Busy week

 Yesterday was another busy personal day as will today be and not much work accomplished. Not surprising but I do sense that more work time is coming which will be nice for sure. Harder to find that time in the summer months but the lovely walks on the beach are very much worth losing the work time. 

Warm again today but mostly cloudy and must go out and water the tomatoes soon before it gets too hot. Grass all cut last weekend and probably does not  need cutting for another week as we like it to grow long for the bunny to graze on. Why not as he seems to enjoy it. 

God's world still hasn't moved to that plain of peace as we wait patiently for an end to war and lots of discussion in the United Nations. It is really the only way; it worked well during the Cold War for nearly 45 years. But Russia seems unable to accept their boundaries created by their bankruptcy trying to take over Afghanistan in the 1990s and continue in their aggressive taunts threatening everyone with nuclear war. Is it because no one there has an ability to think through what comes out of their mouth? No ideas on that but it needs to end for the good of humanity. We are tired of listening to their threats but we are not an aggressive people and prefer the route of peace. Russia claims all sorts of ridiculous assumptions about NATO and they tried to convince the United States to destroy NATO I think but we appear to be on that same page once again supporting the efforts of NATO to keep the Russians corralled in their 1990s borders.  Why do the Russian people listen to the ridiculous statements made by their government? One wonders that. 

Pincombe Newsletter mostly written and just have to pull the Bishops Nympton data which I am currently publishing in the newsletter. My Pincombe line was at Bishops Nympton from the late 1500s and continued well into the 1900s. Before that they were at East Buckland and  Filleigh and before that at North Molton and East Buckland. My line, Richard Pincombe, was the fourth son of William Pincombe and Emotte Snow whose family included seven sons and two daughters. My own line used the spelling of Pincomb in England from the 1500s to the mid 1800s and initially here but gradually the surname came to be spelled Pincombe. 

Tariff has raised its ugly head once again as discussions on CUSMA come together. We must continue making ourselves tariff proof as we move ahead in Canada with nearly 90,000 jobs created in May this year. The only way does appear to be totally independent but that is a shame as our trade with so many American States was equally balanced and we are good friends. Personally I do not want cheap cheese made with freeze dried milk mind you the cheeses made in Wisconsin and their milk are absolutely lovely. Wanting to take over our market just doesn't work well but wanting to trade items that we do not have is a great idea and has worked well since we first got into trade deals in the mid 1960s. Primarily with the American car companies at first and gradually increasing in the items that we trade back and forth. We tend to be resource rich and the amount of oil which is purchased by the United States at a discount (we sell the rest to the world at full price) has put the trade slightly out of balance but we could just decrease what we send to them at a discount and sell around the world at full price if that helps the discussions of equal trade. No ideas on that really as I am not involved in that at all nor do I wish to be at nearly 81 years of age. 

The discussion yesterday by the Prime Minister on our AI future was fantastic. Good ideas and the implementation sounds very straightforward. Starting with medicine a good idea as the AI can collect all the information on a patient quickly and have it available especially in the Emergency Room where the lines can be very long. AI can be a powerful tool with the right hands being the recipients of all that information. So much of our medical information is online making that a reasonable proposition as we all have our Health Card numbers attached to all of our information. I do like socialized medicine. In the past it was sort of socialized as the local doctor always had the ear of the local council and funding when needed. It is really just a step up from that original careful dolling out of medical care as needed in a parish. I think it is one of the really great values and there are many more that have come to us because of our religion. The Parish system was the system setup by the Christian Church and if one goes back in time it existed for the Celtic Church allowing quickly when Jesus came amongst us for the Celtic Church to move to the Christian Celtic Church. English records are such that one can follow the story of any recorded village/town/city in England through their records painstakingly recorded through the centuries. 

But for me our Christian Religion is based on the laws which God gave to us initially with the Ten Commandments to Moses and later with the two commandments that Jesus brought to us simplifying how we should live. It is concise and we could all be living that life of "loving our neighbour as ourself" where loving is respecting and then wars would end and the uplifted plain of peace would be ours to have. We still have to be ready as we do not know what is out there in the universe - God said "Be vigilant: as we read Old Testament and New Testament passages. 

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8, NKJV)
 

Time to do the Solitaire puzzles.  

 

 

 

 

Cleaning accomplished

Cleaning all accomplished and today is technically a research day but will involve some gardening. It needs to also involve the Pincombe Newsletter as it is now day 4 in June and it is three days late although that is more my suggestion to myself then cut in stone. Once I started into writing the books those types of deadlines no longer exist in my mind as I have little to put into them in actuality at this time. 

Sunny days for the last couple of days and the earth is drying up rapidly. Rain predicted for the weekend and it will be very welcomed. The tomato plants still surviving but the lettuce plants were unearthed too early by the rabbit although will check on that today to see if they can be put back into the ground once again.  

The company that tore up all the grounds last year has been busy repairing the lawns which is good to see. The new system is in and working the same as the old although more efficient for the system I would suspect since the earlier system went in fifty years ago! Our hydro though has always been good here even during the dreadful ice storm in 1998/1999 which certainly put Ottawa on the map and the entire area was coated in a thick layer of ice for about a week and basically shut down. I was working at the hospital at that time so continued to go into work on an altered bus schedule which got you there quite efficiently actually. To show the power of nature the bus was heading down one street and a large branch came away and banged against the windshield and cracked it . The driver managed that so very well one scarcely noticed that it had happened aside from the huge bang. 

Another very very warm day likely although just 19 degrees celsius and sunny at the moment.  The predicted high is 30 degrees celsius. I need to water the tomato plants shortly and the iris I transplanted. 

I can sense our movement closer and closer to the European Union and we are one of the founding members of NATO. We have a lot in common with Europe and they are very interested in maintaining full security in the Arctic and the Arctic nations, Greenland,  the state of Alaska (United States) and Canada have a front line seat on the western section of the Arctic with Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden on the eastern side. The closest reach between Asia and North America is to the north (top) of this particular map although the distance between Svalbard (Norway) and Greenland is a several times greater distance (and the closest distance between Europe and North America). One can see the tremendous value in the Arctic Ocean as it becomes more navigable to shorten the distance between all of these areas. However it will still have winter limitations. 

 

This is a good map of the Arctic Ocean that is on the Geology.com website ( https://geology.com/world/arctic-ocean-map.shtml ).

The distance between Canada and Europe is considerably less when one looks at Hudson Bay and its access to various water lanes to Europe or for that matter anywhere in the North West Territories. I continue to like the idea of Norway, Germany and Canada having the same submarine fleets making surveillance of this part of the world quite straightforward and well covered by the number of future submarines belonging to the three navies which are all part of NATO. 

NATO is very much on guard in the Arctic. Having so many countries supportive of peace is a comfort after the horrors of the Second World War and the Cold War. We have an opportunity, we in this world, of obtaining peace between all nations using the United Nations as our place to speak. We may not always individually agree with the final opinion sometimes but we want to hear all the opinions and that is important. 

The dream of Port Churchill on Hudson Bay is real and Ontario should really create the port that has been talked about as well. The potential for trade in Europe has increased these last couple of years as we diversify our trade here in Canada. 

Solitaire games are next.   

 

Door bell

The weirdest thing yesterday was my door bell ringing. I never answer it unless I have asked someone to come. I glanced out the window and saw that there was what looked like a chemical fire extinguisher sitting on my porch (since it is hazardous waste I decided to check). I did not particularly want that sitting on my porch. So I opened the door and the individual was standing way back where the tree blocked my view.  I thought  he was asking to cut my lawn but my daughter thought he was asking to collect insects around the outside of the house. I just said no thank you especially as there are three boys across the road that I could ask to cut my lawn. In terms of insects the same ones are around everyone's houses so a weird request actually.  I have no idea who that child was actually. Strange really. 

Another busy cleaning day and all accomplished including four loads of wash. Life can be very busy. One of these days I will get back to my research and I am now two days behind for the Pincombe Newsletter so must work on that today. 

Today the basement cleaning and that will begin soon with the Robot doing its chore on the rugs down there. Looking forward to moving in three years as that appears to be the sort of time line I am looking at these days. I will be 84 and that seems long enough for me to own a house. Especially one that is too big for me with so many people wanting to buy houses that are less expensive. 

The tomato plants are growing nicely and as well as the transplanted Iris. Still more weeding to do and certainly not my favourite task to do. Actually I am coming to actually dislike it. 

CUSMA talks are beginning. Minister LeBlanc is very knowledgeable along with the rest of the team. In general our aims at the moment are heading towards making ourselves tariff proof which we are currently under CUSMA items although tariffs have crept in here and there. As we diversify our trade around the world we will be less incapacitated by tariff which is slowly coming to fruition. It will take time of course since there was very little warning for the tariffs and especially the size of the tariffs.  

Time will tell how long tariff lasts. Will it bring industry back to the United States? No ideas on that. It takes money to set up new businesses and trickle down economics has not worked these past few generations as it was hinted in the 1980s that it would be a great boon for the population (the opposite has occurred with the Stock Market being more important than individual industries as trading in stocks became the way to become rich). But in reality the up and down in the stock market which results in the huge accumulation of wealth by a few mostly in the stock market because of panic selling rather than in the everyday actual work of business. American businesses have reduced production in the United States (blaming the unions for strikes looking for higher wages) and quite a few American businesses went offshore and still are. If the American car industries are crippled in Canada (the solution is really to incorporate here and split from the American company) by tariff and the idea is to try to sell all-American made cars in Canada it will not work. We didn't propose the original car deals and they were presented as a win-win for all three with a North American market but tariffing the cars as they move back and forth in production is no longer a win for Canada as it was presented and will hurt the American car companies in Canada where they have had a monopoly really for the last sixty years. We will buy non-American cars produced here (unless there is an advantage to letting in cars with a tariff imposed supporting other industries in Canada like the 49,000 EVs coming in supporting Saskatchewan exports to the same country) because it employs our people which is really unfortunate as the North American idea was a good one. 

One doesn't need to be part of a huge conglomerate but rather an economic union (the EU is very effective) is much solider and less affected by political differences. We like Canada just as it is actually. We love our First Nations and in reality a lot of us always have; just the people who created the problems in the Residential Schools and probably because they were criminals if they hurt the children in any way and have hopefully all been prosecuted. Greed is a large part of that as well I think and one can see it raising its ugly head in Alberta where a few want all the riches without paying the price for that (Imagine that group in control!). Alberta must be worth at least 30 trillion to buy it and extremely unlikely that the First Nations are interested in being outside of Canada! The ownership is unquestionably the First Nations as established by the Crown (British) and  the United Nations. We (Canada) acquired Rupert's Land with all the treaty rights belonging to the First Nations and we will defend those treaty rights in our courts. The First Nations willingly share with us but quite rightly object when their rights are infringed.

The reality from the trade deals of the last sixty years pointed to a North American market (Mexico, the United States and Canada). If we are then the supply chains created in all three countries  will profit and not be damaged by tariff as is presently happening. The supply chains could convert to non-American car companies that now exist in our country and are slowly coming into our country. Eventually we will move to hybrid cars in general; one can see that coming for sure. Certainly we will continue diversifying our trade around the world because we do not wish to become economically injured by tariff; the logic in that is pretty clear. At 40+ million people we are a huge market. In terms of growth our country continues to grow with births outnumbering deaths and likely to continue that way as we have a large youth population. Proximity plays a big part as well as shipping back and forth across a land border is much cheaper and easier than any other method. Our population comes from all over the world these days so that trading around the world works very well for us as there will be people who want to buy the goods from the areas that they grew up in. As a country our green houses have become big business and supplying ourselves with some fresh food in the winter is now a reality whereas when I was a child 80 years ago all of the fresh food came across the border from the United States for the most part. We have a huge ability to produce electricity making self-sufficiency very doable for Canada.  Trade is a wonderful extra but we can produce what we need in our country. Our NATO partners have been very good to us and we are fortifying the Arctic rapidly to protect our rights in that Arctic zone as it melts. 

Beautiful sun today and just a whisper of wind as God moves through the world watching and waiting for us to do the right thing - love our neighbour as ourself. The sky is absolutely blue and no clouds out of my window. 

Breakfast completed and Solitaire Puzzles to do.  

 

 

 

 

Greed must not predominate in this world

I am not a believer in handing everything to people; they should work hard as it is good for them. I do believe though that greed must disappear from our world for us to reach that higher plain of peace where all survive and people are happy. In the early 1990s life suddenly changed and we welcomed it; many many millions in the world. The Iron Curtain was gone and people could be free once again after fourty five years of being held in bondage. A buffer zone claimed by the country that had maintained that Iron Curtain but buffered against what; no aggression against them appeared during those 45 years or since. The only aggressor was that very country which held the peoples in bondage. When does it end? When does the bombing of innocents in Ukraine stop? Right now it is just hateful revenge because Russia the aggressor can not win the war as they bomb Ukraine day after day. It must stop for peace to come to our world. 

The world is now divided into countries - some large and some smaller and both sizes can live together easily (the European Union is an example of that). That was why we created the United Nations in 1945 and all those freed countries in the 1990s came into the United Nations and now we are settled. The steps to peace are fraught with danger because of greed - greed for land and greed for opinion. We must find that middle plain where all are happy. 

God had a brilliant idea way back in time and we are the result of that brilliance but we must use all of that brain power given to us to create the "Garden of Eden" that once existed at that beginning of this world. Where peace predominates and war disappears. We have no idea how much time has passed on this earth really; just thoughts uncovered by archaeological digs. We do need though to continue being ready to defend ourselves as we have no idea what is out there in the universe; being ready is very important. 

Yesterday a busy cleaning day and it took most of the day as it turned out as windows were washed as well. A thorough cleaning as we enter into summer. The trees are in full leaf now and the canopy above us blocks the stars which is always sad actually but also tells us that summer is coming. 

Today another cleaning day and it is the main floor and likely the windows once again so a long cleaning day but once done we are ready for the long hazy days of summer soon to arrive. 

Thank you God for another beautiful day as my years stretch towards 81. Amazing really; I continue to be surprised to be here to see the 2020s. When I was a child a lot of discussion on the 1920s was still ongoing with older relatives and following that the Great Depression and then the Second World War. I wonder if they thought about the 1920s because it was the last happy moment in their lives until the Second World War was won. I was born just after the Second World War was won and the news reels at the movie theatres showed me the horror of that war but people still thrived and did what they had to do to survive you could see that in the news reels. But what saddened me was the faces on the Jewish children aboard the boats that were turned away. We must never do that to children again. They are not checkers on a board to be moved about to satisfy the horrors like we have been made to watch in Gaza and that was the responsibility of those parents - they could have sent them to safety. How does a baby freeze to death when there are parents there to hold them close and keep them warm (I can never understand that); children are the future and we must protect them for the future.  

Solitaire puzzles are next. The morning moves quickly.  

God in our lives

 Yesterday the winds of God were blowing strongly last night as we walked on the beach. It was wondrous how the clouds turned and the winds flowed forth from the universe pushing us along our path around the beach. We started the path with bright sun on our faces and finished it with the wind at our backs. With such power one imagines that all the world will find their path to follow the words of God - love they neighbour as theyself. We must move forward onto that higher plain of living where love predominates and cruelty disappears from our world. 

Woke in the night and just felt like it was time to write about the experience walking on the beach. It was wondrous after a long heavy day working away cleaning in the kitchen and then gardening outside which all seemed like the kind of things that God would want us to do. We must follow God's teachings to have a better life for all the world. 

If there is only love and not hate then this world could flourish and find paths away from destroying the world to healing the world so that the grandchildren of tomorrow will play on the beaches and run in the grassy fields breathing the fresh air of our youths. 

The Premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, brings so much knowledge and good ideas to any discussion. I am happy to see that he and the Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, are talking together on how to resolve differences when really it is just a desire on both of their parts to make both their provinces as effective within Confederation as possible. The discussion by the Western half of Canada on so many issues was wonderful to listen to and absorb. Thank you especially to Wab Kinew who always brings very insightful comments to any discussion.  

Back to bed. I am sleepy once again.  

My daughter (and caretaker) has a bit of surgery this week that will mean a quiet week to follow. She is busy with four research projects but has a student who does some of the work and the student is excellent in her work and completed the ongoing task very well. Training is very very important and one sees it most prominently in the university setting and in the health care setting. Absolutely necessary in these two areas but also in all work really (it would save time if one didn't have to be teaching all the time but the knowledge base needs to be solidified, added to and passed on). One must always be training the new co-workers so that their transition into a job is easier. One should avoid seeing them as competition but rather as a co-manager of the system that is being worked on. Those in the job for a while have good hints to offer and those who are new have newer knowledge from their more recent education to share. AI adds enormously to this task because of the memory banks and recall that AI is able to perform with perfection but does require that managerial hand to keep it on track and doing the work requested without varying from the protocol. When decisions have to be made because of ambiguity then AI must learn to immediately come back for assistance so that garbage in the output is avoided. AI can not judge well between what is pertinent and necessary and correct and what is simply a blimp to be ignored and not collected as part of the output

Haven't looked at the news for a few days other than noting what the Premier of Manitoba and the Premier of Alberta had discussed. I think the meeting of the Western Canadian premiers was an excellent idea. They share the Pacific and the Arctic Oceans and trade routes are opening up making the north so much more feasible for shipping to both Asia and Europe (why does it take so long to get shovels in the ground; pipelines built and sales booming). The Eastern part of Canada from Ontario to the Atlantic and including Nunavut (which has access to the Arctic and the Atlantic). In general the Eastern part of Canada  does not have the reach to the Pacific other than by the Arctic Ocean (no ports on the Pacific). Ontario is particular, although not land-locked by any means as the St Lawrence Seaway runs along the southern border and includes the Great Lakes - Ontario, Erie, Huron and Superior as well as the St Lawrence River and to the west the Ottawa River on the Eastern boundary with Quebec and in the North James Bay and Hudson Bay. The road in Ontario (417 namely (i.e. the Trans Canada Highway)) needs widening from just before Renfrew (unless they have actually moved that along - it took ten years to go from Arnprior nearly to Renfrew! not enough money provided to employ the size of workforce needed to be faster) and mostly to the Manitoba border although there are sections that have been widened. In particular the military widened the road from Pembroke to Petawawa and did a great job and speedy. I rather wonder if the money should be given to the military to do the widening of the Highway all the way to the Manitoba border personally. One could certainly ascribe military activities being enhanced by this road and they have lots of engineers and workers to build the road. I feel as if we wait forever to get that road widened to four lanes because it doesn't go to the Greater Toronto Area. The all  for the Greater Toronto Area mindset must disappear from the minds of the government of Ontario in order for Ontario to flourish. All areas are important and all areas pay taxes. 

Today is cleaning day and it is the top floor and I shall soon do the bathroom and then the vacuuming. The days move quickly especially in the summer months as there is so much to do both inside and out. 

Solitaire games to play.