Sep 17 2025 - The Clankers are real

 

It started with Star Wars, and the video game in 2005 used the term clanker for robots. Since then it has slowly gained traction until now, in 2025, it is a negative and derogatory term.  It represents both skepticism and resistance to artificial intelligence. In 2025, the sentiment has become mainstream. That's likely because no one has been spared the experience of a customer service chatbox.  It makes me think of the self-checkout at Shoppers Drug Mart which asks "How did we do today?" I usually reply with:  You didn't do anything, I did all the work.   Clanker has made mainstream news with viral coverage on TikTok and Instagram.  There seems to be a social need for an ethnic slur for AI.  Robot racism and robophobia is here. It is us vs them now.  Here's the worry that psychologists are highlighting: "A popular iteration of the meme features people pretending to apologize to their future robot overlords for past anti-robot transgressions, including use of the "c-word." There are no Readers' Disgest jokes about clankers.  There are no clanker jokes for children.  Nothing comes up with the top 50 clanker jokes, top 25 or even to 5 clanker jokes.  That's because these aren't related to humour.  They are equivalent to ethnic jokes and slurs. What you will find is a long list of articles trying to explain what's going on with them.   And there are more developing - wireback, cogsucker, tin-skinned, along with "toasters" and "chrome jobs."    I wondered about the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz.  There aren't good jokes about him either.

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Random Us on July 1st

Happy Canada Day! Huffington Post has an article titled "20 Random facts You Probably Didn't Know About Canada."  I declare on July 1st that these could only be random to citizens of the United States.  Here are Four:   Queen Elizabeth II is Canada’s official Head of State.  The Canadian government has declared Santa as a Canadian citizen. In fact, you can mail your letter to the North Pole in any language (including Braille), and his trusted elves will answer them all. Yes, all 1.5 million of them. Hockey and lacrosse are Canada’s national sports. There are more donut shops per capita in Canada than any other country in the world. But who’s saying that’s a bad thing? You can read the others HERE.  These four topiaries are in a garden in St. Catharines.  Three sisters and a presiding grandmother. We can't miss out on a Maple Leaf today - here it is  - this photo in Winnipeg last year by Dan Harper at danharper.com

Atheism at Christmas

How to Celebrate Christmas if you're nonreligious Atheists can take part in the occasion,too! This article comes from thoughtco.com - it has many of these articles that assert you can have decorations, gift-giving, Christmas shopping and more without considering or engaging in any religious aspects.  "Secular decoration options are abundant..."  This would be this website's highest traffic during this season.  This isn't a topic I've wondered about except at Christmas.  The site has many interesting article titles: What Does a Nontheist Believe? Is Atheism Even an "Ism?" What is a Practical Atheist? Are there Any Atheistic Religions? This last article asks if there is a Hindui atheism, Buddhist atheism, Confucian, Taoist atheism, etc?  Take the example of Buddhism - the article says that Buddhism does not promote or actively reject the existence of a greater god.  A Buddhist can be a theist or an atheist.  Atheism is considered compatible within numerous religions.   Back to Atheists at Christmas:  A Washington Post article by R. Elisabeth Cornwell in 2012 begins: "When people find out I’m an atheist, the question often comes up about what I do during the Christmas holidays. There is an assumption that atheists don’t ‘do Christmas,’ so they are surprised when I say how much I love it."  The article also describe the origins of many of the Christmas traditions as pre-dating Christianity.  My question is: How did people find out she's an Atheist - it sounds inevitable - "when" people find out.  That seems to be a story worth pursuing. And how religious is Christmas?  Pew Research polls show that it's fairly close - 51% celebrate more of a religious holiday, 32% more of a cultural, and 9% both/other. Another Pew Study says that about a third of Jews, three-quarters of Hindus and Buddhists, and 87 percent of people who identify as nonreligious. Overall, about half of Americans see it as a “religious” holiday, while a third say it’s a “cultural” one.   So we can pursue this endlessly, like the road below, or treat it chase the fox with the Ladew topiary hounds. Here are two of the Daily Post's "funniest festive jokes for 2017" : Why was Theresa May sacked as Nativity Manager? She couldn’t run a stable government Why did Donald Trump continuously decorate the Christmas tree? Because people kept saying ‘moron’ to him