Keep Your Own Data - Rev. J.T. Smith

I am old enough to remember when audio cassette tapes were the go-to method of storing music.  Not just the music albums from your favourite artists bought at the music store, but also the homemade mix tapes we made for ourselves and to give away to someone we liked and/or were hoping to woo.  And since cassette players were ubiquitous in cars, it was far easier than vinyl records.  Not to mention cheaper than CDs.  Cassettes also held more music (90 minute audio cassette tapes were easily available even at K-Mart, as were 120 min tapes) than CDs (only 80 minutes).

Obviously, as CDs gained traction, CD burners for your computer became widely available, and since CDs aren't susceptible to magnetic fields, and the costs of CDs in general came down, they overtook cassettes.  Even with their inherent limitation of not being able to fit as much music on them.

 

While I still keep my hardcopy music collection primarily on CD now, I still miss audio cassettes.

 

Similarly, I also miss VHS cassettes.  Albeit currently buried in storage, I still have my old VHS library.  Granted, my DVD collection has far surpassed my VHS collection overall, but I still have things like classic Doctor Who as it was aired on PBS in the States, meaning no adverts and all the individual eps within a serial were put together like a movie.

In terms of computers, admittedly, I finally adopted Windows 3.11 when Windows 95 had been out for a few years and Windows 98 was very soon to be hitting the market simply because I liked DOS.  I still miss DOS: my computer was only ever infected with a virus once while running DOS and I was able to wipe my hard drive completely, reinstall everything from 3.5" floppy disks that I knew were not infected, and I was fully back up and running in approximately in 45 minutes.  Good luck doing that now.

Contrary to what you may be thinking I am not a technophobe, and I do still try to keep up with the times.  Granted, I don't replace my mobile phone every year with the newest toy as I keep the same handset functioning as long as I can, replacing it only as I deem necessary.  But mostly due to costs and I'm a Scottish Jew.  (Think about it, it gets cheaper.)  But it's more than mere cost issues.

 

I don't immediately adopt the newest tech as I've watched my even techier (dunno if that's actually a word, but I'm using it anyway) get burned by the bugs that hadn't been dealt with by the first patch.  I also analyze not only the potential benefits but also the potential pitfalls.

As a result, I have not and will not get a DVR.  Not only do I not pay for television, aside from box sets of seasons and complete series of shows I like, meaning I will never be paying for cable/streaming, but DVR has a massive drawback that VHS never had.  It's a drawback that I witnessed from mother and father.

When they were living in Tennessee, they had accrued a sizeable collection of shows and movies on their DVR.  Until they maxed out their DVR's storage capacity.  Which served them well for a time.  The great drawback was when they changed carriers for their television.  Instantly, that collection on their DVR was permanently wiped out simply because they didn't own any of those recordings, and they had to turn in the DVR to their service provider and then rent a new DVR from their new service provider.  The beauty of VHS was that it didn't matter whether or not you had cable, nor did it matter who your television service provider was.  All that mattered was whether you still had access to a working VCR (Video Cassette Player, which allowed you to record your show of choice) or VCP (Video Cassette Player, which couldn't record but could still play back), and as for storage you just bought new blank VHS tapes and you were set to go on.

Prior to the general public being able to record music from the radio (adverts and all, or trimmed down to eliminate the adverts but with shorter versions of the songs than the actual albums would have) and shows from the telly, when a network decided to no longer air it, you were boned.  The ability for the common person to record onto medium that they could physically hold onto changed all that. 

Obviously, major entertainment corporations weren't happy about it as we were less dependent on them, so their profits dipped.  But it seemed the ability to time shift, the vaguely technical term for recording shows, whether radio or television, and playing them back whenever we wanted to, seemed like would be with use forever.

Then mobile phone apps and streaming came along.

The newer generations latched onto it as it's the latest and greatest.  All while missing the pitfall.  A pitfall that I partially discovered the hard way.

Among other artists I am a fan of DJ Heavygrinder.  At one point, I paid for her Love Letters mobile phone app.  Like the rest of my music collection in general, I didn't listen to it every day.  I was more of a sporadic thing.  That is until what I thought I had bought was more like rented as I can lo longer load it onto my phone.  It cannot even be found on Google Play.  And since I was never able to find a hardcopy, that album is gone for good.  I've looked.

Between streaming and tech like DVRs and cloud storage owned by other corporations which offer only the illusion of it being yours, corporations are once again gouging you.  Even when you're paying them money as they're still monetizing everything that you let them store for you.

I insist on buying shows on DVD and music on CD simply because as long as I have the equipment to play them, I will be able to watch/listen to them any time I want to, even when I have absolutely zero internet access.

And I've been trying to get friends and neighbours to realize this for ages now.  Unfortunately, the ones I couldn't convince are now discovering the hard way what I was trying to tell them.

"On June 24, 2024, the financially struggling entertainment behemoth Paramount began a large-scale defenestration of its vast public and free web archives. LateNighter and other entertainment news sites began reporting that Paramount took down footage from its MTV News archives (back to 1996), Comedy Central, and CMT (Country Music Television). The company wiped out decades of comedy, pop-culture news, and left-leaning political satire. Episodes of The Daily Show (TDS) dating back to 1999, the entire run of The Colbert Report, the Key & Peele sketch comedy show, and South Park are, with no warning to the public, no longer available. It’s likely to get a lot worse, since Paramount has now merged with the production company Skydance, with a deal involving billions in Wall Street debt funding—and the new co-owners want $1.5B more in cuts than Paramount was talking about last week."

 

Oops.  I'm thinking it's safe to say that what's happening with Paramount is merely the beginning.

 

Now, while I have been talking about audio cassettes, VHS, etc, I am not opposed to having a digital copy as well. However, there are two caveats.  First, that digital copy should really be in addition to a hardcopy, whether you're talking about books, music, or television/movies, etc.; and second, the only "cloud" storage should be physically accessible to you (e.g. external hard drive that you can disconnect from your computer and by extension the internet).

This also includes any personal projects you may be working on whether it be recordings of podcasts, books/articles you're writing, etc.

You should be certain that you can and do keep your own data.

 

by Rev. J.T. Smith

Some Things We Must All Keep In Mind Here - Rev. J.T. Smith

I originally wrote this while I was still in Acute Rehab at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital following my surviving a hemorrhagic stroke that initially left me completely paralyzed from the neck down on my dominant side.  I originally intended this to be for both the physical/occupational therapists and staff and their patients.  As I was slowly typing this one-handed, I concluded that it was appropriate for all the patients and staff, and not just in that hospital or in any specific kind of rehab..

 

 

 

SOME THINGS WE MUST ALL KEEP IN MIND HERE:

 

 

 

STAFF

 
It is your knowledge, your skill, your patience, your guidance, your kindness, and your heart which allows the patients with whom you work with to accomplish all that they do.  You never seem to give up on a patient even if it seems or feels like they’ve given up on themselves, and that action by itself can be a tremendous source of strength that you might not even realize.  Always remember with the appropriate humility that it doesn’t matter how much drive the patient has without your contributions, as the patients will be facing a much longer path ahead of them without your help.  Your contributions should never be ignored or overlooked, and you deserve the thanks of so many people.  Just please always remember that the patients know their body more intimately than you do.  They live there while you’re merely visiting.  Living through it is far more instructive than any amount of “observation,” and you may need to be occasionally reminded of that.

 

 

PATIENTS

You’ve already been through a lot in life.  You’ve survived, and that should never be taken for granted by anyone, including and especially yourself.  What will help you in your personal battle beyond what the staff can do for you is what you yourself bring in your heart.  Without your drive, your will, your desire, and your sheer tenacity, no amount of instruction or guidance will help you to succeed.  The staff working with you realizes that you have a difficult journey ahead of you, and they are willing to help you providing you make an effort.  No one said it will be easy; but once you get there, you’ll know how much it really is worth it!

Never worry about whether or not other patients are watching you.  

If they’re watching, it could just as easily be curiosity on their part.  Considering that they’re also facing their own personal battles, they’re most likely either cheering you on or watching in genuine curiosity.  Any other reactions don’t matter in this vein because you’re the one ultimately fighting your battle.  Always accept support as it means you’re not as alone as you may feel.

If they’re not watching you, most often it’s to help you concentrate on what you’re doing.  They’re leaving you completely alone simply because they don’t want to intrude on you or interfere with you.  You’d be amazed how many prayers of support that are still being sent your way.

Never fear even perceived failure.  It simply means that you’re trying and you’re learning.  You’ll learn and grow as long as you never give up on yourself.

Among so much else, you’ll learn about yourself most of all.  Including and especially how much strength you really have, and that’s something you’ll always have and can never be taken from you.  Remember while you’re learning that you know your personal situation better than anyone else.  Living it is more instructive than any amount of observation, and you may have to occasionally remind some people of that.

With hard work, and providing you don’t give up, you’ll really succeed far more than you might realize; but, only if you never give up.

 

- Rev. J.T. Smith 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trust, Respect . . . And Beauty - Rev. J.T. Smith

Trust, Respect . . . And Beauty

Both trust and respect should always be earned rather than treated as some form of a door prize to be handed out to anyone who shows up or just happens to be in any kind of position of authority (e.g. parents/elders, teachers, the police/military personnel, any part of the government, the media, et al).  And just as actions speak louder than words, albeit not as often, a person's actions are the best and surest method of determining whether or not they deserve your trust or respect, if ever.  Neither trust nor respect should ever be treated as absolutes unless they have earned either of those; and if anyone should ever abuse you personally or their position of power in general, then that trust and/or respect should be revoked.

In reality, the word "respect" gets thrown around far too readily and nearly everyone seems to demand it these days.  We're told that everyone deserves respect at all times.  The fact is that people erroneously use the term "respect" when they should be using the phrase "common courtesy."  In his article "Command, Don't Demand Respect: Giving Respect Without Feeling It Inside Is Pretentious. Insisting On Such Respect Is False Pride," Manoj Khatri said: "All around us, we see people demanding/giving respect for all the wrong reasons.  In your family, respect your elders whether or not they deserve it.  At school/college, respect your teachers, doesn't matter if they can't teach anything.  At work, respect your seniors, regardless of how competent they are."

As stated earlier, respect, like trust, needs to be earned rather than simply given or expected.  While it has been said that respect is neither imposed nor begged, it's earned and offered, it has also been rightly observed that if you have to demand respect then you don't deserve it.  Even though at the end of the day you will never get to determine or decide how or when, if ever, anyone respects or trusts you, it is you who should be the one to decide who you respect and/or trust and by what individual criteria you use to determine who, when, and how anyone earns either from you.  And we should all be working to earn that trust or respect if we desire it from others.

Bear in mind also that trust and respect are not mutually inclusive.  While you can trust that a peer may do their duties to the best of their ability, it doesn't automatically mean that you do or should respect them as their other actions towards you or others might not warrant it.  Conversely, while you obviously won't trust an enemy, you might still respect them for their cunning, skill, or some other attribute that you find worthy of respect.

How does the concept of beauty fit into all of this?  We're essentially told by the media who we should find beautiful or that somehow beauty is a valid method for automatic judgment of a person.  The reality is that beauty is simply a combination of qualities (e.g. shape, colour, or form) that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially sight.  Sadly, the media (which in terms of determining "beauty" seems to be the accepted "authority" on the subject, an authority it doesn't deserve in reality as beauty is a subjective matter of opinion and we should be capable of making up our own minds based on our own individual aesthetic) continually focuses myopically on women's appearance while focusing on nearly every other attribute of men.  While the apparent majority of media will do this, it doesn't mean that everyone does. 

Since a person's physical appearance is the first thing we see when we look at a person and quite often it's the only part of a person we will ever be able to "interact" with on any level, particularly in terms of celebrities, we'll often say (even if only in our own minds) or post online "so-and-so is beautiful/sexy/pretty/hot/etc." when we see someone whose features or attributes fit within our personal aesthetic; and that action may seem shallow to others observing.  Of course, some people are simply that shallow.  Mind you, those statements aren't limited solely to stated observations by males. 

But that physical appearance neither determines nor denotes either intelligence or personality.  How can anyone ascertain another person's intelligence unless we're able to interact, most often talk, with them?  At that we usually base our conclusions about a person's intelligence far more on the way that person speaks rather than on how they look.  As for personality, once we encounter it, it will for many of us adjust how we see that person, either augmenting or diminishing their "beauty" in our eyes. 

Whereas we have to earn the respect and trust of others, we cannot earn beauty.  That said, like trust and respect, no one else can decide or determine for us who or what we find beautiful.  And though we have the absolute right to think of ourselves as beautiful in whatever form or capacity, and we should never let others determine how we perceive ourselves, we simply can't force or expect others to agree with our sense of aesthetic.  Beauty is an opinion, but it is our own opinion.

by Rev. J.T. Smith

Dealing With Offense (Updated) - Rev. J.T. Smith

I initially wrote the following in February 2015 as an article for the Wellspring Clubhouse's newsletter, which was published.  On December 4, 2016, upon starting this blog (which I admit I need to post to more often), I posted this article as the inaugural article, with a graphic attached so I could post it to my Pinterest page. 

Having attended a training regarding "recovery language" and the words/phrases that are now considered "offensive" on 11/22/19, it strikes me as apropos to share it with you, though updated slightly as a result of/response to that training.  [This article, with the exceptions of a direct quote used in the article and the graphics at the end, is solely me.  And the coarse language found in the primary quote is in fact a direct quote.  I do not expect anyone to agree with me.  As the title of my blog says, this is Food For Thought.]

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No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try for otherwise, either you will offend someone or they will offend you.  It’s simply a part of this thing we call life.  There is one thing to realize and remember: The only way you can be offended is if you choose to be offended.

Ultimately, the best way to deal with it is to surprise everyone and choose to not be offended.  Ask yourself why the person is in any way important to you specifically.  Also remember that others won’t necessarily share your viewpoint.  Sometimes, their view will be both negative to your way of thinking and will seem to be narrow-minded and inflexible.  Deciding to be offended will only succeed in giving you extra unneeded “baggage” that will only adversely affect *you*.  You do better to decide to not be offended, try to at least see where their point is coming from, explain your point of view (i.e. have something of a conversation about it), and if you can’t come to a consensus then at most mentally conclude that they’re an idiot and then just go on with your life.

Now there's a movement to change recovery language so as to be "patient first" in an attempt to thwart stigma.  On the surface this sounds noble as fighting and ending stigma is absolutely needed.  Unfortunately, it's focusing on the wrong problem in that it isn't the words "autistic," "autism," "drug addiction," "mental illness," or any of the other related words/terms that are the cause of or carry the stigma; it's the conditions themselves to which those words/terms refer.  Language is reflective of the culture that spawned it.  One anthropological fact is that language follows culture, not the other way around. 

The fact of the matter is that *any* word, phrase, or terminology can be turned into a pejorative regardless of how innocent that word, phrase, or terminology is, just as anything said can become sexualized even when the word/phrase isn't sexual in and of itself.

At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, it was decided to refer to people with various physical/mental health issues as "special" as it was considered a positive and affirming word.  We no longer say "special" because it quickly became a pejorative term.  And in an effort to thwart the use medical terms in the mental health realm, the terms have become more complex; the result has been an increase of the phrase "I don't know what your problem is, but I bet it's hard to pronounce" as an insult.

In another aspect regarding the fallacy of thinking being "offended" is a useful reaction, an example: While I was still a member of the Wellspring Clubhouse, I was in a conversation with a female friend, and while I don't recall the topic I do remember we were in agreement.  Shortly thereafter in the same day, I was in the library/computer room having a similar conversation with a male acquaintance about the same topic.  While I was describing the prior conversation (without identifying the woman I'd been speaking to due to my privacy protocols), with my lead-in being that I agreed with her, another female member came into the room on unrelated business whereupon she heard part of what I was saying.  Without bothering to learn the context of my remarks, she concluded that she was offended by what I was saying and came to the "defense" of my female friend.  The woman was further offended when I pointed out that, because she was coming into the middle of a conversation with no accurate reference points, she had no idea what she was talking about since I was in fact in agreement with my female friend.  Rather than utilizing logic, the woman who still thought she was defending my friend decided to let her emotions rule regardless of the facts.

[See my article: "Check Your -ism by Rev. J.T. Smith" for further examples.]

Regardless of whether it's in an individual setting or a more institutional one (e.g. job, official or professional situation, et al), being offended solves nothing and does not give you nor anyone else any special rights or privileges.  As Stephen Fry once said: “It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.'  As if that gives them certain rights.  It's actually nothing more . . . than a whine.  'I find that offensive.'  It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase.  'I am offended by that.'  Well, so fucking what." [I saw hate in a graveyard -- Stephen Fry, The Guardian, 5 June 2005]”

Getting and/or being offended solves nothing.  It won’t actually change anything.  Your viewpoints, no matter how well reasoned or even potentially innocent they may be, will still offend someone else.  That’s merely human nature.  Regardless of what far too many people will tell you, you always have a choice (you simply won’t always like the alternatives).  In terms of something, a statement or action that you don’t like for whatever reason, your choices are to be offended or not to be offended.  Make your life so much easier by always choosing to not be offended.

by Rev. J.T. Smith

Funny Cat Video

Cree Proverb

Attempted Explanation Of Things That Annoy Me About People & My Current Situation - Rev. J.T. Smith

On January 23, 2013 at approximately 0655 I survived a hemorrhagic stroke that initially shut down and paralyzed the right half of my body from the neck down and limited the peripheral vision of my right eye and the hearing in my right ear.  While much of what I'm trying to explain predates that stroke by more than a couple decades, it's been exacerbated since the stroke.

As I've stated elsewhere, the simplest way to describe what really annoys me about people is laziness in thought and action, the mindset that believes "impossible" is an acceptable answer and allows the notion of “eh, good enough” to somehow be acceptable.  I’ve worked with more people than I care to think about who took that attitude toward their job, yet they’d be among the first to gripe is something they were buying wasn’t to the specifications they needed or desired whether it be a piece of equipment, a repair to their car or something similar, or their meal in a restaurant whether it was fast food or a fancy restaurant.   It was alright if they did it but Heaven help them if they were on the receiving end.

Because I had a stroke and my body doesn’t work the way it should, people seem to automatically assume that I’m somehow fragile like an eggshell.  As a result, my capacity for being able to volunteer at Grandview Hospital would be limited to only performing data entry/clerical tasks (providing I'd be allowed to volunteer in the first place).  While those tasks are within my working background (even if I am out of practice), those aren’t all that I’m capable of.  The only other duties they have open involve a lot of walking.  For me that’s fine as I need the exercise in order to get at least that part of my body working better.  Unfortunately, simply because I could potentially fall (which was actually true even before the stroke) the “walking” positions are completely out because “the floor is harder than my head.”  This both completely ignores and refuses to contemplate, let alone acknowledge, the fact that in 2013 I fell four times and I managed to regain my feet again without any assistance or suffering any injury.  Two of those times involved concrete sidewalks which are both far from level (unlike hospital corridors) and are far harder than hospital floors, the third time involved going down (literally) a gravel path, and the last involved my own room.  Granted, on November 9, 2015, I tripped while traversing an asphalt walking/bike trail approximately three miles from where I live and I broke my right wrist to the point of needing a titanium plate and a host of screws; but before anyone tries to read into that, I hit the ground so hard that I also broke the watch on my left wrist.  All of which should demonstrate that I’m not fragile.

Then there’s the American medical complex and their simply getting people to “live with” whatever ails them as opposed to actually trying to fix the problem.  This (combined with greed) is why we haven’t seen any real cures since polio.  This also extends to rehabilitation therapy and the fact that the staff’s goals so often don’t match the goals of their patients.  Doylestown Hospital’s Therapy Department is a prime example of this.  My goal is to regain 95-100% of my physical capabilities.  I realize that this isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight.  Unfortunately, the therapists I had only set their sights on a 50% improvement in this function and 50% increase in that function, and then were satisfied when I succeed in gaining 45% increase in one and 52% in the other.  When you’re starting at only 30% of full functionality and their goal is for you improve by 50%, that doesn’t take you to 80%; it only takes you to 45%.

Sadly, while this isn’t the only hospital/rehab group that does this, Doylestown Hospital is where I also witnessed minor panic attacks any time I had a balance check (they referred to it as “losing [my] balance” which implies my having fallen over when I did no such thing) or the ridiculous insistence that I must use the handrail while ascending or descending their staircases, yet they themselves were under no such requirement.  This also doesn’t take into account that stairways in public buildings (including hospitals) are nowhere near as steep as those found in houses and old buildings (e.g. the pub that I reside above).

There’s also the concept of “impossible” that I keep running into, especially in places like hospitals.  Supposedly, I should accept that it may be "impossible" to fully recover from the stroke.  Bullshit.  All things are possible; it’s the probability that’s the tricky part.  I acknowledge that the probabilities are not in my favour, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be done.  The probability of my being able to walk at all at the beginning of my second week of Acute Rehab was exceedingly low, yet I still did it.  Prior to the 1950s it was deemed a certainty that the human body couldn’t survive speeds greater than the speed of sound, which is where the term "sound barrier" comes from..  And then the sound barrier was broken and planes like the Concorde and military aircraft like the SR-71 Blackbird that travel at speeds of Mach 1 or more that successfully carry humans faster than the speed of sound.  According to the laws of aerodynamics it’s impossible for a bumblebee to fly, yet it does so successfully.  (The supposed workaround being that the laws of fluid dynamics are used to explain this success.)  Supposedly it’s impossible for anything to travel faster than the speed of light, yet tachyons are particles that travel faster than the speed of light.  If tachyons can travel at those velocities, then it’s possible for other things to do so as well.  All of which I had to point out to the nurse I had to deal with at Doylestown Hospital who insisted that “impossible” isn’t laziness.  It’s nearly always considered impossible until someone succeeds in doing it.

And still we’re told as disabled people (handicapped, whatever) that we should "just accept" that we may never get our bodies back and/or our lives back and just live with our current situation being as good as it gets.  That’s a load of crap!  Disabled people should never be encouraged to simply accept what happened to them and then just live with it.  "Just accept" really means "Just give up."  Disabled people should be encouraged to do whatever they can to get back to where they were before whatever disabled them happened.  Granted, some adaptations may be necessary to succeed in this in either the short or long run, but that shouldn’t be simply “good enough.”   Good enough should never be good enough.

 - by Rev. J.T. Smith

(Author's note: This was originally written in September 2014 for my psych therapist.  It has been updated since).

Agreed

This won't make me popular, but I completely agree. - Rev. J.T. Smith

The Chicken's POV

Joe Gingras (Doin it up @ Aven's Angels Comedy Fundraiser) [comedy]

"Joe Gingras is the elder of my first ex-fiance's younger brothers. I hope you enjoy his set. I did. D) "  - Rev. J.T. Smith