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Otherwise, ...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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Otherwise, in news from the hood, other than stressing over a freaking broken (and very slow and time consuming repair/migration/upgrade) this is what I've been up to.
A new series, Netflix, Guy Murchie's "The Gentleman". Nothing for substance, amusing for style, he's a knack for dialogue.
One thing that I notice is that while he's busy portraying gangsters and posh aristocrats none of the portrayals are even remotely accurate, more just confirming the audiences best prejudices about the circumstances displayed.
And I rewatched "Into the Wild" - which, surprisingly emotionally affected me. The character of Chris McCandless, the people he meets - the young girl filled with longing, the hippy couple, the old man who helped him to make his belt.
That was the beauty of it, and the frank depiction of the relationships that he forms, I think I enjoyed it more on the second watching. I especially enjoyed the line "new experiences without which we grow old", for I've been growing old all winter.
Then there was "Burn After Reading" - the lightest of the Cohen brother's films by far, their idea of a rom-com or spy movie. Stellar performances by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, actually, pretty much everyone. Not my favorite of theirs, but even their worst movies are better realized than most Hollywood dross...
And I started a couple of new paintings, which I'd post here but there's a learning curve here that I'm not yet on top of. Suffice it to say that I primed a canvas and then got scared of it ending up like my website...
Facebook, lots of nuttiness up there. I've saved a lot of great "AI" images of Jesus and stewardesses for you. I think they can't get any more absurd, and then they do....
Wing nut shitposting that she wants a "Strong Male Leader" like they "Have in Russia". Hmmm. Facebook, the repository for all the 'friends' you'd never speak to in real life...
She (Wing Nut) also posts links to videos....'rumble.com', which is like the free-speech alt-right white-supremacist alternative to YouTube.
It's pretty bad. I warned you.
And of course, the US Election, Climate Change, The myth of Donald Trump as Christ, his crucifiction, now, in the media, in the courts, foreshadows for the Christian Right his resurrection, and never mind that he's shown his hoof, waved his tail, worn his horns, I am greatly worried that he's coming back...
And for the moment that catches us somewhat up.
Fuckity Fuck-Fuck Fuckaroo...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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So, overdue and much needed updates to the website. Fuckity-fuck-fuckaroo. All going smooth until I install a component....then - bang.
Broken. You saw it broken in the front end but the back-end was something else.
Oddly - humorously - the component was working fine. The only bloody thing.
So, fuck around, find out, fuck around, find out.
I really can't 'afford' to leave all the information behind, and the database doesn't allow upgrading.
There will probably be a few more fuckity-fuckaroo moments on the way to getting this thing up and running - an unenviable amount of loading components, reordering, fixing thing up.
There was, for a while, the very real peril that I'd lose some 1000+ pages of content, some 4,000+ articles comprising of millions of words and thousands of photos. Almost 20 years of scrap paper thrown into the basket. This, naturally, rather upset me. I wonder why.
Anyways, the past week this is where I've been, fucking around, finding out, 40+ hours for a "seamless" migration that - to be sure, is anything but seamless.
Now, this being the most current version of my website it will be a fresh start, but the old content - if for any reason you need or are bored and crawling - is all here: V4.rodboyle.com.
I'll try migrating it over - at some point, but there's a lot to be done before then, so it'll be the balance of content and form...
Temps
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
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Back from Prospecting, broke, a car but no gas, a room in an insane asylum, and whatever I do I'm not going back to that damned restaurant. (Not yet, anyways...).
I get on at Temps.
Temps is the short term solution to your companies immediate labour needs. You need a project, you need to throw men at it, brainless work that needs be done? Temps is your answer. "Cash Paid Daily" is their main recruiting slogan. All you need to work there is your own steel toed boots, they'll sell or rent you the hard-hat and safety vest. Show up, do your WHMIS, you're set to go...if you can wield a hammer and you have your own toolbelt you'll earn an extra $2.00 per hour.
First job is in Airdrie, a week or so digging holes in a basement, some contractor has built an entire development on a poorly built up flood plain, all the houses are getting foundation cracks, my job to dig the post-holes for the jacks that will lift the house up while they re-level the foundations and fill the cracks. Dirty, filthy work, head to toe crusted with mud by the end of the day.
The foreman likes me, wonders why I'm a temp, he can get me on full time, $20.00 an hour to start, I tell him of the prospecting.
A lot of people would think I was nuts, maybe he does too. But I've stirred something in him, I can see it burning inside, and finally when he's bursting and can hold it inside no more he tells me:
"My Brother" he begins, and then the conversation turns to aliens, realizing that I'm not adverse the conversation becomes first person, no longer his brother but himself, there are definitely aliens, they appear in the Bible, the burning bush? Aliens, the Pyramids? Aliens, they track each other via LED displays, they've got a TV screen on which they can watch each other, his brother and him, they're going to Mexico to look for treasure, you have to be careful, usually Mexican treasures are guarded by curses, Bears or Giant Snakes that have magical shape-shifting powers, the breaks aren't long enough for him to share his plans, but I'm catching the enthusiasm...
There's another employee, Philip, a Hutterite AWOL from his colony in Manitoba, he's a bit lazy, he's digging 2 holes to my 5, he's the hired help, not a temp, but he's a whiz with a bobcat, a bit simple, touched in the head, wants to get back to the colony, settle down, when there's bobcat work to be done he shows up to work, when it's hand-to-shovel he contrives illness, a bad cold, a flu, ... and there's Francis, forever off looking for local cafes in which to take a dump, bowel problems, as soon as the foreman looks the other way he's off, our lack of porta-potties means he can take an hour, two, to attend the call of nature.
I dig the holes.
We're working in unclosed pits, 4 to 6 feet deep, knee deep in water seeping in from Nose Hill Creek, the power tools give off electric shocks before throwing the breakers, this is the routine: Wake - 4:00 AM, Temps office at 5:00, be on the jobsite at 8:00, finish at 4:30, home, change, shower, sleep, repeat....
Inane Facebook Videos, without end
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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Still on Facebook, far too often, checking Marketplace for a very few pieces of furniture that will complete my apartment.
And I end up on their videos. Treasure videos, because sometimes I look at the ones where they're looking for gold in the outback or digging up giant quartz crystals in the Mt. Blanc, Alabama and Mohawk Valley.
There's a lot of good stuff to be found.
The problem, I'm guessing, is there's just not enough of this going on, and so a whole pile of Tik-Tokkers have gotten in on the trend, making increasingly outlandish videos, some of which I watch, because, well, I just have to...
This girl is great, Asian, I'm guessing somewhere in China, she wades into the stream, looking for clams, when she finds one opening it to find no end to preposterous treasures. The happy face tattooed on her middle finger suggests some cultural alliances...
Of course the green heart shaped diamonds weren't enough, other clams gave were filled with pink heart shaped diamonds, brilliant blue diamonds, green pearls, blue marbles or bath beads, I mean, if you ever wondered where Dollorama got it's craft supplies I think I've figured it out...
These can become addictive, with the mental consequences somewhat akin to the physical consequences of a diet of only McDonalds.
I mean, there are metal detectorists that have no idea how to use a metal detector, people hauling up - what if were real - 1000lb gold bricks and vases with one hand, there are the "Cross-Cultural" vocalizations like "Wow" and "Oh My God" and "200 Kilograms" (as he's lifting it out with the claw of a hammer), the heavy breathing, the breaking open of a 200 lb gold nugget only to find that it's in fact a giant sapphire, giant clams filled with colored pearls that have already had the holes drilled...
And given the dispersal of the videos, there are content farms from Russia to Asia and Africa, and, given the numbers of views (some in the millions) these are clearly where the real treasures are.
I find this curious, my own tastes, there are perfectly real videos of people digging up Smokey Quartz points on Mount Blanc, gwindels, as well as on Pikes Peak and in Alabama, but they have the merest fraction of views, the real treasure lies in the generating of mindless content, monetizing it, dragging out the length of the video for "maximum engagement", not a "get to the point mentality", or "this is how / where we do it and what we find", it's appealing to an innate deep seated desire to find treasure and become rich beyond our wildest dreams.
Anyways, I had to share, my tastes are seriously being dumbed down by the internet and I'm greatly not getting out and digging up more treasures this summer. Although, looking around the apartment at all the rocks and I'm realizing I've dug up quit enough...for the moment at least.
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