Bob-a-job-alog-a-roonie | Rob Skelton: Various Musings

Gamifying Love

19-08-2017

Meaningful love tends to happen in person. Two people in close proximity for significant periods of time. And in isolation from others in their life.

Facebook celebrates how long people have been friends, regardless of if they have ever met in real life.
Google knows who bought what in a physical store, via the GPS in our phones cross-referenced with credit card data. Yes, really (USA).

The technology already exists to determine who we love, based on time spent with them. And, yes, it is easy to exclude family members, housemates, customers, nightclubs, work and sport colleagues by using machine learning or participants just naming people and places.

The downside is that illicit love or secret love could be outed, so some sort of switch is needed (like powering off your phone during your regular Tuesday lunchtime romp).

The upside is we can prove how much we love someone, even someone we wouldn’t love natively.

Facebook/Google:

Rob has spent 40 minutes this week in close proximity, one on one, to complete strangers. He gets a yellow heart badge.

The Answer to Terrorism is Easy

By: Robert Skelton

19-08-2017

Random Thoughts

Love.

I firmly believe that every human needs and desires love.

When a person doesn’t have love in their life, they choose a proxy.

It might be a love of their work, dedication at the gym, passion about a hobby, or graffiti.

Sometimes a lack of love leads to anger and resentment. In rare extreme cases it leads to murder, where the proxy for love overrules all reason and compassion.

The answer to terrorism is to give love to everyone. No matter how hard loving particular people might be.

Love thy neighbour. Love your weird neighbour. Love the neighbour who scares you or creeps you out.

Love someone who is angry or says hateful things.

Bombard them with love until love wins.

Afterthought: How many world leaders can you name who have declared or demonstrated personal love?

Same Sex Marriage for Dummies

By: Robert Skelton

12-08-2017

Politics

What is marriage?

Marriage is a formality that is a result of domination by males and religion in the last few thousand years. Prior to that time, informal marriages obviously existed. Since that time, in the last century, we have freed ourselves of domination by men and religion. Marriage still remains as a cultural institution, but the reasons for it being a formality are long gone.

What is the connection between marriage and church?

In Australia, only 1 in 4 marriages have a religious ceremony. Consequently any religion-based argument regarding the sanctity of marriage is not in keeping with modern ways.

Which other countries have legalised same sex marriage?

As of 1 March 2017, same-sex marriage is legal (nationwide or in some parts) in the following countries: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay.

Of the western nations who have yet to join in, (Australia, Germany, Italy), Australia is easily the least religious with only 32% of the population thinking that religion is important. Compare that with countries that have passed same sex laws like Ireland (54%), the USA (69%) and Portugal (72%) .

Is Australia gay friendly?

Obviously we have the Mardi Gras in Sydney. A major survey found that Australia is the 4th most gay friendly country in the world.

What do the polls say?

54% of Australian Christians support gay marriages in churches.

72% of all Australians support same sex marriages.

SUMMARY

Leaders of the major political parties in Australia support it
Christians in Australia support it
Polls support it
Most western countries support it – with many being more religious than Australia
Any historical sanctity is based on oppression due to gender and religion

SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

1. Gutless Leaders

When everything points to the majority of voters favouring a commonsense decision, that’s a cue to step up and make it happen. A strong leader wouldn’t hesitate.

2. The word “marriage”

The church would have no problem with a parallel status called a civil union, that did not use the word “marriage” – because they think they own that institution. This is not achievable by the government due to the mass of paperwork involved. Same sex marriage, on the other hand, just requires one new or amended law. All the other laws and documents that mention “marriage” would not need to be changed.

SOLUTION

It’s too late now, but if Malcolm Turnbull had just said “it’s obvious what the public wants, let’s have a conscience vote”, he’d gain enough popularity to see him through to a second term.

Drunken Haikus

By: Robert Skelton

20-07-2017

Poems

Spontaneous and unworked.

Only sleep because
Dreams are better than drudgery
Endlessly possible…

Finish the cheap wine
It’s worth at least 30 cents
Dancing worst outcome

Verbal diarrhoea
My Dad said when I spoke up
Just engaging Dad

Easier to type
Than to drag oneself to bed
Sliding off the chair

Apartment too big
Bed too big alone I guess
Corridor too small

Below freezing now
Stubborn melancholy wheeze
Won’t give up my choice

All children frozen
Kookaburras laugh, they jest
Country family time

Rotund artisan
Chihuahua cuddles close
Now on Instagram

Dance in manure
Cats whiskers observe their prey
Politicians spit

Art in a sewer
Silhouette crows observing
Hooded madman peeks

Distant angels lie

Dance around the desperation

Mostly they succumb

Pretty sweet baubles

Wolf licks its fairytale tongue

Aaaaargh I got you girl

Walls I cannot touch
Distant family grabbing me
Space between atoms

The only measure
The weight of the squat cask wine
Know just where I am

Cold pizza stand-off
Needless devour v 3 lunches
Vegetables mostly

Weekly anguished shave
One last remaining chin hair
Out damn stubborn spot

Everyone is F*cked Up

By: Robert Skelton

15-07-2017

Relationships

I’ve had this opinion for 20 years and it hasn’t needed any revision….

Everybody is f*cked up, one way or another. If you approach people with this in mind, you might have more empathy and you might have more use.

1. F*cked up and blissfully unaware
2. F*cked up and struggling with it
3. F*cked up and dealing with it

There’s no right or wrong, it is just three versions of the same thing. However #3 is clearly the ideal for most people*. For example, Donald Trump is severely f*cked up and is blissfully unaware of it. While he might lead a contented life, he is unaware of the impact he has on others.

You will know someone who is battling their demons and it is not pretty to watch. They are #2.

People who are at #3 are more likely to evolve and thrive as a human being. They are still f*cked up, they just recognise it and deal with it.

If you approach everyone in the world as being in one of these 3 categories, you will be a better citizen (in my opinion). Give it a go, it’s only a a view and you can switch it off if it doesn’t suit you. For me the hardest part of this philosophy is staying positive.

I consider myself a #3. I had severe problems with my parents, my brother, drugs, alcohol and not knowing I was Aspergers. I consider all these issues resolved.

*there are many instances where being unaware would be the best outcome, typically involving childhood trauma.

Movie Idea: Joseph Paxton

By: Robert Skelton

23-06-2017

Movies

A gardener who rose to fame quickly, Joseph Paxton was an English MP, and that was his 3rd most noteworthy achievement. He also invented the Cavendish banana (to say this variety is popular would be putting it mildly), and designed the Crystal Palace – a extraordinary building that housed the Great Exhibition in 1851. Yep, it was over 500m long and 139 wide, with a glass roof. It was built in just 8 months and at one stage they were installing 18,000 panes of glass per week. Absolutely extraordinary.

So, the movie idea… Frame it around this amazing gentleman, to highlight the incredible achievements of the British Empire of the that era. The Great Exhibition housed 13,000 exhibits from 44 countries, some of them very weird and marvellous indeed. This was where many people had their first experience of the flushing toilet… All sorts of other interesting things can take tangents. Think a Wes Anderson film.

The Do Or Die of Major Businesses

By: Robert Skelton

21-06-2017

Business

Recent events have convinced me that major corporations keep and innovation up their sleeves for when they need the most – when there are signs that their business is about to take a downward turn.

McDonalds:

All-day breakfast. They knew that people had wanted this for an eternity. The timing of enabling this must be meaningful.
The Chicken Big Mac. I’m not a McDonalds fan, but I can see why this might appeal to some.

Cadbury:

Dark Dairy Milk. This is a killer product. Many, many people find dairy milk too light and dark chocolate (Old Gold) too dark. Either they invented this last week, or it has been waiting for the right moment for many years…

Medicare:

Rely on Medibank’s expertise and range of covers to help you stay invincible, with things like optical, psychology, dental, and more. [link]
Yep, they are implying that health insurance, which primarily reacts to bad health outcomes, will help you be invincible to anything?
This language is extreme, and reeks of desperation. You can just imagine the corporate leaders agreeing to this wording because it is their last chance.

Jumping Through Hoops

By: Robert Skelton

14-06-2017

Business, Government

This is a new and disturbing trend – achieving something that is a disadvantage to the business you are dealing with, takes more effort than should be reasonably expected.

Examples:

Foxtel – sign up online without talking to a human. To cancel, you need to phone them during business hours, and be on hold for up to 30 minutes, then endure a retention specialist trying to convince you to stay.

ING Direct – I received a letter telling me that my fees had changed (I joined them because of the no fees…). The letter said I could see the changes if I visited a particular URL. They could have just told me, but they required me to take an extra step, and read a long document full of information that doesn’t apply to me, to find out I am now paying $60/yr for my “fee free” account.

Solution – a law in two parts:

The ease of making an agreement with a business should be matched by the ease of ending the agreement.
When information is needed to be shared with a customer, it should take the least effort on the customer’s part to see and understand the information. If the information can be provided particular to the client’s situation, that should be the only information provided.

** Although I don’t expect any law changes on this, I have recently discovered that getting married is extremely easy to achieve, but having an amicable divorce involves a mass of paperwork if the government is involved in any way (such as receiving any money from them).

A Restaurant Chain Targeting Unfancy Diners

By: Robert Skelton

13-06-2017

Business

There are three types of successful restaurants:

Fast food – generic crap for people who don’t know or care
Local and loved – flying under the radar, singular family run restaurants that provide consistent quality and service
Fine dining – the 10% paying a premium for perceived and probably better meals

For the 90%, the choices are the first two above. Cheap and easy, or a night out at an affordable restaurant with a level of quality.

But what the 90% truly prefer is Mum’s food, comfort food. So I propose a fast food place that provides the comfort food of your earlier years:

Hot Dogs
Grilled/Toasted Sandwiches
Pies
Roast Meat Rolls
Roast Dinners
Hamburgers

Divide the menu board into two: Standard and Fancy. Call the business This and That. Or Hem. Or Cardigan

Hot Dogs – $4 regular with homemade ketchup / $8 kransky with apple sauce
Toasted Sarnies – $4 for ham/cheese/tomato / $8 tandoori chicken and chutney
Pies – $4 for beef / $8 for bolognese
Hamburgers – $4 for a cheeseburger / $8 for a chicken schnitzel & slaw burger
Chips – $2 from the bain-marie / $4 for freshly cooked and beer battered

Serving time ranges from zero to 5 minutes.

Prices are uniform. You choose the food that you want, not based on cost. $4 for standard, $8 for fancy.

Water is free. Coke etc is $1.

Eat in is $1 more. Served on crockery, with metal cutlery. Takeout is $1 cheaper if you bring your own container.

Call it Warped

Have a signature tomato sauce.

If you were wondering about the target market:
66 per cent of Australians choosing to cook meat and three veg every night

And how many do a good job of it?

Bullet Journaling – Some Twisted Lo-Tech Joke?

By: Robert Skelton

12-06-2017

Fads

Looks to me that someone has created a really good calendar / to-do app, and then make a non-electronic version of it, in written notebook form.

Just take a look at this page and tell me how to make new entries for a date without destroying the nice layout?

Not only is it impossible to expand spaces where needed, the whole system is inflexible. It seems to hinge around how a dot point can be changed to an X or > or <.

The system is really good except for two killer aspects:

1. Works better digitally
2. Works better if you just buy a diary with one page per day and lots of space

And here’s the fun fact – they sell a companion app for the physical idea that exists purely to replace apps
http://bulletjournal.com/companion/

Caveat – yes, the more effort you put into noting down something, the more you are inclined to recall it, and integrate into the rest of your life. So just doodle in a journal and use Google calendar.

— Bob-a-job-alog-a-roonie

Gamifying Love

The Answer to Terrorism is Easy

Same Sex Marriage for Dummies

Drunken Haikus

Everyone is F*cked Up

Movie Idea: Joseph Paxton

The Do Or Die of Major Businesses

Jumping Through Hoops

A Restaurant Chain Targeting Unfancy Diners

Bullet Journaling – Some Twisted Lo-Tech Joke?

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