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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Things are happening.....



The old Much Music logo from years back!


All sorts of stuff on the go. Bell Media has acknowledged receipt of our pitch so it looks like they are going to look at the shows after the New Year. I caution everyone that this means nothing right now other than they have the material and are going to evaluative as per procedure. Remember that Mark Burnett and the Hearst family’s One Three Media actually had their developmental people look at our show and then it got shelved as MGM was buying them out. They became United Artists Media Group/MGM and we never got the official “heave ho” from them so technically United Artists could still be approached with an evaluation still in process, so another broadcaster in the wings. Remember I play the numbers game. But usually you never get an acknowledgement and have to knock on their doors a few months in to see if they even got the stuff, so a big congrats to Bell Media/CTV/Much for being true professionals! Being open to material like ours is always encouraging.....





In other news I will print out all the royalties and bonus statements and have Sam sign off on those and get the rest of the crew to sign the Christmas cards and then get them delivered to our stable of artists. This is more involved than you think. When we put out the notice to inform us of changes of address and such – well – I’m not whistling Dixie about that. Artists like to move around and finding them and updating contact information is a must, especially now that anything could happen with the series.....


So that is the sit-rep as of now. A short one today as I have to get on with the payroll. Never thought I would have a payroll of up to 50 personnel. Yup, total it all up and it’s about 50; it is into the hundreds if you add IAIJ, wow.....




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZWjp7VteAk&feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22HbYobctxM&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 10:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This update is so late it may as well have been next day’s update.....



Shane


That’s what happens when you get up early because you have to run around town having your gang signing Christmas cards and royalty statements one week before Christmas. So it started with me meeting Shane early and getting his John Hancock on the cards and then I had to get Laura to sign the cards, this being the first time for her. Then it was all the way over to the other side of town to Samantha. Sam signs the royalty statements and I sign the cheques. Then she signs the Christmas cards and so on. In the photo below check out the amount of Christmas cards! There is a stack of signed ones beside her and still the remaining stack on the other side! A true trooper she checked them all to make sure nobody got a card with insufficient signatures and well wishes.




Sam signing the Christmas cards!



Sam signing the royalty statements!


Now, I only got the statements done on Friday and so we had to do this on the weekend at their place, but whatever. Sometimes these things are still business meetings and sometimes you just get swept into their life spheres. Like at Sam’s, she has this dog and a cat. The dog just sniffed me out a bit but I had been there before and so he just parked it on a chair and looked around bored. But Sam had a new kitten, and this thing was starting to teeth. Just too funny! This cat is small and playful as all kittens are but teething so it wanted to snack on my new Nike golf shirt – no..... Then my new parka – no..... Then on my index finger – no..... Finally it started chewing on the elastic strap for this cheap plastic portfolio case that held the cards and statements, and so we left her to that. One playful cat and when she was settled down it was all good and you just sit there stroking her head. But in the cat photo you got that cat biting into Sam’s finger before the real expression happens, so I guess I just had to time it better.....





So with everyone done I went to the mall for some exercise and then home where I fell asleep after eating some chicken. So I’m sleeping away in the day and I get woken up by Shane because he ran into Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society/Ozzy Osborne. He always does this because his radar is up while I probably would pass the guy on the street and be none the wiser. Anyway they hung out a bit so he was telling me about it. And then I finally got on this keyboard to update you guys. All I have to do now is start mailing out the money. This is way more involved than it ever was before! There is just too many people! But it is sort of done and for the first time in the week I can relax a bit. Just too intense a week, not that you can’t handle it, just more like you never have enough time. But it all got done. We got the Bell Media pitch off to them on Monday and all that. Got Twenty6Hundred set up for mastering before everyone goes on holidays next week.; and then rushed out the checks and pay stubs to our stable. So now I can relax, that is in-between falling asleep during the day. The next two weeks should be slow so I will really be able to sleep it all off.



Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 6:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok we now make up for that late update later.


Before I move on I have to say something about pets. I really notice how women have their pets trained as opposed to guys. With the gals the dogs and cats are always good natured and docile. With the guys all the pets act wild. So at Sam’s place the dog greets you with a few sniffs – and not even the more embarrassing ones either – and then quietly trots off to relax. While at the guys the dog is barking and jumping over you and gnawing at your hand – and that is a dog that likes you! Heaven forbid the animal has it in for you with a guy – but I digress......


So a couple of things I didn’t touch on before.


First is how much I am indebted to the music world. Without the music and musicians I would be nothing more than a toothless tiger. The newspaper, the documentaries even the book publishing were predominantly populated by people with some form of musical background. My major positive mandate for humanity is heavily based on a foundation in music. But again, music is important to most people in their lives so this should not be a surprise. So I am grateful for musicians and music. The bedrock of creativity here is from the music first. You notice this when you have to settle accounts and realize how many of your organization are musicians. The most active bank account is FOF Records. The most creativity and the most hassle is always the music. But I will admit that in the “hassle” department IAIJ is getting up there with journalist problems and all that. But reshaping the music for advocacy and TV/Movie/Documentary work shows that music has an important part in our culture that extends beyond the speakers or ear buds. That much becomes clear at this time of the year. Those stacks of Christmas cards are going to musicians almost exclusively. Who would have ever thought? And who would have ever thought this analytical and rational/logical philosopher that structures arguments in arithmetical statements would partner up with the music industry and try to reshape the world with it. Whoever wrote that script?


But that was the Fortress Experiment, and that is why I have more than a passing interest in what Bell has to say about our little series based on the music – but with its awe encompassing ramifications and advocacy. Really interested in this outcome. Another adventure!


What else?



My car along side a speeding train!


I got up early this morning and took the car for a car wash. This is January weather we have now and my precious Mustang was coated with salt from all that driving today. So it’s -12 outside and nobody is at the car wash. The reason why is that as you spray the car with soap and water it freezes immediately; so what is the point? Anyway my play was to keep spraying the water on the car before it gets a chance to freeze and keep it up until the time runs out. You do this in a circular fashion and when the time really starts to run out you just pour it on the door you have to get in and the windshield. As soon as it cuts off you jump into the car before the doors freeze shut and you wipe the windshield before the water freezes on it. Then you drive down the road slowly breaking open the window so you can get out again. That is a car wash in cold weather. It may snow on Monday but I hate letting a new car marinate in that mixture of salt, water and brine. So even if it is one day’s grace, I will take it! You also take it out later in the sun and touch up any chips before the salt gets to work on it. So you do get something for washing the thing in the end. Any other thoughts on the car as it approaches 6 months? Well apart from breaking in the car engine and that little race with the Carrera 4, I haven’t really floored it since; that’s like almost 5 months! It was never necessary. That should answer any questions about the value of buying a 5.0 V8. If I spent 20 grand more I would not have floored it in 5 months – so what was the point? That new 2018 5.0 just sits in the dealer lot with no interest at all. I was watching a review of the 1986 Ferrari Testarossa and the 0-60 time was 5.2 seconds – the same as my V6 Mustang? So I checked Car and Driver for consistency as they skew times for altitude and humidity. They got 5 seconds which is a messily 2/10 second faster than my car – Who on earth would have ever thought? The Ferrari was faster than my 5.0 1988 Mustang back in the day and this V6 Mustang is way faster than that – but as fast as a Testarossa? That Ferrari does make more power than mine at 360 Vs 308 in reality and is 6/10 quicker in the quarter and tops out at 175 vs. mine at 157. But who would even think it would be a horse race between the two cars? Hell, Sonny Crocket’s Ferrari Daytona from the original Miami Vice is a dead heat with my car to 60 and only half a second quicker in the quarter and only 15mph more top speed. How times and technology have changed with regard to cars.....


I have not drunk a Starbucks since – I think Monday or Tuesday! I am actually breaking my addition to the place – who ever would have thought.....


So for Sunday it is just relaxing. Yes that is it. Relaxing – finally.....




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKLnhuzh9uY&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Miscellaneous ramblings.....


I never told you about my thoughts on love. I dangled that carrot about two weeks ago and never really came back to it. I let it hang there as my ideas are not absolute. The argument starts to unravel at bit under examination. This is to be expected as any rational explanation on a visceral “feeling” will never be complete. But anyway, my thoughts on love is that love is the feeling you get when you realize you are not alone in the universe. Loneliness at its most intense is when you lose someone you love, so love is the feeling that we are not alone on this visceral metaphysical level. Think about it. While our greatest fear may be death, loneliness must ultimately be second – but maybe even first. Would a life on a deserted island be preferable to death? Especially if you were stranded there after knowing what being around people is like? So the main idea is that love is the reaffirmation that we are not alone. We know we are not alone and not in some solipsistic universe by experiencing others like ourselves and by like appearance and mannerisms and thoughts – we can ascribe our feeling of “being” or of being alive to that other person. So if this other thing looks like me, talks like me, and thinks like me it must be like me with a soul and all. But people don’t rationalize it like that in their heads, but it is experienced like that. And this affirmation that we are not alone feels good. And the more this feeling is reaffirmed, the more of this good feeling we have. So when we date, for example, we get to know the person more which makes them more real to us and the physicality and intimacy gives us more information that makes that person more real than the others in our lives and more positively affirms we are not alone in this world. The more you hand around this other person, the more you let them in your personal space the more touching tasting smelling and living and know them, the more real they become and the more you love them.


What is the most powerful form of love? I’d say it is between mother and child. And what closer visceral connection could you have than mother and child. Then there is the upbringing, the feedings and diaper changes and teaching the child to do the most basic of things. That kid is the most real thing or person you will ever know; and that love will be the most intense! Your mate and your family come next because you spend years of your life knowing them even if it is not as intimate as a lover. This is not rocket science and I’m sure you get the idea. When we lose a loved one we experience that lose intensely. I would say it is the opposite of love though others would say hate is.


The problem for me is that this idea falls apart a bit when you get into hate. You can hate someone especially if you know them well. But if the opposite of love is loneliness then hate is not really the opposite of love but just another form of love? We can hate an ex-lover that we loved, and it does seem that the more intimately we know them - the more intensely we can hate them. There is feeling there so maybe love and hate are the same in a way. Anyway that was my “Coles notes” on the thing. Your thoughts may vary.....


What else? I notice that my bedroom only got warm on really cold days but like yesterday when it was -12 it was hot in my bedroom – What up with that? Then when I was looking out the window in the morning it all was revealed. The surrounding area of the window was iced up. So all the gaps where cold air could enter this old house I lived in were sealed up by that layer of ice! So I suppose I am going to tape around the windows inside so I can be toasty warm this winter. Man, I can be dense in so many ways.....




Sunrise when we sold CD through them back in the day!



I slept a lot this weekend and will take it easy till Christmas. We still have to mail out the checks but that is about it. Just coast for a while. That would be a nice change. I’m watching movies again. I even bought two Blurays at Sunrise Music, how I prop up that store. I waved my money owed from Sunrise downtown – from our CD sales - to help out the chain as these stores are on life support. Anyway, I come to the cashier who is also the manager and I just asked her how Sunrise was treating her. Her eyes narrowed a bit and she checks me out and gives me this political answer that Sunrise treats her and her employees the best..... It looks like she thought I was a manager at Sunrise or the company narc, is that what I look like now? Or maybe it’s the way I said it? Anyway, I have only good wishes for the chain. That last of the retail chain music stores!


Freedom Mobile: Apart from the first couple of outages when I started, everything has being fine. Now I’m definitely staying. I’m thinking the outages (and they were hours long) were either tower upgrades or my carrier settings were still Rogers somewhere in the phone outside the sim and messed with it a bit. Things – I think – changed when I downloaded their app and set everything up. I have also received carrier updates and now everything is fine. You really don’t notice any difference in speed at all even though iPhones like my 6s Plus only get 3G. This is because the servers at the other end probably don’t dish it out as fast as the network can. If you go to a website with a slow connection you are going to get it slow and it don’t matter if you have 3G or 4G. So you don’t notice any difference. So far so good, but we will see when I get out of town.


And that is about it. I still lament not doing this when I was younger and had more years in front of me. It would be the best to help shape the world and then live and see what those seeds you planted eventually became. It would be fun to have a more one-on-one relationship with those young people you are doing this for. I do all this for them as (unlike my contemporaries who made my life miserable) as they never did anything to me. That is how I can help humanity even though humanity treated me badly, especially in the past. I do it for the kids and their future world. But I would have loved to live it out like they will. I hate watching my life clock countdown while all sorts of exciting things are finally happening. Of course I did try this in my late twenties and failed miserably. There is always that. But when you hang around these kids you are definitely connected to them through their concerns and what their lives and world will be like, while at the same time you realize you yourself are from a different time and sooner or later will have to hand off the reins to them and disappear. It has to be this way, but that does not mean I have to like it!



Just saying.....




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A bit more as I am shut in due to the snow and bored.....


Like I said, I do the advocacy for the kids as they never did anything to me. Remember that in a closed society children will probably grow up never really questioning the tenets of their society as they never knew any alternatives. The real baby boomers born just after the war grew up in an environment where there were stark differences in ways to live the most extreme being Capitalism/Imperialism and Communism. Each side did their best to paint the other as evil so that there would be less disruption in their societies. Yet the idea that there was another way takes hold and even if it is not Capitalism/Imperialism or Communism, it could manifest itself in other ways such as: “Peace and Love”, alternative lifestyles, drug culture and the rest. By letting the youth see that there were choices in how to live their lives, they could choose and as a precursor to that they would experiment with open love, drugs and civil disobedience – at least in the West.


Back to my story and people like me who were given an unfair treatment in their societies may end up advocating for change to right that wrong. I do it in an entirely open and acceptable way though those avenues open for that very thing. It is slower and harder but revolutions are more messy than effective. And in the end I want to pit my ideas against the established ideas. I want those in established and comfy positions (my contemporaries) to face change based on my treatment and change embraced by those very children of theirs. I, and those like me, give the youth choice and ultimately self-determination. Especially now as technology outstrips our culture, we need new ideas to keep all facets of human existence in check and my ideas add to that philosophical tool kit to do just that. It really does not matter if I gain some petty satisfaction thorough this. I am just one man and not too long for this world. The only thing that matters is that society creates its own monsters, as they would see it, that create change that is an attack on them but not on humanity as a whole. You have to understand that I am not bad; I am just trying to do the right thing. And how can any of you argue against that.....




Later.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gkZj47kLYQ&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A late one today as I spent the morning taking care of the rest of my gang and switching carriers – reluctantly.....


Yes me and Freedom Mobile have said goodbye. It was this industry 10 gig matching sale from all carriers that made me jump – but reluctantly. Freedom Mobile undercut all the big wigs in the cell phone game and it worked as they tried to get back their customers by offering the same but with the better coverage. By default I would stay with Freedom because I could still get 13 gigs for 60 and 10 for 50 right now. But there is the coverage issue. Surprisingly data was good but I noticed as I went along some lines I use daily would not connect while other calling would. A couple of calls would go straight to voice mall and such. In the end I run six corporations and I need rock solid connections. What I didn’t’ need is price gouging. So when I passed a Koodo Kiosk at the mall and they still had the promotion - well - I signed up. So my phone has the coverage and “LTE” is back on the screen even though the data seems the same as before. But with the TV and UN stuff and all I had to have the best data and phone coverage. I even got the roam like home deal for when I got to New York. So now I am with Koodo (or Telus in sheep’s clothing). I get 11 gigs before they rape me with overage fees while Freedom was in way truly unlimited. But it is done and I am back with the established players – for now.....


Most of the royalties and bonuses are sent out. I take care of my gang because they are my gang. Mostly homeless outcasts but they were the ones who followed this “pied piper” in the early days and supported me when all I had were words. Their loyalty can be measured in years of their lives and some of the younger ones are getting close to being with me for half of their lives so far! You have to recognize that and I do. Some don’t even really have a proper family and so I again become that rock, that shit-hit-the-fan saviour when all goes wrong. No problem from me. After my divorce I spent almost 20 years alone - just me, myself and I; I did wander around fringe groups of which some took me in but that was with their rules and such. When I created Fortress it was my way and my rules and I seem to have created my own family of sorts. So I play Santa at Christmas.


No problem and it make me feel happy.....




Later.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another day and another day taking it easy.....


All I am doing now is taking it easy, getting the few remaining things done for my gang and just doing nothing. Stuff like backing up files and the like. I am watching movies again which I love. Also thinking about things.


When we got in the UN with consultative status the idea was to disseminate ideas on the international stage. We did that last February with the voting app for the UN and the positive mandate stating that the best course for humanity is the fullest expression of mind and body. Now we plan to continue. We are in a unique position to do things there that others can’t. We can introduce outlandish and “risky” ideas that professors or any organization with a reputation may want to present but can’t because of the risk to their reputation and budgets. If you have a professional designation and more so if you receive funding to keep the organization going; you would shy away from outlandish actions or embracing outlandish ideas as these could label you as a “crack pot” and affect those funding sources that support you. As newcomers and as journalists, we are by default not experts or professional and can float outlandish or risky ideas on the world stage and If they are discounted by the professionals, well then that is it, and we just move onto the next issue. We are not particularly damaged in any way like the others would be. So this dissemination thing is our business, or task. I even thought after a while others would come to us to float an idea first and see how it is received before they weighed in and expanded upon it. That could work! I just don’t want it always to be me - that is all.....







It’s really important to start expanding the minds of everyone in order to make the most out of yourself and meet oncoming threats such as a culture with AI. Our minds are still an untapped resource and some parts of human consciousness are truly primitive in development. But there is more to perception than just the five senses. For example you can’t see a virus, you can’t hear a virus, you can’t taste a virus, and you can’t smell a virus and you can’t touch a virus as in feeling something that lets you know it’s a virus. All our primary developed methods of interacting with the world would tell you there is nothing there. But when you feel like you have a bug – you know there is a virus there. And then like the primitive idiots we are, we wait until we have all the physical expressions of the bug before we make the final determination at the doctor’s office. But you knew days before you had something, though maybe not as acutely. This can be developed and improved if we start the kids developing this part of our minds early enough. It’s not fantasy but fact. Much of our medical profession is centered on people walking in their doors based on how they feel and for the most part we take them at their word that they are not feeling well and that there is a reason for it. We pick our mates and select our friends based on visceral feelings – but this has to be developed. Are you willing to go on an on-line dating service and commit to marrying a person based on a questionnaire and such? No! You would still have to meet them and see if you have the “chemistry” or the visceral attraction to date this person. You get the idea; all I am saying is the visceral part of our consciousness is totally undeveloped and is an untapped resource to develop ourselves and our culture. Sure you see this Black man selling something on the street but you feel he is untrustworthy. Is it became of society stereotypes, or is it because you later remember you bought something from this guy and it was a fraud? We can eliminate the stereotyped part of this evaluation, but right now you really would not know either way in the moment. And that is because that visceral feeling is so primitive, so underdeveloped. All this can be easily improved and any AI threat would have nothing like this. Human beings still have a leg up on artificial intelligence, but we have to make the commitment to be all we can be which is the fullest expression of ourselves. Sound familiar.....?







Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another snow storm this afternoon.


So this morning is paying bills and buying provisions and such so you can be a true shut in. I pay off the two suits I got on sale today and the suits still have the tags and vents tacked on to the sides. No time it seems. The reality of switching cellphone providers for reliability is sinking in. The web access to Koodo still does not work and probably not for days due to the people trying to get the plan. Yes the plan, as in 10gigs for 60 bucks but if you go over it is 7 bucks per 100mb. I knew this going in but thought they gave you a one-time purchase of a gig for 20 bucks. Not so it seems. So with Freedom Mobile I got 10 gigs for 50 bucks and an extra 10 bucks got me 3 extra gigs and then throttling after that. 13 gigs with the big boys – like all of them – rapes you on the overages to the tune of at least 270 bucks for 13 gigs as opposed to Freedom’s 60 bucks – What a deal? The highest usage I ever had was between 12-13 gigs so Freedom was almost perfect! And Freedom’s data is surprisingly rock solid – and so it is strange that it was the voice and messaging that did that account in. How funny is that?




Maurice begins his General Assembly speech with his Blackberry Passport at his side!



Another time capsule moment for us patriotic Canadians. Blackberry has been out of the manufacturing game since 2015 or so. It was the Blackberry Leap that was their last. Now in two years Blackberry World will cease to exist. This follows stuff like the Blackberry forums being gone and all of that. TCL which now has licensed the Blackberry name for handsets looks like it is in financial trouble so Blackberry in the consumer space may be dead. This happens all the time like IBM which used to make computers (using an old IBM computer right now) is gone and just business services like Blackberry. When I made my first speech and got “roasted” at the UN I read it off a Blackberry Passport. I was so proud to be in an international place with my new and unique square Canadian Blackberry! Everyone else used a laptop (usually an Apple); but I waltzed up there to the high table with the main tool of citizen journalists - a cell phone - and told the UN delegates how it was going to be (then the knives came out and the roast began- but looking back I did right by being bold and telling it without fear - Awesome!)! Just one awesome patriotic moment. Blackberries were still used back then at the UN and Blackberry Passports were not yet on sale in the States. Everyone just eye-balled that phone. For one brief moment it was so cool to be a Canadian! How things change! As an aside; it was at that moment nobody could deny me being looked at as a cool guy, I did get that finally! But fashion and style are fleeting and two years later look where we are with Blackberry - but I am still cool - and those very words come from the lips of young women I never had a chance with in my younger days. Life can be so cruel.....


I just throw this in as a time capsule of what life is like at this moment in time. But whatever..... I have stuff to do before the snow hits.....


Later.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcLJAnaxKIc&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 11:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Last business day before Christmas.


So four days till more business. So the plan for me was to get every single thing done on my “to do list” and have nothing to do over the holidays. And I’m almost there. Even the problem with Koodo and their website was fixed this morning. Having nothing to urgently attend to is my version of a real vacation.....



I got to spend two days on the floor of the General Assembly Hall where it all happens; an experience few get!


So expect me just prattling about life in general for two weeks. The TV stuff does not start up till the New Year. We should have new music by late January or so - that is all on hold. The Fortress should be done by our trip to the UN in February. And the advocacy is quiet until that 56 Session of the Commission for Social Development at UN Headquarters. So I have a break, an oasis from all the “stuff” I do. Don’t get too upset about me tooting my own horn and achievements as I get few bits of encouragement and you sort of have to prop up yourself to keep going – otherwise – your humility breeds self-doubt and that leads to inactivity or failure. So I pump myself up on a regular basis. Take yesterday, for example. When I got on the interactive waiting list at the NGO Committee at my first trip to the UN; I wasn’t sure if I would ever get a chance to speak there again. So I let it rip loud and sure about exactly what we were and no placating some member nations by softening the message. I recorded my feeling later and the consultative status process got delayed a year and a half but after the fact it came out just find. I could just as easily be still outside looking in but history has fixed that. That is something to be proud of, that I stuck to my guns, and has this carry-over effect to other moments past and in the future. So if I feel sort of full of myself, it is all good. You need to be this way to function at this level. Even then there are no guarantees, but so far so good for me. I just wish I could adapt faster to the new reality and level of performance needed. My subconscious mind held me back. Three months to get over the first trip. I had the opportunity but missed the big show at the UN in September (where it is easier to meet and advocate member delegates and ambassadors) because I was not mentally ready and “chickened out” claiming I had to work on the TV shows. Remember “meet and advocate member delegates and ambassadors” is something you have to get used to, something you have to get your head around; otherwise you will chicken-out as I did last year. I wanted - always wanted to be a “Man of the World” and here you are - and meeting ambassadors and delegates is what a “Man of the World” has to do to change the world! 2018 will be different and I have not hit my limits yet.....


More bragging – but whatever.....




Goodnight




http://fofentertainment.com/Maurice_Q_A.wmv
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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 3:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is just a short one as I was up late and slept in.....


I am updating an office computer right now and then off to buy some presents. I wanted to have everything done and be truly bored and experience that as after the New Year things really ramp up fast! Much more tonight but I always update this daily as per the experiment instructions even if the experiment is over.....



Later.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcLU4LGTPk8&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Dec 24, 2017 2:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The first day of doing nothing.....


I did buy some Christmas presents. I did update my office computer as I think I get mostly unlimited data for ten days on Koodo. Actually it’s a 10 day cycle with the 10 gigs there so 10 gigs for ten days. We shall see what happens when the new cycle starts. Apart from that nothing at all..... I did other things like replace the Blackberry version of WhatsApp to Android as Blackberry support by Facebook ends at the end of the year. Some apps keep working until they break but WhatsApp just makes them unusable. The Blackberry app didn’t work anymore as it said the time was wrong when it was not. I also installed Android Telegram and that is working now. Surprisingly the phone still works as people beat these last real Blackberries into the ground. I will keep this one till it stops but maybe get a KeyOne when they go “clear out cheap” as it was the last “designed by Blackberry” handset. Sunday is another nothing day with snow for the evening. So I will probably preen myself up for Christmas dinner but that is about it.


Thinking about good vs. evil and all that. Since I advocate, how do you know you are going the right thing? Well my advocating is from the most base of human natures so this good vs. bad dilemma does not really apply for the positive mandate. But in other lesser advocacy, then how do you know what is right? I think most people would consider society good as opposed to anarchy which is generally considered evil. With society you have some form of justice, protection for the weak, equality in the culture and so on. With evil it is “might is right” and the “law of the jungle”. But if you step back from the dilemma you can see convincing arguments on both sides. So evil or anarchy has true freedom to do as you wish - until someone else stops you permanently; and the law of the jungle is a good way of keeping the human race genotype in good condition as the week die out. You get the idea, what is good and what is evil can be debated. You see good and evil played out in minor scales every day. Something bad happens to someone but is corrected by something good. When a society endorses its idea of good it rewards good behaviour and punishes bad. Society operates with good and bad at war all the time – just watch the news. But society is also mirrored in each individual mind. Some people would not steal or rape because they genuinely believe it is wrong to do so; while other don’t because of fear of punishment. So some people are inherently good while other are inherently evil. But things move along well in society because of the punishment for bad behaviour. It is only when society breaks down due to some crises, and then the folk with more evil intentions see their opportunity. And then the full on battle between good and evil can manifest itself not only in the mind but physically. There is no such thing as good and evil outside our minds, this is all in the mind from a single individual to nation states. This constant battle of choice. And like elections, sometimes what many consider evil wins, for a time. It’s a seesaw battle for sorts almost perfectly balanced with individuals of skill or merit trying to tip the scales in one way or another. The talented ones can be lured by altruism or materialism or whatever to help each other side. It is these people we find most interesting. Like super heroes, their physical actions are often mated to their mental actions, a battle in the mind and a battle in the outside world; like one and the same. As individuals they too can be swayed one way or another. Makes for a good story but that is the reality of our world in our minds.....




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ1ffauUkMk&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Dec 25, 2017 7:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is working as I am really getting bored now!


Sleeping in, doing nothing much and it’s all good! I have to keep myself in this state of boredom and really relish in it. I actually feel guilty doing nothing as I feel I am cheating myself and the orgs by not making use of the time. But whatever, you have to break with form and take this mini-vacation.


One thing I hate about having time on your hands is that you think too much about your life, or waste of your life that is. A wasted life, I missed life of experiences most of you who read this have. In a way I didn’t even have a chance. I look at people hook up and have kids and family and ask myself: “How did they do that!” It seems to be as easy as falling off a log. I did get married myself but that was a hard thing to do. But yes, I did marry so what is my excuse? I would say that because of my upbringing I am just damaged goods. The typical life just would not happen. It is not the state I am happiest in. But when I was married I could suffer for the cause to do the right thing. But that was then and I never got the chance again. It is what it is and at my age your life has played out. All that is left is the plays you have in motion and then retirement. Retirement for you is more loneliness and death. Not the greatest of things to think about when you get bored. But I am damaged goods in a social sense. I actually work against getting to know women and such. It does get you up for the advocacy I am doing now as it keeps you from being happy in the usual sense and then giving up on the advocacy and living for yourself. There is nothing wrong with living for yourself and when you die that is all you ever had in a way.


I also thought about the good times in my life which were mostly hobbies. An existence of its own and without any family responsibilities I just threw myself into them and was happy! But that was it. Regular life was limited and depressing. And I’ll just leave it at that. But now the years have played out and the folks your age talk about nothing but retirement. And not in a few years but like in a few months and such. For me and others at an executive or President or CEO level, you do go a bit further. You can stay relevant pushing it into your sixties and even early seventies. Your contemporaries have already reached their peak in terms of their careers. The kids – that you never had – are grown up and out of the house. They are worn out and tired and can’t wait to retire if they can afford to. But for me, I never really lived until lately. Still full of beans and still having an open future even now. There is still uncertainty and hope for some major scores. So you push ahead and leave your contemporaries and friends behind. What that means in the end for you is that when the plays are played out, when it is all finished and when you can’t operate at the level needed to keep the orgs relevant. You hand over the reins and leave. The kids populate the orgs and keep you young but leaving them means you have nothing in terms of peer support. You will be older and closer to your death and mostly alone. I can’t see this phase of my life being very happy at all and death may be welcome and come quickly – if I am lucky. But I also have family responsibilities so I may just have to keep going. All just so very depressing when you have time to think and flesh things out in your mind.


This is what you think about. There are no happy endings in my life, and all there will ever be is what I make of it and whatever legacy comes from what I am doing now. That may not be much but it is all there is.


Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!



Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Dec 26, 2017 2:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well Christmas is over and onward we go.....


When my dad came to Canada he studied engineering at the University of Manitoba and graduated in 1963 and having top marks got a scholarship for his Masters degree at the University of Alberta. His speciality was soils and at that time the idea of using nuclear explosions to liquefy the oil in the Athabasca Tar sands was being nixed and a new method had to be used. Anyway he did his Thesis and graduated and surprisingly left civil engineering and started teaching computer science at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. But before then he roamed up north in trucks and I once went underground with him going deep into the earth on this strange contraption of a lift and so on. I would be a fool nowadays not to believe that some sort of pressure was being put on young engineers to work on the tar sands. I don’t want to know. Right now the tar sands are one of the biggest polluters or contributors to green house gasses ever.


Anyway, he goes into computer science and I vividly remember me and mom huddling in front of the TV set to see him on the morning TV show being interviewed about the new computers. The big question was whether these new computers could ever start to think and take over the world. Of course my dad – like all of them – said there was no way it could ever happen. Well we all know the situation now.


None of this was one man’s work, but many. My dad is in his mid-eighties and has trouble remembering things nowadays. I really don’t want to know but the timeline for Athabasca is just too fishy and just too convenient. If the sins of the father are transferred to his son then I have all sorts of blood on my hands! I rode a bicycle till I was 25 hating the car; I failed only one course which was my dad’s own computer programming course at Ryerson. I shoved the cards – yes punch cards – into the sewer under the statute of old man Ryerson and a hate on for computers carried on for 25 years where I would have nothing to do with them. I grew up among computers; table conversation and following dad around at NAIT, and young Chinese students coming to our house for extra instruction even though no Chinese existed in Edmonton at the time. It is only now at this late stage in life you start to connect the dots and realize you and others like you may owe the world more than the others. Can the children of those who built the doomsday machines undo the damage? Just who are more obligated, or mental capable, to do this? Can a sin be transferred to the children, or are they obligated to try and correct due to a moral imperative of sorts? Why do I feel I owe the world anything! And yet..... Anyway I have some ideas, but where are the others?


Mankind may be doomed regardless of what we do now. Don’t kid yourself thinking the brightest and best are steering the good ship humanity – they are not! We are more accurately in a freefall of idiocy with some actually caring but in the minority. Brother: You are going to have to be some sort of mentalist dare devil to right the wrongs of this world. In the end if Mankind fails then we all deserved it.




Goodnight.....
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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 10:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well it’s back to work and I could not be happier.....



Captain Scarlet's Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (SPV)!


I actually started yesterday and updated my laptops. I then booked the flight to New York for my two day trip that includes the UN, the office in Manhattan and maybe some TV stuff. But I still had time on my hands. I checked put the prices of some kid’s stuff I had back when I was in my childhood. Like the Captain Scarlett Dinky Toys. You see this stuff on those reality TV shows where they look for collectables. The Dinky Toy stuff is no different. Captain Scarlet’s Spectrum vehicle is over 200.00 bucks! Lady Penelope’s car from The Thunderbirds is more reasonable at about 80 bucks. Both shot a missile out the grille if I remember correctly. See, this is what happens when you have too much time on your hands. I even checked cut a few video clips of the Captain Scarlet intro and the cars in action. Compared to today’s kiddie shows (I watched Octonauts with my sister’s 5 year old on Christmas Day) with HD animation the old stuff from the 1960s holds up better than I thought! And the shows actually have a plot. The new shows for kids – though – actually try to teach something in each show while our shows from back when were just entertainment. What else, I did start cleaning the bathroom and will wash the dishes before I officially go back to work. It was a miserable, cold and snowy set of days and glad to be back to work again.




Lady Penelope's Fab 1!!



Goodnight.....




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW8bGwx8TVQ&feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3b5B4lgQQY&feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMaK_xNlD5c&feature=share
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7654
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Still doing nothing.....


I know some of you want me to break down and give up on everything. Or others who want me to break down because: “I want woman!” But no such luck. What I really want is for stuff to start happening!


Its holiday time and nothing is happening and I am getting salty for some action with the orgs! Sure I wouldn’t mind having at it with some women if she was here naked beside me right now. But I am old enough to know that it would only mean maybe a few minutes and slurps and groans/grunts and then there you are sexually spent and thinking: ”Its holiday time and nothing is happening and I am getting salty for some action with the orgs!” But there is an extra wrinkle in it because you have that woman beside you who wants to do more now that you had your jollies. So off to the mall you go holding her purse or handbag as she tries on clothes and asks if some outfit makes her look fat (actually I don’t mind this occasionally, especially if I get to stay in the dressing room watching her dress and undress)..... But instead I am in my room just thinking of what to do and coming up with nothing.


One thing of interest I found out. If you are familiar with James Bond and all of the films you know what the James Bond theme sounds like. First heard in the first film “Dr. No” right at the beginning. I love that beginning because it came out in like 1959 and does not look aged. Well maybe the guy in a hat but that is it. Also, for those who wonder with the camera lens shutter thing Bond shoots back at, well that is the inside of a gun barrel and the shutter like thing is the rifling of the barrel, just in case you didn’t know. But the most intriguing thing about the Bond song is where it came from. It is actually from a play and is about some brown guy loser from Trinidad! Yes Trinidad like from where my parents came from. Don’t believe me, well listen to the song and you will see the lineage. The lineage has been the subject of numerous lawsuits all in favour of Monty Norman so it stands. From Wikipedia (yes – quoting Wikipedia):


“Norman describes the distinctive rhythm of the guitar in the first few bars of the "James Bond Theme" as "Dum di-di dum dum". He claims that it was inspired by the song "Good Sign Bad Sign" sung by Indian characters in A House for Mr Biswas, a musical he composed based on a novel by V.S. Naipaul set in the Indian community in Trinidad. Norman showed his manuscript music from A House for Mr Biswas in a filmed interview and sang its lyrics. In 2005, Norman released an album called Completing the Circle that features "Good Sign Bad Sign", the "James Bond Theme," and a similar-sounding song titled "Dum Di-Di Dum Dum." For these songs Norman added lyrics that explain the origin and history of the "James Bond Theme".”


Just interesting esoterica, but then nothing much is going to happen until the New Year. Give it a listen and see how you can cannibalize some little riff from one obscure song and turn it into an iconic song everyone in the world knows.....




Goodnight.....




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-IDfoZuQLM&feature=share.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6EuzGhIyRQ&feature=share
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