Blog

May 11, 2023

rambling on

My mood has been set in the 60s and 70s most of today with the likes of The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Ten Years After, The Mamas & The Papas, and Led Zeppelin to be exact. And I’ve been on this video every time I’ve been on Youtube...

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May 8, 2023

There’s still room for us at the table

I’m one of those people who recognise the positive impact of AI on the creative process. For me, AI is particularly useful in helping me to distill large amounts of information quickly. This morning, for example, when I wanted to know the difference between allusion and homage, I simply asked...

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February 16, 2023

A Tale of Chatbots and Chaos

Oh, how quaint that some of my friends are still resisting the inevitable rise of artificial intelligence! If only they were as enlightened as the great William S. Burroughs, who undoubtedly would have embraced ChatGPT as the ultimate tool for turning our everyday conversations into high art. After all, he...

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January 1, 2023

I’ve just discovered WordPress Stories

I’ve only just discovered that you can post Instagram-like stories directly from your WordPress blog. It’s pretty rudimentary, i.e., no filters, gifs, location tags, etc. And you can’t add a description except like I’m doing it right now, which is adding in the description after I’ve posted the story. The...

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December 31, 2022

final message of 2022: be kinder to yourself

It’s easy to be hard on ourselves, especially when we’re struggling or facing challenges. But it’s important to remember that we’re all human and we all make mistakes. In 2023, let’s try to be kinder to ourselves. Let’s give ourselves the same grace and compassion that we would extend to...

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December 21, 2022

collaborating with ai

AI-made art just keeps blowing my mind. I did the Lensa thing, like a lot of other people. But until today, I hadn’t thought about uploading my own art and seeing what the AI could do with it. Here’s what happened when I did: I love it. I believe there’s...

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December 15, 2022

post challenge

Already, I’m feeling the slide back into lazy blogging now that our 30-day blog challenge is over. The little voice egging me on to sit down and bang out a blog post has gone quiet. Maybe he needed a break. I imagine it was hard work on his part to...

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December 13, 2022

30 for 30

Well, this is officially the last post of our 30-day blog challenge. I have enjoyed having to bang out a post every day. There were a few days when I could have easily not posted anything for all of the usual reasons: no time, too busy, nothing to say, etc.,...

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December 12, 2022

quantified self

I’ve dabbled in the quantified self movement on and off. If you’re not familiar with the “quantified self,” it’s basically a movement that focuses on using technology to collect data about one’s daily activities and behaviors. This often involves using wearable devices, such as fitness trackers, to track things like...

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December 11, 2022

from my reading list in 2022

Continuing with the year in review theme, I’ve done music; I’ve done chess; now here are my top books from 2022. Lurking: How a Person Became a User – Joanne McNeil In her book Lurking, Joanne McNeil digs deep to find out what people’s main (and sometimes contradictory) worries are...

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December 10, 2022

nu metal

It’s late Saturday afternoon. I’m in my office and part time studio. I’m recording another episode of Radio Soulcruzer, my music podcast styled with a radio aesthetic. It’s my opportunity to let my inner radio disc jockey come out and play. The genre i’m exploring in this episode is Nu...

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December 9, 2022

finally, an ai avatar generator that delivers

I normally don’t take part in internet trends, especially ones that ask you to take a selfie and upload it to the internet. My conspiracy theory hackles go on alert. They want you to upload your selfies so that THEY can build a facial recognition database that THEY can use...

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December 8, 2022

the road leads back to here

old notebook life is curiosity kept alive The Road to Santiago is a spiritual path. It was originally a Catholic pilgrimage for sinners who were trying to work off any time they might have to spend in Purgatory before they could go to heaven. It’s a 500-mile trail that runs...

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December 7, 2022

a nostalgic turn

OK. I’m feeling a little nostalgic tonight, and I’m in the mood to listen to some tunes. I’ve been firing on all cylinders today, and now I’m ready to let my hair down. I thought I’d be a bit frivolous tonight and share my 80’s music crushes. My Top Ten...

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December 6, 2022

some phrases stick with you for life

Going through some old papers, I came across a phrase that for years has been my unofficial motto. I even used it to caption my yearbook picture. I wrote (and I used to believe) that “winning is an attitude.” Like Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, I stole this phrase...

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December 5, 2022

seeking fire

1Vast array of masksHide the many roles we playI remain hidden 2Pressing against thePortals of consciousness, eachMoment changes me 3See things as they areEnraptured with mythic mindStillness turned within 4On the road to awarenessSelf disrupts realityExperience yourself completely 5From now into nowChangeless mind moves inside outMaking you aware 6Control is...

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December 4, 2022

i do love a good burger

So an idea I’ve had in my head for some time is to make a travel documentary based on my love of hamburgers. The idea would be to travel around the world in search of the world’s best hamburger. I want to do it Ewan MacGregor and Charlie Boorman style,...

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December 3, 2022

on the places you’ll go

My blog brother, @MrFresh, wrote a post yesterday sharing the places he’s travelled to. That inspired me to reflect on my own travel habits. We used to travel a lot. Our goal was to travel to at least one new country each year. It was easier to make that happen...

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December 2, 2022

a long way from being a grandmaster

Well, it appears to be that time of the year when all of the year-in-review stuff starts to come out. Yesterday, I shared with you my music year-in-review. Today, let me share with you my chess year-in-review. Yes chess! I played a lot of chess when I was in high...

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