New Ways to Watch You - Scrutiny of Your Banking Activity

Except for the timing, the recent developments by governments to monitor your banking transactions were entirely predictable. Now (March 2011) a new milestone has been passed. Financial institutions and other commercial ventures which handle money have been pressed into getting and implementing sophisticated computer programs to identify anomalous (out of the ordinary) events, and suspicious transactions. You may be surprised to learn what triggers these programs to spit out an alert. More surprising is what happens to your personal banking information when an alert is generated by the computer analysis.

It is the aim of this piece to give a crude synopsis of the systems that are being used these days. In turn, by informing, a discussion may be promoted about the public policy issues surrounding the new measures.

The legislation at the heart of this program is the federal government's Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. The full text of the consolidated version is online here: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-24.501/index.html

The government agency that administers the  rules in Canada is called FINTRAC.
A brief history of this agency, from their 2010 Annual report is online here:
http://www.fintrac.gc.ca/publications/ar/2010/1-eng.asp?a=4

Here's how it works.
The law requires those that handle money ( banks, credit unions, credit card companies, law firms, etc.) to  report to FINTRAC any suspicious transactions or events. If the money handler fails to report as required then it is open to sanctions - charges, prosecutions, fines, and other penalties not least of which is revocation of any license needed to stay in business.

In order to comply with these onerous reporting obligations, the financial institutions and others required to report have been snookered into buying and implementing fancy computer programs to analyze every individual & organization they deal with, and virtually every transaction made with a view to deciding if a specific report to FINTRAC is required. Understandably such reporters will want to err on the side of caution rather than be exposed to the penalties.

 

 

Jim,

Interesting piece, thx for passing on.

This reminds me of a rabbit hole I went down, pretty deep, a few years back.

My focus was the Canadian scene.

The catalyst for this descent was my role on the Board of a local Credit Union ( a 10 year run).

Every quarter we had to review and approve a report that was being sent to the regulator, disclosing individual transactions and account holders (identities hidden) for any transaction that was considered suspicious. We averaged a half dozen or more each quarter.

My original concern was that it was deemed essential to handle the administrative tasks by using a comprehensive, expensive, complex software package. The package did virtually all of the identifying of evil transactions. It over-classified. Routinely. Shamelessly. Without meaningful oversight (yrs truly excepted).

Worse, I later learned was what happened to this Expensive Invasive very personal data, or worse what didn't happen. Fewer than one percent of one percent of transactions (1 in 10,000) 

were passed on to a (ir)relevant agency (RCMP, RevCan, being the two most frequent.)

BTW - It is an offense under the Cdn federal legislation for any person to disclose the contents, in whole or part, of any report to FinTrac. As in: your friendly credit union is forbidden from telling the customer that her transaction has been caught in the Web. She may never know.

Presently this scandal has precious little impact on your regular Mike.

But I'll bet (need some odds) that next year FinTrac Canada will announce they have just started an AI project working with Open AI. And then, well let your imagination run wild.

otherwise,

Carry On

M

​Tagline:          These are the good old days.

 

A Sad Walk, Downtown

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November 30, 2024, a Saturday. 
A little snow on ground, more due this week. No question, winter is here for the next while.

Yesterday was Black Friday, the shopping spectacular around the continent, anticipating Christmas '24 by a month .

So, at 2pm I got out for a walk, as I try to do daily. The problem is generally, Where To? 

Downtown on a Saturday afternoon seemed like a good bet, especially since Christmas shopping should be on the agenda. Plus, I had a small list of items that would be welcome in the house. Some Cheesies snacks, a slim 3 ring binder, that sort of thing.

Just back now, and on reflection it was a sad experience.
It's not to early to say Downtown is Dead. I'd say it's probably at 20 percent functionality.
Very few pedestrians on the streets, sidewalks, or store aisles. Not much car traffic for that matter. Easy to jaywalk.

I'm a slow walker, and no one passed me in an hour of walking.

As for stores and shops, the scene was just as dismal. Some examples:
Muirheads Stationers - tho' that's no longer their name - for many decades the pre-eminent stationary and office supply sore in the region was along the path, on the main drag (Elm). Closed. Not open Sat. or Sun.

Grocery Store - subleased 1/2 space to national franchise coffee shop - for starters, though there remained an internal connection and the thought that they might share staff. The shelves were not, repeat not, empty. That's cuz each item had it's own face fronting presentation, e.g.   12 bottles of cleaning fluid took up about 6 linear feet of shelf. Contents were probably 10 percent of what one might ordinarily expect in a functioning shop like this. Might have been 2 other customers in the 400 sq.m. of floor area.

Optometrist had given up his space and had moved in with the mall Optician.

Hart Department store have given over half their space, inclusive of storefront, to some pop up like discount mess, where the goods are thrown into various waist height bins.

Pharmacy - General store with the primary entrance on the main street closed, probably contrary to their site plan. Pedestrian access is inconveniently around back, near to the parking area.

Clinic - might close early...

First School

I first went to school with my twin Maureen in the rec room of a modern house in a neighbourhood near by Marymount School when we were about 4 years old - maybe even 3.

If memory serves we were age 4 for most of Grade 1, at the original St. Thomas school, and this home based experience was obviously before that.

What surprises me is that I can have a memory of this early age.
For sure, my present memory has been influenced by recalling and even re-telling this story over the years. Still, some of the recollection seems genuine - however foggy.

Of interest to me is that the school was primarily a French language place. There was some English, but we were schooled to learn French.

There might have been 15 students or a few more. Not a big gang.

The Genius of Trump

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Well, here we are a week plus since the 2024 US federal and state elections, and to the surprise (or shock to some, mostly Democrats) Donald J.T.  prevailed over K. Harris.

I think DJT is a goof. A loud, brash, narcisistic, inconsiderate pig.
Holding these thoughts too prominently messed up a rational analysis. Could it be Trump Derangement Syndrome?

Anyways, on reflection, admittedly sometimes 'buzzed', I know figure it is best to openly acknowledge the Genius of Trump.
The guy has succeeded. He won the election. 

Trump excels at getting attention from the people. He is an Attentioneer par excellence, seemingly in command most of the time over the popular communications channels, to the dismay of his political opponents.

It is this facility at grabbing and holding Attention of the populace that is DJT's greatest attribute.
He does it like no one else before in my experience. He does it against the odds - as imagined by the political cognoscenti.

This past few days there have been a spate of announcements of DJT's new cabinet. Many appointments were not unexpected. The Home team was content, the Visitors chagrined. And while the Visitors were publicly grousing, the next move to grab attention was unfolding. 

And then the Announcement. For the ultra sensitive position of Attorney General, the prime legal adviser to the federal Government of the USA, and all its departments and agencies, DJT named nut bar Matt Goetz. Now that was attention gaining. It immediately shot up the news rotations. It was the topic of water coolers wherever one or more politically tuned-in folks gathered.

The necessary result is that Attention on all other topics diminished. The war in the Middle East. etc etc.

And then while tongues were still wagging on Goetz, DJT announces that RJKennedy Jr. would indeed be in the Cabinent as Secretary of Health ++.
Talk on Goetz diminished.
Say what you want about Attention, all must acknowledge that it is necessarily scarce (limited). Each of us only has so much Attention to give. 

to be ccontinued...

Paris 2024 - Lighting Innovations & Dressage

 Last few days I've been watching the Paris Olympics on TV.

And I have this urge to comment on the 'lighting' at special events, and various venues and facilities. 

Consider the Seine River, which was the boulevard for the Opening Day parade of athletes. Individual boats were lit up, as were artificial islands with activities (eg acrobats). And also individual performers, sitting

As for all public spectactles, the lighting (radiating or shining specific kinds of light at the intended subjects to affect the images that the viewer sees) is really relevant to the viewers subjective experience.

Anyways, I have never see such an initiative, that is as broad and intense.
Lighting innovations are visible near everywhere.

Dressage:

Jill Gougeon Irving, a 61 yr old Sudbury native who married into a billionaire family, was set to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics - Equestrian - Dressage.
Sadly for her, she had to pull out just a few days before the event.- after already arriving in Paris - with a contingent, including family and her horse Delacroix ( and perhaps a spare horse Genesis).

These human athletes must supply their own horses. And those humans also pick up the cost of the animals - training, vet bills, boarding, etc.

I was curious: How much does it cost to participate at the level of a Canadian in Olympic Dressage.
The information on Google was not clear about these costs.

While there were news items available, for instance, about the sale to Jill of her first choice horse, Delacroix 11, no price was mentioned or even hinted at. It seems these things are best kept secret.
The scuttlebutt tho' is that for an Olympic quality horse that has been well trained would sell for upwards of $100k. It has been reported that some horses are valued at over a million buckaroos.

Apart from the big money to buy the horse, training and boarding and vet bills could easily cost $20k - $50k per year.
Transporting horses and team members (of that one rider) are extras - and flying horses to Paris from New Brunswick ain't cheap.

Jill pulled her horse from the competition because she had concerns about its health. This cost her spot on the Canadian team. It was reported however that she would remain an 'Alternate' on the Canadian Paris 2024 team, with another horse of hers - Genesis. 

Takeaway: it takes real serious money to play the Dressage game at an international level.
I wouldn't recommend entering the arena without a couple million dollars in hand for the experience.
Of course, it takes much more than the money - like the time to train with the horse year round, on an almost daily basis, and importantly to maintain one's own fitness for the journey. Tis a big big commitment. But, apparently, fun.

-30-

Losing My Mind

 There. I said it. In the title. Not such an easy thing to say.
Its commonly heard, but not usually with seriosity.

Me, I'm sort of serious when I say it now.

And it occurs to me that I should record some of the thoughts and perhaps feelings, that I have on the topic.

As an aide memoire perhaps. Or an aid to others who might have similar or related experiences.

First, a little context.
I'm 72 years old, and generally in good (age appropriate) health.
I've been retired from my day job for some 18 months now.
I live solo, but have decent social connections most days.
I have kept a modest number of small projects going since retirement - that are work like, one or two of which are pro bono exercises. Increasingly I find these projects a struggle, but they do come with benefits to be sure.

Fitness and nutrition are daily preoccupations - and I find comfort in attending to these pursuits.
But I digress...

This 'losing my mind' stuff has some history to it. Well before retirement I often thought I might be experiencing some diminution in my cognitive processes.
Often this was related to calendar issues - such as thinking this day was going to involve some event, when it was actually the following day, or week. My sense of time had slightly been disordered, as in not all the necessary brain networks involving 'time' were in sync.

Happily throughout my working career, I had a backup system to help me out. Secretaries. Or clerical assistants if you will. It wasn't fail-safe by any means, but it did rescue me from numerous embarrassments almost certainly. Since retirement however, this safety net is gone. Largely I'm now my own calendar control board.

It bears noting that my 'time appreciation' neural networks  have seemed to falter more these last couple of decades than with other similarly situated folks I knew. While I could remember events like others, or almost as good, I was pretty dismal, relatively speaking, at confidently keeping events in the proper sequence.
Example: I was at a gathering. I see & say plenty. Most of which I can remember. But don't ask me if that gathering was before or after some other event (say someone's birthday celebration).

And now to the catalyst for this recording.
Wednesday was a  big day for me in some respects.
It held a recently scheduled Golf game with bro Bruce and his son Charlie, and Bruce would pick me up at 6:50 am. With my morning routine, even in the shortened format, I'd need at least an hour and a half between awaking and pickup. And that meant a wake-up that was earlier than usual.

All went well for the next few hours.
Good weather, a good outing, good company and enough successful golf shots (say one out of 5) to keep a smile on my face.
A full lunch at Overtime Grill followed - with a Ceasar.
I was beat. My back was aching - in no small part due to the bumpy cart ride that aggravated my lower vertebrae - the site of previous traumas. And my knees were hurting, due partly no doubt to the 7,000 steps I'd taken on the 18 hole course.

I got home by 2:30. Unpack and a quick tok and it was time, overdue, for a nap.
I'd been up for almost 10 hours - very unusual for my post retirement routines. These days a nap is usually in line after not more than 8 hours of standup/sit down activity.

I crashed good. Man, I 'was out cold', as they say. Total lack of consciousness, at least no memory of anything.
Obviously my body and brain were in recovery mode as was to be expected.

And in due course, consciousness returns. Not instantly of course. But it was not a prolonged exercise either.
And with the light from outside, I didn't need to turn on the bathroom light for my pee.
At about this time, the automatic morning routine kicked into gear.
Get my four meds. Prepare for a throne visit. Laptop, table, coffee, bagel and peanut butter, smokes, lighter, iPhone, and do my business including the morning online papers.

Then to the kitchen, which serves as my office - papers, and writing tools, and binders, and print calendars.
Make an entry for the day, which I note is on a new full page.
And also finish up the entry for the golf day, on which my normal routine for record keeping had been altered.

It was then that I learned that I'd messed up with the Garbage. It has to go out Wed. for an early morning pickup on Thursday. How embarrassing. To be clear my monthly calendar clearly shows Thurs as garbage day. And then I thought to myself, 'Silly goose, why do you mark the calendar on the Thursdays, when the garbage has to go out Wednesday night.' Oh well... live and learn.

As I was mentally digesting this I was sensing, osmotically perhaps, that something was amiss.
That was followed by the realization that it was quite dark outside. I could hardly see clearly across the street.
Perhaps there was some ugly storm brewing - not that I had remembered hearing of one coming.

And in the midst of this Darkness, comes the revealing Light.
It ain't morning. It's still Wednesday night.   Argggghhhh.

Those entries I had just made in my Journal. All fouled up. Situation normal. AFU SN. or as WWll vets would say SNAFU.

To me this is what 'losing my mind' conjures up.

epilogue: I wonder if I could consider this post as the first of a series entitled "Losing My Mind".
Seems like a contemporary theme. Arguably under-reported.
Lord knows I have plenty of other facets of the issue to report on. And the trend lines are obvious. And the wrong time to attend to this endeavour is after I have lost it....

The Genius Hour

 

D'you like the title of this piece?

I do.   Not so much as a title, but as a signpost of a phenomena - see 'context'.

Here's how I came to hear the phrase, its context and perhaps some examples, or better yet a plan for recording some Genius pronouncements.

 

Source: G. Kechnie during a golf round recently. G is turns out is a pot head. For which there is some external evidence in his appearance. 

Context: The Genius Hour was a reference to that period of time, familiar to all true pot heads, that the first hour after smoking up may well lead to insights / pronouncements / realizations - which at first glance are pure genius.

Its sort of a self-referential slogan - in that it is obviously a silly, exaggerated notion, that makes fun of pot heads for thinking that these first hour thoughts are somehow generally 'genius' quality. Could this be what is meant by 'irony' ?

Anywayyyys, the current genius idea I have is to try and record some of these genius notions, and the circumstances whence they arose, sort of to prove / disprove the hypothesis, and see where that leads.

I'm curious - Is there any connection between this Genius Hour stuff, and the rather well worn notion of Happy Hour at drinking places?

Paper Towels, & Costco & Aging

 .

 I buy paper towels at Costco. Their in-house brand Kirkwood is a premium product from my experience, and it is only available at their stores.
Pricing is also a pull for me. When I last did the math, some years back, I was impressed at how modest the price was per unit, compared to the more typical grocery store offerings.
But there's a rub. A rub common for Costco shoppers, and that's the minimum quantity of the SKU - you are buying 24 ! large rolls of paper towels at a crack. 

I must say 24 large rolls at a time is a bit inconvenient. That's gotta be a full year's supply for my purposes, if not longer.That means I'm storing / inventorying an unwieldy volume for a long time, which has no appeal.
Still, I decide it is the way to go, and so I do.

Of course, I don't do this often, as in once a year at most. I can find a space for the storage that's not too impractical, and I feel good about a quality product at a sensible price.

A couple of weeks back I had a trip to my local Costco outlet. Granola, coffee pods (McD), and paper towels were on my mind. I did the deed. Another check off on my daily list - smiley here.

The smiley lasted less than an hour. By then I was back at home, unpacking and putting away.
And what should I discover back at the home front ? Dang, if it wasn't a full, unopened bundle of 24 Costco paper towels, sitting high in the alcove shelving.

Two questions immediately came to mind. First, how could I have messed this up, and forgotten that some short time previous I had already made the big purchase? Second, where was I going to store this oversized pack of paper products?

I had no good answer for the double buy. Allz I could think was that this was a data point in an unfolding picture - and not a felicitous data point. This goof would not have happened in an earlier incarnation. I wouldn't have made this goof 5 years ago, and maybe not even last year. But these days, I'm getting irritatingly similar data points all to frequently.

My memory function seems to be slipping, is one of the few conclusions that presents itself. And on that score, my gut says that there are no cures to the memory curse. Sure I can fiddle with the periphery, with check lists and diary entries, but the real issues remain. Oh well, we all have to adapt to our changing circumstances.

And on to the second question - where would I store this surplus bundle?
Impetuously I settled on an unorthodox approach. I was going to keep the bundle in my car - I don't have much use for the back seat, and the bundle was no more voluminous than a passenger.
And then in a flash, I conceived of another layer for the scheme. I would look to give away rolls of paper towels to friends, relatives and strangers - as the occasions arose while driving around. 

And that dear readers, is what I am doing.
So, if I should arrive at your place by car one of these days, and I enter carrying a roll of paper towels, consider this a genuine gift from me to you. Don't give me grief. Please don't draw attention to my deteriorating memory. Rather, go with the flow, and count your blessings that the shoe is not on the other foot.

 

Reading - April 2024

 Yes, a post about what I'm reading these days.
Perhaps to serve as an aide memoire.
Keeping the books on a shelf in house also serves as such an aid, but this note should represent an improvement.

Two books came into my hands yesterday, a Saturday. From Bay Used Books, just a short walk from the house.
Ten bucks a book. Not as economical as the library, but a bargain nevertheless.
Both came from the same shelf in the overcrowded, claustraphobic, lower level, entitled Science.

The Social Conquest of Earth - Edward O. Wilson
This item from a highly respected science synthesizer, researcher, and thinker offers a bold, newish theory on the importance of social organization in the evolution of our species.
I've been alert to EOWilson for some time. Many of the other authors I've read have held him in high regard, and have quoted him reverentially. His most famous work (incl. Pulitzer Prize) was about ants and their social organization.
I was recently alerted to his theory about the role of social organization in human evolution in some other reads. The topic intrigues me. And it resonates.
I don't care much for Wilson's habit of introducing tree hugger notions into his work. In this regard, I find his arguments unconvincing - but I still leave a tiny space in my head for revision.
I've only just cracked the spine (it's condition suggested no one had done this before).
More perhaps later....

The Undoing Project. - Michael Lewis
This book combines the work of an author I enjoy (Liar's Poker, among others), with a subject (the work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Twersky) that I have followed with approval.
The subject authors received a near Nobel for Economics a few years back.
Some of their unique notions were explained in their book which I have Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow or some such title.
Coincidentally Kahneman died last month with positive obits in high circulation English language print media.
Lewis is a writer who produces compelling prose.
I recently read his book on Sam Bankman Fried  of FTX notoriety ( Sam is currently serving 25 years for fraud, - conviction under appeal). Fascinating story - obscene instant wealth mixed with Effective Altruism and skull-duggery.

These two projects will no doubt keep me in print for a month or more.

Stock Stuff

 So I latched on to a rubber (like) end cap and pondered it.
It came from some old drug paraphenalia, namely a small plastic water pipe that had been used as a hash storage container.
The pipe makers had selected this part to be the bottom of the vessel containing the mouthful of water the pipe required. The end cap neatly and snugly fit over one end of the cheap plastic cylinder that was the vessel.

The end cap seemed generic. This notion was reinforced by the embossed text on the end cap. 5 lines of text, all but the first line alphanumeric code. (eg.    MS90376-24R  )

I imagine the piece came off of a shelf. A shelf at the manufacturer's site.
And I imagine that the manufacturer had made and inventoried lots of similar pieces, with similar but distinct text/code embossed on them.

I also imagine that the piece was inexpensive, in a relative sense, for the pipe maker to obtain.
And part of that pricing outcome was surely due to the 'generic' nature of the part.
I imagine the manufacturer sold that very part to lots of folks in different companies, for a whole bunch of different applications and uses. It was not a single purpose part. And the manufacturer had figured that out. And somehow the pipe maker discovered the piece or the manufacturer and was pleased that she did.

What's my point?
Well I'm advocating that these opportunities to explore cheap, generic parts be more convenient.
And I can see it coming not that far off.

With artificial intelligence type software that is all the rage in the mainstream media these days. This being a year post intro of Chat gpt.

I can imagine a creative type, a maker type, just browsing cheap, generic parts.
In a visually pleasing, effectively communicating, hyper convenient format (even as to ordering, payment  and delivery.)
Novel assemblies and uses might well result. And that would be a good thing.

So ends this piece.

Trump & the US Legal System

 .

This last few years stateside has seen (for those interested) a remarkable cacophony of legal cases featuring The Donald. 

I daresay these cases have really dominated the media world . 

And that means that the media have had the job of reporting on, and explaining legal stuff to their audiences.

Interestingly these cases are not the regular kind. They are complex. They are relatively novel. And for sure they are of high stakes.

The reporting is exposing large segments of the  public, both literate and illiterate, to the intricacies and delicacies and the US legal system.

Most in the audience are eager to earn The (final) Verdicts.
There is little comfort in saying The Matter is still before the Courts.

Allegations are one thing. Investigations another. Indictments yet another. Trial decisions will result but are not necessarily final. The appeal process itself is notoriously complex and varied by jurisdiction and other factors.

And one thing we are all learning in this circus, is that working through the legal system can take quite a long time. We are also being reminded that it takes a whole whack of cash to play the legal games (with lawyers, courts, judges, juries, and clerks/functionaires).   [Recently reported that for the period 2020 till the end of 2023, Donald had burned through $50,000,000.00 on lawyers - the funds coming from campaign raised funds]

And as observers of the situation and the system it is sensible to ask: How's the system functioning? Is it effective and efficient? Is it fair and just? 

Some say, me included, that the system is not effective, nor efficient. and partly for those reasons it is not as fair and just as it should be.
Mostly because the processes take too long and cost too much, which in turn compromises fairness and justice.

The legal systems have long had these characteristics. Trumps cases are serving to illuminate the problems.
Which is a good thing for the general public, so that they might have better insight into the systems that ultimately decide the issues.

I hope one outcome of the circus is that the public, and its leaders, take steps to reform the system.
And for me, the focus really ought to be on reducing the time to get to a sensible outcome.

Coincidentally, the Immigration chaos stateside may be related to the time the system there takes to deal with claims of refugee status. Its not uncommon for such cases to take 5 years or more to get to a hearing on the merits (a court hearing where both sides present their case). Some of Trump's cases have been on the go for 4 years, and with no conclusion imminent !

 The catch is that the public, and its leaders, will have to make some really difficult choices - that strive to find the right balance between the interests of the various litigants, and also the public.
Insisting that cases move more quickly invariably leads to cries of unfairness from one or more of the parties/litigants, or the Courts.

The balance point has to change. We need less perfect, and more now.

Happily there was just a news report that a US Federal Appeals Court tightened up good on a Trump appeal - dealing with question: Is Trump immune from prosecution by reason of holding the office of President?  They kept appeal opportunity open - but gave T just 7 days to get reply from US Supreme Court to take up case, elsewise it would move forward. Very clever. Very helpful. Maybe a sign of things to come.

 

 

 

 

An Adventuure to the Ft. L Home Show & also Meds

 Day 25 (about) in Florida in a modest unit complete with electricity and WiFi. And the smallest goddamn shower I've ever been in.

I just snorted a line. Quite out of the ordinary till about 2 weeks ago. Have probably done 8 lines in that time with 2 or 3 more left in the pouch. That's cuz I couldn't score any regular pot (delta9THC kind). Though I have gone through a fair bit of what I might call faux pot since being stateside.  I note that it was quite coincidental/random that I came across the opportunity to buy some powder - after a few disappointments trying to get delta9. A separate story. (tags - NYC Maarge, Kim's Alley Bar, Irish whiskey shots, urinal encounter)

Have actually been playing around / experimenting / exploring different consciousness altering shit this last couple of weeks.

It's to be noted that this is in the context of having a meaningfully long, statistically-relevant long, run with delta9THC. Arguably (and perhaps not convincingly) that would be a 50 year run. And easily the median frequency would have been at least once daily during that time.

'Manipulating consciousness' it might be called. I don't know how else to pin it down to a phrase.
I've long been fascinated by our (human's) ability to tweak, or disrupt normal consciousness.

Think cocktail hour - for my parents time.
For toddlers it's twirling around in a tight circle till you are dizzy and falling.
All self induced - messing with your own head. Which happens at a crazy nano, molecular level.

 And for me this last 3 weeks I've been learning about, and trying, gummies and dried flower touting / declaring delta8THC, and THCa and a coulple of other variations as key psychotropic molecules.
These hold some promise, but are definitely lighter in their impact - as in one gets less fucked up.

I find it tough to believe the current state of affairs with pot. So much has changed recently. The legislation represents one basket of changes, pharmacology advances is another bucket, as is the cultural/societal situation.
Florida has its own regime. Yes to medicinal - with a doc's OK. No to recreational.
But the business folk have latched on to the THC variations as a pretty-close-workaround. Mostly, but not totally legal - plenty of room for 'interpretation'. Now all sorts of 'Vape Shops" have appeared, hustling this faux stuff, and getting quite a bit of traction.

Today I went to the Home Show at the main Convention Center in the region.
A little frustrating to get there, even though I had done my (some?) homework, on bus routes and bus stops.
The County has a decent passenger app - but regrettably I did not have access to it away from WiFi - as in anywhere outdoors. Next time I come here, I really should consider cell service, with data. Critical for Uber, bus apps, weather, maps, and other mobile (walk around) needs.

I was over 2 hours and 20 minutes to travel there. !!!
A 22 minute walk to the bus stop. Turns out it was the wrong stop by 75 meters. Cost me 45 minutes plus.

It was an hour 37 minutes waiting for the bus.
Then a 22 minute bus ride. ($1 - senior)

Then about a 20 minute walk to find the freaking place. No signs. Not pedestrian friendly. Indeed pedestrian hostile.

Then a little less than an hour and a half wandering about the show. Saw some neat stuff.
Live edge wood applications. Japanese screens - vertical operation. Quartzite slabs with light sources behind - to observe translucence. Every kind of recliner. Sparkling outdoor kitchens ($15k - $20k range). Rubberized, troweled on flooring ($16/sqft). Beach sand rugs. Pinball machine ($8k).
15 minutes to get an Uber., followed by an 18 minute ride.

Not a bad way to spend some time, seeing the business folk and their wares, and catching up on developments.
But this show was, frankly, underwhelming. I think I'd prefer a show with international aspirations and suppliers.

Then back to the nest.
All told, till then, 7,000 steps - a good day.

Nuff for this recording.
I might say, I have this clear sense that the snorted line gave me a little extra juice to advance this recording, without which there may have been little recorded.