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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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You see the signs - some crazy old hippie camping out somewhere near 12 Mile, large hand-painted signs warning of human induced climate change, "The Anropocene", most people dismiss him. Last year his signs were 3 mile, he's a seasonal visitor.
Most people dismiss him as a lunatic.
I'm not so sure.
Every year we're breaking more and more heat records. Less and less precipitation. Milder and shorter winters.
Tomorrow, the next few days, forecast at 40 degrees Celsius or greater.
I've never seen it that hot out here. Even in Saskatchewan, or the Drumheller Valley.
Never, not once. And it's not even July. And it's going to get worse. Up to 50 degrees Celsius in Kamloops, if you can believe it. 42 in Nelson.
***
Note that "Climate Change" has almost entirely shifted - this is a "Heat Wave" - there's no mention of how Climate Change might have driven or impacted this. We hit new records - year after year, the classic climate change hallmarks - yet now, for some reason, it's off the table for discussion.
This Pandemic, it was just the toe in the door - there's a world of trouble coming. There's a theory of climate change that talks about "Tipping Points" - how - once past a certain tipping point, it's almost certainly irreversible, and the change will only accelerate. We're there.
Think of ball rolling down a slope. Predictable, you know when it leaves, you know when it arrives at the bottom. Simple formula.
But this, this is more a ball starting to fall off an incline, into the abyss, and the scientists, they've foretold it, predicted it, but were silenced, but there's good information out there that were at a critical time in human history. World history - not just ours - and that shit is about to go sideways fast.
And so lockdowns end, eat, drink, be merry, for the Pandemic is over but the end of the world is upon us...
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I mean, the abundance of fringe theories regarding Covid. By which I don't mean the Wuhan Lab Leak theory, that was mine own theory shortly into the pandemic, discredited largely by Trump's support, and back again in fashion. Nothing destroys credibility like having an idiot agree with you. No, I mean the people that think it's all a hoax, an attempt by the government to seize control, "New World Order" and all that.
It is boggling to me that - given the abundance of news from various sources, people should choose to believe that it doesn't exist. That the lockdowns are an attempt by the government to control the populace. I mean, we have examples of countries that did it right - Australia, New Zealand. And how is it possible that politicians - whose intelligence ranges from minute to diabolical, depending on the country you live in - could orchestrate such a thing? I mean, to believe it's a hoax requires far more faith in government than believing it's legitimate.
Anyways, it's almost over. Breathe a sigh of relief. For the time being.
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This, in the news a fair bit, museums across the world repatriating items of questionable provenance. But it raises the question - at what point does history belong to the world? Are the great pyramids "The History of Egypt" or are they part of the larger history of the human race? And, in politically unstable countries - such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, etc. - where conflict and change of government frequently threaten collections of importance and interest to the world - is it not them better off in an environment where it can educate more diverse audiences of global backgrounds? Consider the damage done by the Taliban, Looters in the Egyptian riots, etc. - does not their history - or - arguably OUR history - deserve better conservation and stewardship than said nations have provided? Would the Elgin marbles really have survived if left in the Parthenon?
Merely an argument in favor of larger thinking beyond geographical borders when it comes to the world's historical and artistic treasures.
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Online, playing Chess VS Sven at Chess.com. It beats the endless well of Reddit.
I learned Chess in my early 20's from a friend, Milan. Which is to say I learned the basic moves, the "rules", and was largely self-taught.
A flaw which I passed on to my own children.
There was a reasoning I applied - that I should be able to "think it through" - but the game after only a few moves offers exponential outcomes and consequences, and the "think it through" requires a level of prodigal thinking that so far eludes me. Even after the first three pair of turns the game offers 121 million possibilities, and this number quickly expands to more possibilities than there are atoms in the universe.
I'm playing against a robot, "Sven", 1100 ranking, and it brings to my attention how poor my strategies are.
Nine, even Ten times out of ten I can beat him - but I am blindsided by how often I don't. How many "Blunders" - missing obvious consequences to stupid moves - "Mistakes", poor moves when better were available, the number of turns it takes me to finish up what should be a straightforward execution.
It's not about winning - in the right mood that's not the issue, it's about getting quick enough that these obvious stupidities are overlooked in the advancement of the game. That certain openings should be routine - and they for the most part are - but vary from the script, think for yourself and you're quickly in over your head. A missed fork, a straightforward "seized your queen", it's rare the game at this point that passes without some inadvertent or unplanned sacrifice - rare that I can see that the game developed without my helping stupidity, rare that it passes without a mistake or blunder or missed win.
It's good, it makes me think, and what I think most of all is that by teaching my children - simple enough - I probably inculcated a lifetime of prejudice against the game - I didn't go through and teach the advantages of setting up defenses, looking over the whole board, the unconscious recognition of better and worse moves, the ability to predict advantageous outcomes over trifling exchanges, in short, I taught them the rules and told them to think it through when - in fact - this can only take you so far, which is not very at all, you need to master established strategies without thinking, most of the game is wrapped up in memory and repetition of moves designed to advance and free your pieces, very little of it involves thinking - certainly at this level.
Anyways, my thoughts on Chess, the goal to defeat Sven without thinking or committing blunders, mistakes, 100% of the time, before advancing to play Nelson, who I can beat perhaps 50% of the time but who's wayward queen still forces me into dumb moves and entirely predictable outcomes, the overall goal to play a respectable game with a human opponent, practice, practice, and maybe time to watch a few explanatory videos...
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It's everywhere and it's become a little too overwhelming.
If you think about it, philosophically, your entire lie is implied consent - you were born without your permission, you work without it, live, die with out it, it's merely taken for granted. Too much of life happens "TO" you, without any consultation, and at no point in the process are you sufficiently informed to to make even the simplest of decisions.
Nobody is, despite what they tell you, and when you consent to anything you're generally setting yourself up for a whole slew of unintended and unimagined consequences which may well haunt you until the end of your days.
But this isn't about that.
I'm speaking of Advertising, which has become ubiquitous online - and given how much of our lives is conducted online now it's become too much.
In websites, often so cluttered that you can't see the very article you came for, that then try and sell you adblockers for the very ads they're throwing at you - YouTube, I mean you. I mean, fucking hell, I have to watch an ad now just to watch an ad or product endorsement.
Product endorsements are another ones - clickbait articles that lead you to paid advertisements masking as news articles, "New discovery", the abundant products embedded in reviews, movies, books even (American Psycho), the list doesn't end.
The news itself - nothing but product endorsements, those flashes on rising crime, civil unrest, violence, they're all selling you on anti-depressants, security systems, guns, when was the last time you saw a news story about a company that paid for advertising? You don't. You pay for advertising and all the news is good. Pay for the news and you still get the ads, now only they're embedded in the journalism, not in the margins.
Every website rapes you with them - how many don't? Not many, for sure. And they're loaded in before the content - waiting on your article? Sorry, wait for the ads which we have to determine by your browsing history, user profile, internet searches, predicted age, sex, hobbies...
They've made it a condition of accessing the internet - it's become the new social contract, you're on occasion reminded by the insidious "Accept cookies" that pops up from time to time, the terms and conditions of which no one in the world has time to read.
And what's really starting to piss me off is how my email has been hijacked by it. "Promotions" tab for things I have no interest in, have never searched, I used to think it was that Rod Boyle Bastard in Australia signing me up for all sorts of random shit (Actually, I'm sure he's a pretty solid guy. With a name like that...), but of late I'm just convinced that it's google trying to monetize the fuck out of me, sure, I could get a new email address, but I've had this for years, and there's the "Sunk-Costs" fallacy, that I've invested in this email, who has time to change it, my letterhead and stationary, notify relatives, businesses? And they know this, that's why they start this shit with you.
I've come up with a theory that I should perhaps just start over online. Ditch all my emails. Only surf the net in full privacy mode. Physically write out the music videos I like and scrub my online presence. Maybe.