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the time may have come to give up hope and just have fun
A little over a year ago, I crossed the physically and emotionally daunting threshold into my ‘60s’. It is an interesting time. More than any other decade marker (so far, at least) this one seems to encourage real reflection and assessment of one’s life. 60 may be the new 40, but 70 is indisputably a…
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address to the american marketing association
Feb 2, 2017 Philadelphia PA Friends, We live in exciting times. For we are on the cusp of a new and golden age for our industry. I make this pronouncement will full acknowledgement that ours is a trade overly fond of hyperbole and spectacle, ever too keen to announce a glittering new chapter in the…
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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,…
