Fortress Of Freedom Board

Maurice Ali · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2022 6:58 am Post subject:

I had something strange happen…..

The CRU drives and the power adapter on one of them!

I figured I would just spin the disc drives of the movies we premiered almost four years ago. The main movie (The Fortress Experiment) powered up and spun but the short we also played (Real Life: Real Lives) was completely dead. I really got pissed off as creating these drives was a hassle because they were Linux drives, but taking them out and connecting them to a PC showed it spinning. To be sure I tried another drive in the enclosure unit and it was dead also.

So the unit was dead and had to be replaced but they did have a 5 year warrantee. The problem was that I have two - one was with a kit sold by the people that made my first crappy film rendering. That would be over five years old. The second one I bought would have been 4 years and four months. Anyway it was not worth the hassle. BTW: Do not use those film finishing services to get your film ready for festivals. They are expensive and the final render is crap. The Digital Cinema Package probably had the defective enclosure as it also had a defective power reduction cable. A total rip-off and I had to do the final render myself which was superior in quality at the end of the day. The only useful thing I got was the Dolby 5.1 audio - that was it!

My movie is the lower left corner on Saturday!

Anyway, I bought a new one for 120 bucks or so and that will be that. I’m still keeping that thing functional as we may have a repeat showing at some theatre in the future.

Christmas cards and presents and bonuses and royalties. All of a sudden I’m rushing around like a mad man!

Oh, and for those not up on that lawsuit with the government that is going forward - the suit is about age discrimination with regard to the vaccine distribution during Covid 19. It’s too involved to get into here but the suit asks for about 3.8 billon dollars to be paid to affected people in Ontario. We shall see how it proceeds from here.

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/xCp9zF4SFp0

Maurice Ali · Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 9:50 am Post subject:

I’m sending off the social contract book to the government today. Then we send off the electronic versions of all books.

Front cover

Back Cover

Inside

That is the nicest barcode on any of my books!

I’ve already started sending out Christmas bonuses and contacting people to make sure they haven’t moved. That payroll is rolling!

I keep waffling on thing like keeping the Lotto Film Fest alive and then the next day you are keen on it again. So like the updates to the video and the ongoing hassle of the record label and all that - you keep it all alive because when you fold up the business it is gone for good. Even if you resurrect it people will always wonder if you will quit on them the next day.

My policy is to never close shop and keep going or hand it off…..

I’m a bit more upbeat now but life in general just sucks and keeps sucking. Try to find good in everyone and you will also notice something rotten. The best is to try to bring out the best parts while keeping the worst parts in check. You see this when things become unstable in society, then all the anarchists and such come out of the wood work to do their thing. People like me with a moral centre try to keep things under control for the betterment of all - but it is a thankless job…..

I do have some ideas to help human society - and here we are…..

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/-mSBEpKtH_s

Maurice Ali · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2022 10:55 am Post subject:

Thursday is a snow day.

So I’ll do stuff around the house and pay bills. Just take it easy. I was going to send the advocacy to MySpace but maybe after Christmas.

MySpace Logo

I hate everyone out of town and home based work. I miss seeing my gang on a regular basis. This office is one lonely place, when it was fun and populated before Covid 19 - anyway…..

A snow day so just chill out!

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/dH8WvayAo1M

Maurice Ali · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2022 7:51 am Post subject:

Thursday was a snow day…..

It started as a joke of a snow storm and then ended as a legitimate snow storm even if it was a slushy one. Anyway things got put in hold for a day.

The global social book was received by Libraries and Archives Canada and we will see if it receives the same fate as the Worldwide Vote. If the Worldwide Vote truly disappeared I could just send another one over with the shiny new cover.

The Commission for Social Development has tweaked the side evens for February again - opting that you can hold a side event outside of the United Nations if you want. So we have sort of gone back to the olden days where NGOs could not really do much on the UN property. They do say now that NGOs can still go to in-house side-events, just not hold them on their own anymore. Adding online zoom meetings to the mix was good but losing the in-house nature of the side events was disappointing. I’m glad at least I got the Positive Mandate and Worldwide Vote side events in the before the lock out and videotaped for posterity.

The back of my UN grounds pass!

Having said that, the last thing is applying to speak and maybe it happens or maybe I get blocked. I will go there in February regardless as I need to show the NGO was active or we could lose status. Plus I want to get our grounds pass back so I don’t have to come a day earlier to be to some event later on in the year.

Blast from the past - remember this card?

I will make the plays at the United Nations. They will not be the same failed plays that came before. The lone wolf strategy of dissemination still rules here and sets up a second future run if I fail. Yes, there is always a “Plan B” and a “Plan C” as there is much at stake here. Technology has made the Global Social Contract for humanity a reality, so I do my part and set things up to keep it alive.

The rollout of the record company payroll and bonuses is going fine. I made some substantial cost cutting measures that remains invisible. The next step is slightly more visible but we will be getting the label lean and mean as is my business philosophy to have the companies able to run on vapours.

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/uJTcuhjTuu8

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 2:33 am Post subject:

Just a quickie.

I slept in most of Saturday. I did get out to do some shopping and stuff. Yes, that was the day - just sleeping and shopping.

There is no time for much on anything else but I did get Sam to give me a recent photo to use as we haven’t had one from her in two years:

Sam

So this was the one she sent me. Normally I figured I’d get something more boring and corporate - but I got this. Times change, I’ve known Sam since she was 15 and how she has changed and now with a toddler and all, no events at dives but trips to the “Dino Drive” holding back a very excite kid!

I was also thinking about the advocacy. All the heavy lifting is done. And this was a blessing in disguise as I don’t have much time for anything anymore. These are just the vagaries of life the suddenly show up to nobble your ambitions and advocacy.

But the plays are going to be played. The last attempt in the 1990s had lots or organizations and people signing statements and such. It got ignored and unfortunately failed. So why on earth would I replicate that failed attempt? This attempt is the polar opposite with a lone wolf, attempt at influence and dissemination.

The United Nations is set up to dismiss the large organizations and tons of signatures request. They just say: No! So this is a different way and with better technology that makes it a true reality for today!

I could also fail but we are far enough along that failure simply sets up another run at it for someone else. It really is all good as an attempt and endorses the money and time an individual spent on something that would provide the greatest happiness for all eight billion people in earth.

So don’t get too down as things disappear in front of my eyes and plans get squashed as we go along. That side event turned into a scrub with the changes post-Covid. The request to speak could similarly disappear before my eyes or we could simply get blocked. But we can go straight to the man himself and I intend to try that. That one is harder to block…..

The Fates

And in the end if that also fails, there is the idea used in major social platforms. I can still do all this in my current situation. The Fates want this attempt to play itself out on the merits of the plays and not get scuttled by illness or circumstances. As much as my current life sucks I can still
do this and it is huge! My way is different, it’s not a full on large scale assault, but a more quiet and hidden one-on-one form of advocacy. It’s not as exciting, but “exciting” got clobbered the last time - this attempt is different and unexpected, and so has a chance…..

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/NeCFdQObeHg

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 9:45 am Post subject:

Targeting another platform: AOL

Myspace and AOL share a similar predicament and it is interesting how to spin my organizations ideals to them. It will come but tweaking the philosophy for different organizations is fun when you have down time…..

I’m also going to shorten down the written statement on the Global Social Contract and see if I can sneak it under their usual 3 minute limit. This could change also becoming a zoom call affair. We shall see how that goes but I am planing a physical trip there in the first two weeks of February.

I’m no longer depressed about everything, but I’m not exactly happy either. I would say in the last year time really closed in on me and that has had the greatest impact in my disposition. You now are pretty sure what the future holds in your personal life and it is a pain in the ass to prepare for. The happy-go-lucky days of the past are gone and every action is weighed more carefully now. There is no more “spend it now and it will eventually get paid off later” philosophy. It is a good position to be in with all short term debt paid off, but that also means a more stunted viewpoint for the for-profit corporations.

We will have to transition things to an in-house sustainable model and that may mean turning some of them into not-for-profits. That is why all have the .org website - for example. Anyways, that’s what is happening in my mind right now.

Goodnight…..

Maurice Ali · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2022 2:07 am Post subject:

First of all, please note that Twitter is using polling/voting to decide things: as in this case, suspensions of journalists.

Surprising as we sent this such a thing to Elon Musk at Tesla early in the year. I’m not connecting the dots directly but just showing how the dissemination of ideas can work in very indirect ways - like a virus infecting people’s minds.

Elon Musk owns Twitter, yet deferred this decision to the users, the community, instead of his own - the first steps to a social contract at Twitter?

Next up is the verbal statement about the new Global Social Contract: The speech is now down to 3:05 minutes so we are mostly there…..

Meanwhile - back at the ranch…..

It looks like the human rights case is for real as I got this email - on Sunday, of course…

So we notify the other parties, except the Health Minister left politics so the name and constituency office has moved. So I have to be careful here as that could give the court a reason to quash. Anyway I have till January 23 to get it done. One of my Directors just told me it’s the Ministry of Health and not the individual person to send the letter to - moron! Yes, that is how we talk at this organization - hehehehehe…..

And so I had to have the biggest balls and throw that 3.8 billion dollar number in there! That basically ensures that I will be dealing with the “A Team” from the start. At least I don’t have to pay costs. Anyway, things are progressing…..

EDIT: I’ll throw this one here now as it’s so fluid. So Elon posts another poll about if he should step down - guess what - they voted to have him step down. Maybe he has a President lined up for the job as I’m sure Tesla wants him back pronto, but who knows?

Goodnight…..

Maurice Ali · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2022 6:25 am Post subject:

Well, for what it’s worth , Elon Musk did try to make all policy changes by polling/voting by Twitter users.

This is the closest we have come to a social contract on a major platform. It actually echos many points in that letter I sent him in May, and you naturally wonder if it had any effect. Elon Musk was my first choice here as he wanted to change Twitter in many ways and as the owner and with his signature mercurial tendencies - outsiders had a chance to reach him and have an effect!

And there you are. Outside of them actually telling you Musk read the letter himself - you will never know for sure. However, if we assume the letter was opened and read - then how could it have affected things? Maybe someone read it and mentioned it at a meeting and it got bounced around with the Positive Mandate idea getting bounced out immediately and with the voting policy only maintaining interest. A gazillion ways things could have happened, or not happened - you just don’t know.

Even Twitter Safety was using polling for policy!

And as soon as Musk seemed well on the way to enshrining voting as a way to set policy, he seemingly put his own job on the line in a vote and got tossed out!

The funny part is how I felt about it all. I felt hollow, empty, with no exhilaration in seeing things at Twitter starting to look like a social contract in the making. Just how weird is that! You spend 20 years working on things that lead to this Global Social Contract and when it looks like the idea maybe taking shape in the commercial space - you feel “flat”. I just figured I would be totally honest with you and tell you how I felt about the whole thing…..

The Fates don’t care about any of this - they only care about the plays and the choices made and the results. It matters not who delivers the idea - just that the idea is delivered, and I just happened to be that guy! So unlike the action movies, attaining the objective was not a simmering anticipation with an explosion of joy and happiness when it was attained - it was not at all like that! For me it is just thinking about things quietly and guesstimating if it was you and how empty the moment was.

The Fates

It is what it is and I’ll revisited this in a few days.

But I don’t have to do that as it seems Elon will now only allow voting going forward for paid subscribers as he said in a tweet following his own poll about stepping down at Twitter (Bloomberg). So the commercial version of the Global Social Contract took all of a day or so to go from altruistic to all, to now a select few who can afford to pay the monthly subscription model. The funny part is how I don’t feel “flat” anymore as I witness possibly the slow degradation of a social contract in the real world.

How long did it take to go back to a two tiered system of status - a day or so? This is fascinating and disappointing all at the same time! And the crazy part is that it is all real.

In the end it took me 18 years to come up with the new Global Social Contract. It took seven months from dissemination of the package ideas at Tesla to a hint that the idea may have taken hold. Then a day or so for it to be changed from any and all users to paid subscription users.

Well I did say a few days ago that I really wanted to see the Global Social Contract being used in the field - and here we are! Things are still fluid though and reversals are still a thing at Twitter - we shall just have to wait and see what else happens.

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/lWEo78tZ6YM

Maurice Ali · Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2022 8:46 am Post subject:

Another day…..

I am planning to bring in some of my gang to the UN and finally tried to fixed a verification registering problem I had but only succeeded in cancelling my registration for February - nice! What a moron I am…..

So now I have to go to the event organizer “hat in hand and ask to be reinstated”. Curiously, I thought to myself: “What happens if they don’t?” I simply go directly to the Secretary General and give him the new Global Social Contract he always wanted and carry on!

The Elon Musk letter was enough to get me to just go to the top - take it to the man - and forget about all these other distractions at ground level. Just do it - take your shot - and resolve the whole thing now, one way or another…..

Some folk here were all excited talking about all the voting going on at Twitter, even the stuff not from Musk. Now to be fair, Musk likes polling in the past, but this total reliance on polling to make policy changes does mean a social contract is being made, even if it is just for verified blue mark accounts. This also gives me the first real time view of how a social contract with voting would play out - warts and all! I said I wanted this and when it first happened I was like: Meh….. But now I’m into it and will keep an eye on it and see what happens and maybe even tweak things with our own social contract to make it more viable.

I asked for it and now I got it! But I sure would like to know if we had the slightest hand in this. Dissemination is like the spreading of a virus and getting back to “patient zero” is hard as hell. I just personally would have liked to know…..

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/V1HH1-ozS_A

Maurice Ali · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2022 10:14 am Post subject:

A quickie as I’m rushing around doing Christmas stuff before a big snowstorm.

When I really got into this it was almost a sort of alternate universe lifestyle. Do the TV/Movie thing, then do the music and concerts thing, and do the UN thing and write books and so on. That’s not a bad lifestyle - but the reality is that I did all of that for a purpose.

By one viewpoint, that could even sort of make up a little bit for the crap I had to put up with in my life - but otherwise nothing has changed and I am here to provoke - change for everyone.

I am not trying to fit in anymore as I always wanted to. - I am this barbaric savage with a hint of creativity and intellect. I am not refined but virile and I can create. Like those that created the Roman Empire, I have plans on a global scale. What sort of symbolism is needed for this type of ambition? Not a dove, and at first thought I was thinking along the lines of Beretta’s logo with the three arrows and then remembered I have a logo and it is this:

Yup, Pet’s creation from almost 20 years ago. That is “me” with the FOF and globe beside it. A registered Trademark too!

A lifestyle choice means getting comfortable and that neuters ambition. I have a job to do and have been training myself to not be intimidated by titles but to just go and disseminate the philosophy to the person that matters and see what happens!

So not a lifestyle, and if the UN kicks me out then that is cool as long as the philosophy has been disseminated to the Secretary General who specifically asked for it.

My new Year’s resolution…..

Sam - used to be homeless (current staff)!

Otherwise I’m sending out royalty checks to my gang and listening to House Music - especially if it has scat! Wow, and I’m am way surprised at how many of my gang I met when they were living on the street - RAW - I have to keep in mind the genesis that created all that has come to this ever since. Never forget!

Jessica - used to be homeless (current staff)!

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/k6_rYuq0zHU

https://youtu.be/WVN9vyvS0zs

Maurice Ali · Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:16 pm Post subject:

There is this major storm happening so I took the bus instead of the car. If there is snow I’ll ditch the Mustang at my place and take the Enclave (SUV) instead. But today it’s freezing rain and ice so I took the bus.

I’m lucky and just walk to the bus stop and take the bus and 20 minutes later I’m there. Anyway, I walk up to the bus stop I rarely use and notice another one going east on the other side of the intersection - WTF? So my bus shows up at the other stop and passes me by. So I walk over to this woman and ask her what’s going on. Turns out the stop I was at was for the express bus and this one was every stop. Don’t even ask me why we have two stops for busses going the same way.….

Anyway this woman talking to me seems to form the college down the road, a young hot lass - it with a black patch over on eye. Well, I have to admit that looked really sexy - an eye patch. It did work for guys in the past - but for a woman - sure does…..

Oh yes, Daryl Hannah on Kill Bill sported the patch - again - sexy! This was probably temporary as real eye loss would have a prosthetic instead. But I guess she saw how awesome it looked and rode with it…..

Otherwise a crappy day you just want to get out of the way. Yikes, some guy on the bus coughed a few times, so on with the mask
it is - you know how it is…..

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/VACN1RenMvE

https://youtu.be/DAUFrMtInIo

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2022 5:07 pm Post subject:

The best thing that ever happened with the advocacy is going to the UN in September and seeng all the world leaders as they are, just ordinary people, and as in my youth, you may have something extra on all these cats. So why not try and impose your will of a better world if you can. Strategically you are placed to have a go at it. And given all that - via my moral imperative, you have to carry through!

Sounds arrogant but you are probably not in the head space where I am. Strangely, I wonder what all those folk of my past would think about me. Those that took me in as a young man and showed me how society really works. What would they say? These deviates of society, they live on the periphery of society or occupy high places with a secret they dare not reveal - what would they think of me today? They would probably look at me strangely as I have gone so much farther than they ever did. They still play the “us against them” mindset - while it’s all “us” in my mind.

Aside from all that above, the weather has had a massive impact on how I operate today. I could not sleep properly at my dad’s place and left in the morning to buy some Christmas wrap and cheese (we are out of cheese), then back to my place where a huge dune of snow across the driveway greeted me! I just slogged through that, got inside and ate lunch and watched a movie and fell asleep. Get up and start shoveling snow and quit half way as the winds have frozen your fingers.

And here you are soaking in a tub and dreading going back out. I may actually use the Mustang instead of the bus if they finally plowed my dad’s street - yes, this is what goes through my mind today. I’ll help out with the pre-Christmas festivities and then go back home and actually sleep tonight.

I also believe I have broken my Starbucks addiction as I went the whole week without Starbucks, and I did it without even thinking about it. Next up is potato chips…..

Anyway, it is what it is…..

At Twitter, they seem to hold steady at having votes for more policy decision making - again, a social contract in the making?

Goodnight…..

Maurice Ali · Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2022 7:19 am Post subject:

The year end…..

The biggest thing that happened was that trip to the UN when all the world leaders were there - and at the beginning when all the action happens. I saw lots of them as they are - just ordinary human beings. These positions have to be filled so they do their best but in the end they are human.

My ugly mug at the Trusteeship Chambers!

Then you notice that “you” are there in the same place and company they are! You sort of are the company you keep, and for the first time you are there among them! So you actually are there - you made it - and what do you do with that status? You make your play to change the world for the better!

The Secretary General speaking!

There was only a small group of NGOs and the rest were world leaders and their handlers. That was it in all of the world at this important moment, this vortex of power and influence in the world - and you were there…..

This was important as what I am trying to do is now a ”head game”. Prior to this the physical was the end result, The movie and concerts and books and on and on. To do this last step you have to know you belong, you have the right to be there, and if there, you have the right to provoke change!

All the physicality so far was just a means to an end. And with the core philosophy endorsed by The Fortress Experiment - you now make
the play at its highest levels. That part is now all in the head. Humanity yearns for a new way, further social development, and you have one such answer.

Just one more play…..

In other news:

Davinci Resolve replaced AVID!

I’ll open up the DaVinci Resolve editor and start a new project call “A Global Social Contract” and update things and start to work on the new show. Things may be over in a few months but history shows me that things keep trundling along miserably, but trundling along…..

Happy Holidays and/or Merry Christmas!

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/GnQYtbbsJzM

Maurice Ali · Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2022 3:27 pm Post subject:

Two wasted days and counting…..

Yes, I know, it’s Christmas and all but I had planned to do some stuff over the holidays. Christmas was the usual Covid 19 Christmas with me at my dad’s place. I had to heat up the Christmas dinner while before Covid I just showed up just before supper. After supper I just watched drag racing videos with my father and sister.

A new yet unused Camcorder!

So I figured a quick trip to the grocery store and the mall on Boxing Day! Grocery stores closed and malls filled to capacity! I did transfer some files and start a new project on the social contract advocacy - on that new Resolve editor I have. I may even videotape an update before I return to work. And I have to take care of all that outstanding stuff like the court case against the government and that screwup of mine at the UN.

I keep forgetting how old I am and how short on time there is. Funny, how I started this all on my own and it grew and got populated with all sorts of people and while most are still all there technically, with Covid and scaling back, I’m just as alone as I was almost 20 years ago…..

The Fates

Just deliver that new Global Social Contract to the UN as best you can. Don’t be surprised if it all ends horribly - this is after all, real life - but nobody truly knows the future, except maybe The Fates. You just make the play and maybe you get your freedom - or maybe not…..

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/JVZwoLZgrRs

Maurice Ali · Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2022 6:30 am Post subject:

i’m getting back into the video groove…..

I got the lighting wrong here!

I videotaped an update with the new camcorder and am learning how to light my face with it. I also found another update from early in the year so the updates compliment each other. Then I’ll just throw them in the timeline and see what happens as we go along.

One thing I will do is scrap the Lotto Film Fest. This was my attempt to de-scam the film festival model by having shorts reviewed during the festival and thrown out by a gong during public review. Nice idea but driven by my own experience at the festivals. Seriously, I believe there are only two worthwhile types of festivals:

1. The big ones which are really markets for distribution of real films usually with at least one well known actor.

2. The other type is the lowest of the low where everyone gets in that pays the outrageous fee that rents the conference rooms and an Epson projector at some hotel. You go there and book into a hotel room for yourself and family. The family goes on vacation outside the hotel leaving you there during the day to have fun watching and ripping movies premiered by others and their films. That is just for fun but at least it’s an experience.

Some protectors at the Royal Cinema above and below - note the ducting for cooling!

The digital gear to make it all happen!

Real 35mm films get shown here!

For me I did it old school, premiere at some stand alone theatre - it was actually just to see what it looked like during the film festival run but turned it into the premiere. Then to Prime Video which now sounds cool because you can’t submit for streaming anymore on Prime. Then DVD sales on Amazon (and you can’t even do that on Amazon anymore - all gone) and finally to YouTube. Just like any genuine indie film. And sadly, these days you can’t even do that anymore…..

I don’t even want to think about the money I wasted on festivals that you never had a chance. You have to know the people in the festival to get in - sad but that is the reality.

The Fortress Experiment at TIFF!

Goodnight…..

https://youtu.be/Xnhb8z5K8Mg