Free Municipal Campgrounds for the Houseless

On January 20, 2024May 1, 2024 By Rick McIn economics, ethics, government, human rightsLeave a comment

Housing is an increasingly urgent issue.

Canada’s population grew by 1.2 million in 2023, the highest ever annual increase. And there are not enough homes for those kind of numbers — even if they could afford them.

Multiple approaches are needed to increase housing supply, including turning unused office spaces into apartments and condos.

Short term ➙ easiest is to provide free, safe temporary accommodation for anyone.

Nobody wants people living illegally or legally in tents nearby. THEREFORE the goal should be to be to offer a better alternative, indoor or outdoor. I’d call it a municipal FREE CAMPGROUND.

Volunteer organizations could provide meals and medical advice. Help folks try to get out.

I made this image with Microsoft Creator AI.

Long term ➙ we need more “Housing First” initiatives.

Rather than moving homeless individuals through different “levels” of housing, whereby each level moves them closer to “independent housing” (for example: from the streets to a public shelter, and from a public shelter to a transitional housing program, and from there to their own apartment or house in the community), Housing First moves the homeless individual or household immediately from the streets or homeless shelters into their own accommodation. …

… housing is a basic human right, and so should not be denied to anyone, even if they are abusing alcohol or other substances. The Housing First model, thus, is philosophically in contrast to models that require the homeless to abjure substance-abuse and seek treatment in exchange for housing.

Finland and Denmark are the only European Union countries where homelessness is currently falling. …

Since its launch in 2008, the number of homeless people in Finland has decreased by roughly 30%, and the number of long-term homeless people has fallen by more than 35%.

“Sleeping rough”, the practice of sleeping outside, has been largely eradicated in Helsinki, where only one 50-bed night shelter remains. …
Wikipedia

Providing housing first to people living on the street has worked surprisingly well where it’s been tried around the world.

Reacher – season 2

On January 19, 2024January 19, 2024 By Rick McIn books, TV1 Comment

Season 1 was great.

Reacher – season 1

But season 2 was even better, IMHO.

YES it’s ultra violent. TRUE – dozens of bad guys die because they never seem to shoot straight. 😀

Too much Mission Impossible silliness, of course.

But Reacher is iconic. A true original.

In season 2, Reacher reunites with his U.S. Army Military Police unit, the Special Investigators, when one of their own is murdered under mysterious circumstances.

Some fans of his books like me wonder WHERE they can go in season 3?

A letdown is likely. Most of the Reacher books are like season 1 ➙ He wanders into a random town. Somehow gets involved in a big fight with a bad guy. Wins without car chases or gun fights.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Different Seasons by Stephen King

On January 18, 2024January 14, 2024 By Rick McIn books, moviesLeave a comment

Different Seasons (1982) is a collection of four Stephen King novellas with a more dramatic bent, rather than the horror fiction for which King is famous.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Apt Pupil
The Body
The Breathing Method

Of course the first story was adapted into one of the greatest films of all time, Shawshank Redemption.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Body was adapted for Stand by Me (1986). Another of the greatest films of all time.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I couldn’t really get into the novella, The Body, however.

Instead it was Apt Pupil that really got me.

It’s the story of the evolution of a mass shooter from age-13 to 17.

… student Todd Bowden discovers that his elderly neighbor, Arthur Denker, is Kurt Dussander—a former Nazi concentration camp commandant who is now a fugitive war criminal.

Todd, fascinated with Nazi atrocities perpetrated during World War II, blackmails Dussander, forcing him to share disturbing stories of what it was like working at Nazi extermination camps and how it felt to participate in genocide. …

I’ve not seen the film. 54% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ian McKellen stars as Dussander.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Agatha Raisin – TV show and Book

On January 17, 2024February 10, 2024 By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

Funny. Dumb. 😀

This 90min pilot went on to 4 seasons through 2022.

Agatha Raisin is a British comedy-drama television program, based on M. C. Beaton’s book series of the same name about a former PR agent who solves crime mysteries in the Cotswolds village of Carsely.

… broadcast as a pilot titled Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death 2014 …

… soon finds herself a suspect in a murder case when she enters the village’s annual quiche-making competition in an attempt to ingratiate herself with the community. She sets out to clear her name and solve the mystery of the quiche of death.

This is a case where the TV show is better than the source book – Quiche of Death (1992).

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose

On January 16, 2024January 11, 2024 By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Any author named Prose MUST be good. 😀

And her character “Molly Gray” is both likeable and entertaining.

Somewhere on the autism spectrum, Molly must be the best maid in the world.

This is the sequel to the 1st book in the series, The Maid.

Easy reading. Almost young adult. Definitely a cosy mystery.

For a while I suspected the murder mystery itself might be simplistic. I was wrong.

There are twists and turns enough to keep any reader guessing.

With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid.

But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J. D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead—very dead—on the hotel’s tearoom floor. …

As the high-profile death threatens the hotel’s pristine reputation, Molly knows that she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past: Long ago, she knew J. D. Grimthorpe. Molly begins to comb her memory for clues …
NitaProse.com

Reviews have been good.

Mystery Road – season 3

On January 15, 2024January 15, 2024 By Rick McIn TV1 Comment

Mystery Road – seasons 1 & 2 were excellent.

Mystery Road: Origin is season 3. A prequel. Good — but not as good as the first two.

The backstory of Mark Coles Smith as Jay Swan, a young detective in the Aussie outback 1999.

Later, in the other two seasons, Aaron Pedersen plays Jay Swan.

My favourite character, by far, is Grace Chow as Cindy Cheung, a young, enthusiastic, and positive police officer. She was truly the only one I could cheer for consistently.

The acting is very strong. Brave.

But the story line simply too hard to follow, for me. At the end of the series I had to search out explainers.

I probably won’t watch season 4.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Inheritance by Nora Roberts

On January 14, 2024January 4, 2025 By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

My fascination with Nora Roberts continues.

I wouldn’t call this her best book, but — as always — the story moves quickly. And she’s a master of presenting interesting, engaging characters.

Very readable. But definitely a cheesy romance, as well. 😀

Published Nov. 2023, the most recent of her more than 230 novels, this is the first in a planned trilogy.

A woman inherits a haunted seaside mansion in Maine from a long-lost relative.

Sonya MacTavish isn’t having the best year. After finding her fiancé in bed with another woman, she wonders why she ignored so many obvious red flags about him. …

… uncle left her a large, rambling mansion in a small coastal town in Maine, but his will stipulates that she must live in the house for three years in order to claim her inheritance. Sonya’s innate stubbornness and strong survival instinct come in handy after discovering the house is haunted by a bevy of ghosts, collectively known as the lost brides. …
Kirkus

I downloaded the second book in the series — The Mirror — but couldn’t get into it for some reason.

2024’s Top Geopolitical Risks

On January 13, 2024January 16, 2024 By Rick McIn bad news, economics, ethics, GOP USA, government, human rights, IslamLeave a comment

January 2024.

Even if Trump loses the election, the USA will be further divided and destabilized through the election cycle, exactly what Xi, Putin, and the rest of American enemies want.

I’ve been trying to avoid coverage of Gaza — as it’s so depressing.

In fact, I gave up on that issue decades ago concluding that successive Israeli governments were horrible — and successive Palestinian governments even worse. My friend Mike taught school in Libya and Egypt for many years, coming away very sympathetic for innocent Palestinians.

NOW I find myself brought up to speed by listening to an excellent podcast interview with Ian Bremmer.

Search “Conversation with Ian Bremmer — 2024’s Top Geopolitical Risks”

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Not as good — but similar — is his recent TED talk.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (43min)

As a happy Canadian, I didn’t suffer in any way from the G.W. Bush recession of 2008 nor Trump’s incompetent 4 years — and I MIGHT survive another 4 years of the emotional toddler as President.

But I’m worried about 2024.

As Bremmer points out, once Trump gets the GOP nomination, all Republicans will have to fall in line with that idiot — or vote for Biden. Or NOT VOTE.

As for Russia, as Economist said at the very beginning, there’s no scenario where Russia wins their invasion of Ukraine. Even if they eventually control all of that nation, the population will be uncooperative with Putin for decades to come. The rest of the world will be leery of Putin-land for decades. Russian assets will stay frozen. And at least a million Russians who fled the nation will mostly not return.

NATO is much strengthened, as well.

When Abortion is Denied

On January 12, 2024January 13, 2024 By Rick McIn economics, education, ethics, GOP USA, government, happiness, health & fitness, human rightsLeave a comment

Diana Greene Foster is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

She led the ten-year nationwide Turnaway Study analyzing the health and wellbeing of women who seek abortion in the United States — including those who do not receive one — and in 2020 published a book, The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having—or Being Denied—an Abortion, on her findings.

In 2023, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of her scientific work, including the book and more than 120 scientific papers. …

In 2022, she was recognized as one of the ten people who shaped science that year by Nature.

One of the most expert in the field.

Here’s a fascinating new TED Talk. Unsurprisingly, the women forced to carry a child to term have worse consequences than those who have the freedom to make the choice to abort.

Anti-choice advocates in the USA often simultaneously deny raises in minimum wage, health care for children, maternity leave, and even free school lunch. Pro birth. But not pro life.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.