What makes up a person's outlook on life?

 No doubt about it, the year 2020 is about to go down in human history as one of the most unusual periods of time, and not only because of Covid 19, but in the myriad of ways people have reacted to the various aspects of the previous 12 months, it seems to have amplified, or perhaps a better word would be delineated, our behaviours. Personally, I have seen some people remain positive, while others steadfastly hold onto their negative behaviours, and the third group who are… What's the word… Indifferent. All this has me thinking, what exactly is it that maintains a person's outlook on life? Are we simply creatures of habit, blindly following  routines? I don't think so.

In recent years I've become very aware that my own personal outlook on life remains overall very positive. Even when I perceived difficulty, my tendency is to immediately go into problem-solving mode. When I cannot control something, and I am becoming more aware of this as I grow older, I tend not to expend energy on what I cannot alter. Sometimes going as far as making a silent agreement with whatever the event is to "let bygones be bygones for the time being". There may be a mental note made to revisit the issue later on, as opportunity an change present themselves. Indeed I am usually thankful for the event regardless of it being positive or negative because it is an opportunity to be aware.

While writing this very text I have  suddenly become cognizant of the answer to the question posed by the title of this post "What makes a positive outlook on life possible?". It is two things:

1. Awareness of the moment or situation.
2. Engagement, undertaking to influence or decide what to do.

 Above all, not to pretend that the situation doesn't exist. Even if the engagement is the decision to make up one's mind about the issue later. But make the action of deferment on your decision sincere make sure to come back and deal with it.

One is not separate from the situation regardless of what it is. There will always be some aspect under a person's control. And of the two points mentioned above "engagement" is the most important. That means being involved with whatever is happening in a very active way. Not being passive and waiting for the answer to come to you. Like everything else in life, it works best when you strive outside of your routines and habits.

Overreliance on habits weakens one's ability to challenge and adapt to new experiences. One begins to take things for granted and slowly loses their connection to the joy in life. In short keep changing when something is too easy find something just a tiny bit scary and undertake it.

I understand now, that in many cases where people are apathetic they are often times holding on to the behaviours rather than spending energy on either being aware or affecting their situation. Simplifying their thought processes down to habitual routines. This cannot have a good effect on any aspect of the person, because over time one would effectively shut down their own cognitive abilities. The self-induced, but very real, extremely mild, coma like state. The result would be someone who never explores and always looks for the familiar, the routine, so they just don't have to think about anything. Regardless of belief system, one must to knowledge that, I wore life as we know it is very brief. Life is a unique experience in that each day cannot be repeated and the future is always full of mystery if one is aware, so let's not waste it.

Here we are again back at the Matrix (opens in a new window) movie parallel. And of course, just like in the movie, if one misses the opportunity to be aware of their situation and be engaged in the same they become prime targets for manipulation. Because someone else has to do for them whatever they are not doing themselves.

Egad I have just scared myself, because I know quite a few people that fit into that matrix category. They seek only what is already established. Never looking for that new experience, that colourful paintbrush if you will. Moreover they tend to be very reliant, if not needy, on other people. Constantly asking and deferring all responsibility for action. They want the new smart TV set or other gizmo. But when they get they rely on others to set it up, because sending something new up involves the very thing they don't want-The New Experience.

Oh what a bizarre situation... Well I am very glad that I love new experiences :-)! I hope this short little article inspires all who read it to be aware of their surroundings and involved in their own lives. Because when you are you realize there is opportunity and magic every time you become aware of your surroundings.

Continue to explore everyone and see you next year in 2021!
Take care Patrick

A Thought about Thinking

Image modified (text added) based on drawing
by MithrandirMage. Creative Commons

Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

I volunteer in the technology sector. That is, building webpages, figuring out problems with computers (usually older ones) and pretty much handling a wide variety of issues over the phone. I can safely say there's never a dull moment.

One would think they'll that with all the tools we have at our disposal to save time, that the average person would be far more efficient and able to focus on the task at hand. But the opposite appears to be true, at least from my perspective. The various services we have to organize our lives seem to each have their own way of doing things and one is constantly switching between one thing or another. That in itself is inherently inefficient and to further add to the recipe of chaos the concept of detailed instructions seems to gone out the door in favour of icons and "relationships". So one is faced with the undesirable task of having to figure out the designer's perceptions.--This is where a well written manual the most beneficial. Now doing this on occasion or when one has a real mystery to solve is downright fun, but on the other hand when your goal of the day is to achieve something well done this gets to be a real impediment.

I find myself thinking about the thought processes of various modern-day developers. Indeed how well do they know themselves when you come right down to it. Because if you don't know your own motivations and it is hard to know exactly what drives your own designs and creativeness and things can get out of hand and the new application being created ends up being boxed in and more limited than its predecessor. A real world example of this is the new upgraded app which controls my smart lights. It seems to have far less functionality, for example you can no longer dim the lights on a timer for the whole house, you must set each individual room which means more time spent. And day help section is more of a philosophical explanation of why "you" the user will find this new app so wonderful. But as to what slider does what, well one has to spend some time playing around with it. And if one's way of using the app does not coincide with the philosophical instructions then it isn't so wonderful after all.

I just wonder about the mindsets and how people are thinking and indeed about their various thought processes. What will the machines think of us when they finally do "wake up" at the singularity? Just how well do we know our own thinking?

There is a silver lining

Photo by Keven Law. 
CC Share Alike 2.0 Generic Licence

Apologies to everyone for not updating my blog in the last several months. I have been very busy and of course the pandemic has changed a great deal on how we do things and as I'm sure everyone knows by now, when you work from home there is a tendency to keep working. No longer do you have the separation, it's just "one more thing", followed by "one more thing…" after that… On and on and, on it goes.

One thing I have noticed in the past few months is a sharp polarization of various viewpoints. No longer are there debates on whatever topic might be at hand in discussion, rather people seem to be digging their heels in. I think this is mostly due to an anxiety response. We all have an innate desire to change and control things. When an event happens which is global in scope there is a tendency to feel helpless and therefore you hold on to whatever you can even harder. Be it a behaviour, or an opinion. The line is drawn deeper in the sand. And just maybe this is had an unforeseen positive impact in that people are once again learning to speak up. The world is a little rougher and a little more uncertain… Some of the cushions have been taken away.

With the current protests and social actions which are so reminiscent of the 1960s in their scope and sincerity, have taken place to the same extent if the pandemic had not occurred. I think for people worldwide this is help the knockoff the "apathetic shoes" we were all wearing. This event is far from over and only time will tell how everything will play out. 

But globally I find myself feeling a little better knowing that people can stand together and take action. I was beginning to lose hope a tiny bit in the human race. But this is proven people still can do great things for those around them, as well as the larger community of humanity.

There is a silver lining. And it is nice to see.

Patrick

Question: How to Deal with an Upload Bottleneck with ADSL?

From Needpix.com
Used under Creative Commons Zero - CC0

Okay my geek audience out there, I have a classic bottleneck problem which I need some feedback on.

Here are the gruesome details:

• I have a network storage device with about 1 TB of information which is due to have its drives replaced.
• I have 2 TB of storage on Google Drive.
• My home Internet connection is an ADSL (I bet some of you can already see where the problem is going to emerge) with 25 Mb upstream and 75 Mb downstream.

Many of the files and folders I need to upload are large in the multiples of gigabytes range, therefore some take hours.

The primary problem:

Regardless of how I try to upload the files, the upstream saturates at full speed, which brings my whole connection down because it is asynchronous. The solution of course is to limit the upload speed by either bandwidth or QoS settings, neither of which my router has. Tried to use the Google Chrome browser Developer Console (Control + Shift +i) to limit the bandwidth, but this proved to be unreliable. The console has a tendency to just shut down after a few hours.

The secondary problem:

Found out that Google Drive has a problem with certain file extensions. They upload correctly but when you tried to download the folder they are contained in instead of Google Drive downloading them as a single zip file a downloads a zip file all rights but then also downloads files with presumably random extensions. Very strange behaviour. My solution, I thought would be to use WinZip 24 Pro edition to put everything in an archive and then upload it. But WinZip appears to have no settings for limiting the upload speed and so again my network saturates.

I have emailed WinZip technical support but they don't seem to grasp situation. I just get form letters in response asking for more information. I think I may know more about networking than they do. And that's not much!

Thought I had the answer the other night when I found some freeware called "TMeter" along with his site completely explaining how to properly set it up to limit your upload speed on a per application basis. But… WinZip apparently launches another process to do the actual uploading and tracking that down is proving to be quite the frustration.

So if anyone out there has any ideas on how to limit one's upload speed so as to not saturate an asynchronous connection please let me know!

I find it very surprising that WinZip with all their current focus on cloud storage has not addressed the situation and surely since most home Internet accounts are also asynchronous (meaning that if you overload the upload side, you also kill your download. Which effectively knocks you off the Internet.) It would vastly improve the program. All you would need is a setting that would allow you to indicate the maximum upload speed you wanted to use. Thereby saving your connection from disaster.

By the way every time my connection fails due to the situation I have to start all over again since I don't know exactly where the upload aborted.

I have spent many days and gigabytes of traffic trying to solve this problem. I know Google Drive has some desktop software which does have the appropriate settings, but it only allows you to upload pictures and well-known file formats. Since I'm trying to backup an entire hard drive containing ISOs archives in a wide variety of other things that solution did me no good.

Take care Patrick and any help would be greatly appreciated or even a guess.

Internet School

Vladsinger the copyright holder of this work, release this work
into the Public domain. This applies worldwide

Because of a recent break-in in our building, I am putting together a course for my fellow tenant's on how to use the services available online rather than getting documentation and cheques through the physical mail. Part of this course will cover "Internet safety"

My rough thoughts are being put in the following article so that you the readership can make comments and therefore influence the results. The Internet is incredibly dynamic and so should be the ways of accomplishing various tasks.

My first thought is, and will use Google as an example, when a person first sits down in front of a monitor displaying Google, what thoughts and relationships are they forming? Are they approaching it like I would, being very technically savvy and pondering which search terms to use, or are they looking at it from the perspective of a table of contents in a printed book? The answers to these questions greatly changes how the information should be presented to the various people in the course. I have a mandate in that the course cannot be excessively long or detailed but rather (hopefully) a bulleted concise list of things that can be remembered and comprehended quickly. Just how the heck am I going to put the Internet in a bottle?! And of course it must be interesting in order to be remembered.

The scenario is this:

• Adult audience
• Most are casual Internet users.
• Familiar with Facebook to some degree.

I'm going out on a limb, (this is my own personal opinion which may be terribly wrong) but I would say there is a tendency among most people to implicitly believe whatever they read in the search results.- EEEK!

So stay tuned… I will be updating this hopefully every day. Tuesdays and Thursdays are rather difficult as I have other things to do. But feel free to share any Internet learning experience in the comments.

To get the discussion going...

Questions to ask people:

• What do you use the Internet for?
• What do you find most frustrating about the Internet?
• What would you like to learn (be specific)?

"Thinking" Is Not "What One Thinks"

The Thinker in The Gates of Hell
by Auguste Rodin..  Used under CC 2.0.License.
Photo by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra.

Over and over again, I find myself wondering if the human species really is capable of independent thought, or is it just that we create the illusion for ourselves, when in reality we are rearranging pre-existing information and calling it something new?

This is definitely not the case for researchers on the cutting edge of technology, one needs only look at the astounding achievements in the various fields over the last few years. What was once science-fiction, is not only fact but often we have gone beyond it. (I always find myself giggling when I look back at the original Star Trek series on TV with the character "Uhura", played by Nichelle Nichols, with the large communicator earpiece.)

But for the most part in our day-to-day lives do we really think independent thoughts? Are we really considering what we are hearing and seeing before we make a judgement? I think the answer is "No". We hear snippets of information all throughout the day and connect them together to create a temporary narrative which usually fits our preconceptions and is comfortable in some way, then we move on to the next item or distraction. But there is no real consideration. Even writing this short little article, there have been several interruptions of various sorts and side ventures occurring within a mere three paragraphs.

Nichelle Nichols as "Nyota Uhura".
This work, identified by PublicDomainFiles.com,
is free of known copyright restrictions.

The photo of Uhura with her earpiece turned into a quest when finding a photo which was copyright cleared, at least for editorial purposes. While I'm confident that this article meets all the appropriate requirements, to be absolutely certain probably would've taken hours of research plus some legal advice. So I did what most people do now days I skimmed the surface of knowledge, but at least I thought about the issue. My mental processes were engaged. Which is probably closer to independent thought that a lot of people get in their busy daily routines.

I think what concerns me most is that over time the human species may actually lose some of our cognitive thinking processes. It would be the old story: "If you don't use it, you lose it." And the voices taught me one thing it is that such things can happen quickly. The brain will reorganize rapidly to suit whatever environment it is in. Many years ago, I was in a body cast for six weeks. When it was taken off, my brain had forgotten how to move my legs. It was a remarkable experience, because of course you don't command your legs to move, they just do when you want them to. There is no internal language in this desire to move, at least not on a conscious level. Not only could my brain remember how to move my legs, I couldn't even tell you what I forgot. I just knew my legs weren't responding to my desires. Then an orderly moved my legs a few times, and in the space of a few minutes I reconnected and was back to normal.-But I still couldn't tell you what I relearned. Clearly learning and thinking happen on a much deeper level than we are normally conscious of. It was a remarkable experience. And I definitely understood how easy it would be to lose these abilities and that I really didn't understand what thinking was-and, still don't.

This is one of those times where I wish I had a time machine and could go back a few hundred years or maybe even less to observe how people actually engaged in the thinking process. With less automation, and thereby more "hands-on effort" by the brain I have a feeling it would be discovered that peoples cognitive thinking level was higher. How many people reading this text today have actually solved an arithmetic question in their heads in the last week or two. Less than 50 years ago everyone had to do some basic math in their head every day, whether that was counting money or just assessing something else.

Are we beginning to lose the very ability to truly think something new because we are so busy getting distracted?  There is literally no time to sit down and ponder ideas or concepts. I have been going to a small little cappuccino place for about the last year and in all that time I have not seen anyone with a book or piece of paper or even a device focused on a single goal. What I do see is people with a tablet, laptop, or even several phones switching between screens and presumably tasks. Your mind needs time to form thoughts to truly embed them in one's conscious reality. Google and Alexa have replaced this for the most part.

When I found the photo of the "Thinker In the Gates of Hell" at the top of this post I tried to imagine what it would be like for one individual to go through all the stages of creating a tremendous sculpture. Even if he had a team of assistants it is truly a mind-boggling and awe-inspiring undertaking. Could anyone do this now in the 21st century without relying on the augmentation technology gives us?

"Thinking" is not so much "what one thinks" it is the process of" how one thinks", and I think the important point there is that it is a process we need all to exercise. Maybe that is why I enjoy complexity in mystery and problem solving. I like the messy stuff. I don't like to use Google for everything despite what I had to do to write this short little article regarding the copyright issues for Star Trek related photo.

😉 Now I have an urge to go out and find a debating team😀
Until Next Week, Take Care Patrick Clark

Caravan of the Books

Photo by Alexandre Boue
licensed under the Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

I was watching a program the other night "Caravan of the Books: Kenya's Mobile Camel Library" (click the updated link for one minute preview) and was struck by the fact that this is happening in the 21st century. It is a marvellous and hopeful program, but North America and the developed world are planets apart. I felt guilty when I thought about demanding rights for this item or that item in the modern world. My electric wheelchair is not only computer-controlled but reports back to the company twice a day with complete diagnostics and has a huge range of features, all aimed at one thing-making me feel comfortable.

In our modern world of multitasking and distracting ourselves the message in this show was clear-at least to me-"How about we raise up the rest of the world allowing them to have opportunities and access." That leads into the question of what sort of things make societies separate. Is it just human nature to be tribal and unique at any cost? And when we arrive at an answer is the purpose of the "answer" just to make the affluent feel better?

I will expand on this in the coming weeks as more thoughts occur to me. My first is yet another question, "now that we know the past is not as simple or romantic as we'd hoped how do I do we change our present behaviours so that cultures can benefit from advancements while keeping their identity and uniqueness in any way they wish?

Patrick

They Have Never Been Taught To Think

This is a spontaneous rant… I am really astonished…

Recently, I have met a number of people who when faced with any obstacle, be it physical or anything requiring fundamental problem-solving effort just immediately give up. With "That Didn't Work…, I Don't Know…, You do it for me…, I can't…" (And the list goes on). What has happened to our modern culture's mindset. These people seem to have no desire to explore, and more importantly enjoy and grow from the experience. This seems to be especially prevalent in those that are 30 years old or younger.

It's as though they have never been taught to think. They just run programs in their head and when an obstacle is encountered which hasn't been explicitly given the answer to previously the person just fractious out coming to a dead stop. This is the exact opposite to how I look at the world, I enjoy challenge and mystery. The act of finding out what is not knowing yet. There is so much joy in discovering something new.

Yet when one tries to encourage people with this modern mindset to go beyond their boundaries, then their brain kicks in with the thousand and one reasons not to, and I suppose that's a good sign it a way, as it means their "mental ship" isn't entirely sunk. But I swear if I meet one more, "can't do that… Help me…" Person today I may go entirely Daffy Duck, even if it means getting my bill shot off!

I hope, you will enjoy challenge and exploration in your daily life. If things are getting a little mundane, please do scribble outside the lines or take that chance to grow. You will be certain to find joy. If something seems initially, hard take that as a good sign and do it anyway. It may not be important whether you succeed or fail, but what is important is that you keep expanding your horizons. You will benefit in the short run and throw tremendously in later years.

When you think about it, all creative minds come from stretching the boundaries, reinventing what is normal along the way. It is a process that never stops. Thank you goodness!

I feel so much better now. Let me know your experiences with people nowadays. Do you love challenge? Are you that creative sort that doesn't quite fit in? If you are you are in good company and glad that you found my little blog. Do stay in touch. Sincerely

Patrick Clark

"Reality" is what you make it.

Click image to enlarge.

One of the most frequently read articles on this blog is "What is being sentient like for you?", It is consistently one of the top 2 posts. Briefly it deals with the idea that each individual's experience of self may differ quite a bit from one person to the next, much more than is generally perceived by society. I don't think the universal human experience exists, and further each person's "reality" is what they make it, moment to moment.

The intriguing aspect is, we all get caught up in our own realities and there is a tendency to just follow whatever storyline is created. For example, if someone is in love, then their reality is beautiful. That's situation is easy to see and it usually brings a smile the face of the onlooker. However, usually unconsciously the onlooker has just adopted the other person's reality in some aspect. It is usually short-term, but one always goes away after meeting someone who's in love feeling just a bit better.

Now, why is it that some realities people create are just short-term while others last four months if not longer? These longer-lasting perceptions and realities which people adopt I have noticed tend to be in the more negative realm. We all know a "Mr. Scrooge" who has a perpetually dark outlook. No matter what you say, or indeed what happens, somehow (and I often find this amazing that the human mind can be so bright) they find a way to see a negative aspect. It is much rarer to find someone who makes light in the darkness. Who takes a negative and spins it positive, although many such people do exist and I have had the joys of meeting them.

If it's at we as a society are not taught to be aware of how we think and relate to ourselves, but because the modern world has such a focus on external distraction, people just go with the flow? I think the answer to the question is "Yes". I wonder if a formal study has ever been done of cultures which have some form of, for lack of a better term, "personal self review" as opposed to those which are externalized has ever been done. Cultures cultures which employ the practice of meditation as opposed to those which do not might be an interesting study indeed.

I can see how people can get stuck in a reality which is not good for them, we are all so busy nowadays. Speaking personally the last year I have been so busy with various projects and events that I gave up trying to get to the end of the perpetual to do list. This was the realization when maintaining the list itself became an item on "the to do list". That was a bizarre situation indeed…

The other thing is which is not worthy is the fact that statutory holidays in Canada don't seem to be adhered to for the most part anymore. More businesses and people work on these holidays regardless of what they are. The corner store which stays open, and the big franchise operation which undoubtedly will have appropriate sales on those days. This I think is a backward step, because holidays are meant to allow people to step back, and out of, a reality. "You are not working today. So there is no reason to adopt your business routine." This should be a chance for people to change their "reality". And I think that was the original point of some of these holidays. To have a chance to change the mode we are in. It is a skill which we should get back to.

So now that you're done reading this, take a moment, take a break, take stock and change a reality. Whatever mode you are in feel free to play with your own emotional gearshift. If that happens to be an automatic mode, made this short little article encourage you to make your own reality right now :-)

Sincerely Patrick Clark. Have a wonderful day!

PS: I just took a short stroll to the local watering hole and coffee shop where I saw something quite remarkable. The usual cruel people were there, all oblivious to everything around them except for their caffeine fix etc. when some guy dogs in training along with their handlers walked in. In an instant there was discussion and because the dogs were young and inexperienced they reacted, much to their handlers dismay, all the training promptly went out the door and the dogs did what they normally do, barked happily tails wagging and kind of a joyful chaos ensued amongst the canines. This went on for about 10 minutes altogether then the dogs and their handlers left and almost spontaneously the group of coffee aficionados switched back into the regular modes of oblivion. I wondered how many of them had even noticed the change in their realities and how profound it really was?… At least it was a hopeful sign that humanity can indeed spark back to life and it made my day actually. The adventure continues…

Are We Daydreaming Our LivesAway?

 "Think about all the time in one's daily life we as a modern society are absorbed in the attention we give twirl electronic devices." 

Putting aside for the moment what happens after one dies, and let's assume for this little question that you only live once, each moment in one's life is unique, and never to be repeated. On the surface this is something everyone knows and acknowledges. Now think about all the time in one's daily life we as a modern society are absorbed in the attention we give twirl electronic devices. I bit the average for most people is several hours a day. Next time you take public transit have a look around and you will see many people, almost mindlessly quietly interacting with their phones and other devices. There is also a good majority of people with earbuds completely tuning out the world, and to some extent reality.

This is a completely new situation for the human animal, at least that's how I see it. We may be closer to the original themes of the Mattrix movie then anyone would care to admit. Riding home today on transit I was struck by how quiet it was and no one was really making eye contact. Faces buried in the various devices… You could tell most people were just trying to make it home and ignore the current boring reality by distracting themselves. But what made the event boring? Everyone reading this knows the answer, it was boring because no one was interacting. I wonder how conscious people on my train were of this fact. It's over an hour ride from Vancouver to Surrey British Columbia each way twice a day. When you work it out that it's over 730 hours a year if one were to do this every day that would add up to an entire month. Which is just gone… A month of adventure, a month of discovering, a month of being loved and loving. All missed because we are distracted. The human lifespan is not all that long, and even when they manage to extended to 150 years with the coming technologies in the scheme of things that still short.

Your entire life, is a one time event, which just happens to take 80 or so years to unfold. And even if there is a glorious afterlife for humanity it will be different than this reality. There will be things you miss, because it just won't be the same.

Before the masses were so distracted people worked together, played and occasionally had arguments together. Indeed, they did also two things together, and the human being at heart have evolved to do just that, in concert with one another or with the group. Not alone. Even introverted people when you examine their lives closely have a few cherished connections throughout their lifespan. They may indeed understand the topic better than most of us because the quiet introverted people I know cherish their realities and are usually not caught up in distraction. For some of them the world is too real, and so they pull away for a while. For the rest of us we need to find a balance between these two extremes. Cherish being aware of every moment whenever you can. It never does repeat.

The above few paragraphs just occurred to me as I was travelling home tonight and I wanted to get them down "on the modern equivalent of paper". Comments are welcome of course.

Patrick Clark

Change Needs to Be Constant.

Sligh (Trend) Grandfather. Clock Keyhole circled.

I was saying to a friend earlier today: "Maybe evolution had dreamt up the idea of consciousness as a bit of a joke… A preliminary beta experiment, and was astounded when the human race latched onto it like some crazed addict. Simply insisting that it was better than sliced bread!" Because the state of being sentient certainly seems to be in its early beta, if not alpha stages. One thing that is never considered publicly is that we may not have the same perception of reality and our thinking processes might be quite different. When one considers this it certainly does make a lot of sense and can explain many of the diverse and sometimes mind-boggling behaviour patterns people often exhibit.

For example, a worker in some office may follow a rule, not blindly, but with no understanding of its purpose. Or in another situation, a rule may be applied when the results is directly contrary to its original intention. There are many examples of this in the news every day and if you look around you will see it happening a few times every 24 hours. The only way I can rationalize such" automaton behaviour" is to admit that the person or persons involved must have a radically different way of processing reality and their environment than I do. If you're wondering why I am omitting specific situations in this short article it is because I don't want to frame or create a context for you to follow. By doing so I hope to allow you to look at your own frames of reference and whether the people you deal with on a daily basis have the same frames of reference or indeed have the same "realities".

I can say this: "It has been an astounding few weeks, for me and I have had an opportunity to step out of my normal frames of reference." Which brings me to the title of this short article, "Change Needs to Be Constant."

Have you ever noticed that we all at some time or another wished we had some new device or new standing in the community or new responsibilities and while we're daydreaming about all this glorious stuff we omit the realization that with all these marvellous additions to our life they would be a change to the fundamental way we have to act etc.. By not including change as an integral part in our thinking process, we virtually guarantee that our dreams will never be reach. We want the results of the dream but are unwilling to put in the work and the letting go of old behaviours and ideas to adopt new. In order to grow everyone has to change.

This is one reason why I think people have now become so comfortable with contradictions in the intentions behind the various rules that govern our modern lives. By not looking at the original intent of the rule, we essentially give ourselves a placebo pill and happily behave as though we have done something good.-Usually blindly following the rulebook-. This doesn't get anyone anywhere and over the long run will make situations worse. Not to mention this stagnates the possibility of change because rules become ritualized and therefore at the first hint of some new behaviour or situation there is a tendency to rebel against change. We tell ourselves that it is not our position in the hierarchy of things (i.e. we don't have the authority) to make the decision.

Well let me tell you the 60s would've unfolded in a completely different and dark way if there were never any protests. Your life will and must change, in small and big ways. That is really the best way to grow and perhaps ultimately be happy with yourself. At first change seems foreign and very uncomfortable, because we are going against the established rules and must be prepared for the consequences at first. But as long as you understand why you are making the changes the exercise is ultimately beneficial. And often there are surprises along the way.

May you recognize the changes in your daily life and for the most part enjoy the exploration.
Patrick Clark 
(Related blog article" Definition: Normal")



PS: It has been a very busy weekend, and my friend and I had planned to get together and work on calibrating the phases of the moon display on his grandfather clock. Unfortunately, he was physically not up to the undertaking this weekend, but it is on the to do list. As soon as this is completed I will write a full article detailing the restoration of this marvellous clock. The photo accompanying this posting is a close up view of the moon phase disc on the grandfather clock. According to a Master clock Smith in Vancouver when things are correctly calibrated this disc will change over to the correct phase of the moon at midnight on the appropriate day. My friend is always had an extra key for this clock and I am wondering if it goes into the key slot in the bottom centre of the photo right above the manufacturer name "Trend".

---

An update on the progress regarding the grandfather clock and the phases of the moon. 

It is been a little challenging to get everyone together to solve this little mystery. The clocksmith is out when I'm around or my friend is not feeling well. However there has been a little progress. What we thought was a keyhole pictured in the photo above is actually a small nut and bolt arrangement holding the clock face on. We got one of the top side panels off to reveal an incredibly intricate clockwork mechanism.

Our next attempt will be Tuesday morning 18 February before I go in to Vancouver to volunteer. Stay tuned :-)
Patrick

Internet Marketing: Where Do They Come from?

Visitors for February 5, 2020 

Much has been written about Internet Marketing and the various schemes to get traffic. There are literally thousands of publications, big and small, with an equally large number of ideas and methodologies for getting visitors.

For a while now I've been quietly studying the flow of visitors to the blog and after several months of looking at all the graphs and "Google analytics" it is very clear that, repetition, if not outright habit are one of the big factors. People get used to checking in at the same time every day. The map shown in the picture is virtually unchanging every morning, with most of the visitors coming from Canada, with a smattering occasionally showing up from Europe. This is not Google analytics by the way which are much more complex looking, this is only a screenshot of the much simpler Blogger overview screen.

But what really has me interested to here is the geography of the visitors. There is nothing in this blog's coding which directs Google or any other search engine (I'll include Facebook and Twitter hereto as pseudo-search engines, since that is where a lot of the traffic especially right after an article was published comes from) to limit the spread to North America. Yet something does. Now it could be that this is something to do with where I announce new postings and in this case that mainly Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Of these three Twitter has turned out to be the far more important service to consider when attracting an audience. This only gets new visitors to the blog once or twice, as I have long suspected, this produces a spike in the graph but it is short-lived usually dying down within hours.

When I first saw this, I immediately joined, Google analytics and Google AdSense because they both provide much more detailed information. If I can get Google AdSense to pay for the cost of the domain over a year I will be happy. But that is, by far only a minor point. Far more fascinating are the daily habits visitors are beginning to demonstrate. Between 7 and 7:30 AM, the same 10 visitors appear. Now because the system only provides an ID number, these could be robots, but the numbers seem to vary just enough that I think there is flesh and blood behind these hits, a real human being.

Still doesn't explain though, the geography of the hits… It is just one of those curious things I am investigating. As I learn more, I will let you know. There are many creative people out there with great ideas and websites to match who are really having a hard time dealing with Internet marketing and getting the word out. This is my small way of "learning by doing" and I intend to pass along what ever I find to you. Take care have a great day!

Patrick Clark

How Close Is the Internet to Becoming an Essential Service?

From Needpix.com  Used under Creative Commons Zero - CC0

You know, when I was born in 1959, the rotary phone was ubiquitous. But each household normally only had one and that single phone was more often than not located in the main hallway of the home. My family because my father was a doctor with polio had two, the "normal" one in the hallway and an additional phone at my parents bedside without 40 foot (12.9 m) extension cord which was hardwired into the wall.

Fast forward to today, and I don't use a landline although there is one because it was previously installed with this apartment complex and is active. Nor do I know the number off by heart, of course I know my cell phones number, picked precisely because it was easy for my eldest brother to remember. Not only are landline's quickly becoming a thing of the past in modern cities I am willing to bet that although everyone's smart phones are constantly and use the, the percentage of time actually spent talking on them is probably far less then the time doing everything else with the device. How hooked in we all are, and it looks like we couldn't make it through the day if we were unplugged.

Just on a whim I inquired of my Google Assistant just how many times I had spoken with it across the various devices in one day. The answer was shocking… On average I speak to my technology 137 times per day, and that's the average!

Big difference between my parents era and now is that, for certain they could get along without the phone by simply communicating with their neighbours or going right down to meet with the person in question. Can you imagine the mayhem that would ensue, almost immediately. if the Internet and cell towers went down. A small version of this actually happened a few months ago here in my building. As everyone knows I live in a "supported living environment" which simply means that staff is is on hand 24 hours a day should I need assistance. I'm 60 years old with cerebral palsy and not quite the Superman I once was. Brain is still there but physically there is a little wear and tear showing up.

Anyway, the staff is on their own private Internet system and one day it just up and stopped. They were on the technical support so fast it was amazing. Further, some of the devices they use to keep the building and everyone coordinated were also down, so there was a real sense of urgency.

I think we are not too far from seeing the Internet declared an essential service which is the whole point of this little rambling. Within 10 years for sure and may be as little as 5. Actually now that I think about it I think the Canadian government has already set minimum speed requirements and I think it's 10 Mb which is more than enough stream 1080 P on your TV set.

This was a spur of the moment thought. I promise to have something more worthwhile posted over the weekend. Probably to do with a 60-year-old grandfather clock which is now up and running again thanks to an 82-year-old Master clock smith. Stay tuned and take care.

Patrick Clark

Bringing community together.

Not an endorsement. Simply liked the image on the can.

"Just what are the social ingredients which allows a community of people to come together and stay together?"This was a question I was pondering last night as a couple of friends and I were watching the Super Bowl. We all live in the same supported living, building totaling twenty individuals, of that only three of us showed up for this celebration, and that is with the offering up free food.

Despite having a great staff and really a beautiful building with individual apartment suites that are a much bigger than the norm, I'm guessing about 500 ft.², it is been almost impossible in the year and 1/2 I've been here to motivate individuals to break out of the routine. While their physical conditions vary greatly, mentally they are all fine, and most come from a creative past. There are musicians, people who have travelled the world, one would think that this place would "Rock!",but there is a lethargy about the place. Personally I am so glad I volunteer twice a week in Vancouver, because that may be what keeps me going. Yet I don't think the answer is quite so simple, because I've talked to the staff and others who've been here for in some cases over nine years and this state of affairs has crept up very slowly. There is also the impression that this is happening in other supported living facilities. It makes me wonder if it is a side effect of the changes in modern society as a whole. Last night's game (even if one is not inclined to sports) should have been a time for socializing and general goofing around. Yet the building was quieter than normal while the three of us sat in front of a beautiful high definition TV with nachos and a few beverages in hand. The cook had gone out of their way to make some snacks… Making this essentially a free party. Anywhere else in Surrey British Columbia, this would mean the room would've been filled to the brim with so much talking and discussion going on about the game and everything. There would be stories four days about the event.

Perhaps the first question is, not "What makes community", but what stifles it in the modern world. Is society losing its social edge? I am coming up with more questions as I write this. If anyone out there has any answers or hypothesis, please feel free to comment. I am very curious about the topic of community as a whole and this particular incident has me really perplexed.

In case you're curious about the accompanying photo for this article, it is not an endorsement or commentary on the product, but I did find it to be stereotypically perfect for a weekend football game and I simply couldn't resist posting it. Actually now that I think about it even though my apartment is adorned with paintings and I have a general policy of not putting anything up on the walls which are glorified endorsements. This particular drawing is hard to resist, just because of the style in which it was created. My grandfather Gallagher had a much older version of the truck depicted in the image. Perhaps that is what the allure is for me.

All the best to all the visitors to this blog and please do feel free to comment.
Patrick Clark

PS: Not being an avid sports fan, it suddenly dawned on me that the Super Bowl game I watched last night might be "Super Bowl MMXIX" and not "Super Bowl MMXX" as is displayed in the graphic. Regardless of the dating issue, I had a great time. Thanks to one at all.

The Astounding Power of "Just Do It".

With so many things to do in everyone's daily lives the adoption of a routine is usually what keeps us sane and able to do a huge laundry list of things on a regular basis, but it is also what keeps us from exploring new vistas. The ritual of routine becomes too ingrained and indeed comfortable. On the other hand, just doing something new, especially if the idea just occurred to you, seems dangerously impulsive. That however is where many new concepts and adventures begin, as long as one takes a moment to critically look at the inspiration. This short little article is one such "Just Do It" moment.

Yesterday I realized that an overreliance on routine limits opportunity and creativity. Because, the first routine leads directly into the second routine, which leads directly into the third routine and so on. The next reaction to get mildly frustrated at missing ones "just do it" moment. Which when you think about it is the exact moment you should undertake the new activity. No need to rush or to drop everything, but to make it the very next thing to explore.

It is simply amazing what happens when you allowed new ideas, a "Just Do It" impulse, to change your routines. First, you get a nice feeling from undertaking something unexpected perhaps. Then a sense of accomplishment, which inevitably leads to a brightening of one's outlook-Because You Just Did It :-). If you can't follow a new idea the moment it it occurs to you because of time or responsibility requirements, then write it down or record it somehow so that later on you can review the idea.

I find myself wondering if this very moment how many ideas throughout history have been missed because people haven't occasionally, and deliberately, being a little impulsive. True sometimes "Just Doing It" does get one into a little bit of  trouble… But isn't that fun? (I'm thinking of my dear friend Lauren right now… What adventures we have had and continue to have 😀).

May this short little post inspire you to do something and may that inspiration bring a smile to your face. Have a great day!

Patrick Clark

I can't remember… The Internet is down.

From piqsels.com Used under Creative Commons Zero - CC0

Last week we were talking about "The New Elephant That Never Forgets ". The fact that when something is posted on the Internet, the chances are high that will become archived either in a personal collection or permanently publicly available so that even if one takes the original document down it is still there "out there". This idea has led to another thought:

Do we even think about the Internet anymore, or do we just use it as a means to an end? I think for most of us, regardless if we are technologically savvy or not, "we don't", it is simply to become something in the background which makes all this technological stuff work. Whether that device be your TV, thermostat, light bulbs, or smart coffee maker. But the Internet is different, in that information is being stored and this is something I think we must be aware of even though it seems harmless. Security issues aside, we are relying on mechanisms and devices outside of our own control to do a lot of the remembering for us. When the Internet connection goes down you are instantly cut off from a large amount of information and material which, 30 years ago would have been written down for safekeeping. Nowadays one literally has to wait for your information come back online. Many of us have entire working days stored in Google Docs.

I think with this reliance on the Internet to do all our "remembering and storing" we have lost something… The ability to remember. From my perspective a good functioning mental memory ability is essential. It not only means were self-contained and don't have to log on to remember that phone number is means you are more aware of yourself and perhaps less absorbed by yourself. This is something we must get back to. Like any other activity there are benefits beyond the activity itself and I think the act of remembering is the cornerstone of a healthy personal psychology.

Feel free to comment below, as always. If you like this short post, you may be interested in another one which is related: The "Internet of things lifespan"

The Internet: The New Elephant That Never Forgets.

Banner from one of my first webpages. Click to see an archived copy.

Way back, in the early 2000s, I had my first webpage on CompuServe. It started out as a compendium of links to services I used frequently. It was never my intention to let it grow or become as popular as it did. At one point in early 2002 it actually won a minor award. Feeling a little nostalgic, I thought "Why not put up a blog post listing my favourite services on the Internet today and soliciting feedback from visitors about their's."

I have long used the Internet Archive's Way back machine for tracking down various documents and website which are now officially off-line. The above "Patrick Homepage" banner will take you to an archived version of my old CompuServe website, complete with the old URL displayed in your browser.

Once I had the old address I couldn't resist entering it into Google and my God did it ever pull up all lot of material:

• Discussion groups. Many of which are still functional.
• Articles, graphics, comments and thoughts.
• Links and software I used to use…

Fascinating stuff. At least from my perspective. But it really does provide a cautionary warning. What ever you put on the Internet, stays on  the Internet, but it won't always stay private or cloistered. At some point, a server will change hands, as in the case of CompuServe, or some program will ferret out the material and make it public.

Versions of my original site are archived throughout the various years it was functioning. Not all snapshots
are complete but there is more than enough to go down memory lane. In the case of my dear friend Joanne her entire cooking site (here it is) which was the subsite of mine seems to be pretty much intact.

Over the next weekend I will explore just what can be dug up on the Internet and posted here if it is informative or entertaining.

Until next week then… We will see what we can dig up for you :-)
Patrick

Difficulty Has Its Advantages.

It is through the surmounting of problems that we often gain insights which, we weren't expecting, that gives us the additional outcome of not only solving the original issue but often new ways of looking at old situations.  It has to be challenging enough to make one push their abilities either mentally or physically while being partially, at least at the onset of challenging the issue, attainable.-One needs to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is nothing more satisfying than overcoming an obstacle, or having that "Eureka!" moment.

Why is it then that some people when faced with a new challenge, look for others to solve whatever the issue is rather than seeing the situation as an opportunity to grow and explore? They seem to have no interest in attaining that marvellous Eureka moment. Initially I found this very confusing and then it dawned on me that surmounting challenges is a skill which must be taught. We may all be born explores, but when it comes to going outside of the comfort zone, that takes learning new skills so we can benefit from the experience. If a person does not have thse skills they panic This behaviour works for them because, others around them will often rush in to fix the situation, and thus the panic behaviour is reinforced. The next time something happens, the cycle repeats and the behaviour becomes entrenched, if not subconscious. This leads to the following routine:

Person "A" perceives the difficulty and immediately asks for assistance from person "B". Very quickly it becomes obvious to person B that the request for assistance really meant "You Resolved This for Me." If person B acquiesces, then person A learns that abdicating their responsibility works in the short term. But if the request for assistance is rejected, then something strange seems to happen in the situation. Person A does not attempt at all to solve whatever the issue is, an apathy occurs and the situation gets worse. This can happen to both people who are involved in the event.

The other thing that happens is person A develops a very short term outlook, never really considering future consequences, because doing so instigates a panic which starts the original behaviour all over again. Ultimately they missed the opportunity to grow by taking on new challenges etc. and people doing all the helping become embittered. Often this happens quite slowly, with a lot of defensive rationalizations built up by both people over time.

So how then do we encourage a person to learn the skills which are so vital to overcoming difficulty and break this routine? I have found that often person "A" appears to have no interest in learning anything new so making suggestions falls on deaf ears.

How then do we light the fire of learning?

This can be a difficult question-and-answer, particularly when, Person "A" is very intelligent, because they've seen and blocked all previous attempts to change. It is one of those situations where the smarter an individual is the more difficult it is for them to learn new material. (We have all been there, unable to accept something new, because we "know" something else to be true which is in conflict with whatever we are trying to learn, stubbornly hanging on to the old stuff.)

The first step then be to deconstruct what we or the other person already knows, to look at what they believe to be true and in the process we, the instructor, end up learning as well. So in the above scenario both person A and B have to look at their behaviours and beliefs. Learning does not occur in a vacuum.

I consider myself very lucky, because I love to learn and explore. The challenges in my life have expanded my boundaries and horizons and continue to do so. It is my belief that I inherited this from my parents behaviour and why I continue to believe that the very idea of being "Normal and adhering to the idea of anything universal-be it physical or ideological." Is not a good way to go for anyone because it ultimately will limit the person.

The mythical idea of a level playing field is probably to be avoided at all costs as far as the larger society is concerned, we don't want to make things too easy because that ultimately will stifle creativity. Perhaps then it is a good in the long run that solving the question of "lighting the fire of learning "is in itself difficult because the answer continues to evolve as to the outcomes. What is most important ultimately is that we all sincerely in our own ways keep endeavouring to improve our lives.

Never stop exploring on what ever level you can. :-).  May your difficulties  ultimately have advantages, and may that open new understandings for us all.

Patrick Clark

Patrick Clark's Success Story at Freedom Place

Postscript: I wrote this article last night as part of a submission to the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative Canada (YPI) program, so that the nonprofit organization that maintains my building Strive Living Society could be considered for a $5000 grant. I consider my life an ongoing success story. Schools and students involved in the YPI program are looking for stories to help combat negative stereotypes.I have decided to share this writing here as well in the hopes it inspires all who read it and please do feel free to comment.- Patrick


(All links open in a new window.)

Photo of myself, January 8, 2020.

I have spastic Cerebral Palsy, am 60 years old, use an electric wheelchair to get around and I let nothing stop me :-). A geek and a nerd. Most definitely, curious by design.

Here's my success story, and why success keeps on coming at Freedom Place. It is my sincerest wish that it inspires people and perhaps allows them to see success where they have not seen it before.

My life is an ongoing success, because I do not define accomplishments in narrow terms, and thus I'm able to gather up all of the small successes in daily life into an ongoing positive achievement. Do not misunderstand me, this is not some new age flowery sugarcoated outlook. Challenges exist, and indeed they are necessary. Without them people would not discover truly new avenues and ways of doing things. I understand this and it is a big part of my success.

When I first arrived at Freedom Place, after having some time to look around and absorb the environment, I was personally a little terrified because I understood that it would be very easy to slip into a routine where pretty much everything was comfortable and taken care of. To me that meant stagnation. So I reconnected with a volunteer group, The Vancouver Community Network (VCN) on Hastings in Vancouver and arranged to travel twice a week to the office to do some volunteering. I am a computer and electronics geek and VCN deals with refurbishing computers and assisting low income and destitute people to have access to the Internet.

• VCN does many other socially responsible things in addition to those mentioned. All to empower people via the use of technology in innovative ways. It is my honour to be involved with such a great group of people and the organization as a whole.

Some see me as a little extreme because I don't use handy dart unless absolutely necessary, I prefer to use my wheelchair to travel down to the Skytrain in to Vancouver and then to the office. It reminds me that it is important to be independent and stay connected with community as a whole.

Therefore, the secret to my success, is seeing the opportunities which exist for everyone rather than trying to package success into a predetermined shape. The tenants and staff at my home Freedom Place are Groovy and eccentric in their own ways, they help me and I help them. I have learned a lot in the past 18 months or so and that adds to success.

I am very thankful that I am not "normal" because that would've limited the opportunities to look at things differently. If you see someone, who appears to be different, introduce yourself to them, even if it feels a little funny. New ideas may be waiting right around the corner for you, and ideas can lead to success.

This is my ongoing success story.

Sincerely Patrick Clark, tenant at Freedom Place.

Honey, the cell phone provider shrunk the kid's (photos)!

My family at Christmas 2019.

Over the Christmas holidays many people send photos to and from each other via text messages.

While this seems like a great idea, especially considering the resolution most modern phones have in their cameras, what is not so widely known is that most carriers (cell phone providers) have very restrictive limits on the size of picture they actually send.They will not stop you from sending the photos, but will greatly reduce them in size on the other end. What looks to you as a beautiful, priceless snapshot, can get reduced to something resembling an old time television picture.

I saw this last week when a relative of mine sent six pictures in one text, the cell phone company reduced them in size to such an extent that they were a blurry mess. Even if one changes the settings in their camera there is no guarantee the picture will not be heavily shrunk. Making it impossible to ever get a nice printout. This photo started out as a 4 megapixel image. When I received it on my phone it was 33K. That's reduction of 51 times  (approximately). This is the untouched photoas it was received on my phone

Two rules of thumb to follow:

1. If you are sending pictures via text, send only one per text. The more you send in a single text the more they become compressed.

2. If you really want to make sure that your photo stays intact, use one of the many online storage options and upload your photos to the cloud and then distribute a link to them in your text.

A cautionary note. If you are using one of these cloud-based download services to store and retrieve your photos frequently. It is best to do it while the phone is hooked up to your Wi-Fi at home to avoid exceeding your cell phone plan "data" limit.

Patrick

Internet of Things lifespan

Image by Tumisu.
Used in accordance with the Pixabay license.

It is the first day of 2020, and I find myself thinking of all the "Internet of Things" (IoT) devices I have. In my single bedroom apartment there are 17 smart lights by LIFX (company info-opens new window), a smart television, a Google Home, a Google Nest Mini and if I can ever find them at some point there will be smart curtains as well. All of these devices have one thing in common, they all rely on the respective companies to stay in business in order to function.

Each time I ask Google to adjust the smart lights, a message goes out across the Internet to the LIFX company who in turn send the signal back to the appropriate light. My Sony TV functions in a very similar way. Gone are the days of having local control over anything. Even if I use my phone to control the lights, the signals still travel to and from the company servers. This can have interesting effects when things get busy for LIFX, the lights may go on or off in stages, instead of all at once. There may be only a second or two of the delay, but it seems to me a very complicated way to achieve the simple goal. If the Internet connection goes down then everything simply stops, stuck in whatever state it was last in.

Don't get me wrong, I love all these lights and the potential of the evolving technology is tremendous. But why are we building in such an Achilles' heel with all the new products? It is taking built-in obsolescence to a whole new level. While it is likely that Google and Amazon for the foreseeable future what happens to the plethora of smaller companies and their associated smart gizmos. Last year, as a Christmas gift, the organization I volunteer at gave me a smart plug which was supported by Google home at the time. The company however ran into some issues with their online security and as such they were instantly not supported by Google anymore. The problems have been rectified with the company as far as I know but I still cannot control that particular smart plug via the Google assistant. The smart plug still works fine with my phone but it shows how at the mercy we are when it comes to the winds of change and the future of companies.

So for me for example if LIFX ever closes down that means that my investment of 17 smart light bulbs at an average cost of $50 each, $850 total, will be a bitter pill indeed. They will still work as ordinary lights, and thank God they are energy efficient.

Anyway this is been a spontaneous ponder or rant depending on how you look at it.