Fall already, motorcycle riding and driving in Toronto

What happened to the summer? Where did it go? I think ebola, ISIS and the US Republican Party ate it.

This summer went WAY too fast, but I made some progress in life so it was relatively fruitful and fulfilling. I am WAY more confident riding my motorbike, Gunilla, in Toronto traffic, despite the fact that people aren't as used to motorbike riders over here and the fact that everyone drives in the style of whatever country they're from, resulting in total schizophrenia on the roads. In Italy, I'd be able to see patterns in traffic chaos because everyone drove relatively consistently, and everyone over there drives manual shift.

In Toronto, it's more difficult to predict who will be the asshole on the road, who will be looking out for others, who will be texting, etc. But this is compensated by wider roads and more space for bikes to go. Unfortunately, the bicycle riders are _extremely_ jealous of their hard-won bike lanes, and get extremely possessive and territorial when you ride a motorized vehicle in "their" bike lines. One guy went so far as to try to film me with his phone while riding his bike. It was funny seeing him yelling at me about safety when he looked like he was about to fall off his bike trying to film me.

This summer I showed a dramatic increase in my self-confidence with my bike on Toronto roads. I stopped trying to obey all the Canadian rules and just started riding like I used to in Italy, and thus far I've gotten a few parking infractions, but that's it. I admit to speeding a lot, but who the heck goes 90km/h on the Gardiner? I admit, however, I have to stop using the west Lakeshore and DVP as my own personal racing circuits. In case there are cops reading, I DIDN'T DO THIS, but going 170km/h on the portion of the Lakeshore that's used as the Indy track IS NOT A SMART THING TO DO. Although I suppose it would be really, really fun. If you're into that kind of thing. If, lol.

I also finally got my full Canadian driver's license, at long last. I had one for years in Italy, but lost it and couldn't get it back because I was no longer a resident of Italy, so I've been living without for the past three years. It's admittedly been driving me a bit crazy (get it??? argh, sorry) not having a car, but now I can buy one! I think I'm going to go with Zipcar for a year and see how much I really use a car here in T.O.

I almost bought a 2014 MV Agusta Brutale that an Italian guy here was selling. It has been my dream bike ever since I saw one for the first time at the Moto Show in Bologna in the 90s. It was white and gold, my colours, beautiful. I'll upload a pic of me on it. Fricking amazing bike. But I found out that if I keep a vehicle for 2+ years, my insurance goes way down, and I'd have to sell Gunny because I can't keep two bikes because my ex-boyf who very kindly lets me store bikes in his garage for the winter just bought ANOTHER bike (he now has 6, 4 of which are functional), so he doesn't have room for two of mine. So I'm keeping Gunny until next year, and if I don't buy a car next year and just go with the Zipcar, I'll see who has the Brutale next summer, and buy it then.

A New Dawn -- First Swim in the Lake

Life here in Toronto has been pretty interesting this summer. Never a dull moment, and the weather's been pretty good, if a tad on the chilly side. I've been learning SOOOOO much about society and people and myself. It's been great zipping around town on Gunilla, my motorcycle. The looks that I get from guys are hilarious!!! The jealous women are really funny when they try to hide it. I've been cleaning up my new neighbourhood in a soft, yet threatening way, and the police are starting to pay attention also because there was a stabbing a few days ago. That's gotta stop. Today I went for my first swim in Lake Ontario in ages, and it was a tad cold, but the water was very soft and it felt niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

A big mess

But I feel a need to stay silent on many issues so I'm going to make a short post and not say anything. I've said too much already. I know the way out of this mess, but I don't know who I should talk to to get us out of it. I'm a bit confused right now.

A propos of nothing... Joffrey Baratheon goes to the same uni as the one I went to

Trinity, whoo-ha.

New adventures in corporate life

After being laid off last June, I received a surprising call a few weeks ago from a recruitment agency, asking me back to the Big Bank that I worked for most recently. They asked me if I wanted to apply for a similar job at the same bank, and I said yes. I got called in for the interview, and was offered the job the same day, starting next week. I couldn't work Tuesday to Thursday, but I could Monday and Friday, so I went. I trained that Monday for one position, but when I came in on the following Friday, I was informed that the boss lady had given me an entirely different position and found someone else to be her EA. Did I want to be a Communications Specialist for their main IT department? I had no idea what that would involve, but I said yes. All this occurred about two months after I had finally made the decision to apply for a PhD and start on a career path in academics, which is probably the path best suited towards my personality and work rhythms. But communications also fits my personality as a known information spammer and town crier, so as far as corporate jobs go, I could be happy in this one.

OK fine.

Toronto isn't an easy city to live in. There is extreme weather, massively inflated house prices, and people are quite competitive in all spheres. There is a lot of social pressure to succeed, rather than to have a peaceful and happy life. Consumerism dominates, advertising is everywhere, and there's a dearth of social consciousness. There's a lot of violence, and everyone seems to want to take advantage of everyone else in one way or another. There is a lot of opportunity to succeed in general, but the amount of sacrifices needed to succeed are considerable. This however could describe many cities in North America. And I'm focusing mainly on the negative aspects right now, because I just got laid off after working my butt off for 7 months. So I'm bitter -- it's normal I suppose. I'm still not completely used to living over here. For now I notice the contrasts between the EU and NA, and the changes that I see in Toronto are more salient because I hadn't lived here for about 20 years and thus can perceive them more distinctly and immediately. But I really love Toronto in the summertime. The trees really make this city what it is.

Living in a world of delusion and fantasy Noam Chomsky on modern attitudes and perception of Adam Smith's values

Where linguistics and economics interact:

An extra scene from the 2008 documentary: American Feud: A History of Conservatives and Liberals. The 90 minute DVD contains 14 extra minutes of professor Chomsky. Here, Chomsky argues that the conventional notion of "invisible hand" is mistaken and that though worshipped by conservatives, Adam Smith is very rarely read.

It's funny how selective people's hearing can be. Funny how hypocritical people can be, and how much misinformation abounds in society today. How powerful words and ideas can be twisted and debased beyond all recognition.

"The talk about trade or free trade or entrepreneurial values or consumer choice or democratic functioning and so on, these terms are all demeaned. It's putting us into a world of delusion and fantasy."

Omioddio, UniDebito, che ridere...

Rights issue that they cannot sell... Looks like UniCredito might be paying the price for having expanded too quickly in the past decade.

This is sick, perverted and utterly indicative of our times

According to this article, the six people in the Walton family -- the heirs to the creator of Wal-Mart -- have the same amount of wealth as the poorest 90 million people in the US.

That's nuts.

What is even crazier is the fact that Alice Walton has created this art gallery containing art that celebrates the kinds of places in the US that have been wiped out thanks to Wal-Mart, and art that makes social commentary on the disparities between the rich and poor in the US, on money she and her family has made making the US a worse place to live.

This is Pretty Damn Cool: The E tests the Dodd-Frank (better late than never)

This surprises me that this hasn't been done before. But now the Economist has tested the Dodd-Frank with its usual aplomb and stylish reporting at the recent Buttonwood conference.

The Dodd-Frank has been around for more than a year, but ostensibly many hoped that the world economy would be in a better place than it is now. It was made to protect tax payers from having to bail out another big bank. But it's never been tested, because no one knows what would happen if another big bank failed, like Lehman Bros did in 2008.

The Economist created a scenario with a fictitious bank called the New Jefferson Bank: a big player in the global derivatives market, and an international commercial player in the US, UK and Brazil. A trillion-plus in assets, big investment player, big management turnover, big loan losses in past recessions, has capital ratios of adequate levels but lots of outside exposure to bad debt. Management has crapped out on everyone, and its strategy is questionable.

It's Friday, April 23rd 2013. Markets are again stressed as they were during the Lehman Bros. failure.

What's would happen under the Dodd-Frank, according to some of the biggest brains in US finance? Click on the link and watch.

Absolutely fascinating.

More fotos, yay!

Just found my old flickr fotostream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaiserina/

Trouble...

This is turning back into a personal blog. Don't know why... inspiration is a strange animal.

Against all defiance thus shall I stand fast.
I am defiant in my defiance, and I defy all those who say otherwise.
I deny victory to those who think they've won,
And I let those who haven't started yet, to begin another one.

A bit of free advertising for Lore Croci

I miss Florence.

I still consider it more my home than Toronto in certain respects. People there understand me a bit better than people from Toronto, and just take me for who I am rather than second guessing me all the time.

I don't know if I could go back there to live right now, because it still has a small-town feel to it, and people there can be a bit parochial. Not everyone though.

Lore Croci is anything but parochial, and he has built an amazing spot near Fiesole that looks like a dream come true.

Lore, I will come to visit you next time I go see the fam!

Learn, adapt, evolve. Repeat.

Pretty much self-explanatory, no? Probably not, but I don't feel like writing a full blog post right now. I will elucidate at a later date.

And, to continue, while the thought is still fresh...

A lot of the so-called "atypical anti-psychotics" are actually quite terrible for people. They make people fat, and are bad for the heart. There was a class-action suit in Alaska suing the makers of Olazapine, and for good reason.

A lot of people just can't deal with certain things. Certain impressions of society.

But if you let society dictate your actions, then of course you are going to feel crazy. We must all think for ourselves. Be independent thinkers. Not herd followers. We are humans, and animals... but human animals.

IF we learn to have more self-control, and just not do certain things that we know are bad for ourselves, and bad for others, then we will not feel so crazy.

We will just evolve.

And it will be good.

I feel that something good is going to happen...

I think perhaps perchance I just had an apple fall on my head...

You know all these "mental disorders" that everyone seems to have these days?

Could it just be evolution?

Could it be,
That our technology,
Has rapidly become part of we?

Could it be...

Reference: http://www.economist.com/node/18925787
I read it just today.

"THE unrelenting pace of scientific accomplishment often outstrips the progress of moral thought, leaving people struggling to make sense, initially at least, of whether heart transplants are ethical or test-tube babies desirable."

I too have always been concerned about the same thing. It has stalled my progress in life, simply because I am rather an adbuctive thinker, and I can see how technological advances can have unintended negative consequences, even when the inventors have noble intentions in mind. Look at Albert. He didn't want the nuclear bomb. But it happened.

SO.

How fast are we evolving? Why do I get along much better with children or people younger than me, than with "adults"?

Hmmm.... more on this later.

Hopefully my only UK riots post

I was FBing and Twittering like a madwoman today, hopping between sites and passing along info hopefully to the right people.

This site probably won't stay up for long, but maybe someone will see it, and maybe something good will happen.

Disgusting

I am glad to see this guy go to jail. And in Texas. I hope he gets anally raped every day while he's in prison. Harsh, I know, but I have my reasons.

""If the world knew what I was doing, they would hang me from the highest tree," Jeffs wrote in notes, seized from his Texas ranch."

Oh, they will Jeffs. I am glad they are letting you live. You must live to suffer and truly pay for your sins. You cannot escape yourself.

And this just makes me sick

The siege of Hama is part of a new government offensive to quell an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian rule. Now in their fifth month, the protests have been gaining momentum in defiance of the military crackdown.

Hama, a city of 800,000 with a history of dissent, had fallen largely out of government control since June as residents turned on the regime and blockaded the streets against encroaching tanks.

But Syrian security forces launched a ferocious military offensive that left corpses in streets on Sunday and sent residents fleeing for their lives, according to residents.

In 1982, Assad's father, Hafez Assad, ordered the military to quell a rebellion by Syrian members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood movement there. Hama was sealed off and bombs dropped from above smashed areas of the city and killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights groups say.

Bashar al-Assad has sought to deal with the extraordinary revolt against his family's 40-year-dynasty through deadly force, but has also acknowledged the need for reform.

On Thursday, he issued two legislative decrees that will allow the formation of political parties alongside the Baath Party and enable newly formed parties to run for Parliament and local councils. Opposition figures dismiss the moves as tactics and insist they want regime change.

On Wednesday, Syrian tanks stormed Hama under heavy shelling, taking over a main city square. Activists said authorities have effectively imposed a news blackout on the city by cutting mobiles phones, landlines and internet.

About 1700 civilians have been killed since the uprising began in mid-March, according to tallies by activists.

I feel kinda sick... happy about this, but sick at the same time

Sellafield is closing. According to some, the Irish Sea is the most radioactively contaminated in the world.

I swam in it a couple of times... not many, but still. A lot of people swim in the clear waters of Dublin Bay.

I'm glad I'm chicken about cold water, otherwise I would have swum more often. Yikes. No wonder I glow in the dark. ;)