Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

Strangely I did nothing but sleep and I feel great!





It felt like old times just doing nothing and just moping around - and sleeping a lot. The sleep apparently cleans out your brain and you do feel
sharper. When I was younger, too much sleep would start to get you a headache, but as an old guy this never happens as you need that brain flush more and more. I did take my navy Alpha M65 jacket to the tailer to have the pockets reinforced as they are coming apart. I wanted to buy new but apparently the quality ain’t there anymore, made in China to save costs - and that tells you all right there. The tailer wants to rip off a top pocket flap to secure it properly and secretly I figured his was the end for that coat. The whole job is 50 bucks, but if that repaired pocket looks “off”, it just becomes a “work” coat and I’ll have to buy new just to have a cool jacket for hanging out.



And that was the weekend. Like a weekend before my mom died. That was kind of fun. I figured I have two weeks before the Nathan Phillips/Sankofa Square business sorts itself out, and we go from there. It was early December when I got YDS back in the day. No Canada Day music festival and I’ll probably be in full retirement prep mode - so the festival would stretch what dwindling youth I have just a little bit longer. No matter what they would say - I would still be a cool guy for awhile…..




Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

It looks like we may have new music from Lucifari in a few weeks.





Nothing is for sure until the songs are in my hand but that’s the buzz. Shane is also writing songs again.




I have to top up the bank accounts and check the mail at the office.



I need to take care of family bills and stuff as we have a postal strike. Pretty hum-drum stuff until something happens and then you are running around like a chicken with its head cut off.



Oh, so I heard AI is no longer developing exponentially as expected. I always
though quantum would be the real sentient AI. So I may be right as the current models can’t get past human limits with the usual computers…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/ltqSK6pIdx4?si=_RnT51gJe-sA59ue

[Maurice Ali]

I think the January UN visit is on.



I’m not taking any chances after the transfer of power and that stuff about the military and illegal migrants. I’Il just get the pass and get out. I might spend a night as it would be free as I have one bonus night with hotels.com.







Having said all that - I just applied for the use of Summerstage in Central Park for Canada Day!






More later…..







And as for those who will ask why I’m even considering this: I have three corporations that can operate in the States registered with the IRS. I have an office I can use on Broadway. And finally because the event is so cool, and unlike almost everyone else in Canadian Music - because I can!




Goodnight…..





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/bPE8yyspN5I?si=-Q_jA-gziigwOgLB

[Maurice Ali]

So yes I sent in the information for the Central Park“ Summerstage” festival on Canada Day.


The big deal here is that I made the decision to go ahead and acted on it! That was the big deal and all internal at my end. Like YDS, this was just an invitation to start a discussion about it. Don’t expect a reply anytime soon as they just put it up. If I don’t get any response after a week or two I may do it again, and then start phoning the actual people involved.


We are way too early here but time is running out faster than you know. Most importantly, I need to know the pricing as I already know what the City Works Department will provide. If we do go this route - getting acts - even Canadian acts - is no issue. And the headliner would be bigger than what we would get in Toronto as they live here! Bigger names and probably cheaper as well. Anyway, we do the waiting game now just like the other two venues.


All this will take weeks and maybe months. But I’m over the fear of hosting an event in New York! I took balls on my part, but I broke through that barrier of fear and now New York is just another place and another venue. I was so happy about that moment that I celebrated for supper…..



I got my army jacket back from the tailor and they actually did a good job. I’ll just clean it up a tad and button in the liner and I’m good to go!



In passing, I listen to folk my age lament that cell phones are a sum negative - dumbing down humanity and dividing them. Nobody reads print anymore and the news doesn’t tell both sides like they used to. All fair arguments but this shows the difference between them and me. This always starts off with conspiracy theories and one I dealt with which was the moon landing being made up and never happening. I saw it live at nine years old - and in New York as we were visiting family. It was real! Later on I actually saw a moon rock in person. There is too much data, information and first hand experience of people. And all the artifacts! I knew everything about the Saturn 5, the Command Module and Lunar Lander. The only people who buy into this are all born after it happened. Anyway…..


They - other old folk like me - always see it as a negative to stay tethered to your phone. I look at this as a positive. I want everyone one on earth tethered to the phone. Why - because of the emancipation from proxy power (political parties) and true self-determination by individual votes. Without the party system and its proxies - you don t have the divides we see now. And with that emancipation you create a new layer of human interaction and thus social development.


Anyway, I’m positive about the future of humanity while the others are negative. Why the difference? Because I have ideas and a vision for humanity best set out in that Global Social Contract. They - don’t have any ideas and think the best of humanity will die along with them.



They are right in their arguments - as they see it - but if you are creative and have new ideas and a vision to make it happen - then it’s nothing but a positive outlook and opportunity.




Goodnight…..




(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/LOJfp78MTgY?si=_0TK_mp-at9wjaIf

[Maurice Ali]

One of the dreams I had from far back was to get a Corvette before I died.



Strangely I could with the FOFSTOCK 2 money I have now. Here is what I could get.




LT1 like in my dad’s station wagon - never again!



A C4 Corvette. Super cheap and they all want 14,000 but in the end 10,000. I lived with an LT1 engine for years and never again! I leaks oil and there is no way to stop it. Gaskets everywhere from the front of the engine. Then the Opti-Spark - never again. I kid you not! I could see the oil leak on my driveway from a satellite using Google Earth - just epic!




One of many oil stains on the driveway and garage!



A C5 - maybe. But you hardly ever see them for sale.




1971 Corvette 454!



C6/1970s Corvettes. I put them together as they cost about the same. The early Corvettes have simpler carburetor like engines and I know how to work with those. Simple which for an old car is what you want.



Anyway, the problem is where to put the thing. I can keep it at my dad’s garage and move all the yard equipment into a ready made shed I would put in the back yard. This could happen.




2018 Z06 - when awaiting mouth biopsy results…..



The reality is that it’s an occasional fair weather day car. You could take it to car shows. I’m not crazy about parking it at the mall. As usual the reality is not like the fantasy.



So that one goal I had is possible but probably not happening. The other was a wife/kids. I had the wife and not the kids. Have kids and all that advocacy never happened. Was it worth the gamble with eight billion people in earth - sadly it was worth the gamble. If you have average abilities fulfilling early goals adds an end to your life. For me the “man of the world” thing was one of my earliest fantasies and here I am.







And there you go. Funnily I love my Mustang and the engine will last forever. It is what it is…..



But I could just scratch off the Corvette from the “things to do list” right now! I’m off next week and could have it all done by then. What about FOFSTOCK 2? Keep it as a multi-day multi-place music festival. I won’t do it but it’s funny how easily it could be achieved.




1970s Corvette I’m leaning toward. Only a fool buys a late model used sports car. The repairs and complexity are crazy. Examples of this stupidity are legendary!




Goodnight…..




https://youtu.be/mdJsW7mF_Hg?si=uCJsSdtX-9ASSPM9

[Maurice Ali]

As usual I slept in and off during the day. Then a trip to a packed mall. I started thinking about retirement plans even though I have no immediate plans for retirement.



Also, why do I feel guilty for taking a day off while on vacation?



But I do have your Saturday movie review for you…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/oeejmWtKRTI?si=3JVn0M2lu-nRzTlY

[Maurice Ali]

The week I obsess about the future.



I could have said the week of the retirement panic attack. Or the goodbye Maurice Ali tour - whatever.



Time off now - or vacation time - is all about the future. No more just live for the moment and the future will take care of itself. It’s sort of like the life you called “your life” is this terminally ill person and retirement is the after life that you know little about. You think about it before you go to sleep - and then you can’t sleep.


You want and can do things now that you won’t when you retire and the finality of all that sinks in. At least the advocacy carries on. That is a big deal but the other stuff fades away.



The record label is dormant, still there and soon to be absorbed by the FOFSTOCK not-for-profit. It’s now a utility and not some separate growing entity.



Fortress of Freedom? It’s just what it is? It’s what it started as. Video making is barely there anymore. Books and newspapers and magazines. All are on death row so to speak. But it is an intellectual property hub as even that withers away. It is still my fortress of freedom - my private stand against the world. It is what it is.



The rest are still there if only in name. These things I created is all that proves I existed and walked the earth. Was it worth it?




This week is a reconning to prepare for the future.




Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

So the real vacation starts on Monday that isn’t a real vacation. I’ll clean up around the houses and yards but you guessed it - the real vacation is future planning.



As first born - like it or not - you will get saddled with taking care of the family affairs. I don’t believe in crisis management, so I’m starting now to know exactly what will happen and plan things accordingly. This really isn’t the scope for this blog - but it has some influence. I would tell all of you in my situation that you have to play it safe. Plan for the worst and be pleasantly surprised if it works out better.



For me things would have been fine if i was totally on my own. You know with certainty your situation now and your options and you just work things from there. Mine is way more complicated, but the way it is - is the way it is. Anyway, all that planning starts on Monday.



Same thing happens at the orgs. Two “not for profits” that can carry on without me. They can own the other “for profit” corporations as need be. Things carry on as they should with proper management.



All this is on me now. I would rather have just frittered away a week doing nothing, but I waited till I had to act and that moment is now.



I did watch that 2024 movie Subservience. What was the budget? Only 4 million with a one million write off and a quarter million box office. Hint: Movies always lose money unless it’s so huge you can’t hide it. Not bad for an entertaining little film…..




Sorry for the late post but we had a funeral this morning…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/icacPm0tMWY?si=xX6tJ1HT2NB-cs5n

[Maurice Ali]

That funeral was for a 99 year old aunt (on my mother’s side) of mine - so it was a full life. In two months my dad has his 92nd birthday. My clan seems to go the distance and hopefully for me also.




That said, now you know why I’m now concentrating of that retirement stuff because this may go on for decades. The advocacy in all its forms can easily go on, I like it and people say I’m good at it. So as long as I keep my wits about me - I actually could be effective.







Still no word on FOFSTOCK 2. It is what it is and all we can do is wait and see what happens. Remember that the indoor pay for the performance concert is closed to all but a few players - because money is involved. We have less competition but it’s still there via big corporations subsidizing community events on the “big days”. Much is out of our control so all we can do is wait.



I actually cleaned out all the branches and yard debris from the backyard. For years I thought I would have to call in the wood chippers and have them spend a day cleaning it out. But I did it in three hours. Hopefully they pick all the bags up today and then all that energy thinking about that job will be gone.



But it’s great to actually start off in planning the next stage in my life. I have to assume at least another 34 years or so so I’ll keep working and doing stuff like I do now. But I need that parachute just in case and that is the “why” of all this prattle.



Your life gets complicated and tangled up all over the place and “getting your house in order” takes years. But that has started now and it should not be a future horror show - I hope…..



One more thing, more and more I see AI sifting into things. If you see fire emanating from someone’s hands - there is AI involved…..



Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/83iEgPC7HEI?si=CYm0OFqJTh7ug312

[Maurice Ali]

Late one.




Called the plumber tommy dad’s place as the two sinks in the upstairs bathroom have to be replaced. I need the plumber to sweat in the cutoffs and connectors and In will take it from there. I have to defrost my fridge to make the door close properly or I get a new fridge.




I should start one of those handyman show in YouTube.



And so the vacation goes…..





Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/Zg3q6qW2aKo?si=lB96_4h-LcOM7lrS

[Maurice Ali]

Defrosting the fridge and the door now works. So I do t have to buy a new fridge.



The plumber is coming after noon. I may just go down early and buy the wash basins and faucets ahead of time. Two wash basins in this bathroom. Like more than one person is using it at the same time. Anyway it’s double the cost!



The war chest is growing for a FOFSTOCK 2 - that may or may not go on. The dollar is dropping against the US and That makes it more expensive for Summerstage, and I have no idea how welcome I will be there in the New Year. They said they would reply in two days but we are way past that. Oh well…..



Anyway, I have more immediate concerns on this - sort of vacation - and it was a good thing to sleep through the first two days as the rest is just hard work.


I bought Re-Animator for 30 bucks as a DVD. The bluray is 73 dollars online. Anyway, I have the HD download through Apple but the disc has all the extras and I mean a ton. Like at least three full movie commentaries. Commentaries always mean the creators were proud of the film. This one has a bit of a cult following.



Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

The sinks are done.



I purchased all the stuff and hired a plumber ten houses or so down the road to put it in. Originally I was just going to have him put in new cutoffs as this old house didn’t have any including a new one for the toilet. But then changed my mind and I gave him the whole job as the old crane sinks were discontinued and I guarantee that the replacement would not be a drop in. Even if it dropped in, there was no guarantee
the pipes would line up. If I had the original sink then no problem, but the replacement had me rethink things. The plumber replaced the PVC connections with new and clean outs so that sealed the deal!



Usually I despise plumbers but giving it to a neighbour down the street changed it all and was part of the reason I gave him the full job. It looks great and having all new fittings is the plus here!



The fridge of mine was finally defrosted and back in service. So I saved money on a new one there.


Anyway, going into Friday was more upbeat as I didn’t have all the agro of putting in the sinks myself. I’ll just coast to Monday cleaning up the house and washing the car.




And that will be my vacation. A lot of stuff got done but I’m on vacation?




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/DRarsWWGnXM?si=YJf5g1xDPEiXm-1r





https://youtu.be/sTdWQAKzESA?si=qt4-EGByWJ3yjfuf

[Maurice Ali]

Slept in so a very late Saturday. ight movie review. And nothing happened on Saturday but running some errands and washing the car.


Life without the orgs. Actually Michael sent us three new songs in progress to listen to - so not quite without the orgs.



Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/t_mqd69TmZw?si=B1ovxPhFEfmUjOkf

[Maurice Ali]

A bitter-sweet end to the vacation…..


On Sunday I got this crazy idea to put Linux on a micro SD drive and stick it in to the Yoga laptop and get that OS without the usual hassle of a USB drive that you have sticking out. On this laptop it goes in almost all the way and you have to click it to have it come out.



So off to Bestbuy I go to get a 512gig SD card to mount the Linux OS. I tried everything in the book to get it to boot but apparently the bios sees it as a PCI device instead of USB. I got it like 70% off so no regrets and I formatted it and it’s there as the new storage drive.



Undaunted, I figured if I bought a slimline USB drive and just left it in there I would get what I wanted - not as good as the original idea - but I could live with that. I got a Samsung with onky 256 as that’s the largest they had. No problem as both OSs can see and use the 512 SD card I have in there. It launched the drive - once - and nothing but a black screen after that. I tried stuff in the bios and that drive and OS would not completely boot. I think it’s Lenovo business class security backed in as the laptop was a contract machine of lease. I tried my other Linux drives from the last - no bueno.



Now I’m really pissed off and it’s getting later into the night. I also bought some real bluetooth mice that don’t need a USB dongle to connect which was supposed to free up the USB slot for the permanent Linux drive. All those plans out the door and money wasted.



The 512 drive that replaced the 128 drive is ok to live with especially with the discount. This card could also go in the camcorder and I will decide later Monday morning. I check to see if there were any mice on sale and Bestbuy had one half off with the offer ending Dec 2. Was it worth the cost to return and replace? I don’t know…



Now I know. All the stores are out except the hard to get to stores and even then is says they have stock and when you get there they don’t - rats!



The vacation wasn’t so bad as real stuff got done and decided on. Now it’s back to the reality of working life. I appreciate working life now that I have options. Maybe not as much in the winter and snowing - but with options you see the pluses and minuses of each option.



Back to the usual routine.



Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

I finally have a working jump drive that works on my Yoga.



I ditched Linux Mjnt for Ubuntu. The Ubuntu ISO is almost 6gigs as it includes many apps and more drivers to minimize conflicts. So this works on the Lenovo Yoga. That means the money I spent of the drive was well spent. The bluetooth mice I bought also work great. So that little bit of angst ended happily.



Many of the bands we have, have aged into middle age, even the young performers are now in the over 30s. How music has changed. It has become one dimensional for most. Where is the variety - some of it is still there - but stifled by algorithms. When you went to a music store
like Sam’s and HMV in the past, you had like four floors with classical and jazz separated by sound proof glass and all the other genres with the new stuff slumming it in the basement. And the retail staff worked the genres they loved and many gigged at night.



All that is lost now. I was a fan of whistling and such. Donald played the harmonica. It all
seems to have disappeared and AI just makes it worse. Anyway, if we get Canada Day - all slots will be filled - don’t ask me how I know.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/HzKQfrNseoI?si=5CBk1T4ee8UrPU1a



https://youtu.be/g3ZdBVAWWNo?si=DqebXm5eEbkafysF



https://youtu.be/vMjgRX1BlAw