All over again

as once more the Spy's birthday is celebrated two days early by Canada on its 158th (though for his birth Province of Alberta it's only an even 120 from Confederation) and a day late by denizens of the U.S. of hay which was on its 249th. OTOH, he's reached his second thirty-ninth more or less intact. A little celebration, and a few tasks that took priority do make this tome slightly later than usual though.

OTOH, the Spy probably couldn't install a twelve foot sheet of drywall on a ceiling by himself any more, but maybe an eight. (The building trade still has feet rather than metres (not the same as meters, which, worldwide excepting two countries, are instruments rather than lengths)--old habits and designs die hard). And yes, there is a simple trick to such an install.

Several BC Credit unions recently merged under the umbrella "Beem." (Go figure.) After the software rollout the local manager called the Spy to ask for his take on the new online experience. He had a one-word summary. "Catastrophe." As any of his graduating students well know, there are good and bad ways to do system upgrades, whether involving software or otherwise. Limited user testing followed by a cold turkey transformation over a weekend is not, to put it mildly, one of the better ones. Had the Spy known some of his stored data (not his account balances, fortunately) would be erased, he'd have taken a backup. Now that considerable data must be re-created. This movie too is a re-run.

So, BTW is the collateral damage done by naked ambition and greed. Over and over again, it inevitably destroys churches, businesses, community and political organizations, and even whole nations. Anyone much more than half the Spy's age has seen those ugly movies and their re-runs far too many deja vu times already.

Recycling the yarns

But see, OTTH, one advantage to old age is that one can recycle yarns once told to children as though they were brand new, but now as grandpa stories, and get a new chuckle, or far far better yet, an enthusiastic groan.

Why did the three men who inherited a Texas ranch from their father decide to rename it as "Focus"? Because that's where the sons raise meet.

When the Spy next visited the local Credit Union branch to deposit a cheque denominated in those other-than-Canadian-dollars into the Arjay Enterprises account (exchange items can't be processed online, and the branch turned out to itself to be unable to do anything that weekend; this part actually happened), a frog lined up next to him at teller Patricia Whack's desk, so he saw and heard all that eventuated when the frog politely inquired about taking out a pond renovation loan. ("Loanit, loanit.") Befuddled teller Patricia asked the frog what he was offering as collateral, whereupon the well-prepared amphibian pulled a beautiful pewter figurine from a cloth bag and presented it without so much as a croak. Unsure whether it had sufficient value, even though pewter is not too common these days so it seemed an antique, Patricia consulted the manager about the transaction. After relating the frog's request and proposal, and requested her bump-it-higher decision, I distinctly heard the manager tartly reply: "It's a knick-knack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan."

Occasionally, the power goes out at the University during one of the Spy's first year classes. He looks about slightly befuddled for a few seconds, then has everyone stand up, raise and wave both hands above their heads. Someone will ask "Why are we doing this?" He replies "Wait, wait." Shortly (sic) the lights come back so he says "OK, you can all sit down again." Someone invariably wants to know: "What just happened?" He replies. Isn't it obvious? Doesn't everyone know that 'many hands make light work'?" Ah, the new students don't yet realize that a backup generator is a necessity for a Science building. It restores power on a 90-second timer after a failure.

He also recalls an old joke about the hazards of milking a cow, but will refrain from relating that one, as it is nothing but a lot of udder nonsense.

Political recycling recycled:

As noted last month, in ancient times one Greek view on regime recycling was that stale or corrupt democracies would inevitably give way to the "fix-it-up, make the nation great again" strongman who would, once in power, impose a dictatorship, whence he or a successor would name himself king, and after a few cycles of such a role, and some conquests, the realm would transmogrify once more into an empire (or in Brit speak, "an Empiaah.") Eventually, resistance to arbitrary rule would arise, cries of "no more kings" and "freedom from tyranny" would become the watchwords, and a band of brave visionaries would write a constitution for a brand new independent democracy and find a way to change the regime. In this ancient view, the cycle inevitably and endlessly repeats itself repeats itself (not "repeat until done" as taught in CMPT 140, but the novice's nightmare infinite loop error.)

As a side note, since Rome destroyed Carthage and sewed salt and rock in her fields, the time would invariably come when someone else would do likewise to her. The Spy idly supposes that should one of those Greek philosophers show up in our time, their take would be: "The loop merely cycles faster in your high tech world."

(S)he might also dismiss the Spy's textbook on the dawn of "The Fourth Civilization" as hopelessly optimistic. Well, he did tone that optimism down in his last chapter of his fifth edition, which should perhaps have been re-titled "What could possibly go wrong with the advent of an Information Age?" The mythical objector may have a valid point.

A current case consideration:

See, it's a bit chancy now whether badly divided former democracy to the south of the forty-ninth will make it intact to (or much beyond) its sestercentennial, its president's now heavily funded, masked, private frozen army and its detention centres having become exhibit one for just such a Greek-style transition away. The Spy notes some controversy over that "detention" word, but he deprecates the proposed alternative "concentration camps," instead suggesting "gulags," in view of the padrino's bromance with the younger brother and idol Russian dictator. Oh, and the Canadian government at this writing estimates fifty-five of its citizens have been disappeared down there. If they are deported, whence will they be sent? Sudan? Antarctica to join its heavily tariffed penguins?

See, the former leading nation of the free world has apparently begun abdicating the role--not a good thing for what remains of that club. When will the next international day of critical reckoning arrive? One possibility would the morning paramount leader Xi calls junior kleptocracy overlord partner Vladimir and orders him to provide cover for his invasion of Taiwan by attacking the Baltics and/or Poland. It was only Pearl Harbour that convinced the American people that joining WW II was a necessary, so in a modified deja vu lacking an unforced error such as this, it seems likely America would take a pass via a collective chant of "not our war" and either complete the abandonment of its former allies with a total retreat into irrelevant isolation, or itself piggyback on the Russo-China axis aggression by making good on threats to annex Canada, Greenland, and Panama. OTOH, if that particular nexus somehow is postponed for eighteen months, the MAGA folk may have lost control of at least the House, if not all of Congress. But, given a compromised SCOTUS would that possibly postponed eventuality make any difference?

A side-effect, or perhaps better a symptom, of the high tech age, which at the moment might be better termed the MisInformation Age, is that such key historical turning points will turn on a nickel rather than on a dime--i.e. regime change and similar social transitions will be all but instantaneous compared to the past. Our hypothetical time traveling philosopher is hopelessly either an optimist or pessimist, depending on one's own preferred point of view.

Even mundane nostalgia ain't what it used to was

WWDC has come and gone, but compared to the good ol' days of the in-person extravaganza at San Francisco's Moscone Center (It irks to spell the latter word that way, but what's in a spelling, much less a name or an age?), the current WWDC rendition seems limp--more of a staid, buttoned-down, rather largish bored meeting (deliberate) compared to the old time big top events casting iSteve or iCook as ringmasters extraordinaire, and complete with endless opportunities to question Apple's boffins.

The Spy once instigated an impromptu WWDC Q&A on high level language design decisions that saw his many questions delegated to the Swift designer's subordinates in rapid fire rotation, a discussion/debate that attracted a large "stand around in concentric circles to listen" audience. This sort of interaction was by no means unique, but is/was the very opportunistic stuff of such in-person events.

And c'mon, where are the jugglers in the foyer, the CON-like costuming, the Cat-in-the-Hat MC-ing the evening roundup of Easter eggs and other trivia, the leather jacket and sweater giveaways, the buzz that can only come from the collective excitement generated by thousands of attendees gathered in the same room? Virtual "rooms" lack any vibe.

OK, OK, the medium lights this time do include:

But that's about all iCook wrote. OK, interesting, and having a shiny shimmer of novelty, but somehow lacking in excitement. What has happened to the happening, and why does the current Apple current seem to pack paltry pedestrian wattage?

Deja Vu again to the Spy's broader recycling theme,

Has the time come for something brand old/new in ethics, society, and technology that actually helps instantiate the Fourth Civilization as a functioning Information age? Would a recycle of some (not all!) of older values suffice? How about bold creativity? Yes, and we could return to the ones of truth, righteousness, justice, care for the needy, tolerance for foreigners--you know, the ethical norms that when God saw nations of Old Testament times repudiate, he wiped them from the map. Look up, for instance, his declaration in Ezekiel 16:49 of the overarching reason why he cancelled Sodom and Gomorrah. Hmmm. Food for thought, and not what most people seem to think.

Well, TTTNT and meanwhile Carpe Deja Vu (in which for easy transferability between print and online he has omitted the accents--so mucho apologies for his incorrect French spelling.

--The Northern Spy

Opinions expressed here are entirely the author's own, and no endorsement is implied by any community or organization to which he may be attached. Rick Sutcliffe (a.k.a. The Northern Spy) is Professor of Computing Science and Mathematics and Assistant Dean of Science at Canada's Trinity Western University. He completed his fifty-fifth year as a high school and university teacher in 2025. He has been involved as a member of or consultant with the boards of several commercial, nonprofit, and/or educational organizations and participated in developing industry standards both nationally and internationally. He is a long-time technology author and has written two textbooks and ten alternate history SF novels, one named the best ePublished SF novel for 2003. His various columns have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers (both dead tree and online formats) since the early 1980s, and he's been a regular participant and speaker at churches, schools, and academic meetings and conferences. He is a half century-long member of the IEEE, ACM, and MAA. He and his wife Joyce celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 2019 and lived in the Langley/Aldergrove/Bradner area of B.C. from 1969 to 2021 when cancer happened, so he latterly continues alone, depending heavily on family and friends to manage.

URL s for Rick Sutcliffe's Arjay Enterprises:

The Northern Spy Home Page: https://www.TheNorthernSpy.com

opundo : https://opundo.com

Sheaves Christian Resources : https://sheaves.org

WebNameHost : https://www.WebNameHost.net

WebNameSource : https://www.WebNameSource.net

nameman : https://nameman.net

General URLs for Rick Sutcliffe's Books:

Author Site: https://www.arjay.ca

TechEthics Site (Fourth edition of text; the fifth has been released; site to be redesigned real soon now) : https://www.arjaybooks.com/EthTech/index.htm

Publisher's Site: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Richard-Sutcliffe.html

URLs for a product mentioned last three months:

Wipf&Stock site for his 4Civ textbook Volume One: https://wipfandstock.com/9798385226818/the-fourth-civilization-volume-one/

Wipf&Stock site for his 4Civ textbook Volume Two: https://wipfandstock.com/9798385232932/the-fourth-civilization-volume-two/