One day, while shuffling between screens in Safari, the last tab popped into its own shell in the corner of my screen. Because this had never happened before, I hastily shut the new window, fearing a viral infestation that would steal my life savings, edit my LinkedIn profile, or browse photos of my cats. When it happened again, I realized… Read More »Give a Hand, or the Finger, to Techology.
Two things happened to me at about the same time, so they must be related. Right? Ok, both were about customer service. One was kinda theoretical, the other a real-life experience. Theory and real life intersecting? There’s always a fundamental interconnectedness. Here’s what I experienced: #1. I’m reading the book: ‘If you are in a Dogfight, become a Cat!’ by… Read More »Are you having a meaningful relationship with a brand?
Despite a mid-April blanketing of snow, which is not ridiculously unseasonable even if we all want the weather to turn into balmy sun-filled days, I garden. I’ve sown seeds over the past few weeks, which have emerged from their well-engineered soil1 into tiny bits of greenness of a shade that can’t be imitated by anything other than a baby plant… Read More »How does the garden grow?
I’ve long loved old houses. When the opportunity presented itself, in a newspaper ad looking for volunteers for my local Heritage advisory committee, I grabbed a laptop and confessed my passion to the municipal officials, hoping for a chance to be involved. And deeply involved I have become.1 So began my education about heritage preservation in Ontario, municipal politics and… Read More »A Heritage Moment.
What if everything in the future works like the automated public bathrooms of today? The average state-of-the-art bathroom has: All these conveniences should allow for a visit to the restroom that requires not touching anything that another human has placed their germy bits on.2 Problem is, the technology doesn’t work reliably. I’m sure you’ve been there. Toilets that flush while… Read More »Modern Potty Humour
I shared a bit about how I eat, or my food philosophy, but one meal doesn’t make a lifestyle. Here follows a week of dinners. I love the pattern of the week, sort of a fall and rise of each day, with a different and traditional meaning. There is a rhythm, which is why many know that Wednesday is hump… Read More »A Week of Delicious Dinners.
Cyberspace isn’t much like space at all. It’s crammed full of bytes of information, churning and frothing with intelligence agents who gnash and dissect the data in search of new knowledge, or at least something else to sell us. This is big data and at least one embodiment of artificial intelligence. Recently, I heard an elegant explanation¹ of machine learning,… Read More »How Smart is Artificial Intelligence?
To compliment my traditional, 1920’s era window and door trim, I am replacing the baseboards. I can see rements of the original baseboards inside the kitchen cupboards. The same style is available at my local lumber yard, aptly call ‘traditional’. I’m as excited as anyone can get about baseboards. Baseboards are hard. After watching a number of ‘how to install… Read More »Getting to the bottom of trim: Baseboards
The Metaverse is the only thing people are talking about these days. Well, other than the pandemic, vaccines, masks, war, politics, inflation, NFTs, cryptocurrencies, oh, and global warming, equity, diversity and inclusion, house affordability and the cost of gas. But the metaverse. It’s either the next big thing that will solve many current problems or the next big hype that… Read More »Time to go to the Metaverse?
Predictions are, in the near future, we will each have a personal assistant with artificial intelligence (AI)1 that runs our life. It’ll order household items before we run out, book social engagements, reminds us of upcoming events and related purchases (like birthday gifts, a bottle of wine for the hostess, or a new outfit to wear to the party). More elaborate… Read More »AI Personal Assistants – The Death of Shopping as we Know it?