Still riding the Raptors wave

The Toronto Raptors won last week, and people were still celebrating en masse downtown this week, which is a pretty awesome thing to be a part of.

I was listening to the radio, some old classic rock tunes playing through my ears whilst I walked and I wondered where to take my legs next. Were it not for the radio announcer providing me with an update on the local pedestrian traffic downtown, I likely would not have found myself at Yonge & Dundas square next.

There, I sat down in a tired heap and waited for entertainment, and entertained I was, for there were three giant TV screens broadcasting live from Nathan Philips Square, the biggest enclave of Jurrasic parkians to be found in Toronto. The mayor, the premier, and even the prime minister were to be seen smiling at the crown and exchanging pleasant formalities with fans and players alike.

Then, a curious thing happened. An announcer not part of the television broadcasts went up on stage at Yonge & Dundas and told everyone to remain calm, and to please not panic, and that more information would be provided shortly. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and for a while nothing was out of the ordinary, save for an eerie feeling of unease caused by the rather vague and disconcerting comments by the official.

Minutes later, screaming - and an sudden rush of people. I felt trapped like a skiier caught in an avalanche, and in a split second had to make a choice: get swallowed up by the human stampede or try my best to get the hell out of dodge.

Well, I got the hell out of dodge with a scraped knee and the avalanche of people subsided. Still in a daze, I looked around at the spot where I had been sitting and there was sticky, sugary garbage everywhere.

I shan't forget the June of this year, the month where the Toronto Raptors basketball team won and caused ripples of energy to cascade. And I'm thankful that unlike some other cities, we don't riot over sports. We party, play, and work hard, and that's how we won the NBA championship.

For 2020: GO LEAFS GO!

Minority 1984: Brave New Sunfarm

How about a minority report type thing, where instead of having precogs try to find out where crime might happen we instead have postcogs who try and locate people who play hooky with work and "re-place" them into their dream careers instead of whatever job they're playing hooky with when they come up with these terrible business plans that I see on the telly.

Losing subjects are terribly malicious when you don't know what to write it makes more sense to write something than nothing and nothing published makes for a very bland blog - so is editing a job that can get taken away by robots?
Grammarly would have you believe that you can get easier writing done when a robot helps you along, but I argue that by not purposefully inserting each letter onto the screen you are practicing a loser's ability, which is to say the ability to assure that each word is correct without worrying about spelling, and spelling is sacred.

Some random mushrooms

2024 edit: This was a freewrite exercise.

Food waste

Sometimes, food gets thrown out.

Sometimes, food gets thrown out because it's no longer edible.

I feel bad not for the environment, but for other humanists like me who have tried to help other people out, but instead end up being heavily influenced by algorithms.

I also feel bad for other primates, but does that make me a racist?
It depends on how you define racism.
Racial diversity is a good thing.
Too much racial diversity causes cultural issues.
Ergo, I need to take a break from poor educational practices.

Remembering John "TotalBiscuit" Bain

John has been a role model for me for over 12 years. I will forever remember him as the main voice behind the show EPIC on Warcraft Radio (alongside his co-host, Kikijiki).

His invaluable advice on the game helped me conquer dungeons ranging from Ragefire Chasm to Karazhan. His hilarious commentary helped me get through secondary school whilst raiding with the best WoW players in the world (shout out to Skullcrusher!).

His game critiques as the Cynical Brit have helped and continue to help me make informed decisions about what games to play. His support of the indie games industry had a huge impact on the world, and he is sorely missed.

Here is a tribute video that was made by a fellow fan [LeftHand Monarch] that prompted this post (and which made me cry):

I will keep gaming and I will be a pro gamer. Thank you for all the amazing memories.

Rest in peace John Bain; 1984-2018.