I’ve had a rather unusual time of things recently, and so I thought I’d write something down, and see if anything comes of it. I’m going to post this whether it’s good or not, so thank you for indulging me. A couple of years ago a family member had a sudden and serious medical emergency. It changed our lives, instantly, and not for the better. I love my life – I think I always will, almost as if I’m grateful…
A lot of people know that Hershey chocolate tastes of vomit to non-Americans. In fact, it was so gross that I genuinely wondered how Americans could consider it a treat. But last Halloween, we were in South Carolina visiting my in-laws, and we received some chocolate and other sweets (US English: candy). They were all forgotten about until today, and I unthinkingly ate a Hershey’s Kiss… And it didn’t taste of vomit. I wonder, does that make me a US…
If you have recently moved from Windows to Mac, especially if you just got a MacBook Neo, you might be missing the Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys. Well look no further than this handy dandy table: Key (Windows) Key (Mac) Description Home Command ⌘ + Left Arrow Moves to the beginning of a line of text in Word, for example. End Command ⌘ + Right Arrow Moves to the end of a line of text in the…
Subtle wording choices in justice In the UK it’s Jury Service. In the US it’s Jury Duty. In the UK it’s the Police Service. In the US it’s the Police Force. Words carry meaning. An EV – an easy choice? We just traded in our petrol / gas car for an electric car. What it feels like we did is actually this: We traded in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the Jetsons. There is a learning curve, not only to…
This site uses the Holocene calendar which was proposed in 1993 CE as a way to better visualize our context within humanity’s story. In fact, in that last sentence, the year should have read 11993 HE. Jesus of Nazareth was born around 10000 HE, and everything earlier than that is no longer recorded in the “BC” or “BCE” format which has weird negative numbers. Simply, every year on this site, at least from now on, will attempt to use the…
The following is the speech given by Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: It’s a pleasure — and a duty — to be with you at this turning point for Canada and for the world. Today, I’ll talk about the rupture in the world order, the end of a nice story and the beginning of a brutal reality where geopolitics among the great powers is not subject to any constraints. But I also…
The following wording was sent to my maternal grandfather’s mother shortly after the Second World War. This was sent to a few people and, according to Caerleon.net was in thanks for taking in evacuees. Given that my maternal great grandmother lived on the south coast of England, I was surprised that this was something that she might be asked to do, but it’s a lovely thing to see.
People are, rightly, concerned about how generative AI might affect their jobs, careers, and incomes in the future. Progress has never been successfully stymied in the interests of protecting people’s now-outdated jobs. We don’t send people down into mines with pick-axes, and we don’t hand weave the clothes that most of us own. We, as society, have to ask hard questions about what the meaning of life is, and whether economies are the right tool to keep people busy when…
I have long believed that going to court should not be a thing that costs money. Justice, should we need to avail ourselves of it, should be a public service, like police, education, or healthcare. I first started thinking about the cost of going to court when a business owner I knew abandoned money that was owed to them because they knew that, should they pursue it, they would need to pay the court, the court again when payment was…
On the heels of a devastating election, where not only did the electoral college elect Donald Trump, but he also earned the popular vote, I am inclined to write about anything else! And as I sit here, sipping my coffee before work, I am thinking about my smart home. From May 2010 until October 2022, I was an Android user, exclusively. During that time I owned phones from HTC, Samsung, Google Nexus, Motorola, OnePlus, and Google Pixel (I made a…