Idle Thoughts
by
Gord
The Right Person in the Right Job
Coal
Horn Blowing Irritant
Appreciation
Are We Alone?
The Cathedral in Milan
Daylight Savings Time
The Death Penalty
Hope for The Young Generation?
Squirrels
Migrant Workers in Canada
Performance Cars
Connectedness
The Problem with Statistics
Trump
Is Stephen Hawking a Dumbass?
Watch Your Back
If I Die
Idle Thoughts: The Right Person in the Right Job
When we have visited the Ikea store in Ottawa, we have always used the 'cafeteria'. On weekdays, we get breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausages, home fries and coffee) for the amazing price of one dollar. Lunch is reasonably priced. The cafeteria is memorable for another reason. The lady serving plate after plate in a never-ending line of customers, is always smiling. Always. The woman is incredible. she smiles and speaks with every customer as if they are all old friends. My face would hurt for a week from so much smiling! The woman is in the right job.
The receptionist, Tina, at the Super 8, always wished us a 'good morning' with a smile and always expressed interest in our building project. She is a warm and sensitive person who is at ease paying attention to the needs and comfort of others. Absolutely the right person to be there at the desk.
At the hospital last week, the male nurse who took care of every patient arriving for day surgery was also in the right job. The guy was phenominal in his efficiency. A man in the right job.
Yesterday, I had my staples removed by a nurse at a CLSC in St Jerome. The young woman was friendly and polite. She had soft hands and a kind manner. A woman in the right job.
On the other hand. . . . Late last year, we approached someone from the Royal Bank to discuss financing the last bit of building. We had some money in RRSPs, but we didn't want to take any more out in 2015 because of the tax hit, so we figured we'd get a small mortgage.
We set up a meeting at the bank - he was late.
We asked for a mortgage and he basically refused us on the spot, saying the bank doesn't mortgage against houses under construction. After explaining how, 36 years earlier, after several tries at different banks, a Royal Bank manager was the only one who was willing to help us in our house-building project in Prevost, and that was why we have been loyal all these years, he said he would 'see what he could do' and said he'd call the following Tuesday. He called us back - one week late! and told us it would be another week before he had news. He finally called us to meet with him and again, he refused to help us. Not the right guy for the job. I considered changing banks.
Several days later, from a rest-stop on the highway, we called the customer service line at the Royal and spoke with a woman there, without mentioning details about the guy. She started off by thanking us for being long-time customers and gave us an increase of $20,000.00 on our line of credit (and lowered our interest rate) and an increase of $10,000.00 on our visa cards (because we'd be spending large amounts to finish construction). The right person in the right job. She was friendly and efficient and, over one telephphone conversation, did more to help us out than the other guy did in three weeks of delays and 2 face-to-face meetings!
The other goof that we had dealt with previously had never mentioned any of these options and never offered to help us in any way. He should be sweeping floors.
Keep your eye out. You'll recognize the people that are in the right job.
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Idle Thoughts: Coal
Donna and I gave out small lumps of coal to neighbours, friends and family over the holidays. The coal came from the excavation of our property, which was rich with 'fill' from way back. It got me thinking about coal and about the history of the mechanical and industrial revolution.
I was lucky enough to stumble across a book, on sale at a local store, that focused on the history of the industrial revolution, described as "The age of Steam". Dry reading, but a fascinating subject. I learned, or was made to realize, a little more about the the progression toward locomotion.
The "Horse and Buggy Days" are not all that far behind us in terms of relative time. The Steam engine was first described in the sixteenth century, but it was the middle of the nineteenth century before there were real railroad systems to move people and goods about.
If it weren't for coal, the industrial revolution might still be waiting to happen. As the other form of heat and energy (wood) disappeared around towns in Europe and England, it had to be carried from a little further away. Usually on horse drawn cart. However, as the distances became greater and wood became more scarce, coal was called upon to fill the need. Coal, however, was not easily transported on horseback or cart. It was moved by barges on rivers. Hence large cities grew on river banks.
The first steam engines were stationary. They were extremely large and heavy (made of iron before the invention of steel) and were used in industry, but mostly to pull carts of coal out of coal mines on wooden tracks, using a rope or cable on a drum.
Improvements with steel boilers and fireboxes led to smaller engines and mounting the steam engine on the cart (locomotion). Then tracks were laid (first wood, then iron, then steel) between coal mines and towns.
Then people started to travel by rail. Railroads were given large tracts of land on which to expand and settlers were given land along railroad tracks. This was good for the countries, the railroads and the population.
With the appearance of Karl Benz's version of the new internal combustion engine (which was tiny compared to the steam engines) driving a four-wheeled buggy, the automobile (and oil industries) took off.
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Idle Thoughts: Horn Blowing Irritant
I know this will offend some of you, but it must be said. It is really annoying when people lock their car with a remote device that also blows the horn.
I believe this is an unwarrented use of the horn and should make the practicioner liable for a heavy fine. Why should everyone in the vicinity be alarmed and disturbed because some turkey wants to lock his/her car? On two separate occasions, Donna and I have witnessed a person locking their car three times (just to be sure, I guess) with the stupid horn thing. Three times!! I find it arrogant and impolite and it's happening more and more. What is wrong with people? What is wrong with manufacturers? And what is wrong with the police? I thought there was a law against blowing a car horn without just cause.
Maybe I should just stop complaining and get a 400-decible train horn under my hood and join the fun. That way I could respond appropriately to the next person who wants to disturb me. Maybe see them jump for a change.
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Idle Thoughts: Appreciation
Imagine our luck! We are all individuals of one species on this planet. One species amongst millions, maybe billions of species. Our unique species happens to be the species with the highest intelligence (as we define it).
Imagine our luck! We live in the twenty-first century. Not the violence-ridden cave-dwelling days where we would have been preyed-upon by wild beasts. Not the violence-ridden, disease-infested middle ages. Not the Victorian-era days without electricity or running water. Not during the great wars. Even the fifties, teeming with homophobia, sexism, racism and bigotry (as well as rock and roll) are behind us.
Imagine our luck! We live in Canada. Not Syria, not North Korea, not China, not Lybia, not Mexico and not a dozen other violent or war-torn areas of the world. The UK's Daily Mail says that Latin America is home to 41 of the world's 50 most dangerous cities.
Imagine our luck! If you think you're struggling financially, go to a web page called The Global Rich List. It will show you, either by your income or by your personal wealth, where you place on a global scale. You'll be surprised. According to this site, even with my poor retirement income, on the income scale, I place in the top 3% of the world's population.
Imagine our luck!
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Idle Toughts: Are We Alone?
I'm no expert, but let's look at what we already know (things I've heard or read).
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Life 'happened' on earth only once and all current plant and animal life has evolved from that first one-cell thing. They know this because all life shares the same ancient DNA signature.
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This planet has all the necessities of organic life, including temperature range. Imagine how rare that is.
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This planet (like all planets) has a limited life-span. In order for life to evolve to high intelligence, that life must 'happen' at the right moment in the life of the planet.
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Had the dinasaures not become extinct, mamals on this planet would not have been able to move so 'relatively' easily up the evolutionary scale. The planet's life-span may not have been long enough for us to evolve to the cave-man stage, let alone inter-gallactic travel.
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All the millions of special circumstances that were necessary to have happened exactly as they did along the evolutionary way toward higher thinking would have to be almost identical on another planet for a higher life form to exist there. I know that there are an astronomical number of planets in the universe(s) that may be able to support life of some kind, but the odds are even more astronomical against the possibility of a highly intelligent being evolving there.
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It would be most interesting to learn that I am wrong, but I don't believe humans will ever visit or be visited by space travelling aliens.
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This is the only 'earth' out there. We need to take care of it.
Yes, we are alone. In fact, I believe that if we really wish to prepare for the eventual move from earth to a new home-planet, we should begin by choosing a couple of candidate planets now and sending 'life' there in the form of simple plants and one-cell creatures that would have the best chance of survival in the given atmosphere. Then give it a few hundred thousand years. . . . .
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Idle Thoughts: The Cathedral in Milan
I recently read a book by Mark Twain. It's called 'The Innocents Abroad' and it's basically a recounting of his participation in a cruise to the Holy Land in the year 1867. It was a 5-month affair with various ports of call aboard a paddle-wheeled steamship. Probably the first ever cruise to the Holy Land from America. A great book.
In Milan he visited the cathedral. He noted (in 1867) that it had been under construction for about 500 years and that it would take another 100 years before it would be finished.
Well, I sat and thought about that for a while. Naturally, I found it hard to believe. Even though our house construction project here seems to be taking longer than it should, 500 years sounds a bit excessive. This could be one of Mark Twain's jokes. So I checked with Google.
I learned that the Cathedral is massive and intricate. Basically made of marble with a capacity of about 40,000 people. It has 135 spires with a full-size statue on top of each one
In the year 1386, construction began on the cathedral and, sure enough, it was not completed until 1965, five hundred and seventy-nine years later!! Doesn't that boggle the mind?
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Idle Thoughts: Daylight Savings Time
In springtime, in most of Canada, we advance our clocks one hour. This, of course, means that sunset is one hour earlier. This 'time-change' officially happens in the middle of the night, but we can choose how we are affected by it.
All sorts of confusion occur in those amongst us who can't figure out that it might be wise to retire early instead of losing an hour or so of sleep.
The 'time change' is blamed for everything from an increase in car accidents to an epidemic of hemorrhoids. I don't buy it.
I believe lots of people simply choose to sleep less on the designated Saturday night, thereby causing their own troubles. I imagine some don't remember from year to year how to avoid the 'jet lag' type of mental fog.
Some people forget to change their clocks and then scramble around like lunatics when they're running late for an appointment or trying to tackle their morning routine in one fiftieth of the time.
Maybe if we were more accustomed to taking responsibilities for our actions, we wouldn't be so
quick to blame a clock when we have issues.