Quit at 20%.
His serious novel about racism got too preachy for me.
Pink Floyd – Great Gig in the Sky
One of the great, original vocals of all time in my opinion.
“The Great Gig in the Sky” is the 5th track on The Dark Side of the Moon, a 1973 album Pink Floyd.
The song features music by keyboard player Richard Wright and improvised, wordless vocals by session singer Clare Torry.
On the recommendation of Alan Parsons, the band brought in Clare for a 3 hour session and asked her to improvise. She was paid the session standard £30.
In a 2005 out-of-court settlement, Clare was awarded more. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. This is not Clare Torry.
Here’s another LIVE version with different vocalists.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Top 100 Places To Visit in The World
Ryan Shirley is one of the best travel vloggers.
From Provo, Utah, his travels started with a 2 year mission for the Church.
Ryan’s always looking for the most scenic and adventurous destinations. He loves to jump off cliffs, for example. His wife is into it, as well. 😀
Here are Ryan’s 100 top destinations, so far.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (70 min)
Viscount Bennett High School 50th Reunion
Good news. There’s a concept of a plan for a 50th reunion.
Saturday, May 10, 2025
4.00 p.m. at Schanks Sports Grill, Calgary
I was one of the organizers of the VB High 25th anniversary in 2000. A lot of fun.
I was one of those kids who actually enjoyed High School. 😀
Viscount Bennett High School operated as a junior and high school from 1955 to 1985, closing due to low enrolment.
In 1995, Chinook Learning Services operated out of the building until the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) closed it permanently in 2018.
We had buried a time capsule in 1975. Dug it up in 2000. Then reburied some items.
BUT it was dug up during a facility renovation, the junk dumped on the sidewalk. Brian Mason picked it up. I still have some things in my basement.
In 1975, we had something called the “Grad Notebook“.
Handmade. Something we could pass around for kids to sign as a remembrance.
Here’s mine. I took a photo of each page. Did a little editing.
The Westgate Motor Inn Bar was demolished 2004.
The CREW of the 1975 Grad Film were Ian Baird, Ron Shewchuk, Brian Mason, Richard Englehardt, Dean Cave and myself.
Many in 1975 predicted recreational marijuana would be legal by 2000. BUT it wasn’t official until 2018.
Richard Englehardt and myself won the 1975 High School car rally when the REAL winners were disqualified for not wearing seatbelts.
Loraleigh Keashly was the smartest kid in school. She went on to finish multiple degrees and became a professor at Wayne State University. Certainly her comment was the most … accurate. 😀
Ron Shewchuk was already a writer and a bit of poet:
In ’00 we will meet
All older.
Some wiser
When I see this 25 years from
Now
I will probably realize
Au revoir.
All the BEST in 2025
A.I. generated image.
Where to TRAVEL in 2025?
Of course I have a half dozen different itineraries drafted. 😀
BUT which will end up happening?
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Highest priority destinations 2025:
- Indonesia for World Gymnastics Championships October
- Northern Australia
- Nepal in November (Everest Base Camp)
Medium priority destinations 2025:
- USA hiking part of the Pacific Crest Trail
- Denmark for cycling
- Germany for cycling
Low priority 2025:
- Iceland and the Faroe Islands (again)
- Madeira – Portuguese Islands
- Canary Islands – Spain
- East Africa
- northern Vancouver Island cycling
- Pakistan for hiking
- India for hiking
- Jordan for cycling
- Oman for cycling
- Taiwan for hiking
- Mongolia
- Greece
- Scotland
- Corsica
- Montenegro & Balkans
Any other recommendations for me?
Hum by Helen Phillips
I only got about 40% through this book.
GREAT plot. But the dysfunctional family was simply too depressing for me.
Hum (2024) is Helen Phillips 6th book.
It’s a dystopian novel set in the near future.
The air is polluted. World has heated up, requiring more air conditioning. Water supply questionable.
People spend a lot of time in ‘wooms’, something like a climate controlled capsule.
“hums” – humanoid robots – are increasingly taking the jobs of humans.
Mary is out of work — and hears of an opportunity to earn several months’ salary by receiving an experimental facial injection, and takes it. The injection will render May’s face unrecognisable to the ubiquitous hums. She’s a guinea pig for a form of adversarial AI.
What could go wrong?
USA is a ‘Flawed Democracy’
The American economy might never have been stronger relative to the rest of the world than in 2024.
BUT more and more of that money is going to the very rich. If that continues, you can project the States will be come some kind of oligarchy. Perhaps even a totalitarian state.
Government power in an oligarchy rests with a small number of people; nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, religious, political, or military control. Indonesia, Russia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Iran are all oligarchies.
The Economist still ranks the USA as a ‘flawed democracy‘ in their annual Democracy Index. Only 29th on the list of democracies.
The full democracies 2023:
- Norway
- New Zealand
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Finland
- Denmark
- Ireland
- Switzerland
- Netherlands
- Taiwan
- Luxembourg
- Germany
- Canada
- Australia
- Uruguay
- Japan
- Costa Rica
- United Kingdom
I want to live in a full democracy where it’s easiest to get rid of leaders the majority don’t want. As Churchill said: “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.”
The full democracies tend to have a smaller gap between rich and poor.
Russians can’t get rid of Putin. Ali Hosseini Khamenei has been the leader of Iran since 1989. Iranians can’t get rid of him.
Americans should be wondering whether they can get rid of Musk or Trump.
It’s obvious that the top 1% buy American politicians who vote in their interest. This chart is from 2014. Things are much worse in 2024.
At its heart, this is a problem of corruption – caused by money in our political system.
THE U.S. IS AN OLIGARCHY? THE RESEARCH, EXPLAINED
Thanks Tony.
Expedition Oregon Adventure Race
Perhaps we should put together an Adventure Racing team for Expedition Oregon. 😀
Only 250 miles of mtn bike, trekking, climbing, packrafting, rafting, navigation.
America’s toughest A.R. race.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The House of Cross by James Patterson
With the new TV series launching 2024, there was more than usual interest in the 2024 release of 33rd book in the series.
I’d say this is one of the better books. Entertaining escapism.
It’s timely. Set around the inauguration of a new President.
Judges on the list of potential Supreme Court candidates are being murdered.
Why?
A body believed to be the vigilante serial killer called “M” is found after a car wreck in Nevada.
Bree believes that he was the mastermind behind the criminal organization Maestro. She and Sampson pursue to the lair in British Columbia. And disappear.
Alex Cross to the rescue.
Rick McCharles 