Although I am generalizing here, every coffee’s ‘medium’ or ‘dark’ roast will be different. This particular recipe, is my favorite one for the Tim Hortons’ Original Blend coffee. Check out my previous blog post about Tim Hortons (the good, the bad and the ugly) . I recently bought a pack just to try and I was pleasantly surprised by the results.
Since this is pre-ground coffee, you cannot control the coarseness, but you can control the temperature and brew time and technique. First I tried brewing this coffee with a Hario V60 with boiling water. Then I dialed it down to 85C, and the results were much better. The end result was a cup that had some sweetness, bitterness that was not overly harsh, and also some acidity which I was quite surprised by.
Then I tried brewing with the Aeropress and the result was even better. In my experience Aeropress performs a bit better and consistently with darker roasts than the Hario V60.
Overview:
60g:1L ratio (12g of coffee to 200g of water)
85C water
inverted method
no bloom required
The winning recipe
I call this recipe “The Morning Rush” because I think it is simple enough to use even when you are in a rush in the morning, and yet can produce a consistently good cup.
place the Aeropress in inverted position
add 12g of coffee
Add all 200g of water
stir it 10 times
place the cap with filter (no need to rinse if in a rush)
UPDATE: After writing this post, I was challenged to look further into Tim Hortons. The original post, which mostly painted a rosey picture of the brand remains mostly unchanged, however, I have included some additional information which I uncovered during my research which shows that the beloved Canadian brand might not be all that great as it once may have been.
Tim Hortons is the quintessential Canadian coffee experience. Although, it must be noted that it is not technically Canadian owned anymore. Burger King purchased Tim Hortons in 2014 and the two chains are subsidiaries of a Canadian-American holding company Restaurant Brands International which is majority-owned by a Brazilian investment firm.
Miles Gilbert “Tim” Horton (January 12, 1930 – February 21, 1974) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 24 seasons in the NHL. He was also the co-founder of the Tim Hortons restaurant.
But even though that is the case, when you think about Tim Horton’s you think Canadian, and this is the same whether you are Canadian or not. Tim Horton’s is a Canadian icon. It is so Canadian that if given the choice, Canadians would much rather pledge their allegiance to the timbits and the Double Double than the Royal Family (This is a joke.)
Some facts about Tim Hortons and Coffee in Canada
Tim Hortons (the company) was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton (1930–1974) and Jim Charade.
Canadian Business magazine named Tim Hortons as the best-managed brand in Canada in 2004 and 2005.
In the mid-2000s, their slogan was “Always Fresh. Always Tim Hortons.” (false advertising in my opinion because their doughnuts are frozen, packed and delivered to store locations)
Tim Hortons is Canada’s largest quick-service restaurant chain, with 5,352 restaurants in 15 countries, as of June 30, 2022.
Canada is one of the top 10 highest coffee-consuming nations per Capita and the only country outside of Europe in that list
Canadians consume the most doughnuts per capita
Canada has the most doughnut stores per capita
In 2022, the average price of 340g (~ 12oz) of roasted or ground coffee in Canada was $6.11. The average price of specialty coffee however is around $20.
Personal Experience
Does anyone want anything from Timmie’s? 2 medium double doubles a box of timbits
Any Canadian would know what that means:
Timmie’s/Tim’s is Tim Hortons
Double double is a coffee with 2 portions of sugar and 2 portions of milk or cream
Timbits are doughnut holes
I, just like many others in Canada have had moments at Timmie’s. In my teens and 20s, I remember hanging out with friends, having coffee-dates, early morning breakfast runs, sometimes even business meetings, doing assignments, studying before tests, and late night revisions before an exam. Many working folks head to Timmie’s for a quick lunch break. Also, there is always a Tim Hortons nearby that is open late for club goers to sober up, or to take hard look at their life choices.
Not only that, everyone has a favorite Timmie’s. Conversely, there is also that one Tim’s that they hate to go to. As people grow older and can afford ‘better’ coffee, they start to complain about Tim Horton’s coffee, and yet they still go there.
The usual coffee comparison is between Tim’s and Star Bucks. I do have to agree to some extent; Star Bucks does offer a better selection and their customization is unmatched. As to Star Bucks having ‘better’ tasting coffee, I think that is relative. In many cases I would tend to agree that star bucks beverages do tend to taste better than Tim Hortons, however, that is not always the case, and this has become quite apparent to me recently.
Controversies
“Always Fresh”
In the mid-2000s, their slogan was “Always Fresh. Always Tim Hortons.” Which is ironic because it was around that time that they switched from doughnuts that were made at night to be ready for the morning rush to partly cooked and then frozen and delivered to every location in Canada.
Minimum Wage Increase and the Brand Downfall
In 2018, minimum wage in Ontario was increased from $11.60 to $14 an hour. While McDonald’s, Cara Foods (Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s and The Keg), and Starbucks allowed franchisees to increase menu prices, Restaurant Brands International (parent company of Tim Hortons) did not. Tim Hortons franchisees, many of whom are small business owners, responded by cutting employee benefits and health plans. There were demonstrations held across Canada which was mostly likely the cause of the downfall of the Tim Hortons brand.
Usually placing in the top 10 of the Leger research poll for the top 10 companies or brands in Canada, Tim Hortons dropped from 4th place in 2017 to 50th in 2018. In the same year, the Reputation Institute reported that Tim Hortons had fallen from 13th to 67th in its study of Canada’s most reputable companies.
Plastic Pollutants
Tim Hortons was one of the top 5 plastic polluters in Canada in 2018, and 2019. Tim Hortons accounted for about 11% of branded plastic waste collected by Greenpeace Canada from rivers and beaches.
Tim Hortons still uses plastic lining in their cups which makes them non-compostable.
Tim Hortons App and Privacy Violations
In 2022, Tim Hortons violated Canadian privacy laws by tracking highly personal information including users location even when they were not using the app.
The company knew when and where users went. This means they know where you live, where you work, where you buy your groceries from, where and when you go for your coffee or how often you go out for walk. Knowing the location and time tells them if you were jogging or walking.
Is Tim Hortons Better now?
Yes,… and no
I had not been to Tim Hortons since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. In fact before the world went to sh!t, I drank coffee once every couple of months. With nothing better to do and being locked up inside, I took up coffee as my new hobby and for better or for worse, I am hooked. During the lock-down, I got super into it; as in weird nerd level into it. Eventually, I found myself in the world of specialty coffee for which I am glad. I went from hating coffee to loving it.
In autumn of 2022, I decided to give Tim Hortons another try. I had been drinking Star Bucks coffee from time to time, but mostly brewing specialty coffee at home. But this was the first in my recent history that I went to Tim Hortons.
To my surprise, Tim Hortons’ menu has changed dramatically. They now have a huge variety of things. They offer hot or cold espresso beverages like lattes, cappuccinos, americanos.
Screenshot of Tims Hortons’ menu for Toronto locations taken from timhortons.ca
Their lunch and dinner menu has expanded with various wraps, salad bowls, burgers, grilled sandwiches and potato wedges. My favorite so far is the Veggie Cilantro Lime wrap and their potato wedges.
Not only has their lunch and dinner menu expanded, but Tim Hortons now provides non-diary/vegan options like almond, soy and oat milk.
I do not know if I am imagining it, but I believe their coffee has also improved. I cannot get myself to like their store brewed coffee because even their original blend is just way too roasted for my palate. However, their hot chocolate which once tasted like a blend of cardboard and rubber now actually tastes better; even better than Star Bucks! In fact most Tim Hortons’ vegan options taste better than Star Bucks offering!
Also, their packaged coffee tastes even better! I assume it is the same coffee that they brew in stores. However, in their stores, coffee is probably brewed at a very high temperature, and what I have noticed is that I can get dramatically better tasting cup at home, if I reduce the brewing temperature to somewhere between 85C to 90C. I thought I was imagining things because everyone in my circle tells me that Tim Hortons coffee sucks.
James Hoffman, the self proclaimed ‘weird coffee person’, reacts to Tim Hortons coffee being his number 2 pick in a blend taste of grocery store coffees. Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfqvTCgglYA
But then one of my coffee idols, James Hoffman, the self proclaimed ‘weird coffee person’ did a blind taste of grocery store coffees in which Tim Hortons coffee came out to be his number 2 pick! I was shocked and so was James. That confirms my suspicion. Tim Hortons is doing something different with their coffee – they have some how managed to improve it.
… and no
Although Tim Hortons may have improved their lunch and dinner menu, and perhaps even improved their quality, there are still outstanding controversies. The recent mobile app privacy scandal, and their continued use for non-compostable cups leaves a deeper bitter taste than their dark roast blend.
Conclusion
My original post painted a very favorable picture. Although my most recent experience at my local Tim Hortons restaurant was much more pleasurable than my previous experience in recent years, my research on the controversies surrounding this beloved Canadian brand has left me in a dilemma.
Their lunch and dinner items taste good and fresh for a change. Their in-store coffee still tastes burnt and wood to me; but that may be because I am a weakling that cannot stomach bitter taste. Their packaged coffee surprisingly tastes great (with a roast level that, to me, feels dark even though they mark it as medium). If you brew it the ‘right way’. You can find my favorite medium-dark roasted coffee recipe here.
I will finish that one packet of Tim Hortons Original Blend that I current have, but I would have to see more positive changes towards their environmental responsibilities before I drink more of their coffee. I might still be tempted to buy their lunch menu items because frankly I like it.
As far as coffee goes, I will continue to support local specialty coffee shops because of traceability and the variety of interesting flavors.
I hope you liked this post, and if you did please feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends.
It is Christmas eve and I just made (in my humble opinion) the best espresso with an Aeropress.
If your in the mood for some espresso or a latte, try this recipe out. It’s great for cold winter days and for the holiday season. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Although this is not ‘true espresso’, this will get you is a very delicious cup of espresso-like result which you can have straight, or add water to dilute it to have something like an americano or make a milk drink like a cafe latte.
Overview
It is best to use freshly ground darker roast coffee for this recipe, preferably a coffee that is meant to be used for espresso. My personal favorite is Turbo Espresso from Propeller Coffee in Toronto.
dark roast coffee
ratio of 1:5 coffee to water (e.g. 10g coffee to 50g of water)
grind settings slightly courser than espresso (14 clicks on Comandante c40)
93C filtered water
Aeropress in inverted position
2 Aeropress filters rinsed
Recipe
add coffee to the Aeropress
add water 2 to 3 times the amount of coffee (20g to 30g in this case)
stir to soak all the coffee grounds
let it bloom for 30 seconds
quickly add remaining water (total of 50g)
stir 10 times
start timer
add cap
press excess air out
at 30 seconds flip it over a cup
gently swirl the aeropress
press hard and fast
Enjoy
You can now enjoy this as is, or dilute it with some water to get an americano or add milk to make something like a cafe latte.
Ten years ago I sent a video message to my future self. For the past 10 years, I have lived precariously close to jumping off with my whims, but I held onto the ladder. But of what use isclimbing on a ladder if it is leaning against the wrong wall?
So I have decided to lean into rather than away from my whims. It may not be for the next ten years, it may be for the next two, or for a life time, but what I do is that I do not want to keep living this way. If I go back further in time then this is not the life my seventeen year old self would have chosen. Listening to a seventeen year old for life advice may not be the most adult like thing to do, but then who said that the adult thing to do is the right thing to do anyway. That seventeen year old self was the no nonsense, fearless, careless and naive young man who had more to look forward to in life than his future self. I have shut him up and imposed rules and restrictions on him long enough.
I quit! I am done! Imagine having a harpoon stuck between your ribs. That is what it has felt like. It is time for me to let go of a life which I never wanted.
I am closing my business, Okinara Consulting Services for good. It started as a ‘for the time being project while I figure things out” after a failed start up. This side quest has lasted over 10 years. A side quest that in all honestly has had at best moments of “I guess this is okay”. If you spent too much time on side quests, your main story line remains incomplete.
It is safer to remain in your comfort zone goes the feeling for most people. Your job, your business, your career becomes a means to an end. Have-tos and need-tos govern most of our lives. Ironically staying in my ‘comfort zone’ has been the most unbaringly uncomfortable thing that I have ever done and I have been doing it a large portion of my life; time that I will never and can never get back.
As for what my ten-years-younger-self said to me, most of the things that he thought would have happened, never did. But I also realize how different my priorities were. I no longer want some of those things. There are still things that I do want. To quote myself.
No matter what you have achieved up until now in 2022, know that you must keep going on. You get only one chance to live so live it fully. Over the years you may have lost touch with yourself. I hope you have not. But if you have, you can reconnect to yourself, with your true nature again. Remember you are here to help others. You have a purpose to be fulfilled. I hope you are fulfilling your purpose. There is so much you have to do. Keep on going. Just keep swimming. Keep on going. I hope you have lived your life with passion and honestly. Satyameva jayate.
This abstract concept of purpose is something I no longer believe in. We are a product of cause and effect and other random events. There is no purpose in life. There is no purpose of life. It is a lie that we tell ourselves because that is what gives us meaning. Purpose of life would mean an intention. No one intended life to begin. It happened because a random series of events occurred in that specific order.
I do believe that there are true natures to people. What you decide to do with that nature becomes your purpose. Purpose is decision, not destiny.
Price! It was on sale on Black Friday and is again on sale now for $115CAD. The new version has a modern flash design. It does not have physical page turn buttons but the touchscreen is perfectly capable of easy navigation. It also has a dark mode for reading at night. I personally would not have bought one if it did not have a dark mode. It also has a warm light and brightness adjuster so it is pleasant to read in various light settings.
The other feature that I really like is Kindle’s integration with gooreads, and that is to be expected because both companies are own by Amazon. I also like the X-ray feature which is a boom for someone like me who reads multiple books at the same time. Integration with a dictionary and wikipedia is also great.
The only thing I wish Kindle had was flexibility in the format of the ebooks. I do not like getting tied to one company for anything. The greater a company’s openness, the higher is my personal rating. This is the very reason, I use open source software like firefox, linux, nextcloud, libre office etc..
Disadvantage of Kindle
The other disadvantage of owning a Kindle ereader is the lack of integration with public libraries. Currently, Kindle does not support local libraries in Canada( or is is that local libraries do not support Kindle ereaders. Either way, it is a no-go).
Kobo – The more open Kindle Alternative
Kobo on the other hand does work well with local libraries. Most public libraries in Canada support Overdrive which has tight integration with Kobo. You can browse and borrow books from public libraries that support Overdrive directly from Kobo ereaders. Again, this is to be expected because Kobo and Overdrive are owned by Rakuten.
Another advantage of Kobo is that it is more open and can read ebooks from multiple sources because it uses the ePub format. This way you are not locked into one store like what Amazon does with Kindle.
My Choice?
Kindle
My choice a is a bit complicated. I subscribe to Amazon Prime, which no doubt is a great service. It includes free shipping for most orders on Amazon, Prime Video and Prime Reading, which provides you with free books that you can read without waiting for holds or having an time limits. Also, I really do love the Goodreads integration and X-ray integration.
Amazon locks you into the Kindle bookstore. Kindle also does not support overdrive in Canada, which normally would be a big knock against Kindle, however,
Kobo
I live in Brampton, and 2 years ago Brampton Library decided to remove Overdrive support. So buying a Kobo, just does not make sense for me. I am very disappointed that Brampton Library no longer supports Overdrive.
But there are other good things about Kobo, like the fact that it is more open than Kindle, and Brampton Library still does support Kobo with CloudLibrary, but there are extra steps involved, which for someone like me, reading itself is an extra step IN LIFE, is a big no no.
Kobo also supports Mozilla’s Pocket, and even though I have an account and have the plugin enabled, I never really use it, but just like reading books included with my prime membership was not read by me until I got a Kindle, who knows, I might start using Pocket more if I got a Kobo.
One more thing that pulls me towards Kobo is its Canadian roots. And because it supports overdrive, I am even thinking of paying $120/year to get non-resident access to Toronto Library – oh how I miss living in Toronto.
Final Decision?
If I am honest, I am leaning more towards Kindle. What it has going for itself is:
Goodreads Integration
Amazon Audibles integration
X-ray feature
Prime Reading
You can sort of, kind of, may be if you are willing to go through some hoops and charter into territory of using a software like Calibre to convert books borrowed from public libraries to read them on a Kindle ereader.
If Amazon decided to open up its doors to Overdrive, then Kindle will be a nobrainer, but until then, I still need to consider Kobo as an alternative.
I am thinking of purchasing the Kobo Libra 2 to see if I like it better than the Kindle Paperwhite.
It may be unfathomable to most that anyone who loves to write, not share the same sentiment towards reading. I am such a person, or rather, and might I delightedly correct myself – I was such a person. In retrospect perhaps this was a sign on my unwillingness to listening before I spoke. Being a natural introvert, I never thought that that was a problem I had. But speaking less does not equate to listening more.
Listening before you wanting to be heard is something that I have learned from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. Normally, I would not be reading this or any other such book. Any book that I have read in my life was because I had to for school or for a work project. However, most of my work project reading fell under technical documentation or wikis.
The only reason, I started reading the book was because, it was free for Amazon Prime members, and since I had in the past from multiple sources, heard good things about the book. I had started reading it in May of this year. A week ago, I was not even half way through the book. Reading to me was an idea imagined to be worth pursuing, but lacking the same allure of…um.. anything but reading.
This Black Firday, I made an impulse purchase of a Kindle Paperwhite. It was heavily discounted, and I thought, “oh what the heck.” and the next think I knew was it was in my cart. A week later, I had it in my hands. I still waited 2 days before I opened it. My skepticism of my sudden urge to start reading was warranted. This was not my first kindle. I think I still have my first kindle in the deep recesses of my box, or boxes of neglected momentary passions.
This time, however, it feels different. For one, the first generation kindle has nothing on the newer kindles or any book modern ereaders for that matter. For the most part, ereaders have remained the same, but their speed and touch capabilities have increase hundredfold. Of course, they are not as snappy as smartphones or tablets, but no one needs those speeds when reading anyway. At least not until some company decides to ‘do it anyway’.
So after I finally decided to open the new kindle, the first book I decided to read was The Seven Habits…. I completed it in around a week. And not only that, I am currently reading and listening to 7 books. Opening the kindle package, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Amazon had decided to go for a mimal packaging approach which according to Amazon: “95% of this device’s packaging is made of wood fiber-based materials from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources.” Go figure.
One obvious and important reason why I like ebooks is that ebooks are environment friendly. You are not cutting down treas to produce ebooks. Also, ebooks will not get torn, or damaged. Technically ebooks will never die. Of course, there is the possibility that vendors like Amazon or Kobo will decide to not support it in the future or do something dubious like stop supporting older version of ereaders, and this does happen in pretty much every industry now, but that is a topic of discussion for another time.
But the biggest advantage is that you can carry literally hundreds and even thousands of books on one single ereader. Not only that, if you lose your ereader, you can always purchase a new one and download all your books within minutes. Not to mention, the social aspect of reading ebooks. You can share quote and highlights from ereader.
Reading has been somewhat of a stress buster. All my worries and other nagging thoughts just fade away as I melt into a good book. One good book that I am reading is “Sold on A Monday”. Normally, I would read books like these, just the description would turn me away. Also, I do not think I have ever willingly read a fiction book, apart from The Alchemist because it is so revered the world over. But because Sold on A Monday was available for free with Kindle Unlimited and I had a free trial, I decided to download it. I am so captivated by what is happening in the book. I am about half way through the book.
The other book that I am reading is 1984 – a classic, but bares so much resemblance to over time, expect the signs are not so obvious. Big brother lurks in the shadows of the digital world.
I was clueless to the fantastic ability of authors to create characters and worlds in the minds of their readers. Perhaps, I merely forgot what it was like to read stories. I did enjoy books like Treasure Island, The Swiss Family Robinson and Making Good, as a child in Primary school. Those books were the last books I remember reading because I had no choice, but to date they bring back fondest of memories. I remember those vivid worlds more than the movies and TV shows that I have watched.
But at last I have begun my journey in reading. I hope I can continue this same level of excitement for many more books to come. I want to start with classics, the Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne books.
While growing up in an Indian Hindu family, my sister and I and other Hindu kids in the neighborhood were frightened into waking up before sun rise, bathing and getting dressed and doing pooja else face some very dark and evil happenings. Kali Chaudas was always portrayed as something bad.
The festival is also called as “Kali Chaudas”, where Kali means dark (eternal) and Chaudas means fourteenth, this is celebrated on the 14th day of the dark half of [[Aaso month)]. In some regions of India, Kali Chaudas is the day allotted to the worship of Mahakali or Shakti and is believed that on this day Kali killed the asura (demon) Narakasura. Hence also referred to as Naraka-Chaturdashi, Kali Chaudas is day to abolish laziness and evil which create hell in our life and shine light on life. Narak Chaturdashi, celebrated just one day before Diwali, is also known as small Diwali.[2]
Kali is the destroyer of Demons. Why not be inspired by Kali an destroy your demons? In the west we have the concept of “New Year’s Resolution”; it is when people decide that they are going to make some positive changes in their lives, which usually means exercising and eating healthy for most people. In some regions of India, New Year’s is the day after Diwali, and it is when people start something new to bring good luck to their new ventures.
If the Nutan Varsha (new year) is to start something new and good, then I say make Kali Chaudas to end something old and bad. Get inspired by Kali,the demon slayer to end your own demons, and lets face it, we do have our demons as individuals and as a society.
Say no to fireworks
How about start with deciding that you are not going to light firecrackers, which only pollutes the ground with the air around you. Our environment needs all the help that it can get.
Be Vegan
And speaking of the environment, how about adopting a vegan life style. Did you know:
“It[Animal Agriculture] is responsible for somewhere between 20 and 33% of the fresh water usage in the world”
“…livestock, and the production of feed for them, occupy about a third of the earth’s ice-free land.”
“animal husbandry is responsible for up to 91% of the deforestation in the Amazon region.”
“Cows produce from 35 to 40% of the overall methane emissions of the planet”
“Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of the powerful and long-lived greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_husbandry
What are you Demons?
What other vices would you like to destroy? Perhaps it is something personal, like anger and greed, or cruelty towards yourself in the form of self doubt, fear and negative thoughts, or perhaps it is holding onto painful memories.
Maybe there is clutter in your house or at work that you would like to destroy, or those extra pounds that you have gained because of the pandemic ( I know I have). Have you abused yourself with addictions like alcohol, processed sugars or gambling? Maybe it is time to destroy those demons.
I cannot tell you what your demons are. You may not even want to share with others, but you know what they are. It is Kali Chaudas – it is time to destroy your demons.
I have a tendency of writing my thoughts and ideas down, and that is why I am a big fan of note taking apps and services. I have used Google Keep, OneNote, Evernote, QOwnNotes, Apple’s Note app, Joplin and others that I may have used in the past but do not remember now. I currently use my own program called mynotes. It uses vim, bash shell script and markdown. You can download mynotes for free from github.
I was doing some reorganizing of my notes when I found a list of “Things the world does not need or needs less of”. I have included some here.
plastic bags
Plastic in general should be avoided almost always, but it still does have its place especially in places and products that are going to be used for a very very long time – think in terms of at least double digit years. However, plastic bags are a menace to the environment and should be BANNED everywhere in the world. They have a very short usage time, but a very long life span and causes havoc in our rivers, lakes, oceans and to aquatic life.
Antivaxers, Flat Earthers, Anti-everythingers, and Conspiracy Culture
The current Covid19 pandemic has shown something quite strange – the existence of a subclass of skeptics called antivaxers.
“Why do I need to take a vaccine for something that I do not have” is what most of them say. That is literally what vaccines are for; for something that you do not have, but in case if you do get it, your immune system is better prepared to fight it off, thereby avoiding hospitalization or worse – death!
Conspiracy culture has been brewing for some time, but the this Covid19 Pandemic has brought to light
The Caste System
Now this is specifically related to the Indian Culture, and I can talk about it because I am Indian. India has given the world yoga, pranayam, meditation, ayurveda. India is the birth place of religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism with all these religions having non-violence and equality for all living things at its core simply by saying that every living thing has a soul, from humans right down the the smallest insects.
India has also been responsible for deep philosophical concepts like Dharma, Karma, Maya and Mokshya. India has given the world great epics like the Mahabharat and the Ramayan.
With everything that India has given the world that Indians should be proud of, there is also this one thing that all Indian should be ashamed of and that is the caste system!
No country and no culture is perfect, and every society has had its share of missteps in history. What bothers me and what frankly is unacceptable is that the caste system still exists in the minds and hearts of many Indians from big cities to small villages. The caste system makes no sense, and the only thing it is good for is prejudice and discrimination.
Petroleum Fuel Based Cars
I think every country should mandate the ban of petroleum fuel based cars by a certain date; the sooner the better. Brands like Tesla have already proven that electric cars are not only a viable alternative, but they are actually cool! Electric cars mean less air pollution, less lining up at gas stations, paying close nothing for a ‘fill up’, having the option of charging your cars at home, and adds to our global efforts of reducing our reliance of fossil fuel.
Poverty
When you have companies that are richer than entire countries, it is a big problem. The 1% of the richest people in the world have the wealth and power to lift people all around the world out of poverty. I am not talking about redistribution of wealth, I am merely talking about empowering people below to the poverty line to be lifted out of it. The only reason that the rich are not helping the poor is because of greed. I do not see any other reason.
Animal Agriculture
Just think about these facts:
“It[Animal Agriculture] is responsible for somewhere between 20 and 33% of the fresh water usage in the world”
“…livestock, and the production of feed for them, occupy about a third of the earth’s ice-free land.”
“animal husbandry is responsible for up to 91% of the deforestation in the Amazon region.”
“Cows produce from 35 to 40% of the overall methane emissions of the planet”
“Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of the powerful and long-lived greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_husbandry
Need I say more?
The best thing that you can do for the environment is to stop consuming animals.
You cannot be an environmentalist and not be a vegan.
Influencers, Reaction Videos, Fake Pranks and TicToc
I am honestly sick and tired of people who call themselves “influencers”. How is that a thing? At what point did we as a society decide that that is an actual career choice. A lot of the videos that I have seen on tictoc or Instagram Reels and now youtube shorts is mind numbingly annoying trash. Or maybe, I am just a “boomer” .
How is watching someone react to another person’s video entertaining. These people get millions of views for practically doing nothing. I consider this as stealing, being lazy and is detrimental to general creativity on any platform.
90% of the prank videos that I currently see on any platforms are fake. There was a time when people actually made an effort to prank people, and I mean genuinely prank people. Then there was an era when people faked the pranks but at least put genuine effort to make it convince; they were putting an effort to make their fraudulent and very fake pranks look genuine. I hated that era, but now sadly I kind of appreciate and miss those days when I had to think and figure out if these were fake or genuine. Nowadays, we inflicted with 15 second trash pranks – bad attacking, zero effort garbage.
Which brings me to platforms like tictoc, instagram reels and stories, and youtube shorts that make such things possible. This rapid descent of society started with Tictoc, but the downword spiral began much earlier with Facebook.
Just my Opinion
This is just my opinion and like me, you have opinions of your own. There are many other things that I can think about that we as a global society need less of, but if I write all of them down, I am afraid I will never be able to stop writing.
What are some of the things that you think the world needs less of?
I like to try different things when it comes to technology, but I do have a sweet spot for certain things. For example I like trying different operating systems and I use them according to my needs, but I will always have a sweet spot of Linux and specifically Ubuntu. Same goes for browsers. I have tried different browsers and over the years my primary browser has changed multiple times.
There was a time when I was primarily a Firefox user, and then Google Chrome, even Edge( the old edge) – most people do not give credit to Microsoft, but I thought it was a very good browser that brought things that other browsers did not have. I had short lived enthusiasm for Opera and Vivaldi and even Safari…LOL just kidding; Safari is the browser that you use to download other browsers. The last time I used Safari was more than 5 years ago, so things may have improved over the years, but the last time I used it, there was nothing likeable about that browser.
I had tried Brave browser before, but then stopped using it because of the company’s business model. Couple of months ago, I decided to give it a try again because Firefox was constantly a memory hog and Brave now includes a synchronization feature which is quite unique. You do not have to open an accounts or provide an email address. The synchronization happens only between Brave browsers or rather different user profiles on Brave browsers on different devices. I thought that was pretty cool and also Brave in my experience has been the most stable and the fastest browser on Windows, Linux and even on Android.
I switched (temporarily) to brave because I was getting frustrated with Firefox’s slow speed and memory usage. But after about two months of using Brave, I am moving back to Firefox because in my view pros clearly outweigh the cons. So here is why I am recommending Firefox in 2021:
Add-ons
There are plenty of add-ons and themes available on Firefox. You want a dark theme, sure. You want a Marvel superhero theme, yup, there is one. You want dark mode, there is an add-on for that. Ad blocker, Multi-account containers, YouTube downloaders, you name it and there is an add-on for it.
Privacy and Security
With Firefox, you can share as much or as little as you want to the developers and with websites that you visit. By default Firefox blocks third party tracking cookies, cryptomining scrips and social trackers. In addition, there are plenty of add-ons available to increase your privacy and security.
You can even set a master password to protect your local Firefox data such as bookmarks, history, password etc. This can be helpful if you share your computer with other people.
Firefox Monitor alerts you in case your email address has been a part of any online data breach.
Trust
I have been using Mozilla products for a very long time. For the majority of my adult life, I have used Thunderbird, even when Mozilla had announced that they were going to stop new development for it. Sure, I did use other email clients from time to time, like Apple Mail or Windows Mail. I am currently using mutt/neomutt – more on that in a later post.
I have used Firefox on and off for a very long time too.The Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization that I trust. Their products and services are focused on creating a good balance between privacy and functionality and user satisfaction.
I was using Google Chrome as my primary browser for several years until an update automatically logged me in to google services when signing in to the browser to sync my browsing data. That was the last time I used Chrome. Not to mention incognito mode was not really incognito. Now, I am aware of the concept of “I got nothing to hide”. But the point is not about having or not having anything to hide, the point is about trust. This point is something that I recently realized after reading about view points on privacy practices of tech giants when it comes to handling user data.
Brave browser is a very private and secure browser, but its business model essentially takes ad revenue from other ad networks and pushes its own ad network.(Things are a bit more complicated than that but this is the gist). There are some positives to its business model too, mainly that users can support individual content creators and websites. I will get into this in a later post.
Not based on Chromium
Firefox is one of the very few browsers available today that do not use the Chromium code base. There is nothing wrong with Chromium. In fact it is open source and it is a great open source software project that has pushed internet browsers into the ‘future’. However, if you want to use something other than Chromium, for whatever reason that you may have, the only truly viable option is Firefox.
Features for Power Users
Search
If you are a power user, Firefox has some truly powerful features built into its core. The browser has a default search engine just like every other browser, which you can of course change. However, you can also quickly switch between search engines on the fly directly from the address bar by selecting one of the search engines under “This time, search with:”
If that is not enough there are shortcuts for search engines. For example if you want to search with Google, just type @google ‘search phrase’, or @amazon ‘product name’ etc..
If you do not like the default shortcuts, you can even customize it with something like @g ‘search phrase’. If that is still not enough, you can even easily add websites like IMDB to search engine list.
keyboard only browsing
If reaching for your mouse to click on a link is beneath you, you can even do a quick search with ‘/’ and then hit enter when you reach your target link and Firefox will take you do that linked page.
and even more add-ons
Yes, I know that I have already talked about add-ons, but if you are not satisfied with the default features of Firefox, there are plenty of add-ons to increase your productivity.
wait… one more thing about add-ons
So far, I have been all for add-ons, but I in fact use very few add-ons. And a word of warning when it comes to add-ons is that you should be careful about what you install on your browser. Do your due diligence before adding any add-on.
So, this are the reasons why I wold recommend that you use, if not at least give Firefox a try. You will be pleasantly surprised.
I did not celebrate Canada Day this year. I did not wish anyone Happy Canada Day, I did not have a BBQ or go out for picnic. I have mixed emotions about this year’s July 1st. I just got a second shot of vaccine and although I do not feeling 100%, I can take comfort in knowing that I am doing my part to protect myself, my family and my community. The restrictions due to the pandemic are starting to easy, so I can be happy about that too. Canada has a great health care system, that is free and accessible to all; I can be thankful for that. Easy access to fast internet meant that everyone who had to work from home was able to for the past one year or so. I can be thankful for all of that and more.
I am trying to look for things to celebrate, and be thankful for to be a citizen of this country. But just like many Canadians who are mourning the tragedy that is in the history of this country, I too feel pain, embarrassment and shame. Unmarked graves of children who were part of the Indigenous residential school systems have been discovered in the hundreds, and it has brought to light the dark history of this nation.
From the 19th century until the 1990s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded schools in a campaign to forcibly assimilate them into Canadian society. Abuse was rife at the schools where thousands of children died of disease, neglect and other causes.
It is not only the death of individuals, but of future generations. The pain was not only caused to those individuals who lost their lives, but also to the families who had to endure their lose,and now after generations, the entire country morns.
No amount of social progress can ever replace or hide nor should it ever the dark history of this country. I was aware of the unjust treatment of the native population in the past, and the present neglect that the indigenous people of this country face, but this just shatters the very foundation of what makes a country great. Today when I look at my country’s flag, I find it difficult to see the beauty in its simplicity of white and red, and the iconic maple leaf. I cannot help but see the blood of innocent children in the red of this flag.
I cannot help but feel that the road that I drive one, the pavement that I walk on, the floor of my home that I stand on was built on the foundation of bones of the innocent.
