the federal government says it wants to keep pot taxes low to fight the black market. that's a necessary but not a sufficient condition. i'm running into more and more medical on the street, and i'm learning that it smells terrible and gives you a headache. as of right now, i wouldn't expect that the government product will compete with the street product because - perhaps counter-intuitively - it seems like the government is spraying it with something.
to me, the bigger question is about who we're taxing. and, cities need to tax - they can't print money. do we want sin taxes that primarily penalize the poor? you would expect a conservative like john tory to push for that. i'd rather tax property, so that we're redistributing wealth from the top down.
so, when i tell the guy to tax property, it's not a 'keep your hands off my stash' type thing. it's a broader social question. sin taxes mostly target poor people, and are consequently deeply regressive. i don't know if john tory still pretends he's a progressive conservative or not, but he should live up to the title and push more for progressive taxation over property - which is the actual power that he has, as mayor and head of city council.
Saturday, July 22, 2017
democrats stand up for the corporate interests that push for cheap labour. they directly represent capital, and it's bourgeois class (which identifies with "progressive values", including the idea that challenging the status quo of cheap racialized labour is racist).
republicans create a distraction for disaffected workers, which prevents them from revolting against capital and feeds into the progressive narrative. they blame everything on brown people, which divides the working class against itself.
so, they work together, rather than against each other.
there is not a mainstream option that has the interests of workers - migrant or native - in mind.
republicans create a distraction for disaffected workers, which prevents them from revolting against capital and feeds into the progressive narrative. they blame everything on brown people, which divides the working class against itself.
so, they work together, rather than against each other.
there is not a mainstream option that has the interests of workers - migrant or native - in mind.
this is the actual correct analysis.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/opinion/no-crackdown-on-illegal-employers.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/opinion/no-crackdown-on-illegal-employers.html
i've actually been pretty clear that i support amnesty for illegal immigration. it's legal migration that i think needs some stricter boundaries put around it, particularly regarding refugee inflows and temporary workers.
i will repeat that because it's counter-intuitive: i support illegal immigration, but i think we need stricter boundaries around legal migrants.
there's a caveat, though: we need to better enforce labour laws. that's the bit that gets lost in the immigration debate. immigration isn't really about immigration, it's about the labour department refusing to enforce labour laws - or even creating new categories to evade them. if the labour laws were enforced, nobody would get undercut.
this is why i don't key in on illegal immigrants. i took economics 101; i know that an influx of cheap labour is going to decrease wages. but, i know better than to blame the proletariat, who are just looking to survive. if you just enforced the fucking laws already, you wouldn't have this race to the bottom.
of course, it's not a coincidence that the media sets you at the workers rather than capital. and, it's a sad scene to see the lack of class consciousness that allows these workers to go after the comrades they need to organize with, because the real villains - the bankers, the politicians - have brainwashed them all into fighting each other.
if you want to get behind a concrete political position that will actually address the root causes of the problem, it isn't amnesty and it isn't immigration reform - legal or illegal. it's fighting for the enforcement of labour laws. that means making sure that the law says that all workers deserve a minimum wage and then taking down business owners that refuse to pay it out. it also means shutting down state-operated programs that are designed to circumvent labour laws.
it means actual socialism, not this do-gooder christian capitalist progressivism that ultimately just upholds the interests of the upper middle classes.
but, i mean, i've read the grapes of wrath. recently, even. you don't need this fancy gramscian machinery. i get it.
i will repeat that because it's counter-intuitive: i support illegal immigration, but i think we need stricter boundaries around legal migrants.
there's a caveat, though: we need to better enforce labour laws. that's the bit that gets lost in the immigration debate. immigration isn't really about immigration, it's about the labour department refusing to enforce labour laws - or even creating new categories to evade them. if the labour laws were enforced, nobody would get undercut.
this is why i don't key in on illegal immigrants. i took economics 101; i know that an influx of cheap labour is going to decrease wages. but, i know better than to blame the proletariat, who are just looking to survive. if you just enforced the fucking laws already, you wouldn't have this race to the bottom.
of course, it's not a coincidence that the media sets you at the workers rather than capital. and, it's a sad scene to see the lack of class consciousness that allows these workers to go after the comrades they need to organize with, because the real villains - the bankers, the politicians - have brainwashed them all into fighting each other.
if you want to get behind a concrete political position that will actually address the root causes of the problem, it isn't amnesty and it isn't immigration reform - legal or illegal. it's fighting for the enforcement of labour laws. that means making sure that the law says that all workers deserve a minimum wage and then taking down business owners that refuse to pay it out. it also means shutting down state-operated programs that are designed to circumvent labour laws.
it means actual socialism, not this do-gooder christian capitalist progressivism that ultimately just upholds the interests of the upper middle classes.
but, i mean, i've read the grapes of wrath. recently, even. you don't need this fancy gramscian machinery. i get it.
this serbian-russian thing has legs.
ask the archduke.
https://sputniknews.com/military/201707211055753931-russia-serbia-s-300-nato/
ask the archduke.
https://sputniknews.com/military/201707211055753931-russia-serbia-s-300-nato/
i'd never heard this story before.
if you need to go, this is how you do it.
http://thejns.org/doi/10.3171/2015.4.FOCUS15106
if you need to go, this is how you do it.
http://thejns.org/doi/10.3171/2015.4.FOCUS15106
Friday, July 21, 2017
my views on eugenics are actually not what anybody would think without asking me - or, at least, not unless you're actually paying attention, which of course you're not.
try it.
stop.
tell me: what do i think about eugenics?
type it out.
done?
k.
no peeking.
i just need to waste a few more lines.
almost there...
k.
i actually don't think that the premise of bettering the human genome ought to be objectionable. you really shouldn't oppose the idea. but, eugenicists have historically supported methods that do not lead to positive outcomes at all. what you should be criticizing here is not eugenics, but poor science - which has been broadly condemned by actual scientists from the start.
i often argue that the best argument against racism is history, and it usually goes over everybody's heads, because both self-described racists and militant anti-racists tend to reject the same history, for different reasons. they would both reject white slavery by non-whites, for instance. racists would claim it's impossible because it overturns their hierarchy; non-racists would claim it's impossible because.....because it overturns their hierarchy. but, it is historical fact. and, the correct reading of history is that the historical fact of everybody enslaving everybody else demonstrates that nobody maintains superiority for very long. foucauldians should be careful with their arguments, as if it were actually true that white people have enslaved everybody else since the beginning of time then the empirical deduction would be that white people are, in fact, superior - as demonstrated by their total historical dominance. you can't just wave away evidence with an axiom. it isn't true, though. and, the evidence that demonstrates this is what the anti-racist ought to truly seek to advance their view of equality with evidence, rather than declarative ideology.
i can think of two empirical examples of eugenics at work through natural selection.
the first is the extreme selective pressure on jews through the centuries to escape all manners of oppression. and, we should all see that the jews are an intellectually superior race; that is clear from evidence. only the most intelligent managed to survive. this selection acted as a bottleneck.
the second is the british isles, which demonstrates the opposite effect of superiority through increased variation. for, britain has always been one of the most diverse places in the world, with settlers coming from every which way. while this created chaos in the dark ages, it led to a clearly superior society from the renaissance onwards. white supremacists should be more specific, for it is truly the brits, and not the backwards germans or russians, that invented the modern world - and not through insularity but through absorption. it is well understood by geneticists that a healthy genome should seek to maximize variation.
so, a eugenicist should look at these examples and draw two conclusions. the first is that the way to improve the genome is to promote policies that maximize variation, by introducing as much genetic diversity as possible. a eugenicist should seek to cross-breed humans for increased vigour and to generate new mutations, not to insulate and stagnate a genome. the second is that selective pressures will strengthen, rather than weaken, a group and that attempts to cleanse a population of a certain ethnicity are almost certain to backfire.
try it.
stop.
tell me: what do i think about eugenics?
type it out.
done?
k.
no peeking.
i just need to waste a few more lines.
almost there...
k.
i actually don't think that the premise of bettering the human genome ought to be objectionable. you really shouldn't oppose the idea. but, eugenicists have historically supported methods that do not lead to positive outcomes at all. what you should be criticizing here is not eugenics, but poor science - which has been broadly condemned by actual scientists from the start.
i often argue that the best argument against racism is history, and it usually goes over everybody's heads, because both self-described racists and militant anti-racists tend to reject the same history, for different reasons. they would both reject white slavery by non-whites, for instance. racists would claim it's impossible because it overturns their hierarchy; non-racists would claim it's impossible because.....because it overturns their hierarchy. but, it is historical fact. and, the correct reading of history is that the historical fact of everybody enslaving everybody else demonstrates that nobody maintains superiority for very long. foucauldians should be careful with their arguments, as if it were actually true that white people have enslaved everybody else since the beginning of time then the empirical deduction would be that white people are, in fact, superior - as demonstrated by their total historical dominance. you can't just wave away evidence with an axiom. it isn't true, though. and, the evidence that demonstrates this is what the anti-racist ought to truly seek to advance their view of equality with evidence, rather than declarative ideology.
i can think of two empirical examples of eugenics at work through natural selection.
the first is the extreme selective pressure on jews through the centuries to escape all manners of oppression. and, we should all see that the jews are an intellectually superior race; that is clear from evidence. only the most intelligent managed to survive. this selection acted as a bottleneck.
the second is the british isles, which demonstrates the opposite effect of superiority through increased variation. for, britain has always been one of the most diverse places in the world, with settlers coming from every which way. while this created chaos in the dark ages, it led to a clearly superior society from the renaissance onwards. white supremacists should be more specific, for it is truly the brits, and not the backwards germans or russians, that invented the modern world - and not through insularity but through absorption. it is well understood by geneticists that a healthy genome should seek to maximize variation.
so, a eugenicist should look at these examples and draw two conclusions. the first is that the way to improve the genome is to promote policies that maximize variation, by introducing as much genetic diversity as possible. a eugenicist should seek to cross-breed humans for increased vigour and to generate new mutations, not to insulate and stagnate a genome. the second is that selective pressures will strengthen, rather than weaken, a group and that attempts to cleanse a population of a certain ethnicity are almost certain to backfire.
actually, how about this for a stark and obvious truth: the reason there are so few fiscal conservatives left is that fiscal conservatism is irrational in a fiat monetary system, and most people alive today fully understand that.
the only people that don't seem to understand this are the aging old tories in the dying print media who are holding to an obsolete message as they hold to an obsolete medium, and the handful of liberal party insiders that they happen to have sway over. even the conservative party doesn't bother much with fiscal conservatism any more.
if canadians were ever "socially liberal and fiscally conservative", that description met it's end somewhere around the demise of brian mulroney. harper was able to run huge deficits without anybody caring much. and, nobody cares much about trudeau's deficits, either.
....and this isn't some deficit of fiscal understanding that needs to be explained. it's a stark reflection of the reality of monetary policy: deficits do not matter, and most canadians are educated enough to realize it.
aging political strategists will no doubt continue to hammer this issue that nobody cares about. but, voters in the near future will make decisions based mostly on social policy and successful political parties and movements will gear themselves around this truth.
the only people that don't seem to understand this are the aging old tories in the dying print media who are holding to an obsolete message as they hold to an obsolete medium, and the handful of liberal party insiders that they happen to have sway over. even the conservative party doesn't bother much with fiscal conservatism any more.
if canadians were ever "socially liberal and fiscally conservative", that description met it's end somewhere around the demise of brian mulroney. harper was able to run huge deficits without anybody caring much. and, nobody cares much about trudeau's deficits, either.
....and this isn't some deficit of fiscal understanding that needs to be explained. it's a stark reflection of the reality of monetary policy: deficits do not matter, and most canadians are educated enough to realize it.
aging political strategists will no doubt continue to hammer this issue that nobody cares about. but, voters in the near future will make decisions based mostly on social policy and successful political parties and movements will gear themselves around this truth.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
it's a good thing the government is putting off decriminalization to focus on youth safety.
c'mon...
http://www.lfpress.com/2017/07/20/london-police-an-88-year-old-man-is-charged-alongside-another-man-60-with-drug-trafficking-and-possession
c'mon...
http://www.lfpress.com/2017/07/20/london-police-an-88-year-old-man-is-charged-alongside-another-man-60-with-drug-trafficking-and-possession
a good example of kermit getting stressed out and having an episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shbgRyColvE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shbgRyColvE
i've seen enough old muppet show episodes to know that "bitter victim" is a better description of the original kermit than "compassionate muppet leader".
kermit was constantly stressed out by the people around him. he tried to make the best of it, and always gave people a second chance. but, they usually just continued to take advantage of him. and, once in a while, he'd get pretty withdrawn and upset.
in a way., he's kind of like a character in a kafka novel: he doesn't know how to deal with the absurdity that's constantly thrown at him, and is consequently constantly on the brink of a total breakdown.
i hope that they don't turn kermit into a smurf or something. that would be very sad.
http://www.thewrap.com/kermit-frog-steve-whitmire-henson-muppets-fired/
kermit was constantly stressed out by the people around him. he tried to make the best of it, and always gave people a second chance. but, they usually just continued to take advantage of him. and, once in a while, he'd get pretty withdrawn and upset.
in a way., he's kind of like a character in a kafka novel: he doesn't know how to deal with the absurdity that's constantly thrown at him, and is consequently constantly on the brink of a total breakdown.
i hope that they don't turn kermit into a smurf or something. that would be very sad.
http://www.thewrap.com/kermit-frog-steve-whitmire-henson-muppets-fired/
this government doesn't care about international law. this is consistent with it's support for bombing syria, for example.
the united nations is dead.
i'd rather they do something about it. but, what this government is doing is following the lead of the americans in just abandoning it.
i would not expect so much as a letter to the un to explain it's position. they just don't care about the treaty at all. and, i would expect this government to continue to flout and ignore international law in other avenues, as well.
this is not your father's liberal party.
http://globalnews.ca/news/3606927/after-blowing-july-1-deadline-canada-seems-likely-to-legalize-pot-while-ignoring-un-treaties/
the united nations is dead.
i'd rather they do something about it. but, what this government is doing is following the lead of the americans in just abandoning it.
i would not expect so much as a letter to the un to explain it's position. they just don't care about the treaty at all. and, i would expect this government to continue to flout and ignore international law in other avenues, as well.
this is not your father's liberal party.
http://globalnews.ca/news/3606927/after-blowing-july-1-deadline-canada-seems-likely-to-legalize-pot-while-ignoring-un-treaties/
i want to stand in solidarity with individual rights and free expression, not with traditionalist conservative cultural ideas.
and, i'm the one that's consistent - you're the one that's stuck in a set of contradictions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/18/a-video-of-a-woman-in-a-skirt-sparks-outrage-in-saudi-arabia/?tid=pm_world_pop
and, i'm the one that's consistent - you're the one that's stuck in a set of contradictions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/18/a-video-of-a-woman-in-a-skirt-sparks-outrage-in-saudi-arabia/?tid=pm_world_pop
let's see what actually happens.
it's a positive development, if it pans out. but, i'm skeptical.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-ends-covert-cia-program-to-arm-anti-assad-rebels-in-syria-a-move-sought-by-moscow/2017/07/19/b6821a62-6beb-11e7-96ab-5f38140b38cc_story.html
it's a positive development, if it pans out. but, i'm skeptical.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-ends-covert-cia-program-to-arm-anti-assad-rebels-in-syria-a-move-sought-by-moscow/2017/07/19/b6821a62-6beb-11e7-96ab-5f38140b38cc_story.html
MCCAIN: We're not trying to involve ourselves in Mr. Schiavo's private and personal life. We're trying to save a life. This young woman has a loving family, a mother and siblings that want to take care of her for the rest of her life. I would hope that Mr. Schiavo would allow them to do that, without having to go through all this.
the media coverage is kind of priceless, though.
i don't believe in heros. fuck your idols.
....so this one's for you, senator mccain.
from canada.
*smooch*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4pg6Jh94Lo
i don't believe in heros. fuck your idols.
....so this one's for you, senator mccain.
from canada.
*smooch*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4pg6Jh94Lo
this is what nailed my dad a few years ago.
it's a horrible, drawn out, excruciating way to die. he'll need surgeries in between chemo to remove parts of his brain, because it will keep coming back, and which will inevitably leave him mentally retarded. the growth will eventually prevent his brain from sending signals to the rest of his body, shutting down his autonomous nervous system. it literally slowly squeezes the life out of you.
i pleaded with my dad not to fight it, and he excommunicated me for it. he was going to beat the odds, he said. of course, he didn't; he instead spent the last two years of his life in unthinkable agony, planning around a future that all medical knowledge and subsequent deduction told him was impossible.
i would strongly suggest to senator mccain that he should consider assisted suicide.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/john-mccain-brain-cancer-1.4213444
it's a horrible, drawn out, excruciating way to die. he'll need surgeries in between chemo to remove parts of his brain, because it will keep coming back, and which will inevitably leave him mentally retarded. the growth will eventually prevent his brain from sending signals to the rest of his body, shutting down his autonomous nervous system. it literally slowly squeezes the life out of you.
i pleaded with my dad not to fight it, and he excommunicated me for it. he was going to beat the odds, he said. of course, he didn't; he instead spent the last two years of his life in unthinkable agony, planning around a future that all medical knowledge and subsequent deduction told him was impossible.
i would strongly suggest to senator mccain that he should consider assisted suicide.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/john-mccain-brain-cancer-1.4213444
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
i got some cases at newegg...
the cases i wanted at staples were actually slim, so it's good i didn't buy them. newegg was cheap, paypal & free shipping. easy.\
so...
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
dell ultrasharp 1703 fp with dvi cables (kijiji): $20
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 tb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
600 watt psu (amazon.ca): $80
700 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $10
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
200 jewel cases (newegg.ca): $117
bathroom supplies (food basics, walmart, loblaws, shopper's): $202
ps/2 keyboard (axxon computer corporation, windsor): $23
usb mouse (walmart): $15
universal battery charger + aaa batteries (canadian tire): $54
==================
2375.41
the cases i wanted at staples were actually slim, so it's good i didn't buy them. newegg was cheap, paypal & free shipping. easy.\
so...
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
dell ultrasharp 1703 fp with dvi cables (kijiji): $20
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 tb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
600 watt psu (amazon.ca): $80
700 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $10
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
200 jewel cases (newegg.ca): $117
bathroom supplies (food basics, walmart, loblaws, shopper's): $202
ps/2 keyboard (axxon computer corporation, windsor): $23
usb mouse (walmart): $15
universal battery charger + aaa batteries (canadian tire): $54
==================
2375.41
1.What are the most important things when it comes to setting the minimum age for having, using and buying cannabis?
balance. if the age is set too high or too low it will create unwanted side effects. finding the right balance is key.
2. What are your views about raising the minimum age above 18?
i would actually prefer to see the minimum age lowered to 16, as i think that that is the point where the balance is better met. i would suspect that making it more difficult for teenagers to find marijuana will lead them to use more dangerous drugs instead, specifically lsd or meth-sold-as-mdma. but, i suppose that the best thing to do would be to study the question in further depth and come to an empirical conclusion. i do not think that raising the age higher than 18 will act as a disincentive for use, or measurably impact usage rates. the key demographic that you want to keep away from more dangerous drugs is probably 14-18, and you do that through education in public schools rather than through prohibition.
3. What are your views on restricting where people can use recreational cannabis in Ontario?
public drinking is in fact widespread in ontario. it's one thing to have a law, and another to enforce it. i think it would be far more difficult to enforce public smoking laws than public drinking laws. that doesn't mean that the laws shouldn't exist, for the rare situations that they need to be enforced. i mean, even tobacco laws are unenforceable, in truth - but i support them in the abstract. it makes people think twice and look around before they light up. so, i would support laws that regulate public smoking similarly to public drinking, but only with a comparable level of non-enforcement attached to them.
4. Are there public places where people should not be able to use cannabis? (e.g. around schools or community centres, public parks, sidewalks, patios)
the rules should be the same as for alcohol, but we need to rely on personal discretion for this matter, as we do with alcohol. the laws should exist, but only be enforced in extreme circumstances.
5. When it comes to recreational cannabis use, should landlords and property managers be able to restrict tenants and condo owners from smoking cannabis in their units?
the supreme court will not allow this. there's no use in wasting time and resources in a losing court battle.
6. When it comes to recreational use of cannabis, should condo boards or property management be able to restrict smoking cannabis in common spaces like rooftops, courtyards and balconies?
yes. and, the precedent exists to uphold it.
7. Would you support the Ontario government putting in place more penalties (e.g. fines, demerit points) for drug-impaired driving?
it should be the same as for alcohol.
8. There are limitations on the ability of current technologies to test for cannabis impairment. Given these limitations, what penalties from above should Ontario consider strengthening?
i think this argument is backwards, as blood alcohol count is not necessarily a good indicator of intoxication. it should be up to the cops to gather evidence in the form of speeding, swerving, slurred speech, etc. i would prefer to see less emphasis placed on breathalyzers and more emphasis placed on observation! but, i don't see a reason for there to be harsher penalties for marijuana. there should be parity, as much as is possible.
9. Are there any other measures you think the government should employ to keep our roads safe?
there is a strong urban myth that it is safer to drive stoned than drunk. this is based on an apples and oranges comparison of being fall down drunk and being very mildly stoned; in that particular scenario, the urban myth would actually be true. it doesn't generalize, though. the key point is that people need to develop apples to apples comparisons, as best they can, and learn to know their limits.
10. Where do you think the government should prioritize its road safety funding to address drug-impaired driving? (e.g. technology development for cannabis testing, Increased RIDE programs, public education)
i'm going to go with tv ads (using MADD as a model) and frank, scientific discussions in grade school, around the ages of 10 or 11.
11. Who should sell and distribute cannabis in Ontario?
i think that both beer and marijuana should be available at the corner store, using the model that currently exists in quebec and also in michigan.
12. What public health and safety measures should Ontario put in place to restrict access for youth and promote public health?
i don't think the government should do anything of the sort.
13. What is most important to you when it comes to the way cannabis is sold and distributed in Ontario?
storefront access. i don't want a mail system; i want to be able to walk into a store and walk out with a small quantity a few minutes later.
14. When it comes to the safe use of cannabis, what does the public need to be informed about?
i think the public needs to be reassured that marijuana is already widely used and that legalization will not cause chaos or social collapse.
15. Which voices are the most important for people to hear these messages from (e.g. government, educators, health care professionals, police)?
the most important voices to be heard from are those with actual experience using the drug. and, i think there should be special care taken to prevent people who have not used it from being given a platform to speak about it.
balance. if the age is set too high or too low it will create unwanted side effects. finding the right balance is key.
2. What are your views about raising the minimum age above 18?
i would actually prefer to see the minimum age lowered to 16, as i think that that is the point where the balance is better met. i would suspect that making it more difficult for teenagers to find marijuana will lead them to use more dangerous drugs instead, specifically lsd or meth-sold-as-mdma. but, i suppose that the best thing to do would be to study the question in further depth and come to an empirical conclusion. i do not think that raising the age higher than 18 will act as a disincentive for use, or measurably impact usage rates. the key demographic that you want to keep away from more dangerous drugs is probably 14-18, and you do that through education in public schools rather than through prohibition.
3. What are your views on restricting where people can use recreational cannabis in Ontario?
public drinking is in fact widespread in ontario. it's one thing to have a law, and another to enforce it. i think it would be far more difficult to enforce public smoking laws than public drinking laws. that doesn't mean that the laws shouldn't exist, for the rare situations that they need to be enforced. i mean, even tobacco laws are unenforceable, in truth - but i support them in the abstract. it makes people think twice and look around before they light up. so, i would support laws that regulate public smoking similarly to public drinking, but only with a comparable level of non-enforcement attached to them.
4. Are there public places where people should not be able to use cannabis? (e.g. around schools or community centres, public parks, sidewalks, patios)
the rules should be the same as for alcohol, but we need to rely on personal discretion for this matter, as we do with alcohol. the laws should exist, but only be enforced in extreme circumstances.
5. When it comes to recreational cannabis use, should landlords and property managers be able to restrict tenants and condo owners from smoking cannabis in their units?
the supreme court will not allow this. there's no use in wasting time and resources in a losing court battle.
6. When it comes to recreational use of cannabis, should condo boards or property management be able to restrict smoking cannabis in common spaces like rooftops, courtyards and balconies?
yes. and, the precedent exists to uphold it.
7. Would you support the Ontario government putting in place more penalties (e.g. fines, demerit points) for drug-impaired driving?
it should be the same as for alcohol.
8. There are limitations on the ability of current technologies to test for cannabis impairment. Given these limitations, what penalties from above should Ontario consider strengthening?
i think this argument is backwards, as blood alcohol count is not necessarily a good indicator of intoxication. it should be up to the cops to gather evidence in the form of speeding, swerving, slurred speech, etc. i would prefer to see less emphasis placed on breathalyzers and more emphasis placed on observation! but, i don't see a reason for there to be harsher penalties for marijuana. there should be parity, as much as is possible.
9. Are there any other measures you think the government should employ to keep our roads safe?
there is a strong urban myth that it is safer to drive stoned than drunk. this is based on an apples and oranges comparison of being fall down drunk and being very mildly stoned; in that particular scenario, the urban myth would actually be true. it doesn't generalize, though. the key point is that people need to develop apples to apples comparisons, as best they can, and learn to know their limits.
10. Where do you think the government should prioritize its road safety funding to address drug-impaired driving? (e.g. technology development for cannabis testing, Increased RIDE programs, public education)
i'm going to go with tv ads (using MADD as a model) and frank, scientific discussions in grade school, around the ages of 10 or 11.
11. Who should sell and distribute cannabis in Ontario?
i think that both beer and marijuana should be available at the corner store, using the model that currently exists in quebec and also in michigan.
12. What public health and safety measures should Ontario put in place to restrict access for youth and promote public health?
i don't think the government should do anything of the sort.
13. What is most important to you when it comes to the way cannabis is sold and distributed in Ontario?
storefront access. i don't want a mail system; i want to be able to walk into a store and walk out with a small quantity a few minutes later.
14. When it comes to the safe use of cannabis, what does the public need to be informed about?
i think the public needs to be reassured that marijuana is already widely used and that legalization will not cause chaos or social collapse.
15. Which voices are the most important for people to hear these messages from (e.g. government, educators, health care professionals, police)?
the most important voices to be heard from are those with actual experience using the drug. and, i think there should be special care taken to prevent people who have not used it from being given a platform to speak about it.
here's my advice to the ndp - and, yes, it's time to get a move on it. you're way behind.
my advice is this: let the liberals run on immigration. just get out of their way. i'm not saying you should parrot what i'm saying; i'd rather suggest otherwise, actually. i'm not a politician. i know what i'm saying is unpopular. i'm in the game of pushing back against the narrative for the purpose of raising awareness and building consciousness, not in the game of running for office. if i thought i was going to run for office, i'd compromise on my principles for the immigrant vote, too - but i'm not, and you might want to think about that, about where canadian principles really are in all of this.
i think a lot of canadians across the political spectrum would agree with the idea that canadian politicians - perhaps especially on the left - have sold out their principles to appeal to first-generation voters. and, if the ndp does not have principles to stand on, it cannot compete. cultural relativism is not a set of principles but the rejection of the concept of holding to principles. let the liberals play that game; the ndp needs to stand for something.
but, what that means is just getting out of the way. what it means is being quiet.
here's a not so bold prediction: you can expect that the media is going to try and make the election about muslims. again. the conservatives are playing along.
canadians told us in 2015 that they didn't want the election to be about muslims. justin trudeau was elected because his platform was articulated very well and positioned him to the left of the ndp, not because of the coverage around syrian refugees. and, if he wants to play into this lie, all you have to do is beat him at his own game.
in the crudest terms possible, what the ndp needs to do to compete is just take trudeau's platform and put the ndp logo on it. that's what people voted for. and, he's done a really shitty job in following through.
but, the key tactic is to make sure that the ndp leader is seen as out of the fray of all of this arguing about muslims. the most recent fail on this point is around the khadr settlement. well, yeah - he was fucking tortured, of course he got a settlement. but, there's this huge confusion amongst pollsters and the media, who expected it to drive voter sentiment.
the reality is that nobody cares. nobody. zero fucks.
the liberals have indicated repeatedly that they're going to buy into this, because they've put the entire brand on it. it's the only thing they've followed through on. and, they're basically aping the democratic party model around hispanic voters becoming dominant. well, that didn't work out in the united states, did it? shockingly, it turns out that a lot of hispanics are actually kind of religious and deeply conservative.
a lot of muslims are deeply conservative, too.
that is my advice to the ndp, ok: just don't get into it. let the liberals hang themselves with their own rope. if asked specific questions, interpret the constitution properly. people have rights. sure. we all agree with that. but, don't pander. don't get into the gutter. focus instead on big ideas that canadians actually care about: health care, education, the economy. and, fight the media tooth and nail to get the coverage on it...
my advice is this: let the liberals run on immigration. just get out of their way. i'm not saying you should parrot what i'm saying; i'd rather suggest otherwise, actually. i'm not a politician. i know what i'm saying is unpopular. i'm in the game of pushing back against the narrative for the purpose of raising awareness and building consciousness, not in the game of running for office. if i thought i was going to run for office, i'd compromise on my principles for the immigrant vote, too - but i'm not, and you might want to think about that, about where canadian principles really are in all of this.
i think a lot of canadians across the political spectrum would agree with the idea that canadian politicians - perhaps especially on the left - have sold out their principles to appeal to first-generation voters. and, if the ndp does not have principles to stand on, it cannot compete. cultural relativism is not a set of principles but the rejection of the concept of holding to principles. let the liberals play that game; the ndp needs to stand for something.
but, what that means is just getting out of the way. what it means is being quiet.
here's a not so bold prediction: you can expect that the media is going to try and make the election about muslims. again. the conservatives are playing along.
canadians told us in 2015 that they didn't want the election to be about muslims. justin trudeau was elected because his platform was articulated very well and positioned him to the left of the ndp, not because of the coverage around syrian refugees. and, if he wants to play into this lie, all you have to do is beat him at his own game.
in the crudest terms possible, what the ndp needs to do to compete is just take trudeau's platform and put the ndp logo on it. that's what people voted for. and, he's done a really shitty job in following through.
but, the key tactic is to make sure that the ndp leader is seen as out of the fray of all of this arguing about muslims. the most recent fail on this point is around the khadr settlement. well, yeah - he was fucking tortured, of course he got a settlement. but, there's this huge confusion amongst pollsters and the media, who expected it to drive voter sentiment.
the reality is that nobody cares. nobody. zero fucks.
the liberals have indicated repeatedly that they're going to buy into this, because they've put the entire brand on it. it's the only thing they've followed through on. and, they're basically aping the democratic party model around hispanic voters becoming dominant. well, that didn't work out in the united states, did it? shockingly, it turns out that a lot of hispanics are actually kind of religious and deeply conservative.
a lot of muslims are deeply conservative, too.
that is my advice to the ndp, ok: just don't get into it. let the liberals hang themselves with their own rope. if asked specific questions, interpret the constitution properly. people have rights. sure. we all agree with that. but, don't pander. don't get into the gutter. focus instead on big ideas that canadians actually care about: health care, education, the economy. and, fight the media tooth and nail to get the coverage on it...
when archaeologists study a region that has experienced shifts in culture, one of the things that they use to classify those shifts in culture is changes in burial practices.
i'm concerned about land use. it's 2017; nobody should be burying their dead, any more. in that sense, i'm representing a different cultural shift - one towards a secular and liberal vision of science and reason, and away from conservative religious traditions that have lost touch with whatever sense they may have made in the past. i think that land use decisions should be made by the community that uses the land, not by people from other communities that want to buy a plot of land or whatever else. that is a basic principle of socialism.
so, this is not an individual rights issue; there is no right to a religious burial, and no positive right to carry out religious customs. there is a negative right to non-interference. nobody is claiming such an infringement.
regardless, to suggest that making burial grounds for a foreign culture is not an invasion of some sort is just a break down in critical thinking - for it is exactly what archaeologists will conclude when they study the land in the future. by studying changes in burial practices, they will - correctly - conclude that there was a cultural disruption in the region.
you can argue in favour of that cultural disruption if you insist, but it is simply disingenuous to deny it altogether. as mentioned, my own biases lie in a cultural disruption of a different sort.
i consequently don't share the premier's views that the situation puts the province in a poor light. rather, the premier's comments make him seem clueless and delusional.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/couillard-muslim-cemetery-saint-apollinaire-1.4211441
i'm concerned about land use. it's 2017; nobody should be burying their dead, any more. in that sense, i'm representing a different cultural shift - one towards a secular and liberal vision of science and reason, and away from conservative religious traditions that have lost touch with whatever sense they may have made in the past. i think that land use decisions should be made by the community that uses the land, not by people from other communities that want to buy a plot of land or whatever else. that is a basic principle of socialism.
so, this is not an individual rights issue; there is no right to a religious burial, and no positive right to carry out religious customs. there is a negative right to non-interference. nobody is claiming such an infringement.
regardless, to suggest that making burial grounds for a foreign culture is not an invasion of some sort is just a break down in critical thinking - for it is exactly what archaeologists will conclude when they study the land in the future. by studying changes in burial practices, they will - correctly - conclude that there was a cultural disruption in the region.
you can argue in favour of that cultural disruption if you insist, but it is simply disingenuous to deny it altogether. as mentioned, my own biases lie in a cultural disruption of a different sort.
i consequently don't share the premier's views that the situation puts the province in a poor light. rather, the premier's comments make him seem clueless and delusional.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/couillard-muslim-cemetery-saint-apollinaire-1.4211441
the thing about legislating caps is that the industry then works any fines into the cost of business. the only way legislating caps can be effective is if the government is willing to go in there and actually shut the businesses down. this is going to set off expensive & lengthy court battles that will give corporate interests an opportunity to write the case law on the subject from the position of a court that is going to be forced to stand up for their constitutional rights.
nor am i particularly optimistic about trudeau's choice of court justice to replace mclachlin. we may very well be on the cusp of a more right-wing supreme court in canada.
i've been saying for years that the only answer is mass public investment. fuck authoritarian decrees, fuck punitive police states and fuck naive theories about market incentives. you have to just fucking build it, already - that's the only solution. and, i'd be happy to see an election fought partially over the question of whether the trudeau government has lived up to it's commitments on 'green infrastructure'.
don't get me wrong, here: nikki ashton is not an ideal. she's actually younger than i am, and yet seems stuck in the identity politics of the previous generation. she's not a youth candidate; she's in truth deeply out of touch with youth, and rather stuck in an ivory tower bubble. she'll be wise to listen to the advice of a charlie angus, and she's going to need it. but, it's almost like the left has to get out of - perhaps grow out of - this mess together. as impossible as it is going to be for nikki ashton to win an election, she's the better candidate to try and rebuild an actual base.
and, she's more correct on the right approach to emissions reductions.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/07/18/ndps-niki-ashton-targets-corporate-greed-in-green-platform.html
nor am i particularly optimistic about trudeau's choice of court justice to replace mclachlin. we may very well be on the cusp of a more right-wing supreme court in canada.
i've been saying for years that the only answer is mass public investment. fuck authoritarian decrees, fuck punitive police states and fuck naive theories about market incentives. you have to just fucking build it, already - that's the only solution. and, i'd be happy to see an election fought partially over the question of whether the trudeau government has lived up to it's commitments on 'green infrastructure'.
don't get me wrong, here: nikki ashton is not an ideal. she's actually younger than i am, and yet seems stuck in the identity politics of the previous generation. she's not a youth candidate; she's in truth deeply out of touch with youth, and rather stuck in an ivory tower bubble. she'll be wise to listen to the advice of a charlie angus, and she's going to need it. but, it's almost like the left has to get out of - perhaps grow out of - this mess together. as impossible as it is going to be for nikki ashton to win an election, she's the better candidate to try and rebuild an actual base.
and, she's more correct on the right approach to emissions reductions.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/07/18/ndps-niki-ashton-targets-corporate-greed-in-green-platform.html
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
“I offer straight talk, an authentic voice that cuts through the spin.”
...except that you don't, charlie. you're as transparent as a vivenne westwood bodysuit.
the harsh truth is that charlie angus is too reminiscent of stephen harper to be a serious candidate on the left.
i think the smart thing to do is to put nikki ashton in and let her rebuild before she hands it over to somebody else. that means realizing that the party needs to go through another election before it can even understand what it is; it means realizing that the disaster of 2015 was too deep, too catastrophic, to build around.
the next competitive leader of the ndp has not been elected yet.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/07/18/Charlie-Angus-NDP-Leader/
...except that you don't, charlie. you're as transparent as a vivenne westwood bodysuit.
the harsh truth is that charlie angus is too reminiscent of stephen harper to be a serious candidate on the left.
i think the smart thing to do is to put nikki ashton in and let her rebuild before she hands it over to somebody else. that means realizing that the party needs to go through another election before it can even understand what it is; it means realizing that the disaster of 2015 was too deep, too catastrophic, to build around.
the next competitive leader of the ndp has not been elected yet.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/07/18/Charlie-Angus-NDP-Leader/
woah. woah. woah...
let's not get cocky, here.
there's still a lot of work to be done. and, trudeau is very clearly on the wrong side of history, here.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/07/18/Oil-Party-Over-Energy-Firms-Know-It/
let's not get cocky, here.
there's still a lot of work to be done. and, trudeau is very clearly on the wrong side of history, here.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/07/18/Oil-Party-Over-Energy-Firms-Know-It/
nobody in canada is going to base their vote on omar khadr, and you're a moron if you think anybody will.
https://www.hilltimes.com/2017/07/18/khadr-deal-not-yet-hurting-trudeaus-popularity-campaign-research/113911
https://www.hilltimes.com/2017/07/18/khadr-deal-not-yet-hurting-trudeaus-popularity-campaign-research/113911
i spent the day catching up on sleep, and needed it. but, i got my square monitor this afternoon for $20.
i got tricked a little on the actual size; the model specs told me 17", which i though meant it was about 17x17. it's actually only about 13" across. the monitor that it is replacing is about 15" across, which means it is replacing a 19" monitor. going from 19 to 17 may seem backwards, but i'm actually more concerned about desk space and would not have wanted something much bigger. i've tested it, and the size is acceptable - but i'll revisit later on if i have to. again: owning a spare monitor is not a bad thing.
the way i should look at it is like this: it came with a dvi cable, which i don't have and should not expect in a second purchase. that dvi cable is worth more than $20, anyways. even if i don't use it, this was really a steal.
but i'll reiterate that i'll probably be fine with the slightly smaller screen. i've just increased the resolution a little to compensate. and, the thing is indeed quite sharp and focused at 1280x1074.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
dell ultrasharp 1703 fp with dvi cables (kijiji): $20
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 tb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
600 watt psu (amazon.ca): $80
700 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $10
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
bathroom supplies (food basics, walmart, loblaws, shopper's): $202
ps/2 keyboard (axxon computer corporation, windsor): $23
usb mouse (walmart): $15
universal battery charger + aaa batteries (canadian tire): $54
==================
2258.52
i got tricked a little on the actual size; the model specs told me 17", which i though meant it was about 17x17. it's actually only about 13" across. the monitor that it is replacing is about 15" across, which means it is replacing a 19" monitor. going from 19 to 17 may seem backwards, but i'm actually more concerned about desk space and would not have wanted something much bigger. i've tested it, and the size is acceptable - but i'll revisit later on if i have to. again: owning a spare monitor is not a bad thing.
the way i should look at it is like this: it came with a dvi cable, which i don't have and should not expect in a second purchase. that dvi cable is worth more than $20, anyways. even if i don't use it, this was really a steal.
but i'll reiterate that i'll probably be fine with the slightly smaller screen. i've just increased the resolution a little to compensate. and, the thing is indeed quite sharp and focused at 1280x1074.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
dell ultrasharp 1703 fp with dvi cables (kijiji): $20
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 tb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
600 watt psu (amazon.ca): $80
700 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $10
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
bathroom supplies (food basics, walmart, loblaws, shopper's): $202
ps/2 keyboard (axxon computer corporation, windsor): $23
usb mouse (walmart): $15
universal battery charger + aaa batteries (canadian tire): $54
==================
2258.52
but, correlation does not imply causation. how do we know that he doesn't play in trucks all the time?
http://www.avclub.com/article/yes-both-times-trumpcare-fell-apart-president-was--258220
http://www.avclub.com/article/yes-both-times-trumpcare-fell-apart-president-was--258220
well, i've got this machine up to 8 gb of ram, now. it's going to be a while before i swap the drive out. the machine is fast enough that you can't really tell under base conditions; i'm going to need to push it a little, and will actually probably do so in the upcoming days as i get back to actually editing.
the updates to the list are as follows...
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 tb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
600 watt psu (amazon.ca): $80
700 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $10
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
bathroom supplies (food basics, walmart, loblaws, shopper's): $202
ps/2 keyboard (axxon computer corporation, windsor): $23
usb mouse (walmart): $15
universal battery charger + aaa batteries (canadian tire): $54
==================
2238.52
the updates to the list are as follows...
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 tb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
600 watt psu (amazon.ca): $80
700 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $10
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
bathroom supplies (food basics, walmart, loblaws, shopper's): $202
ps/2 keyboard (axxon computer corporation, windsor): $23
usb mouse (walmart): $15
universal battery charger + aaa batteries (canadian tire): $54
==================
2238.52
it's maybe somewhat naive to suggest that girls in foreign cultures are unaware that what is being done to them is wrong, even if they lack the legal framework to stand up for themselves against the islamic patriarchy that is forcing the abuse on to them. but, i think there's something to be said about the severity of a crime being linked to how well the victim is able to understand their own condition. i mean, it's the cave, right? that is not meant to lessen the impact of crimes against those that are unable to understand what is happening to them, be it due to genetic defect or whatever ignorance, but to point out that the ability to fully understand, or even anticipate, a wrong introduces an aspect of torture into the process. it is in some way a greater crime to send a canadian girl abroad for the procedure for the precise reason that she is likely to be so fully aware of exactly what is happening to her.
“having grown up in Canada, the girls know their rights”
i suppose that's the one upside to this.
i don't believe in 'family values', or the idea that you have some kind of right to force your culture on your children. this is an infringement of the individual rights of the child and should be grounds for child protective services to take the kids away from their parents.
https://www.thestar.com/news/fgm/2017/07/14/canadian-girls-are-being-taken-abroad-to-undergo-female-genital-mutilation-documents-reveal.html
i suppose that's the one upside to this.
i don't believe in 'family values', or the idea that you have some kind of right to force your culture on your children. this is an infringement of the individual rights of the child and should be grounds for child protective services to take the kids away from their parents.
https://www.thestar.com/news/fgm/2017/07/14/canadian-girls-are-being-taken-abroad-to-undergo-female-genital-mutilation-documents-reveal.html
Monday, July 17, 2017
long day.
the neurologist suggested my jaw is dislocated and told me to see a dentist. that's actually closer to my intuition, but both the gp and ear doctor sent me to the neurologist, so...
i got a universal battery charger on the way back, which is something i needed, anyways. i'm apparently going to be hard-pressed to find the canadian tire brand in rechargeables. the different chargers don't seem to like other brands, so i settled on energizer for the charger and the batteries - although i'll have to see how the eveready batteries react to the energizer charger. i'll probably put my small charger away, as i periodically switch over. i was hoping to get some square batteries, though, and i couldn't find any; i do have some around, but i don't know how well they'll charge. guess we'll find out. it was around $50 for the charger and 4 rechargeable aaas.
i found a ps/2 keyboard on the way home for $20. and, i'd might as well move the usb to ps/2 convertor over to the kvm, now, as it has no other use. the new board only has one ps/2 slot (and an absurd amount of usbs), so it was the keyboard that was most important.
i picked up a $10 usb mouse on my third trip out tonight, as well. i don't really need it, but why not? just in case. that's around 80 dollars (i'll work it out better when i wake up) and closes the build, with the important exception of a square monitor. it must be square...
the case, ram and some laptop ram came in today. i'm close to being able to build. i just need thermal paste.
that really was a long day, full of something like 9 hours worth of biking. you'll excuse me while i pass out.
the neurologist suggested my jaw is dislocated and told me to see a dentist. that's actually closer to my intuition, but both the gp and ear doctor sent me to the neurologist, so...
i got a universal battery charger on the way back, which is something i needed, anyways. i'm apparently going to be hard-pressed to find the canadian tire brand in rechargeables. the different chargers don't seem to like other brands, so i settled on energizer for the charger and the batteries - although i'll have to see how the eveready batteries react to the energizer charger. i'll probably put my small charger away, as i periodically switch over. i was hoping to get some square batteries, though, and i couldn't find any; i do have some around, but i don't know how well they'll charge. guess we'll find out. it was around $50 for the charger and 4 rechargeable aaas.
i found a ps/2 keyboard on the way home for $20. and, i'd might as well move the usb to ps/2 convertor over to the kvm, now, as it has no other use. the new board only has one ps/2 slot (and an absurd amount of usbs), so it was the keyboard that was most important.
i picked up a $10 usb mouse on my third trip out tonight, as well. i don't really need it, but why not? just in case. that's around 80 dollars (i'll work it out better when i wake up) and closes the build, with the important exception of a square monitor. it must be square...
the case, ram and some laptop ram came in today. i'm close to being able to build. i just need thermal paste.
that really was a long day, full of something like 9 hours worth of biking. you'll excuse me while i pass out.
i was intending on blowing most of the weekend, but i maybe went a tad overboard. i'm realizing i forgot to include the money i spent on the 30th in my monthly totals, which i'm trying to mentally separate from my computer money, so i'm little more in debt to myself than i thought. that's ok - i'm still on track to immediately spend $4835 of the $5000 properly, and the rest will balance itself out in the upcoming months. the reality is that i had to pay out $320 in loans this month, so it was going to have to be a quiet month or i was going to have to do this in chunks; going from owing $300 to payday loan places to owing yourself $165 is a step forward, and if i can halve that again next month it should work itself out in the wash. i'm probably not going to get through the $5000 before september 1st, anyways. the rest of the month seems quiet to me, and i don't see much coming up in august that immediately appeals to me, either. there's lots of stuff going on, it's just not for me.
most of the remaining items should get here this week. i feel like ups is holding my case hostage, and expect a call early this morning. if it doesn't happen, i'm going to get angry and start demanding that people get fired.
i have an appointment this morning, as well. i didn't hear back from the computer store about the ps/2 items and may have to look for other options...
i'm mildly concerned that my sound card hasn't shipped yet. the money came out of my account several days ago. but, the e-check hasn't completed yet. i'll give it a few more days.
as today is busy, the property owners will get an extra day to react. they sent me something on thursday night, but have not responded to my reply. i will be printing the remaining documents i need in the afternoon and writing up the report over night, so they will need to react quickly.
so, today is going to be scattered and disjointed. hopefully, i can get back to what i was doing, tomorrow, which is going to be building the remaining pc components, finding cd/dvd cases and then trying to figure out a playback solution.
most of the remaining items should get here this week. i feel like ups is holding my case hostage, and expect a call early this morning. if it doesn't happen, i'm going to get angry and start demanding that people get fired.
i have an appointment this morning, as well. i didn't hear back from the computer store about the ps/2 items and may have to look for other options...
i'm mildly concerned that my sound card hasn't shipped yet. the money came out of my account several days ago. but, the e-check hasn't completed yet. i'll give it a few more days.
as today is busy, the property owners will get an extra day to react. they sent me something on thursday night, but have not responded to my reply. i will be printing the remaining documents i need in the afternoon and writing up the report over night, so they will need to react quickly.
so, today is going to be scattered and disjointed. hopefully, i can get back to what i was doing, tomorrow, which is going to be building the remaining pc components, finding cd/dvd cases and then trying to figure out a playback solution.
or, perhaps he's just being honest about the issues we face in front of us, as a society?
he's right: you can't separate these kinds of attacks from the religion. and, you're being disingenuous if you claim you can.
that said, the political analysis presented here is logically incoherent. the governing party does not need to be concerned about gaining votes from the opposition, but about losing votes to the opposition. if you want to be cynical, the reading would be that he's concerned about losing liberal voters to the caq - not that he's trying to gain caq voters. the caq is to the right of the liberals in a spectrum that had previously put the liberals on the right of the pq, who correctly identified as social democrats despite maintaining and even cultivating a dominant nativist streak. in short, the article is wrong: it makes a great deal of sense for couilliard to try and prevent a collapse on the right side of his party, now that the pq seems to be fading in relevance.
i would hope, however, that quebecers realize that this is a terrible spectrum shift and rally behind something like the qs, instead. remember: this is quebec, where parties go from 3 seats to 83 seats overnight.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/philippe-couillards-tone-shift-on-islam-stuns-quebec-muslims/article35460108/
he's right: you can't separate these kinds of attacks from the religion. and, you're being disingenuous if you claim you can.
that said, the political analysis presented here is logically incoherent. the governing party does not need to be concerned about gaining votes from the opposition, but about losing votes to the opposition. if you want to be cynical, the reading would be that he's concerned about losing liberal voters to the caq - not that he's trying to gain caq voters. the caq is to the right of the liberals in a spectrum that had previously put the liberals on the right of the pq, who correctly identified as social democrats despite maintaining and even cultivating a dominant nativist streak. in short, the article is wrong: it makes a great deal of sense for couilliard to try and prevent a collapse on the right side of his party, now that the pq seems to be fading in relevance.
i would hope, however, that quebecers realize that this is a terrible spectrum shift and rally behind something like the qs, instead. remember: this is quebec, where parties go from 3 seats to 83 seats overnight.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/philippe-couillards-tone-shift-on-islam-stuns-quebec-muslims/article35460108/
Sunday, July 16, 2017
i'd like to get rid of cemeteries altogether, but if we must have them, i'd prefer to adopt the most efficient allocation of space, and that is surely multi-denominational. so, this "but, christians do it" argument is backwards thinking - the better argument is that christians shouldn't do it, either.
i'd make the same argument about schools. "but, there are catholic schools.". yeah, but there shouldn't be. i'm very strongly in support of abolishing the catholic school system and see that as the preferable solution over the creation of a muslim one.
i think there's a broader point here, though, which is that muslims keep getting voted down. and, i think that may be at the crux of a lot of the problems they have in integrating: the broader society is very quickly secularizing, whereas muslims are (in aggregate) becoming more insular and more religious. it's a recipe for civil conflict.
i don't live there. but, i think this town probably made the choice that is in the best interests of it's residents. that is democracy, and it should be celebrated.
http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/07/16/quebec-city-muslim-cemetery-rejected-19-16-in-nearby-town-referendum
i'd make the same argument about schools. "but, there are catholic schools.". yeah, but there shouldn't be. i'm very strongly in support of abolishing the catholic school system and see that as the preferable solution over the creation of a muslim one.
i think there's a broader point here, though, which is that muslims keep getting voted down. and, i think that may be at the crux of a lot of the problems they have in integrating: the broader society is very quickly secularizing, whereas muslims are (in aggregate) becoming more insular and more religious. it's a recipe for civil conflict.
i don't live there. but, i think this town probably made the choice that is in the best interests of it's residents. that is democracy, and it should be celebrated.
http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/07/16/quebec-city-muslim-cemetery-rejected-19-16-in-nearby-town-referendum
is lee free?
if lee is free, then let lee be!
but, if lee is not free?
if it happens to be....
that lee has been cast away from thee,
then...
lee must be free.
i enjoyed the show last night. it was just missing a certain intrinsic, existential quantity. and, one does not run away from history....
....but lee must be free, whatever that means to lee. is he?
if lee is free, then let lee be!
but, if lee is not free?
if it happens to be....
that lee has been cast away from thee,
then...
lee must be free.
i enjoyed the show last night. it was just missing a certain intrinsic, existential quantity. and, one does not run away from history....
....but lee must be free, whatever that means to lee. is he?
Saturday, July 15, 2017
i think singh is more right.
i think it's something that depends on a national accounting, though. even if older people are registering higher incomes, they still have less ability to replicate that into the future. but, at some point we need to be honest: a lot of pensioners are extremely wealthy. and the most fair way to get funds to other pensioners that need them is to tax the wealthiest ones. any other approach is a process of inter-generational redistribution, which i'd consider less fair.
we don't need to be calculating balanced budgets to the dime. but, we have a financial problem ahead of us that international credit agencies are bound to involve themselves with: our tax base is going to have difficulties supporting such a large retired population. it's not that the debt is an actual problem, so much as that creditors have the ability to manufacture it into one in ways that could hurt the broader economy. you're dealing with a rigged system, and a dangerous game inside of it.
the reality is that the best way to deal with this is by transferring wealth around amongst the elderly., from those with truly substantial wealth to those that really need it. it's not a populist position, but it's a smart one in a country like canada, that is under the imf regime.
i don't really like any of these candidates, and i'm not convinced that any of them are really competitive. but, if they want to seriously take on the liberals, they're going to need to find a way to tap into the large swath of canadians that like historical ndp policy but see the liberals as more responsible economic managers. the liberal base constantly surprises me - and frustrates the party - by how consistently and legitimately progressive it is. it will like this precisely because it is, indeed, a fair redistribution policy, where one is truly needed.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/singh-caron-ashton-angus-debate-1.4200088
i think it's something that depends on a national accounting, though. even if older people are registering higher incomes, they still have less ability to replicate that into the future. but, at some point we need to be honest: a lot of pensioners are extremely wealthy. and the most fair way to get funds to other pensioners that need them is to tax the wealthiest ones. any other approach is a process of inter-generational redistribution, which i'd consider less fair.
we don't need to be calculating balanced budgets to the dime. but, we have a financial problem ahead of us that international credit agencies are bound to involve themselves with: our tax base is going to have difficulties supporting such a large retired population. it's not that the debt is an actual problem, so much as that creditors have the ability to manufacture it into one in ways that could hurt the broader economy. you're dealing with a rigged system, and a dangerous game inside of it.
the reality is that the best way to deal with this is by transferring wealth around amongst the elderly., from those with truly substantial wealth to those that really need it. it's not a populist position, but it's a smart one in a country like canada, that is under the imf regime.
i don't really like any of these candidates, and i'm not convinced that any of them are really competitive. but, if they want to seriously take on the liberals, they're going to need to find a way to tap into the large swath of canadians that like historical ndp policy but see the liberals as more responsible economic managers. the liberal base constantly surprises me - and frustrates the party - by how consistently and legitimately progressive it is. it will like this precisely because it is, indeed, a fair redistribution policy, where one is truly needed.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/singh-caron-ashton-angus-debate-1.4200088
Friday, July 14, 2017
the articles, and i think the government as well, are focusing on the question of a cost-benefit analysis: how does the government spend the least amount? but, the backlash to this is really from social conservatives and not from fiscal conservatives. maybe it's an intentional bait and switch, but i think the government is just not engaging with the opposition to the settlement.
from what i've seen of the case, i think omar khadr deserved a settlement. i don't even think his age matters; if he had been an adult at the time, he'd still deserve a settlement. if he had the intent to kill, he'd even still deserve a settlement. the people that are upset are disagreeing with this for the reason that they think that committing a crime should strip an individual of all of their rights. this is a position that is completely outside of canadian law.
even if omar khadr was the worst serial killer in the history of the country, he would still deserve a settlement for being tortured. being bad doesn't mean you deserve to be tortured, and doesn't mean you should be stripped of your rights.
there is consequently a more substantive rights issue at play and i'd like to hear the government be a little more vocal about that, rather than retreat to this cost-benefit analysis.
that said, i don't know how these numbers were calculated. is 10 million dollars a reasonable settlement simply because it represents a savings of x% over a trial? that seems a little crude. it also feels a little like extortion. it's maybe a little much. but, i do agree with the prime minister: the lesson is that you shouldn't torture people.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/omar-khadr-legal-analysis-aaron-wherry-1.4199409
from what i've seen of the case, i think omar khadr deserved a settlement. i don't even think his age matters; if he had been an adult at the time, he'd still deserve a settlement. if he had the intent to kill, he'd even still deserve a settlement. the people that are upset are disagreeing with this for the reason that they think that committing a crime should strip an individual of all of their rights. this is a position that is completely outside of canadian law.
even if omar khadr was the worst serial killer in the history of the country, he would still deserve a settlement for being tortured. being bad doesn't mean you deserve to be tortured, and doesn't mean you should be stripped of your rights.
there is consequently a more substantive rights issue at play and i'd like to hear the government be a little more vocal about that, rather than retreat to this cost-benefit analysis.
that said, i don't know how these numbers were calculated. is 10 million dollars a reasonable settlement simply because it represents a savings of x% over a trial? that seems a little crude. it also feels a little like extortion. it's maybe a little much. but, i do agree with the prime minister: the lesson is that you shouldn't torture people.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/omar-khadr-legal-analysis-aaron-wherry-1.4199409
Thursday, July 13, 2017
ups...
the canada post is actually awesome. i don't know why people don't just ship with them. they have dozens of convenient locations, great hours...
i had to get a purolator package the other day in the middle of nowhere, when i could have walked around the corner to get it at canada post. now, ups is trying to tell me that they can't deliver my package (it's the case...) because they don't have the access code to my apartment. this is serious: they want me to give them the pass code. that's insane. and, it doesn't seem like they're going to deliver it, otherwise.
i called them back, and they'll drop it off at the ups store, but they'll charge $6 for it. please, people: just use canada post. they're infinitely better.
pretty much everything else is bikeable, too, they just happened to use ups for the case. which i can't fit in a bag.
the canada post is actually awesome. i don't know why people don't just ship with them. they have dozens of convenient locations, great hours...
i had to get a purolator package the other day in the middle of nowhere, when i could have walked around the corner to get it at canada post. now, ups is trying to tell me that they can't deliver my package (it's the case...) because they don't have the access code to my apartment. this is serious: they want me to give them the pass code. that's insane. and, it doesn't seem like they're going to deliver it, otherwise.
i called them back, and they'll drop it off at the ups store, but they'll charge $6 for it. please, people: just use canada post. they're infinitely better.
pretty much everything else is bikeable, too, they just happened to use ups for the case. which i can't fit in a bag.
why doesn't anybody understand speech? this guy is accidentally almost right.
- free speech is a covenant, a social contract, between the state and the individual. it does not govern relations between individuals.
- the idea of free speech consequently only exists in public spaces. if a public library were to shut this down purely on speech grounds, rather than on something like safety grounds, then it would be a clear speech violation. a private library or private auditorium would be subject to no such covenant, and could shut down anybody at all for whatever reason they want.
- it follows that the public library can't shut it down. but it's not some slippery slope. it's a basic constitutional right! it also follows that a public space is the correct place for it, as nobody can shut them down (legally) so long as they meet in public.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/outrage-over-groups-use-of-toronto-library-threatens-freedom-of-speech/article35680999/?reqid=ea5fe985-b6a3-4396-b394-7aef0504cba0
- free speech is a covenant, a social contract, between the state and the individual. it does not govern relations between individuals.
- the idea of free speech consequently only exists in public spaces. if a public library were to shut this down purely on speech grounds, rather than on something like safety grounds, then it would be a clear speech violation. a private library or private auditorium would be subject to no such covenant, and could shut down anybody at all for whatever reason they want.
- it follows that the public library can't shut it down. but it's not some slippery slope. it's a basic constitutional right! it also follows that a public space is the correct place for it, as nobody can shut them down (legally) so long as they meet in public.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/outrage-over-groups-use-of-toronto-library-threatens-freedom-of-speech/article35680999/?reqid=ea5fe985-b6a3-4396-b394-7aef0504cba0
canada is a colonial state.
say it with me: canada is a colonial state.
and, the number one rule of colonialism is that you wipe out the indigenous groups that you're stealing the resources from. that's the model. that's how this works.
so long as canada remains a colonial state (that is, so long as it maintains an export-based resource economy dominated by a foreign elite), it will continue to behave like one.
say it with me: canada is a colonial state.
and, the number one rule of colonialism is that you wipe out the indigenous groups that you're stealing the resources from. that's the model. that's how this works.
so long as canada remains a colonial state (that is, so long as it maintains an export-based resource economy dominated by a foreign elite), it will continue to behave like one.
when this finally gets out..
i've never heard anybody openly state what everybody who has looked into this is well aware of is happening: there has been a systemic, and probably ongoing, attempt by the rcmp, particularly in the western provinces, to eliminate indigenous women of child-bearing age. this is the reason that these girls keep disappearing, and the reality is that everybody knows it.
it is a part of the country's ongoing genocide against the indigenous peoples of the continent.
....but nobody will say it. i think it's partly out of fear of being branded a nut, and partly out of fear of opening a can of worms that everybody seems to think is necessary to open very slowly. others may be concerned about their own safety.
but, fuck it. this isn't going anywhere. government after government drags it on, because - well, it's going to take a government of singular character to really deal with this, let alone end it.
i'll stand up and say it: the inquiry has to be independent, because the government is deeply complicit.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/families-of-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-ask-trudeau-to-restart-inquiry/article35680165/
i've never heard anybody openly state what everybody who has looked into this is well aware of is happening: there has been a systemic, and probably ongoing, attempt by the rcmp, particularly in the western provinces, to eliminate indigenous women of child-bearing age. this is the reason that these girls keep disappearing, and the reality is that everybody knows it.
it is a part of the country's ongoing genocide against the indigenous peoples of the continent.
....but nobody will say it. i think it's partly out of fear of being branded a nut, and partly out of fear of opening a can of worms that everybody seems to think is necessary to open very slowly. others may be concerned about their own safety.
but, fuck it. this isn't going anywhere. government after government drags it on, because - well, it's going to take a government of singular character to really deal with this, let alone end it.
i'll stand up and say it: the inquiry has to be independent, because the government is deeply complicit.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/families-of-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-ask-trudeau-to-restart-inquiry/article35680165/
i need to repeat that there should be a scholastic requirement involved in owning property. we just let anybody own property, then we throw stupidity at the courts as a consequence of a lack of oversight.
there is apparently a random poop thrower at large in windsor, ontario. this individual is known to invade people's property and throw poop at your windows. just a prank, bro?
it's this kind of pop-legalology. "you don't have her face on camera". yeah, but there's an obvious inference.
ok, i'll be rigorous. there are four possibilities:
1) the cat poop fell from heaven, like manna.
2) we have a random poop throwing vandal on the loose.
3) one of the agents of the property owner tossed it from a position off camera.
4) it may have been thrown from an open window.
i don't think that either of these agents can be relied on to understand the consequences of perjuring themselves. it's not that easy. i'm going to have to present the evidence as it is. but, if you can make a simple inference, as the court will, it's absolutely devastating.
i have to follow through with this. i'm optionless.
i'll deal with it tomorrow.
there is apparently a random poop thrower at large in windsor, ontario. this individual is known to invade people's property and throw poop at your windows. just a prank, bro?
it's this kind of pop-legalology. "you don't have her face on camera". yeah, but there's an obvious inference.
ok, i'll be rigorous. there are four possibilities:
1) the cat poop fell from heaven, like manna.
2) we have a random poop throwing vandal on the loose.
3) one of the agents of the property owner tossed it from a position off camera.
4) it may have been thrown from an open window.
i don't think that either of these agents can be relied on to understand the consequences of perjuring themselves. it's not that easy. i'm going to have to present the evidence as it is. but, if you can make a simple inference, as the court will, it's absolutely devastating.
i have to follow through with this. i'm optionless.
i'll deal with it tomorrow.
so, what's happened?
i was on my way out on tuesday, when the previous property owner stopped me and accused me of peering into the neighbour's window to try and determine whether he had removed the cat or not and threatened to evict me over it. i at no point suggested removing the cat. this accusation was so obviously fabricated out of absolutely nothing that any concept of good faith went out the window. we're going back to court.
i spent the rest of the day on tuesday running around doing grocery shopping and picking up packages. i just crashed when i got in; it was a long day.
yesterday, i started by sorting through the remaining loose ends for the build. i got a psu (and another power bar...) at amazon, instead.
the government gave me my ostc up front this year, because i forgot to include the on-ben. i'm not sure how this is going to work out; it seems like they want me to send them back the $296 and just continue my normal monthly payments. i happen to be able to do that this month. they haven't sent me a notice yet, but i'm scheduled for normal $60 monthly payments. i'm going to assume that they correct this and that the $60 payments become $35 payments. i can live without $25/month, but i'm going to budget by reducing my groceries rather than my spending, so i actually want to take that $296 and spend it up front. it makes sense to spend $300 on cleaning/bathroom stuff. soap. toothbrushes. toilet paper. lysol. dish soap. that kind of stuff. it would be nice if i could budget that cleanly, but i had loans this month to take care of. so, i'm offsetting it with money out of the 5000. all of the running around over the last two days got me to around $175, but i should have actually bought more and will revisit that today.
i spent the rest of the morning trying to get through the court papers, and look what i found when sorting through looking for exacts dates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZgzJiInBAw
look at 7 seconds. they're so busted...
i've been suspicious for a bit about this, but i decided they probably started placing the cat feces outside the window in order to piss me off after they figured out it would. it turns out they were doing it from the start. that is seriously a video incidentally catching somebody throwing cat feces to the side of my window. i didn't even notice it at the time; i only caught it due to the angle the camera was pointing in.
the property owner was here shortly after the footage was taken and physically placed tarps outside the window. i can't imagine that she would have done that if she was aware of what was actually happening; she operated on the information i gave her, as best as i could give it to her. i feel the obligation to give her a chance to react to this fairly. it's hard to come up with a good resolution, granted. and, ignorance is not a shield of liability. but, i'm not doing this for the money, i'm doing this to get them to stop. the financial penalty is probably the only thing that's going to work; what i mean is that the only thing that's going to get them to stop is forcing them to pay a substantial fine, whether to me or to somebody else. but, i get to look that much more patient by giving them yet another chance. they have until monday morning to give me an acceptable answer, before i get back to filing...
i was hoping to place orders for jewel cases at staples and pick up the ps/2 combo, but neither thing worked out. staples requires a credit card, period. i'll have to figure something else out. the local computer store will order the ps/2 combo and i'll pick it up in the next few days.
i cannot find a square monitor in any of the pawn shops, either. so, these are my remnant concerns.
i crashed in the evening again and have spent the overnight budgeting these loose ends. the dvds and bds finally shipped. and, everything has gone through over paypal.
right now, i'm very hungry, as i didn't eat yesterday. i don't know what the plan is today, exactly. i'll want to do some laundry. i may even nap a little before the concert tonight.
so, here's what i've added over the last three days:
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
600 watt psu (amazon.ca): $80
700 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $10
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
bathroom supplies (food basics, walmart, loblaws, shopper's): $175
==================
2120.88
i was on my way out on tuesday, when the previous property owner stopped me and accused me of peering into the neighbour's window to try and determine whether he had removed the cat or not and threatened to evict me over it. i at no point suggested removing the cat. this accusation was so obviously fabricated out of absolutely nothing that any concept of good faith went out the window. we're going back to court.
i spent the rest of the day on tuesday running around doing grocery shopping and picking up packages. i just crashed when i got in; it was a long day.
yesterday, i started by sorting through the remaining loose ends for the build. i got a psu (and another power bar...) at amazon, instead.
the government gave me my ostc up front this year, because i forgot to include the on-ben. i'm not sure how this is going to work out; it seems like they want me to send them back the $296 and just continue my normal monthly payments. i happen to be able to do that this month. they haven't sent me a notice yet, but i'm scheduled for normal $60 monthly payments. i'm going to assume that they correct this and that the $60 payments become $35 payments. i can live without $25/month, but i'm going to budget by reducing my groceries rather than my spending, so i actually want to take that $296 and spend it up front. it makes sense to spend $300 on cleaning/bathroom stuff. soap. toothbrushes. toilet paper. lysol. dish soap. that kind of stuff. it would be nice if i could budget that cleanly, but i had loans this month to take care of. so, i'm offsetting it with money out of the 5000. all of the running around over the last two days got me to around $175, but i should have actually bought more and will revisit that today.
i spent the rest of the morning trying to get through the court papers, and look what i found when sorting through looking for exacts dates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZgzJiInBAw
look at 7 seconds. they're so busted...
i've been suspicious for a bit about this, but i decided they probably started placing the cat feces outside the window in order to piss me off after they figured out it would. it turns out they were doing it from the start. that is seriously a video incidentally catching somebody throwing cat feces to the side of my window. i didn't even notice it at the time; i only caught it due to the angle the camera was pointing in.
the property owner was here shortly after the footage was taken and physically placed tarps outside the window. i can't imagine that she would have done that if she was aware of what was actually happening; she operated on the information i gave her, as best as i could give it to her. i feel the obligation to give her a chance to react to this fairly. it's hard to come up with a good resolution, granted. and, ignorance is not a shield of liability. but, i'm not doing this for the money, i'm doing this to get them to stop. the financial penalty is probably the only thing that's going to work; what i mean is that the only thing that's going to get them to stop is forcing them to pay a substantial fine, whether to me or to somebody else. but, i get to look that much more patient by giving them yet another chance. they have until monday morning to give me an acceptable answer, before i get back to filing...
i was hoping to place orders for jewel cases at staples and pick up the ps/2 combo, but neither thing worked out. staples requires a credit card, period. i'll have to figure something else out. the local computer store will order the ps/2 combo and i'll pick it up in the next few days.
i cannot find a square monitor in any of the pawn shops, either. so, these are my remnant concerns.
i crashed in the evening again and have spent the overnight budgeting these loose ends. the dvds and bds finally shipped. and, everything has gone through over paypal.
right now, i'm very hungry, as i didn't eat yesterday. i don't know what the plan is today, exactly. i'll want to do some laundry. i may even nap a little before the concert tonight.
so, here's what i've added over the last three days:
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
600 watt psu (amazon.ca): $80
700 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $10
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
bathroom supplies (food basics, walmart, loblaws, shopper's): $175
==================
2120.88
i reject the premise of judging information by it's source. the term "consider the source" is a logical fallacy.
if hitler told you one day that it's raining out, he might have actually been right. an empiricist can't just jump to the conclusion that something is wrong because they don't like who said it. that's just being prejudicial. you have to analyze each claim separately, independent from previous ones, or the correctness that an institution or individual may have demonstrated in the past.
just because somebody was wrong yesterday doesn't mean they're wrong today. and, even somebody that was wrong frequently in the past could turn out to be right today. there's just no logical connection between the correctness of independent statements.
regardless, the article was just a short analysis of a pew paper. and, pew is a very good source.
if you're insistent on upholding your fallacies, you may prefer this article at vox, which is really not a particularly trustworthy source at all (they post a lot of democratic party talking points), but that is basically doing the same analysis, except with a lot more words:
https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/2/6/14516520/refugee-asylum-demographics-muslim-christian
the important source of information here is neither the center for immigration studies, nor vox, but pew.
if hitler told you one day that it's raining out, he might have actually been right. an empiricist can't just jump to the conclusion that something is wrong because they don't like who said it. that's just being prejudicial. you have to analyze each claim separately, independent from previous ones, or the correctness that an institution or individual may have demonstrated in the past.
just because somebody was wrong yesterday doesn't mean they're wrong today. and, even somebody that was wrong frequently in the past could turn out to be right today. there's just no logical connection between the correctness of independent statements.
regardless, the article was just a short analysis of a pew paper. and, pew is a very good source.
if you're insistent on upholding your fallacies, you may prefer this article at vox, which is really not a particularly trustworthy source at all (they post a lot of democratic party talking points), but that is basically doing the same analysis, except with a lot more words:
https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/2/6/14516520/refugee-asylum-demographics-muslim-christian
the important source of information here is neither the center for immigration studies, nor vox, but pew.
i need an honest discourse, first and foremost.
so, what the fuck is trump doing? it's a political game. it's just red meat for the base. and, an honest force on the secular left - which i would expect the aclu to be, if nobody else - should call it out for what it is, not play into it by creating some kind of culture war around the acceptance of muslim identity politics.
nobody's wining an election in the united states on muslim identity politics any time soon, guys.
what these pseudo-left actors are doing is harmful to a broader movement towards communism. we need an honest analysis, not solidarity with systems of control against an executive order that doesn't even target one.
the entire discourse is in a parallel reality.
https://cis.org/Rush/SoCalled-Muslim-Ban-Does-Not-Really-Apply-Muslims
so, what the fuck is trump doing? it's a political game. it's just red meat for the base. and, an honest force on the secular left - which i would expect the aclu to be, if nobody else - should call it out for what it is, not play into it by creating some kind of culture war around the acceptance of muslim identity politics.
nobody's wining an election in the united states on muslim identity politics any time soon, guys.
what these pseudo-left actors are doing is harmful to a broader movement towards communism. we need an honest analysis, not solidarity with systems of control against an executive order that doesn't even target one.
the entire discourse is in a parallel reality.
https://cis.org/Rush/SoCalled-Muslim-Ban-Does-Not-Really-Apply-Muslims
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
newegg, you're retarded - you just blew 4 out of 5 sales because you wouldn't wait for paypal to authorize. how does this place stay in business?
guess i'll have to buy the psu somewhere else. they don't want my money, what can i tell you?
that's over $600 that newegg can't be bothered to wait a week for.
guess i'll have to buy the psu somewhere else. they don't want my money, what can i tell you?
that's over $600 that newegg can't be bothered to wait a week for.
i bought an audiophile. problem solved.
used with box, manual + software. shipped to detroit....
$53.20. i'll have to pay $5.00 us to hold it. maybe it'll be there for the thurston moore show on saturday, so i don't have to pay border costs to go get it.
but, this is an exception. i need the item. i'm less worried about nickle and diming it.
i'll be done building these machines tomorrow.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
600 watt psu (newegg.ca): $72
==================
1934.65
used with box, manual + software. shipped to detroit....
$53.20. i'll have to pay $5.00 us to hold it. maybe it'll be there for the thurston moore show on saturday, so i don't have to pay border costs to go get it.
but, this is an exception. i need the item. i'm less worried about nickle and diming it.
i'll be done building these machines tomorrow.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
450 joule surge protector (amazon.ca): $9
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
m-audio audiophile 2496 (ebay) [used]: $60
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
600 watt psu (newegg.ca): $72
==================
1934.65
Monday, July 10, 2017
i ended up crashing, then staying awake, then crashing...
today started around 9:00. i have eaten. i'm back to the build. and, what do i have?
well, i miscalculated the ebay transactions yesterday morning because i forgot to include currency exchange + shipping on one item (ebay should have included the shipping..), which cost me an extra $11. it wouldn't have changed any decisions, item-by-item. but, i should remember that. the best buy stuff didn't have an exchange fee and the amazon stuff was paid for via gift ca.
this is counter-intuitive right now, because the dollar is going up. what that means, for me, is that the fees are increasing.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
laptop battery (ebay): $26 (+4, but mostly missed shipping)
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33 (+ 1)
ip68 phone (ebay): 128 (+3)
==================
842.11
it's not a big deal. i just want to make sure i understand what's happening. the paypal exchange raye fee, for example, turns a good deal for the board at newegg.com into an unnecessary hassle at the ups store.
maybe it's just because it's a board, but the best deal for this seems to be at newegg.ca, which will take a direct paypal out. $372.88. yeah - you start to really notice the exchange rate when you get over $100. that's $290 usd. and, the cad has gone up a lot this week.
the only place i can get the chip i want is at amazon.ca, for $247.65.
620.53 already. that's ok, it's not unexpected.
i'm going to get an ssd for the os. dual booting 32/64, i shouldn't need more than 100 gb. but, i'm concern e about a pagefile for the 64. going past 120 throws back the best deal on a 240, so i'd might as well. that's another $134.46, bringing me up to $754.99. also newegg.
next thing i need is ram. the boards us 4x8, but i'll just get 2x8 for now. i might as well get the heat sink, just in case, right? it's going to come to $150.92 for the dual channel set.
speaking of which, let's not forget the thermal paste: $11.18. so, we're at 917.09.
the next thing i need is a case & psu. of course, i couldn't find what i want together. i'll need to get the case at amazon, and pay for shipping - $51.96. that's not so bad, though. the psu is newegg again and it's going to be $72.34. together, that's $124.30, and the total is up to $1041.39.
this is still cheap, even if i add the $104 for the disc that i had previously purchased and the $130 i spent on the same drive a few months ago.
last thing i need is a ps/2 keyboard & mouse...it's actually for the other system...i'll just head down to a local store and get it....looks like about $25. maybe i'll get a couple of extra usb mice while i'm at it.
adding the extra discs, and the monitor that's coming, that's going to be a total of around $1300-1400. and, that's ok. i've got plenty to spend. so, let me push this through....i guess i need to get to the 7/11 first....
(sleep)
ugh.
that was a mess, again.
i paid this out this morning:
amazon.ca:
chip - 242.69
case - 51.96
newegg:
ssd - 134.45
psu - ? - 72.34
this did not go through at newegg:
board
ram
thermal paste
and i went to sleep in response.
newegg seems to not want to process because it doesn't want to wait for the transfer to go through paypal, which will admittedly take a week. so, i'm going to go through amazon instead.
comparable ram is a little cheaper. it ended up being:
board - 361.59
ram - 150.28
thermal paste - 11.06
buying gift cards left me with leftover, so i got a surge protector, which i need anyways, for $8.52.
actual total:
1032.89 + 104 + 130 + ~25 (keyboard/mouse) + ~30 (monitor) =
1321.89
my actual grand total paid out, applied to the 5000, is currently:
1032.89 + 842.11 =
1875.00
...which is less than half.
what do i still need for the actual computers, then?
old laptop - nothing
old desktop - nothing
access point - rca sound out, ps/2 mouse/keyboard combo.
cq60 - guitar interface
pav g6 - editing software?
new desktop - square dvi or hdmi monitor, new audio receiver & studio monitor speakers
i'm hungry again.
but, i need to budget more carefully tonight.
and i'll finally need to hit the actual city, tomorrow.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
600 watt psu (newegg.ca): $72
450 joule surge protector: $9
==================
1875.00
today started around 9:00. i have eaten. i'm back to the build. and, what do i have?
well, i miscalculated the ebay transactions yesterday morning because i forgot to include currency exchange + shipping on one item (ebay should have included the shipping..), which cost me an extra $11. it wouldn't have changed any decisions, item-by-item. but, i should remember that. the best buy stuff didn't have an exchange fee and the amazon stuff was paid for via gift ca.
this is counter-intuitive right now, because the dollar is going up. what that means, for me, is that the fees are increasing.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
laptop battery (ebay): $26 (+4, but mostly missed shipping)
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33 (+ 1)
ip68 phone (ebay): 128 (+3)
==================
842.11
it's not a big deal. i just want to make sure i understand what's happening. the paypal exchange raye fee, for example, turns a good deal for the board at newegg.com into an unnecessary hassle at the ups store.
maybe it's just because it's a board, but the best deal for this seems to be at newegg.ca, which will take a direct paypal out. $372.88. yeah - you start to really notice the exchange rate when you get over $100. that's $290 usd. and, the cad has gone up a lot this week.
the only place i can get the chip i want is at amazon.ca, for $247.65.
620.53 already. that's ok, it's not unexpected.
i'm going to get an ssd for the os. dual booting 32/64, i shouldn't need more than 100 gb. but, i'm concern e about a pagefile for the 64. going past 120 throws back the best deal on a 240, so i'd might as well. that's another $134.46, bringing me up to $754.99. also newegg.
next thing i need is ram. the boards us 4x8, but i'll just get 2x8 for now. i might as well get the heat sink, just in case, right? it's going to come to $150.92 for the dual channel set.
speaking of which, let's not forget the thermal paste: $11.18. so, we're at 917.09.
the next thing i need is a case & psu. of course, i couldn't find what i want together. i'll need to get the case at amazon, and pay for shipping - $51.96. that's not so bad, though. the psu is newegg again and it's going to be $72.34. together, that's $124.30, and the total is up to $1041.39.
this is still cheap, even if i add the $104 for the disc that i had previously purchased and the $130 i spent on the same drive a few months ago.
last thing i need is a ps/2 keyboard & mouse...it's actually for the other system...i'll just head down to a local store and get it....looks like about $25. maybe i'll get a couple of extra usb mice while i'm at it.
adding the extra discs, and the monitor that's coming, that's going to be a total of around $1300-1400. and, that's ok. i've got plenty to spend. so, let me push this through....i guess i need to get to the 7/11 first....
(sleep)
ugh.
that was a mess, again.
i paid this out this morning:
amazon.ca:
chip - 242.69
case - 51.96
newegg:
ssd - 134.45
psu - ? - 72.34
this did not go through at newegg:
board
ram
thermal paste
and i went to sleep in response.
newegg seems to not want to process because it doesn't want to wait for the transfer to go through paypal, which will admittedly take a week. so, i'm going to go through amazon instead.
comparable ram is a little cheaper. it ended up being:
board - 361.59
ram - 150.28
thermal paste - 11.06
buying gift cards left me with leftover, so i got a surge protector, which i need anyways, for $8.52.
actual total:
1032.89 + 104 + 130 + ~25 (keyboard/mouse) + ~30 (monitor) =
1321.89
my actual grand total paid out, applied to the 5000, is currently:
1032.89 + 842.11 =
1875.00
...which is less than half.
what do i still need for the actual computers, then?
old laptop - nothing
old desktop - nothing
access point - rca sound out, ps/2 mouse/keyboard combo.
cq60 - guitar interface
pav g6 - editing software?
new desktop - square dvi or hdmi monitor, new audio receiver & studio monitor speakers
i'm hungry again.
but, i need to budget more carefully tonight.
and i'll finally need to hit the actual city, tomorrow.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
intel core i3-4710 [amazon.ca]: $243
atx mid tower [amazon.ca] - $52
asus p9d ws [amazon.ca]: $360
2x8 gb ddr3-1600 ram [amazon.ca]: $150
arctic silver [amazon.ca]: $11
laptop battery (ebay): $26
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x33
ip68 phone (ebay): $128
250 gb ssd drive (newegg.ca): $135
600 watt psu (newegg.ca): $72
450 joule surge protector: $9
==================
1875.00
Sunday, July 9, 2017
the phone isn't cheap because it's chinese. all the phones are chinese. and, it's the same parts - they're all the same parts. it's the great scandal, right: all the phones are basically the same thing, they just look a little bit differently.
the phone is cheap because i'm not paying for an advertising and marketing layer of parasitic western bourgeois middle people.
it's the same damn phone that you'll pay $1000 for because you like the logo on it - same parts, same slaves, but just different capitalists.
the phone is cheap because i'm not paying for an advertising and marketing layer of parasitic western bourgeois middle people.
it's the same damn phone that you'll pay $1000 for because you like the logo on it - same parts, same slaves, but just different capitalists.
getting back to the pc-build...
i spent the last week trying to find a sound card with a good rca dac and just couldn't pull the trigger on anything. i had a long write-up about it, but i've let it go, and i'll have to come back to it.
the new/old desktop is otherwise done, although it's less clear how i'll be arranging the audio for it
the cash is in, so i've gone ahead and bought a lot of things. i had to swap some sources around. it turns out it's easier to buy at amazon.ca than i thought, and almost impossible to buy at amazon.com.
so, i ended up buying more things at best buy and more things at ebay.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
laptop battery (ebay): $22
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x32
ip68 phone (ebay): 125
==================
830.99
that's exact, not rounded like above.
my max estimate was 881, but it included $80 for jewel cases (which i'll have to order tomorrow in the store) and $50 for a monitor. it didn't include the $56 i spent on day one. so, i'd be at $775.64 if you take day one out, and i'd be on track for $905.64, which mostly washes out in the extra $20 i sent on the phone. i can fix that by spending around $30 on the monitor tomorrow.
this is the phone i went with, and why i went with it:
tonight:
build the new studio desktop
tomorrow:
200 jewel cases [staples.ca]: $80 <------ buy in store
square monitor (pawn shop): <$50
massive groceries overhaul: $~200
later:
tv (kijiji)
table
bookshelves
guitar interface
usb soundcard out?
right now, i'm hungry.
i spent the last week trying to find a sound card with a good rca dac and just couldn't pull the trigger on anything. i had a long write-up about it, but i've let it go, and i'll have to come back to it.
the new/old desktop is otherwise done, although it's less clear how i'll be arranging the audio for it
the cash is in, so i've gone ahead and bought a lot of things. i had to swap some sources around. it turns out it's easier to buy at amazon.ca than i thought, and almost impossible to buy at amazon.com.
so, i ended up buying more things at best buy and more things at ebay.
updated total:
airwalk shoes (payless): $33
bicycle repair (city cyclery): $23
3x40 gb ide hds (kijiji): $10
2x500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy): $2x82
2 gb internal drive (best buy): $104
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
50 bd-rs [best buy]: $45
2x2 gb laptop ram (amazon.ca): $2x15 + shipping, $47
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon.ca): $13
2 tb external drive (amazon.ca) : $123
50 cd-rs [amazon.ca]: $30
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
laptop battery (ebay): $22
2x4 gb laptop ram (ebay): $2x32
ip68 phone (ebay): 125
==================
830.99
that's exact, not rounded like above.
my max estimate was 881, but it included $80 for jewel cases (which i'll have to order tomorrow in the store) and $50 for a monitor. it didn't include the $56 i spent on day one. so, i'd be at $775.64 if you take day one out, and i'd be on track for $905.64, which mostly washes out in the extra $20 i sent on the phone. i can fix that by spending around $30 on the monitor tomorrow.
this is the phone i went with, and why i went with it:
tonight:
build the new studio desktop
tomorrow:
200 jewel cases [staples.ca]: $80 <------ buy in store
square monitor (pawn shop): <$50
massive groceries overhaul: $~200
later:
tv (kijiji)
table
bookshelves
guitar interface
usb soundcard out?
right now, i'm hungry.
Saturday, July 8, 2017
a strange thing happened this morning.
we'll talk about the cats later. maybe. i'm hoping we don't have to.
but, i got some ide drives. all 40 gb. 3 for $10. i know at least one of them works. i'll install after i get some rest...
the strange thing is this: i went to take out the old drive and i noticed something was loose inside, sort of like a blown light bulb. i shook it a little to prove to myself it was really broken, after 19 years. a little piece of metal fell out; it could have been the leg on a chip, perhaps.
i tried one more time.
...and it spun.
but, it took me up to the block screen i see when the power cuts. this requires a reinstall. the system is, in fact, designed for easy reinstall.
but, see, i've long suspected that the block screen is a sign of a dying hard drive, so i'm going to install on one of the new drives and see if it fixes it.
the more exciting thing is that i didn't lose my script.
i guess it solves the mystery: i seem to have blown a component, and the broken piece seems to have maybe created a short, i guess. the drive seems to work. but, for how long? i should put it aside and try something new.
updated actual spending totals:
22.58 (bicycle) + 32.77 (shoes) = (6th)
55.35 + $10 (hard drives) = (8th)
65.35
i was woken up this morning and need to get back to the sleep that i missed.
we'll talk about the cats later. maybe. i'm hoping we don't have to.
but, i got some ide drives. all 40 gb. 3 for $10. i know at least one of them works. i'll install after i get some rest...
the strange thing is this: i went to take out the old drive and i noticed something was loose inside, sort of like a blown light bulb. i shook it a little to prove to myself it was really broken, after 19 years. a little piece of metal fell out; it could have been the leg on a chip, perhaps.
i tried one more time.
...and it spun.
but, it took me up to the block screen i see when the power cuts. this requires a reinstall. the system is, in fact, designed for easy reinstall.
but, see, i've long suspected that the block screen is a sign of a dying hard drive, so i'm going to install on one of the new drives and see if it fixes it.
the more exciting thing is that i didn't lose my script.
i guess it solves the mystery: i seem to have blown a component, and the broken piece seems to have maybe created a short, i guess. the drive seems to work. but, for how long? i should put it aside and try something new.
updated actual spending totals:
22.58 (bicycle) + 32.77 (shoes) = (6th)
55.35 + $10 (hard drives) = (8th)
65.35
i was woken up this morning and need to get back to the sleep that i missed.
Friday, July 7, 2017
the guy with the ide drives is going to bail on me, too. ugh. i've had a lot of bad luck with electronics on kijiji.
he wants to sell 8 ide drives for $75, 6 of which are large drives and two of which are small drives. he'll probably eventually get somebody to buy, but the idea that he's offering some kind of deal with the smaller drives is idiotic.
i offered him $20 for the two small drives. he was sketchy about agreeing, kind of blowing me off, thinking he'd sell them all together. he relisted the 8 drives together this morning and clearly wants to push that as some kind of deal, as clueless as it is.
see, it's going to be people with pcs from before 1999 that are going to want the smaller drives, and people with pcs from about 1999-2005, or so, that are going to want the bigger drives. if your machine can take a 300 gb drive, there's no conceivable reason why you'd want an 80 gb drive, given that they're the same price, nowadays. the smaller drives should even arguably be saved and put aside for the older machines, and not wasted on machines built after 1999.
again: i'm sure he'll find somebody that wants a bunch of drives and will pay for it. what will happen is that the 80 gb drive will end up as a backup somewhere instead of being used. it's sad, but i can't make stupid people rational.
i have another lead on an 80, but it's not clear if it works out.
again: this is something i'll wait out, although i'd like to get my tv up and running.
worst case scenario, if the cost of the drives gets up past a certain point, i'm going to want to look at something like this, instead:
http://nanopi.io/nanopi2-fire.html
i just need to make sure i get one without a wireless connector.
it would be an upgrade, clearly, and a pretty cheap one. but, then what do i do with the old pc? i don't want to closet it. and, i'll eventually find the drive i want, and feel stupid for getting the board.
again: i'll wait it out.
he wants to sell 8 ide drives for $75, 6 of which are large drives and two of which are small drives. he'll probably eventually get somebody to buy, but the idea that he's offering some kind of deal with the smaller drives is idiotic.
i offered him $20 for the two small drives. he was sketchy about agreeing, kind of blowing me off, thinking he'd sell them all together. he relisted the 8 drives together this morning and clearly wants to push that as some kind of deal, as clueless as it is.
see, it's going to be people with pcs from before 1999 that are going to want the smaller drives, and people with pcs from about 1999-2005, or so, that are going to want the bigger drives. if your machine can take a 300 gb drive, there's no conceivable reason why you'd want an 80 gb drive, given that they're the same price, nowadays. the smaller drives should even arguably be saved and put aside for the older machines, and not wasted on machines built after 1999.
again: i'm sure he'll find somebody that wants a bunch of drives and will pay for it. what will happen is that the 80 gb drive will end up as a backup somewhere instead of being used. it's sad, but i can't make stupid people rational.
i have another lead on an 80, but it's not clear if it works out.
again: this is something i'll wait out, although i'd like to get my tv up and running.
worst case scenario, if the cost of the drives gets up past a certain point, i'm going to want to look at something like this, instead:
http://nanopi.io/nanopi2-fire.html
i just need to make sure i get one without a wireless connector.
it would be an upgrade, clearly, and a pretty cheap one. but, then what do i do with the old pc? i don't want to closet it. and, i'll eventually find the drive i want, and feel stupid for getting the board.
again: i'll wait it out.
i hope i'm getting something across, though.
a lot of people rail against capitalism as this idea of big business monopoly, and want to replace what they see as capitalism with what they see as free markets. they think opposing capitalism means supporting small businesses (that usually pay minimum wage and don't provide benefits). the language is often confused. when you prod them, what you learn is that they're just liberals, and they're not really anti-capitalist at all. if anything, they've confused capitalism with socialism, and what they're really opposed to is the latter.
my anti-capitalism gets right to the heart of what it is: i'm vehemently opposed to markets, and so skeptical of their efficacy as anything other than a corrupt tool of corporate collusion that i'm willing to even act against my own self-interest in suspicion over a market, when i see it approximating the behaviour that the debunked theories claim they should follow.
i'll wait it out.
a lot of people rail against capitalism as this idea of big business monopoly, and want to replace what they see as capitalism with what they see as free markets. they think opposing capitalism means supporting small businesses (that usually pay minimum wage and don't provide benefits). the language is often confused. when you prod them, what you learn is that they're just liberals, and they're not really anti-capitalist at all. if anything, they've confused capitalism with socialism, and what they're really opposed to is the latter.
my anti-capitalism gets right to the heart of what it is: i'm vehemently opposed to markets, and so skeptical of their efficacy as anything other than a corrupt tool of corporate collusion that i'm willing to even act against my own self-interest in suspicion over a market, when i see it approximating the behaviour that the debunked theories claim they should follow.
i'll wait it out.
it's weird with this phone, because direct-from-amazon is usually the cheapest option in the list. with this device, it's the most expensive.
but i'd actually rather pay the highest price. if it means it's from a credible seller, than take a chance with some "marketplace" reseller.
i don't care much for brand names as status symbols or whatever other kind of idiotic capitalist bullshit. it might seem that i'm contradicting myself in insisting on a brand retailer. it's the same thing, right? well, that's the point in contention - how do i know it's the same thing? i'd have to trust the market, and i definitely don't. so, i'm actually not contradicting myself in my broader skepticism towards capitalism, it's just that the proper manifestation of that skepticism is to reject brand names at the status or symbolic level and insist upon them at the retailer level.
i'm hoping that it comes back in stock. i think it was out of stock last week, too.
but i'd actually rather pay the highest price. if it means it's from a credible seller, than take a chance with some "marketplace" reseller.
i don't care much for brand names as status symbols or whatever other kind of idiotic capitalist bullshit. it might seem that i'm contradicting myself in insisting on a brand retailer. it's the same thing, right? well, that's the point in contention - how do i know it's the same thing? i'd have to trust the market, and i definitely don't. so, i'm actually not contradicting myself in my broader skepticism towards capitalism, it's just that the proper manifestation of that skepticism is to reject brand names at the status or symbolic level and insist upon them at the retailer level.
i'm hoping that it comes back in stock. i think it was out of stock last week, too.
yeah. i don't like my options with the phone, right now.
i'm going to wait for the distributor. hopefully it's temporary and comes back. if not, i'll revisit it once i have everything else taken care of.
so,
updated total:
phone (amazon): $105
battery (amazon): $27
2 gb laptop ram (amazon): $2x15 [ships to canada]
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon): $13 [ships to canada]
4 gb laptop ram (amazon): $2x32 [ships to canada]
2 tb external drive (amazon) : $117 [ships to canada]
50 cd-rs [amazon.com]: $25 [ships to canada]
500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy or amazon?): $2x80-85 [ships to canada]
2 gb internal drive (amazon or best buy): $105 [ships to canada]
50 bd-rs [amazon.ca or best buy]: $40
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
200 jewel cases [staples.ca]: $80
square monitor (pawn shop): <$50
< 140 gb ide hds (found, not confirmed) (kijiji): $2x10
==================
$766-776
total phone: $105
total mp3 player: $13
total laptop 1: $137-142 + usb sound card
total laptop 2: $149-154 + $117 (external) + editing software?
total desktop 1: $20
total desktop 2:
total desktop 3: $155
total optical media: $175
i'm going to need to get back to dealing with the sound card(s) this evening.
i'm going to wait for the distributor. hopefully it's temporary and comes back. if not, i'll revisit it once i have everything else taken care of.
so,
updated total:
battery (amazon): $27
2 gb laptop ram (amazon): $2x15 [ships to canada]
8 gb sd ram for mp3 player (amazon): $13 [ships to canada]
4 gb laptop ram (amazon): $2x32 [ships to canada]
2 tb external drive (amazon) : $117 [ships to canada]
50 cd-rs [amazon.com]: $25 [ships to canada]
500 gb sshd laptop drives (best buy or amazon?): $2x80-85 [ships to canada]
2 gb internal drive (amazon or best buy): $105 [ships to canada]
50 bd-rs [amazon.ca or best buy]: $40
ps/2 to usb connector [amazon.ca]: $5
100 dvd-rs [best buy]: $30
200 jewel cases [staples.ca]: $80
square monitor (pawn shop): <$50
< 140 gb ide hds (found, not confirmed) (kijiji): $2x10
==================
$766-776
total mp3 player: $13
total laptop 1: $137-142 + usb sound card
total laptop 2: $149-154 + $117 (external) + editing software?
total desktop 1: $20
total desktop 2:
total desktop 3: $155
total optical media: $175
i'm going to need to get back to dealing with the sound card(s) this evening.
i missed the time window on my phone and it's out of stock by an official seller :(.
i don't want to buy from third-parties. i just don't trust the process.
i don't want to pay more than $100.
back to the drawing board...
the money should be cleared by monday or tuesday. i hope that doesn't happen again...
i don't want to buy from third-parties. i just don't trust the process.
i don't want to pay more than $100.
back to the drawing board...
the money should be cleared by monday or tuesday. i hope that doesn't happen again...
i had an acquaintance in high school; his name was rob blackman. he was a black male, as his name would imply. not a friend, really, but a friend of a friend of a friend. still, i ate lunch with him every day for five years.
there were never more than five people of african descent at this school at any given time. it was a catholic school in a largely italian neighbourhood of ottawa. keeping in mind that almost all afrrican-canadians can trace their history in canada to after 1970, the number of black catholics in ontario is relatively low, and i believe mostly of caribbean descent. this particular school drew mostly from the italians and poles of the surrounding area and the irish and scots of a wealthy suburb, called barrhaven. canada does not have a very large spanish-speaking population, either. the reason we have publicly funded catholic schools has to do with our large french minority, which is largely invisible in ontario.
rob was actually an incredibly passive guy. he was very quiet. he kept to himself. and, we had to pressure him for quite a while before he finally agreed to smoke some pot with us; he didn't like it much. i do not think he excelled academically, but it wasn't due to any clear level of delinquency. i don't know what happened to him.
despite these traits, the teachers tended to pick on him. i used to listen to him grapple with this: he really didn't get it. but, then, one day he did. he'd been sent to detention for something he didn't do, and wasn't sure anybody even did at all. and, he said it, sure of himself, finally:
"it's because i'm black."
this was actually met with the roar of pubescent male laughter, tickled by the absurd surreality of the situation, for we all very well knew it was true, and perhaps a good deal of time before rob, himself, did. and, what can a bunch of kids do in the face of absurdity but laugh?
and, laugh we did.
for, now every problem in the world was reduced to the fact that rob was black.
"shit. it's raining. have to stay in."
"...it's because rob is black."
this was a wonderful joke for, in fact, many years - and rob did not just laugh along, but often offered the punchline, himself.
i get it.
i'm not doing it, though.
there were never more than five people of african descent at this school at any given time. it was a catholic school in a largely italian neighbourhood of ottawa. keeping in mind that almost all afrrican-canadians can trace their history in canada to after 1970, the number of black catholics in ontario is relatively low, and i believe mostly of caribbean descent. this particular school drew mostly from the italians and poles of the surrounding area and the irish and scots of a wealthy suburb, called barrhaven. canada does not have a very large spanish-speaking population, either. the reason we have publicly funded catholic schools has to do with our large french minority, which is largely invisible in ontario.
rob was actually an incredibly passive guy. he was very quiet. he kept to himself. and, we had to pressure him for quite a while before he finally agreed to smoke some pot with us; he didn't like it much. i do not think he excelled academically, but it wasn't due to any clear level of delinquency. i don't know what happened to him.
despite these traits, the teachers tended to pick on him. i used to listen to him grapple with this: he really didn't get it. but, then, one day he did. he'd been sent to detention for something he didn't do, and wasn't sure anybody even did at all. and, he said it, sure of himself, finally:
"it's because i'm black."
this was actually met with the roar of pubescent male laughter, tickled by the absurd surreality of the situation, for we all very well knew it was true, and perhaps a good deal of time before rob, himself, did. and, what can a bunch of kids do in the face of absurdity but laugh?
and, laugh we did.
for, now every problem in the world was reduced to the fact that rob was black.
"shit. it's raining. have to stay in."
"...it's because rob is black."
this was a wonderful joke for, in fact, many years - and rob did not just laugh along, but often offered the punchline, himself.
i get it.
i'm not doing it, though.
Thursday, July 6, 2017
it's not that i'm coming down hard on nina turner because she's a black woman, it's that you blinded yourself to the fraudulence that is so very clearly in front of your blinking eyes for the very precise reason that she is, in fact, a black woman.
it was the same thing with ellison. i didn't come down hard on ellison because he's a muslim; rather, you ignored the reasons you shouldn't have supported him, precisely because he's a muslim.
it was the same thing with ellison. i didn't come down hard on ellison because he's a muslim; rather, you ignored the reasons you shouldn't have supported him, precisely because he's a muslim.
(note: my initial comment was deleted from huffington post. what follows is an approximate reconstruction. it seems that the huffington post only allows comments that are racist, in line with the government's continuing cultural genocide of this continent's indigenous people.)
this article does not explain the part of the indigenous act in question (it just glosses over it as "sexist", which is typical of this government and groups aligned with it) for those that are unaware of it. which is a blood-quantum rule designed to extinguish indigenous membership over a short time period by preventing women from passing on indigenous status. more precisely, and more to the point, it prevents non-indigenous men from marrying into the tribe, which genetic testing tells us is something that has happened frequently in recent history and which biologists tell us is necessary to maintain healthy levels of genetic drift and maintain healthy levels of genetic variability.
this specific legislation, which was brought in by mulroney in 1985, is just a part of canada's longstanding policy of assimilation and cultural genocide towards it's indigenous inhabitants. the trudeau government's refusal to look at this for what it is is a strong signal that the government has no intention of modifying this existing policy at all and that language to the contrary is just a smokescreen, meant to obstruct and confuse from the true intent of continued corporate dominance of indigenous resources, and eventual extinction of indigenous peoples.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/07/06/maliseet-senator-writes-open-letter-to-trudeau-i-am-losing-fai_a_23019779/
this article does not explain the part of the indigenous act in question (it just glosses over it as "sexist", which is typical of this government and groups aligned with it) for those that are unaware of it. which is a blood-quantum rule designed to extinguish indigenous membership over a short time period by preventing women from passing on indigenous status. more precisely, and more to the point, it prevents non-indigenous men from marrying into the tribe, which genetic testing tells us is something that has happened frequently in recent history and which biologists tell us is necessary to maintain healthy levels of genetic drift and maintain healthy levels of genetic variability.
this specific legislation, which was brought in by mulroney in 1985, is just a part of canada's longstanding policy of assimilation and cultural genocide towards it's indigenous inhabitants. the trudeau government's refusal to look at this for what it is is a strong signal that the government has no intention of modifying this existing policy at all and that language to the contrary is just a smokescreen, meant to obstruct and confuse from the true intent of continued corporate dominance of indigenous resources, and eventual extinction of indigenous peoples.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/07/06/maliseet-senator-writes-open-letter-to-trudeau-i-am-losing-fai_a_23019779/
i also got my bicycle fixed today for...
$23.
i didn't realize it'd be so cheap. i would have done it months ago. but, it was $23 and i'm rolling.
i knew all i had to do was put some bearings in it's just....i figured around $50....and it just never prioritized itself.
but, i am ecstatic to be back on my bicycle. it's not an object. it's an extension. an improvement. a bionic betterment. a transhumanist step.
in total, i've spent $55.35. only $4944.65 left to go.
$23.
i didn't realize it'd be so cheap. i would have done it months ago. but, it was $23 and i'm rolling.
i knew all i had to do was put some bearings in it's just....i figured around $50....and it just never prioritized itself.
but, i am ecstatic to be back on my bicycle. it's not an object. it's an extension. an improvement. a bionic betterment. a transhumanist step.
in total, i've spent $55.35. only $4944.65 left to go.
these shoes may or may not be good for skateboarding. i don't know. i don't skate.
http://www.payless.com/womens-airwalk-maddie-mid-top-shoe/77631.html?dwvar_77631_color=chambraydots#start=42&cgid=brands-athletics-airwalk
but, anybody that wants to put this beside a pair of converse or vans and complain about build quality is out of their fucking mind. the airwalks are clearly far better shoes.
just look at the heel:
compare that to any pair of cons or vans on the market. the vans are a little better (than the cons). the cons are fucking trash.
for a walking shoe, the airwalks have to be just about ideal. those backs are key: you could walk to mexico and not get sore heels. it doesn't matter how far mexico is, it's still true.
and look at the bottoms. that's a fucking inch to walk through. this is my problem with shoes: i walk through them. it's going to be a long time before i wear these babies down.
again: i don't know about the marketing battles and the corporate "punk" extravaganzas and the rest of the bullshit. i know that these are far, far better shoes, and that you're fucking daft to suggest otherwise.
$33. canadian. i couldn't imagine paying twice or thrice or even four times that for a pair of shoes that's going to give me blisters walking across town and fall apart in the rain just because the brand is cooler.
just put the shoes beside each other and look. be empirical. examine the facts. there's no comparison. and, suggestions otherwise are daft.
http://www.payless.com/womens-airwalk-maddie-mid-top-shoe/77631.html?dwvar_77631_color=chambraydots#start=42&cgid=brands-athletics-airwalk
but, anybody that wants to put this beside a pair of converse or vans and complain about build quality is out of their fucking mind. the airwalks are clearly far better shoes.
just look at the heel:
compare that to any pair of cons or vans on the market. the vans are a little better (than the cons). the cons are fucking trash.
for a walking shoe, the airwalks have to be just about ideal. those backs are key: you could walk to mexico and not get sore heels. it doesn't matter how far mexico is, it's still true.
and look at the bottoms. that's a fucking inch to walk through. this is my problem with shoes: i walk through them. it's going to be a long time before i wear these babies down.
again: i don't know about the marketing battles and the corporate "punk" extravaganzas and the rest of the bullshit. i know that these are far, far better shoes, and that you're fucking daft to suggest otherwise.
$33. canadian. i couldn't imagine paying twice or thrice or even four times that for a pair of shoes that's going to give me blisters walking across town and fall apart in the rain just because the brand is cooler.
just put the shoes beside each other and look. be empirical. examine the facts. there's no comparison. and, suggestions otherwise are daft.
there's a "vape lounge" in windsor. i've only been in there twice. the reason is because it feels like an after school program, a community centre. there's tvs at either end of the place, with people watching movies and playing video games.
it would be the perfect place for kids to go to get off the street.
but, you have to be an adult to get in
i think the age should be set closer to 16.
http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/marijuana-age-limit-should-be-low-not-high/wcm/62cf29f9-6a70-4229-ac1f-99e2ad38239f
it would be the perfect place for kids to go to get off the street.
but, you have to be an adult to get in
i think the age should be set closer to 16.
http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/marijuana-age-limit-should-be-low-not-high/wcm/62cf29f9-6a70-4229-ac1f-99e2ad38239f
“if a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is
because he hears a different drummer. let him step to the music which
he hears, however measured or far away.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQYDamOvop8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQYDamOvop8
so, if you understand morality as an evolutionary process - neither absolute nor relative - then how do you apply that understanding in real life?
the homosexuality example was used in the video, and i don't like the way that chomsky handled it. he should have been a little more firm about individual rights at the expense of a culture, because, really, fuck your stupid culture. and, fuck my culture, too.
abolish all culture.
but, let's say that you have this issue where you have this homophobic muslim refugee showing up from an arab country which has historically had scarce resources (what is going on in the region may be described precisely as adjusting from scarcity to plenty) and a system of laws that reflects it, into an overwhelmingly liberal country like canada, which is overwhelmingly liberal precisely because it doesn't need or have any meaningful restrictions on access to resources at all. this may not be all that hypothetical.
you would certainly not want to tell them that they have a right to maintain their culture in a time capsule, and that it's ok if they hate queers because it's their culture and i'm white. that's a disgusting attitude towards everybody - it's caving in on queer rights due to the soft racism of lowered expectations for the primitive arabs. that's what "cultural relativism" is, in real terms: it's wholly, fully, absolutely through and through racist.
likewise, you wouldn't want to sit there and lecture them about the superiority of liberal secularism over muslim backwardsness, no matter how true it may actually be. you don't get anywhere by pushing your perceived superiority in somebody's face.
rather, what you need to do is explain to them that the reason that their religion persecutes queers is that it was developed in a region that has historically had real levels of scarcity. and, the historical scarcity in the middle east is very, very real. it's not the artificial scarcity of western capitalism. it's people dying of starvation, people collapsing due to drought - sometimes due to war, and sometimes due to climate and sometimes due to mismanagement. queer people do not breed, so harsh decisions about resource management required them to be excluded, in order to ensure that the breeding members of the tribe could carry on. there is no such scarcity in canada, so there is no basis for those rules.
if the refugees are reasonable, they should understand this and modify their prejudices. but, if they react with "MUH CULTURE!!!", then the new society has the right - dare i say obligation - to exclude and ostracise them. there is no reasonable argument to hold to concepts of relativism, at this point, now that we've dismantled them using science. that is no longer cultural relativism, but base cultural conservatism, and should be resisted at all costs.
as for today, the oil wealth in these states makes it difficult to generate arguments to hold to the primacy of their books. with the exception of the horn of africa, i am not aware of anywhere in the region experiencing serious scarcity to the point where persecution of homosexuals can be contemplated as rational. criticism of these regimes should consequently not be muted under arguments of "cultural relativism" - that is just a reduction to "they don't know better", and is consequently an expression of white supremacism.
as an aside, the naturalization of morality has an important consequence: it was the last thing that science needed religion for. now that we have a fully naturalistic understanding of morality, we can dispense with religion altogether.
the homosexuality example was used in the video, and i don't like the way that chomsky handled it. he should have been a little more firm about individual rights at the expense of a culture, because, really, fuck your stupid culture. and, fuck my culture, too.
abolish all culture.
but, let's say that you have this issue where you have this homophobic muslim refugee showing up from an arab country which has historically had scarce resources (what is going on in the region may be described precisely as adjusting from scarcity to plenty) and a system of laws that reflects it, into an overwhelmingly liberal country like canada, which is overwhelmingly liberal precisely because it doesn't need or have any meaningful restrictions on access to resources at all. this may not be all that hypothetical.
you would certainly not want to tell them that they have a right to maintain their culture in a time capsule, and that it's ok if they hate queers because it's their culture and i'm white. that's a disgusting attitude towards everybody - it's caving in on queer rights due to the soft racism of lowered expectations for the primitive arabs. that's what "cultural relativism" is, in real terms: it's wholly, fully, absolutely through and through racist.
likewise, you wouldn't want to sit there and lecture them about the superiority of liberal secularism over muslim backwardsness, no matter how true it may actually be. you don't get anywhere by pushing your perceived superiority in somebody's face.
rather, what you need to do is explain to them that the reason that their religion persecutes queers is that it was developed in a region that has historically had real levels of scarcity. and, the historical scarcity in the middle east is very, very real. it's not the artificial scarcity of western capitalism. it's people dying of starvation, people collapsing due to drought - sometimes due to war, and sometimes due to climate and sometimes due to mismanagement. queer people do not breed, so harsh decisions about resource management required them to be excluded, in order to ensure that the breeding members of the tribe could carry on. there is no such scarcity in canada, so there is no basis for those rules.
if the refugees are reasonable, they should understand this and modify their prejudices. but, if they react with "MUH CULTURE!!!", then the new society has the right - dare i say obligation - to exclude and ostracise them. there is no reasonable argument to hold to concepts of relativism, at this point, now that we've dismantled them using science. that is no longer cultural relativism, but base cultural conservatism, and should be resisted at all costs.
as for today, the oil wealth in these states makes it difficult to generate arguments to hold to the primacy of their books. with the exception of the horn of africa, i am not aware of anywhere in the region experiencing serious scarcity to the point where persecution of homosexuals can be contemplated as rational. criticism of these regimes should consequently not be muted under arguments of "cultural relativism" - that is just a reduction to "they don't know better", and is consequently an expression of white supremacism.
as an aside, the naturalization of morality has an important consequence: it was the last thing that science needed religion for. now that we have a fully naturalistic understanding of morality, we can dispense with religion altogether.
chomsky tends to do this, sometimes: he talks about biology without
talking about natural selection. it makes you wonder if he's holding on
to some creationist baggage. it might not even be intentional; he might
not really realize it. he might also be suffering from the fallacy of
descartian dualism, which wants to separate morality from science, even
as he identifies it at the start, in some kind of inverted defiance.
bringing in natural selection is the way to make proper sense of what he's saying.
the idea of morality as a genetic faculty is maybe a little undeveloped, but it makes sense if you assign a specific region of the brain to it. i'm not on board with chomsky's ideas of innatism; i'm all about the tabula rasa. but, that means relative to existing structures inside the brain, which are kind of mini-organs. but, then what?
well, then those born with specific tendencies that maximize success of reproduction will be more successful. but, this will depend on different environments. and, we can look at two specific kinds of moralities that have existed in history to see how selection can shape morality.
nietzsche refers to these as master and slave moralities, but they are just as well referred to as nomadic and civilized moralities, respectively. a nomadic society is going to have harsher limits on access to resources that may require it to behave in ways that settled societies may view as barbaric. strong selective pressures may be required to cull free riders from the group. conversely, a civilized society is going to put greater focus on preventing conflict, as it maximizes total gene expression, and resources are plenty, anyways. a moral system in a civilized society should look something like mutual aid. from these two different scenarios, different concepts of morality arise via the process of natural selection.
that does not mean that any system of morals is interchangeable with any other. it means that systems of morals should make sense relative to selective pressures. and, one should then argue that capitalism is incoherent precisely because it is a nomadic system of morals applied to a set of civilized societies. it is a mismatch, and consequently turns the selection on it's head. it is when things get criss-crossed like this that species end up extinct.
i consequently agree with chomsky's position on relativism and foucault, i just wish he had brought in the machinery of natural selection to better present his argument in truly biological terms.
bringing in natural selection is the way to make proper sense of what he's saying.
the idea of morality as a genetic faculty is maybe a little undeveloped, but it makes sense if you assign a specific region of the brain to it. i'm not on board with chomsky's ideas of innatism; i'm all about the tabula rasa. but, that means relative to existing structures inside the brain, which are kind of mini-organs. but, then what?
well, then those born with specific tendencies that maximize success of reproduction will be more successful. but, this will depend on different environments. and, we can look at two specific kinds of moralities that have existed in history to see how selection can shape morality.
nietzsche refers to these as master and slave moralities, but they are just as well referred to as nomadic and civilized moralities, respectively. a nomadic society is going to have harsher limits on access to resources that may require it to behave in ways that settled societies may view as barbaric. strong selective pressures may be required to cull free riders from the group. conversely, a civilized society is going to put greater focus on preventing conflict, as it maximizes total gene expression, and resources are plenty, anyways. a moral system in a civilized society should look something like mutual aid. from these two different scenarios, different concepts of morality arise via the process of natural selection.
that does not mean that any system of morals is interchangeable with any other. it means that systems of morals should make sense relative to selective pressures. and, one should then argue that capitalism is incoherent precisely because it is a nomadic system of morals applied to a set of civilized societies. it is a mismatch, and consequently turns the selection on it's head. it is when things get criss-crossed like this that species end up extinct.
i consequently agree with chomsky's position on relativism and foucault, i just wish he had brought in the machinery of natural selection to better present his argument in truly biological terms.
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