What was that again?

Having been physically active over my days (more than what is generally considered 'average'), I am intimately aware of the pain and training discomfort.

I'd certainly done stretching and ab-work over a period of decades.

In what became my daily (well... for the most part daily... k!) regiment, I had been using a coupla (defined as two, or three) yoga poses for years now.

Both focused on my lower back.

My first yoga mat!

It just so happens that I'd been looking into a beginners class with the idea of learning something new that I could incorporate/borrow for my dailies.

It also happened to be the day after I'd had a bbq with Ali and Stirling (henceforth known as u2... or in this case, A&S), and Ali just happened to have a yoga mat that she was in the process of throwing out.

I know right?

I brought it home and decided to become familiar with this strange thing.
Though I've comfortably 'done' 25 crunches/situps/leg lifts through-out my days, 25 is, when you think about it, nothing special. I considered my abs/core my weak spot.

Weak spot independent of any injury related area.

You know... a rip/tear/break/disjointed/grinding/tense/or generally bloody and damaged area of what is now my bodies 51st plus year.

Of late *cough* I've been made aware of this on a daily basis.

Nothing you can do about that at this point.

And with that I made a conscious choice to focus more on my 'core.'

That is... my abs.

As the acknowledged weak area, I decided to investigate yoga a little further.

So much so that over the past few days I'd begun to put together what is known as a 'sequence.' I wasn't so interested in a dance (though I can... dance that is), but I certainly accepted the importance of creating a flow.

So online I went and quickly found an array of helpful sites.

Seriously, there are tons, easily found with a simple google search.

Using images and text, I got at it.

Though not completed (some fine tuning... perhaps over time even), today... was Day One.

With my stretching included... a good 1/2hr was spent on my core (abs not counting as they are done upon wakening.)

Talk about sweat?
It was quickly pouring off me.

I've a new appreciation for those dedicated to yoga.

And they are legion... aren't they?

Should I now include myself in that group?
Tell you this, I can't imagine every not doing this again.

It has had a profound effect on my over-all well being today.
Not to mention how my core feels now.
I cannot say enough on how different my body feels today.

I look forward to tomorrow... and the next day. Read More...

French toast... nonnom

A few months ago I switched from white to whole wheat bread.
Er... it's an age thing.

:l

At any rate... this morning I made french toast. It had been a while and I was curious how the whole wheat would taste. Was I ever surprised! It was simply delicious! When you consider the cinnamon I add, well, that's whole (no pun) new ball game.

Whole wheat and cinnamon... nonmnom. Read More...

Ya... but

Robin Williams
July 21, 1951 – August 11, 2014

Actor/Comedian Robin Williams took his own life yesterday.

He was but 63 years of age.

He won Emmys, Grammys and an Academy Award.

He had family, children and friends.

He also had money.

Some would say he seemingly had it 'all.'

They would be wrong.

It's been said (and ego aside - and, it IS aside), but, the more intelligent one is the less happy one is. Further... the more alone you are. Read up on it here and here.

It's sad but the vast majority of people are ignorant about mental health issues. Scary given recent 'studies' have shown that a staggering 1in4 people suffer from a mental illness.

A blog posting published today at the guardian is both insightful and disturbing.

It comes out hitting in saying "...to say taking your own life because of such an illness is a ‘selfish’ act does nothing but insult the deceased, potentially cause more harm and reveal a staggering ignorance of mental health problems."

Indeed.

One of Williams more oft used quotes is...

I used to think the worst thing in life is to end up all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone.
I can totally relate to those words.

A buddy of mine said the following...

I'm having problems with Robin Williams death, for me , it's because it makes sense. I can't say I agree with what he did, but I understand how he got there.
"...but I understand how he got there."

I do indeed.

My second 'attempt' at suicide was at the age of 6.
Yes, you read that right.

'Tried' once, and the idea of suicide is with you every single day.

Every... single... day.

Oh I'm not saying I want to kill myself every minute. But the idea is always there... in the back of one's mind.

And at the age of 51yrs I can't see that changing any time soon.

Twice in my life I'd been hit with what's referred to as a Major Depressive Disorder. Basically... clinically depressed. Namely... characterized by a pervasive and persistent low mood that is accompanied by low self-esteem and by a loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities.

Being adopted (twice) added to the sense of 'not measuring up'... of being 'inadequate.' It is (and has been) a life-long challenge of mine.

Wasn't that long ago that I was fortunate in having a close friend who just 'happened along' when I needed someone. He begged me to check myself in to a crisis unit... and that is exactly what I did. For 13 days I was an in-patient at a local hospital.

Why?

I am in constant physical pain. Not a little ache here and there. Pain at the point where you don't have the energy to get out of bed. That kind of pain. Add to the fact I hadn't been sleeping and... well.

I'm now under the care of a pain specialist, and have my CPAP back... so pain is being 'managed' (and that's really all I can expect), and... I'm sleeping. These two 'small' things have made the difference in my world. Things don't seem unbearable/hopeless any more.

If you know of someone who suffers (in silence or otherwise) reach out to them. Let them know they are not along.

If you feel as if you are at your wits end... if you feel lost, hopeless... alone... suicide is NOT the answer. It's not any answer. Make a call to a family member, a friend... a crisis line in your area... just don't think that it'll all be ok when you're dead.

It's never ok.

I'll leave you with these...

Killing oneself is, anyway, a misnomer. We don't kill ourselves. We are simply defeated by the long, hard struggle to stay alive. When somebody dies after a long illness, people are apt to say, with a note of approval, "He fought so hard." And they are inclined to think, about a suicide, that no fight was involved, that somebody simply gave up. This is quite wrong. ― Sally Brampton, Shoot The Damn Dog: A Memoir Of Depression

Hide in your shell cos the world is out to bleed you for a ride
What will you gain making your life a little longer?
Heaven or Hell, was the journey cold that gave your eyes of steel?
Shelter behind painting your mind and playing joker
Hide in Your Shell - Supertramp

Read More...

4:03am...

Gene Wilder Wisdom

After deciding that I was no longer going to waste my time attempting to fall asleep and pull my ass out of bed... I took a 3-block hike on Queen to the local 24/7 Convenience Store. Sam's maybe? At any rate... a walk along Queen at 04:00 always leads to some new observation. Characters abound Queen and Roncy at this hour.

I greeted each with a hearty "'morning."

And in return I got a strong "Good Morning" (on the way to the store) and a slurred Top o' the day to ya (on the way back.)

As on my way ba-ack... I saw, there in the distance... the Golden Arch's of Mickey Dee's.

How could I not? Even after having breakfaster/dinner the call of the Sausage McMuffin (no egg) (x2) and hash-browns (x2) with a medium 2x milk / 3x sugar, stirred please... was one I could not ignore.

And so in I strode (at the above time) and was greeted again with the night-life that is Queen and Roncy.

It is, after-all, the first time I've lived anywhere East of the Humber.
So almost each day there is a sense of new-ness about the area for me.
Well duh...
My Mickey Dee breakfast is just that, my preferred choice of morning intake.

I am though, generally... left alone.

More so at this hour, but, ya... it's comforting (finally) to be at peace with who I am.

I am Me... after-all.
So no, I did not bring my newest staff (perfectly balanced though it is.

Finish my 1st breakfast of the day, walk home (carry delicious coffee), get home, finish off d00b from earlier, have smoke (gaaaa) and finish delicious coffee.

Nap time?

Ya... ri-ight... Read More...

Smoking... (Part 364)

The Evil Tobacco

For a change... I bought coffee instead of tea.

Instant coffee mind you... but coffee nonetheless.

As a life long drinker of Red Rose Orange Pekoe, for me buying coffee was not an easy decision.
Tea needs to be in a porcelain or glass mug, and not a styrofoam or paper cup. This won't happen when you're out of the house. So I have coffee... Mickey Dee's over Timmy's... Timothy's over Mickey Dee's. Fortunately... all three are within walking distance of home.

Sooo... I'm sitting here, having finished a bagel (with sliced cheese), having my coffee, and smoking what is my one of my last cigarettes.
My 'plan' is to take to The Boardwalk this afternoon, burn this 1/2 d00b, and enjoy what I want to be my LAST cigarette.

Should the rain hold off, of course.

Having spent nearly a year in the wilds of Northern Alberta I can say that I was absolutely looking forward to a Toronto summer.

Hasn't happened yet.
One can 'hope', right?

Since the age of 13, smoking has always held a challenge for me. See, I differentiate between the act of smoking and 'smoking' itself. I can enjoy a cigarette, but I do not like smoking.

That's right, there is a difference.

You see it now, don't you?
You're welcome.

Over the years I have successfully quit. Though I'd started again... I have to admit that I wasn't entirely 'successful'... While I've always viewed stopping/quitting smoking as a relatively simple endeavour (notice I said simple... not easy), the challenge has been in not starting again.

There are just so many occasions where a cigarette compliments an event.
A good dinner...
Fine glass if wine...

Bacon.

A fine woman.
...
*cough*
:l

A great d00b and a double Wisers.

You get the idea.

And that is where I'm 'at' today.
...
The longest I've gone without a cigarette is a little over two years.
I was in my early 30's at the time.
It was shortly after my divorce.
I'd also stopped for 14 months in my mid-40's.
Course, I also decided I wasn't going to exercise, but that I'd eat my way to health instead.

That didn't exactly work out all too well.

:l

I said I'd wanted to finally eradicate this menace once and for all by the time I hit the age of 50.
I'm now a little past 51.

That too hasn't exactly worked out either.

BUT THIS TIME!!!

This time will be different.
Be gone with you evil tobacco!

Be gone with you!

Leave the d00bs though eh.

And the bacon... and the Wisers... well, you get the idea here too.

I want to succeed.

Finally.

All I can ask is that you wish me well.

As I wish you. Read More...

Well, well, well...

Yes, it's been a while.

With the arrival of spring, I found myself in my new home. But a two minute walk from Sunnyside Beach/Boardwalk... and I've been taking advantage of that on a daily basis.

Sunnyside looking West

Sunnyside looking East

Though the pain is still there each minute of every day... there is 'hope' (there's that word) on the horizon. I've been seeing a doc at a local pain clinic... it's simply a matter of getting the right mix of pain meds. That'll get me through the first few months of exercise, and I can start putting my body back together again.

Stretch... stretch and more stretching!!!

I also have some incredible family news, but... cannot 'share' it as yet.

Stay tuned!

I'll leave you with a little ditty I know...



Enjoy the rest of summer. Read More...

The end of an era...

I awoke this morning to news that The Owl's Nest had burned to the ground.

Apparently overnight, and it is suspected that faulty wiring is the cause.

***Please see below for an update***

July 15, 2011

The loss to the community of Pubnico cannot be quantified. I myself had the 'pleasure' of visiting... uh... on a number of occasions. My first night in Nova Scotia was my introduction to what is known as Richard Owl's. I was introduced to and embraced Hold 'Em. It was my first real bootleggers. It was where I made some life-long friends.

It is a place that I will visit again (not simply because my son is a commercial fisherman there, and has a family of his own now), but because it is a place where I felt like it was home. I was adopted as an infant, my origins are Acadian, and my 2yr stay in 2011-2013 was my first real exposure to the French culture. (I don't/won't include my Army experience in Cornwallis... for obvious reasons.)

Pubnico is located in what was called, before the Expulsion, CAPE SABLE, which, even at the beginning, around 1614, had as its center what is now Port La Tour, called then Port Lomeron, David Lomeron having here a trading post, dealing with fur and fish. Charles de Biencourt, who was at the head of the small group of Frenchmen of what was then Acadia, comprising the south-western part of the peninsula, died around 1624. In 1631. Louis XIII named as Governor of Acadia Charles de La Tour, who had been a faithful companion of Charles de Biencourt. It is then that the name of Port Lomeron was changed to the name of Port La Tour. He was named Governor of Acadia again in 1651, while in France, from where he came back, bringing with him Philippe Mius d'Entremont, who was to be his Major. It is Philippe Mius d'Entremont who was to be the founder of Pubnico.

Pubnico comprises three different sections. There are West Pubnico, whose people are almost all French speaking, Pubnico proper, better known as Pubnico Head, whose people are mostly all English speaking, and East Pubnico, the part where is believed to have been located the barony, being occupied by English speaking people, and the rest, up to the Shelburne county line, which is occupied mostly by French speaking people.

The first Acadians who came from the surrounding communities to settle in Pubnico were the Surettes. They were followed by the LeBlancs. Today, the surnames in Pubnico are very numerous, comprising a certain number of anglophones. But it is still the d'Entremont family which is the most numerous, followed by the Amirault and d'Eon families.

According to the census of 1981, there were in West Pubnico 1877 people; in Pubnico (Head) 173 people, and in East Pubnico 140 people in the anglophone section and 423 people in the francophone section.
I will miss the place.

I will miss most those friends that I made there.

Never would've thought to find these two on Google.

Some of those from Owl's

It's hard for me to imagine Pubnico without Richard Owl's. It is such a small community and his Nest has been around so long. It's more than a simple bootlegger. It's a hub for the community. 'Church' occurs there Sunday mornings (you have to be there to believe it), poker happens most nights, music, laughter and general silliness occur on a nightly basis.

1877 people... and I'm sure I met most of them. Either walking along HWY 335, or working at the Shipyard, at the library or at T-Paul's (the local Petro-Can, owned by a descendant of one of the founders of Pubnico.)

Trying to 'explain' The Head to the uninitiated is near impossible. I often refer to Owen & Gerry singing If I Caught a Million Lobster, or Rock & Roll Pubnico (in the thickest of French accents.)

I tell people that there are three things that happen in Pubnico... fishing, fighting and f**king.

And they do all three well.

Richard and I

Irish Richard

It is uniquely Canadian, and I will never find another place like it.

Nor will I ever come across someone as unique as Richard 'Owl'. He is a one of a kind man.

Richard 'Owl' LeBlanc
But this... this is what has come of The Nest.

2014-04-13

2014-04-13

2014-04-13

2014-04-13

As I said to my kids today, Pubnico will never be the same, their world has changed forever.

Here though, here are some pics of The Nest in full swing...

The Gangs...

all here.

Some have spoken/posted about rebuilding.

Thought the sentiment is nice, I simply don't see it happening. It's 2014. You can't simply throw a couple of boards together anymore. There is a building code, a fire code... not the least of which is good luck getting a building permit.

No, the county and the police have let this slide for too long, and see this as an opportunity to reign in the 'silliness'.

And that, people, is a shame.

No more poker, no more late night 'drop buys', no more pool/darts and pissing on the porch... no more walking in with a dead rabbit that has been trapped, dead deers on the hood of your truck, fires in the field (right Joey?), and sadly... no more Nest.

I'd like to be proven wrong... but I don't think I will.

The cantankerous, curmudgeonly Big Man will carry on. Of that I am sure. But I am just as sure that he too, is suffering today.

I leave you with this bit of nonsense from the Big Man himself...

Richard Owl
Thanks for the memories...

UPDATE Please visit here, a gofundme.com page set up to help Richard. Read More...

Have we gone too far... or not far enough?

Stand Alone.

In today's National Post, Rex Murphy writes an op-ed piece on how universities are failing our young, failing society really.

He goes on to suggest that universities have set up intellectual quarantines lest the immature and frightened be made uncomfortable or to feel unwelcome.

He questions whether universities are in fact schools or daycares.

And finishes off his paragraph with Giving into such adolescent whimpering is despicable; giving in to in on a university campus is unforgivable.

I find it hard to disagree with him.

The comments on the Post's Facebook page have fallen into name calling and accusations of Big Oil influencing Murphy.

I kid thee not.

Have we, as a people, really forgotten what it means to educate? What it means to disagree? Have we lost all respect for those simply because someone may have a different opinion that us?

How about this... are we now falling over backwards to avoid disagreement?
Or what about this... are we afraid of being labelled intolerant? Afraid of being called Islamaphobic?

That's right, the article is about how Brandeis University in Massachusetts had first offered an honourary degree to a world renown "advocate for women’s rights under Islam", Ayaan Hirsi Ali (full name: Ayaan Hirsi Magan Isse Guleid Ali Wai’ays Muhammad Ali Umar Osman Mahamud), then rescinded it after an outcry from the Council on American–Islamic Relations, a controversial organization that deals with Islamic advocacy issues.

Ms. Ali is a Somali-born American (formerly Dutch) women's rights and atheist activist, writer and politician who is known for her views critical of female genital mutilation and Islam.

"Hirsi Ali is the remarkable woman whose life story she has told in three books (Infidel, The Caged Virgin and Nomad). Born among the poorest of the poor in Somalia, genitally mutilated at the age of five, a refugee as a young woman fleeing an arranged marriage, she immigrated to the Netherlands and in but a few years, having learned the language, became a distinguished member of parliament."
In other words, this is a woman unafraid of those who would oppose her views on women's rights. Someone who deserves our support and admiration.

"Her friend Theo van Gogh, a locally famous filmmaker, made a short film (Submission) on Islam and women. Shortly after he was stabbed to death, murdered in a public street, and a note threatening Hirsi Ali was pinned — with a knife — to the dying man’s chest. It read in part: “Ayaan Hirsi Ali, you will break yourself to pieces on Islam.”"
You may remember that event, he was shot eight times by his killer, had his throat cut, almost decapitated with "a large knife, after which he stabbed the knife deep into Van Gogh's chest, reaching his spinal cord. He then attached a note to the body with a smaller knife. Van Gogh died on the spot. The two knives were left implanted. The note was addressed and contained a death threat to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was subsequently forced to go into hiding, threatened Western countries and Jews and also referred to the ideologies of the Egyptian organization Takfir wal-Hijra".

Yet still she refused to submit.

"In 2005, she was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She has also received several awards, including a free speech award from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the Swedish Liberal Party's Democracy Prize, and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship. In 2006 she published a memoir. The English translation in 2007 is titled Infidel. As of 2013 Hirsi Ali is a fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a member of The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center."

Someone with credentials... someone who knows what it means to live a life of inequality, a life of suppression.

But no, instead of 'standing up' to a little criticism the school of 'higher learning' caves.

All for one?

A few weeks back there someone made a remark that it was 'amazing' how we now have 2mm camera's on mosquito's. He was very serious, and despite my politely disagreeing with him, and pointing out that in fact, it was the manufactured bug itself that was being used by governments, he make 'upset' and was "offended." Yup, he was offended that I disagreed with him.

At that point I simply smiled at him and put my head back into the book I was reading, I knew there was no point. Didn't stop him though, nope. I was 'this and that', 'ignorant and unclean'(?). and on it went.

For weeks.
...
:l

And this typifies what our society has indeed come to. We shut-up lest we 'offend' someone. I miss the time of healthy debate, sitting around a kitchen table (remember those parties?) and yakking for hours on end, about anything and everything.

No more, now we must conform, hold the same ideas and ideals, the same goals... all for one and all for one. Stand up for what you believe in at your own risk.

Read the article, click those links. Educate yourself, your children (above all educate your children) to question everything and everyone.

Before it's too late... Read More...

Bacon at the AGO

Yesterday was the members preview at the AGO for the BaconMoore exhibit.

It also happened to be the day that Ali and I decided to go to the AGO.

Yes indeed, the day we go to the AGO is the day that bacon is prevalent. How fitting is that?

"Although they were neither friends nor collaborators, painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992) and sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986) were contemporaries who shared an obsession with expressing themes of suffering, struggle and survival in relation to the human body. Both artists survived the Second World War and were subsequently haunted by the conflict, which they represented through manifestations of the body in various states of contortion. Drawing on the artists’ own personal experiences during the London Blitz, the exhibition examines how confinement and angst fostered their extraordinary creativity and unique visions."

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon (28 October 1909 – 28 April 1992) was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. His painterly but abstracted figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds. Bacon began painting during his early 20s and worked only sporadically until his mid-30s. Unsure of his ability as a painter, he drifted and earned his living as an interior decorator and designer of furniture and rugs. Later, he admitted that his career was delayed because he had spent too long looking for a subject that would sustain his interest. His breakthrough came with the 1944 triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion which sealed his reputation as a uniquely bleak chronicler of the human condition.

He often said in interviews that he saw images "in series", and his artistic output typically focused on a single subject or format for sustained periods. His output can be crudely drawn as consisting of sequences or variations on a single motif; beginning with the 1940s male heads isolated in rooms, the early 1950s screaming popes, and mid to late 1950s animals and lone figures suspended in geometric structures. These were followed by his early 1960s modern variations of the crucifixion in the triptych format. From the mid-1960s to early 1970s, Bacon mainly produced strikingly compassionate portraits of friends, either as single or triptych panels. Following the 1971 suicide of his lover George Dyer, his art became more personal, inward looking and preoccupied with themes and motifs of death. The climax of this period came with his 1982 "Study for Self-Portrait", and his late masterpiece Study for a Self Portrait -Triptych, 1985-86. Despite his bleak existentialist outlook, solidified in the public mind through his articulate and vivid set of interviews with David Sylvester, Bacon in person was a bon vivant and notably and unapologetically gay. A prolific artist, he nonetheless spent many of the evenings of his middle age eating, drinking and gambling in London's Soho with friends such as Lucian Freud, John Deakin, Muriel Belcher, Henrietta Moraes, Daniel Farson and Jeffrey Bernard. After Dyer's suicide he largely distanced himself from this circle, and while his social life was still active and his passion for gambling continued, he settled into a platonic relationship with his eventual heir, John Edwards.

Head I

Crucifixion (1933)

Head VI

During his lifetime, Bacon was equally reviled and acclaimed. Margaret Thatcher described him as "that man who paints those dreadful pictures", and he was the subject of two Tate retrospectives and a major showing in 1971 at the Grand Palais in Paris. Since his death, his reputation and market value has steadily grown. In the late 1990s a number of major works previously assumed to have been destroyed, including popes from the early 1950s and portraits from the 1960s, surfaced on the art market and set record prices at auction. On 12 November 2013 his painting Three Studies of Lucian Freud set the record as the most expensive piece of art ever auctioned, selling for $142,405,000.

Henry Moore

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA RBS (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art.

His forms are usually abstractions of the human figure, typically depicting mother-and-child or reclining figures. Moore's works are usually suggestive of the female body, apart from a phase in the 1950s when he sculpted family groups. His forms are generally pierced or contain hollow spaces. Many interpreters liken the undulating form of his reclining figures to the landscape and hills of his birthplace, Yorkshire.

Moore was born in Castleford, the son of a coal miner. He became well-known through his carved marble and larger-scale abstract cast bronze sculptures, and was instrumental in introducing a particular form of modernism to the United Kingdom. His ability in later life to fulfill large-scale commissions made him exceptionally wealthy. Yet he lived frugally and most of the money he earned went towards endowing the Henry Moore Foundation, which continues to support education and promotion of the arts.

Reclining Connected Forms

And yes, the above sculpture should look familiar to you as there is another sitting in front of our City Hall.

"Henry Moore has always been an important artist for the city of Toronto. In 1958, Finnish architect Viljo Revell won an international competition to design Toronto's City Hall. Revell admired the work of Moore and recommended that the city purchase one of his bronze sculptures for the new building. A controversy over cost erupted, and the sculpture, The Archer, became the most talked about work of art in the history of the city."
I know that Ali would agree with me when I say that the exhibit will not be forgotten. It was meant to disturb, and that it did.
I am glad that I had the opportunity to experience it with my daughter. Read More...

mmm... bacon.

Anyone know what this is?

Or what it represents?

Clearly it is a plate... a clean plate at that.

But what was on it is the topic of this post.

What was on it was 6 strips of bacon, 3 eggs sunny side up, and 2 pieces of toast with butter.

Why post a picture of a clean plate then...

Well it's really not about the plate, is it? It is about the bacon... as the title says.

Here are some interesting bacon statistics;
What these clearly show is that bacon is good for you.
I'm really not saying anything that is new.
Bacon is not to be admired... adored... worshipped... or fondled.

...

Well... maybe worshipped.
Okay... definitely worshipped!

:l

Bacon is meant to be eaten.

Plain and simple.

So get it into ya!
The day just isn't that same without it. Read More...

It was 25yrs ago today...

No, this post isn't about Sgt. Pepper.

This post is about the birth of the World Wide Web.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of it's 'birth.' It has seen some changes over the years, but before I get there lets take a at The Man known as 'TimBL.'

Anyone know who this is?

TimBL

Though it was Al Gore who famously laid claim to having 'invented' the internet, it was actually "Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA, DFBCS (born 8 June 1955), also known as "TimBL", a British computer scientist. He made a proposal for an information management system in March 1989, and he implemented the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the Internet sometime around mid November."

I wonder if when he was coding what was then known as The Project he had any idea just how far reaching it's legacy would become. A look at the growth of what is (in some 'scenes') known as teh 'net, show's just how far it's come in what is a relatively short amount of time.

Source: VeriSign 2010

Here and here a couple of fantastic pages containing a number of stats and information on the first 25yrs.

And now... some random info;

* There are approximately 1,319,872,109 people on the Internet
* 78% of U.S. internet users are on Broadband
* It took the radio 38 years, the television 13 years, and the World Wide Web 4 years to reach 50 million users
* 80% of all emails sent are spam
* Domain names are being registered at a rate of more than one million names every month
* 80% of all pictures on the internet are of naked women
* In 2010 1 of every 8 married couples in the U.S. met online. Source
* 35.6% of internet users are Asian
* 1 billion users around the globe are surfing the Internet every month
* It is estimated that 18 countries still don’t have an Internet connection

Just take a look at what Google has to say about statistics and how they relate to teh 'net.

And now, let's take a look at the history and what was known as The Project... the first web page.

Personally, I started coding at age 15. My first job out of school (well, technically I hadn't graduated as yet) was running the payroll computer for Jetpower Credit Union, in Malton at the time. I was using email for work in the '80s. I built my first system in 1995, and to this day I am happily a tech nerd.
Only now I can make money at it.
:l
I simply cannot image a world that is not connected.

To that end, it's time I speak about what is (and will continue to) have a profound affect on teh 'net. And that is the erosion of privacy. Edward Snowden first brought Prism out of the shadows June 5, 2013. And that is simply the beginning. For years I'd been 'going on about' each and every digital phone call being tapped. For years I'd been going on about how easy it was to grab the signal from/to the satellites... and you thought me paranoid. Well, I've also always said paranoia comes from experience.

Finally... want to get involved?
Sign up at W3C, which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. You'll find news, links to W3C technologies, help and ways to get involved. "Public participation is welcome."

Enjoy today, and celebrate what is now a connected world!

Greg Read More...

Light 'em up

The Huffington Post has an interesting article here on the topic of marijuana use by those over the age of 50.

Apparently marijuana relieves pain, and those over 50 experience pain.

Who'da thought that?

"The most recent data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration show that marijuana use has increased among individuals over the age of 50 in the past decade. In 2012, 8 percent of those aged 50-54 said they’d used marijuana in the past year, nearly double the percentage from 2002. Users aged 55-59 more than quadrupled, from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 7.4 percent in 2012. Among people 60-64, use nearly doubled, from 2.4 percent to 4.4 percent in the same period. The data were collected for the agency’s annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which polled more than 68,000 Americans over age 12 in 2012."

Of course, how marijuana usage in the movies is portrayed somewhat differently, isn't it? For example, marijuana.com has a page entitled the Top Ten Stoner Characters in movies.

With the currently pro-marijuana climate in the states growing, and world-wide, governments are decriminalizing pot completely, and seeing usage and crime decline, it's only a matter of time before the wonder drug is available to all.

Heck, it wasn't that long ago it could be had over the counter at your local pharmacy.

In my mind though, it won't happen in the Great White North until such time as governments can figure out a way to effectively tax it. Talk about paying off the debt!

And just in case you're confused...

Light 'em if you got 'em. Read More...

As time goes by...

As Facebook is won't to do... I recently hooked up with a high school buddy.
During the mid-late seventy's, there was Larry, Bryan and I, or Paul (Billy) and I.
If something was going on, we were there.
Be it concerts, party's, jamming or just chilling... it was Paul and I in the centre of it all.
Best buds we were.
And so, below are pics of that glorious time, and what happens after 35yrs.
Enjoy.

Paul and I @ BCI, circa 1978/79

Paul and I 2014

And, of course... one of the songs we played.
A lot.
:l

Read More...

The finer sex

Alicia being real...

Today the world over celebrates International Women's Day 2014. ... I say the world over but that's really not the case, is it?

On this day women will not only enjoy time with their family's, their lovers... or enjoy a good book, they will also suffer, be raped, killed and brutalized.

I lost my Mom in 2010... I miss her every day.

The picture to the right is of my (soon to be) 22yr old daughter, Alicia Maree. Course, she has a little of me in her... her humour is evident. I asked for a pic of her for this post... else I'd post a duck-face one.

She sent me this.

I think it fitting.

The following is taken from the Wikipedia article.

"International Women's Day, also called International Working Women's Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political, and social achievements. Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily in Europe, including Russia. In some regions, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. In other regions, however, the political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner. This is a day which some people celebrate by wearing purple ribbons."
Some sobering statistics
* 1.3 women (ages 18 and over) in the United States are forcibly raped each minute. That translates to 78 per hour, 1,871 per day, or 683,000 per year. * 60% of the women who reported being raped were under 18 years old * 29% were less than 11 years old * 32% were between 11 and 17 * 22% were between 18 and 24 * 7% were between 25 and 29 * 6% were older than 29

Number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: 6,614:

Number of women, in the same period, killed as the result of domestic violence in the US: 11,766

Number of people per minute who experience intimate partner violence in the U.S.: 24

Number of workplace violence incidents in the U.S. annually that are the result of current or past intimate partner assaults: 18,700

Number of women in the U.S. who report intimate partner violence: 1 in 4

Number of men in the U.S. who report intimate partner violence: 1 in 7*

Number of women who will experience partner violence worldwide: 1 in 3

Order of causes of death for European women ages 16-44: domestic violence, cancer, traffic accidents

Increase in likelihood that a woman will die a violent death if a gun in present in the home: 270 percent

Number of women killed by spouses who were shot by guns kept by men in the home in France and South Africa: 1 in 3

Percentage of the 900 million small arms that are kept in the home, worldwide: 75

Country in which 943 women were killed in honor killings in 2011: Pakistan

City in which man "butchered" his wife in front of their six children in 2012: Berlin

States in which man decapitated his wife with a chainsaw in 2010 and another man did the same, respectively: Texas and New York

Percentages of people killed in the U.S. by an intimate partner: 30 percent of women, 5.3 percent of men.

Number of gay and bisexual men who experience domestic violence in the U.S.: 2 in 5 (similar to heterosexual women)

Percentage of the 31 Senate votes cast against the Violence Against Women Act that came from older, white, male Republicans: 95.8

Percentage of the 31 Senate votes cast against the Violence Against Women Act that came from a younger, male Republicans, at least one of whom sits on the Science Committee but is unable to say how old the Earth is: 4.2

Number of legal, medical, professional, faith-based and advocacy groups that signed a letter protesting the stripped-down VAWA: 300

First year that the Republican-led House of Representatives eroded VAWA of provisions designed to increase protections for Native Americans, immigrant women, members of the LGTBQ community and, yes, men: 2012

Estimated number of children, worldwide, exposed to domestic violence everyday: 10,000,000

Worldwide, likelihood that a man who grew up in a household with domestic violence grows up to be an abuser: 3 to 4 times more likely than if he hadn't.

Chance that a girl of high school age in the U.S. experiences violence in a dating relationship: 1 in 3

Percentage of teen rape and abuse victims who report their assailant as an intimate: 76

Percentage of U.S. cities citing domestic abuse as the primary cause of homelessness: 50

Percentage of homeless women reporting domestic abuse: 63

Percentage of homeless women with children reporting domestic abuse: 92

Percentage of women with disabilities who report violence: 40

Annual cost of domestic violence in the U.S. related to health care: $5.8 billion

Annual cost of domestic violence in the U.S. related to emergency care plus legal costs, police work, lost productivity: 37 billion dollars

Annual number of jobs lost in the U.S. as a result of intimate partner violence: 32,000

Percentage change between 1980 and 2008 of women and men killed by intimate partners in the U.S.: (w) 43 percent to 45 percent; (m) 10 percent to 5 percent

Average cost of emergency care for domestic abuse related incidents for women and men according to the CDC: $948.00 for women, $387 for men

Increase in portrayals of violence against girls and women on network TV during a five year period ending in 2009: 120 percent

The number one cause of death for African American women ages 15-34 according to the American Bar Association: homicide at the hands of a partner

Chance that a lesbian** in the U.S. will experience domestic (not necessarily intimate partner) violence: 50 percent

Chances that a gay man experiences domestic violence: 2 out of 5*

Ratio of women shot and killed by a husband or intimate partner compared to the total number of murders of men by strangers using any time of weapon, from 2002 homicide figures: 3X

Number of people who will be stalked in their lifetimes: 1 in 45 men and 1 in 12 women (broken out: 17 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women; 8.2 percent of white women, 6.5 pecent of African American women, and 4.5 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander women)

Percentage of stalkers identified as known to victims: 90.3

Percentage of abused women in the U.S. who report being strangled by a spouse in the past year: 33 to 47.3 (this abuse often leaves no physical signs)

According to one study, percentage of domestic abuse victims who are tried to leave after less severe violent and nonviolent instances of abuse: 66 versus less than 25

Average number of times an abuser hits his spouse before she makes a police report: 35

No. 1 and No. 2 causes of women's deaths during pregnancy in the U.S.: Domestic homicide and suicide, often tied to abuse

Number of women killed by spouses who were shot by guns kept by men in the home in the United States: 2 in 3

Percentage of rape and sexual assault victims under the age of 18 who are raped by a family member: 34

Number of women killed everyday in the U.S. by a spouse: 3+

The primary reason cited by right-wing conservatives for objecting to the Violence Against Women Act: To protect the family.

Percentage reduction in reports of violence after men and women in South Africa went through an educational training program on health, domestic violence and gender norms: 55

Number of members of Congress who have gone through an educational training program on health, economics, violence, and gender norms: 0

And those are just statistics from the U.S.
I can't imagine the numbers for the entire world.
It's clear we have a lot of work to do.
Do your part!
Start on this very day... celebrating the finer sex.

Greg Read More...

Desiderata

I'd heard this today, just the first stanza and was taken aback. It was written by Max Ehrmann, an American writer, poet, and attorney.

I share it with you now...

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. 

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. Read More...