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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think it’s done! Actually there were many minor changes but I think we are there!



This says it all as to who is with me on this at the UN, but social pressure does not work on a character like me! Only right is right.....


If not now, very soon your every move will be known and the only thing that can keep this from being a prison for all is if we all have a say in it - not the state - but the total collective of humans. Ultimately we all have to hold the keys to human society. The worldwide vote is the global constitution for all of humanity. The cowards, the yes men, the bought, the member nations will not go near this. The bureaucracy at the UN can’t be expected to turn on their masters even if they want to. It has to come from an NGO like ours and this statement I crafted is one way.



So this is the right move for me to make. Only right is right and nobody there can tell me what to say. They can deny me the right to speak - but nobody there works my mouth. I owe nobody anything. I am free and my dick is in nobody’s back pocket. So like the Positive Mandate, another play is in motion. You are all giving away your privacy for the new tech, but the worldwide vote is your payback!



I’m actually curious to see what happens.



Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 10:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

By the time you read this, the statement for the Commission for Social Development will have been sent.







I sent it under the guise of social inclusion - because that is what it is all about. That is the box I checked when submitting the statement. But we have much more relevance as an organization when it comes to homelessness and affordable housing as exists here in expensive Toronto. Many of the people that helped me start the organizations were homeless. Shane for example, used to sleep on street grates for heaven’s sake! But for some reason I am sure 100% of all the homeless folk I could ever meet now would not have a clue as to what was going on at the Commission for Social Development and how that affects them. Expect member states to go one after another telling use what programs they have in place to address the problem of homelessness and affordable housing – but where are the voices of those who live it every day? Sure you will say it’s the NGOs – bingo – and this NGO has a solution to this problem.....



If they take issue with anything I submitted I can easily defend myself, so here we go!



But now that that is submitted it is back to my ordinary daily routine. I will go to Starbucks and order my mocha (with a cheese stick) and walk around the mall as it’s brutally cold today, then start to work on The Fortress again. Time will tell if I get to express myself at the United Nations for the betterment of all. That voice is so rarely heard there as the process to get a voice – by its nature – corrupts the purpose to which it was created. But I am there in its purest form. I don’t get fame or money or girls or anything – I operate from a moral imperative to do the right thing and not the selfish thing. That may make me “enemy number one” there but I have no choice in what I have to do. The job found the person (not the other way around) and it found me.....




Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So the speech is in and here are a few notes on that.



First is that as we note in the statement that the UN has been involved in global online surveys and that we are simply looking at a more permanent form of participation. So like I said I gave them the boring version which is we have made some good first steps so let’s go further (without getting too radical about it). I deliberately shied away from concrete examples and kept things obtuse. Like I said before and this also came out in the question and answer segment of the side event in 2017, there are ways for the general public to contribute at the UN like the My World surveys and such. Of course my ideas were more radical getting into areas that go beyond the usual sustainable development goals and such, and more of an official presence at the UN and its activities – and I even made reference to the parts of the Charter that would enable this. So basically I’m just saying we can go further and that the general public wants this form of permanent ongoing participation at the UN and that “full on” one day votes could be made.



I deliberately stayed away from any other NGOs and such as we are a journalist org just pocking our nose into something outside our norm and making our statement and going away. We are not involved in any ongoing humanitarian concerns with the sustainable development goals. We also did not specifically reference anything or program at the UN, just keeping it general but asking for more for the general public. The worst that can happen is that our request to be heard just gets tossed into the trash can. Maybe we get to speak but everyone just rolls their eyes and moves on. Maybe I say something that needs to be said at this point of time but others more involved are reticent to say it. Maybe there are plans afoot to already make more of this possible and we are simply supporting these initiatives from afar - we shall just have to see what happens. But we will move on after this to other areas, but the big thing for me personally was the Positive Mandate idea that got disseminated last year, that meant a lot to me – that rocked!


So I push things in my personal blog to “world shattering” levels of importance as all people do in their mind, but the reality will be more humdrum. But I think the sentiments above are how that statement of ours will go down at this year’s Commission for Social Development. If we said something stupid or out of line the default is that we are newbie’s at the UN and didn’t know, and run away with our tail between our legs. We are a journalist org. that did an in-depth report; we snuck our nose into this area because of that and said our peace and left…..








And I suppose that brings us to the final sentiment today, and that is: What if it’s all winding down now? All our TV stuff is out there and I actually received our first royalty check yesterday! This was another first as we never made money on our video before – on our movies and TV shows before! But the videos that are out there are all that is to be out there. We could have three more episodes but that is no sure thing. But pragmatically it is all out there with no new plans afoot officially. No new cameras were bought, and I even stopped my AVID subscription for example. The music continues but at a more relaxed pace. The print stuff still is there but moving online and again at a much more relaxed pace. The experiment is over and much of the advocacy or dissemination was already done. Your see that you are getting older and things can’t continue at the pace in the past as that was simply unsustainable for one individual. I got done what I wanted to get done, but the problem is that you get accustom to the pace and always reaching and wanting more. The future is still open to me which is a rare thing for those my age. And while I haven’t given up and shriveled up like so many my age, you do see things wrapping up in many of the projects and goals you started out with.




The Fates!



It reminds me of last year when I got the Positive Mandate side event and statement off at the UN. As soon as I got back to the Hotel it started to snow, then the plane got cancelled. The frantic booking at the hotel for another night using my free night from Hotels.com (yes that actually worked for me). Then getting to the airport early to catch any plane back home (hanging out with people that slept there last night). Get to the airport back home and have to take a train to Union Station downtown and then the subway back home and the final bus ride to my closest stop. And another snow storm here the night before and I have to walk blocks down the middle of the road which was the only clear part of the street to walk, dragging my luggage behind me - so not very “man of the world” like… Get home and collapse! That was the come down to earth and the reality that was always my life. But The Fates did give me what I wanted and then the hard goodbye! That was last February and not much got done until the end of the year. But could things be winding down – or – just changing?



Goodnight…..





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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 3:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well yesterday’s post mirrored the sentiments of someone posting on the most depressing day for everyone which was January 20th. Today’s post will be a bit more upbeat but in a macabre way.....



Sometimes when watching a movie one clip defines it and in the movie “Flight” it is the dive scene of a jetliner that has mechanical problems. I like it because it was based on a real incident of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which had a similar plane. So in the movie the pilot Denzel Washington (also liked it as it had a Black Man saving the day and keeping calm and collected when everyone else was losing it) has a mechanical failure that puts the plane into an uncontrollable dive. He keeps trying everything and eventually decides to roll the plane and fly inverted. In the real flight they actually did this until it crashed killing everyone onboard.







Jet airliners are not supposed to fly upside down but you can do it for short periods relatively unscathed - from the unofficial sources (i.e. the pilots who fly them). You can safely barrel roll a twin engine plane like the one in the movie and even fly it inverted for very short periods. The problem with flying inverted is that it starves the engines of oil and they burn up as happens in the movie. In fact some of the communication dialog was directly lifted from that Alaska Airlines flight. The difference in the movie is that the pilot flies his plane inverted for as long as the engines can maintain lift and fly. So taxing the engines flying inverted and oil starved burns them up and the engine catches on fire. One engine does just that and the pilot orders his co-pilot to put it out. And here is the only problem in the movie, when you put out a fire like this you kill the fuel so the engine dies – but that is a small nit-pick. Where the movie deviates from real life is that the pilot sees a clearing and uses what’s left of the other engine to barrel roll back upright and glide to safety killing a handful but saving most of the passengers. It turned out the pilot’s calm under fire (in the movie) was due to him being inebriated due to an alcohol addiction which is what the rest of the movie is about – but I digress.



But what I wanted you to take from this is that humanity is in a sort of uncontrollable dive and we are trying all sorts of things to safely handle our own out of control plane. Fix one thing and something else happens but you keep spiraling down. But like the movie you just keep trying to save the plane and passengers and never give up! But here is the thing - in emergency situations never encountered before – people are not sure what to do, but those that have an idea and a plan on how to do it, are then looked at with authority and the idea tried – because nobody else has a better idea. You can disseminate this idea from someone not even remotely connected to the chain of command, in that case the idea is disseminated and tacitly endorsed by someone in line authority very quickly and then implemented. After all it is the idea everyone is looking for, where it comes from does not matter in an emergency. Outside of emergencies this does not work and ideas follow the usual biased or possibly corrupt models we all know well. So what you should take away from this is that a guy like me actually does have a chance of disseminating an idea that gets used if it is done during an emergency when anyone with a plausible idea can put across an idea that gets quickly embraced. I have seen this process in action in my own life and true to form when people are flabbergasted on what to do in a moment of uncertainty, the person with a plausible plan can have their idea quickly endorsed and adopted, in that moment the person appears to be calm and in control because that person has an idea and direction to save the day (they don’t look confused like the others) – but only in an emergency.



Is humanity in an emergency? I’d say yeas, so do I have a chance - I’d say yes. But it is only a chance, but with the stakes so high it is not a question whether you try. You have no alternative but to try, and this is what you have been seeing in this adventure of ours. A chance but most – or virtually everyone else, does not get that chance so.....



Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 12:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven’t touched The Fortress yet, too many distractions.....



Most obvious to me is the new "SARS" virus, for those from the beginning of this organization you may know that I was quarantined at the very start of the SARs outbreak in Toronto and then worked at ground zero for the next two months – it does make you skittish when 18 years later SARS2 or whatever they call it is probably on its way here if not already. Toronto has one of the largest concentrations of Chinese communities outside of Asia and with Chinese New Year just two days away there is a good chance we may see another outbreak here like before. It just takes a while for the incubation period to finish and someone starts getting visibly sick. And I was going to add: “and all hell breaks loose” - as in panic. I bought my personal stash of masks days ago but bought some more today for those in denial about this type of thing. The last time I remember it well, you could not buy a mask as they vanished immediately when infection reached the city. The WHO labeled us and nobody wanted to come here and even major teams in sports didn’t want to play games here.



This was more personal for me because I had dealings with the hospital that had the first patient so I was among the first to be quarantined for 10 days and you had to take your temperature at regular intervals. My whole story was on the last page of one of our first newspapers but I found a web archive of a two part article I had on one part in front of me and the best line was about me turning about in my bed and that I felt never more alive. At the time we knew nothing about SARS. When I came out of quarantine nobody would go near me. I was a modern day leper! So I just worked around ground zero out of duty that if everyone reneged on their duty when the shit goes down, the society collapses. So I toughed it out there during the infection. I knew how to maneuver among the clinics and medical facilities, mask on and mask off. Only use the stairs – no elevators. Only eat chocolate bars and energy bars. You know the score. The masks could only be worn for so long until you couldn’t take it anymore – but I had that timed to a tee..... So when I got my current stash of masks two days ago, I bought the ones where you can breathe easier – live and learn.



I’m not doing that again! I stuck it out from a moral duty but I paid a price. After the outbreak was quelled I got shingles, it was caught quick and treated with interferon. I asked the doctor why this appeared after the event and it turns out when you are fighting the situation you are fine and when it is over you get the effect of that stress which for me was shingles. The medical officer in charge of health at that time was under more stress and she got cancer and died later – and I believe that stress from the SARS period had something to do with it. We actually got to the point where entire neighborhoods here in Toronto were being considered for walling of from the rest of the community! That is major league stress! But I did my bit and no more heroics, that is for younger people now – I did more than my part! But you can not help but think you are cursed and this virus is going straight to you.....



In other news: I should book a flight to New York now but with the proviso I can cancel and get out if need be, so we shall see. So the most unlikely things can come up from nowhere and scuttle your best laid plans. Certainly if Toronto gets labeled again they aren’t letting me into States, so I have already tempered my thoughts about no guarantees this time around at the United Nations. But we shall see…..



Goodnight…..
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Jan 24, 2020 7:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

More continued lethargy.....



It is a good thing for me that I am healthy and appear younger than my age. Those my age seem to have all sorts of medical maladies while I am virtually unscathed. This allows you to stay focus and 16 years later it’s been a good ride. But throw in the usual life problems and it is amazing how fast things come to a screeching haunt.


For me things outside the orgs are relatively minor but occupy your thoughts. And no it’s not about the virus. But I can see going forward that things can start to slow down as I slow down. Things like the journalist association can continue without me. The commercial companies can still exist on vapours if need be. But right now we are still firing on all cylinders! I’m sure those older than me and retired will still urge me to keep going with all my might, and so it shall be.....



You lose more and more when you lose momentum and sometimes it get to a point of no return and nothing happens after that. So you keep an eye on things and keep doing things, anything to keep the companies going. A lot of what happens is luck and happenstance and opportunities appear to those who simply stick around, because if you are not there you can’t take advantage of the opportunity. Even then you may have to fight for it due to competition, but if you are not there and active - you are nowhere.



And that is the big takeaway from today’s rant. And just like that things are looking up for me in my personal life. Just like that and things can change on a dime. So I start putting pictures into the next issue of The Fortress. Next is booking plane fare over the weekend. Just keep swinging at the world. And a little arrogance on your ability keeps you in the game even at the lowest points. That’s sounds so incorrect, but it is true. If you don’t feel that you are special, the best of the best at what you do, then you have no right being at places where the world is run and you have proven yourself unworthy before anyone else has.




1959 Ferrari 250 Testa Rosa! Top Speed: 195mph



An old Ferrari is still a Ferrari!




Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 8:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sam wrote:
The Fortress Experiment Gets CRTC Certification



By Samantha Blackwell









On January 24 (2020) the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) certified our movie The Fortress Experiment as Canadian programming and therefore eligible for broadcast on Canadian media. FOF, FOF Entertainment and More Vision will now petition broadcasters to air the programming on their broadcast platforms.



More news as it happens.



FORTRESS OF FREEDOM: BRINGING THE MASS MEDIA TO THE MASSES!





So here is the deal with how we finally got CRTC certification. I get a call Friday afternoon by this young woman from the CRTC who wants some information on the movie. Turns out the Analyst who had been dragging his ass on the certification was no longer there and this other person (who has the same last name as me) is now handling it. Long story short it was certified the same day. I’m not saying anything more than the facts. You know how I feel about all this from past diatribes.....



So the movie is finally certified! I was actually thrilled like the first time I got one of these, now I can go for broadcast in Canada! It was always awkward to tell people I was in the States and the UK but not Canada and one reason was this business of certification. Now that that hurdle is passed the other is getting airplay, but I have some ideas on how to expedite things.



This was one really good piece of welcome news on the back of a week that was just non-stop bad luck. But the movie is the core of everything we have done, so to get it played in my home market is still a big deal to me. I told you guys time and time again I cannot win on the ground and yet I am making some scores on the ground. Sort of like the goal of only disseminating the idea, and then moving with some trepidation - but still - moving in the direction of actively pushing for change in addition to dissemination at the highest levels. Man, two days ago I felt down in the dumps and now I'm empowered. The world is again the size of a marble in my hand! The fact is without culture, humanity devolves into an animalistic state. But for me, in the end, I was thrust into the group of those entrusted to keep society going and bring out the best in us. Look - my original goal was just to make it inside the UN on official business – then I could rest. My impossible ultimate goal was the speech on the floor of the General Assembly. I got the first one in January of 2015 and the impossible goal (just a goal to keep me reaching) six months after that – then a couple of days on the actual floor of the General Assembly Hall five months later and at the actual vote ratifying internet governance for the next 10 year! Then I kept going past my wildest dreams with the worldwide vote and the Positive Mandate for Humanity. So why should this be any different? It does give you a reason to get up in the morning and still deal with all the usual negative crap from our base natures.....




Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well that didn’t take long…..



So the chronovirus has been in Toronto since Wednesday. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Anyway I spent a day inside getting over my own bout with a cold or flu – which I don’t know and should be clean if not already just in case I win the lottery this time and get this chrono flu. They said I was nuts to buy the masks (the usual N95 and the more expensive free flowing). And then stocked up with a bit more a day or so later as those jokers we love who live in denial have to be protected from themselves. I did wonder about spending more on this stuff a second time around, but now I feel justified. A hand full of the small pocket sanitizers and I’m mostly good to go.



The one thing I didn’t get yet is the spray, the ones that kill rotavirus. I will try to get that after I punch this out so disinfecting large objects is easy with the spray. Forgot about that one until the first case showed up here in Toronto. So this dude was here on Wednesday and he is now six miles down the road from me – how about that reality – Ha!. There are probably many others not known yet, as I know how this goes down.



The funny part is that I booked plane fare to New York today – Ha! I can get out of it for a price but whatever, you just have to plan as if you are going. We almost started off walling up communities in Toronto last time and we shall see what happens this time. If anything remotely like that is going on, the trip is probably off, but now you move onto the fact most cases are mild. That’s the reality you live with now. But whatever I’m 20 years older now so that adage that it only kills mostly the old with complications back in the SARS day doesn’t work for me these days now that I’m the big 60! But all you can do is prepare for a trip that may not happen.


What luck….. And I thought the bad luck had turned!



I’ll finish up The Fortress this weekend and just be done with it. So New York is still on but Geneva is now a wait and see thing as the virus does it’s thing. Funnily, before the bad news today started I watched “28 Weeks Later” which is a virus movie about stricken London England. If you ever wondered what happened to the soldier In “The Hurt Locker” then you now know how he meets his end in this move. Whatever, the movie did set you up for a thrill later on today. The funniest viral movie is World War Z where a bite turns you into a zombie in 12 seconds flat: “Trains in!” It is funny how the bad luck I got last week pales in comparison now to what is coming down the pike with this virus. Yup, it does put those other things into perspective. But now I have to shop around for that spray sanitizer and one large refill of Purell. I have to do this now as the panic starts tomorrow…..



Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



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Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 2:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I fell asleep early in the night so I took off to get more supplies before they ran out…..







I didn’t get the large Purell refill but will try tomorrow – but I did get the spray disinfectant. So that with the Purell mini containers and the masks and maybe a pair of nicrosil gloves and I am good for the zombie apocalypse! But jokes aside I questioned getting the masks, then getting more masks – not questioning now! I joked about the virus coming right to me and – boom – the thing is just 10 minutes from where I live! In fact I drove down to check out “Chrono” at the hospital. No, I didn’t go inside just to the entrance and snap a photo to get into the “pandemic groove”.







Then I went and looked at some cars to lighten things up. But so far all my all my “unreasonable fears” have so far been validated. If the WHO puts the travel restriction on Toronto that is it for the UN, but I’m glad I booked the plane fare – it shows commitment to the cause! I was so laser focused on the Positive Mandate - that - that was all that mattered; that was the deal I made with the Fates – so now maybe it’s payback time. There is always next year but only if we keep status. But things could be collapsing on us by then. Nobody truly knows the future but the adventure continues.



Here is an excerpt from my SARS article back in the day:



“"they are sealing them in there to die". Then came the urgent broadcast over the news that thousands of people were to be quarantined; all of which had visited the Scarborough Grace Hospital during the last ten days. I can't express the calm state of panic that overcomes you - you really don't know how to react. All we knew at this time was that if you got the disease - you were dead. I actually thought at that moment that this was straight out of the X-Files.....and why me of all people..... There was a lot of talk about whether this illness was airborne or not - but at the time nobody knew. Some said that if it was airborne - the world was doomed and that Toronto could see thousands upon thousands of deaths. A horrible thought overtook me..... was I a human guinea pig? Was that infected air blowing in my face? Someone had to be sacrificed in a controlled environment and was that someone me? Hospital staff could pick up the germs directly from the patients - not me.....was this my fate? I locked myself in my home and a message was left on my answering machine stating that I was seen entering and exiting the hospital and that I was to call city health officials. I spent the night tossing and turning. My guts felt dried out for some reason, I just kept rolling around in my bed - I was never more alive.....”



Funny, I didn’t know my writing style was exactly the same back then as now! Yes, its sensationalistic writing but it works. And at the time we knew nothing about the SARS. What a time! So now I get SARS part two. Like in the movies where the war veteran comes back to his battlefield later in life on some mission: “I’m back!”



Goodnight.....




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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well this just sucks balls.....



So it turns out people can pass on the virus before they show symptoms! If that is the case we are screwed with a capital “S”! The only thing you can really do is hunker down and hope you get lucky and isolate from the various continents (good luck with that) or that the virus gets diluted as it spreads through the population. Still think I was a wacky yoyo for getting those masks? But I will digress and just mellow out about the whole thing. It does put into perspective problems you have at home and on the job and all the rest. This threat puts them all in perspective in a way. You worry about loved ones, especially your parents and realize that you are no longer a young superman anymore, but now someone who can really be leveled by this virus. Though I feel in great shape and all – you just never know how this virus will react with you. Like SARS, the whole thing just kind of sucks. The UN stuff is still there and a possibility but now in the background until dates get really close and some decisions have to be made – or are made for you. The screening at airports is a joke. This guy originality was reported to have shown symptoms after he landed, but now he was sick on the plane, he lied about where he was from though obviously sick – so the screening failed big time. And – I’m not surprised.....







But I think I have taken all precautions right now. Good luck finding face masks or hand sanitizers until more shipments come in. It’s really a tricky moment with a new virus. Anyway – I’m no bug chaser but – I did watch more horror movies this weekend. Today was Cloverfield which I thought was a virus movie but was more of a Godzilla movie. It was ok, but my past with SARS and now this just puts a mental cloud on everything. And there is nothing you can really do about any of it. Just carry on and see where things lead.....



Oh, I finished an early draft of The Fortress and we may go with this as my heart is not into this issue. The last several issues had long and involved in-depth reports but this one’s in-depth report became a book so The Fortress is only updates and announcements this year and is less than thirty pages or so. It is what it is.



Update: Now two cases in Toronto!



Goodnight.....





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PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sam wrote:
The Fortress 2019




By Samantha Blackwell, FOF Inc. / IAIJ Inc.








The 2019 issue of The Fortress is now available. This issue marks the first issue of The Fortress to be available online. We will also make some physical copies but active distribution of physical copies has stopped. This is just a sign of the times with all publications these days. A pdf file of The Fortress will appear below. We will also be converting all issues of The Fortress for online viewing eventually as has this was never available before.


Our thanks to all that contributed to the publication!



https://fortressoffreedom.com/The_Fortress_2019.pdf (50mb)




THE FORTRESS: STRONGHOLD OF FREE SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF THOUGHT





I had to force myself to put out the 2019 issue of The Fortress this weekend. It’s not perfect but it is just a review of all activities at our organization. This is the thinner version as most others had at least one major report published in it. This was important to me as many institutions won’t allow unpublished reports to be discussed at conferences. This year that report became a book published on its on in many formats. We snuck the paperback version into this issue as the book was printed and available for pickup before the end of 2019.



United Nations in New York


So that job got done and we just move on. Next up is the UN with lots of question marks around this one. More and more my ability to attend rests with circumstances. Who d my control- so the only course of action is to do those thing under your control to get what you want and so far we have done that! This just reinforces the idea that nothing is for sure and nobody knows the future. Speaking of the virus, I bought the masks and stuff cause back in tre SARS days I was literally entering a building that had a SARS patient in it. You could tell by the ambulance and a cop car together. You really followed precautions and protocol then. Sir living on chocolate bars was a drag as you worked in ground zero, but I did it. So I’m not wearing a mask now and going to Starbucks with it on. The stuff is there for my piece of mind and “just in case”. During the early stages of SARS I was in this medical building and some sales rep didn’t seem mindful of precautions till I told him a SARS patient was identified there yesterday - mask on! Then when we got out I hosed down his hands with spray disinfectant I had in my vehicle (so no in-person sales calls for the next few months with this guy -HA!)


Sure it bothers me that my altruistic goals are so close and yet things never envisioned before - like a virus - can nobble your best laid plans. All my motives are for betterment of humanity, but you get no acknowledgement or notoriety from any of it. You are getting old and running out of time and remaining opportunities could probably be counted on your hands. But life goes on and Sam’s child is about to celebrate his first birthday. Family first, but Sam was always interested in entertainment and promotion so you may see more of her in FOF activities going forward. All six corporations operate under our national labour code so Sam is entitled to maternity leave and have her position ready for her when she comes back. I don’t need the Federal Labour code enforcement as Sam grew up FOF and IAIJ since she was 15 so there is always that. But the orgs are continuing to operate and I keep having to remind myself the pace at which things are happening.


In this issue of The Fortress you don’t see all the film festivals we lobbied - some very famous festivals which is cool and cool for the resume - and branching out from the UN to the WTO and the IMF and World Bank and even the ITU with our worldwide vote concept. None of that is in the paper as it’s still ongoing. If many of you look at your activity and compare it to mine you see a difference and I have to be mindful of that. Of course I don’t have kids but I constantly think my life is going nowhere and nothing is happening. Like last week - a wasted life - because I have not changed the world yet - it comes down to that in my mind. Everything we have done only matters if we score by changing the world even in a small way. At the very least like to see the Positive Mandate become a legitimate concept and philosophy because this is what humanity truly wants. As corny as it sounds that is the Holy Grail apart from religion. So this is why I get bored with everything and feel that nothing is happening. You get used to what we do - so while some tell me I have lived some cool experiences, the reality is you get used to them and want more, and the faster things happen the faster you want results to get the same rush of achievements in the past. I hope this explains my mental position going forward.


Bottom line: you can get used to anything.



Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is one thing I deleted but I should add here and that is the lust of risk. Last Saturday I had collected all my supplies for any pandemic risk to me personally. Then I watched pandemic horror movies in the afternoon. Then a surprise revelation of the bug in Toronto. And then - after supper - a quick trip to the hospital where the bug is and to hang out there and really get into the mindset that I forgot about 17 years ago. A risky thrilling nihilistic addiction you hooked into unsuspectingly. People yesterday were laughing at me when I told them what I did on Saturday night - a perfect Saturday night actually - so what gives?




Beer Chronovirus


What gives is the thrill, the feeling of being alive that you only get when you put it on the line with death everywhere. The cool thing about SARS was that you were not in a war zone, but home, and where death could lurk on the very things you took for granted as safe where you lived. So there is the ambulance with the cop car. You suit up with all your gear so to speak. Where did that person enter and what did they touch? What floor? Did they use the elevator or were they savy enough to use the stairs like the rest of us did? Which staircase was more likely. Death could be anywhere and come at anytime - SARS was killing everyone when I got the itch.


You don’t see it as an addiction. I saw it as my moral duty in a way. You only see the thrill chaser aspect after the fact like on the weekend and rationalize it out. Those risky days are over as I am older and have all sorts of responsibilities, but that bug lust on Saturday seems just bizarre until you think it out and put it back in its box. Check out “The Hurt Locker” as the bomb disposal guy who only lives for the next bomb threat and gets off on it like sex.....


Anyway I just had to get that off my chest.


One other thing: During SARS they used the outbreak to test out things they couldn’t test any other time. I knew this at the time hanging around there from the start. The same thing could be happening right now. Call them targets of opportunity, but I would say if the Chinese can contain the virus with those heavy handed methods currently employed - well then - my hat is off to them! There are all sorts of problems with mass containment including wages and food distribution and all sorts of things. If they can contain this and turn things back they will have established the first successful strategy to quell a pandemic. The CEO of a large pharmaceutical company thinks they may have contained it already, but time will tell as everyone else says otherwise but.....this would be a first on the scale it was employed.


Super Cool in a macro global way!






https://youtu.be/yU2Go4CuB90

https://youtu.be/9xtscAPE0LA

https://youtu.be/-Szo9Hqrd7s2

https://youtu.be/Hc0nJbMERCs
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Maurice Ali



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Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Things at the org can change on a dime!





Shaun Kelly at FOFSTOCK!




Shane texts me that he was in contact with FOF Records artist Shaun Kelly and sure enough the phone rings and it’s Shaun! He wants me to know he is back and already making music again. I quickly got him back into the FOF fold as his contract allows it and we are now in to his second project with FOF!


This guy is good!


I didn’t say that, the last guy who got one of his CDs said that without prompting from me. The fact is you have to divorce yourself from the notion that if you are not signed with Sony or Universal - then they can’t be any good. Well this guy is, and all I ask is you give this local Canadian a listen. My favourite is “Thump” and I just love to crank it up and drive the speakers hard. I cringed knowing we got him on board again and knowing that all his stuff on new platforms were old MP3s, so no 16 bit wave or even MP4. Still in MP3 the songs rock!


https://fofentertainment.com/Hyperventilation.wmv


The artist is Shaun Kelly and we signed him when we first started the record label and it shows in the production values at that time, but that is all we had and we did our best and the music still triumphs over all anyway! But man am I stocked with this guy because he is so good! Anyway, check out his music and realize we do have talent here, just use your ears to confirm it!



Goodnight.....





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Maurice Ali



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Too many things to do and not enough time, but most of it is Shaun Kelly.


Shane Murphy wrote:
New Music from Shaun Kelly and FOF Records!



By Shane Murphy,
Fortress of Freedom Inc.
FOF Entertainment Inc.
FOF Records Inc.





Shaun Kelly at FOFSTOCK!



Shaun Kelly and FOF have entered into another agreement to make more new music. This is the second project with us after Shaun’s first album with FOF titled HYPERVENTILATION. Expect more details about Shaun’s new music in the weeks and months to follow. So from all of us at FOF we wish Shaun Kelly all the best on his new project with FOF Records, Fortress of Freedom and FOF Entertainment!


Shaun Kelly is a journeyman musician and actor living in Toronto. In addition to playing clubs and venues all over Ontario including the large outdoor concert called FOFSTOCK, Shaun has one well received album called Hyperventilation to his name. His acting credits include the movie The Fortress Experiment in addition to being a regular in FOF Entertainment's TV series A Positive Mandate for Humanity all now streaming on Amazon Prime.


Shaun Kelly's IMDB Page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10091413/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t37


More news as it happens!


https://Shaunkelly.ca

https://fofrecords.com

https://fofentertainment.com




FOF RECORDS: CUTTING EDGE MUSIC!



I’m updating Shaun Kelly’s website and stuff like that. His material is everywhere but 13 years old and much of it only uploaded 9 months ago. So I want to create some traffic but there are priorities. We have to get all our videos on VEVO and YouTube. So much to do now. I say so much to do because the label is holding its own without me now. Now I’m being informed of things and reacting to it instead of initiating everything. And with that is the hope for a real future at the record label!



What else.....



Oh: for those who looked at the Hyperventilation video and may have thought it cheesy and sexist - I can tell you nothing could be further from the truth. All that material I shot with Dalila was for another song called “Marilyn” that got scraped by the band AAVRY KNAPP because it was an old song and they wanted to concentrate on the newer stuff. So three weekends of work with Dalila down the drain and also her wish to have been in a music video. Yes, when I first met her she did a video news report for IAIJ on “Word on the Street” but told me she always wanted to be in a rock and roll music video! So this woman gave to our orgs and I felt I still owed her after the first video fell through. So Shaun had this Hyperventilation song and he was AOL at the time and I wanted that song in our variety show, so I used the Marilyn footage for the Hyperventilation video. It works as long as you don’t dig too deep into the lyrics - but I just needed to get Shaun noticed, just noticed, and his music with a beautiful woman in it was just the ticket at the time.




Dalila wearing an outfit from her clothing line!



Now you should know that Dalila is a business woman and fashion designer designing and manufacturing club style fashions here in a Toronto. So we got her in the music video under the pretext of a mini fashion show as the Marilyn song was about this hot, sexy manipulative woman who used men to get what she wanted. So that is what is going on in the Hyperventilation video. The funny thing for me is meeting big time female TV producers who criticize the video as a form of exploitation until they realize that the woman supposedly exploited is using her feminine ways to promote and advertise her clothing and fashion label. So it would seem stereotypes can be had even in those that supposedly are trying to break stereotypes - and Ill leave it at that.....



Goodnight.....





https://fofentertainment.com/Dalila_Music_Video_Segment.wmv
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Maurice Ali



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PostPosted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 7:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A bunch of stuff.....


Firstly I should change the website pic for Shaun Kelly’s website to a more dynamic one from FOFSTOCK. I now have the links up for the movie and TV series and that should do it for now.





Shaun Kelly getting it done at FOFSTOCK!



Secondly I should pitch our stuff to Netflicks here in Canada. No snub to Amazon but with an important report about the CRTC about Netflix needing to charge sales tax and adhere to Canadian Content regulations may have opened a preemptive opportunity for us. They were mostly talking about actual productions to be made in Canada. But here we already have never before seen Canadian productions that can help them dodge this problem and we have 11 easy hours all certified as Canadian productions and ready to go! Remember - Amazon only streams us in the USA and GB but not Canada, so Netflix will still get the premiere and exclusive control in Canada. We shall see what happens there especially seeing how Netflix is losing content lately to the upstart services like Disney. So Netflix first and then Apple as streaming or direct sales.


Thirdly: As in quarantines because of the chronovirus. They want 14 days for anyone leaving China and I agree. Unlike SARS, people can spread the virus before symptoms occur so anyone is suspect. Expect Canada to take the lead in stupidity and not quarantine the whole plane coming back from ground zero in China and be the second place the WHO puts travel restrictions on. Happened last time and the Americans and Australians who are being criticized for being overly cautious may have the last laugh. Canada has been lucky so far, that is all, and the smugness of politicians and health officials for ineptitude in creating safe practices goes out the window with more cases. Another 6 cases and we are in trouble. It’s that close - so bring on the quarantines! I did a 10 day with the deadlier SARS, and if I can do it - anyone can! Even the quarantines can technically fail. So - well into my quarantine I got “cabin fever” and had to get out of the house. I figured getting in the car in the middle of the night and just driving around would do the trick - that went bad in an unexpected way with a traffic light hustler asking for money and then standing in front of the car till I dropped the window and threw some change at him. I really wanted to yell: Welcome to SARS asshole!!!!! From that SARS story of mine published in The Fortress:




"I was lucky; I lived alone and did not have to wear a mask or take any of the precautions that the others had to (in order not to infect anyone else). I would spend my time on the computer talking to friends and posting on my favorite message boards. Every day I had to take my temperature in the morning and evening; and see if it rose over 100.4 degrees or if I showed any of the other symptoms of SARS (dry cough, aches, etc.). We also had a daily press briefing where health officials would read out the SARS total as if it were sports scores. In any event; the days passed uneventfully but I started to get a bad case of "cabin fever".....I had to get out. I figured that since I was not showing symptoms, I could risk a drive around town in my car and then back home - what could be safer than that?


I drove downtown into the swanky Queen Street area where many went clubbing. My head was starting to clear up when this stupid squeegee kid comes up asking to clean my windshield. I sprayed washer fluid on my windshield and fanned the wiper blades in a vain attempt to get rid of him but Noooooo! - he wanted it his way. This guy went ahead and washed my windshield anyway and blocked my car trying to extort money from me. I had no choice; I lowered the window and gave him a toonie (two dollar coin) and gave him a sarcastic "Thanks!" - but really, I wanted to say: "Welcome to SARS.....As**ole". That was the last time I broke quarantine."




Suffice to say you go the over cautious route and not the reverse.....




Goodnight.....





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