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turtle race
Where are you man? Bates stared at the four word subject line. He didn’t need to open the message, that would be all there was, just the subject line, no body. Typical Thomas efficiency. But he liked the italicized verb. Added a touch of urgency. He liked that Thomas was feeling some stress. And why…
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drag me away
We all have songs that instantly connect us to a time and place. The funny thing is, we can’t choose them; circumstances do. One of the most potent for me is Gino Vanelli’s Wild Horses. Every time its thrumming, insistent intro comes on the radio (yes, I still listen to the radio) I’m taken back…
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an argument in favor of artificial intelligence
What a week. I’m writing this on Canada Day – July 1 – 2016. One week ago, the world awoke to discover that the British people had voted conclusively to leave the EU. The decision triggered convulsions of all kinds – social, economic, political – in Britain and abroad, and will continue to do so…
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#tellthemnow – my version
A recent survey of boomer-age people asked what they most regretted as they approached old age. A significant majority cited ‘unresolved issues with parents, who were now deceased’. I totally get that. As, it seems, do many of my peers. As we collectively shuffle along this mortal coil, many of my cohort are hustling to…
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me speak geek
I am not by nature a technical person. So I was very surprised when I was offered a job with what was then possibly Vancouver’s most high profile tech company, one which provided high end post production and visual effects services to producers of film and television commercials. What were they thinking? This: as the…
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is this the real life?
Some years ago, an anthropologist was doing field work with a tribe in Africa which lived exclusively in the deep jungle. He lived among them for some time, and became a trusted friend. At one point during the sojourn, the anthropologist needed to make a journey to visit another tribe which lived not far away,…
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am i the worker of the future?
Annacis Island is a heavily industrial enclave in the southern reaches of metropolitan Vancouver. It is not a pedestrian or bike friendly environment; the thoroughfares are broad and businesslike, designed for their primary users: big trucks, and lots of them. They come and go endlessly, everywhere: trucks, trucks, and more trucks. On a recent visit,…
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just watch this
Image © Warner Bros / Stanley Kubrick In Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork Orange, the ultra-violence-loving young hero Alex is ‘cured’ of his anti-social tendencies by way of an experimental medical intervention. The procedure, vividly depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation, involved plying Alex with powerful nausea-inducing drugs while compelling him to watch films depicting…
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bloody good
Diner in restaurant: “What can you tell us about the locally raised organic free range chicken?” Waitress: “Well, his name was Jeremy…” … from a radio comedy show – I can’t recall which one A British television host recently posted pictures of her 11 year old daughter blooded after her first successful duck hunt….
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one morning on the way to melaque
Sometimes life presents poetry unannounced and unadorned. Be open to it. About halfway up Mexico’s west coast is a sleepy little fishing village called Barra de Navidad. A couple of miles north lies Melaque, a larger market town popular with snowbirding Canadians. The two towns are connected by a road, but they also lie at…
