Turns out that Biden did win the 2020 US Election

I know I haven't posted anything here in a long time...no real reason except that my life sort of went off the rails a long time ago and it's been a long road back. But I continue and today I decided that maybe I'd start writing about things in my life and the world and whatever. As my tag line for this original blog suggests... 

So when I opened this copy of Blogger (remember that) to put up a new post (my first since 2015) I found that back in 2023, I had intended to resurrect this blog. Seems ironic that this is what was going on then as I try to again start adding my thoughts on today's news... I wonder what the AI would tell me if I asked it today about the same election?

So, stay tuned. I hope to adding more thoughts here in the days ahead...but who knows. I thought that 10 years ago too...

               

....(Written but not published on Dec 14, 2023)...

Today, I saw that someone had asked OpenAI whether Biden had won the 2020 election in the US. Turns out, he did!

Biden won 2020 Election

 

Wikileaks - The US strategy to create a new global legal and economic system: TPP, TTIP, TISA

In recent days, we've been hearing a lot about the TPP, and it's potential for problems for democracy. But I hadn't realized just how far-ranging and frightening the full impact of these "trade" deals really are. I had only the barest understanding that the TPP was part of a three-pronged effort by the US to break free of the World Trade Organization structure.

If you want to start to learn more, this video from WikiLeaks (which has brought us much of the secret negotiations of the TPP) is informative.

How to make a book

For those of us who still have a love affair with old books (even if most of the ones I buy now are via my Kindle) this is a wonderful video. I don't know anything about it's origins, but it's available via a Facebook page version, without any music. And it was posted to YouTube, with some music added. Take your pick.

I've got a lot of those old, leather-covered books in my collection, but I never really thought about what goes into putting them together. It's fascinating to watch a craftsman put it all together.

You can see the original post on Facebook (sans music) via the link below.

And I've embedded the YouTube version (to which someone added music) below.

Scott Rosenburg reflects on the "web"

Scott Rosenberg is a web veteran and a long-time blogger - heck, he really did write the book about it. In this essay, he covers a lot of ground talking about the act of creation - and how the web has profoundly affected our relation to works of art. Here's the opening...

Lou Reed cast a stony stare over a hotel ballroom packed with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and geeks. It was November 8, 2006, the peak of the last Web bubble — remember? the littler one? the one between the monster bubble that ended in a big mess in 2000 and the bubble we’re in now that will end in another big mess one of these days? 

That one, right: the bubble we called “Web 2.0.” That was also the name of the conference that Lou Reed was very visibly getting pissed off at — because, as he stood there and played his guitar and sang his songs, the geeks and VCs and founders weren’t listening. They were talking. 

Reed was not known for suffering fools or turning the other cheek; he was famously prickly. (One live track from 1978 captures a rant he directed from the stage at a critic: “What does Robert Christgau do in bed? I mean, is he a toe fucker?”) So maybe the whole idea of having him serve as the after-dinner entertainment for a Web-industry conference hadn’t been so bright. But here we were! 

Reed stopped playing. An AOL logo haloed his leathery face. While one of his two accompanying bassists vamped, he began barking at the crowd. 

“You got 20 minutes. You wanna talk through it, you can talk through it. Or I can turn the sound up and hurt you.”

And it just keeps on going. It's a terrific long read. I highly recommend it.
Doing is knowing: "Sweet Jane" and the Web

You should also check out his blog at Wordyard.com. 

Roger Angell talks about being an old man

When a story starts like this, you just know you're going to like it:

Check me out. The top two knuckles of my left hand look as if I’d been worked over by the K.G.B. No, it’s more as if I’d been a catcher for the Hall of Fame pitcher Candy Cummings, the inventor of the curveball, who retired from the game in 1877. To put this another way, if I pointed that hand at you like a pistol and fired at your nose, the bullet would nail you in the left knee. Arthritis.

The New Yorker's Roger Angell weaves a wonderful tale about reaching 93 years old. Poignant, insightful and hilarious.

Read it for yourself. 

Kathryn Calder at TEDxVictoria 2013

I was in the audience when Kathryn performed at TEDx Victoria last fall.  She has a great story to tell and is a talented musician. She's also a good friend of Victoria Hospice. Listen to her story and enjoy the music. And watch for the movie coming about her mother's struggle with ALS.

How to download video's in Safari 6

In case you are ever trying to download a YouTube clip for a presentation or something like that, you might want to keep this bit of advice around. This used to be a lot easier with older versions of Safari. But I just did it for a presentation and this method worked for me.

marqqq

Re: how to download videos in safari 6.0

Dec 26, 2013 5:22 AM (in response to arieldg)

I found the following method to work for various web sites and is pretty similar to those mentioned above. This is using Safari Version 7.0.1 (9537.73.11).

1. Safari->Preferences->Advanced, ensure Show Develop menu in menu bar is checked.

2. Open the web page that contains the movie you want to save locally and start it playing.

3. Develop->Show Page Resources

4. Click on the page showing the movie and refresh it, you should see the Web Inspector window in the background also refresh.

5. Click on the Web Inspector window. There will now be an “Other” folder.

6. Open the “Other” folder and there will be one or more URLs that include the movie field extension somewhere within. e.g. “.mp4”,”.flv” etc..

7. Click in the link you think represents the movie.

8. The right panel of the web inspector will show the “Full URL”.

9. Select it from “http” to the end and copy.

10. Open a new browser window and pass into the URL. The movie should start playing there.

11. You should be able to right click on this movie and select “Download As…”

12. Once it starts to download (you can see progress in the download button), you can close the other windows.

You would need to check the TOS of the web site you are saving the downloaded movie from to ensure that you are not in someway violating the agreement you made to use the site.

To This Day

"To This Day" is a video which was released in early 2013. It is a remarkable animation of a spoken word poem written and performed by Shane Koyczan. It was launched as part of an anti-bullying campaign. It was remarkable then and it's still remarkable. So I thought it might be a good idea to post it again, for those who hadn't come across it before, and again, for those who have.

It's still good no matter how many times you see it.

To This Day from To This Day on Vimeo.

Rethinking the Bucket List: Kathleen Taylor at TEDx TampaBay

I like to tell people that I work at Hospice because wonderful things happen there every day. Hard as that might be for some people to accept, it's the truth.

My sister-in-law, Trish, who is a real TED fan, came across this wonderful TED Talk from Tampa, by Kathleen Taylor. I'm glad Trish sent it along because its all about the stories that we hear at Hospice every day. And it confirms that wonderful things happen.

Rethinking the Bucket List: Kathleen Taylor at TEDx TampaBay (The Future of Stories) - YouTube: ""

(Via @pjmcadie.)

What a picture - from Quora

Read Quote of Kent Miller's answer to Photography: What is the most amazing photo you have ever taken? on Quora