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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2024 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I love these evening updates - where goodnight is really goodnight. What on earth is going on here? What’s up with me? I’ll tell you now that I have some cheap Australian wine in me. Why not?



I was born in a most unusual childhood. Let’s just leave it at that but the big takeaways is that instead of me and mom and nuclear family - it was me and society and nothing personal - and as a black man I did not get the inferiority complex. What that meant for me growing up
is that my primary relationship for love is through my relationship with society/humanity and less with an individual. And that is precisely the relationship I have at the UN with my moral imperative.



Most importantly is purpose at the UN as a consultant just in case shit really hits the fan as in some global catastrophe. Then at least member nations have a pool of organizations and people that can offer up ideas. The more outlandish the crises the better off they are having a better and known person like myself schooled and available immediately to help. By now I’m known even if aggravating to many. But I hope they view me personally as an asset available to them if something wild really does happen. I was almost purpose built for something like this - if you knew me in my prime. As for me I keep looking for those like me that can take over as I’m not getting any younger. But I’m spry enough for the next several years at minimum…..



So I’m there if the world goes truly to shit and need ideas. In in the meantime, I have some positive ideas I’m pushing there and that keeps me and my adversaries employed and sharp for when those skills are really needed - then all the better. And if something comes from those ideas then we all score!



I have see the world as it is and the people who run it - and I’ve got game!




Goodnight…..




https://youtu.be/7FmPskTljo0?si=k2b4pOzO4Ntms72G
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon May 13, 2024 7:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For Sunday I just want to soak in the tub, mess around with my guitars, and cut my hair. In between all that is Mother’s Day festivities even though my mom has been dead for nine years.




My seven string “old fart” guitar!



I heard my 7 string had glow in the dark markers. it I finally saw them in pitch black, and this is no good as we never get that dark except during a light show - but at least it works! Found out the bridge block is solid steel which should be Prestige territory as mine is Premium but the seven strings are such small output they share blocks, but the saddles are titanium on the Prestige and mine are “only” steel.




For those that know: Machined solid steel tremolo - with tiny Alpha pots?



You get a bit depressed about your age, things can wrap up quick if you want. I could retire in a few months but you would be crazy to do that. You do have options on your pensions as you can work and get the pension at the same time. For me working with kids is not as hard as it is for others but you are still an old guy. In a way there is no reason to play it safe with many things as you can just parachute out of the work world at a moments notice. While you are working, you fantasize about the day you retire and what that would be like. Actually the day before the day you retire as that is the last real normal work day for you. It’s just a strange vibe. I see older folk - at least I think they are older - at the UN just happy to be going there. No angst at the reality of trying to change things at the United Nations. I’m starting to do the old fart rant now so I will end this here.



A day off as close as I can get…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/E_HUrfQqUmA?si=LyR8HRvzRwO2J_D9
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2024 8:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A little over a year ago I made a decision that coming out of covid I had to be a better producer and promoter at our record label. To that end I needed to evaluate venues and one part was a quick plugin and test of their sound system. I figured a cheap guitar was as good as any and one of those electronic pedal boards to act as my amp and cabinet that my guys would use there.







So I bought the cheapest guitar I could find as I figured out what my tastes would be in guitars. and I bought a used pedal board that would allow me to walk into a venue and check out a sound system without lugging in the real thing. The pedal board also has various amps and cabs so I could actually mimic the set up the lead performer would have on that stage.



And so far so good. I had a crack at Nathan Phillips Square for the August Civic Holiday and Canada Day at Yonge Dundas Square. Leading up to all that would be gigs around town so this ability of mine would be put to good use.



By now you know we had a crack at Canada Day at Nathan Philips Square that went nowhere. I didn’t tell anyone but if we got in - even with other events there - it’s was a go even if I went into the red financially - that would have been a once in a lifetime event. YDS just didn’t work with the name change and with the safe injection site going nowhere. Strangely Canada Day is still open there. I could go mad and just book the square - insanity - and just do it! But no, that idea has past. But there is always next year.



The idea of approaching North by North East - the husband and wife that owned Now Magazine owned and ran it - was shelved as even if they wanted out there was too much baggage to carry on for me. But you never know in h the future. They are in their seventies and maybe just want out. With the collapse of “Now” I don’t see any big events this year like in the past. It’s a four day event now and partnered with next mag - a shadow of its former self. Fofstock and FOF Records now has the presence that we could actually take over as management. We could take it over if they want out…..



Anyway, I started messing with the cheap guitar and knew I wanted a strat, then a Les Paul , then a hollowbody, then a telecaster and finally a seven string along with an SG and my acoustic. I now have all the bases covered and can test any combination at any event. I would also carry some guitars to events just in case something breaks - shit always happens. So far things have worked out in the guitar corner and now I’m playing the things.



Out of everyone at FOFSTOCK and FOF Records, I am the only one on the board of directors that can’t play a guitar, that has to change, and I’m well on the way there. I now can talk about problems on stage performing and not just the guitar, but I’m a real producer and promoter now even though post-covid little is happening. Music is starting to trickle in and live gigs will happen; only this time I won’t be a third wheel that just pays the bill…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/cwPg8gJq_Kw?si=tl5i79QEHIpcUZeE
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2024 8:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sometimes I wonder…..



Like the anthropologists being right from the time I was born about what would happen to me and where I would end up. They were right as in locked out from anything but ordinary jobs, crippled social development and stunted life as in marriage and family with kids. Ends up a loner mostly a social outcast. Why is it that society can’t rise above this?



I tried everything and wondered why it was impossible for me to do things yet it was as easy as falling off a log for others. Work I know about, as they were honest and told me so - and then paid me off to go away. Women just wouldn’t open their legs for me and that was that. Not the right religion or no religion, wrong race and wrong class - you name it and I was wrong. Wouldn’t fit in with the family - personally many liked me but socially it was a no go. Family and society won’t approve. You are fighting everyone in society to get anywhere - so I always found it impossible and marveled how some could actually come up to a girl and ask them out. And go out with them in public without fear of being lynched - how do they do that? How is that possible for them and not for me? I knew why but the intellectual side couldn’t reconcile the social contract or our constitution saying we are all equal with equal opportunity for all! But for me as I lived it - it was a lie and fought it - three constitutional challenges also (charter applications). It was all a crock of shit in reality and still we in Canada criticize other countries.



Now you are an old man and you can’t start over, you can’t salvage anything. You were a perfectly healthy and smart person and lead a substandard life - just because of our animal natures - even though the constitution says we were all equal in opportunity in all fields. It’s all a lie from personal experience.



My UN stuff aims to correct that but most everyone hates it. Humans seem impossible to change! Anyway, where I live and call home, nothing has changed as the anthropologists had predicted. Internationally things are different but I only emerged there at 53 years of age. My accomplishments in Canada: Most of my scores were at the end of threats of broadcast license revoke or multiple law suit threats - those worked but only once for each broadcaster. In fact like in radio, You gave up being nice and just went in there figuratively swinging a baseball bat to get on the air. Like at work, the companies admit you will go nowhere, then pay you off to go away. You eventually give up out of frustration. You can only do that so many times.




Gritz!



Now I’m wondering how to get out of things as I get older. The music is transitioning to a group hand off. People still want their music with us. Just talked to Gritz yesterday and his kid is interested in music. Still maybe one large concert or music festival from me - maybe. But the future is international as at least I have a chance there. There is nothing for me in Canada.




Gritz!


My persona internationally is so different than here. In Canada I’m a nobody, the government and media refuse to even acknowledge my existence. Internationally I’m a CEO worth listening to at the most important venues with ideas that truly have merit for all. How is this schism possible these days?



It’s all anthropology and I can’t change that on the ground. Win one person over and there is the next one - the length of all humanity to fight individually. Or: You go to the top of the social structure and try to make change by disseminating the ideas at the top and having them trickle down to individual countries and cultures and so on. Anyway that has been my plan in my later years - so the advocacy is king!




Gritz!


But my personal life is shot, gone, and used up. It is true what others said of me. When I was younger I had no life. Now I have a life - just no personal life - and that is the truth as plain and as stark as that is…..




Gritz!



Goodnight…..





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/Txn6TtSqXls?si=ALCJncBALVDIfx2t
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2024 8:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not a lot of time, but - if you see the issues I had in my past - with muting my education, killing my career before it started and no social development due to race or such - you will see how the Positive Mandate for Humanity fixes all these problems. The greatest expression of mind and body because it makes us happy - works - as not allowing me greatest expression in my social life made me unhappy in the worst way. Not allowing me the greatest expression in the working world made me unhappy and man, that lasted for decades. In school, from elementary to high school and graduate school - you saw society tried to stymie me in my education which made me unhappy. That’s your personal examples first hand.







This broad mandate works all over the place in human interaction and the UN Declaration of Human Rights no longer becomes a “declaration”, but instead it becomes an a priori necessary effect of the Positive Mandate for Humanity - which gives the UN Declaration of Human Rights a reason for being.



So naturally this idea falls on deaf ears as I disseminate it. Apart of the obvious reasons against change is that the people that suffer the most do not get into places of power to make their situation heard. Probably because they are stymied in education and the workplace to ever make it to a place where they can make their position known and provoke change. And even if the cause is taken up by others of the privileged class, they don’t live it, so the intensity of advocacy is muted. At least I made it to that position as a first hand example of the issues and can advocate for change.



In general - not always because some people like me slip through the cracks - but in general the people you will be lobbying are privileged. It’s almost impossible for folk like me to get pass the biases that hold them down and continue to hold them down and get to positions of power and influence. Their lives are ones of helplessness with change being perceived as impossible and they just accept that fact and don’t make trouble.



Even if you get someone from the “lower classes” a position of power and privilege, it usually has a term limit and out you go - lest you get any ideas of real change that always take time. I’m into two terms at the UN and still there at least for now. And I still need more time to get things done.



But I am proposing to give the people who have never had a say - a say! And to everyone in general - a chance - to more fully live their lives and real self-determination and this makes everyone happy - except probably those who profit from unfair advantages. But this will just exist for maybe one generation, they will get old and vanish as the transformation takes place - if it does.



Well that was a bit of a rant…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/KJxJxr9RlKM?si=zmPXHrX9GbYvuGiS


https://youtu.be/bugMuSL-M9o?si=3ZtqwSdyoBaUODRH


https://youtu.be/4WszdkGPekM?si=98VPmkP6lcR8xNbN
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri May 17, 2024 11:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A late one.



I spent the morning sending stuff off to the IRS which includes IAIJ, FOFSTOCK and FOF Records. We have to be in the States and I’m not much of a CEO if I don’t have the vision to see that reality. Let’s say we got NXNE, I would be sorely be tempted to relocate it to New York. South by Southwest is in Austin, Texas in March so New York in June works for me. The proviso is dedicated slots for Canadian artists. That will do more for our artists than anything else and they may even get signed to real companies that can get them on real tours and making real money.




As it says in the top right: F.O.F. and DBLOCK Present - The LOX!



The United States is ten times the market of Canada, and 20 times the market if you drop the Francophone content in Quebec. That’s the reality of Canadian media. That is why the Americans don’t think of us. But now we are in the States able to do business with our new business model for the music industry.



Now they have to think of us! I inherited more than I thought when I started all this. In the end it is bigger than I ever thought - never thought that!




Goodnight…..





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/z9oB8t_DTes?si=nYK4IG-iP3poScn5
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat May 18, 2024 12:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It’s a long weekend.



You may be wondering why an old guy like me is still making plans for a huge music festival and reinventing the music industry model? I am old so why bother? Ok, I’ll tell you why.




Emily back in the day!



When I started this organization in 2003, I only had myself and my ideas. But an organization needs people to populate it and the only ones interested at the time were homeless kids. None of my contemporaries would get involved - for the usual reasons - but the kids did! And the biggest kicker of all was that they were all white! The non-white community was even more skeptical of me than anyone else, so even though I prattled on how I was going to get black people involved and all that - the only ones interested in me were white homeless kids and in the beginning literally all were white women.




Samantha



Who was the first person to register at IAIJ - a white woman. Who modeled our first press card - Emily all of 17 at the time. Shane was actually shacking up with Emily at that time and that’s how I met him. Then there was Cora and Genna and Sam (still active with us) who was 15 or 16 at the time. JL, Angelica, then Jessica (still active with us), Ainsley, man there is too many! Long story short - it was white kids who followed me in the early days…..




Jessica



If you have been here for years you already know that everything here is ment for the kids - all of them - and why? - Because they never did anything to me. Yes this is all for them and especially the ones that signed up with our organization.




Ainsley




They were almost all interested in the music, so I am making plans in the music - even plans when I probably won’t be around when the companies amount to anything. A CEO has to plan 5 -10 years into the future and I’m a CEO - that’s not even open for debate as the drop down menus at the UN doesn’t even have President - only CEO. So I plan big plans for the music. Right now folk like Ainsley and Genna and Sam are still in the child rearing stages of life, but as they reach middle age they will look around and F0F will still be there and maybe they take a more involved position. All the guys who were in the Fortress TV Show are already on the Board of Directors - and this is how I pay back those that started with us.




Shane



So while it might look a bit crazy that I am still thinking about big ass concerts and music festivals, thinking not so much for me, but for them that started with us. This is the payback for putting their faith in me…..




Anna




Plus, I love reinventing things - there is always that - and I don’t have to be active when the change comes around…..




Goodnight…..





https://fortressoffreedom.com/Anna_Phone.mp4
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun May 19, 2024 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sunday started with me getting back into playing the guitar. I decided to give traditional lessons a try and gave up after one online lesson.



That is no way to get someone interested in guitars. I go back to my way which was find out their favorite genre and have them play single string riffs to their favorite songs to start. So they literally start playing music from the start and you have them hooked and interested. Then you can teach them about chords and all that.



It is also true that you lose your skills in a layoff. I literally have to start all over again but it goes much faster. Plus I know how to work a pedal board while relearning basics. This is sort of madness but it is fun. I should also try the single string riffs on different guitars that match the simple riffs! I have eight guitars now so I will see if that actually adds to the fun?



Anyway it’s supposed to be fun. A student should be doing fun stuff and when that gets boring, then come to you asking about power chords or something. That’s how you do it in my book.



Anyway I did a lot in the second half of Saturday so I can coast a bit in Sunday.




Goodnight…..
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2024 8:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sunday with family.



I did get some clothing from a cousin of mine and also got his old iPad. Earlier I went to a music store and bought the suggested Ibanez hard case for that seven string AZ I had. Nothing else truly fits that guitar but their most expensive hard case. Anyway I just went there and ordered it and now it’s done!



The cool thing about this case is that it’s a real touring case - except for the fact I don’t tour - it can be run over with a car and survive intact. I believe it’s also sealed for water along with approved locks that can be opened by airport staff and such. It can fit most any Ibanez regular guitars and inserts to 6 to 9 strings guitars and a pad for the thin S series. It also can take left handed Ibanez guitars. Even if you got a hard case with your Ibanez, this is the case you put it in for serious gigs and touring - the other cases are just for storage as their plastic cracks and such with use. It’s flexible to take other guitars and the Telecaster fits perfectly in there. The Telecaster and AZ had the same issue flopping around the Stratocaster hard case.



Anyway it is done and back to playing I go. The guitar playing has the obvious incentives for concert production for me, but also keeps my mind for going senile too soon as this is totally different to my usual mental preferences. I don’t have to be a good player to benefit from all this.



I’ll catch up on a few things in Monday but this is basically it for the long weekend.



I’m continuing to drop websites and start cutting down on fix costs at the orgs. I hate to say it but I’m getting my professional house in order. The personal life can wait…..




Advocacy and all that startup soon so it’s probably a good idea to have taken a break for a couple of days.




Goodnight…..
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2024 7:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, back to work…..



I got everything done that needed to be done. Meh, the long weekend wasn’t so bad. But I will admit I miss the days when every week had something new happening. I even miss those days when we were printing out the newspaper and driving around the place distributing it. It was such a rush to come across your paper on a table having been read at some point. The best was opened with a coffee stain on it as someone read it! Those were the days!




Our first newspaper - I was so proud!



Juxtapose that with the reality today. Sure we are way further than I ever would have thought with the advocacy. However it’s becoming more downtime but when stuff happens it’s important and “Big Time”! Back in the day videotaping a single music video was all important and cool as hell. Reporting on some protest made me a journalist and so on.



People can relate to those things and women probably consider you cool. Heck, even a guy like me could probably get laid easily doing that. The stuff I’m doing now - though - has more merit and importance and that scares people away. This isn’t about getting laid, but doing unimportant but safe things will get you a woman, than important but provocative things that scare them off, even if they find you compelling. Anyway…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/FdWhaJ_qKUc?si=HK8y3uoPy5r0g4UD
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed May 22, 2024 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Remote attendance for WSIS+20 and AI for Good is now confirmed. Not going to Geneva after all. I gave back my attendance and badge number on Monday. There just was not anything for me to do other than sit there and watch - and I can do that from home. That all happens next week when I’m off for the week.



Apart from that things are quiet. If I was going to Geneva things would not be quiet now. Also, If I had stuck with Canada Day for YDS, I would not be going to Geneva as the money would all be in the music festival. That would have been a horrible mistake and I’d be in the financial hole afterward. But would it have been worth it in the end - like on my death bed. The first FOFSTOCK was, first time and great memories! The second time - not so much. You are supposed to get better as you proceed. In this case it should be cheaper. In the end with all the problems of the name change at YDS and noise laws and so forth - bailing on this idea was the correct one. Nathan Phillips Square almost was - but it died when the proposal went to the city - what more could I have done?



The sum total of these decisions is that things are quiet now. I’m just showing you it has nothing to do with the orgs becoming irrelevant or anything like that. Things could be popping if we wanted to. But you have to pick your battles and the advocacy in New York is where it’s at right now.



Things will ramp up again - so really, I should be enjoying the downtime. However, like Saturday morning that I did nothing - you feel that you are wasting your life. Sleeping in may actually be a good thing physically, but I have to train myself to appreciate doing nothing and all the benefits that happen from it, just don’t make that a habit…..




Goodnight…..



Funny, as I was posting this they were talking about it in the radio. The head man at YDS resigned over this. And over 70% of Torontonians disapprove of changing the name at YDS. You can’t even play the music as loud as before - they don’t want music in downtown Toronto anymore. Just too funny! I’m glad I got out of that - there is always next year…..
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2024 7:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What’s that quote from “No Country for Old Men”: "If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule"



In that movie the person asked the question is killed, but it sort of asks a bigger question. If you aren’t following any rules at all I guess you are an anarchist or criminal. However abiding to laws to avoid punishment - is that following rules?



I always question everything and follow laws that make sense. But I also started following a rule in 2003 that is that moral imperative; that if capable people don’t get involved in the working of the world, their position will be filled by others of lesser ability - and who maybe have selfish or nefarious ambitions - and this takes the world to a worse place and not a better place. So I decided to follow that rule and see what happened.



You all know what happened over the past 20 years. In a strange way my ambitions in business school were met as I am a President and CEO of
several corporations that actually did many cool things, the kicker is that it didn’t make me rich. My ambitions in university was to come up with a new form of philosophy/concept for the world and I’m pushing that now, the kicker is that I don’t have academic qualifications as I’m supposed to have doing what I do. Also that dream of mine as a kid being a “man of the world” walking up the steps to the UN was realized - bizarrely strange when you think about that. Everyone has dreams of changing the world but that vision actually happened with me personally following a rule - apart from changing world as the jury is still out on that!



So the rule that I followed did me good in this case. The question you should ask is whether guys like me that follow their own rules are really citizens of their society. In the movie they were all hired guns for a drug cartel and very much on the outside. If you know my past I guess you would say I am no different but more palatable than the others as I work inside the system trying to change society for the better. But in another way I’m an outlaw just like them. I just found that clip in the movie interesting in a personal way.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/GKiuC_p16ps?si=4yviu5J72psORwlV
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2024 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A couple of things today. I start a week of vacation next week. I’ll check out the AI conference and the WSIS+20 Review Meeting all at the same time - I’m registered to participate remotely for each.







The deadline for oral statements at the ECOSOC HLS is today. Don’t hold your breath on our chances, but you never know.








I got a call from the music store that my Ibanez hard case was received and I wasted no time getting it!




The Ibanez hard case!



As you can see this is a heavy duty shipping case as opposed to the usual hard case for storage at home and local gigs. This case was meant for real travel with bumpers, what looks like ABS and nylon spun plastic. This case unlike Fender’s version doesn’t scratch up - but Fender claims you can buff out the scratches, and who is doing that? Anyway, this is the only case that can survive having a car drive over it and case and guitar remain unscathed thanks to all that corrugated molding everywhere including bumpers and a heavy duty rubber handle. And this is not a company testimonial but real world ordinary people doing stupid things and the case proving its worth!




The AZ Premium in the Ibanez hard case!



Like the Fender this case fits every Ibanez and is the only option for my guitar in a hard case. My Premium AZ does have a semi soft rectangular case available - but I need real protection! As you can see none of the guitars will have a perfect fit - especially since this case is ambi-dextros for left handed guitars. But Ibanez designed it right as my guitar absolutely does not move even an eighth an inch in any direction. The case has a reversible neck for 6/7/8/9 strong guitars. I have never seen a case like this for a nine string guitar! It comes with a TSA lock so customs can open it for inspection without breaking the lock - cool!




The Fender Telecaster in the Ibanez hard case!



It even has a reversible section to fit the super thin “S” series guitars. So this fits my Premium AZ, but it also comes with a black plastic tool case with IBANEZ on it and I should note the actual hard case does not have Ibanez embossed on it which is good as it can take Stratocasters as well and looks perfectly made for my Fender Telecaster apart from the gaps for the horns. This is the same as Fender’s heavy duty case. The stock photos are with the Stratocaster but it’s also made for the Telecaster, but they don’t want to show the gaps because it doesn’t look as good as the fit with the strat. It’s not worth it to make one of these in many styles just to perfectly fit each individual guitar - so you end up with these cases.


But this is the official case for my Ibanez. There are no other hard cases on earth made for it. So a big purchase, but it is done and paid for and can handle half of my guitars if they really have to travel!




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/08Chqm9BwBE?si=aS8C35rxNLs13WO1
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Maurice Ali



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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun May 26, 2024 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The vacation has started…..



I did nothing on Saturday, did no update here. The only thing of note is that I bought and watched “I.S.S.” which is a movie made in 2023 and released in 2024. All told this movie cost 37 bucks - wow - as a DVD. The production company is still underwater with financing so whatever, I will pay it and help support our movie industry. Actually the movie is watchable so there is that. However, I am shocked when a movie like this comes out - they don’t stand a chance! Anyway that is what I did in Saturday.







As for the week there is the AI conference that will put a positive spin on 800 million people losing their jobs. And what about that idea of guaranteed minimum income? Guaranteed poverty income - social welfare - however you want to spin it? I just can’t see a life of freedom and happiness in this world on that - but I am all ears anyway.



Applications to speak at the UN ECOSOC HLS are now closed. Don’t get your hopes up but we are in there maybe with a chance.




Goodnight…..



https://youtu.be/W2HsTbTY-uw?si=dbkSt-UqVBhXoPdS
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7731
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon May 27, 2024 7:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sunday of the Vacation! If you were expecting advocacy think again!



If there is no advocacy I have nothing to say. If I score I probably have nothing to say as I’ll be under a gag order for a while - so I have nothing to say. Even while in New York you have nothing to say. If you say anything to anyone in the foreign service at the hotel I am usually at, they are obligated to write down and give the entire conversation to their superiors. So we say nothing to each other.



Why am I even there? I don’t represent a nation? I’m for the most part not even advocating for journalists rights now so what am I doing? For what it’s worth, technically I am doing this as endorsed by IAIJ by giving people the greatest expression because it makes us happy. Free speech in journalism is just one version of that that, then it all starts to connect and make sense.



I am the physical manifestation of what is inherently wrong in human society and my advocacy fixes that.



Everything in my life is almost the opposite of what people think is the right path. I consider society to be a “rigged” system and the “so called” equality and democracy to be a lie that continues to exist. After university I tried to find myself in fringe societies because regular society offered me nothing. At least in the fringe I was welcome and was told I belonged. Many of the people there showed me how society really worked and thus I was truly outside now. I was the kid with “red hair” and people still don’t believe me when I tell them who I hung out with - but whatever… I no longer wanted love from that society I grew up in. So that just shows reality is stranger than fiction. But I also had my own ideas and knew I had to move on.



Basically that was two years on my own again and FOF was born in 2003. It was also the time I really got into the internet. The funny part in all this is where I want to belong. It ain’t in Canada alone actually - it’s international. And who am I trying to contact and talk to? Who was I running around the guts of the Secretariat Building trying to get packages of my ideas to? Why was I doing this while giving a speech there, then having sat down to give my speech, but instead, running off before things started and sending packages to the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General - then running back to my seat like nothing happened and giving my speech…



The key point here is that I had no hesitation, no intimidation to get to and present my ideas for humanity to some of the most influential people on earth. Again - what kind of fiction book did I get this from - nope, reality being stranger than fiction again. Does any of this go anywhere? Who knows, but in this realm I am in another universe than those I rub shoulders in my everyday life. Their lives are better than mine - trust me on this - my life is a perversion on so many levels but it has a chance to score some really good things - but the probabilities are low. But infinitely better than those around me who have no chance…. Man that sounds bizarre but it is true.



I’m listening to new Japanese pop/rap and then “Boogie Shoes” by KC and the Sunshine Band. Want even more “horror show” you kids? I was also listening to “Our Day will Come” by Ruby and the Romantics - real, real old school!




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/5sT20edl02I?si=04u_qochkj5PiRu3

https://youtu.be/wgAKQko8AXA?si=cv55RWk0fpO2CBLd

https://youtu.be/NfnEoou-FKU?si=Z7Sa3aE7DwW9IT7x
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