Climate Change, after the war on carbon

Climate change is a thing,  after it was first conceived that the planet was heating up due to increased carbon emissions, and the skeptics were put in their place, the world seems to be in agreement that radical changes need to happen in order to halt and reverse the problem.

Having the whole planet agree and work together to solve a problem is an excellent start to future endeavors that involve working together instead of fighting and warring against one another. But while the world is working towards a common goal, I'm wondering if we aren't overlooking another possible outcome for everyone's futures.

Look past cooling the planet, and imagine that we have finally come to that day when we are celebrating the fact that the earthlings have stopped global warming and the planet is cooling off. We have skyscrapers that scrub carbon from the air as it passes by, cars that are fully autonomous using only electricity, lab grown meat that doesn't put methane and carbon gasses back into the atmosphere from livestock feces. We have a complete solar and wind generation system in place that goes above and beyond any and all energy needs that the population demands and the earth continues to cool.

How do we stop the cooling? Are we going to enter into an new type of climate change where we have global cooling due to the future engines put in place to cool the planet, a second ice age?  How would we stop it?

Reintroduce coal, oil, and gas factories? Bring back gas powered engines? Essentially regress back to a system that was the cause in the first place?  As a species we need to continually move forward in order to progress into a future society and going backwards is never an option. I hope the scientists of the world realize this could be an outcome from all of our cooling efforts and they have a plan for total equalization of our atmosphere, a balance of the perfect temperature.

Scott Goerz

Epic Physics, Undiscovered Hypothesis

There is a type of physics that most of us are familiar with, and instead of going through them all I am going to simply call them "World Physics"  which involves thermo, nuclear, gravity, force and mass, mechanical and all other physics that we can see, hear, feel and touch.

The second type of physics is quantum physics, it's the type that is in the microscopic realm, and we can't see or feel its forces, yet we can observe them with computers and microscopes. We are just starting to apply those new found types of physics into modern life. A Quantum computer has been built, and an entangled signal that uses no radio signal or wires to transmit, is being developed.

I have a hypothesis on a third type of physics, and it is my belief that if there is my current 2 types of physics World and Quantum, then there is probably more types that we don't yet know about.

A third type of physics which I am going to call "Epic Physics" is based on the unfathomable size of the universe and the rules it must follow to exist the way it does. If we were on the outside of the universe looking in, we might be the quantum size to that viewer,  To them, black holes are a normal occurrence when galaxies form, and are needed for stability. The universe has its own physics that we are not aware of yet.

The physics of the universe as a whole must be different than our worldly or quantum physics and thusly the current physics that we currently use cannot fully explain the many occurrences and unknown happenings in deep space that are currently baffling scientists, such as dark matter, tachyon particles, and super massive black holes.

Everything we have discovered in science follows a complex set of rules for them to work synchronously together as a whole. Where does the microscopic meet standard size? Where does standard size meet the universal?  There is a change in physics the smaller we search and therefore it stands to reason that the same must be true when we search to the unfathomably large, such as the universe and beyond. 

Scott Goerz

365 Days Later, The End Of My Blog

It has been an interesting journey, I have written 1 blog a day for three hundred and sixty five days in a row without fail, which has been my goal from the beginning, even though I have wanted to quit many times.  The amount I have learned along the way has been a unique eye opening experience and I have new skills that I've earned on my journey.

I remember having all these ideas in my head at the beginning, with new ideas coming in every day, but after a month of writing everyday my infinite idea train came to a slow crawl, and I had to constantly think about five or six topics daily to try to stay ahead of the game, so I had something to write about in the future.

As I wrote each blog, my typing skills, spelling, and error checking got better and I have been practicing typing without looking down.  I have researched so much information on the net that I am beginning to feel like a professional investigator, weeding out the lies from the truth while searching for proof that backs up my articles.

At the beginning there were not that many people that read my blog, but before I knew it I had over a hundred views a day, until I came across an article on how to make money on your blog with advertising, which was a feature offered by "Blogger" the media app I decided to write blogs on.  As soon as I got the advertising up and running my blog went from 100 people a day to 10 people a day and has stayed there ever since. My advertising made me a whole whopping 2.06 that's two dollars and six cents over 5 months, not worth it. 

I would like to thank my sister Kim, and my wife Kimberly who have been my biggest fans and has supported me from the beginning, sharing my blogs daily even if she didn't read them or agree with the topic, my other sister Leigh did quite a lot as well, but not as much as her sister. I appreciate their opinions and efforts that they contributed.

And to my friends, Ben, Dean, Francis, Jason, and my cousin Dana who read my blogs on a daily basis as well, I don't have any info on what they shared but I did get feedback from them at times which was very much appreciated.

I started this because I thought I had something to contribute to the world, some really good ideas that I hope helped some people out or perhaps had an impact on how they looked at the world.   Some of my most popular posts were:

  

It was a good experience in my opinion, to set yourself a goal and follow through with it to the end, and make sure you give yourself and end date, how else will you know that you have completed your task?

Now after 365 days of brain straining to write something, I am going to take a much needed break for awhile, but don't worry, I will come back from time to time to voice my unusual opinion on the events that really hit close to home for me. It won't be every day but it will be on occasion.

Thank you again everyone who has supported me.

Scott Goerz

School Is No Substitute

School is no match for experience, and the smartest A plus honor student who has memorized every procedure can't hold a candle to someone who has been a hands on expert for most of their life.

Some things just can't be taught in a classroom, and while you might know protocols and procedures that have been indicated in your textbook, it might be a completely different scenario once you encounter problems with hands on experience.

Someone who has never been to school and has learned from their peers at a young age has an advantage over the college graduate. Hands on experience at the job, a social group that they can call upon for advice, different ways to combat varying degrees of temperature changes which affects their worksite, which is something you will never learn in school. 

I have never been impressed with a new worker at any job who constantly lets me know their grades and how smart they are, the proof is in the pudding, or put your money where your mouth is, and most importantly, don't tell me how much you know and how good you are, show me instead.

School is the basis for a job or career that you want to enter into, and it has it's merits but in my opinion, experience is the best teacher.  There is, however, one problem that a long term career oriented person tends to obtain, is the lack of being able to change their ways. Learning to do tasks only one way for 40 years tend to do that.

Figuring a way to do something that has never been explained in a book takes a certain type of brain, and someone who has been at the same job for 20 plus years obviously has that type. If you can learn something from someone else and make it even better with your own ideas then that is your own personal type of genius and something for which School is No Substitute.

Scott Goerz

A Smarter Future

There was a time when people used to think that flying in an airplane was impossible, the brilliant minds back in that era had dictated that man was not meant to fly and therefore a waste of time to study how to do it.  With some imagination and a lot of failed attempts the Wright brothers figured out how it could be done, despite all the negative and nonbelievers that told them it was impossible.

This type of reaction to any type of technology still goes on in this day and age, and I have to wonder why there are scientists and researchers out there that still claim all manner of things that could be possible, impossible.

The reason we study history (so I'm told) is to learn from our mistakes from the past and not to repeat them in the future, or the present.  If this is the case then why don't those intelligent people understand that we can figure out how something could be done even if we don't know how to make it right now.

I think one of the reasons is hubris, if you take a particularly proud person, who has had success in their life, but they can't figure out a problem, they simply claim it can't be done to save face, they can't admit that they aren't smart enough to figure it out, and lose the respect of their peers.

People said that we would never have an untethered phone line, that we would always have to be plugged in to a wall socket. Space flight would never happen, there would never be a computer small enough for a house (They used to fill warehouses). We could never cure aids, measles, or chicken pox.

There are some things that we have overcome and thrived and there are some things that we haven't overcome...Yet.  I believe that all things will be possible with dedication, trial and error and the biggest thing, time. 

Cancer will be cured, as well as all diseases related to old age, surgeries will no longer leave scarring, the common cold will be gone, children will be born without abnormalities and be perfectly healthy. Spaceflight will take a huge leap with some sort of warp drive or wormhole generator. 3D printing with be able to make a perfect replica of any body part, Ageing where you look like a wrinkled prune and have the mind of an infant will be eradicated and no longer an issue. 

I believe these things will happen at an even faster rate if we stop saying something can't be done and to keep trying without giving up.  I'm looking forward to A Smarter Future.

Scott Goerz

Nobody Is Innocent

Innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, right?  This is how law works in this country, everyone is deemed innocent first.  What a stupid concept.  Everything is reported these days, from people who are not fact checkers, but are instead, chronic gossipers, people spreading rumors like sprinkled sugar and we eat it up.

The people of this country will decide who is innocent or guilty, and the court of law can do nothing about it.  If someone in your community is suspected of being involved in a rape investigation, even if they are completely innocent, they will be judged guilty if a finger is pointed in their direction as a possible subject.


Everyone jumps to conclusions, and if you don't particularly like someone to begin with it will be much easier to judge them as guilty before you even hear any evidence. Who out there has been the perfect person and never made a mistake or been bad?  Anyone, ever?  No, yet we are so eager to point the finger and accuse others when we ourselves do not have the right to do so.

By the same token, a man is caught on camera robbing a bank, the people in the bank recognize him as the robber, the police catch him in the bank red handed and in the act of a criminal activity, they get him out of the bank and into the police car and they call him a suspect. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. No court, no jury, do not pass go and go directly to jail, that is what should happen in that case. There is no doubt in anyone's mind, that this guy is guilty.
When proof is needed however, we have to very careful who we single out as a suspect while pointing possible fingers. Simply being suspected of a crime will force you to move to a different country after your peers have judged you.  Being accused of being a pedophile I think is probably the worst thing that could happen to you, even if you are innocent.  Nobody will talk to a suspected baby raper, you will lose your job, friends, and possibly the community will band together to bring you and your family harm.  Even if you have done nothing to deserve it.

That is what this world has come to, the over inflated false claims of media and untrue tales from gossipers who want attention. Be careful who you point a finger at, because one day it could be you who is accused, and to the whole world around you, Nobody Is Innocent.

Scott Goerz

Public Space Flights

Spacex is a new company trying to privatize spaceflight, they build their own rockets and ships, free from government interference and NASA.  This company wants to take the average person into space if that individual can afford it.  If you or I had the money, would we go and experience it?

I have always wanted to experience the weightless that being in space provides, that and to see our beautiful blue planet from outer space.  Before I did that I would want certain aspects of the experience to be fine tuned first.  There is a certain amount of thrust you need to break out of the earth's gravity and into orbit, the G force apparently is incredible and a normal person would black out when he or she was subjected to it without proper training.

Then we have the problem of being in space if we have made it successfully into orbit, the space station. Despite what you may think, the station itself is pretty small, you are basically in a long tube surrounded by delicate electrical panels, wires, and hoses. There are no extra sleeping quarters or private washrooms.  There is a fine dust that is always floating around with you, and it will be inhaled with every breath, that dust is actually dead skin cells, or maybe beads of sweat from other people. They have to constantly clean the space station manually every day for their own health. Imagine 5 new lazy ass tourists coming to stay for few days.

Maybe Spacex needs to start building a hotel first, before deciding to take non astronaut participants with a lot of money, up to the station for a visit. This trip sounds like a nightmare at the moment and not a very fun experience and the worst is yet to come.

When you leave the station and have to come home, you get to do it in the same way as every other astronaut, free fall through the atmosphere in a burning fireball before you land in the ocean, hopefully with everything in working order, especially your GPS for the company to be able to find you.

There is a lot of work to be done if they are planning it to eventually be public. For it to viable they are going to need to have the trip be a smooth ride there and back, a place to stay where I'm not huddled together with 7 other people in a tube, and an almost 100 percent safety guarantee or some incredible safety specs.  If you lose power on a ship on the water, someone can come help you, if it happens in space, you are on your own.

I think they are ahead of themselves, and Spacex needs to do a lot more before anyone will be going on a Public Space Flight.

Scott Goerz

Instruction Manuals

If you have ever bought anything and had to put it together yourself, but have never done so before, you can thank your lucky stars that almost anything you buy that you have to fabricate, will come with an instruction manual. 

Some of these manuals are easy to understand with pictures and explanations, but for the most part they are vague at best but will get the job finished with some frustration.  Thankfully for some people, if they have built something before, they don't need the manual unless its for a quick reference.

I have bought more than one barbecue over the years, and every single time you do buy one, you have to assemble them yourself, but because I have assembled one before I usually don't use the manual, I'm handy and I can see what needs to go where. (minus a few screws) I have also been thoroughly frustrated with the lack of, or unclear directions and have had to muddle through it myself figuring it out along the way.

The problem with most manuals is that you have no idea of what you are going to get until you open the box.  Everyone is so dazzled by the end product or the idea of what they're buying that they don't take a moment to wonder about the difficulty of putting it together in the first place. You never know when you are going to get good instructions or bad ones. 

Why is it, that as a consumer, there is a quality control and regulation in place for a product, but not for the way it's put together? There should be a standard of excellence when selling something that need an instruction manual, and it should one of the most important pieces in the box.

Having an in depth description and a 20 page booklet is not what I'm going for here. That is too much information and easy to be overwhelmed before you even open it, but a folded single piece of paper isn't going to cut it either, as it won't explain enough. I think there should be a 3 to five page minimum on all products, with some exceptions of course, but you should never get less than three pages.

Of course this is all just my opinion as usual, and you can decide if you even want to use the manual in the first place like I do. 

Scott Goerz

Expensive Furniture, Crappy Tools

My wife and I were looking at patio sets for our deck and after searching for one we liked we decided to purchase it. A four piece set came in one small box and I knew that I was going to have some work to do, putting it together. As you would expect with most four piece sets of anything furniture related you are looking at a price tag upwards of a thousand dollars for some nice pieces, and it's my opinion that the tools should match the product.

As with most things that you buy and have to put together yourself, the package of course came with an instruction manual and it's own tools, in this case, a bunch of hexagonal allen key nuts and one allen key. 

The instruction manual had terrible pictures, and was very brief, I actually couldn't tell what one picture was depicting as it was all in one color (if black and white is a color) and looked like an origami design. I muddled through and figured out what to do, as I am pretty handy and can figure out most things.

Now to the hardware and the tools, The allen key bolts are made from a terrible type of metal, one that deforms and stretches if too much force is applied. The key itself was stronger but small, and I have to wonder what the hell the manufacturer is thinking when they decide that this was a good design choice.

If you have ever tried to use an L shaped allen key that can't make a full rotation on fine threaded bolts in a small area, you will know true frustration, the key has to fit perfectly in the head, and be straight up and down for it to work properly, if it doesn't the cheap as f**k bolts will strip and you won't be able to tighten them or remove them from their tiny area.  If you do get a perfect fit, you might get a quarter turn before you have to remove the cheap ass tool and do it all over again, get a perfect fit one hundred times without fail on one bolt, and the good news is that you have thirty bolts to line up and tighten. A good thing to do before you start would be to have a few stiff drinks, to calm the nerves.

This system of crappy tools being shipped with expensive furniture or appliances needs to change, it happens if you buy a barbecue, desk, bed frame, patio furniture and whatever else that you have to put together. It is the exact reason I will not go to IKEA for anything, ever.

Scott Goerz

Slow Integration

Self driving cars are not right around the corner, the problem and lack of internet services in remote locations as well as unforeseen glitches plague the technology. One of the main hurdles for a self driving car is that not everyone can afford one. There is not an artificial intelligence algorithm out there that can compensate for human error, and the people who don't have a self driving car would be the main hazards of those that do. 

What I'm noticing now is that some of the features of self driving vehicles is starting to be integrated into newer vehicles, there is a lane crossing warning that beeps to warn you that you have gone over the line in an intersection if you haven't signaled, there is an automatic slow down when travelling in cruise control and you come up to another vehicle and your vehicle automatically slows you down and keeps pace with the traffic.

There is automatic parking assist, back up cameras, collision sensors, airbag sensors, GPS monitoring, and automatic in distress notifications. Some vehicles have one or all of these features integrated into their systems depending on the make or model of the car.

There are a few exceptions that I have seen where a fully autonomous self driving truck delivers beer but these are just tests along long stretches of non busy highways, they are not in full production yet, but they are slowly getting more and more integrated technologies installed into them along with constant upgrades.

What truly troubles me about an update to your vehicles system, is when someone screws up. How many times has your phone been updated with a new system that is supposed to improve upon an existing foundation, only to find that your phone has completely changed and you don't know how to find anything?  There is no manual and you have to fiddle with by trial and error.

Now imagine this happens to your car the night before you have to go to work the next day, you hop in your car and your settings are all different and there are new things that you have no idea how to use.  If it were a self driving car this would not be a problem and your vehicle would simply take you to work, drop you off at the front door and then go park itself.

We are getting closer to the self driving car, but it's going to be a Slow Integration.

Scott Goerz

Your Dream Job

All of us have to go to work, some of us love our jobs but most of us hate it.  Then there are some of us who don't mind the job and what they are really doing is the bare minimum to earn a paycheck.  What would you do if you had a choice? If there was nothing to hold you back or years of schooling to muddle through before you got to where you wanted, what would be your dream job.

In a fantasy world where I imagine I would be happiest, I always thought Hugh Hefner had a pretty awesome job. Being the owner and president of Playboy Magazine would be a cushy gig. Beautiful women running around in skimpy outfits or naked altogether, money rolling in by the truck load, a big mansion, and parties everyday seems like every guys dream.

But I truly think this would get old after awhile, the same thing happening every day, women would be mere objects to you, a way to make money and satisfy your primal urges, other than  that they would become useless and annoying. I imagine you probably wouldn't get to know anyone on a deeper level, the women themselves would be fake and suck up to you all the time, as well as the men in your employment. A true friend would be hard to find and a spouse even harder.

Rock star is another job I think would be the ultimate way to make money and love your life at the same time, It could get busy and hectic at times but it would be worth it. The reward for your hard work besides the money would be the fans who love what you have written from your heart and soul, that is more rewarding than any sort of monetary gain in my opinion. Once again though it would be hard to meet anybody that you could trust, gold diggers would be everywhere.

In a normal world where I might love my job, would be in video game design and ideas. I love a good story, art, music, gameplay, and new ideas. To be surrounded with other people who are like minded and creative as well would be a great experience. Feeding off each others ideas and expanding upon an already great concept is something I would truly enjoy.

What would you dream job be? Fantasy or otherwise.

Scott Goerz

Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality is a piece of hardware you put on your head which shows you a completely 3D rendered space in which you can move around in and interact with.  It feels like you are somewhere else and is quite impressive when you enter into a new fantasy world that doesn't exist in reality.  Sometimes, however, you can feel disconnected with that world because the hand controls are not responsive and you are blocked by an unseen force that will not allow you to go into certain areas.  As the technology grows the immersiveness  will only get better.

Augmented reality is another piece of hardware which you wear on your head but you can still see the world around you, like the inside of your house, office, backyard, or wherever, but in those spaces it can project images that appear like they are right in front of you and you can interact with. Let's say you wanted to see what different types of furniture would look like in your house without having to go out and buy them, or a different paint color on your walls without painting.

It has other interesting applications as well, such as simply having a conversation with your friends or loved ones, and they would appear as if they were standing there in front of you. If you needed ideas for your job or collaborate with colleagues from around the world you could easily do this as well. It also can be directly linked to your cell phone and the two pieces of technology can interact with each other seamlessly. 

I think this is going to be a huge success in the future with endless possibilities. I have provided a link with a short video that you can watch here:   Augmented Reality

Scott Goerz

Lego

When I was growing up, I had a huge box of Lego and it was all in different shapes and sizes with a multitude of different colors. I had no instruction manual or key for which piece belonged to what set. I had a bunch of Lego men that I could set up and arrange in an army fashion or have them stand off against each other.

The whole purpose of having Lego was to use your imagination, to build something from scratch from your mind's eye.  That creativity that comes from within is lost when we are told how to build it and which piece goes where.

You will be hard pressed to find a box of Lego that is just blocks and pieces anymore, and if you do it may be online and cost a fortune.  There are rip off blocks that try to emulate the Lego brick, but they are not as well made and some of the pieces don't fit together. 

Everything that is Lego these days has a theme that it follows, from Batman to Star wars to Pirates of the Caribbean, and these sets costs a lot of money for simple plastic bricks, but the designs and trade names cost money too and that is where the cost rises. 

The problem with Lego being themed is that it puts a date on them, when is a certain style of Batman no longer be interesting or the Indiana Jones Lego set become boring and nobody wants to play with it anymore.

We are getting lost with the purpose of Lego, it is a mainstream themed toy that quickly gets replaced by a newer model. 

The whole purpose of Lego, is that you had a box of never ending toys, if you got bored with a toy that you had constructed, you could simply break it down and make a new one.  The construction was fun and playing with the toy afterwards was as well.

Lego the company should bring back the cheaper huge box of multiple pieces for a decent price, and let kids start using their minds again, it probably was the smartest toy in the world but has now settled into a sideshow attraction.

Scott Goerz

My Anthem Review

As most of you know I am a gamer, and a new game called Anthem has been released.  There was a lot of hype surrounding this game when a video surfaced about 2 years ago, With the game finally being released there is a mixed bag of reviews out there ranging from terrible to fantastic.

The Bad:

As I play this game, I find myself wondering if the developer reviewed any of the problems associated with other online only role playing games and used those issues as an example of what not to do.  I wonder this because it seems to me that they did not.  The loading times are atrocious and you find yourself constantly waiting for the game to load all the time.

 Why did I have to pick a character at the beginning of the game when you never get to see them or personalize them in any way?  The city area is bland there is no commerce here, you can't buy, sell, or trade any equipment which can be a fun game in and of itself, but sadly is not present, and instead you are left with the only option of buying online cosmetics that change daily, you can use earned in game currency or gems that you use real money to purchase.

The world itself seems to hold wonders, but after flying from one location to the next it feels like you are in a museum walking through a statue display, while they are interesting to look at, that is all it is, there are no clues as to the what the ruins were used for or why they are even there. Bioware could have had etchings on the wall explaining different areas as well as clues of where to find hidden treasures, which would make you want to explore the areas. They do have a little bubbles in places with a pop up explaining what the area is, but you can see this bubble from far away and it's not all that interesting.

Playing with other people would be more enjoyable if the game didn't constantly tell me that I am out of the mission boundaries when another player races to the next area, there is a countdown timer that will automatically teleport you to the new mission area, so you are screwed if you wanted to collect that plant or search the area.  When you are teleported, you get to enjoy yet another loading screen. This can happen three or four times during the same mission, it's very annoying.

The Good:

Despite the issues that plague this game I find myself still drawn to it, the different powers that you can equip are interesting when used in the field and have some different combo applications, using these class specific powers is incredibly easy and they recharge by themselves. The shooting is fun, you aim then shoot with you hitting the target, your gun doesn't fly off all aver the place with extreme recoil, even at long distances, which makes for some very satisfying gun battles.

 You are in control of your character, there will be no excuses that you died because of lag infested controls and terrible reaction times. The control is tight and precise, fly, dodge shoot, or run at ant given time with no delay.  There are some very interesting guns and suit perks that you can enjoy, and you can see the difference when using them on the field.

Matchmaking is quick and painless, I have seen no time difference when loading into the game by yourself or with three random people. You can go off by yourself if you like, which I enjoy, but if the mission is too difficult you can always retry it with a group of other people.

The art, graphics, animation, and characters are excellent, they put a lot of time into these systems and it shows, everything is seamless with next to no clipping or characters passing through each other.

The world itself is beautiful, water effects, leaves on trees, and even underground caves are well thought out and always show something new when visiting them, there are animals that are not a threat roaming about which gives the world more life.

I do like this game and I will continue to play it, There is nothing that I would have to buy with real money, there is no need for micro transactions unless you haven't made enough in game currency for your cosmetic upgrade.

It's fun and I enjoy it, who knows, maybe you will too.

Scott Goerz

Definition Of Free

• Able to act or be done as one wishes; not under the control of another. 
• Not physically obstructed or fixed.
•  Not subject to engagements or obligations.
•  Not subject to or affected by (something undesirable)
•  Given or available without charge.

 I am sick and tired of the internet using this term to influence consumers to buy their product when it is obviously false.  If you have ever tried to get a free app on your phone you know there is always a stipulation when doing so.  Multiple pop up ads, for instance, seem to occur with your free app. 

If you need a service on your desk top, or lap top computer, you might look online and find that almost all of the programs advertise that they are "Free". When you download them and try to use it after giving out your email and personal information, you find that it is not free and to actually use their product effectively they want you to pay.  This is called a trial. 

I recently download an app called Bandmix, where it is supposed to allow you to find other musicians to play with who are looking for the same thing, and it claims it is "Free" to use, and you can go in and find people in your area who are around the same age and enjoy the same music as you, but if you want to contact them, guess what, you have to pay. 

I have no problem paying for a service if I want to use it, but be upfront to begin with, let me know what I'm getting into before I go through the whole sign up procedure only to find out everything they claimed was a lie. 

Can you imagine buying a stove at the store, only to find out that after you get it home and set up that you can't use the oven feature until you go online and purchase a code for you to use it for a month, and after the end of every month you would have to input a new code (With another payment) to use it continuously?  This is what most of these apps do after you get them.

This is seriously becoming a huge problem and something needs to be done about it, perhaps even government regulated if people can't be honest and forthcoming.  I will not use a product after learning that I have been mislead, no matter how much I want to use it.  I think we all need to take this stance with all products.  

It's time companies break out their dictionaries and look up the Definition Of Free.

Scott Goerz

Proving Someone Wrong, To Make Yourself Right

The difference between an argument and a debate is that a debate is not personal, it is only an idea or opinion that could be changed given enough evidence to the contrary. An argument is on a personal level and when some disagrees with your personal belief system and you take offence and fight back, you are not willing to change your opinion.

A debate should be an educational experience for both people involved, sharing their ideas with each other with a common goal of further understanding, but when you try to force your ideals on the other party it can turn nasty.

What's worse is when you or the other person can't let it go after the conversation is over, and then you research your information to find proof of your opinion for the sole purpose of proving the other person wrong, thus making you right.

Some people need to feed their ego, they cannot stand being wrong, and they will go out of their way to prove themselves right even though it can harm their relationship. 

Some people don't seem to understand that after a conversation is over, it should stay that way, especially if it ended badly, and no good can come from bringing up the topic again, and this holds especially true, if the only reason that you are bringing it up again, is to prove to the other person, that you were right and they were wrong.

Sometimes you do need to revisit a conversation, to repair the damage done by it and to come to common ground with each other.  The topic in question will keep coming up throughout your relationship and it needs to be addressed, but only for the purpose of solving the problem between both parties, and not from malice or for the need to Prove Someone Wrong, To Make Yourself  Right.

Scott Goerz

Bad Designs

How long have vehicles been in production, a hundred years now?  Since the center console idea has come out and has been incorporated into just about every single vehicle design out there, and there is a major design flaw that never seems to be addressed:  Your hand does not fit between the console and the seat.

I have actually panicked because I thought my hand was going to be stuck between the seat and the console, while I was driving yet.  I had dropped a slice of tomato that was on my hamburger somehow in between the console and the seat of my truck. After a few quick swear words I tried to fish it out but as I squeezed my hand down to get the slice of tomato the opening got bigger before I could reach it and the tomato got further and further down the more I tried to reach for it, until I hit that tight spot of no return and my hand was so tightly wedged in there that I couldn't pull it out.

Now we could go into distracted driving and whatnot, but that's not what this article is about, it's about the serious design flaw of the seat or the console or how the two things work against each other.  I can remember being 16 and having my first vehicle with the same sort of incident as the tomato, happening back at that age as well.  I think it became a problem when bucket seats came out.

Did you know that it has become such a problem that there are things you can buy that other companies have made to help prevent stuff from falling in between the seat and console?  It has become such a problem that people have actually tried to invent something to stop it from happening. 

These car manufacturing companies have a serious design flaw in their vehicles, it's hard to clean, dangerous (if you are an idiot like me), and just plain stupid that it hasn't been addressed yet, fries can get stuck in there and rot and mold, and one day you may be out driving and think to yourself "What is that godawful smell?" 

It's time they address this issue, it's not something new that has happened, it has been around for a long time, it's time someone did something with these Bad Designs.

Scott Goerz

Male Abuse?

So it seems that male abuse is on the rise, and it makes sense if you take into account the fact that women are striving to be on an equal footing as men when it comes to life in general.  They want the same jobs, the same roles and responsibilities and the same respect that men garner. Well, they have it.

I have always thought women have had it better than men, they don't have to approach a guy or pay for a date, it comes to them, and they get to pick and choose. A good man takes care of his woman, treats her well and generally goes out of his way to make her happy. Women do this as well, but being a guy I know it doesn't take much to make me happy, food and intimacy if you boil it down.

I never really took physical abuse from a woman to be an issue in a male and female relationship, guys are generally stronger and can defend themselves without fighting back if need be, but I just read a story the other day when a woman poured boiling water over her boyfriend because he upset her, this woman was hell on wheels, and he put up with her for quite some time before he finally had enough and told police what was happening.

I always thought it would be the psychological manipulation in a relationship, a woman could easily beat her spouse down with mental abuse, deny intimacy, never be happy with anything that he does and constantly is nagging him to do more and be better, but he will never live up to her expectations.

This is what the world is becoming, or that's what this world is and has been for a long time, the only difference is, that now, guys are just starting to come forward and tell their side of the story.  Why is it so hard to be nice to each other?  And if you don't like where you are in life then it's up to you to change it.

Scott Goerz

A Long Painful Drive

I live on an acreage out of the city, it takes me on average about thirty minutes to get to the edge of the city, then whatever shopping I need to do gets done as I drive from place to place before I go home.

Yesterday I had to work in the city in the University of Alberta area it took about an hour for me to get to my job site. I worked all day and finished the job at around four o'clock before I started to make my way home. 

The city is an absolute nightmare at this time, and I can see how road rage would definitely become a thing when dealing with the other drivers who are also trying to make their way home. Something needs to change with the way we drive through the city, people that have to deal with this insanity every day, can not be right in the mind.

Construction is a huge issue, forcing a roadway that used to be four lanes down to two lanes really slows down the commute, add in some of the most ignorant drivers into the mix and you have a recipe for disaster, people force their way into your lane after trying to speed past everyone on the merge lane before it ends.

Take away the construction and you are still left with the ignorant drivers who don't pay attention. There was a bus that was clearly broken down in the lane opposite to mine and you could see it from a long way away, yet I had a driver right beside me that didn't slow down or speed up to get past or behind me into my lane, but instead stayed in that lane until the last possible second before they merged into my lane without looking, almost forcing me off the road as I slammed on my brakes and swerved toward the ditch. I honestly believe that if had hit them and been stopped, that I would be in jail for murder, because I would have killed them I was so angry.

It took me two miserable hours to get home, two miserable hours of getting more and more stressed out at every minute, twice as long as it took me to get there in the first place. I am no longer surprised to hear about a disgruntled worker on a shooting spree, I only wonder why there aren't more of them after dealing with the nightmare of driving in the city at rush hour. If we could eliminate just one thing in our lives that would make it better, I would have to say we could all eliminate A Long Painful Drive.

Scott Goerz

Life Lessons

When I turned 16, I had to go and get my drivers license, and after I did I drove around in my parents car for a year before I saved up enough money to finally buy my own vehicle, and when I did, I never realized the connection you have with your first car.

I often imagined of winning the lottery and would dream about all the stuff I would buy, but for some reason, a new car was not part of that dream, and instead of a new vehicle I often thought of how I would fix up the one I had. 

For the longest time I thought I was going to keep my very first car for the rest of my life.  (Thank god I grew out of that phase) My first car was a Hyundai Pony and it died a few months after I had it.  In my infinite wisdom I decided that I should buy another Hyundai pony, and I searched around until I found one.  Stupidity strikes three times, because after that one died as well, I bought yet a third one. Young and dumb.

I finally relinquished my love for the pony, and stared trying different vehicles. After those first few years of hanging on to something that was familiar then finally trying something new, was an eye opening experience indeed.

It taught me that the car was just a thing, a tool to get me to and from a location, a way to go on a date in private, and it had a certain social status. Mine was "totally average guy" who had his own vehicle, even though it was a hunk of junk. 

There is no reason to get sentimental with something that can and will get replaced, and these days if my vehicle starts giving me problems, I have no issues trading it in for a different one. I need reliability more than prettiness or social status.  It takes a while but eventually life teaches you a lesson that no one else could ever teach you.

Scott Goerz

2 Steps

I have always tried to keep up a good appearance, I have tried to keep up with trends and styles, updating my clothes so that I don't end up wearing my pants up to my armpits to cover up my mustard stained shirt.  Food has always been my nemesis, my shirt and pants threatened by spilled coffee or a squirt of mayo from a sort of sandwich.

Knowing that food will stain and destroy my clothes I have often ordered a hamburger with no condiments, to avoid the inevitable drip onto my clothes. Coffee still presents a problem as I usually have one while driving, and any bump or swerve can leak some of it over the edge.

I have become a messy eater, and the spot around my plate makes me wonder why I bother to use a plate at all, I eat like I am a half starved animal, quickly and without worry about having potato smeared across my cheek.

I used to watch my parents eat, and now any senior citizen that eats a meal with me looks like they have the same problem, food that has built up on the side of their mouths or has leaked on their chin and they continue eating like pigs at a trough. It has always disgusted me watching them, yet I have noticed that I am starting to eat like this as well.

I hold a napkin or paper towel in one hand, constantly wiping at any foreign object that I can feel on my face during a meal. This is what it has come down to,  I do not want to become oblivious to the fact that I am turning into a neanderthal human with only a primal instinct of eating to sustain life.

I don't want other younger generations to watch me as I descend further into my slob like status and be disgusted by the way I spray food everywhere when we sit down for a meal. I don't want to become what I have feared becoming and yet, it is upon me.  I need to slow down and take controlled bites, it seems so easy, yet I don't even realize that I am doing it until the food is gone from my plate and I look like a zombie that ate it's first human.

The first step, is recognizing the problem, the second step, is doing something about it.

Scott Goerz

To Save Or Not To Save

Everybody likes a deal, and when we go out to buy stuff for our place, we look for the thrifty sales and low prices whenever we can. This is totally normal, we all work hard for our money and if we can save a few bucks here and there that means we can have more money left in our wallets.

Looking for deals is one thing, but buying junk is a totally different one.  You can buy a brand name something or other for a good price if you happen to catch it on sale at the right time.  A brand name item is usually proven by society to be a good investment, it has stood the test of time and even though it is expensive it usually lasts a long time, meaning you probably won't have to buy another one.

Buying a no name item will usually come back to haunt you when it doesn't work as advertised or it breaks after very few uses, there will be no return policy or replacement parts and you will be left with something that, even though you saved money when you bought it, it has now become a piece of junk, and now you have to spend more money to get a new one.

This really doesn't matter with small items, you can buy no name plates and dishes, towels, cutlery, soap, clothes, and for the most part you will have saved money and not have to worry about any repercussions.

If you need tools however, this is a completely different story. Buying a no name tool such as a drill or a power saw is a really bad idea, as that cheap version of the product is made with cheaper parts, weaker batteries, and the whole product has a higher tendency to break down, so even though you thought you saved 100 dollars buying the cheap one, now you have to go out and buy another one, which costs you money and more money than if you had bought a brand name instead. (There are circumstances where a brand name will break too, but they usually have a better return policy, and possible lifetime guarantee, or replacement part exchange)

If you need a tool to be reliable, and stands the test of time, buying a brand name item will save you money over time because the chances of it breaking down are lower than if you had bought a cheap one.  The same can be said about vehicles, ATV, tractors, lawn mowers, and other larger purchases.  Sometimes the lowest price is not the best value for your money. Spend a little extra and save yourself some stress, time, and money in the long run. Ultimately, it's up to you, To Save, Or Not To Save.

Scott Goerz

That's Debatable

There are quite a few subjects out there that are up for debate  and some of them are the stupidest subject you will ever hear. I'm going to discuss some debatable issues in this blog, and you can feel free to get your own debate on.

• Schools should be neutral when it comes to religion

With all the ethnic groups out there and the vast amount of different religious cultures we see school systems trying to appease all groups in an effort of fairness.  Why not make all schools neutral with no religious teachings at all.  Schools should be for everyone whether you are religious or not.

• People should be paid if companies are using our personal information without our consent. 

Our private lives are not so private anymore, every place you go they ask you for an email or phone number, after it has been given, these companies make money on our information by selling it to other companies, or by using it themselves to garner more purchases from the consumer.  If you are making money on something that I exclusively own, I should be getting a piece of the pie as well.

• Are all people equal?

I think that, yes, we are all equal, from the president of the united states to a bum living in a cardboard box both of those people are equal and have a right to live on this planet.  If you take away all personal items, money, status, and power and put both people side by side, what do you have? Who is more important?

• Legalize Prostitution

I think that if people are going to sell their bodies to make money sexually, whether it's illegal or not, that legalizing is not enough, it would have to be regulated as well. There would have to be full medical and psychological benefits in a safe work area implemented into our system, the workers would need to be treated like any other trade worker, and get paid accordingly. 

Some food for thought for your morning.

Scott Goerz

A Vacuum In Space

My conception of space is that of a vacuum, there is no air within that vacuum yet somehow planets still form, and galaxies get created. If we were on earth the way a vacuum works is by pulling air in while expelling the air out at the same time by a mechanical motion.  Yet somehow a black hole can form, pulling everything into it, and expelling it out as something else.

Space isn't nothing, nothing in fact, doesn't exist, everything is some form of energy, and energy cannot be destroyed, only turned into a different form of energy. So I question whether a vacuum could pull so strongly that it eventually turns into a black hole, or a gravity well.

We don't fully understand the powers and forces at work in the universe, all we have are theories on how things work, and just like history has shown us, sometimes we are wrong in our estimations of science.  Doctors from the past used to think that blowing smoke up your arse would cure an assortments of ailments, which was totally false, and has led to the term "Blowing smoke up your ass."

There is a power in space, which we could harness if we understood how it worked and could create it on a smaller scale.  There is a machine called a Hadron collider, and it basically sends particles through a circular tube within a vacuum at near the speed of light, when these particles collide with each other at those speeds, scientists record what happens and see what new particles and physics are formed from the process. The reason I am explaining this is because in that same process, sometimes a miniature black hole is formed for maybe a millionth of a second and then is gone.

They don't make the black holes on purpose, it's a normal reaction from the process of the particles smashing into each other, but if they could recreate it, perhaps we would have a new version of clean energy.  To create a Vacuum In Space within a vacuum.

Scott Goerz

My Valentine

Valentine's Day is not for me, I do love my sweetie, but she gets it everyday anyway so when This romantic day comes around, my wife and I both take it pretty relaxed. The hustle and bustle of Valentine's day has turned into a day when over commercialization and expectations to spend large amounts of money have become common practice, and we do not partake in that activity.

Have you ever tried to go out for nice romantic supper on this day? Your fancy dinner usually turns into a train wreck because every other couple out there has the same idea as you, the restaurants are packed full of people, the kitchen staff is overworked and the meal you eventually receive comes out cold and not prepared as well as it should because it has been rushed.

Flower prices go through the roof, a single rose that used to cost 7.99 now costs 20.00 or more, emptying your wallet for something that is going to die within a week. You can buy a box of heart shaped chocolates that taste like sawdust and you might be lucky if you get more than eight in a box that also costs a lot more than you would normally spend.

Over the years my wife and I have started a sort of Valentine's Day tradition, we go to a restaurant where the food is mainly consistent no matter how busy it gets at any given time of the year, McDonald's, nothing but the best for my girl. Drive through or eat in and she can order whatever she wants. Later on in the evening, we enjoy some quality time in our hot tub, with a bottle of wine and some music.

Valentine's Day doesn't have to be all about spending money and extravagant gifts, bold gestures and high expectations. You should show your appreciation for your special someone, but I think it shouldn't be shared with complete strangers in a public setting, but instead shared in a private setting where you both focus on each others happiness.

Scott Goerz

New Phone

I have a galaxy S7,  an android phone and I have been tossing around the idea to go with an apple phone, even though I have no idea how to operate it. The reason for this change is that my wife has one and apple users can text each other through wifi, a feat I don't know how to accomplish with a plethora of apps and tweaking to our current systems.

The options for new phones are, overwhelming, to say the least, and what do you really get for the price? 1,100 dollars for a phone?  That is ridiculous in my opinion, a phone should not cost more than a laptop it just shouldn't happen. Facial recognition, fingerprint scanners, retina scanners, what a waste of time and money, do I work for a secret government agency and have to have such security for my phone?  No, I do not, a simple password will suffice for me. I have nothing to hide anyway, that sort of tech is for all you sneaky, cheating, lying people out there that are trying to hide things from your partner.

Then we have curved screen, big screen, cloud data packages, 16, 32, 64gb storage cards, 24mb cameras, 4k screens, I mean the list never stops, but for me, if someone wanted to sell me a phone this is what they would say, "This phone is indestructible, and it never drops calls, it always has a connection, and works anywhere on the planet on one package that  you get when you buy the phone."  SOLD!

The technical jargon that sales people spew forth when trying to sell a phone to someone who has no idea what they are talking about sounds impressive, but it is all fluff in your face, made to up sell the product. Some factors are really important when investing in a new phone, like right now does it or will it have 5G connectivity? 

What's 5G? Google that up.  It's the next evolution of wireless communication, and your next phone is going to need to have it. Most phones don't have that feature yet, so I am going to wait on buying a new phone until it does.  It is supposed to be unveiled this year.

Scott Goerz

New Murphy's Law

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, that is the definition of Murphy's Law.  I think it needs to be revised and updated with this added phrase, "At the most inconvenient time." I would like to add this phrase because that is exactly what happens when things happen to go sideways.

A few years back my furnace fan decided it need to quit working, not only did it quit working, but it did so on one of the coldest days of the year and it was on a Saturday around three in the afternoon. When I discovered the problem it took me a while to understand what was broken and what needed fixing.  By the time I came to that conclusion, it was around 6 pm.

As you know if you live out of town on an acreage, most hardware stores close at around 6 pm in small towns, and because it's the weekend most repair services are closed until the following weekday, Monday.  Sunday nothing is open, and to get the part I needed I would have to drive to the city and that's what I did, but after multiple hardware stores I soon found out that I had a "rare" model of furnace fan that had to be ordered in.  Murphy's friggin law indeed.

Here in the present day we happen to be in the presence of another cold snap, where temperatures can reach from below 30 to 40, add in the fact that we have had more snow this year than we have had in years and we have the perfect recipe for disaster.

I have a little guest house that I use regularly, and it has it's own septic tank and somehow the drain from the house to the tank is frozen, it should be impossible for this to happen. The line should never be full of water, because it only a drain, for when you flush a toilet, have a shower or use the sink. The tank itself is not full, so there can be no backup water filling the line either. I'm perplexed as to how this could have happened, but thanks to Murphy, I have to suit up and go out in the frigid wasteland that is Alberta and deal with poop water.  Fun times.

It couldn't be a normal cold day say 10 or 12 below, no it has to be minus 29 with a 20 km an hr wind blowing in an unsheltered area.  That is the joy of my New Murphy's Law, "Anything that can happen, will happen, at the most inconvenient time.

Scott Goerz

Multiple Best Friends

When I was growing up, there was one kid that I usually hung around with, and he was also my next door neighbor which made it easy to consider him my best friend.  I had other friends, and I hung around them as well but anyone of them could have been my friend at the time if they had been my neighbor instead.

As I got older and entered into junior high, I had changed friends, some of my old ones had moved away and new ones moved in, I also had moved from where I previously lived and my "best friend" and I barely saw each other.  The new friends I made did different things and there was that one guy who I hung around with more than the others, effectively becoming my new best friend.

In high school my friends changed yet again, I still had some friends from junior high but I was making new friends that I enjoyed as much as my current best friend. We all hung out in a group on our breaks and after school hours, and I was having a hard time considering only one of them my "best friend".

I have come to the conclusion that it is totally possible to have multiple best friends, as each person you meet has different qualities that you love about them, each person is different and as a result they bring different perspectives to the table, labeling just one of them as a best friend does a disservice to the other buddies that I considered close and as best friends themselves.

Telling your other friends that you consider someone else to be better than they are in the friendship department hurts them, and could possibly put a wedge in between your relationship. While it's true that they are not the same, its also true that you don't consider them any less of a friend than the other person.

Using that label, "Best friend" is harmful to the people in your life that you love, but don't consider them as important as someone else.  I love all my friends equally, they all have had a positive affect on my life and I wouldn't trade any of them for a singular "Best Friend" Every single one of them in my eyes is a best friend, and so ends this blog on my thoughts on multiple best friends.

Scott Goerz

A Dislike Button

The internet, home to literally thousands of social media site such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Tumblr, Tinder and I'm sure thousands more that I don't know of.  Then you have all the other internet based ads and other junk websites that you may accidentally stumble upon and most of them all have the "Like" and "Share" buttons.

Even if you don't click on a like or share, the website saves your browsing history and puts ads on other sites that you do frequent, I was looking to buy a stove and was just looking for prices when I decided I would wait a while instead, then, while browsing a gaming site an ad popped up for the exact same stoves I was looking at. No no no no no.

There should be a dislike button sitting right along side the like and share button, there shouldn't be a long and lengthy process to define your negative feelings.  Why can't I decide if I don't want to see a certain ad or the same stupid emotional poem a hundred times?  Especially if it doesn't relate to me at all.

One of my friends kids were over and were looking at decorations for their hair online, and now I get ads showing me the same products, and what I would really like is a great big dislike button so I don't have to see them anymore.  The same goes with the junk on Facebook, Give me a dislike button and stop showing me this garbage, it has literally made me not enjoy the experience of social media.

You can go on and tweak settings, get ad blockers, edit your lists of what you do and do not want to see, check off people that you want to see less from, but why is that such a painful process?  This could be made so much more user friendly if there were simply a "Dislike" button on everything we see. 

Ad companies would benefit from it and could make better ad campaigns, or find out who their target groups are and what types of people. In this day and age what people really need is A Dislike Button.

Scott Goerz

Euthanasia

If you have a pet that has lived a long life but now is suffering and there is no cure for it, you have the choice to end it's suffering and put it to sleep, it's considered humane by most people's standards.  Euthanizing a loved pet is a normal practice that happens on a daily basis around the world.

When it comes to humans though, we have a completely different view when it comes to the topic of Euthanasia.  There seems to be a stigma about putting someone to sleep, and relating a person to an animal is of two different subjects.

People who agree with Euthanasia contend that terminally ill people should have the right to end their suffering with a quick, dignified, and compassionate death. They argue that the right to die should be protected by the same constitutional safeguards that guarantee the same rights as marriage, procreation, and the refusal or termination of life-saving medical treatment. To be kept alive against your will is unconstitutional when it has been proven that the medical community can no longer do anything when it comes to curing your problem.

The people against Euthanasia contend that doctors have a moral responsibility to keep their patients alive as reflected by the Hippocratic Oath. They argue there may be a "slippery slope" from euthanasia to murder, and that legalizing euthanasia will unfairly target the poor and disabled and create incentives for insurance companies to terminate lives in order to save money.

First of all, nobody should dictate who lives or dies unless it's a direct family member. The decision to Euthanize should be done out of compassion, and only from a last resort standpoint, not from greed or any other negative outcome due to selfishness. That can be achieved by having professionals from the medical community agree that nothing else can be done, and that the person in question is suffering needlessly.

There are no issues when it comes to animal euthanasia, yet when a human becomes involved there is a huge controversy and I think it's because of these factors:

 Animals are your loved family members, people have nothing to gain from having their pet put down after years of love, so the act of it is purely out of love and respect.

Family members are also loved and respected, but having an ulterior motive or something to gain will skew a persons decision, like an inheritance of some sort, or medical costs keeping them alive. 

I think Euthanasia should be allowed, but it should only be so when all other avenues have been explored and a feasible solution, no one should be allowed to simply decide on a whim that another persons life should be expired.

Scott Goerz

Video Game Violence

Whenever there is a violent situation involving a child that has acted out, the world wants to put the blame on some sort of factor that has triggered the violent behavior in question.  The first thing that always seems to pop up, is that the child plays violent video games which has caused him or her to act out.

This is the dumbest reasoning that people can come up with. Let's take it back to when video games never even existed. Were there violent children, bullies, aggressiveness, shootings, and crime? Yes, there was, and what did the people blame that  upon if no video games existed? Kids used to play games where they would take a stick, pretend it was a gun and make believe that they were in a war shooting each other.

I have been playing video games my whole life, some of them have been extremely violent, and because of that fact, I should be one most violent and dangerous people on the planet, but if you know me, you would know that I feel bad if I have killed a spider, and love animals. I hate hunting, and can't touch raw meat because it's icky and I'm afraid of germs.

Let's assume that violent video games are the cause of adolescent aggression,  if that were true, wouldn't every single child, teen, and adult on this planet be a killer? Most of them should be if they play violent video games, and we would have a problem of epic proportions on our hands.

If you want to blame, or have to put the blame on something, why does no one look to the parents of these violent people?  Why are the people that in charge of raising their kids not accountable for their actions?  If I did something wrong in my house as a child, I got punished, with a spanking or some other form of discipline, my parents did that to show me the error of my ways, and they never gave up on it even though I'm sure I tried their patience.

Video games are forms of entertainment, and for the most part, we all know the difference between reality and fantasy, which is why we enjoy the latter so much in the first place, because we all know it's not real. There are violent books, movies, tv shows and other forms of entertainment that don't get blamed for aggressive behavior, so if you want to blame something or someone for your child's aggression, maybe you should look at yourself first before you start pointing fingers.

Scott Goerz

Silver Spoon

I am not normally a fan of reality tv shows, It brings out the worst in  people, they scheme,lie, betray, and generally are the worst types of people that you wouldn't want to be associated with in your own personal life.

There are a few exceptions to the reality genre that I do enjoy, one tv series is called Forged in Fire, where four blacksmiths come to test their skills in steel weapon making, the contestants actually help each other, and while they are still very competitive, there is no back stabbing, or foul play involved. If a contestant fails in their task they respectfully leave the show claiming that they didn't expect it to be so challenging, but they were happy they got the opportunity.  This is how grown adults should act and behave.

Another show, that was decent but started to go askew was a Netflix show called Instant Hotel, where the contestants rented out their homes for others to enjoy.  It started out courteous, but turned dark when players started to scheme. One group of players really got my hackles up, as they didn't fit in with the show at all, and the property was not actually theirs, it was their parents and they were trying to rent it out. These people were from the rich and spoiled side of the upper class section of society, they didn't have to work, were lazy, selfish, and did not know the value of money or how to make it.

Which brings me to my idea of a reality show.

Silver Spoon, where the contestants are rich spoiled brats, that only care about themselves, they are put into a poverty type situation in which they have live for a month, they get 20 dollars a day, a fully furnished apartment with all the furniture bought from second hand stores, a tv with no cable channels, but they can choose to buy it if they can afford it, a job at a grocery store, a corded phone, no cell phones, they are only allowed to call certain numbers and the phone is used if they can't handle the pressure, to call and quit. They have to experience what it's like being broke for a month and have to complete tasks, like cooking their own food, cleaning their house, managing their money, and taking the bus to get groceries and to go to work.  They would be put up in a poverty stricken area with other tenants who currently live there.

The prize would be a small part in a major movie, or an article about them in a prestigious magazine, something that would cater to their ego.

Silver Spoon would be a show I would watch, and I would hope that the contestants might even learn something that would make them better people.

Scott Goerz

Clean Energy, Scary Tech

When you look out at the sky during the day,  you see that bright glowing orb that gives us life, we call it the sun. It is constantly pouring energy out, giving life to our planet. It never goes out and it never needs to be restarted.  If we could harness that power at it's core we would never need to worry about energy again.

We are starting to try to use the power of the sun via solar panels, but there is a technology on the horizon that will enable us to move past the simple method of catching the suns rays and instead move to using the entire suns power.

Enter nuclear fusion power, It's the same process that powers the sun, and it's clean and there are no emissions. Scientist have been painstaking trying to recreate a miniature sun in their labs for decades and now they are finally close to achieving their goal.  By using a magnetic field to contain the fusion reaction and using multiple high powered lasers to focus on a single spot to create enough energy to start the engines, scientists say that the first working prototype could be up and running by 2020 and the energy would be harness and commercially available by 2030.

I love this idea, but I also worry that creating a miniature sun on the surface of this planet could be catastrophic,  What if containment fails?  What are the safeguards in place in case of an emergency. Chernobyl would look like a summer vacation compared to the devastation a miniature sun would do to our planet if it went rogue.  But I'm not a scientist, I understand the idea of fusion power, but I have absolutely no idea on how I would even start to make one work or how to install safeguards.

I have to put my faith in the genius men and women out there that know what they are doing and hope that they have more precautions in place than they need.  Having safe, clean, cheap energy on hand that could power the entire world seems like its almost worth the risk. 

Scott Goerz

The Fear Mongering World

Nobody likes change, when we get to that comfortable spot in our lives, and everything is moving along smoothly, why would anyone want to change it?  Its at that point when the fear mongering rears it's ugly head, when you hear that something is coming that is going to ruin your comfort zone.

We fear what we don't know, and I think we should embrace the fear of the unknown, and then overcome it. We have to continue to grow, time waits for no one so if you fear what might be coming next it is going to come whether you want it to or not, you might as well try to embrace it.

A genetic scientist has figured out a way to change the genome of a baby before it is even born, that means the scientist can remove any inherited diseases,  remove the possibility of having an autistic or handicapped child, the scientist could also enhance brain function, and muscle growth, and actually has performed the procedure on one human embryos. He is currently being charged with multiple fines and is having his research taken away. Here is a link:Gene Editing scientist

Now for the record, I don't think what he did was correct or moral, I think for science to really work and push forward, each new technology must proven first.  We can't have an oops and half of the world turns into zombies, or all the plants die. 

But to freak out and cry against new science and technologies, claim it to be against god, or it's immoral and simply wrong, is because these people fear that technology. This scientist is only one example, for every new device or technique that has been introduced in our world there has been people who have rallied against because they fear what is to come.

Most of these fear mongers don't have all the facts and go off of hearsay from others, they don't rationalize, research or try to look at the situation another way, because they are stuck in their comfort zone in life, and they don't want things to change.

Scott Goerz 

A Bigger Tractor

Alberta, what a wonderful province, gotta love the unreliable weather patterns that we have to deal with from day to day.  One day it's plus five, and the next it's minus twenty five, then you have to factor in the wind, rain, sun, and snow issue.  Last year I recall it barely snowing at all, with some mostly mild temperatures. This year, however,  It has gone up and down over and over.

Right now we are in the midst of a cold spell, a balmy minus 30-35, with some epic snowfall mixed in.  Along with this snow comes my eventual need to shovel and move snow from the driveway. I don't live in a cul-de-sac or near anyone, I love my acreage live but I hate pushing snow, and my driveway is a long circular tear drop shaped monster.

If you have owned an acreage and had to move snow before there is a rule of thumb that you always have to be aware of.  When moving snow for the first time at the beginning of the season, you have to push it out further than you normally would need to. The reason for this is that the snow you have moved into piles will melt a bit and then harden afterwards, making them much more difficult to move in the future. When the snow flies for a second time you would push that snow against the first pile, losing some space in the process.

If you hadn't planned for a lot of snow and moved your first pile way out at the beginning of the year, you might be in some trouble if you have had a lot of snow.  Which is what I am faced with currently. I use a quad with a snow blade to clear my driveway of snow, and I did follow the rule of thumb at the beginning of the year, but it seems that I did not account for the immense dump of snow we have been getting and my driveway is getting dangerously narrow.

I cannot push the snow any further out to make it wider because the snow underneath and behind it is frozen and won't budge. Get a tractor you say? Funny, I do have a tractor, with a bucket, but it is tiny, and not all that heavy. I decided one year that I was going to use the tractor to move the snow and all I got to do was spin my tires, it literally pushed snow until the bucket was full and then stopped moving, the weight of the snow in the bucket and the ice on the ground stopped me dead in my tracks and I sat there spinning (and cursing).

And then it dawned on me, there was something I was going to need if I were to get this done before I froze to death...A Bigger Tractor.

Scott Goerz

Deepfake

Deepfake is an AI-based technology used to produce or alter video content so that it presents something that didn't, in fact, occur. Photo editing software, such as Photoshop, has long been used to falsify images, and the public is learning to apply common sense and critical thinking when presented with a picture whose content seems unlikely. However, until recently, video content has been more difficult to alter in any substantial way. As such, video has often been considered proof that something actually happened.

This could actually be used as them most dangerous weapon known to mankind. If somebody out there decided to make a video of trump declaring war on china, that he had already issued orders to nuke their country and that video went viral and china's government saw it before anyone could disclaim it, that would be a real problem for the whole world.

Let's say you wanted somebody else's boyfriend/girlfriend, you make a fake video of one of the couple making out with a different person.  They fight and break up, leaving you to swoop in as a shoulder to cry on.

The problem here is not with the technology involved, it is humanity itself that is the issue. Guns do not shoot people, a person using the gun shoots another person, people shoot people. The gun is only a tool. The same goes with technology, which is not the problem, it's the user that is abusing the tech that is the problem. 

Scott Goerz

Only Time Will Tell

Everyone seems to be worried about the job positions available, there seems to be less and less work available, and I'm not talking about fast food restaurants and minimum wage jobs. The jobs people are concerned about are the higher paying construction jobs in the oilfield and heavy equipment.

Most people are complaining that it's the immigrants we let into this country that are "stealing" our jobs. Nobody "steals" jobs, they are assessed and hired, and while it may be true that letting foreign people into the country is going to lessen the work available for our current residents, there is another factor we have to take into consideration.

Women are striving for equalization here as well, that means that jobs that were predominantly male oriented now have women working in those positions. This of course means that those positions are gone for men to work, hence less work for males.

With this change in our society does this mean that there will be more stay at home dads? Will men be able to stay home and take care of the house while their wives are out making the money for the household? Will men raise the children, clean the house, do laundry, and still fix and repair everything else?

Will women accept the fact that they now have to share their paycheck with their spouses, pay for repairs, clothes, food, bills, and mortgages. With the switch from males who are the main care provider to the women, both sexes will be able to see what it's like to walk a mile in the other sexes shoes. It may turn out for the best or it could change the way we live in the future, children will be raised differently ten they have been in the past, and future generations may become vastly different from what they are now.

Only Time Will Tell.

Scott Goerz

Tracking Us

In a world where technology rules our lives, we are all susceptible to the tracking aspect of it. Many of us rail against the idea that we are being monitored, our privacy in jeopardy as the powers that be monitor our location, it can tell where we have been, what we have watched, and what locations we constantly frequent.

There was a big scare a few years back that your smart tv could somehow invade your privacy, and people were concerned about it.  Facebook was also targeted as a possible privacy breach, and actually has been proven to be true. Almost all social media traffic sites have an abundance of your personal information, with an agreement in place stating that they will not share your information, but I have personally haven't read it.

In fact, I really don't care one way or the other, track away, go ahead and share my information, I lead a basically normal boring life, and I'm not worried about it. The people who should be worried about it are those people doing something wrong, cheating on their spouse, selling stolen merchandise, pedophiles, bullies.

In a way, tracking people keeps us honest, knowing that your life can be invaded at any time, simply by anyone who has a legitimate reason to request it, or from a loophole in the privacy agreement on a site that you have agreed to. Any government official can also go into any of your accounts if they have noticed suspicious behavior from you.

There is only the illusion of anonymity for the average laymen like myself and most others out there on the world wide web, a few higher end users who know how to use multiple VPN locations and hack into another person's router can truly be hidden from prying eyes.

But if you are like me then you don't have anything to worry about, because you are also not doing anything wrong. Don't get caught up in other peoples worries, because in the long run they will come up with new and inventive ways to keep Tracking Us.

Scott Goerz

Equality

We are full in the equality era, more and more women are being accepted into jobs that used to be predominantly male oriented. I don't think this is a bad thing, but I don't think we should go full out on both sexes being equal.  There should be some leeway in the form of how women are treated.

I don't ever want to get to the point where I meet up with a woman who is my friend, I then proceed to say "Hey buddy" and slap her hard on the back in a greeting.  On the same token, men and women are not equal when it comes to physical prowess, that is just the natural way both sexes are made. Sure there are exceptions to every rule and some women are stronger than men, but for the most part the majority of men are physically stronger than women.

If a man really gets into another mans face, and pushes his buttons, gets him all riled up, there is going to be some fists flying from both sides, is doesn't matter how big one man is compared to the other man, once they have crossed that line it's going to get into a boxing match.

I don't want this to be the way with women, as men, we have been taught throughout our whole adolescent lives that we do not hit women, no matter what, we walk away.  Yes this rule gets broken as well as there are some less than honorable men out there but for the most part this rule holds true with most men.

Let's go the other direction, Men are starting to act like women, and instead of listening to criticism and brushing it off their shoulders, they instead break down and cry.  Can you imagine if men broke down and cried every time they got stressed out? I'm not saying every woman does this either but it does happen.

It's my opinion that men and women are equal already, but they are equal differently, with both sides being better in different areas than their opposites.  Women usually have a thing for the little details, the fine tuning and the look of things, they are more empathetic, have more patience, and they bring a new perspective to men when dealing with them.   Men are the trees, they protect, shelter. Women are the flowers giving generously so that every other life form can survive because of them.  With their pollen the world wouldn't survive.

Equality should be enforced when a type of work is involved, if two people of the opposite sex are working the same job they should both be paid the same.  Opinions of the opposite sexes should also be taken equally.

As far as I am concerned, both sexes are already equal.

Scott Goerz

Coffee

I have been drinking coffee since I was about 14, and I have to say when I first tried it I didn't like it very much, it had to have a lot of cream and sugar to hide the "Taste" of it.  I drank it like that afterwards for another 20 years.

When Tim Hortons first came into mainstream and a new one was being built just about every other day I have to wonder if I didn't help make that happen, I had a coffee there sometimes five times a day, and usually something to eat as well.

Everyone says that coffee is addictive, but I'm not so sure, It's kind of like saying candy is addictive, it isn't, of course, and neither is coffee. I know the difference between addicted to something and wanting or craving something.  I smoke, and if I go a few hours without one I start to get cranky, if it goes on longer than that, it is the only thing I can think about until I get one.  I crave a coffee sometimes, but that feeling comes and goes throughout the day and I'm only disappointed if I don't get one, I can wait until the next day to have one. 

There is something about starting your day with a fresh cup of java, it sets you in a good mood right off the bat, I know there have been days when I didn't have time for a coffee and my days has felt "Off" and not quite normal. If you have a routine that you follow everyday, even if it doesn't involve coffee, and one day that routine gets broken, you will feel off as well.

At some point about a year ago it dawned on me the fact of how much sugar I actually put into my coffee, and doing that a few times a day it really added up.  So I made a life altering decision to drink my coffee black, after drinking a double double for 35 years.

 At first, it was not good, it was bitter, and tasted terrible but I did it anyway, day after day I forced myself to drink this black yuck, eventually there came a time when I didn't even notice it anymore and I found myself enjoying it, I was surprised when then day came where I found it to be delicious again.

Before I switched to black I was a regular, 190-195 lbs man, after cutting out the cream and sugar from my coffee I maintain a steady 180-185 lbs, pretty good trade off in my opinion.
 
I love coffee and I will probably continue to drink it until I die, sometimes I treat myself to a double double, but for the most part and at home its always better black.

Scott Goerz

Movies Need Continuity

Who doesn't love a good movie? But what makes a good movie? Is it the action, the special effects, the great explosions, the heart wrenching story, the scares, the laughter, the awe inspiring locations, the great characters, or all of the above?  Of course all those things matter but there is one key factor that I have to have for it to be a great movie.

Continuity,  A great movie has to flow perfectly from one scene to the next in way that makes perfect sense in the world that it portrays, It has to be of logical design and in a way the watcher can understand and relate to.

If you have a serious movie, or a movie that takes itself seriously, The Terminator, for example, that movie is set in a fictional possible future and has to continue in that way throughout the movie, the terminator would suddenly be a terrible movie if the assassin robot suddenly decided to have sex with a motorbike, that would be stupid and would not make any sense, it would lose its continuity and lose it's serious nature, it would disconnect from the watcher.

It would be the same way for a comedy like Meet the Fockers,  that movie is set in a humorous environment and continues that way through out the show. If the main character got upset, and decided to shoot everyone in a department store with blood and gore, that would also disconnect the watcher from the movie, and it would lose its continuity.

It doesn't matter what movie it is, it has to make sense as well, you can't have a couple who are fighting and break up and then in the next scene have them kissing without knowing how they got back together. You can't have people hiding out in a city and in the next scene have them eating breakfast in the desert. There has to be a reason or way as to how they transitioned from one scene to the next, it has to make sense and have a logical reason behind it, even in a science fiction world where the technology is unknown.

Too many movies these days focus on the special effects to wow their views, they rely on the explosions, the huge monster, the blood and guts, or the scary demon that lives in the basement, half of these movies are terrible and make no sense, and I find myself wondering how did this scene happen?  In Aquaman the hero can swim like a bullet underwater, as fast as Superman can fly in the sky, yet later on in the movie, he is riding a shark with a saddle, my only guess is that the director thought it looked cool, because other than that it makes no sense whatsoever.

It amazes me that these movies cost millions of dollars to make but lack the fundamentals to make them fantastic. A pretty look is only on the surface, what lies beneath it is what will determine if it's ugly or beautiful. 

Scott Goerz

Our Life Decisions

I keep hearing the phrase "Plan for your future" and this phrase is usually coupled with stock options, retirement funds, TFSA accounts, social securities, and so on, and before all of these examples there was what to be when you grew up, what schooling were you going to take, were you saving money for post secondary education, could you be accepted for a school loan?

I myself have a hard enough time simply trying to survive instead of worrying about what to be and how to go about it. What does an average 15 year old teenager worry about?  Boys are interested in girls and girls are interested in boys and transgendered are worried about all of the above. They are worried about the clothes they wear and their social status in their little community of peers.

Very few teens give two figs about their long term future, as most of them are being taken care of by their parents and do not need to support themselves, they are much more interested in their immediate future and cannot think that far ahead.

But that's not to say that we shouldn't still give them options and ideas,  and showing them something that they have never seen before might inspire them to strive towards it. If they are never shown anything new then how would they ever know anything about it?

The same goes for us adults, with the exception that we have heard rumblings of certain accounts and ways to save money, there are advertisements on tv and castings on the radio, but after a while it becomes a droning noise that we block out because we hear it so often and the reality of it being an option seems a long way off.

If someone you know is excited that they have some sort of plan for their future that they have put into place, its only then that you start to listen again and really hear what they are saying, it no longer is like listening to an ad, and becomes a fact of life and a possible reality. 

Sometimes we need that real life snap into reality, a close friend or acquaintance is on a good path and it inspires us to join them. Some times we need a little nudge in the right direction with Our Life Decisions.

Scott Goerz

Something About Music

I love those days when you are feeling great, everything just clicks into place and you are stress free. You hop in your car to head out somewhere, maybe to meet a friend, or see your parents, or shopping, as you drive you turn on the radio and a really good song comes on and you sing along with it tapping your fingers on the steering wheel to the beat as you go.

There is something about music that relates directly to your soul, you feel it deep in your bones, the lyrics are hauntingly deep and can be interpreted differently by each person. It coaxes you to start moving your body, either by tapping your foot or straight up dancing in reckless abandon.

It really is fascinating if you think about it, even a song in a different language can make you move your body or sing along. I remember when Du Hast came out, it was in a German language and completely foreign to me, but I still sang along with it even though I had no idea what the artist was saying.

There is something primal about the beats of song, a steady boom, boom, boom, boom, rhythm throughout the song goes all the way back when natives stretched an animal hide over a bowl and danced around a fire to the steady beat of the drum. To this day that beat is universal and every human being feels it in their bones when they hear it.

When you are sad, some songs hit you very hard as well, and we tend to relate certain music to our situation. Our depression is slightly lifted when we realized that, through music, someone else has experienced our sorrow, and that we are not alone. I have cried as I sang through some deeply moving songs when I was feeling particularly sad.

Sometimes music has the effect of making you stronger, and after listening to it you feel more determined and confident. Music is so powerful that it can actually change who we are without forcing itself upon us, it simply flows through us like magic.  It can make you feel differently about someone just from listening to them play, listening to a recording and watching someone live is an eye opening experience.

There is Something amazing About Music.

Scott Goerz