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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 31 December 2022

Hits: 892

Growing up every town had one. 

And always, without fail, the most dismal, decrepit and depressing bar or hotel around. Even when I was young.

The Calgary Location, open from 1912 until 2008, when - being a cornerstone of the cities drug and murder trade, was finally closed down.

View Gallery: Calgary Cecil Hotel

Then there was the Edmonton Cecil Hotel, which apparently opened in 1906, and closed in 2003 due to building and health code violations.

Video: Remembering the Edmonton Cecil Hotel

Then there was the Cecil Hotel in Lethbridge which first appears in my searches for 1953 (but probably built before and rebranded later as a Cecil Hotel); demolished in 2002

Link: Photo Lethbridge Cecil Hotel

And the Medicine Hat Cecil Hotel, which opened in 1912 and is still open, the bar at least, the building around is said to be crumbling down.

Of course, there was a Moose Jaw Cecil Hotel as well, opening in 1907 and burning down in 1975. A brief history here.

...

This list could grow formidably long. I guess the question is - Who in the hell was Cecil? I mean - I have yet to come across a congruent reason why so many of the hotels were named after this one - enigmatic? person...

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 17 December 2022

Hits: 788

Thrift shop, today pricing a huge array of old film Cameras. Pentax, Canon AE-1, Olympus, Nikon, big lenses, all sorts of stuff that if I didn't actually work there I'd be picking up and wanting to buy.

I discovered the usefulness of google lens today as well, and it proved a handy aid in ballparking the prices. I'm going to have to use that more often. 

But - by far the best was the discovery of this little gem:

Now, I mean, an old polaroid, and they really only had one use. But, highlight the cord on the camera and you can tell people it's "...because it swings!!!...". 

Uh-huh. It ain't the camera that's swinging, lemme tell you...

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 13 December 2022

Hits: 665

Sometimes - albeit rarely, Reddit is an amazing place.

Above, see antique photo of Travelling Merkin Salesman. 

Who seems to be wearing one upon his chin as a sort of endorsement, or badge of the trade.

Now - these all are far too bushy for my taste - were I to come across one of these in real life I'd definitely flee in horror - but, something about the trade amuses me and I can't quite put my finger on it...

Imagine, after a hard day of fitting merkins coming home to your wife - "Honey, I'm bushed". 

I mean, between the start of the day and the end of the day the many adventures of the travelling merkin salesman. Which I'm sure in every way beats a day in the life of James Bond, I'm sorry.

I most definitely missed my calling. 

And - somewhere in this furry mess there has to be a Netflix movie or miniseries...

Oh, and it's very definitely still a thing (I've never seen one in the wild, others must have), but I'll let you do your own google searches and - note the abundance of festive and seasonally themed merkins.

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 05 December 2022

Hits: 778

or maybe I should have titled this: Fact Checking Freedom of Speech.

We live in an era - relatively rare, where we take it for granted that anyone should have access to Freedom of Speech, but - when this liberty was granted it was not foreseen how abused it would become. By which I mean no-one foresaw the state of US politics. There was the not-unreasonable presumption of decency, good intention, the allowing for differing points of view.

Now this has spiraled out of control. The media gives equal weight and press to the most absurd and preposterous of lies, told solely for the increase in reputation or profit of the seller, and at great cost to society.

Think the anti-vaxxers, who are allowed to voice the most inane oppositions to current scientific methods and models. Solely for the increase in their reputation or ego; by being contrary to science they can with no small arrogance put themselves on the same pedestal as those who wasted 10 years of their life getting a medical education.

Even worse, if it can be imagined, are those that spread this disinformation with a view to profit from the "alternatives" they're marketing or have shares in. And then - irony of irony - take the conventional vaccines as a matter of course, failing to disclose this to their audience. 

And - it is worth noting - all of these people survive by and large as a result of increases in medical understanding - the plague of childhood poxes and polios, rubella, whooping-cough, measles, etc - they survive because they've been vaccinated, if not them then largely because the surrounding populace has been vaccinated and thus reduced their own exposure.

It is quite possibly the biggest abuse of Free Speech in existence. If you, for example, went on to social media and claimed to be anti-gravity, offered a challenge to like-minded viewers that saw them leap from the highest buildings in their area, if you advertised yourself against "Big-Gravity" it is very possible that following a few of the inevitable mishaps you might find yourself facing criminal charges. Vaccines don't offer the same immediacy, and so lies and disinformation spread about them are not so instantly verifiable.

Vaccines are but one example - think of the countless other lies currently in existence and popular coinage - ballot fraud, QANON, Alex Jones, etc, etc. 

These things cause real harm, no merely to individuals but to society at large. 

While it is certainly OK to question facts, it is best done by those who have first done the requisite research, and with the required educations.

So - perhaps it is time to talk about ending Freedom of Speech. There are things that are true and are false, and a great many things in between that we're still figuring out. 

If anyone should knowingly spread falsehoods - there should be grave consequences. 

Stupidity is killing us all.