Here's How I See Things Currently [Rant?]-No Agenda Please

This may or may not be considered a rant, but I felt it was time to share just how I feel about the events that have transpired over the last few months.

For starters, back in March as this pandemic went global, I knew it would be a true test of people's mental aptitude. Half of the battle is mental and being able to cope with things requires continued, stable mental abilities. In order to retain any sort of 'normalcy' people do need to routinely change up their day to day schedule with something completely different. This means if you are going to be working from home, dealing with the kids who are also now stuck at home, you will require some time for yourself. This includes everyone in the family. Possibly the opposite with the kiddos as they will be missing the play time with their friends, Basically the opposite of what you are going to want. Since I have been working from home (and all over the world) for over twenty years I feel this is an area of expertise for me. I don't have a job, I have a lifestyle. But that doesn't mean everyone should do as I do or even do as I say.  The words I write are mere suggestions that may help you cope with things.

• Mainstream media (news).. don't watch or listen to it.  Find legitimate other sources as you will seriously become indoctrinated into the brainwashing from the advertisers and those that want to rule the world.  The No Agenda Show with Adam Curry and John C .Dvorak have a podcast that is now in its 11th year. Both of these guys have extensive Radio and Television backgrounds so when it comes to how things are produced in the mainstream media, they know just how influenced people (and businesses) are through the use of advertising. Money speaks volumes and unfortunately taints the objective of any new story.  An example would be if the Ford Motor Company was paying your company it would be doing so based on the fact that you are not going to be saying bad things about Ford. If you were to continually say how General Motors has a better car and the company outperforms Ford in every way, in all probability you would no longer be receiving funding from Ford.   Think about that the next time you watch Television news and see the commercials.   The No Agenda Show has no advertising and runs on a "value for value" platform which means no advertising. This podcast simply could not survive all these years if they did have advertising and that is because they could not even mention a bad thing about their sponsor. When it comes to de-constructing the media as they do, and do so well, it is quite necessary to be able to view things from all sides/angles.  Many of my own friends and family that I encourage to listen to this podcast will mention how these two are nothing but "Trump Supporters".. on the contrary. Remember, they are deconstructing the media and since the mainstream media cares nothing for what is really going on and would rather find any news that includes Trump, that is what you are going to be hearing a lot of. Keep that in mind when you start listening.  Remember when Trump I should also note that both of these guys used to be Democrats but are now Independent since for whatever reason most of the United States doesn't realize that their political system has more than 2 parties.  I am Canadian and even here, when you ask some people they think there are only 3 parties in Canada (Lib,PC,NDP) which is simply not true.  So please give this podcast a good chance. Listening to only 1 episode won't do it... I suggest a month. Since they produce a new show Thursdays and Sundays, that should give you about the right amount of time to see what I am talking about. 99.9% of the people that do listen will agree with me and have pretty much become completely hooked to the point of becoming Knights and Dames even. Interestingly the 'meetups' have become quite popular as well. This is because people that listen to this podcast have their eyes wide open to what is going on and getting together with like-minded people just makes sense.  No "triggering" by what you hear on the news. Please do yourself and your mind a favour and give this podcast some serious time.
• Big Brother TV series. I watch both US and Canadian versions. I know it is a 'reality tv show' but the concept of humans being essentially treated as mice in a cage have an appealing aspect to me as I too come from the Television Production field. When this show that originated in Holland (Originator: John de Mol Jr) and quickly became a hit in the UK, then US, Canada and Australia, it was truly an experience. Unfortunately as I mentioned above with regards to advertising, this has now become a show based on the numbers and just how they can create drama that will lure the audience.  I will admit when Canada started, the first season was much like the US version but as the seasons when on the Canadian version appeared to be more creative with their tasks and methods for which the houseguests were to live within the home. The US version has always been "cookie cutter" right down to the "duck editing" . It is quite obvious that this is nothing but a template where they place the various comments and remarks and reactions from the houseguest into each segment.  The US is currently airing the "all star" edition and once again it becomes quite apparent that production has a lot to do with the way the show plays out each week. Thursday is both the beginning and end of the week as they have the eviction and Head of Household (HOH) competition. Sunday is pre-packaged from what happened since head of household. Depending on how long the live show Thursday goes, it is not always determined who the HOH will be during the show so we find that out on Sunday. Wednesday's show has a recap of the power of veto and last chance bid from players on the block to get the votes needed to stay and not be voted out, which happens on the live show Thursdays.  The reason I was a big fan, coming from the TV Production angle, was the fact that the house was filled with cameras and microphones and we at home could watch 24/7 on the live feeds.  Anyone that has done this will quickly attest to the fact that sometimes it is quite apparent early on in the week who will be going home, yet watching on the network show they will make it appear it is a close race right up to the votes. In fact you can tell by the houseguests by Tuesday, just what production has been asking of them when they go to the diary room. If it appears a sure thing for one of the two on the block, production will start questioning each houseguest to sway their current thoughts and place them in a state of confusion.  If you have ever played the telephone game with at least 5 people, you will understand just how quickly one sentence can be construed. So where am I going with all of this? I guess I'm just hoping this will give those of you still not believing that the news you watch on Television is corrupt and Big Brother Network Show versus the live feeds should make you a believer. 
• The Olympics is a great example of this as well. I have participated in the TV Production of a number of Olympics and can quite easily say this is as good as it gets in my profession. You get to work with like-minded production staff from all over the country that are all professionals coming together to create the best possible quality production for their country that is watching on TV.   When the production is in a country half way around the world from your home country it means most events have already ended for the day so unless you are watching it live (at say 3am) you will turn on the tv and see the event start at a particular time that your home network decides, usually a morning show and an evening show.  I was always amazed how we in Canada would be able provide the same (or better) looking production with at least half the staff that it would take the American broadcasters. An example would be the 3 person teams we might have for the quick interviews (camera operator, audio operator and engineer/technician that handled the live feed back to headquarters) whereas the American crew would have 6 people (camera operator, audio operator,  engineer/technician, lighting operator, producer/director, P/A-production assistant).  I would note that the first three were typically doing the work and the others would be just standing around.  But I digress, they had the money and we didn't because their sponsorship was HUGE compared to Canada--and so it should be since the US population is substantially higher which meant more eyes watching, which meant more potential eyes to buy whatever the sponsors were pushing. When the internet went in to full swing and was available in the "always-on/High-Speed" format, people in the USA quickly learned that these Olympic games on TV were a joke since the event was already over and they had watched their teams win or not. It would have been okay if the on-air talent would let on that this was pre-taped. But they never did and so to the average viewer that had been watching the live coverage on the internet would just laugh at this and turn to twitter and bitch and complain.  
• The internet .. what a wonderful invention. Since I have always believe Television runs the world (getting involved with TV production at the early age of 12 years old I learned this pretty quickly), the internet was a method of broadcasting live to all regions of the world that had this great device. Unfortunately as blogs, news and other websites provided a 'comment' section, it wasn't long before this would become populated with rude, obnoxious and completely unnecessary comments.  Just take a look at any website today that has a comment section. The first few are pretty legitimate but soon it becomes jokes and negative stuff and arguments begin..  One more reason why I never turn on the comments. I don't need to be moderating what I am saying. You are going to read it or not.. move on then.  

But the points I am making here are all for the purposes of understanding just how important it is to be able to step back and take a look at the big picture. If you find yourself getting frustrated and irate at what you are reading on the internet or watching on television, step back and take a look at just what it is you are getting upset about.  Mental health is so important and quite often overlooked. You keep yourself preoccupied with work that you know (and sometimes love) so that you can forget about the bad things. Since Covid times, if you do turn on the TV or listen to Radio or Podcasts like NPR, you are essentially being brainwashed the way they want you to be.. thinking like the people pushing the garbage filled mis-truths.

If you are now working from home and find yourself living in a 'Groundhog Day' movie, do something about it.  If you find yourself wearing the same sweats day in and day out, do something about it.. get dressed like you are going to work.. actually get in your car and drive around the block if necessary.. allow your mind to realize this day is going to be different than the last.  If you find yourself driving the same route to work every day, change it up a little even if it takes longer.. plan this the day before so you allow yourself enough time to get there without being late due to the fact you are going a different way. 

This mental health has to be fact checked just like you would any news story. Are you doing everything you can to be sure you are mentally ok with the current state of the world?  I recently took a flight and of course I had my mask on. I also had a face shield in my bag which I planned to use for my International flight. Upon seating with my mask on of course, I was told by the flight attendant that I couldn't use this type of mask because it had a valve on it. But this was not just any type of mask.It has 5 layers and yes, a valve but on the 5th layer. Essentially this is to help with the breathing. This is a surgical type mask which doesn't vent droplets as some point out, but help with the breathing which is obviously critical in surgery. Obviously if droplets were to actually drop from a surgical mask they could end up in the patient which would pretty much negate any benefit of this mask. An argument quickly ensued and once everyone was seated this flight attendant returned to my seat, quite proud that she had a plasticized card with pictures that showed all the masks that were not acceptable by "the airline" and of course there was a mask that resembled mine.  At this point I shook my head and took the mask off, displaying the layers of protection and then in the other hand, the mask that she offered to me (one layer not n95-mine had 3 layers and 2 layers of n95 filter). Since the mask is to protect me, I feel much safer in the mask with 5 layers but knowing I would likely be told to remove myself from the plane I "obeyed".  

The reason I bring this story to light is the simple fact that nobody knows what the hell is going on and so those in charge (an airline has the right to order people around when you buy a plane ticket and are sitting on their aircraft as you lose pretty much all of your rights at that point! Don't believe me? Go read the fine-print).. much like a captain of a ship (a plane is an air-ship, so the Captain can pretty much say and do as they see fit).  There are many recent incidents of masks on planes as in the WestJet flight where the parents with 2 small children and one of them being under 2 years old which means they do not need to wear a mask. Now whether they simply were not aware of this, they failed to bring this point up until the Police were involved which was because the Captain has asked for them to be removed. At this point when they produced evidence and the Police told the Captain, it was too late.. Now whether the Captain at this point was on a power trip or whatever, he decided that the rest of the cabin was out of control and decided to cancel the flight all together.  

Of course on my international flight I was not able to put on my facemask because my carry on bags (2 small ones that fit easily under the seat and above) had to also be checked, I was in panic mode and quickly grabbing my electronics which I then had to carry without any bag whatsoever.  I complained and pointed to a number of other people that had a pack-sack on their back (one of mine was the same size and the smaller wheeled bag that fit under the seat).. I was then told I could take my small wheeled bag after I started to point to other people.  This was Turkish Airlines and their reason was 1: because the Turkish Government in charge of air travel (like the Transport Canada or the FCC in the USA) has decided that no luggage shall be placed in the overhead bins, and 2: that this would increase the loading and unloading of the cabin and help 'social distancing'.. are you kidding me?  They also decided that they would load in rows of 5 at a time.. WTF?  Do they realize that everyone will be sitting next to each other, rubbing shoulders and elbows and knees? 

I blame the WHO for all of this because they are the World Health Organization that should be dealing with Medical professionals all over the world, creating various mandates for air travel, etc.  As far as I am concerned I will not travel on Turkish airlines during Covid times as they have made International Travel virtually impossible if you do not have direct connections from one country to the other. Upon my return I have to stay overnight and now have purchased a separate small bag just to be sure my laptop, toothbrush and a change of clothes would fit--even though my $150 Swiss Gear easy roller that fits under the seat needs to be checked all the way through to my destination.   Once I was on the plane I have internet and immediately when to the airline's website to read about 'covid times'.. they did change the stipulations of carry on from 6 kilos to 4 and also the size that you could carry but guess what?

  My easy roller falls into this category! I'm NOT taking any chances though. So if you must travel, do yourself a favour and only take a small day pack or at least have one ready to pull out of your regular carry on in case you end up having to check everything.

I could go on but enough for one day.. as for my own mental health, I feel better now that I have had my little Rant here.