see, it's not just the snc-lavalin thing that just happened.
the party also just fired john mccallum, and broke with a historical foreign policy in venezuela. the cabinet shift was caused by the resignation of scott brison. these are big, paradigmatic changes in the liberal party.
to have gerald butts - a richelieu type character - walk out like this is either a forceful reversal, or the next step in a process.
i've been calling for the former and will be ecstatic if i was heeded, through whatever ether or zeitgeist i'm communicating through. but, i actually suspect it's the latter - that this is a palace coup spearheaded by the party's right, which wants to put chrystia freeland in power.
we'll find out soon.
Monday, February 18, 2019
the resignation of gerald butts is a major change in the canadian political landscape, heading into the 2019 election. while he appears to be taking the fall for the snc-lavelin scandal, i suspect that this is actually somewhat of a smokescreen for a shift in policy direction.
i've been stating for months - years - that the party needs to flex it's muscles, and change it's policy direction, before trudeau leads them so far to the right that they end up politically irrelevant. i don't think that anybody actually voted for justin trudeau. when you strip away the layers of nostalgia for his father, of partisan liberal support, of stolen ndp positions (all of which have been abandoned) and of anti-harperism, the only thing that trudeau was actually running on as an individual was marijuana, relegating his political base to fickle first-time voters. and, now we're making major shifts in foreign policy that are undoing the party's legacy, and really flipping their branding over.
recent polling suggests the liberals are in fact in trouble. and, why wouldn't they be? we voted harper out with disdain, only for him to reappear in a prom dress.
but, it's not entirely clear yet which side of the argument won this debate. and, that is what we're going to figure out in the upcoming days and weeks: was butts pushed out by the party's old guard, which is trying to take control of a sinking ship, or was he a victim of his own success - purged by a party that wants to realign itself on the right.
i've been stating for months - years - that the party needs to flex it's muscles, and change it's policy direction, before trudeau leads them so far to the right that they end up politically irrelevant. i don't think that anybody actually voted for justin trudeau. when you strip away the layers of nostalgia for his father, of partisan liberal support, of stolen ndp positions (all of which have been abandoned) and of anti-harperism, the only thing that trudeau was actually running on as an individual was marijuana, relegating his political base to fickle first-time voters. and, now we're making major shifts in foreign policy that are undoing the party's legacy, and really flipping their branding over.
recent polling suggests the liberals are in fact in trouble. and, why wouldn't they be? we voted harper out with disdain, only for him to reappear in a prom dress.
but, it's not entirely clear yet which side of the argument won this debate. and, that is what we're going to figure out in the upcoming days and weeks: was butts pushed out by the party's old guard, which is trying to take control of a sinking ship, or was he a victim of his own success - purged by a party that wants to realign itself on the right.
at
23:12
so, i've now got all of those boxes properly organized and put away. there's one stack of cds and one box of books left out for easy access, which is very specifically books and cds from the period up to mid-1997, which is the next period i'll be working on in the alter-reality.
the last run through the main pc (i keep calling it that, but it is now merely the 32-bit box) is now done, as well. this included a final browse through the directory structure for loose files, as well as an attempt to undelete any files sitting on the drive.
and, in the process, i found something i thought i had lost - a file called archive.pst, dated to late 2011. it was hiding in the virtual machine, and had to be brought back using a file recovery utility. this might be my missing email. or, it might be corrupted beyond readability. i'll find out over the next few days.
i found a few other large psts as well, with dcxx file names, indicating they're likely unreadable. we'll find out...
that means i'm back to the email process this week.
there's two things left to do before i can get back to sitting on the laptop and organizing files for the rebuild. i want to run the same file recovery process on my old quantum fireball, in the hopes that i can find some old thunderbird boxes. i suspect they're there; the question is if they're readable. i'm also still running an undelete process on two relatively old hard drives that don't have vista/7 drivers and can only be read from inside xp, but that i can't get my 32-bit box to read, either (because i broke the plug and play on purpose). so, this is running on the 90s laptop - and is slow. it's getting there.
a day or two, tops. i think.
i also took the opportunity to do some organizing and general cleaning. i can't remember how i described this basement apartment; i know there are neither pictures nor video up yet, which is quite conscious. but, it's organized in such a way that there are two bedroom-like enclaves (with sliding doors that are kept always open), but no dining room or eat-in kitchen (there is of course a kitchen, with the luxury of laundry in it, and a bathroom). the way i have it set up is that i'm using one of these enclaves as a bedroom and the other as a dining/living room, then using the main area as a studio. something you'll note is that the only thing i actually do in the "living" room is eat - i spend almost all of my time in my bedroom or in the studio. i guess this is a function of the fact that i neither watch tv nor have any friends. my "living room" is really the studio. i think i was over this a few times last year - the actual functions of the spaces i need are to sleep/type/read, to record and to eat. so, i need three rooms, organized in some capacity. the last basement had four rooms, with the fourth being a big eat-in kitchen, but i didn't actually use it for anything other than to store garbage; i ate in the living room. the smoky apartment had two rooms, and i consequently found it a little cramped, as i had to force everything into one space. three is a better number, here - even if the total floor space is technically somewhat smaller (it's a negligible difference).
for the last several months, i've just had everything piled into the other room, waiting for it to be cleaned - loose plastic recyclables, receipts, user manuals, books, cds, bills, documents, old school work, etc. i've finally got all of this cleaned up and organized, which has converted the area into an actual liveable space. the studio is still messy, but it is at least in order - although i need to caution that it could be a while before i get back into there. even keeping in mind that i will need to catch up in the alter-reality before i get back to working on the discography, the material from 2003-2004 is actually entirely completed (a rarity in my discography), meaning the next projects to reconstruct actually date to late 2004 and early 2005. the next major project i'm going to be actually working on is a matlab project, and is going to be about programming, rather than recording - i'm going to be writing an entire record using mathematics and physical modelling. i've got about 15 minutes to start with and a handful of loose ideas to base sounds around. expect this to be exceedingly abstract. i may even use it as an excuse to finally get into reaktor or whatever passes for it nowadays; the point is that i'm not going to be getting back to actual note-based music composition until i delve well more than a year back into the discography.
i'm still hesitant about planning around this basement, but my best option may be to wait for a spot in a subsidized building. the air quality comes up and down, but seems to be workable so long as the fan is on. i've done a few extra caulking layers and think i've reached the endpoint of what i can do with that. i still just can't figure out if there's a teenager upstairs smoking, or the air in the neighbourhood is just bad, all around...and, if i can figure out the answer to this, i'll be able to plan the future a little better.
i think i can get a few shelves, regardless - one for cds and one for books. the plan will be to fill these shelves as i work through the alter-reality. i don't need to commit to this basement long-term to spend $40-50 on some relevant general utility shelving. but, i'll need to wait until the spring before i start thinking about hauling shelves around; that's fine, it'll be a few weeks, at least, before i get there. i'm not building custom shelves like i wanted to in the other space, and am glad i didn't.
i think the primary concern once i get these files aligned is actually going to be fixing the broken laptop, one way or the other. i bought parts for it, only to have the processor finally fry. if i can't find a way to bring it back, i'm hoping i can find a cheap replacement and swap out the parts. this is an hp pavillion that was manufactured in the 2010-2012 period. you'd think i could find a replacement that can take similar parts for less than $200, and that's fine - i still have cash my grandmother gave me for that explicit purpose. the price has just come down since then. i'll be using such a laptop - with 8 gb of ram - as a video editing machine, kept offline, and connected to one of the other machines via a local network. i'll have to transfer the files to the internet gateway via some kind of flash device.
so, that's my update for the last few days - i'm kind of turning a corner on some things, and getting closer to getting back to the rebuild. so long as things unfold as planned, this will be worth it in the long run.
now, regarding these court cases...
still no response from the cops. this was day 108 of the 120-day statutory period. they're running out of time. so, i sent them a note.
i'm still waiting for the privacy commissioner, but will give them until the end of the month.
the file destruction request, on the other hand, is something i'm getting impatient about - i should have heard a response by now and will need to get on the phone shortly.
i'm waiting for the report from the cops before i decide on what to do regarding the court audio. you have to understand that i could sue this woman and win, then never see the cash, so i'm better off suing the cops under a charter breach. but, the thing is that there's no time frame on a charter case, and about a year-long time frame regarding a human rights case. so, i can wait for the cops to drag the charter case out, but i can't wait for them to drag the human rights case out.
if it starts to look like the cops are just stalling - and it's getting close to that point - then i'm going to have to move forward on the human rights case. but, if i get a good report, i might skip it.
the point is that i'm waiting for the report before i make my next move, whatever it is.
the last run through the main pc (i keep calling it that, but it is now merely the 32-bit box) is now done, as well. this included a final browse through the directory structure for loose files, as well as an attempt to undelete any files sitting on the drive.
and, in the process, i found something i thought i had lost - a file called archive.pst, dated to late 2011. it was hiding in the virtual machine, and had to be brought back using a file recovery utility. this might be my missing email. or, it might be corrupted beyond readability. i'll find out over the next few days.
i found a few other large psts as well, with dcxx file names, indicating they're likely unreadable. we'll find out...
that means i'm back to the email process this week.
there's two things left to do before i can get back to sitting on the laptop and organizing files for the rebuild. i want to run the same file recovery process on my old quantum fireball, in the hopes that i can find some old thunderbird boxes. i suspect they're there; the question is if they're readable. i'm also still running an undelete process on two relatively old hard drives that don't have vista/7 drivers and can only be read from inside xp, but that i can't get my 32-bit box to read, either (because i broke the plug and play on purpose). so, this is running on the 90s laptop - and is slow. it's getting there.
a day or two, tops. i think.
i also took the opportunity to do some organizing and general cleaning. i can't remember how i described this basement apartment; i know there are neither pictures nor video up yet, which is quite conscious. but, it's organized in such a way that there are two bedroom-like enclaves (with sliding doors that are kept always open), but no dining room or eat-in kitchen (there is of course a kitchen, with the luxury of laundry in it, and a bathroom). the way i have it set up is that i'm using one of these enclaves as a bedroom and the other as a dining/living room, then using the main area as a studio. something you'll note is that the only thing i actually do in the "living" room is eat - i spend almost all of my time in my bedroom or in the studio. i guess this is a function of the fact that i neither watch tv nor have any friends. my "living room" is really the studio. i think i was over this a few times last year - the actual functions of the spaces i need are to sleep/type/read, to record and to eat. so, i need three rooms, organized in some capacity. the last basement had four rooms, with the fourth being a big eat-in kitchen, but i didn't actually use it for anything other than to store garbage; i ate in the living room. the smoky apartment had two rooms, and i consequently found it a little cramped, as i had to force everything into one space. three is a better number, here - even if the total floor space is technically somewhat smaller (it's a negligible difference).
for the last several months, i've just had everything piled into the other room, waiting for it to be cleaned - loose plastic recyclables, receipts, user manuals, books, cds, bills, documents, old school work, etc. i've finally got all of this cleaned up and organized, which has converted the area into an actual liveable space. the studio is still messy, but it is at least in order - although i need to caution that it could be a while before i get back into there. even keeping in mind that i will need to catch up in the alter-reality before i get back to working on the discography, the material from 2003-2004 is actually entirely completed (a rarity in my discography), meaning the next projects to reconstruct actually date to late 2004 and early 2005. the next major project i'm going to be actually working on is a matlab project, and is going to be about programming, rather than recording - i'm going to be writing an entire record using mathematics and physical modelling. i've got about 15 minutes to start with and a handful of loose ideas to base sounds around. expect this to be exceedingly abstract. i may even use it as an excuse to finally get into reaktor or whatever passes for it nowadays; the point is that i'm not going to be getting back to actual note-based music composition until i delve well more than a year back into the discography.
i'm still hesitant about planning around this basement, but my best option may be to wait for a spot in a subsidized building. the air quality comes up and down, but seems to be workable so long as the fan is on. i've done a few extra caulking layers and think i've reached the endpoint of what i can do with that. i still just can't figure out if there's a teenager upstairs smoking, or the air in the neighbourhood is just bad, all around...and, if i can figure out the answer to this, i'll be able to plan the future a little better.
i think i can get a few shelves, regardless - one for cds and one for books. the plan will be to fill these shelves as i work through the alter-reality. i don't need to commit to this basement long-term to spend $40-50 on some relevant general utility shelving. but, i'll need to wait until the spring before i start thinking about hauling shelves around; that's fine, it'll be a few weeks, at least, before i get there. i'm not building custom shelves like i wanted to in the other space, and am glad i didn't.
i think the primary concern once i get these files aligned is actually going to be fixing the broken laptop, one way or the other. i bought parts for it, only to have the processor finally fry. if i can't find a way to bring it back, i'm hoping i can find a cheap replacement and swap out the parts. this is an hp pavillion that was manufactured in the 2010-2012 period. you'd think i could find a replacement that can take similar parts for less than $200, and that's fine - i still have cash my grandmother gave me for that explicit purpose. the price has just come down since then. i'll be using such a laptop - with 8 gb of ram - as a video editing machine, kept offline, and connected to one of the other machines via a local network. i'll have to transfer the files to the internet gateway via some kind of flash device.
so, that's my update for the last few days - i'm kind of turning a corner on some things, and getting closer to getting back to the rebuild. so long as things unfold as planned, this will be worth it in the long run.
now, regarding these court cases...
still no response from the cops. this was day 108 of the 120-day statutory period. they're running out of time. so, i sent them a note.
i'm still waiting for the privacy commissioner, but will give them until the end of the month.
the file destruction request, on the other hand, is something i'm getting impatient about - i should have heard a response by now and will need to get on the phone shortly.
i'm waiting for the report from the cops before i decide on what to do regarding the court audio. you have to understand that i could sue this woman and win, then never see the cash, so i'm better off suing the cops under a charter breach. but, the thing is that there's no time frame on a charter case, and about a year-long time frame regarding a human rights case. so, i can wait for the cops to drag the charter case out, but i can't wait for them to drag the human rights case out.
if it starts to look like the cops are just stalling - and it's getting close to that point - then i'm going to have to move forward on the human rights case. but, if i get a good report, i might skip it.
the point is that i'm waiting for the report before i make my next move, whatever it is.
at
22:30
and, in fact, the lawsuit is even more frivolous than i thought, because the president isn't even authorizing new funds, but redirecting them.
what trump is actually doing in his executive order is redirecting funds from the drug war to the border wall. the lawsuit is claiming that this is a presidential usurpation of the public purse; but, these funds are already allocated. so, their argument is actually even technically wrong.
i don't actually think that the courts would have had the jurisdiction if what they were saying was even true. but, as it is, what they're saying isn't even true in the first place...
the congress should be able to block this without the use of the courts, and it clearly has the numbers to do it, based on the bill that necessitated it. if they're serious, they'll invoke their own authority, which is a proper constitutional use of power.
the only constitutional crisis here is the potential use of judicial overreach to overturn executive power. but, the judiciary will excuse itself; if it does not, that is where the problem lays.
what trump is actually doing in his executive order is redirecting funds from the drug war to the border wall. the lawsuit is claiming that this is a presidential usurpation of the public purse; but, these funds are already allocated. so, their argument is actually even technically wrong.
i don't actually think that the courts would have had the jurisdiction if what they were saying was even true. but, as it is, what they're saying isn't even true in the first place...
the congress should be able to block this without the use of the courts, and it clearly has the numbers to do it, based on the bill that necessitated it. if they're serious, they'll invoke their own authority, which is a proper constitutional use of power.
the only constitutional crisis here is the potential use of judicial overreach to overturn executive power. but, the judiciary will excuse itself; if it does not, that is where the problem lays.
at
20:48
yeah. this is a political stunt, not a serious legal argument.
as mentioned, they didn't file it in san francisco by accident. the rubber-stamp kangaroo court there will follow party dictates and send it up to the next level. the democrats can always rely on an easy injunction using this method, as they control this particular court.
but, this argument stands exactly zero chance of working in the long run.
the real question is as follows: why aren't the democrats launching a judicial review? was a deal made around politicizing the issue in a hopeless court battle as a face-saving mechanism?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/politics/national-emergency-lawsuits-trump.html
as mentioned, they didn't file it in san francisco by accident. the rubber-stamp kangaroo court there will follow party dictates and send it up to the next level. the democrats can always rely on an easy injunction using this method, as they control this particular court.
but, this argument stands exactly zero chance of working in the long run.
the real question is as follows: why aren't the democrats launching a judicial review? was a deal made around politicizing the issue in a hopeless court battle as a face-saving mechanism?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/politics/national-emergency-lawsuits-trump.html
at
20:30
have these professors been living on a different planet, or what?
the opposition has been boycotting elections in the country for years, creating a facade of illegitimacy that all evidence suggests is unwarranted. their tactic is as follows:
1. boycott the election
2. after the opposition refuses to participate, and the results are skewed, claim the election is rigged.
3. ????????????
4. profit.
i guess the academy is filling in the third step, here. but, it is entirely unclear why the opposition would observe this election, when it has refused to observe the last batch of them.
the solution to this problem is not in calling any kind of election. i've stated this point more than once: the message the world should be sending to the opposition is that if you don't want to take part in the election then you don't get a say in governing.
and, the solution can be nothing more or less than forcing everybody to wait until the next scheduled election.
there is a difference between ochlocracy and democracy. look it up.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/17/proposal-to-end-the-crisis-in-venezuela
the opposition has been boycotting elections in the country for years, creating a facade of illegitimacy that all evidence suggests is unwarranted. their tactic is as follows:
1. boycott the election
2. after the opposition refuses to participate, and the results are skewed, claim the election is rigged.
3. ????????????
4. profit.
i guess the academy is filling in the third step, here. but, it is entirely unclear why the opposition would observe this election, when it has refused to observe the last batch of them.
the solution to this problem is not in calling any kind of election. i've stated this point more than once: the message the world should be sending to the opposition is that if you don't want to take part in the election then you don't get a say in governing.
and, the solution can be nothing more or less than forcing everybody to wait until the next scheduled election.
there is a difference between ochlocracy and democracy. look it up.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/17/proposal-to-end-the-crisis-in-venezuela
at
11:17
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