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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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Add this to the list of things to go imminently wrong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event.
If climate change doesn't precipitate the end of Civilization this just might well. We've built it all - satellites, telecommunications, internet - all in very slender window of opportunity where nothing has gone wrong. But knowing that it can - and most likely will - we've taken no steps to prepare for what should be regarded as an inevitable - but preventable - calamity.
And it's just a matter of time. Sunspots peak every 11 years, and we're only 4 or 5 away from the next maximum, and who is preparing?
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And this has just occurred to me, with the rise in preposterous tipping standards - by which I mean any machine which starts above 10% or goes higher than 20%, or those machines that prey upon people that don't read carefully the prompts and organize the tipping in reverse, 20% (or greater) at the top and 10% (or greater) on the bottom, ...
Well, you get the idea. The whole culture's gone mad with unrealistic expectations and it seems I'm the only one to notice or publicly observe it.
Debit - POS machines - should make corresponding noises and have appropriate displays for both good and lousy tippers.
For example, when a customer selects the 20%, 25%, 30% option there could be a little "Woo-hoo" noise like you get on a winning lottery ticket, followed by a congratulatory "You're a Champ" or "What a Rockstar" or "Good Job!!!", and an appropriate fireworks display on the screen that turns from monochrome to full color and maybe a "Ching-Ching-Ching" noise like you get when a slot machine pays out. These noises should be broadcast loudly on the restaurant's intercom system so that all the customers can hear. And color code the Tipping options - red for 10%, yellow for 15%, and green for 20% or above.
Positive reinforcement I'd call it.
And for those tightwads that don't tip, or tip the bare minimum - perhaps a "Really?" or an under-the-breath muttered "Tightwad" or "Cheap Fuck" and the sound of a rasberry. Maybe even a "Try Again".
Now, how to pitch this idea to Moneris and the debit companies...a new "Industry Standard" debit machine that encourages and reinforces irresponsible tippers and big spenders...
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This is fascinating:
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/13/science/fruit-flies-death-aging.html
In brief, fruit flies that have witnessed or been in the presence of other dead fruit flies will age faster than fruit flies that have not. And - for reasons yet unknown, fruit flies that have been exposed to death are thereafter avoided or shunned by those of their brethren that have not witnessed death.
If the simple psychology of a fruit fly can have that kind of reaction to death or trauma, what then of people?
And, while on the surface unrelated it reminds me how once Hollywood established the convention that people fall down dead when they've been shot, and people have been doing that ever since (when in fact chances are you've got a fair bit of life in you yet...).
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He was up doing the hot-springs tour with his 2 young children, an older guy, late 40's maybe. And he's a big book on Bigfoot Tales in front of him, which I presumed he was reading to his kids, and somehow we got to talking.
Nope. The book was his. And so I'm telling him a few of the local sightings, with a caution as to the credibility of the witnesses.
He has his own story he tells me. That he was in Washington, Upstate, Olympia region, driving, highway, 2 friends, when what should they see lying across the road - ???
He didn't know. It had a humanish face, not protruding like a deer or wolf. Maybe it was eating something, roadkill. Big. He had no explanations.
As a witness he's sober, credible, he's seen something - with others, that he can't explain. That's beyond the pale. Outside the ordinary. And he's looking for an explanation.
Now, what do you do when your reality is tipped a bit on it's head? Not that I believe, rather, I'm skeptical, but - it's an easy thing to be when you haven't had the experience.
He's quiet, this conversation, it's brought up something that still disturbs him...
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Yeah, I'm gullible, the few pictures I took of the moon with it's zoom were pretty impressive. This makes a lot more sense:
Link: https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/13/23637401/samsung-fake-moon-photos-ai-galaxy-s21-s23-ultra
It does make for an impressive photo thought. And - really - what does it matter? The Moon is the Moon is the Moon.
And this is how reality slowly begins slipping away from us....