Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

The weekend was successful.




As I said before, I totally fixed the sliding door at my dad’s place as good as new. Then I dug out the catch basin that was full of debris and filled it full of water and it now drains, I’m also sure I can massively improve on that, but all in due time. Then I replaced the ripped screen on the front door - finally that door looks decent.




Shure SM57



I also bought an SM57 microphone just in case we need to mic a guitar. It was something I always planned to buy and now I bought it. I have a ton of SM58s for vocals by the way.



I’m starting to actually make some hard decisions on retirement. No biggie as things will carry on as before but it is amazing how the most minor of decisions become monumental in weight in your mind. After a few days the choice is obvious but the angst before that is amazing.



And that was the weekend.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/wLGp54v4sA0?si=nWNhrW5BAGtZRTVV

[Maurice Ali]

I’m still waiting on things but the summary…..




Here is a photo of Shane and Scootz playing to a rather large crowd in the afternoon



Topping up bank accounts today. Actually there is little to do at the orgs. Everything is in vacation mode it seems. Even so, apart from the music production and concert and the UN advocacy, things will get quiet. Even doing things like FOFSTOCK 2 have me questioning it. Basically you wonder if you should be doing this now as opposed to just banking the money for retirement. Then you think that if you don’t do it now - you never will - so best do it now and no regrets. FOFSTOCK will continue after FOFSTOCK 2 but as self-funded so it will probably be a smaller affair. I promised this so I should be good in my word and follow through. Having said all that nobody has a crystal ball…..



I tried to make a minor change to one benefit I get turning 65 and found that my GC Key I used for the corporations should work but didn’t and I have to call and sort it out. I don’t want to do all that so all the questions around that benefit have being answered as per the incompetence of our government online system. They enrolled me automatically and will mail me the check as I can’t do anything contrary to this as I’m locked out - so I just “let it ride”.


I may just fix the Mustang tire sensor by buying a Forscan interface and using a laptop in the car to turnoff the nagging sensor failure. So now I’m ditching the scanners and going straight to the laptop like in drag racing! we shall see.




We will test out the catch basin today as we may get a thunder storm. I also should replace the back patio screen, but then the same animal that shredded the old screen may comeback for seconds…..




Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

Wow, a quiet moment at home….. Usually I type these out taking my dad for a walk in the mall but it’s 10:30pm and I actually have time.


First of all is that the main decisions for 65 are set, I’m now strapped in and off to 65 I GO! I’ll be happy when the birthday passes - that all I’ll say is that birthday is brutal! Nothing in your life changes but it’s a landmark saying you are old. I will get Old Age Security after my birthday for example.




Yes, the Summit of the Future takes place on September 23 - my 65th birthday!



At the UN they are warning us that space for the Summit of the Future will be severely limited. I never get in when it’s like this but it could go down two ways. If - as I suspect - I did get noticed with regard to the global vote, they could invited me there just to rub in the fact my ideas are not a part of the current Summit of the Future. Or they could simply ignore me. It could go both ways…..



I came up with the Worldwide Vote and the Positive Mandate for Humanity and the brought the two together to create a new Global Social Contract. And I advocated it all at the United Nations with copies of material to be sent to the Commission of Social Development and the Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General in addition to all those speeches and written statements and even side events dedicated to those ideas and concepts. I did everything I could there, at the UN and the sum total of that effort is expressed on retirement day of my 65th. birthday!



Anyway, the juxtaposition of all of this on my birthday is just so funny and bizarre at the same time. Just over six weeks away. I can’t wait…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/u-WTfP3WJc4?si=eLxOkr8LCYrXISA8

[Maurice Ali]

I’m handling memberships at IAIJ. Here is one of our latest stories:



https://www.iaij.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1121



Note how slow the forums are. I’ll have to see if we are under some spam attack or something. It never ends, stuff keeps happening.



It seems I am embracing the attitude of “going for it” as opposed to shunning back and going for safety and security. It’s not reckless, but I think I would have more regrets not going for it while I’m still heathy and 100%, sooner or later you won’t have the physical ability to do it anymore and then this will not be a choice. So I’m going for it!



There has also been a shift among my contemporaries from reminding me that I’m old to telling me I’m still active and healthy and probably will not look old in five years. The ones really pushing this are all ready retired BTW. They are probably right - another decision I had before me - but in the end the decision was made for me. I never really had a choice. But it’s nice to think you do…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/yzC4hFK5P3g?si=68FJxC2TB4abnzo0

[Maurice Ali]

A long weekend awaits…..







First of all I got the Forscan interface to connect my Mustang to a laptop. All this just to get the nagging pressure sensor warning from coming up every time I start the car. So yes, I’ll be hanging around with a laptop in the car just like in the movies and drag races.


The big news is that I’ve settled those retirement issues after all this angst and prattle. Now I just coast through the birthday and just carry on - on the other side. All this basically drove away most people who visit it here - but whatever - there are no likes and dislikes and hundreds of n here for weeks on end never does me any good like a couple of months ago. It’s true though, for most tons of j teresa is a good thing - for me - it’s always a bad thing…..



However, I hope my old age crisis is informative as everyone will come face to face with mortality and that change in lifestyle with retirement. I think continuing to “go for it” is the right course for me going forward - but it’s not for most. But for me it’s the right play.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/KbvIJTxP1L0?si=6uxH2rGzRuMLgxlZ

[Maurice Ali]

Well it’s the long weekend for me and Saturday started off slow but stuff got done!




Forscan on my laptop!



First of all I got the Forscan interface working and the application connecting. Next I need an extended license to make the changes I need.



I also mowed the lawn in the back as it was looking like an African rainforest.



Then I swept and rinsed out my garage - I finally did that as it’s a nasty job!



While all this was going on I watched the movie Aeon Flux - which is basically my relationship with every woman I ever had. Basically Aeon Flux is tasked to kill this dude who is evil and ends out making out with him instead. That’s pretty much it…..



I like these long weekends. Everyone is gone and I get to chill out. I will go over my government benefits and make sure it’s the way I want it and then pretty much coast through 65 and start over again…..


Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

I did so much on Saturday that Sunday was a nothing day.



I did checkout another concert put on in Markham. The stage was set up by Empire which is a division of Sound Stage. The guys in the mixing tent gave me the contact information of the sales rep in charge. So I got to get more information on FOFSTOCK 2.







In a very strange way, I have been given the opportunity to see the way the world is and who runs or controls it. I am sad to say that nobody there - nobody - seemed better than me in ability. This place two years ago - the people involved mere feet away - and across the hall the Presidents and Prime Ministers giving speeches. They were all just ordinary people — just ordinary people afraid the rest of the world was going to find out.







Whoever got me into that discrimination event was a genius - a pure genius! If I had only met or was shown someone, anyone that was better than me, then I would close shop, live for myself and be happy the the world was in the hands of those better than me. That weight, that burden, would be off my shoulders…..







Instead that person that got me in there showed me the way the world is - exactly!






My way clear even if my goal is hardly attainable. Being as good or even better than others is an absolute curse! I don’t have a life - but I never really did anyway. This whole charade about retirement is an absolute joke. I don’t have a choice. The moral imperative says so. I have to act! Even if unsuccessful, I have to act. So I go for it.







You have to have been there. You have to have seen World Leaders stumble and screw up their speeches. You have to have been close enough to smell them, to see the way the world actually is.







Note that it was after that event the I sent the packages to the Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General while there to make a speech. In reality that speech was just a ruse to get to a position to delivery my Global Social Contract! Man, how much I developed after that 2022 General Assembly! It was a quantum leap in development…..



Anyway, it’s full steam ahead!




Goodnight…..





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/Y-m9sztaWo0?si=qqb84F2oI_GhpD3_

[Maurice Ali]

Well it’s happening…..







I got an email about the Summit of the Future attendance about a half an hour ago while at the mall with family.




I’ll go home and apply as fast as possible just in case its first come first serve. Then I’ll reprogram the tire sensor warning out of the Mustang.




Later…..

[Maurice Ali]

So I registered for the Summit of the Future:







Well, I can coast a bit for now and do things like clean up around the house. I already started that by the way with cleaning up my office.







With the Forscan on my laptop fully functional, I turned off the tire pressure sensor alert to a bad sensor. That actually worked but now I have no readings on any tires!







However, this is infinitely preferable to that nagging warning that had to be turned off with a button only to reappear the next time you stated the car. Maybe I’ll replace them all at the next tire change and reactive the sensor display. But for now all is good!



I bought a bunch of movies on the weekend. I did get Castle Keep in HD which was cool. And I watched Aeon Flux and with commentary after the first viewing.




Another outdoor concert to check out for staging ideas!


And I did check out another concert and asked the guys questions about cost and setup. Yes, this long weekend was worth it.




Goodnight…..





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/n1SGvnvMYwM?si=yOSPiVVoveZtO0DY

[Maurice Ali]

Oh, some of the links will be funny songs - but probably AI.



The one below almost certainly is. They play well and then some really weird wonky stuff in the lyrics plays and gives it away. There is no history past like three months. They even generated fake wiki articles on the artists! Man, the music industry is being totally destroyed by AI.


I already had a list of weird songs legitimately from the past. The new AI stuff is catching up quickly. Anyway, treat it all as AI. This link below is most
certainly AI.



(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/3gHl4P7AXt0?si=KF4Y98_OZOpnCGLa

[Maurice Ali]

So what hooks many to AI is the lyrics but really it’s how close the vocals and background are to a given genre. The best or the old style Nawlins AI generated material. It’s getting so good and this is just starting.


Anyway, I don’t believe any of these “so called” musicians that claim the lyrics are theirs. They scream AI and tend to nonsense if it butts up against the musical background. I hear it in every song but this will be temporary - like six fingers in early AI photos.



So very soon you won’t know what is real and what is AI. I asked AI to make a song about incontinence and the lyrics were actually surprisingly good! Someone is making money off these fake songs.



I’d say advertising has now shut out musicians and vocalists of all kinds. Just like that. In the end the only true human medium is now live action, concerts and music festivals. Maybe we could sell live performances after the fact with the video of the live performances so people know where the music comes from.



There are AI songs that don’t have swearing, but frankly they don’t catch my attention. The older songs are almost never so vulgar and is a reason for their popularity. It used to cost too much to do it in your own just for the sake of being vulger. Same with the art work. Some of the AI stuff looks authentic but some I can catch. Like a black man with a white gal - that wouldn’t happen in the 50s and 60s as record stores would never carry those records with that art work.



Anyway this is truly a death blow to the music world. I just know there is some AI stuff that compete’s with Lana Del Ray and all these young women “feeling” along with some fake AI generated song - yup, the traditional music industry is dying…..







So there may be a purpose to FOFSTOCK 2…..




Goodnight…..





https://suno.com/song/4a432c11-aa28-48f5-8086-85a6eb8a6359


(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/bjhKTqdxRdo?si=-Qkq8Tbe_eOlkJhs


(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/mkMJKqG_SDw?si=0jxSDp1KwPb9OzOS

[Maurice Ali]

Ok, enough of the vulgar AI songs, but I hope you can see that this is going to be a major problem totally devaluing real song production even further. In the music industry it never ends. Actually, is there even going to be a “music industry” in a few years?



This is my pattern. Getting in network TV - now literally on death row. Book publishing - who reads books anymore? Running a newspaper - the kids would probably ask “what’s a news paper?” Movie production is still there but indie is basically gone - we rode that last part from Prime Video into oblivion. Advertising still exists but with AI basically insuring the industry (except for the larger outfits) into receivership. Advertising is all over the place but only an inch thick everywhere due to the internet, so making a living somewhere is impossible unless you are everywhere.



These are my commercial ventures and outcomes over the last 20 years. We are still here by creating companies that survive on vapours. No crippling fixed costs. So we don’t go out of business as much as “hibernate” until conditions change.



Will they change?




Probably not in my active lifetime, but I will keep it all going till I literally can’t fund it anymore. That is why I want the not-for-profits to buy the for profit corporations and keep it going that way. This requires me to start cutting costs even more - particularly at the label - but you do it with a sympathetic heart.



All of that lead to the Positive Mandate for Humanity and ultimately to the Global Social Contract and Worldwide Vote - that was its real utility, but I want to keep the orgs going!



Anyway, enough of this. I still am into guitars! I just don’t tell you everything. Mostly because I don’t have the time…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/Zrg4t3_PdLM?si=UJd7Shvu_UaI_RIk

[Maurice Ali]

Ok the weekend is coming up…..




My Mustang


I’m going to turn off stuff in my car from Forscan. First is that double horn honk if you leave the car with the fob. Come to my house and get out to open the garage door and the horn honks. Now I leave the door open so it does not honk but last night I had groceries so I open the passenger door and grab the groceries and when I close it the car honks the horn waking the neighbours! You can take a second set of keys and keep the fob in the car so you can open the garage and toss the groceries in the house - but that’s a lot of work to get around this crap - and when you get to open the passenger door it’s locked unless you hit the unlock on the drivers side first - F**K! So that goes away this weekend!



Next is the panic button. The only panic I have is when the panic button goes off by mistake either I bend down and something in the pocket presses the alarm or I walk on the fob and off it goes - then the horn beeps constantly and the lights go crazy. The fob doesn’t stop it and I have to run out in whatever clothing I have on and start the car to stop it! GONE…..



I might do other things that annoy me but those are the first. You have to go to the body control module and get the correct block and change numerical values but it works.







You can also unlock features only reserved for premium cars. So when I bought the Mustang, only the GT had line lock (for burnouts). They don’t change hardware for features, what they do is give everyone all the features but cripple them for the cheaper models. But through Forscan you can get line lock but it’s a 40 minute pain in the ass to do it. One guy did it and got line lock and did two burnouts and said that was it for him. He scratched the itch and doesn’t need to do it again and says it’s not worth the effort.



So we shall see!





I’m other news:



While I whine about getting old, others remind me that I have the ability to advocate at a high level and represent the common man at places like the UN. We don’t have the Worldwide Vote that I’m pitching - yet, and until then organizations like mine are the best we have. Since it’s a journalism org we can speak and advocate on any issue there! So I get reminded on why I am on this earth and to continue trying to fight the good fight and hopefully retire from that when my idea of a Worldwide Vote at the UN for the general public becomes a reality.







Yes, I was getting down on myself and then you are reminded that you have accomplished many things. Heck, even the Positive Mandate for Humanity was disseminated inside the UN headquarters itself many times! In many ways, even if I was really discriminated and isolated growing up with no opportunities for growth - in the end I went further than all those I grew up with. Like almost everyone was trying to keep you down. You all know about the issues at school. Then no girls, as in no dating and isolation No job growth, and this was deliberate as in when they always cut me a check to get rid of me - all of this is fixed by the Positive Mandate for Humanity. I was the one who was supposed to go nowhere because I was brown, and in a way that was true in Canada. Outside of Canada it’s a different story and I hide that life from my other alter ego. Like applying too go to General Assembly at the UN in September - I’m a CEO there, no “if ands or buts”. That is how f**ked up it all is - human nature - wow…..



Anyway Thursday got me my pep talk. I also made some more preparations for September for a possible UN trip or Concert trip - or both…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/soFXIJj81hE?si=ZgcKRFFCi5mVUGWL

[Maurice Ali]

Just a quickie but more later.



I got and registered for another event at this a year’s UN general Assembly in New York.







You may ask why I would be interested in this. Also you have to show some past interest in this stuff to get in. Ok, I was there for Pandemic Preparedness, Universal Healthcare and the TB sessions last year at the UN. I did this as I have that 3.8 billion dollar case against the Crown about discrimination in our universal healthcare as it relates to the pandemic and quality of vaccines - that is why.



The Summit of the Future is the big one I want to get to, but I’ll go to this one also because I have history here. I have the cash and time to go to all I apply for, and I’m on vacation during General Assembly. Having said all this there is no guarantee I will get into any events - there is always that!







So that got done on Friday.



I slept in Saturday morning but will do some work around my dad’s house, then messing about with the Mustang’s nagging honks and chimes. Things are getting busy but I’m still adhering to the “go for it” attitude through my 65th birthday and beyond.



More later…..





Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

Saturday night…..







I got all the car stuff done and in addition to no more tire pressure warnings, the car no longer honks when I step out to close the garage door, or take
my wash inside before I park the car. And: The panic button does not work anymore! All done by software changes, way better than taking the fobs apart and cutting off nibs to prevent the panic button from being activated!



Also, I guess I forget to mention one personal reason for attending the antimicrobial resistance event next month; and that is that ecoli infection last fall. The first antibiotic just masked the infection but didn’t eradicate it! When I came off it was back with a vengeance and I had to up it to Cipro to wipe it out. That is one example and it’s on the list of the most resistant microbes to eradicate. It took forever to get everything back to normal - that experience changes you. You become more careful after seeing the limits of medicine staring you in the face. Now watch me get shut out of both Summit of the Future and AMR events next month at the United Nations…..



Actually I just want to forget about that whole ecoli thing. It was truly a horrible experience!




Anyway it’s Saturday night so if you belong to the lonely hearts club we can all watch a funny movie review on YouTube. Tonight I present “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” which is a funny review by a fellow Canadian filmmaker. Anyway, that’s the best I can do before I get the Furiosa disc next week…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/L6BIep8aYds?si=oZLpO149urLA8TWR