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  • EPISODE 540 “NEVER BE HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE”, Crooky said …APPLIED TODAY WHEN BARN COLLAPSED Feb. 18, 2022

    EPISODE 540     “NEVER BE HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE”, Crooky said …APPLIED TODAY WHEN BARN COLLAPSED  Feb. 18, 2022

    alan skeoch
    Feb. 18, 2022


    BARN LOOKS INTACT.  LOOK CLOSER…TOP WELD HAS SNAPPED.  ROOF HELD UP BY RACKS INSIDE BARN,  HEAVY TRUSSES
    HAVE BENT AND DROPPED.


    ROOF TRUSSES COLLAPSED, WELDS SNAPPED, ROOF CAVED IN AND ONLY SUPPORTED BY RACKING INSIDE BARN.  ALL
    WILL EVENTUALLY FALL FARTHER.     ALL CAUSED BY HEAVY WET SNOW FROM SUDDEN VIOLENT STORM  feb. 18, 2022.



    WITH REGARD TO THE LOSS OF MY BARN AND CONTENTS

    Background:  On the night of Feb. 18, 2022, a sudden snowstorm dumped heavy
    snow on our farm.  One building could not handle the weight and collapsed.  The building
    is packed tooth to yowl with historic artefacts many of which are used by the movie 
    industry.   Interior racking is currently holding up parts of the barn but not for long.
    Am I devastated.?  No, I will get by.

    I am not the only person in the world with troublesl.  Mine are minuscule really so do not get
    the feeling I am swimming in self-pity.  No one was hurt.  I cannot imagine the results of an injury were 
    that to occur.  A teacher of mine long ago, Evan Cruickshank, head of history at Humberside and Parkdale
    Collegiates once said to me:  

    “Alan, never be hostage to fortune.”

    Think about that line.  Never let the things in this world that you may acquire … never be a prisoner
    to them.   I have never forgotten that line.  It has served me well.  I was flattered when finishing
    university by the offer of a job from “Crooky” at Parkdale C. I.  He said the same ting that another
    mentor of mine, John Ricker, said.   “If you come to Parkdale, you will never leave.”  Also true.
    Good advice which I took to heart.

    Bottom line:  The Barn and its contents do not own me.

    alan

  • Fwd: EPISODE 538 PREDICTIONS OF WORLD IN 2050 BY GRADE TEN STUDENTS IN YEAR 2000…

    Note: My stories may be disrupted for a few days.

      The huge snowfall has collapsed one of our barns which is loaded with our ancient machines.

    We will be saving what we can while we can.  Life always catches ua just when things seem to be getting better.  The pandemic is less
    threatening and the long winter is winding down.  The truck convoy is over.  We expected relief. We should have kept our guard up.  Nothing goes smoothly all the time.
    Maybe I can make a story out of the disaster.

    alan

    Millennium Prophecies: Predictions For The Year 2000 And Beyond: From The  World's Greatest Seers And Mystics by Stephen Skinner


    EPISODE 538    PREDICTIONS of WHAT WORLD WOULD BE LIKKE IN 50 YEARS.. BY GRADE TEN STUDENTS IN YEAR 2000…


    Alan skeoch
    Feb. 17, 2022

    To celebrate the end of the second millennium in year 2000, the Toronto Board of Education
    asked me to gather some Grade Ten students together to construct a special Millennial book
    titled  “A DAY IN THE LIFE….”   In Part of the book these students their thoughts on what the world would be
    like 50 years from the year 2000.  

    Below are their thoughts.   Some of the things they forecast have already happened less
    that 25 years into the future.  Some happenings they produce are joyful.   Some are frightening.
    Some are ridiculous (done so deliberately as 15 year olds are prone to do).

    Fear of climate change, global pandemics, massive pollution, species extinctions, etc. …negative
    feelings about the future are present.in the predictions.  But there are also predictions that are 
    comforting, particularly the prediction of a future where we will take care of our planet much better
    than the past.


    1950s High School Dance | Fashion, Fashion teenage, High school dance

    WHAT WAS CANADA LIKE IN 1950?  FIFTY YEARS IN THE PAST.

    WHAT would I hav written if a teacher asked me to look into the future.  What would you have written.
    I think our outlook on life is the result of the times in which we live.  For most of friends the times were good


    A Boeing B-52 bomber flies above the clouds with contrails flowing... News  Photo - Getty Images


    Initially I felt my Grade Ten experiences were all joyful…school dances, football, basketball, drama club
    Yearbook, etc.   But there was a dark place in my mind back in 1954 that was underscored every afternoon
    as I watched the vapour trails of B52 NORAD bombers fly North Westerly from Maine to North Dakota.
    I was scared and even constructed a silly bomb shelter in our cellar and gave mom instructions to fill
    the laundry tubs with water the moment a nuclear attack was imminent.  My shelter food was basically
    a dozen cans of tomato soup and some pork and beans. Quaker Oats in a tin so mice would not get it.
    Some dried fruit and a few chocolate bars which were soon eaten before any attack.


    Cold War Nuclear Fallout Shelters Were Never Going to Work - HISTORYCold War Nuclear Fallout Shelters Were Never Going to Work - HISTORY

     No stove.  One bed which was an old sofa.
    The cellar windows were boarded up because we had no bricks.  And I did not tell anyone because 
    there was only room for mom, dad, Eric and me.  Selfishness…the dark cloud.  IF an atom bomb
    was dropped on Toronto City Hall then our house would be outside the area of total annihilation hence
    the air raid shelter might help us survive.  That was not true.  The Hydrogen nuclear bomb, if dropped
    on Toronto City Hall would annihilate us along with our school and friends.  So the ir raid shelter
    was forgotten except for the cans of tomato soup.  I do not remember if I put a can opener in the 
    supply chest.

    But really that fear was pushed to the back of my brain…so far back that by the 1960’s the fear was gone.
    THERE was a lot of joy in the 1950’s and 60’s…outweighed the fears.   They really were Happy Days.



    As you read these predictions try to do two things.  One:  Are the students overwhelmingly optimistic
    or pessimistic?  Two:   What was on your mind when you were in Grade Ten.  Do you remember?

    alan

    PREDICTIONS:  WHAT WILL THE WORLD BE LIKE 50 YEARS FROM NOW (YEAR 2000)?






    Below are the predictions of Toronto 15 year old students 


    Microchips imbedded in flesh would replace need for money on TTC.

    Cleaner energy sources will replace fossil fuels in cars because there is
    no way to survive without cars.

    There will be petroleum shortages and cars will be forced to use solar power or electricity.

    The air will be filled with flying vehicles.  Transportation on the ground by car would
    only be used by poor people.

    Cold fusion will be used to power our vehicles

    Cars will operate on voice command.

    Vehicles will travel underground in tunnels.

    Hydrogen will power cars.

    Human beings will go to the farthest reaches of space only to fine that we are, in Fact, alone.

    The world wil be united under a single currency

    Technology will replace people in jobs resulting in massive unemployment

    In 50 years we will no longer carry cash but use a card instead.

    In 2050 Kuwait’s oil will be gone plunging the world into extreme poverty

    People will start to prefer ‘no name’ brands amid a general distrust of corporations

    The rich will get richer and the poor wil get poorer…ghettoes will get larger.

    The Canadian dollar will be replaced by U.S. currency

    The world economy will falter and another world war will break out

    Toronto  will continue to sprawl swallowing up cities Markham and Durham.

    Toronto will in 50 years look like a huge piece of ice…glass and aluminum
    skyscrapers.

    Vacant land on waterfront will be hard to find.

    Work hours will be cut to five hours per day ro reduce unemployment

    The aging population will move back to cities and suburban houses will be abandoned

    Pollution  will be terrible….air quality reduced and garbage floating and sinking on and
    into Lake Ontario.

    Three hundred storey apartment buildings for those who can afford

    poorer housing, poorer food, poor people,

    No school  blackboards.  Big screens operated by push buttons

    In 50 years schools will no longer be necessary because children will be schooled
    at home on computers.  As a result children will lack the skills needed to interact with each other.’

    Every student will have his or her own computer in the classroom

    No need for schools.  In the future children will swallow a knowledge pill which will transfer
    all necessary information to their brains.

    Fewerr students will enter university because of increasing difficulty learning the latest
    technologies.

    There will be teachers in the classrooms but their role will be to explain computers.

    Computerized classrooms will have around 200 students.

    Books will become electronic

    Canada will become a world leader

    Face recognition and retinal scanning will be the way we are identified

    Women may go back to being housewives with large families

    Household chores will be done by computers.

    Democracy will be abolished and fascist governments will rule the world.

    New laws will limit peoples’ freedom

    The human population will exceed 15 billion

    Women will be considered the dominant sex.

    50 years from now there will be  perfect pace.

    Colonies will be built on other planets

    Gene therapy will become widespread enhancing immune systems, intelligence
    and strength.

    There will be more need for psychiatrists and psychologists as technology
    tyrannizes our lives and replaces human contact.

    There will be cures for every disease including AIDS and cancer.

    There will be much more mixed race breeding

    Men will be able to give birth

    Scientists will come up with a method to control overpopulation.

    New diseases will appear and wipe out legions of living things.

    Public nudity will be legalized

    Common cold will become much more infectious

    Maybe there will be no world at all.  Maybe it will have ended by the apocalypse of a third world war.
    On the other hand disease might wipe out whole populations within days or even hours.

    Medical science will have difficulty catching up with new diseases.

    People will live longer

    Mutations will change human beings.

    Cryogenic freezing will successfully prevent death.

    Animal lovers will present thousands of species from becoming extinct.

    In the near future a human will be cloned, sparking a huge mortal and ethical debate.

    In just 25 years, not 50 years, our environment will be in horrendous shape.  Many
    animals will become extinct.  There will be far fewer trees due to deforestation, a lack 
    of raw materials and fuels such as natural gas and oil, and an even larger hole in the ozone layer.

    The world will toon be overpopulated, and this will lead to drought, mass disease, lack of food
    and squalid living conditions.

    Severe climate change is going to alter our food production

    Scientists will figure a way to live comfortably in the Arctic regions.


    Rapid urbanization of the world will cause cities to not  have enough food and
    farms will need to triple their production.

    New power plants will provide cleaner energy

    There will be a nuclear disaster that will create deformities in plants and animals

    Concern over increasing pollution will startle world government into massive and successful
    efforts to clean up our planet.

    Solar energy will be our main power source

    The Great Lakes will dry up…disaster.

    The theory of continental drift will be proven correct because Britain wil be 30 km off the coast
    of Newfoundland.

    Biologicsl weapons could destroy most of the earth’s wild and human populations.

    A detonated nuclear bomb will act as a warning 

    Z00s wil become essential for preserving and protecting growing numbers of
    endangered species.

    The Toronto Maple Leafs will win two Stanley Cups in next 50 years.

    The moon will become a retirement resort with golfing.  Many golf balls will
    be lost in space.

    Due tp danger of sports injuries all sports will be simulated by computer with no human
    players allowed.

    AND SO THEY SPOKE…REMEMBER THESE PREDICTIONS WERE MADE IN YEAR 2000…
    MANY ARE ACCEPTED AS NORMAL TODAY.    

    alan









  • EPISODE 539 LOOPY DEMOCRACY — THE TRUCK CONVOY AND CHAOS IN CANADA Saturday Feb 19 2022



    Begin forwarded message:


    From: marjorie skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>
    Subject: Fwd: Saturday Feb 19 2022
    Date: February 20, 2022 at 10:11:43 AM EST
    To: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>



    Dateline:  Feb. 20, 2022

    EPISODE 539   LOOPY  DEMOCRACY — THE TRUCK CONVOY AND CHAOS IN CANADA,  Saturday Feb 19 2022 






    To   John and any others who have time to read today.

    My story will be hard to understand today…I cannot understand it myself..


    I am trying to get a mental handle on the events.  Marjorie and I took photos
    as things  unfolded on Saturday. February 19, 2022.  These pictures are astounding to us.  Like a
    movie … a piece of fiction.  In midst of it alll my mouse failed.  It just would not
    move just like the protesters.  Eventually my nephew Robert got us a new mouse…a 
    super mouse.

    But I am still  processing events.  Frankly the whole mess in Ottawa makes no
    sense at all.  Irrational actions in the extreme category that confirms some of
    my earlier teaching efforts regarding democracy.  

    “Democracy is a troubled spirit whose dream, if it dream, presents only visions of hell.”

    With that quote we would discuss the perils of Direct democracy where Everyman and
    everywoman believe that their ideas matter most and must be expressed.   Today we
    have a great example of ‘loopy democracy’ where the least well informed ten percent
    of our nation attempted to seize control of the state in a confused bubble of loopy dangerous ideas.

    So what about our real system of representative democracy?   I believed in that.  
    Until recently.   Our politicians let us down big time.  Some of them even embracing
    the loopy democrats in the protest who wanted the Governor General to seize
    the reins of government snd then turn the reins over to them.  insanity on the march.

    All of us stunned and might profit from a time on the bouncy castle.

    alan skeoch










































    Sent from my iPhone



  • EPISODE 537 HORSE DRAWN HAY CART GOES TO MOVIES….NEW TRACKED SNOWPLOW MOVES IN

    EPISODE 537     HORSE DRAWN HAY ACART GOES TO MOVIES….NEW TRACKED SNOWPLOW MOVES IN


    alan skeoch
    Feb. 17,  2022

     

  • EPISODE 536 PREDICTIONS MADE BY GR. 10 TORONTO STUDENTS IN THE MILLENNIAL YEAR 2000

    EPISODE 536    PREDICTIONS MADE BY GR. 10 TORONTO STUDENTS IN THE MILLENNIAL YEAR 2000


    alan skeoch
    Feb. 17, 2022


    A DAY IN THE LIFE OF GRADE TEN STUDENTS 

    In the year 2000, the second millennium began.  I was asked to gather a cross section of Grade Ten students
    in Toronto schools to see how they viewed themselves and, particularly, to predict the future.  What they thought
    would happen 50 years from the year 2000.  

    And then to describe what a typical day was like…a TYPICAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF A GRADE TEN TORONTO STUDENT  

    By chance a friend gave me a copy of the book we made.  I had forgotten all about it and was rather pleasantly
    startled by the comments of these  young people.

    ROSY PREDICTIONS, were there many?   Yes, there were, many of them spot on.  And it did not take
    50 years for these predictions to happen.  

    DIRE PREDICTIONS, were there many?  Yes, there were and many of those were spot on.  

    FUNNY PREDICTIONS? were there many?  Yes,  Enough to keep us smiling. Such as the prediction
    by Bobby Foley that the squirrels of Queen’s park will be the dominant life creatures and we will be
    ‘legions of maids and janitors”.  We had a lot of laughs doing this project.

    HOW TO TRIGGER STUDENT PREDICTIONS

    SOME  disturbing predictions by were made by futurist John L. Peterson, ‘Out of the Blue: Wild Cards
    in our Future:   I thought his ridiculous comments would trigger the students.  I really did not need any
    adult input though.  Peterson’s predictions in 2000 seemed way out of whack!  But , lo and behold, here
    we are in the year 2022 and his precautions already seem fulfilled.  Downers for sure.

    DIRE PREDICTION IN YEAR 2000  THAT COULD NOT POSSIBLY COME TRUE?

    ( OR COULD THIS ACTUALLY HAPPEN…WITHOUT WAITING 50 YEARS?…Guess what, 
    these predictions seem to have happened or are happening right now.!!)







    COMMENT:

    THE final book is 134 pages long.  Each of the students was asked to describe one day in his or her life.  Not in the past or the future.
    But a day like May 30, year 2000….MY LIFE.

    What comforting days there were in the daily life of this cross section of Grade Ten students.  Affectionate, caring, humorous, humdrum,
    social, involved, intelligent…overwhelmingly positive.

    I would hope that the same is true today.  I fear that the positive predictions and positive daily life would 
    both be very difficult to find.

    DO YOU WANT TO HEAR MORE OF THEIR PREDICTIONS?
    DO YOU WANT TO READ WHAT ONE DAY, YEAR 2000,  OF A TYPICAL STUDENT?

    alan skeoch
    Feb. 17, 2022

    Post Script:  I think this project deserves another Episode…so joyful.  Any teacher who has had the profile of teaching
    Grade Ten students knows that the future will be in good hands.  At least that was my experience as a teacher.  And
    it was confirmed by this gang of kids we gathered together to describe one day in each of their lives.

    One student,Adam Nathanson, made a prediction that I have often quoted.   “Fifty years from now, human beings will
    go to the furthest reaches of space only to find that re, in fact, alone.”   That fact, if true, should make us value all the 
    wonders of our world and marvel at the spark of life within each of us.