An on topic post about AI
Food on the Hoof …. Zurich.
Zurich Airport is a really rather nice airport. It is connected, directly, to the Swiss rail network, as there is a main railway station directly underneath the airport, which makes getting in and out of the airport hassle and stress free. Directly connected to Zurich, but also to St Gallen, Bern, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne and … Continue reading Food on the Hoof …. Zurich.
Food on the Hoof….. Dublin
A long time ago, in an era far, far away, there was an occasional Food on the Hoof series. I have written about the joys of food and travel from ZAmbia, SWaziland, Madagascar as well as less exocic It's been a while since hoof met keyboard but it's time to start again see where the … Continue reading Food on the Hoof….. Dublin
Run Rabbit, Run Rabbit, Run, Run, Run…..
Over the years, as some of you will be aware, I have been pretty active, quite energetic. Hiking through the Dolomites and the German / Austrian mountains. I have spent time in Madagascar exploring the rain forests, fell running along the route of the Three Peaks Yorkshire, mountain biking in the North Yorks Wolds and, … Continue reading Run Rabbit, Run Rabbit, Run, Run, Run…..
The Joy of Travel
Walter 'Arbinson Wimpole FitzThomas was born in 1725 in the now non-existent village of Fennly-on-the-Wold, in what is now the East Riding of Yorkshire. FitzThomas was the son of Flemmish immigrant Liège Waffle makers who travelled to England in the hope of creating an Anglo-Flemmish variant of the waffle. With the failure of the family … Continue reading The Joy of Travel
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ?
A long time ago, in a Canton, far, far away, Tim Berners-Lee, created, or, in popular parlance, invented the World Wide Web. To be fair, for more people, the internet and the World Wide Web are the same, or at least interchangeable. They're not, they are different. The one underpins the other. One, the internet, … Continue reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ?
A Path Less Travelled….
The fun of travelling is the fun of travelling. Over the years I have been to and experienced many places. A good rummage through the archive here will give you a good idea of my wanderings. However, sometimes, with all the travelling, it is easy to miss some of the gems that are underfoot, closer … Continue reading A Path Less Travelled….
Once or Supper ?
Where is the most beautiful part of the UK ? It is a question I've been asked, maybe almost eight times. Possibly nine. The Scottish Highlands, with their bleak, undulating and often sombre landscape, granite grey towns and villages and level of cuisine so sophisticated that the deep fried mars bar is now so passé … Continue reading Once or Supper ?
Battling Berties Best Book at Bedtime
As regular readers will know I write reviews less often the Edmond Halleys most famous offspring makes it's regular solar visits. I am not interested in the opinions of others when eulogising about a new whisk or how a new gavel will change your life forever. Yes, there really are on line reviews of gavels, … Continue reading Battling Berties Best Book at Bedtime
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
The mot juste has been 'in these difficult times' or variations thereof. Economically, the summer of 2020 is difficult. Many small companies are relaying the safety net of central governments, many large companies are cutting large percentages of staff and are themselves seeking backing from both investors and governments. In turn this is having a … Continue reading Post hoc ergo propter hoc
The End of a Mobile Era. The end of Choice ?
Microsoft have recently announced the formal end of their adventure into cut throat business of making and selling mobile 'phones. It is not entirely surprising. Towards the end of 2019 Microsoft announced a number of new products, including a new, folding, Android mobile call the Surface Duo. If not clear before, this, publicly, marked the … Continue reading The End of a Mobile Era. The end of Choice ?
A Grimm Tale
It is not very often that I write about sport, but today is the day in which Scotland were dumped out of the Rugby World CUp by the hosts Japan. First things first, Japan were excellent and fully deserved their win. No ifs, no buts, Japan were better. Full Stop. So where does this leave … Continue reading A Grimm Tale
A collection of Tech’
As many of you will know, I work in the Technology sector; particularly the Network tech' sector. I work with people who are constantly connected, who have £500 plus mobile phones, some of whom have £1000 plus mobiles. Their device processing power is ten to the many times greater than the entire processing power of … Continue reading A collection of Tech’
The Future. Yesterday
During a recent conversation with a colleague, we agreed that, in all respects, we are now living in a better world than at any point in history. And indeed, we are. In all aspects. Except one. I will come back to that. Despite some notable exceptions, adult educational levels are growing across the world and, … Continue reading The Future. Yesterday
An Oxymoron for Food
It is not very often that I do a restaurant review, partly because I never read other people's reviews, partly because they're often rather fatuous and have the word Instagram in there somewhere and partly because I am not that self obsessed that I think other people really care what I am eating. Despite that, … Continue reading An Oxymoron for Food
A view of the Future, about the Past
It is more than three years since the UK decided to leave the European Union. In a few weeks from now, the UK will have its third Prime Minister who will have the dubious task of resolving the so called Brexit question. At the time of writing the two contenders for the top job are … Continue reading A view of the Future, about the Past
Ode to Psion
An ode to Psion. As some of you will know, one of my all time favourite tools was my Psion 5MX. It was the tech tools of the late 1990's and all the way through what have become known as the noughties. Alas, with the rise of the touch screen device and the inclusion of … Continue reading Ode to Psion
AI, Turing and You.
Over the last weeks and moths we have been reading about the progress of AI, or Artificial Intelligence and how it will help / destroy / save humanity. As recently as yesterday the BBC published an article that states Googles claims that its own AI offering can now make telephone calls on your behalf and … Continue reading AI, Turing and You.
Psion: the last computer
I am not going to claim any sort of credit for this, as I am lifting, in it's entirety from The Register. The original URL is here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/26/psion_special/ This is one of my favourite “histories of computers” stories, based around one of my favourite tools and, as it turns out, around a product that … Continue reading Psion: the last computer
WIndows 10 Lean and the SaaS future
Having recently read an article on The Register about a rumoured, new version of WIndows 10, called Windows 10 Lean, I began to wonder if, realistically, a life without Windows, as an OS was viable. According to The Reg' article it will become "a Win32-capable but UWP-focused OS with differences on the component level." … Continue reading WIndows 10 Lean and the SaaS future
Buying a new Computer; Part Three
In previous articles on the subject of how to buy a new computer I have written about the main uses for a computer, for at least 80% of the people 80% of the time, as well as the operating systems available, such as Windows 10, Chrome OS and Linux O/S's, such as Ubuntu. Ubuntu is … Continue reading Buying a new Computer; Part Three
Buying a new Computer; Part Two
In the previous post about how to choose and buy a computer, I focused on what is likely to be the main function for this particular user, that of writing, creating, editing, updating office type documents, either word processor documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Depending on what the needs of the user will be the choice … Continue reading Buying a new Computer; Part Two
Buying a new Computer; Part One
For reasons that are not that interesting here, I've recently been asked the question "which computer should I buy?" For most people the answer would be to pop down to their local computer shop, DigiTec here in Switzerland, PCWorld in England, Krefel or Vanden Borre in Belgium or Komplett in Sweden, armed with a wallet … Continue reading Buying a new Computer; Part One
21st Century Mysticism
In recent weeks I have been perturbed by two recent stories about the lack of rationality in human life. One of my passions is science and the scientific process, by which theorems are proven by the ability to observe, test, refine share and, most importantly, reproduce an outcome. That is how, in simple terms, we … Continue reading 21st Century Mysticism
The Land of Nod – read by Stephen Fry
For those who like Cricket. It's Ashes Time Music by Booker T and the MG's, Soul Limbo. The Land of Nod Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850 - 1894 From Breakfast on through all the day At home among my friends I stay, But every night I go abroad Afar into the land of Nod. All by myself I have … Continue reading The Land of Nod – read by Stephen Fry
A brief history of unified time
The history of unified time, from the view point of English history, is an interesting story and includes the story of a self taught Yorkshire carpenter, the history of maritime disasters, the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London and the mess that was the Victorian railway time table. First, a little history and science. Imagine a … Continue reading A brief history of unified time
The Mother of Invention
For reasons I am not going to go into, I have just discovered that Edwin Beard Budding was the inventor not only of the Lawn Mower, but in 1842 invented the adjustable spanner. Two everyday items that largely go unnoticed. And the name of Budding is almost unknown outside of those people who will debate … Continue reading The Mother of Invention
Who should we feed ?
I am not going to claim any ownership of this, as I am lifting this directly from The Guardian, and it can be found under the link here. Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet | Environment Rebecca Smithers The ongoing global appetite for meat is having a devastating impact on the environment … Continue reading Who should we feed ?
Clarice Cliff
I have always had mixed views of the works of Clarice Cliff. I have always enjoyed her work when looked at as art, comparable to the Arts and Crafts artists Pugin, Ruskin and Morris. She is certainly an artistic peer of either Mackintosh or Voysey. However, I have always railed against the idea of living with Cliffs work, on a … Continue reading Clarice Cliff
Food, Glorious Food
Almost everything on these pages are related to Project Management, Technology and the things that interest me. This post is no different. Except that it is not about Project Management nor Technology. I have been vegan for a little over three years. You’ll find some vegan recipes on this website. My daughter recently turned Three … Continue reading Food, Glorious Food
Getting Things Done
With all of the media noise around unified platforms, applications synchronizing between desktops, mobile and cloud environments and the need for all of us to “get things done” quickly, efficiently and, it seems, more importantly, on the go, there are more and more applications vying for our eyes, our download bandwidth and our private data. … Continue reading Getting Things Done
BBC CrowdScience
If you would like to hear me, on the BBC World Service programme CrowdScience, talking about Epigenetics, with Marnie Chesterton, you can stream the programme here. If you would like to save it, the link is here. I really hope you enjoy it. I did !
Technology misses, technology hits
When it comes to buying stuff I have, in hindsight, made some none mainstream choices, my Psion 5MX was one of my best, alas, now confined to being no more than a curio, mostly down to it not being able to connect with modern computers which lack serial ports. I am still partial to using … Continue reading Technology misses, technology hits
The Anglepoise
I love the Anglepoise lamp. Always have done. I'm not going to write much, just copy from the home page of the Anglepoise company, with some of their pictures as well. I'm not selling them, I just love them. 1931: Automotive engineer, George Carwardine develops a theoretical concept for balancing weights using springs, cranks and levers. Using … Continue reading The Anglepoise
Pink Floyd. At the V and A.
The refracting prism, the businessman ablaze, the giant inflatable pig: they may be pop’s most anonymous band, but Pink Floyd’s artwork is instantly recognisable – as this stunning V&A show proves.
Theory X, Theory Y
Theory x ('authoritarian management' style) * The average person dislikes work and will avoid it he/she can. * Therefore most people must be forced with the threat of punishment to work towards organisational objectives. * The average person prefers to be directed; to avoid responsibility; is relatively unambitious, and wants security above all else. Theory … Continue reading Theory X, Theory Y
Project Software
By a long way, Microsoft Project is by far the most popular Project Planning software. If not popular, certinaly the most used, due in no small part to it's integration with Microsofts' Office, Outlook and other enterprise applications. MS Project is not the only game in town and there are a variety of other Project Planning software … Continue reading Project Software
Welcome to Jolla.
For the last three years my main device has been a Sailfish powered Jolla. The original Jolla launch video can be seen here on You Tube. It is excellent. For those of you unaware of Jolla, a group of Nokia engineers, who were released when Microsoft acquired the handset division of Nokia, formed a new … Continue reading Welcome to Jolla.
Reminiscent of Nokias
The recent announcement of the "new" Nokia 3110 got me thinking about all of the different Nokias I have owned over the years. There have been a few. I have owned other devices from other brands, such as the Siemens C35i which, if my memory serves correctly, was one of the earliest Cellnet branded devices. … Continue reading Reminiscent of Nokias
Mark Daniels 