Sorry, You Must Adapt to the Machine

This article has been written over a few weeks, and therefore has changed direction slightly from beginning to end. The core of the article still remains intact and he is very much about people losing the ability to be flexible and insightful in their thought and actions. Choosing instead in many cases to go for the quick fix even though it misses a lot of the detail and depth. It doesn't matter what the topic of discussion is about people just want the answer quickly.

Personally, I love understanding the details and find it rather sad that we are going through this, faster, shallower time. From my perspective it is working through the details to gain greater understanding where a person really grows. It is not enough to know the answer, to really benefit one must understand how the answer was arrived at. The current buzz phrase is "Artificial Intelligence" and I have seen article after article praising it in this application or that application. Let us be clear, even if A.I. has some spectacular uses, people must not forget how to understand and ultimately learn so that indeed you can benefit the most from the use of artificial intelligence. It is not just the answer that matters, it is the details that make up the answer.

Take for example the photo at the top of this article: at first glance it is an old rusting truck but there are many other details contained within the photo that tell the story. Depending on your interpretation of the image the story can be dramatically different but as you examine all of the items and aspects your understanding will grow. A side note to this photo is it was taken many years ago but my father. He had a habit of just taking a photo of something that caught his eye and I think this is one of those cases. I came across it in a collection of old slides about 20 years ago when I had the presence of mind to scan it. We can be fairly certain that the photograph was taken in Canada and that's about all I know. Still something about it caught my father's attention… We will never know what it was… Perhaps the time of day the colours and shadows in the image. In the next few days I will post to this article the full size original scan. For now though consider the thought that went into not only the photograph but the actual creation of the vehicles depicted. There was absolutely no AI back then involved. The truck itself looks like it's from the 1950s which would mean that only be designs would be and calculated and drawn up. Think of the mental process that the people had and employed to make it all come together. It is truly inspiring to know that throughout history the human race has been able to repeatedly achieve remarkable things. Yes we still have to adapt… That is a good thing. There will be a time however when we have a choice in regards to artificial intelligence, however at this time...
 

Like it or not, we are still in an age where we must adapt to the machine.

 People are loosing their ability to adapt to new situations and they are doing so willingly.

In the last five years I have noticed a real degeneration in people's expectations.

• They are self-centred and usually quite extreme regardless of context.
  
  
• There appears to be a real lack of the amount of time or effort involved.
  
  
• There is an assumption that technology or someone else's work will take care of any aspect of their idea they don't want to address
  .
• They believe that using AI means that everything will be done perfectly.

Boy do I have news for them. More than ever, people need to improve their adaptability and social IQ. We are not living in a small cloistered community anymore. Unlike previous generations, all the benefits and issues are going to require people to be flexible and more aware. With greater achievement always comes greater responsibilities and it's not the other way around.

Society is going to have to begin to look at it entirely new paradigms. As I write this the USA is going through some very, very turbulent and destructive events. This is largely due to old attitudes and ways of perceiving the world. In a way this is the late 1960s all over again except that the upheaval is being caused by a very small group of old guard individuals.

These individuals are unwilling to adapt and what I see is that many people are being swayed emotionally to at least some of their ways of thinking. This is dangerous. The world is not what it was 100 years ago or even 50 years ago. You cannot go back because what you recall is a "simpler time" never existed. Every step in human history was and will be complicated and require the individuals of the society to be involved. When you invoke the idea of a simpler time you are just cherry picking the pleasant parts of the past.

This trend toward being more inflexible and one's attitude also has other side effects. If we approach one's lifestyle with such an attitude we may not only ignore danger signs but impact the quality of one's life as well. I mention this in the video when someone I know insists on drinking 11 cancel the pop per day and regardless of the health consequences. True that is an extreme situation but it is an extreme example worth mentioning because settler behaviours are occurring in society. People adopt a perception about the world and stick to it blindly. This is not a good way of getting the benefits from life and is ultimately extremely self limiting.

Anything worth doing well, takes time and this is the other component that I see people shying away from. Don't look for the quick fix. It doesn't exist. You must be involved in whatever endeavour you undertake and if it is a large event in your life by the time you are through it you will have changed. Usually this is a positive change because to encompass a great idea means you must understand things to a greater detail than you did when you started your endeavour. But again this takes time and a great deal of effort.

Don't assume that technology will come to the rescue and do all the things you don't want to do. You want to do as much as you can because this is how you broaden your horizons. Doing anything less leaves you at a risk of not understanding a part of your endeavour. It would be like learning only the rudimentary parts of a language and not understanding the subtleties involved in the phrasing which might lead you to some very unexpected results.

"For best results, be prepared to adapt to the machine, and in this case the machine is life itself."

Stay involved everyone. Stay flexible in your outlook and critically consider all that you hear and read.

Take care Patrick

The Exploration Afforded by Learning

This is most definitely going to be an opinion piece, but I just have to articulate how much joy I get out of real understanding. Or even not understanding and learning in the process that I have to open up another way of looking at things. It is a real joy, and in a strange way I like it when it is most difficult.

It is not the challenge that drives me, it is knowing at the end of the day I will be a little different and I won't be able to say what that difference is until I get there. There is also a distinct feeling of building something. Not in the physical sense but in the sense of growth. The potential however for creating something real down the road based on the knowledge I have gained is most certainly there however. The barn door has just got a little more open 😀.

When I was younger the prevailing perception of getting older was that you slow down. Imagine my surprise then in the present day when I have discovered that things get faster and although sometimes I can't keep up I enjoyed the chase. Like "Wile E. Coyote" chasing after the Road Runner.

Obviously due to my current age, 65, I learned the skill of manually gaining knowledge a very long time ago. So it is more than challenging for me to understand the thinking and perceptions inherent in a "new model year brain". Do people today process reality in the same way and do they clean as much information as I think I do. Consider this there are adults out in the world right now who may have had not only the Internet available to them for their entire lives but to technology that goes along with it. So for example let's say they have always used a search engine for their research. Imagine if that wasn't available. The challenge of not only finding physical material but knowing where to look and how to piece things together, these activities might be completely new to them. I am intrigued as to how the problem would be approached by different people.

 

One of my memories when I was 12 or 13 was receiving for Christmas the hardcover version of "The Radio Amateur's HANDBOOK' which I absolutely adored and wore it out by the time I was 15.yes, I was an absolute nerd, quite content to spend hours with the book or work on a project. Guess what, I still am. Recently I found an original 1970s addition of the exact book online and in so attempted to spend $100 Canadian just for the sake of memorabilia. I fondly remember going through Ohm's law with my father while we discussed the latest chapter. I don't know whether I will get the book or not, but finding the exact copy online and available in good condition, sure makes it tempting.[Note: There were two completely different books published under the exact same name. The one I refer to is the one from the publisher Crowell, New York ]

The Radio Amateur's Handbook
by:A. Frederick Collins,
Robert Edward Hertzberg

WorldCat.org listing:
The radio amateur's handbook

Authors: A. Frederick Collins, Robert Edward Hertzberg
Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0690667736  

ISBN 13: 9780690667738

Year: 1970
Edition:12th rev. ed.
Publisher: Crowell, New York
Physical Description: vi, 374 pages illustrations 22 cm

Here's an idea: resolve for one day, or longer if you like, to find solutions to anything that comes up in your life without using the Internet. Even though the idea is simple do most people now days have the skill set to so the problem, by lack of a better phrase by doing it "the old-fashioned way of physical research"? This could be a lot of fun if taken in small steps. You could pose a question to a friend and go on an adventure to find the resolution. If you're going to play the game I would suggest keeping it simple at first, but not so simple in that it is boring. The question must be enticing enough to make you and your friend want to find the answer. Then you could pick another topic to solve. It could be a lot of fun and I would really be interested in knowing if it made any changes in your life or outlook.

The idea could be expanded upon for example: How would people in the 1960s find the answer. You could then set limits to use only the tools and technology that were available then. This could actually be very exciting. Debating teams used to be very popular in high schools and colleges. While this thought is not exactly on topic the idea of explaining your point of view is again an adventure in learning. Sometimes will explaining something you inadvertently learned something about yourself. Debating teams by the way are when a group of people ticket topic and have to group takes one point of view and the other usually takes the opposite. Then they begin to develop their rationales as to why their point of view is the better one. They debate this until one of the teams wins. Of course frequently when you do this you find out things you never considered. Which is one of the great payoffs to really learning something. It is usually not the end goal where most of the learning and experience a curse it is the trip toward the end goal that provides the benefits. Sometimes you might even completely change your mind on an idea.

Now days ideas tend to be polarized. Take a look at any set of videos on YouTube, pretty much on any issue. There won't be discussion between the various groups, there will be sensationalism and polarization of the topic. This is not a good way to learn about knowledge because it mixes far too much extreme emotion into the issues. To really consider the pros and cons of anything you must at least be willing to keep your emotions from overwhelming the issue and becoming more important than anything else. Many times I have set on this blog "Don't take anything personally." I would like to add to that statement "Frst consider what the issue is based on the information you have available to you" and then don't take anything personally." In this way you learn to think before you feel and that gives you the ability to make choices when the emotions do come into play.

 If you would like to download the original untouched full-size photo, just click on the following image. 

Original full-size photo of a close-up Hydrangea macrophylla bloom with shades of violet and white. Three flowers from a Crocosmia are poking right out of the Hydrangea macrophylla. The protruding Crocosmia flowers are a brilliant orange. Set against a background of naturally occurring large green leaves. This photo is completely untouched and natural. I ran across these flowers by accident. Clicking on this image will download the full resolution photograph. It is the same image as the one at the top of the article minus that headline embedded in the graphic.

 

IMG_2189.jpg

Date	2012-07-25 6:11:50 pm
Model	Canon PowerShot SX120 IS
Width	3648
Height	2736
ISO Rating	100
Shutter Speed	1/50 sec
Aperture	f/4.3
Focal Length	60 mm
Exposure Bias	0 EV
Metering Mode	Multi-Segment

Consider the tremendous benefit over once lifetime understanding how to acquire knowledge (learning) as well as apply it in new and interesting ways. The development of that skill has brought us creative people throughout the centuries. People who think, and feel, and then apply what they understand to the world and society. What a gift! The human race can simply not forget how to learn new things through effort and challenge. Not only does the person grow in spirit and ability ultimately the greater society benefits. The very technology we use every day is a clear demonstration of this. Information is now simpler to access than ever before, but in order for it to be fully used we must develop the skills only achieved by true understanding and learning.

So make a commitment to regularly put down the easy way of doing things and revisit some of the learning traditions that have helped humanity evolve.
 

This has been a very short but hopefully inspiring and thoughtful article.
Take care and as always leave comments.

Patrick

 

Summer Photos 2012 to 2023

 (This article is long. Consisting of 41 photos and text.  If it is not displaying fully click the article title or click here.)

Note: In order to incorporate all the photographic information, some of the behind-the-scenes code needed to be edited directly. In other words a human was involved in the formatting of this post, namely myself and there may be errors.

If you find any, please report them via the "Contact Us" form on every page.

 When I came up with this idea a few weeks ago, it sounded so straightforward; find some of my favourite pictures from the last 10 or 11 years and created a slideshow. Sounds simple right? Well the devil's in the details and it's a good thing I love details 😀. Because then I thought,  "Why not allow everyone to download the original photographs.", and that thought led to, "I wonder if there's a way to export all the photo information?"

Well, the answer to all of the above was "Yes". The only question was how much time I had to put in to this little endeavour. But it was too late, I had started a plan and 41 photographs later, combined with some old-school trickery to extract the information from the JPEG files, I had the beginnings. 

The video had its own ups and downs. I of course decided to do the whole thing in 4K. Meaning the 13 minute video took over 2 hours to render. and I had to do it several times for various technical reasons.

All in all, it's about 35 hours worth of work. But it was worth it. I will add some comments to the photographs I remember details. Some are in the lower mainland of BC and others are taken from a trip to Trail British Columbia in about 2012. While others come from roaming around Vancouver and Surrey.

Better pictures for you...

"Blogger", the website host, tends to re-compresses any photo uploaded to it and there is a loss of quality, you will note that each picture has a filename below. Clicking on the file name will download the highest resolution photograph I have on my Google Drive. You are welcome to use them in whatever way you wish with no attribution necessary. I hereby place all of the photos in this post in the public domain.

I have adjusted some of the photos in the video version to make it work visually better. The downloaded versions are untouched and were created using the two cameras from Canon. Namely the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III for the newer photographs and the Canon PowerShot SX120 IS for the older images. (These links will lead you to the "Canon camera Museum")

The Video: Summer Photos from 2012 to 2023

So first, here is the 13 minute video which is basically a slideshow. and again it is yours to do with as you wish with no strings attached.

You can watch it below, or you can download the file directly from here to have your own copy, but be aware of a few things if choosing to download the file itself:

• This is the original large video source file. It is 2.73 GB in size, meaning that it will take a while to download.
  
  
• Unlike playing in through the YouTube window below, which automatically adjusts, to your devices capabilities this is a 4K video. Meaning that it may not play on all devices.
  
  
• It may be necessary on some devices to right click, or tap and hold, the above download link in order to actually get the file to download rather than play.

The Original Individual Untouched Photos 

Okay we are in summer so it's time to put up some photos!

 Yep, this post is going to be photos that I have taken recently in parks and all around wherever I have found myself lately. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to it. All photography there part of this particular blog post in the public domain.

 

I started this last night on a whim so I have no idea what I would've put here but I will make sure that every single photo can be downloaded in full resolution, so all links lead to the full resolution photo sitting on my Google Drive.Standby and will see what happens.😀 

All shots taken with a Canon G7 market 3

 

 

 

 

 

 There are more photos to see on an earlier post I made. Not necessarily from the same camera. This older post is a bit of a time warp. You can find them in the article: Yahoo, it's the beloved weekend! (Free Photos)

I do have a few photographs for purchase up on Displate. If you've never heard of this company they print artwork on metal with the result being that the posters are held on the wall by simple magnets. They ship all over the world. 

And Just for the Heck of It…

Here is a variation on on the BEE photo. A lightened up, with saturated colour poster, suitable for printing on 8.5 x 11 paper. "IT BEE SUMMER!" indeed 😎 .

Patrick

PS: If anyone would like the RAW image versions of these shots please let me know. These are in Canon's CR3 format are unedited and of much higher quality. Note however that not all devices can display them. There is also no lens correction. However if you have an idea what I'm talking about they are worth the extra effort.😀

Life Is Short; Don't Rush through It

Click to enlarge.

At least in the industrialized developed parts of the world, the modern human experience it's a funny thing.

We are all so busy filling our lives with everything. Even when we take time off there is a tendency to fill those days up with an official activity or vacation and we plan these events out. It is my impression that more and more people are effectively rushing through their days. By doing so I think a major point of existence is being missed and that is taking the time to appreciate all of the unique and wonderful things as well as some of the more complex or not so wonderful things.

To do this effectively one must learn to Stop. Put down the plan. Take some time to let go of the technology or other distractions and deliberately do without for a while. You will be amazed at what you're missing and that tends to be your very life in its finer points. The realization may hit you that life is not infinite so why are you rushing it? Every one of us will reach the inevitable and and regardless of what you believe it will be the end of what you know as existence now. You may live forever perhaps but it will be in a different form and in a different way. The point is that you cannot come back to the way you are now. So appreciate things by getting out of the routine and occasionally deliberately stopping for a day or two if you can.

Every second that passes you by cannot be renewed or redone. Stopping every once in a while will increase your appreciation of your very existence and those around you. It will definitely deepen your appreciation of everything, so when you do go back to your full speed you may see things differently and really understand the tremendous uniqueness of where you are at.

It's pretty straightforward stuff and yet so profound.

PS: The photo of the roses at the top of this page I hereby place in the public domain. The full-size image has been uploaded simply click on the picture.

If you have difficulty downloading picture click on this link to open the image in an alternate way which will give some browsers the ability to save the file. If that still does not work for you please send me a note via the contact us form.

Take care Patrick

Today, the plan is to get out and enjoy a life!

You could call this "article" a live post. Over the last few weeks I have had challenges in keeping the blog as up-to-date as I've wanted to do. Time has not been a friend of late with so much to do. So today's post is literally going to be done on the run. Not on any particular topic but compiled from my adventures as I zip around in my electric wheelchair from one part of the lower mainland of British Columbia to the other. I'm referring to the greater Vancouver area. 

 Yesterday we  accidentally made it all the way to downtown Vancouver and around the Stanley Park seawall and back to Surrey. I say accidentally because I had planned any of it.

I am also compiling a short about 10 minutes video a montage of sorts containing some of the scenes and places I arrived back. Today it's up to the Oakridge Park area. A section of the city that I hear is going through a great change and from the developers website it sounds like they want to be a new city centre. We shall see...

 It's now almost a week later, but I finally compiled a short three minute video containing springtime/summertime photos and video clips. This is only a little over three minutes long but I think captures the real spirit of the season and truly becoming aware of the awesomeness around us. I know that sounds trite, but it really is true. So without further ado, here is "Springtime Swing": (If it is not available yet come back in about an hour, I just uploaded it and it is in 4K.)

I do plan to go out again tomorrow, Saturday, May 27, and it looks like the weather is going to be beautiful. So I'll be posting an article or adding to this one hopefully sometime over the weekend. Take care

Patrick

Never Assume Anything. Cherish Everything.

Let the sunshine in!

 Boy if this isn't the perfect article for a sunny Sunday

One of those serendipitous moments when you suddenly realize your place in the world and how lucky one is to be alive and able to appreciate and interact with the world. Indeed just a joy in the realization of the serendipity 😃.

Once again I'm going to say what I've said many times earlier on this blog [paraphrasing myself] "I have seen too many people take too many things for granted…" I am going to add to that statement "and not appreciate what they have." I had to go downstairs earlier this morning to return a phone to someone and noticed that the dining room was full of people munching on food well before the normal lunch hour. Where I live they officially only serve lunch and dinner as well as a midday snack. The unofficial breakfast is because of some additional funding founded during Covid to bring in someone to handle small tasks not related to health care. At the end of this month we lose that wonderful person and will no doubt be going back to a normal schedule. Now, I only eat lunch and dinner so was pretty much unaware of this routine, even though it is been going on for a few years. My only defence for not noticing this is that I am such a nerd I have a tendency to discard what isn't immediately pertinent to whatever project I am undertaking.

 However some of the tenants just don't get it. How lucky we all are that we are for the most part still functioning and have a support staff that the rest of the world should be jealous of. (And they probably are). Yet there are ongoing grumblings about this and that. It kind of pisses me off so pardon me will I choose to stay in a more positive frame of mind. I think that about does it for this short post. I'll include a little video so you can see my general enthusiasms. (by the way: I uploaded a full-size version of the flower at the top of this post in PNG format it is  huge about 26 MB in size but you are more than welcome to download it.)

Have a great day everyone.

Patrick

Yahoo, it's the beloved weekend! (Free Photos)

License: Non Commercial
No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

 Yahoo, it's the beloved weekend! Here's a few free photos.

I can't think of much to write today. Myself and my brain are just not in that space.

Although usually I can come up with something to say almost instantly today, for whatever reason-The Rabbits Just Aren't There (and I have no idea what I mean by that last statement, because it just occurred to me and since I do most of my typing by voice dictation it just came out and I think it sounds rather cool.)

So for today I am just going to post some pictures I've taken over the years using various cameras and edited with Corel PaintShop Pro Ultimate. (Software publishers site.) If anything strikes your fancy you are free to download it and use it as you wish. I hereby declare that anything you see in this post which is using this domain is in the public domain.

I do have a few photographs for purchase up on Displate. If you've never heard of this company they print artwork on metal with the result being that the posters are held on the wall by simple magnets. They ship all over the world.

Okay here in no particular order are a few photos taken over the years.

All but the last one, which is a picture of the Sun Tower taken in Vancouver are in their original full-size files. Simply click on the photo. Unfortunately the original of the Sun Tower has been lost to time. 

The photos were taken across the lifespan of three cameras: (Links to the Canon Camera Museum.)

• Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III
• Canon PowerShot SX120 SI
• Canon PowerShot SX620 HS

Enjoy your weekend and continue to have a great day.

Patrick

PS: This post will scroll off the front page of the blog in about 10 days. If you would like to revisit it easily click this link and bookmark the resulting page. Tip:All posts can be permanently bookmarked in your browser by clicking on their title and then bookmarking their own webpage. You will know you have the correct page when you see only one article.

 Click photo to enlarge, and then right-click, to save.

Also available on Displate as a metal poster. Direct link here.

 

 

Also available on Displate as a metal poster. Direct link here.

 

 

 

Honey, the cell phone provider shrunk the kid's (photos)!

My family at Christmas 2019.

Over the Christmas holidays many people send photos to and from each other via text messages.

While this seems like a great idea, especially considering the resolution most modern phones have in their cameras, what is not so widely known is that most carriers (cell phone providers) have very restrictive limits on the size of picture they actually send.They will not stop you from sending the photos, but will greatly reduce them in size on the other end. What looks to you as a beautiful, priceless snapshot, can get reduced to something resembling an old time television picture.

I saw this last week when a relative of mine sent six pictures in one text, the cell phone company reduced them in size to such an extent that they were a blurry mess. Even if one changes the settings in their camera there is no guarantee the picture will not be heavily shrunk. Making it impossible to ever get a nice printout. This photo started out as a 4 megapixel image. When I received it on my phone it was 33K. That's reduction of 51 times  (approximately). This is the untouched photoas it was received on my phone

Two rules of thumb to follow:

1. If you are sending pictures via text, send only one per text. The more you send in a single text the more they become compressed.

2. If you really want to make sure that your photo stays intact, use one of the many online storage options and upload your photos to the cloud and then distribute a link to them in your text.

A cautionary note. If you are using one of these cloud-based download services to store and retrieve your photos frequently. It is best to do it while the phone is hooked up to your Wi-Fi at home to avoid exceeding your cell phone plan "data" limit.

Patrick