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

Lying Awake and Getting Cheesed Off

Lying wide awake most of the night I had the usual jumble of thoughts in my head.  When I say Usual I am talking about the New Normal we are apparently forced to live in.  I wonder if everything that has transpired this year is simply dust in our eyes to keep us distracted from the real issue the people of the world – the Salt of the Earth people – are facing?

So here it is; harassment in high places, populism in all forms and worldwide, political correctness in extreme forms, the idiocy of the Man Who Shall Not Be Named (good clean coal, are you kidding anyone?) and on and on it goes.  I don’t care to comment on any of this right now.

What is really important and has been for the last decade is the ever widening gap of the 1% and the once thriving middle class.  Oxfam just came out with the latest statistics on the money growth from 2017 and guess what, the 1% got 82% of the new money!  Corporate tax evasion has never been higher and the burden of running the country is still squarely on the shoulders of middle class people whose income is shrinking rather than growing. 

Our finance minister is still holding his portfolio despite his breaking of the rules regarding his wealth, our prime minister won‘t comment on the Paradise Papers, he won’t take action on corporate pension fraud (think Sears), he talks like all the other corporate honchos “we take harassment issues very seriously” and I can speak from personal experience that those words are a total copout and mean absolutely nothing.  Those who were victims in my personal experience were let go while the “perps” kept their jobs.  I’m thinking about Kent Hehr – why is he still in caucus?

For the last 6 months we have heard daily about some dickhead not keeping his hands to himself but I am tired of it.  I want to hear about people’s outrage at not making ends meet while rich people and corporations evade their civic duty in paying their GD taxes in proportion to the money they earn.  A person earning $50,000 pays 34% in income (never mind the other things they pay for such as CPP and EI which – having paid them – they are shamed into thinking they are “entitlements”).  Corporate taxes average 20% and that is after some incredible deductions and some corporations pay nothing because despite doing the majority of their business in Canada they have situated their head office in Ireland or elsewhere (Tim Hortons). 

Quotable Woman

One book about womanly comes around to us in decade cycles.  This book is “Gift from the Sea” by Anne Morrow Lindbergh which centres on woman’s need for solitary time in order to be herself but also to be filled up with the emotional tools to fulfill her family obligations.  At one point she speaks to what we today call multi-tasking; “This is not the life of simplicity but the life of multiplicity that the wise men warn us of.  It leads not to unification but to fragmentation.  It does not bring grace, it destroys the soul.”  Sitting in my home and enjoying the quiet life in retirement I do contemplate the words of “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” something which is also true of women today.

Despite the concerns about women working long hours, often as single parents, there is now a possible turning point in women taking a huge step in changing the world.  The madness that has been going on in the United States this past year has really magnified the troubles not only in America but around the global (to a greater or lesser degree).  The “strides” women took in the late 1960’s when entering the workforce in huge numbers, the Woman’s Movement, Women’s Liberation, Human Rights all these things seem to have waned with younger women not understanding what their mothers had to go through just to get a job much less a job with “equal pay for equal work”.  Change is fleeting in this man’s world and women always seem to end up with the short end of the stick.  And this is where we started, women are nurturers at heart and this causes them to stumble in righting the wrongs of the world.

But there is hope as more women take leads in governing.  Still baby steps but the movement is rising.  This is now about power.  Awaken ladies.  Feel it and own it.  Don’t wait for it to be given to you.

 

Another Day in 2018

How wonderful to say "another day".

 

However this is not about me today.  Let's talk about trends.  Fashion trends seem to go in shorter and shorter cycles but the repeats are almost non-existent but seem to stay.  Things like animal prints just seem to STAY.  Boring.  And  shiny glitz in bags and shoes have had their day, in my eyes, for way too long.  And those clog like shoes were never a good idea.

 

I like streamlined and I like classics.  Think Grace Kelly.  I like modesty.  For the past year the soap operas have been wearing sleeveless shoulders but with the sleeves intact (how to describe?), slanted  collars, backless dresses and other raunchy stuff.  Do ladies really want to wear stuff like that?  Does it even look good?  And who wears that sort of clothes to work?  Oh right, we are talking Hollywood jobs.  And yet it translates into stores anyway.

 

I remember when hot pants first came out (and that was even before pantyhose was available)!  Women have gone through tons of changes but one thing I am all for - that women are allowed to wear pants at work!  I remember getting sent home from school in Grade 6 because Mom sent my sister and I to school with pants (no skirt on top) and I went into a tug-of-war as she sent me right back to school and the teacher called me "George" for the rest of the day.  It was -25 outside and Mom said "no way are you going out in a dress/skirt"  This is too cold.  That would have been around 1964-65.

 

Pants, slacks, jeans - whatever the term - those are my go-to's!

 

 



2018 Off the Cuff

Two months and more of not blogging although I have had a lot of thoughts - on  cancer, chemo treatments, "the man who shall not be named", populism, xenophobia, harassment - all so much negative stuff.

 

But also positiveness.  Like amazing family and friends, encouragement, good days, hobbies like genealogy, card making, scrapbooking, reading and some brain work games!

 

How does one sum up a life, a day, a moment?  This morning there was a shared blog about a young woman from Australia who passed away June 2018 and had her family post her reflections after she died.  It' not because it was necessarily original observations yet it was all relevant in that she reminded one that we should not sweat the small stuff.  Sure we can get annoyed at missing a bus, losing things, having annoying or rude people around us but we should feel it and then move.

 

I feel blessed to live in a country with excellent health care (in Alberta anyway) and with a social conscience even though it is not up to my Scandinavian roots standard.  It is so far above that of the country south of us that I thank God that my parents chose Canada for their new home. 

 

This morning we heard a whole lot of blast regarding the President's latest rant on race that just makes me question where the world is heading.  It seems incredible that so many people around the world feel that they are somehow in trouble because of people of a different race.  Really?  That is who you WANT to blame?  Wouldn't it behoove you to look at your government, the people who are supposed to care about you (in this 21st century, for Heaven's Sake)?  Don't find scapegoats in your fellow man but in your Leaders (????). 

 

That's it for today - a little bit of everything.

 

And keep faith, keep a whole heart, keep love there and SMILE at the folks around you.  A smile goes a long way.

 

Blessings.

Edna Ferber - Some More Thoughts

I just have a little more to say about Edna Ferber.  It seems that her writing have fallen out of favour which is a crying shame.  I think with the times we are experiencing now, in America but also around the world, her take on humanity has real value.  

Ferber wrote many books on the expansion in America focusing on the value of the immigrants’ who helped build America, the Polish, the Jews, the Dutch, the American pioneers; in books such as Cimarron, So Big, American Beauty, Ice Palace, Giant and Come & Get It.  In her obituary the remark was “Her books were not profound [well, I take exception here] but they were vivid and had a sound sociological basis.”  In today’s society we have new immigrants who are bringing their work ethic into the country.  In particular the Philippine people are outstandingly hard workers and keep their funds inside the country to help the economy.

 

Do we have challenges today with immigration?  Yes, but overall the majority of the people who enter our country or well-vetted, decent people who just want to have a good life away from war and strife and poverty.  Looking through Edna Ferber’s lens of compassion, curiosity and acceptance I think we can all learn some valuable lessons in being multi-cultural.  It’s not easy, but that’s life. 

 

That’s the velvet.

So Big - Edna Ferber

I’ve been doing some early Christmas shopping and picked up some hard cover books at Costco but unfortunately they are so heavy that I am having a hard time dipping into them.  So I pulled out some of my old classics which I do every once in a while.  Sort of placebo for the soul therapy.  As my readers know I enjoy reading “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder as soon as it blizzards, this year I went with the first snow.  I always feel cosy and comforted that I have my cupboards stock with food and grateful that the heat is going. 
I’ve been reading the 2 volumes of One Basket which is Ferber’s early short story series but now I am deep into “So Big” one of my all time favorites (on my top 10 list).  I adore the story, I adore Selena, I love the word descriptions and the life lessons.  Some favorite lines
·         A fine show.  The trick is to play in it and look at it as the same time . . . Living.  All mixed up.  The more kinds of people you see, and the more things you do, and the more things that happen to you, the richer you are.  Even if they are not pleasant things.  That living.  Remember, no matter what happens, good or bad, it just so much . . . just so much velvet”.
·         “There are only two kinds of people in the world that really count.  One kind’s wheat and the other kind’s emeralds.
·         But always to her, red and green cabbages were to be jade and Burgundy, chrysoprase and porphyry.  Life has no weapons against a woman like that.
The book is about how the individuals see the world and so few see the beauty and  the Show.  They lead pedestrian lives even if they have money and education where Selena sees what could be.  She sees the Parade of Life.  It’s just so beautiful see wonder at people who can see the absolute joy in the world and I feel grateful that maybe, just maybe, I am one of those people.
So today when you do your commute, when you are shopping, maybe you can just take in the glory of living and the possibilities around us.   
My cup runneth over.

Wy Socialism is a Four Letter Word

When I tell people that I am a Socialist they generally feel speechless, confused and/or alarmed.  All their lives they have been told by media as well as colleagues, family members and others that socialism is a bad thing and not to be tolerated in Canada.  I admit that I was given to understand by my parents that socialism was a good thing but they also gave me the full story of why conservatives and liberals were not good for the ordinary Canadian.  And then I was told to read the newspaper and make up my own mind.  I was 14 at the time.

It’s true that Scandinavians are innately socialist as long ago as the Viking era.  I was rather surprised to learn that fact and am grateful for my mother in translating from the Danish encyclopedia.  There are 13 volumes in my set (going up to 1939) and written in extraordinary detail.  While I can read Danish from the magazines are lesser books I find reading the encyclopedia challenging because it is “intellectual words” which naturally we do not speak in our house on a daily basis.  We speak common Danish.  When we talk politics it is a scramble with mostly English in it.  I give you this information so you will understand that I am open and honest – I am getting my information second hand from Mom although I frequently ask to see the book so I can make sure it’s what she told me. 
As I have said in past blogs, I do urge folks to look up each of the Scandinavian countries’ websites and review their political section.  As well, a very interesting book on the Danes rescue of Jews is found in the book “Countrymen” by Bo Lindgaard which is currently on the bargain shelf at Chapters for about $10.  It explains a lot of the political part of being an occupied country during WWII but more importantly it explains the Danish way of feeling about anyone who is a Danish citizen regardless of ethnic background.  I often say of myself “don’t give me something and then take it away” which is very much a Danish thing.

I am in correspondence with several of my Danish cousins and one day Laust and I were talking on the phone and I had to laugh a little when he said “I pay my taxes with joy”.  I said while I don’t pay my taxes with joy I pay them because they are my responsibility as a Canadian citizen.  If I want health care, infrastructure, schools and so on it behooves me to pay for it.  I never skirt my taxes or try to cheat, it just isn’t worth it for me to feel dishonest.  Most Danes feel the same way although they love to complain about the taxes; at the same time they would rather pay their taxes than lose the things the taxes pay for.  In this regard I think it is worthwhile to read “The Almost Nearly Perfect People” by Michael Booth.  While much of what he writes annoys me because he is fairly derogatory about the Danes’ he does make some points that are relevant when it comes to taxes and the Danish and other Scandinavians’ attitude.

Something that irritates the heck out of me when discussing social programs is the phrase “whose going to pay for it?”  Well, you are of course but why do you have to ask when you already pay for so much crap in our system.  Why would you begrudge $100 or so for abortion when the alternative could be a child born in poverty and then you will pay how many thousands of dollars for 18 years of social services?  (Forget the pro-life stance, it will only irritate me more).

The 4 letter word is really something that the media creates via their corporate owners since they don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes.  If they did we would likely be able to fund free college educations, fund infrastructure in rural areas, keep schools and hospitals current and so much more.  But hey, why would we need these things in the 21^st century.  Let’s just fall further and behind European countries who actually know what they are doing.

Another re-think moment.