Digital age madness

It was a lifetime ago, 1967 to be exact, when I sat listening to a lecturer at Columbia University in New York city.

The lecturer turned to the blackboard and drew a horizontal line. Above the line he drew a typewriter. Below the line he drew a newspaper press. Then he drew two  lines connecting the typewriter and the press.

“That’s the future,” he told us. “No more paper and editing pencils. Your keystrokes go directly to the press then out to readers.”

I rolled my eyes, smirked and walked across the street to Chock full o'Nuts to get a coffee and escape the fantasy world.

Six years later I sat in a newsroom and typed a story into a computer screen. No typewriter, no pencils, no paper. That future fantasy world had arrived.

Now, after more than 50 years of working almost every day on a computer connected to the Internet I yearn to go back to typewriters, pencils and paper. The scams, the technical complications, the social media sewage and the bureaucratic nonsense of the digital age are overwhelming.

Some recent examples:

I open my Gas Buddy app to find the least expensive gasoline nearby. I notice for the first time a tab that says My Vehicle. I tap on it and discover that I own a 2018 Toyota.

Indeed I do. I bought the car a few months ago to replace the two aging vehicles in our household. But I didn’t tell Gas Buddy that.

The only official sources of my new car information are the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, my vehicle insurance company, the dealership and my bank. Gas Buddy presumably got my vehicle information from one of those, which makes me very uncomfortable.

Then last week I had difficulty connecting a device to a WiFi printer. I called the printer company for help. The technician said he needed to take control of my personal computer to find the problem.

When the guy begins controlling my computer remotely he says it is running slowly and needs a tune-up, which he says he can provide.

I found that odd because only a few days earlier I had my computer into the shop where I bought it. I asked them to assess its condition and that, if necessary, I would buy a new one or at least get  the old one updated. Despite the fact that they sell computers and service, the guy there tells me that my machine is fine just the way it is.

So I tell the guy at the printer company I don’t need any computer upgrades and to just move along with the printer fix. He says OK and that he can start the fix for 70 USD.

I cut the connection, call back and talk to a supervisor, telling her to expect a call from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police fraud squad who I am about to call. Then I plunge into the frustrating online banking world to change my passwords in case the technician has grabbed that information from my computer.

Finally, I calm myself down, get focussed and return to the printer connection problem.

It is truly amazing what the calm, focussed mind can achieve. I find the problem on my own and fix it in 30 seconds of keystrokes. Then I sit back and think about how wonderful it would be to have a job that pays 70 USD for 30 seconds work.

Speaking of the RCMP I received a letter from them saying I must renew, for $60, my firearms licence. The letter says I can do so quickly and easily by going to their website.

I go to their website and discover that I need to register for a GCKEY, whatever that might be. I need a GCKEY to access Enhanced IWS, whatever that is. Once I obtain a GCKEY then I should log into IWS through two levels off security.

So I shut off my computer, telephone the RCMP and ask them to send me a paper application. I have my own pencil, thank you.

Yes, the digital world has become overwhelming. I want out, but once in, there is no easy way out.

And, for all its frustrations there is no better place to produce a good rant.

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Winter discontent, spring of joy?

If John Steinbeck was alive today he might consider changing the title of his 1961 Nobel prize-winning novel from The Winter of Our Discontent to The Winter of World Discontent.

Our current winter of discontent is not simply about the problems of one family or one place. It is a winter of global discontent - or most certainly a winter of western world chaos and unhappiness.

There is hope, however. In the Steinbeck novel the main character reaches into his pocket for a razor blade to slit his wrists. Instead he pulls out a talisman placed by his daughter to remind him of his importance to his family and community despite his moral lapses.

Similarly, we see some hope in our current discontent. Last week, for instance, the chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest investor, wrote to world business leaders telling them they must become leaders in a divided world.

“Stakeholders are pushing companies to wade into sensitive social and political issues — especially as they see governments failing to do so effectively,” Larry Fink wrote in his letter.

Bang on, Larry. Business leaders should step forward and begin emptying the septic tank of social problems that our governments have been unable, or unwilling, to handle.

Business leaders must focus beyond the bottom line. They have the experience, the skills and the tools to start fixing our social breakdowns.

Many of our political leaders do not have those tools, skills or drive. Or, if they do, they too often are rendered useless by political expediency.

We witness the damage every day. Britain, still controlled by a stiff upper lip ruling class, is a whitewashed shadow of itself, economically and in terms or global leadership.

The United States, weakened by cancerous degeneration of morality and democracy, has become a comedy sketch. Except it’s not very funny that tens of thousands of federal employees are hurting because of the month-long government shutdown.

In Canada we have a federal government unable to solve the dilemma of how to get our oil to world markets while ensuring environmental safety. In Ontario, we have provincial  politicians wrangling over whether the provincial police force should be led by an unqualified buddy of the premier.

Our once vibrant western world democracies have descended to the level of kakocracies – government by the least qualified people.

Authoritarians are stepping into the vacuums created by complacent democracies. Vladimir Putin of Russia and China’s Xi Jinping are centre stage as world leaders now and are working to make authoritarian government look good.

One strong hope for strengthening our ailing democracies is population turnover.

Mr. Fink’s letter to business executives notes that the largest transfer of wealth in history is occurring now. Billions of dollars are starting to move to Millennials and Post-Millennials as their grandparents and parents pass on.

As these new generations gain wealth they also will gain power. And if you think that 25-year-old sitting on the couch staring into a smartphone doesn’t have any thoughts on wealth, power and change, you are dead wrong.

The seventh annual Deloitte Millennial Survey shows that Millennials and Post-Millennials want to see dramatic changes. It found that only 19 per cent of the young people surveyed believed that politicians are having a positive impact.

By comparison 44 per cent said business leaders are making a positive impact and 75 per cent believed that multinational corporations have the potential to help solve the world’s social, economic and environmental challenges.

The survey involved 10,455 Millennials in 36 countries and 1,850 Post-Millennial (also called Generation Z) respondents in six countries.

Young people are inheriting not just money but the world and all its problems. They are the future leaders and they will demand and make changes.

Yes, there are dullards and airheads among them. (If you want to see some of them look up the video of the Covington Kentucky Catholic High School students, wearing red Trump hats, mocking a native American elder singing during the Indigenous People's March in Washington last Friday).

However, you have got to believe that intelligent Millennials and Generation Zeds are the people with the abilities to turn our winters of discontent into springs of joy.

Spitfire: The wolf who should not have died

I’ve seen their tracks and heard their howls but haven’t met any wolves on my back 40 this winter. Not that I really expect to because it is rare to get even a glimpse of one.

I did get a glimpse last year. I was walking a trail when I saw it briefly on a low ridge ahead of me. It disappeared immediately and when I walked up to where it had been, tracks in the snow told me a story.

The tracks ended in skid marks. The wolf had been chasing a rabbit, was totally focussed on grabbing dinner and didn’t scent or see me as quickly as it might have in other circumstances. When it did, it came to a skidding halt and bolted in the opposite direction.

Perhaps that is how Spitfire, a famous Yellowstone National Park wolf, met her demise last November. She was shot by a trophy hunter just outside the Yellowstone no hunting zone. She was either distracted or unaware that she had left her safe zone and it cost her life.

Spitfire was a seven-year-old alpha female gray wolf revered by biologists and wildlife enthusiasts. She was the daughter of 06, another famous Yellowstone wolf shot by a trophy hunter back in 2012.

The killing of Spitfire was legal because she was outside a protected area. Legal but not logical, because trophy hunting is neither logical nor defensible.

Trophy hunting is not the honourable hunting that many of us enjoy. It is killing for ego. Killing for bragging rights. Killing to stuff and display an animal’s body, or to hang its skin or other parts on a wall.

Trophy hunting is a huge business. American trophy hunters pay big bucks to kill animals overseas. They import more than 126,000 wildlife trophies a year on average. 

The United States Humane Society says that 1.26 million wildlife trophies were imported to the U.S. between 2005 and 2014.

Canadians also are fond of wildlife trophies killed abroad. Between 2007 and 2016 Canadians imported 2,647 mammal parts as hunting trophies, including pieces of 83 elephants, 256 lions, 134 zebras, 76 hippos and 19 rhinoceroses. Pieces such as feet, ears, tusks, skulls and horns.

Those figures come from the database operated by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, which tracks animals on endangered lists and requires permits for these animals or parts of them to cross international borders.

That database also shows that another 280 mammals were imported intact after having been stuffed, including antelope, oryx, monkeys and lions.

Those numbers do not include animals brought back as trophies that are not considered endangered, and not requiring any kind of special permit.

Meanwhile, the killing of Spitfire last fall has renewed calls for a no-hunt buffer zone around some national parks. The idea is to protect wildlife such as wolves and grizzly bears that live in the parks but sometimes wander beyond their boundaries.

Wolves have been exterminated in many parts of the world, notably Europe and the United States, where wolf populations had been eliminated everywhere except Alaska and northern Minnesota. Canada and Russia are countries where populations continue to be relatively stable.

Efforts to restore gray wolf populations in the U.S. have been quite successful. They are protected in many states by the Endangered Species Act yet occupy only five per cent of their historic range. But now the Trump administration has signalled that it will end federal protections for all wolves in the U.S.

I understand and support the concerns of ranchers and farmers who must protect their livestock from wolves. I also understand the critical importance of wolves as necessary to the balance of nature.

I also believe we humans can learn to be better beings by studying the traits of wolf society. Wolves are social animals who despite their wildness demonstrate trust, team play, respect for family, kindness and compassion.

These are the same good traits that many people see in their family dogs. Human society would be much better if it demonstrated more of those traits.

Wolves are an important part of our natural world and should not be gunned down by trophy hunters.

Neither should any other animal.

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Is this winter an example of future winters?

The New Year opened with so many questions:

Will the global economic turmoil become a recession? Will western Canadian oil be given a stable delivery system to world markets where it can be sold for true market value? Will the trend to populace politics create more chaos? Will Pinocchio Trump move from the White House to a U.S. penitentiary?

The list is lengthy, but the most important question in my mind is what will happen with the weather. Opinions range from ‘global warming is a China-inspired hoax’ to ‘the world will dry up and blow away within the next 30 years.’

The best way to find an answer to the weather question is to look for facts. I am aware that looking for facts is considered old-fashioned these days, but I still find it helpful.

First, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently reported that the last four years of global temperatures have been the hottest on record. Also the 20 warmest years on record all occurred in the last 22 years.

October just passed was the 406th consecutive month in which global temperatures were above normal. There is no official final data for November yet, but it appears that it too will be above average, making it the 407^th consecutive month.

That means that anyone under 33 years old never has experienced a cooler-than-average month of global temperatures.

So what’s ahead for 2019 weather? Some scientists are concluding that this year will be the hottest ever recorded in human history.

The U.S. Climate Prediction Centre says there is an 80 per cent chance that a full-fledged El Niño already has begun and will last at least until the end of February. El Niño is a weather phenomenon in which parts of the Pacific Ocean warm and cause weather chaos, including a warmer-than-usual winter in much of Canada.

The documented trend to warmer world temperatures combining with an El Niño is the reason why some science professionals say this year will be the hottest ever.

More warmth is something the world does not need.

Rising temperatures have increased droughts, wildfires, and more violent weather in general. The World Meteorological Organization reports 70 tropical cyclones or hurricanes during 2018, far above the annual average of 53. 

These violent weather events cause agricultural losses, which are followed by malnutrition, then large migrations of people seeking more stable living conditions. These migrations create moral and political quandaries – do you build walls and pens to keep displaced people off your turf, or do you work to fix the things causing them to be displaced?

Newspapers and television news shows have been filled with reports of weather disasters in recent years. Most of them have been in far off places like Europe, California, and the U.S. south. But we are seeing weird weather changes – although not as violent or dramatic - right here at home.

The past fall and current winter in Haliburton have been among the most bizarre in memory. There was some precipitation – rain or snow – on 27 of 30 days in November and 24 of 31 in December.

December had rain on 10 days, almost double the average for that month.

There have been eye-popping temperature anomalies as well. Temperatures in November ranged from minus 26 Celsius to plus 14. December temperatures ranged from minus 24 to plus nine.

The wild temperature swings have continued into the New Year. Already this month we have seen a couple lows in the minus 20s and three or four days above freezing.

Weather ups and downs are not unusual. We’ve seen them before in the Haliburton-Muskoka region. However, looking at data from the last 10 years, there is evidence that our climate is changing.

The first effects of changing climate are being seen by skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers and others who enjoy winter sports.

How climate change will affect other seasons remains to be seen. The wild winds, droughts and fires seen in other parts of the world would be a serious threat to our most important natural resource – our trees.

This week at a lake just south of Minden I saw a soft maple budding. Budding in mid-winter is unhealthy and a sign that all is not right in the natural world.