i have a breaking news statement to release from jd vance on the iran deal.

woof. 

woof. woof. woof.

woof, woof wwwwwwwoooof. w w woof. grr, wooof, yap, woof grrr.

*aha* *aha**aha*

rrreeeooww.

woof.

i started writing this on saturday night and passed out before i was done. i had been feeling better last week, but the migraine has me feeling exhausted and lethargic and not quite here, mentally. i know that the drugs that they are giving me are dramatically harming my mental acuity. i am, mentally, at 30-40% - blurry, fuzzy and not able to focus the way i usually am.

i'm going to finish this up as a narrative before i (1) get the machines back in order and (2) get to doing the thing i was doing in here, which is largely what this post was about.

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i'm a little apprehensive about using android for the zoom project. i have a longstanding boycott of apple in place and refuse to buy any of their products. windows devices don't last and aren't worth the money. so, if the android tablet doesn't work to set up zoom the way i want to, the next step is to go to linux and i know there are issues with hardware that come with linux. i'm just realizing that buying an android tablet is mostly reproducing all of the things i don't like about apple devices, except that it's at a cost point where it's beneficial. the logic flips because it's dirt cheap instead of stupidly expensive. but it's still a shitty business model that shouldn't be supported.

what i'm going to do is start with a small number of devices i'm sure i can use, first. i wanted to get a tablet to run soundscapes when i was sleeping anyways, so if the android device doesn't work with zoom, i can reuse it for that instead. if i then get an actual usb phone as well, i can test it's functionality as a streaming device with keymapper. it shouldn't matter what the input device is, it should all show up as the same kind of programmable device, if i understand correctly. i should be able to test it with anything. if it works, i'll go from there in getting a midi controller to set up with the buttons, like a hardware phone. if it doesn't, i have a usb phone that should work with microsip in xp, which i was planning on setting up as a second voip phone before i decided to set up the zoom station. it won't cost much and it's something i'd like to have as a utility device. 

i just like the sturdiness of a traditional phone receiver. i find cell phones, and other types of handheld phones, to be flimsy and cheap. i also find that cell phones scream "self-importance" and "arrogance", and i don't like to project that about myself. i like to project a certain level of modesty and humility along with a working class quality about myself and avoid cell phones like the plague for that reason. these people walking around with cell phones all of the time are without exception always a bunch of self-important, arrogant dickheads that i want to punch in the face and kick in the groin. i don't want to be that person.

i spent the day (saturday) doing loose ends in here; i put some more cardboard up on the ceiling, received some items in from the mail and did some cleaning in here, as well. let me actually write this down:

- i need to reorganize some things on this computer so i'm progressing linearly again

- i need to finish the temperature adjusting things (ceilings, windows, insulation, rat wiring)

- i need to make some adjustments in rooms one and two (carpets, rat wire, doorknobs)

- i need to finish room three, the kitchen

i will make videos documenting the updates to rooms 1 and 2 before i get to room 3. the detour with the insulation, the windows and the rat wiring, along with two computer crashes caused by accessing the zoom website, have thrown me off a bit, but i'm getting back to the coffee table book as i work out a process. i did add appendices C and D earlier in the week. the first thing i need to do in the laundry is attach the wire mesh to a couple of large holes to block the rats from getting in, and then to clean the carpets up using some carpet cleaning spray that came in the other day. after that, i'll need to put some insulation up into the ceiling and cover over it with some cardboard, and then cover over that with some aluminum paneling. the other thing i want to do in there is swap the door knobs so i can lock the laundry because i can't otherwise lock that door and i've been unsettled by potential access through there. i keep hearing things smashing in there and can't figure out what it is. i'd say there's about a 60% chance that i'm being speciously paranoid, which are pretty shitty odds for this kind of thing. swapping the door handles is quick and easy and will make me feel better. the paneling will make it harder to get in through there as well. the only new things i've done in the bathroom are (1) install the aluminum sauna aneling, (2) swap the doornobs out, (3) replace some of the light bulbs with 1500 lumen bulbs, (4) buy a usb water flosser and a usb mist humidifier, (5) i have some old things to fix with crazy glue that i haven't yet, such as my hair brush from when i was a kid (6) i want to place a wood plank on top of the toilet so the things on it stay put and (7) i've had to rescrew and reglue the mirrors on the doors a few times, which goes back to what i was saying about the door. i will go over these things in the videos.

i've also spent a bit of extra time fixing up the windows over the last couple of days. in addition to getting the screens in, the windows now all have locks on them and wood blocks in them, as well as blackout curtains over them, except the ones in the sunroom/garage. i have enough extra curtains that i might use them for that, i just would rather actually get the sun most of the year in there, even in the winter, i think. i can put the curtains in if i think it will help, i just don't think it will right now. i've also put in push pins on the sides of the windows to keep the curtains open and have glued some aromatic candles to the sills in the front of the windows in the bedroom, which i hope are pleasantly in the fall.

i slowed down with the paneling for the insulation because i wanted to test it for moisture, which i wasn't really worried about, but wanted to be certain about before i went all in on. empirical testing is always superior to theorizing, even as you want to have some understanding of what you're doing ahead of time. the way i decided to do it is to connect the cardboard to the ceiling first using packing tape and then cover over the cracks with weather-proofing tape. that will create a vapour barrier between the units, but at this stage the purpose is really to keep the moisture from behind the cardboard. now, i don't think this should be an issue, but i'm slowing down and doing this carefully to make sure i'm not creating a potential problem. i believe that the real issue in here is air circulation and that if steps are not taken to circulate air, there may be moisture issues between the floors, regardless, but so long as the air circulates, there shouldn't be an issue. air can circulate in here via fans, heaters, the air vents, windows or the a/c upstairs, which is certainly working through the floor. all of this should get any excess moisture out of here, but i don't really expect much to form. any moisture should either reflect down or evaporate upwards. there's not much likelihood that it's going to get trapped in between. 

i was initially going to cut little pieces of aluminum on the board and make panels, but that doesn't make sense, on second thought. the problem is trying to get it level across multiple cuts, and block gaps between the panels. instead, i'm putting just the cardboard on the ceiling first, testing to see how well it works just on it's own, then crazy gluing what it is going to be two very big pieces of aluminum directly to the cardboard (in the bedroom) and then sealing over it with aluminum tape, maybe followed by wather proofing tape just to keep it still. this approach will leave me with a small number of big pieces of aluminum rather than a lot of small ones. the cardboard will come off the ceiling mostly painlessly, but will require a paint job in the end.

i've been quiet the last few days because that's the type of thing i've been doing, and i will get those videos up when they're done.

any claimed agreement with iran that does not result in regime change is irrelevant and won't last more than a few weeks.

canada should certainly have a trade agreement with mexico.

it should be a different trade agreement than we have with the united states.

history has largely forgotten that nafta was a result of something called the mcdonald report, named after unfortunately named liberal cabinet minister donald mcdonald, who used to have to sit at the poorly named table with hume wrong and the other badly named ministers. it was actually the trudeau government who recommended that canada pursue a policy of "reciprocity", to resurrect the failed policy of the laurier era. trudeau then famously opposed the agreement, because it wasn't a free trade agreement, but rather an investor's rights agreement he called a "monstrous swindle". 

it's worth realizing that nafta would have looked very different if trudeau had overseen it than if mulroney had. but we don't often get the opportunity to redo history.

one of the things that canada fought against very hard in the initial round of the negotiations was the inclusion of mexico. there was an initial agreement called the fta negotiated bilaterally between the united states and canada, and that was expanded to nafta, only after canada fought like hell to stop it, and there was talk of "side agreements" to do with environmental and labour considerations, which were necessary then but nobody remembers now.

if canada can get out of this trilateral agreement and sign bilateral agreements instead, it should.

i was typing on saturday night when the migraine hit and had to stop. i was also sorting through some videos on my camera. i slept from early sunday morning to sunday afternoon, made a chicken caesar salad, spent some time in the bathroom and slept early this morning. i'm awake now, but i want to pick up where i left off on saturday night, which was typing, before i pick up again today.