Technology and Apple - a rant

I was going to write something nice and uplifting but instead I need to vent regarding iPad and Apple.  I have never cared for Apple.  When they first came on the market in a big way I already felt negative feelings from something – I am not sure what.  But in the decades since their corporate values have been less than stellar even by big business standards (if we can call them that). 

Three weeks ago I finally agreed to do the “upgrade” to the iPad which my dear sister gave to me when I was hospitalized last June.  Since that time my iPad loses battery power within an hour, sometimes in 30 minutes.  I am not using it any more than I had been before the so called upgrade.  I had heard about this battery scam over a year ago (maybe much longer ago, not quite sure) but I thought that had all been sorted out by some kind of “investigation”.

This is all so much garbage, such a ripoff to folks and as usual a money grab.  Apple is a stinking company who cares about nothing but personal profits for their key people.  They don’t even to decent dividends to their public shareholders.

Disgusted big time.  I would never, ever by an Apple product.

Enough said.

I am obsessed with my genealogy research.  I joke with Mom and say that I am going into the time tunnel and that I am competing with Hercule Poirot’s little grey cells.  I am actually thoroughly enjoying the research into my lineage.

I am not a genealogy snob, I do not care if I don’t find any high falutin’ ancestors.  Indeed I am really rather proud that we are “salt of the earth” type people because these are the people who actually make and build a country.  Many of my kin were fishermen and the sea is a cruel mistress.  My great grandparents (the Pedersen side) lost 3 sons to the sea, in 3 separate accidents.  Actually the first boy, Baltzer, didn’t die at sea but he came only with full blown tuberculosis and died quite young.  The other 2 dies at sea and the last son, our lovely great Uncle Peter, fished for quite a long time but finally settled down on land.  But many more of my ancestors went down to Davy’s Locker.

Other kin still worked on the sea, as marines, as merchant marines, as deep sea diver (my Uncle Poul, who raised many sunken ships around the world) and other sea connections.  And while these men were at sea my female ancestors were raising their children, working their gardens (and later the bigger farms), making things to sell and essentially being the heart, soul and additional provider to the family.  You can see that it the existing photos, how much older they looked than their older husbands.  But these women also had something else, they had noble, generous, tolerant and kind hearts.  I have the memoirs of one cousin once removed, Mom’s double first cousin who was 20 years older than her and both knew the grandmothers and had heard stories of their mothers.  And wonderfully, I have also heard from a cousin three times removed from my father’s side who tells of the golden hearts of both my great grandmother and his (they were sisters).  I just feel terribly proud of these women, traits that I see in my mother, my sisters and (blushingly) myself.

Revelations and comparisons of personality, characters, humour, strengths.  I just find it very rewarding and enriching.  And when I finally make a connection up the line, into the 1500’s i am just blown away with excitement.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS HOBBY, THIS CHASE . . .

My cup runneth over.

Knock Back

I spoke little bit about social courtesy yesterday but I think it might be a good time to go deeper into the whole social media obsession.  I think we can safely say that people like the idea of being able to express themselves, air their opinions and so forth and what better way than through this phenomena that has grown over the last 15 years to be something that is so invasive in our lives that untold millions cannot live without having their telephone or tablet at the ready every moment day or night.  I’ve spoken against this for years, ad nauseum.  

Now I want to talk a little bit about the security breaches and invasion of privacy which Facebook is guilty of.  I had not realized until perhaps 6 or 8 months ago that those quizzes people send out are part of the problem in analyzing us and potentially making us victims of trolls of all sorts.  If we cannot disconnect from Facebook (and although I don’t believe I am an addict I see the value of staying connected with friends) I do think it behooves me (and others) to be more aware and to stop sending out a lot of the posters, quizzes and things we are not so sure about.  Caution is the better part of valour, as they say.

Nothing new or startling in this observation, but I do share it with my readers in the hopes of curbing some of our habits which may not be for our good.

Lastly, let us always remember to be kind, to give the benefit of the doubt to our Friends and not to jump to negative conclusions.  Take a few minutes to respond if you are disturbed or offended.  And when you do respond, sometimes sending a private message is much better than posting it on the public forum.  Just a tip that I have found very valuable.

I welcome additional suggestion and insights.

Around the Topics

As my readers know by now I enjoy watching The View every morning.  I find a get an idea of what is going on in the USA in a stimulating way.  Today my big laugh came from Joy (she always gives me a kick) a she spoke about the sex lives of various animals.  Apparently this is actually a big hobby of hers.  It came up as they talked about the death of the last white rhino yesterday.  It’s sad to see species going extinct due to bad management and rogue hunting.  On the other hand a couple of months ago I saw a spot on Focus in Europe where in Germany they had 3 different types or scenarios of people who were concerned about a wolf species coming back into the forest.  There was the farmers whose livestock was being eaten (but they had so much land that they could not afford to put up proper fences), the environmentalists and the hunters.   Right off the bat I think hunters’ should not have a say in a scenario where we are talking about extinction. 

I think in terms of safety and livelihood that the farmers’ concerns should be addressed first.  The devastation of the livestock appeared quite significant so pending more information my thought would be that perhaps the environmentalists and government need to look at how they can best assist in saving the wolf without cost to the farmers.

As human beings, however disappointing we may be, our “needs” should trump anything else (within reason) including the environment.  I know this opinion upsets environmentalists a great deal but as human beings who else really can do anything?  Again, I am talking about simple economics, jobs and livelihoods; I am not advocating the desecration that big business has done in the past without checks and balances.  That needs to continue, but again, within bounds, within reason and not at cost of essential jobs. 

Here we go – should the B.C. and USA pipelines go ahead?  In my opinion, if the original assessments were legitimate and the provisos are kept, then yes.  I think that the pipelines are much safer than railways to get the oil to markets.  I also think that Canadians should use some common sense in their debates over this question.  Which currently I do not think is happening.  I think most people who enter the debate have not done their research but are just on bandwagons because they think its “politically correct”.

But this is just one person’s opinion – I get to say what I like on my blog.  And as Sarah Haynes said today on The View – responses should extend the courtesy of appreciating “nuances” in opinions.  Remember I have a sustainable farm, I have long done recycling, not using Styrofoam cups, driving a green car and myriad other environmental forms of helping our planet. 

Voices vs Elocution

I live with an 84 year old mother who is going deaf so oftentimes I don’t take her seriously when she complains about not hearing someone on the television.  But lately I have been noticing how very poorly people on television speak.  Not only do they speak very quickly, frequently slurring or swallowing their words but they also have so many word whiskers and other bad habits that I actually get distracted from the message because I am too busy either correcting or getting annoyed with the person.

An example would be the stylist Alexis on the Marilyn Denis show.  She always says “also, too” or “as well, too” which she says several times during her presentation.  My question here is “why doesn’t Marilyn or the producers say something to her so that she doesn’t do it anymore”.  I’ve been watching the show for about 6 months and this Alexis is on at least once a week.  Am I the only one who has noticed this poor grammar?   Lest I forget Marilyn also has the bad habit of saying “yeah, yeah, yeah” more than once in the show.  She should take a lesson from the Norwegians whose non-committal hmm-hmm of the throat speaks volumes of nothingness which “yeah, yeah, yeah” is the rude equivalent.

Then we have the Gatling gun talkers.  There are too many to name or count but again I ask why the producers or directors of these shows don’t correct them.  Is it because they are so ill educated themselves that they can’t hear their people?  Since when has speed talking been acceptable in journalism?  Isn’t the point of journalism to have people hear the news, not guess at what has been said? 

We also have versions of the Valley Girl Speak and the ones who roll up their voices, extend out their words for no particular reason that I can tell.  The ones who slur words, make up words, swallow them, pitch them or nudge them along.  It’s almost too distressing to listen to, in fact, I can’t!

Now I would like to praise some excellent journalists, Dawna Friesen and Linda Olsen on Global News Calgary.  One can understand every word they say, their voices are pleasant and measured and in today’s frenzied world I find them a delight to listen to.  I also enjoy Paul Dunphy the weatherman unlike his morning counterpart Jordan who walks around his map in such a weird way that I almost get a nervous breakdown looking at him much less listening to him.

That’s my little rant of the day.  Now I will go feed the chickens whose clucking noises I actually understand.  J