constants and variables

I have a couple of pairs of jeans that fit pretty snug. I used to get teased about it and I was self conscious about that. I kind of still am a bit self conscious. I had a red pair that seemed to draw a lot of attention. I really liked them, and I received some compliments while wearing them. I also got some comments. I think the combination of the pair being both bright red and slim was the motivation. I did part with them some 5 years ago, though I cannot recall why.

Last night Beth sent me this article which is a quick read. She then asked if I had read the linked article and after some clarification, she sent me this other article. Suddenly something became quite clear. I have experienced a torsioned testicle a long time ago when I first started wearing skinny jeans. When I first exprienced it, I wasn't wearing toght fitting jeans as I was at work and a more relaxed fit was required for mobility in that job. I experienced it again in the hospital when I had pre-cancerous cells removed from my intenstines. I commented to the doctor that my testicle may be torsioned and I was flatly told "you'd be screaming in pain if that were the case." He did not know that I have a fairly high tolerance for pain. I was wearing a hospital gown and no undies so skinny jeans weren't the cause here either. I've had a couple of further experiences with torsion in the years since, though they are pretty mild comparatively.

I had not experienced this before wearing skinny jeans and I'm now thinking that it's a good idea to replace the couple of pairs I still own with more relaxed fit jeans. I like the feel of skinny jeans on my legs, though testicle torsion is really something I would happily avoid going forward.

I love music. Music and I are really good friends. I can play every instrument (meaning I can produce a sound from every instrument I've touched…perhaps not a nice sound, yet a sound nonetheless). I know a fair amount about bands, songs, albums, genres and album artwork. I've gone to quite a few concerts, though I have been restriciting it to three acts per year. Mostly because ticket prices are fuckin bonkers. Cue the UK working to pass this ban. I think it's great that someone, somewhere (lately, it seems to the the UK that's spearheading these initiatives) is lookin out for the consumers.

I'm not 100% on the facts here, though I believe that ticket seller conglomerates (like Ticketmaster) kind of encourage scalping and even engage on their own brand of fuckery in enshittification that raises the ticket price based on demand. I've experienced this with tickets for a Nine Inch Nails show this past summer where the prices jumped quite a bit between viewing a seating plan and clicking add to cart. I'm not even considering the "convenience fees". I'm not aware of any place to buy tickets in person for major shows. Whose convenience is this paying for?

On the other hand, the servers and infrastructure to make purchaing tickets online require a fairly significant investment, as the demand is great. Anyone who's bought tickets in the last few years can attest to this, as the queues are long and refreshing the browser window because the page failed to load is a regular inconvenience we face. I wonder, would ticket prices be lower as people would have to purchase them in person? Is it still possible for the venues to reserve a number of tickets to sell at the booth/doors when the tickets go on sale on the website? I have the thought that ticket prices might be more reasonable if we forgo online purchasing altogether. The scarcity of time to purchase tickets in person would naturally decrease as the venues want to fill the seats. Scalpers could still exist under this framework.

Another thought occurred to me, perhaps online was meant to thwart scalpers? Sometime in the late 2000's I went to see NIN and my then wife bought me tickets using her credit card instead of mine and I was almost denied entry because I could not produce ID saying I was who the ticket said had pruchased it. Maybe that's the way forward.

I had the opportunity to play at Extra-Life this year. The event took place this past weekend and lasts 24 hours. My local board gaming group does this every year and this is my second year participating. We raised nearly $1,558 for CHEO. I could not be happier with our effort this year. A personal recap follows. I played the following games on Saturday:

• Nexus-Ops with Jon and Dan/Ryan.
• Shadow of the Sun with Jon, and Cameron.
• Aura of Dracula with Ryan, Jon, Cameron, and Luc.
• Samurai with Cameron and Jon.
• Rebel Princess with Jon, Cameron, Elliot, and Dan.
• Lord of the Rings: Fellowship pf the Rings: Trick Taking Game with Jesse, Jon, and Cameron.
• Gadget Builder with Dan, Jon, and Cameron.

On Sunday I got less games in, as there was elss time to play:

• Gadget Builder with Ryan, Jon, and Dan.
• Seers Catalog with Ryan, Jon, and Dan.
• Project: Elite with Christian, Casey and Chase.
• Adrenaline with Jon, Casey and Chase.
• For sale with Jon, Ryan and Rachel.
• No Thanks with Jon, Ryan and Rachel.

I played some new games and an old favourite.

Some additional observations:

• Aura of Dracula is a long game. It took us about 5 hours to complete the scenario.
• I did find that if you want to keep playing, you tend to play with the same people all the time.
• Shorter games are better for playing a lot of games in the same time-frame.

Goals for next year:

• I would like to vary who I get to play with more next year.
• I want to up the ante and raise more funds for next year.
• I want to play games I have not played in a long time (over a year).
• I want to bring in more of my own games that don't get a lot of play.

I was really excited for this article via Slashdot about the UK planning to cut animal testing by leveraging AI.

On the first read this seems an excellent way to utilize AI to save the lives of animals. Then you consider the current electricty and water needs that AI consumes to generate results for ChatGPT. Then you consider that AI tends to hallucinate. Also factor in that AI is only as good as it's source data. Oh! It's also reported to be black box that it's innerworkings are unknown. That last one is a stretch. Someone has to know how it works, it was programmed after all.

So save the lives of some animals at the expese of the planet. The animals get to live a little longer. This does not count the lives or quality of life for the humans that will undoubtedly "benefit" from the AI testing. With the current AI tech being prone to error, I would hesitate to use any products tha were AI tested, kind of like I tend to shy way from animal tested products. The plan does not include complete reliance on AI though, as it aims to reduce testing on dogs and non-human primates.

I have the thought that this plan is kinda like a real life trolly problem. Save the animals or save the planet... I'm not smart enough to figure out how to save both.

I saw an article earlier this week published by Penn State and brought my way via RSS and Hacker news.

The story details a trial of using light poles to host electric chargers. This is being framed as a win-win for both the municipality as well as the EV driver whom may not have access to a secure or dedicated garage like apartment dwellers or visitors to charge and shop while they wait in retail areas. Stay tuned for my thoughts on that. I'm going to write out my thoughts about the housing crisis at a later date. I largely agree with their argument. This would be a boon for everyone involved. As someone who doe not yet drive an EV, I am eagerly watching the space, especially the conversion space as I would love to repalce the combustion engine in my Element with an electric drive train. I know it's possible as Jerry and Zac did it with their jeep. Conversions are possible. They aren't cheap.

Anyway. Where I live we get snow a chunk of the year. Electric chargers on poles in our downtown would need to be mounted high enough to not get buried in the snow banks in the winter. I also wonder how the charge cables would be secured against bored people who have poor impulse control (like myself) from messing with them. Look no further than the air hose at every gas station. As far as I can tell, air hoses are less delicate than electric charge cables.