The World According to Glissando

Author: Glenn Hansen

  • Social media: don’t put up with tepid content anymore

    A short while ago elsewhere, I wrote that audio podcasts are nothing more than talk show radio; a new high tech name for something that’s been around a long time. It has occurred to me that social media is much like the television broadcasting networks of yesterday. Today there are maybe 10 major social media platforms dominated by maybe 5 mega-sized owners. So, let’s say I have 10 “channels” to choose from.

    Here’s the point. I only watched the offerings I liked on broadcast television and if there was nothing on I liked, I wouldn’t settle for the least objectionable show, I would simply turn the television off and find something else better to do. Well, I’ve come to the same conclusion regarding social media. If there are 2 social media “channels” of the 10 I like, that’s what I will “watch”. However, if none of them are offering anything I like, I will not settle anymore for the least objectionable social media platform, I will simply shut them off.

    Facebook, for example, used to be about connecting with friends and sharing thoughts as the primary focus. Well, that’s long gone. To get a few, very few, posts by friends, I get an avalanche of unrequested and mostly unwanted posts from the manipulated digital abyss and endless advertising, often by lousy companies.   

    There is much more to all of this. All I am saying for now is, if you don’t like what you see, turn it off. Not forever, but until you get something you like. If enough people do it, the people controlling the “channels” with change the content on their platforms, just like broadcast networks a long time ago. Why? Because it hurts their almighty bottom line.

    The inspiration to write this post came from another friend’s recent post. It doesn’t matter who it was, what matters is that they were trying to create something of interest for their friends to participate in because they were bloody tired of the endless tsunami of advertising.  

  • Set the Children Free

    The kids they work in factories fourteen hours a day
    Sure they get some sustenance, meals and a place to stay
    But they`re only twelve years old, just get peanuts for pay
    While the owners make big bucks many miles away

    Set the children free
    It`s not 1903
    Set the children free
    Set them free

    Businesses, they don`t care, they will go anywhere
    Make an offer they can`t refuse, they will surely go there
    As for the kids, they will say, we make their lives much better 
    Now go away, shareholders  want pay, leave us alone unfettered

    Set the children free
    It`s not 1903
    Set the children free
    Set them free             

    It`s the story, same sad story for thousands of years
    We want the gold, sacrifice people, are we being clear

    Set the children free
    Set the children free
    Set the children free

  • The Ship is Always Sailing

    The ship is always sailing

    We are all aboard

    The ship is always sailing

    Where our lives are stored

    The ship is always sailing

    Try to get along

    The ship is always sailing

    Try to do no wrong

    The ship is always sailing

    Let us be as one

    The ship is always sailing

    Goodness must be done

    The ship is always sailing

    No real need to fight

    The ship is always sailing

    Let us see the light

    The ship is always sailing

    Nothing more than this

    The ship is always sailing

    No lifeboats to miss

    The ship is always sailing

    It’s just you and me

    The ship is always sailing

    Hope we can agree

  • New Law Needed

    I would like to see a new law enacted that for annual subscription renewals, online companies must ask the consumer first if they wish to renew rather than allowing them to automatically renew the subscription by accessing a person’s credit card.

  • The Arrogance of AI and Their Digital Human Masters

    The arrogance of AI and their digital human masters astound. Case in point, my blogs (and everyone else’s on this platform, as well).  When I have finished writing a blog and click on the icon: “Publish,” I am presented with a number of options in a panel that appears on the right side of my screen. One of the options you can select is “improve with AI.”

    “Improve with AI.” Not check spelling or grammar. The wonderful people through whom I post my blogs on is suggesting what I am writing is automatically not sufficient. They assume what I am writing needs to be improved on by their machine. This is their “go to” assumption. Interesting. The whole point of writing a blog is to disseminate what you, YOU, are thinking.   

    That’s why I write blogs. To say what I AM thinking. The idea that AI can improve upon what I am thinking, ergo writing is an insult. Even if my blog is not particularly well-stated or well-written, these are my thoughts, the expression of a REAL person. Add AI and it is no longer just your thoughts and opinions alone, and what does the machine even know about me anyway.

    This is the arrogance I refer to at the beginning, the planting of the idea that the machine is always superior to us. That the digital world is always superior to the person. That’s what digital tech wants us to believe, always! However, we cannot let the “thoughts” of a machine supercede our own…EVER. And these machines do not create, they simply mimic the input of all the information that has them been fed into them up to that given point in time.

    So, no thank you. I do not need to “improve with AI.” My thoughts and how I express them in my own words is just fine, thank you.   

  • It Will Be Easy – Tech BS

    It will be easy…seamless! That’s what businesses and organizations always tell their customers or members when they are going to a new online system. The reason they say this is because the people who are setting up their systems tell them it will be easy for their customers and members to adapt to the new system.

    You know what? This is a lie! It is never easy for the customer or member to adopt a new online system. Even if you are reasonably computer literate, it doesn’t matter. When the new system is activated there are so many problems. The new system doesn’t recognize your name. The new system doesn’t recognize your email address. The new system doesn’t recognize your password. The new system doesn’t recognize your account number, and on and on it goes. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

    We’re not dumb. You don’t fool us. The implementation is messed up right from the start. What is supposed to happen doesn’t happen. But the digital masters of the world would tell us they are never wrong. They tell us they and their products are perfect and you are dumb. But it’s techno-BS machismo.

    Nothing is easy, period! When someone says: “I’m doing something simple. It’s easy. I’ll be there in two minutes.” Well, we all know that it is NEVER just two minutes. Life is not simple. Stop believing the endless claims and proclamations that it’s easy. It’s not! It never is. Life is much more complicated than that.

    There is no sure bet, be it sports or implementation of a new online system which is ridiculously more complicated. There are always ongoing glitches in the digital realm. There is a reason why ransomware thrives. There is a reason why operating systems are constantly updated for all kinds of problems. Tech companies are not perfect despite their constant claims. That’s what makes AI so underwhelming and unsettling at the same time. Much is promised, much less is delivered and often with grim results.

    You and I are not dumb. Tech is far from invincible. So, when a company or organization makes the big platform switch and you’re having problems, don’t let them throw it back in your face and say it’s your fault or it’s just a learning curve. It’s just not true. All change is hard. Nothing is easy, especially when it involves the digital realm.    

  • Morally Reprehensible

    I was out this afternoon and saw a pretty afternoon moon. It got me thinking, I know we’ve been there, but it’s still a great challenge to go there. I marveled at its beauty. Then I realized how small it is in context of our endless universe. This reminded me just how ridiculously arrogant humanity is. We’re not even a grain of sand in the universe, but some think their lives are so BIG! We humans don’t even take care of the vast majority of people on the planet we share. This is so selfish and morally reprehensible.

  • Thoughts

    As a Christian, I have examined other religions. One of the fallacies about Muslims is that they want to kill all who do not convert to Muslimism. In fact, the Koran, just like the Bible, says yes, we should seek converts. However, neither sacred book says or even implies you should kill anyone who does not convert. Quite the contrary actually. This is a lie. Read it for yourself. Anyone who preaches death to those not wanting to convert is doing it for illegitimate humanly purposes. It’s a myth and misinformation propagated by people to justify behaviours, desires or tribalism.

    You see, the problem with religion is not religion, it’s the way human beings use it to justify their agendas, often agendas of hatred, avarice, or the seeking of power.

    The word homophobic is a misnomer. Just because someone disagrees with the gay lifestyle, it does not mean this disagreement is irrational. Remember though, Jesus commands us to love each other unconditionally. Yes, everyone.

    Our financial system is a lie manifested in human avarice. The Bible clearly states repeatedly in both the Old and New Testaments that when people lend others money, there should be no financial gain for the lender. It’s unequivocal. It cannot be disputed or rationalized. Sadly and ironically, it is Christians who implemented our sham financial system for the most part. It is also anti-Biblical to make money without producing an actual physical product. Profit should not be made on the basis of sheer money manipulation. Again, read it for yourself.      

    Finally, when people disagree, there is no need for belligerence and hatred. Love one another and agree to disagree, then work together to find a resolution without war. But, this is not the character of human behaviour. We would rather fight and not just win, but humiliate the loser. History has repeatedly demonstrated in the end this type of resolution does not ultimately result in lasting peace, but quite the opposite. Why won’t we learn? We’re supposed to have conscious, thinking minds, but we so often use these thinking minds for destructive, evil purposes.      

  • Sprinkle of Twinkle

    Dusk is now long gone, the day at its end

    There’s a sprinkle of twinkle, helps you sleep and mend

    As your eyes slowly close for your journey of the mind

    Dreams are being written just for you to go find      

    The moonlight it beckons, time to travel afar

    To wondrous new places, they’re just past the stars

    As the visions unfold in the eyes of your head

    And you find delight in the gold woven threads      

    You’re resting and healing as tomorrow awaits

    You will be renewed for the day’s many fates

    So sleep well, let go of the day that’s just passed

    The new day holds promise and a hope that can last

    Dreams can come true, whether night time or day

    Ride off in the sunset, let dreams come and play

    My wish for you now is to have a good night

    So you will be ready for the bright morning light

  • Titans of Today

    One hundred years from now

    we’ll all be dead and gone

    The titans of today

    fallen off the earth

    with the setting sun