Technology on A Geek's Life

31 Days of Journaling, Day 23: My Distractions

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 18:50:08 +0000

My distractions in no particular order:

My phone with what it drags in (Twitter, Instagram)
TV, particularly media consumption (Chicago PD, NCIS in all its guises and Chicago Med being a few of the things I burn hours watching)
My (paper) notebook, a source of distraction for all the times I rewrite my to do list and obsess over the perfect productivity system instead of just getting things done

To manage these I am trying to control access, by setting up my phone to automatically turn itself off at night and restart in the morning, only watching TV at weekends and not fussing over the quality of my to do list. One more on the watch list over the next few days/ weeks I guess…

#10: The Deep Learning AI Conundrum

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 18:37:40 +0000

Will Knight highlights the conundrum at the heart of deep learning AI - demonstrably good decisions, the inner workings of which are invisible to us. Fate?

Weekly Photo Challenge - Dense

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 16:54:04 +0000

An exploded view of a Formula One Racing Car, a memento from the weekend’s frolicking at the Mercedes-Benz World in Brooklands. For the prompt, dense.

Lessons Learned: On (online) dating

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:55:40 +0000

My little experiment in online dating comes to an end over the next few weeks, thanks to expiring subscriptions. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that online dating may not be for me.

If my experience is typical, it would appear the Nigerian man trying online dating has three strikes against him. First is the perception in the wider world of Nigerians as being inherently scam artists. A bevy of websites has sprung up whose MO appears solely to be defining tactics and strategies for identifying Nigerian scam artists and outing them. The three or so women on eHarmony who I made it past guided communication into emailing with suddenly became reticent when I declared I was Nigerian. From a couple of emails a day, things segued into an email a couple of days and then them leaving my emails un-replied.

Web Reads: 10Dec2010

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:00:49 +0000

The science of attraction. Perhaps it’s all in the mind after all.
Another reason to google your name. You might be wanted for murder…
Necessity is the mother of invention - the husband who rigged up a taser device to keep his wife faithful..
The ‘completely irresponsible’ call reporting a stolen snowman
The case for eating insects..
Mathematical immortality - buy a theorem and name it after yourself.
The smart wallet that could help you spend within your means..
Bacteria that could recycle iron..
The gene for aggression.
DNA testing of babies - whilst in the womb..

Links: 3 Dec 2010

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 19:09:27 +0000

Feeding the poor with iPads: How FareShare is blending technology and social responsibility..
The game that ‘makes’ you a genetic scientist…
The radiation debate flares up again - are radio waves frying our brains?
Facebook breakups are the real deal..
The right twitter handle can make you famous.. The girl who suddenly became famous thanks to the ashes down under..
Skye Jethani’s 30 day Twitter experiment…

On Technology.... Flickering Pixels...

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:07:32 +0000

I jumped at the chance to participate in BlogTourSpot’s review of Shane Hipps new book: Flickering Pixels – How Technology Shapes Your Faith for two reasons. I was at a stage where I thought the clutter of technology was squeezing sense out of my normal life, plus I’d get a copy of the book for free.

The author’s background is in advertising, which has given him a unique insight into the working of media and how it is changing how we think, which ultimately affects how we share and live out our faith. The book sets out in broad strokes the insidious dangers that the changes media brings to our lives can generate, and by sounding out a clarion call, we can be on the lookout for them and avoid them as they arise. Several key points stand out 1. All Faith is based on communication – either from God to us or between us as adherents, and the way we primarily communicate affects our interpretation of our faith. 2. Each more ‘efficient’ means of communication we pick up has a dark side – it increases the propensity to clutter rather than clarify. 3. Media is not neutral – the message we actually get from communicating is both dependent on the message and the medium. 4. Pictures & Images (such as television) hijack our imagination. Words and printed matter however encourage us to generate our own images of the concepts being discussed, as opposed to being fed an image which in reality is one man’s interpretation of the words behind the image. 5. We have slowly become a tribe of individuals – sharing experiences on an unprecedented scale (shared experiences build community, a ‘tribal’ ethos) but yet utilizing the self same tools to build an illusion of closeness whilst in reality, it is only yet another layer of interaction, another screen between the real us and the next person. 6. For Christians, we are both the medium and the message and all other forms of communication should only be to facilitate that primary, face to face communication model, not replace it.