The Scourge of the Internet

No I am not writing about the fear and hate mongering taking over the Internet although they are the greatest evils of the Internet. And I am not taking about corporate social media with all it’s evils of turning the customer into the product, at least it can facilitate communication and community and even activism. I am talking about something much subtler and seemingly innocuous.

The Scourge of the Internet are so-called influencers and content creators.

When I think of influencers, The Kardashians are the first thing that come to mind, people famous for being famous. Influencers online are about being famous, and being charismatic or outrageous seems to be the way to go. But influencers are not really out to influence anyone, they are just looking for followers that can be monetized.

As for content providers, the word content says it. They are not about providing real information or knowledge, it’s just about creating something to stick in-between the advertising. That is why when you go researching online you keep finding multiple websites with exactly the same information, word for word (usually stolen from Wikipedia), Content providers are just sticking content they steal in-between the advertising. Again all for hits and advertising revenue.

These things may seem innocuous but they clutter up the Internet with meaningless pap making finding real information increasing more difficult, if not close to impossible. And AI is just going to make everything worse as the LLMs behind it feed on this mountain of garbage for the ultimate GIGO effect.

Can we have our old Internet back please – a place for information, communication and community.

Annual Report on Kanata South Pathways Deterioration, Spring 2024

Another year has gone by and it is time to report again on the deterioration of the Bridlewood and Glen Cairn pathways in Kanata.

Bridlewood

Glen Cairn

Previous Reports

Spring 2023 Bridlewood & Glen Cairn

Spring 2022 Bridlewood

Spring 2022 Glen Cairn

Spring 2021 Bridlewood

Doug Ford: Should we be thankful for small mercies ?

So is there anything good to say about Doug Ford.

Well he is not Pierre Poilievre or Danielle Smith. At least Ford does not seek votes by appealing to people’s fears and hatred. He is more of an old fashioned corporations know best, privatization will solve all our problems, capitalist conservative.

He doesn’t attack people for who they are or go after women’s right to bodily autonomy.

Yes, he wants to give the province to his business cronies, destroy the environment and dismantle our public health care and education systems, but no one is perfect.

How the Fossil Fuel Industry Can Save Itself and the Planet

The fossil fuel industry seems to have a romantic fascination with “all the oil in the ground”, a fascination that shields it from financial reality.

There are two things absolutely true about the fossil fuel industry.

It has a finite end because there is a finite end to the oil and gas in the ground.

The second truth is that extracting the remaining oil and gas keeps becoming more environmentally harmful, but more importantly to the industry, more costly. Indeed we are probably already at the point where their investments would have a greater profit by diverting them from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

But their romantic fascination with “all the oil in the ground” keeps them from seeing this.

If they want to maximize their profit would it not make sense to ration production of the easiest and cheapest oil and gas over future years, while leaving the most expensive and most environmentally harmful resources in the ground. This way prices could be maximized due to reduced supply while the environmental impact per year is reduced as we transition to a fossil fuel free economy, which they can move their investments into.