. i was off hormones from 2003 to 2010 and i did not have sex with anybody at all after 2005. the one person i did have sex with before 2003 was ultimately just frustrated that i didn't have any real personal interest in it, and didn't know how to use the thing, and didn't want to learn how. there is an unavoidable chemical reality that would reassert itself if i were to stop the testosterone suppressors, but the only likely measurable outcome of this would be a return to disinterested, routine daily masturbation - i would approach it like i'm brushing my teeth.

i might gain an interest in sex in a hypothetical post-op situation, but finding somebody to have sex with me would be a more challenging proposition, and i'm not walking down that path for that reason. at least if i keep it and just suppress the testosterone, i'm not setting myself up for the obvious devastating outcome. and, i keep telling you that i'm a realist.

i ultimately don't care how you label me. if you want to insist that i'm not really female, but am instead an incredibly faggy male that chooses to chemically castrate himself and take hormones to look effeminate, then you can do that. i might say that if it quacks like a duck, it's a duck. you can insist otherwise if it makes you feel good - it doesn't have any effect on how i'm going to behave. and, if you want me to just throw the gender nonconformity in your face to piss you off, i can do that, too. i don't care. really.

but, you do need to listen to me about the sexual disinterest and get your head around that. because, there are situations where i'm going to react in self-defense to coercion. and, these should not be surprising - you should be able to predict them from simply listening to me.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
the only really feasible path that i have there and back is via bicycle, and it's going to be cold and raining. there's that ten mile strip with no bus service.

if it was in the summer, i'd probably do it. it's part of the reason i got the bike.

but, for tomorrow, i don't think this makes sense.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
i missed st. vincent tonight. everything else aside, it's a big venue, and i just don't enjoy big venue shows. i haven't heard the new record yet, but the lead tracks were underwhelming. and, i get the impression that she's intending to tone it down a little. i'd like to hear what she has to offer on the other side of mellowing out a little in the context of something more orchestral, but i'm not going to get too excited about an americana phase. i guess i'm waiting that out. i hope it doesn't take too long. but, i'll give the new record a chance when i get time to, too.

john mclaughlin is tomorrow night and it's tempting but i don't even know if he's actually playing it. the way he's talking about it is that he's hanging out on stage while somebody else is actually playing. and, he's 75 years old - i can't fault him for not being able to play this material, anymore. this is tough guitar work. but, i'm apprehensive about going all the way to ann arbor if he's not even playing. i'm going to try and find some footage. it's possible.

i've just never seen him play, and if this is my last chance then this is my last chance. but, it's a journey there and back, and i need to make sure it's worth it.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.
purchasing this release does not come with a download.

inri033: written and demoed in multiple stages from 1996-1999. initially constructed in this form in dec, 1999. slightly resequenced in jan, 2014. finalized on sept 19, 2017. lp007.

inri034: written & recorded in the fall of 1999. originally released on inridiculous in december, 1999. split into it's own ep in january, 2014. remastered & finalized on sept 28, 2017.

inri035: initially written and recorded between 1996-1999 and remixed between 2013-2015. initially released as part zero of a three volume set on may 21, 2015. split into it's own release on june 14, 2015. finalized as lp008 on sept 29, 2017.

inri036: written and recorded in late 1999 and early 2000. these versions of these tracks were sequenced without further modification in jan, 2014. remainder of hummer added as a bonus track, and release finalized, on oct 3, 2017.

inri037: recorded in spring, 2000. released, unmodified, in jan, 2014. release finalized on oct 3, 2017.

inri038: written and recorded, 1999-2001. track 3 was reconstructed out of existing sound in june, 2004. initially sequenced in jan, 2014. four new mixes (maximal mix (2017), electronics only mix (2015), single mix for lp010 (2017), full instrumental mix from deny everything (2014)) were added on oct 5, 2017; release subsequently closed.

inri039: this was constructed over a little more than a month: from 7/7-8/20, 2000. it seems to have been recombined into one track around 2007 but has otherwise not been modified since it was completed. first released as an ep in jan 2014. release finalized as symph004 on oct 8, 2017.

inri040: recorded in april, 2000. samples added in oct, 2000. album version reverted to original mix in sept, 2006

inri041: recorded over the space of the year 2000. remixed substantially in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014. existing version constructed in jan, 2014. finalized as lp009 on oct 9, 2017.

inri042: this record was recorded over the years 1999 and 2000, but did not take this form until mid september, 2017. the first track list dates to sept 14, 2017. these tracks are technically outtakes, but did not become outtakes until the remastering process removed them from their respective recordings. finalized as lp010 on oct 9, 2017.

inri043: written late 2000 & early 2001. the renders present here are all from either the early months of 2014, the second half of may, 2015 or the 11th/12th of october, 2017. minor instrumentation changes to facilitate a small wind section were implemented in late april, 2014. live guitars were layered into the final version over may 2014. four more mixes were added from may 19-26, 2015. five more mixes were added on oct 11/12, 2017. release finalized on oct 12, 2017.

inri044: written early 2001. drastically rearranged in june, 2014. rendered, arranged and performed over june and july, 2014. remixed and re-rendered several times over late may, 2015 and again over mid oct, 2017. this release cannot formally finalize at this time, but has been put into it's existing state as of oct 15, 2017.

inri045: recorded in the first part of 2001. sequenced as is in january, 2014.

inri046: written in the spring of 2001. lent out for a different project in jan, 2004. reconstructed in the first quarter of 2006, especially over march. the vst mix was added on jan 10, 2015 and the two guitar mixes were added on may 29, 2015. finalized as symph005 on oct 15, 2017.

inri047: written one day in june, 1998. re-created on another day in june, 1999. reimagined on yet another day in june, 2001. a failed remaster occurred at the end of 2013. slightly rearranged and re-rendered at the end of july, 2014. rearranged again at the end of may, 2015 and one last time at the beginning of jan, 2016. expanded and finalized over oct 15-16, 2017.

inri048: written in the summer of 2001. remembered over july, 2014. completed august-september, 2014. expanded and finalized on oct 16, 2017.

inri049: written and recorded in the fall of 2001. compiled on sept 6, 2014. expanded and finalized on oct 20-21, 2017.

inri050: written in the fall of 2001. rendered, remastered and remixed in late september and early october, 2014. the string mix was corrected for clicks on june 1, 2015, but unfortunately left accidentally inverted. this was corrected on oct 21, 2017. the lead track was re-rendered with the clickless string mix on oct 21, 2017. disc finalized on oct 21, 2017.

inri051: created in the fall of 2001. resequenced and rereleased on sept 7, 2014. disc finalized on oct 22, 2017.

inri052: tracks 1, 3 and 8 were written in 2001 and reinterpreted and completed in 2014. tracks 2 and 5 were interpreted and completed in 2001. track 4 was written in 2000 and reinterpreted and recorded in 2001. track 6 was written in 2001 and completed in 2006. track 7 was written in 1998, reinterpreted in 2001 and rendered in 2014. tracks 1-7 were sequenced on sept 9, 2014. final completion date is oct 3, 2014. refinalized as lp011 on oct 22, 2017.

inri053: written late 2001 and early 2002. this file is ripped from a cd-r that was burnt around 2002, as that was the option that would produce the most accurate reproduction of the original composition. republished without modification in 2014. on oct 23, 2017, the poem was added to the disc as an introduction to the track and the disc was subsequently closed and finalized as symph006 and lp012.

inri054: recorded in late 2001 and early 2002. track 6 was constructed in may, 2004 out of files recorded 1999-2001. tracks 1-4 were reconstructed over october, 2014. final mixes were finished on october 18, 2014. disc closed on oct 30, 2017.

inri055: written in early 2002 and recorded in early 2002 and late 2014. the final fuck boxes mixes were finished on nov 15, 2014. the gentle mix was created and then left stranded on may 24, 2015. the ambient mix and the guitar mix were rendered on nov 1, 2017. disc finalized on nov 1, 2017.

inri056: written & recorded in late 2001 and early 2002 and mixed in early 2002 and late 2014. the final mix was finished on nov 18, 2014. the uncorrupted mix was created on nov 18, 2014 and then cut up into the unstuck mix, but not added to the release until nov 2, 2017. the lorentz factor mix and the separated from mix were rendered on nov 2, 2017. disc finalized on nov 2, 2017.

inri057: written and recorded in late 2001 and early 2002. initially sequenced in may, 2002. released in slightly different forms from 2002-2014. resequenced to mimic the original sequencing on november 8, 2014. except to sequence the record, these files have not been altered since 2002. disc finalized as lp013 on nov 3, 2017.

inri058: written over 2001 and rethought repeatedly over 2002, again in 2007, a third time in 2009 and one last time in late 2014. final mixes were completed over the last week of november and the first week of december, 2014. the concept was rethought on nov 3, 2017, which led to the inclusion of five more mixes (from 2002, 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2017) and an expansion from two cds to four cds. disc finalized as symph007 on nov 12, 2017.

inri059: written and recorded in late 2001 and the first half of 2002. mildly remixed in november, 2014 to make the tracks more presentable; nothing substantial was altered, and no new sound was recorded. final mixes were on november 19, 2014. disc released on physical media and finalized as inri059 on nov 14, 2017.

inri060: written in august, 2002. track one was mildly remixed on dec 12, 2014; two and three were uploaded unmodified. final completion date is dec 12, 2014. disc finalized on nov 14, 2017.

originally created from 1999-2002. this compilation is dated to sept 1, 2002. slowly remastered, reconstituted, compiled, reconstructed, released and finalized from 2013-2017. compilation finalized on nov 14, 2017. as always, please use headphones.
 

credits

released September 1, 2002

j - electric piano, drum & other programming, orchestral & other sequencing, vocal & drum manipulations, classical & acoustic & electric guitars, ebow, digital & analog effects & treatments, electric bass, mandolin, organ, synthesizers, sound design, noise generators, granular synthesis, generative synthesis, generative percussion, light-sound synthesis, cool edit synthesis, sampling, vocals, vocoders, windows 95 sound recorder, flute, drum kit, hammerhead (909 emulator), pick scrapes, found sounds, metronome, digital wave editing, loops, films, tapes, coughs, a broken equalizer, equalization, production, composition.

sean - vocals, lyrics (inri048, inri049, inri053-059), harmonica (inri054, inri057), ring modulator (inri057, inri058)
greg - drum performance sample source (inri056-inri058)
jon - guitar performance (inri048, inri049, inri057)
bob - hammering (inri058)

the various rendered electronic orchestras include acoustic bass, electric bass, synth bass, upright bass, distorted electric guitar, clean electric guitar, steel string acoustic guitar, nylon guitar, guitar effects, banjo, harp, sitar, french horn, tuba, trumpet, trombone, brass ensemble, saxophone, soprano saxophone, orchestra hit, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, pizzicato strings, full string section, piano, synthesizers, synth pad, synthesizer effects, mellotron, organ, bamboo flute, clarinet, flute, piccolo, oboe, english horn, bassoon, voice, music box, tubular bells, bells, clavinet, kalimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, ukelele, theremin, gongs, woodblock, vibraphone, marimba, taiko drums, detuned piano, pc card, drum kit, jazz drum kit, hand drums, melodic toms, orchestral drum kit, drum machines, hammered percussion, synthetic percussion and electronic drum kit. they also include choir.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/mp3-dvd-disc-volume-2

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.