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From Gutenberg to GROK, and Beyond.

Johannes Gutenberg, 14th century German printer depicted here using AI. As part of a long-term project, I’m enrolled in a French Language for Foreigners (FLE) course, level B1/B2, to be precise, with the French education service, DELF. One assignment I was given recently was to 1) listen to a podcast from France Culture, “And if writing were to disappear”, which posited that the future of…

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Endsleigh House

Lost in the mists of time. From A Page Tiring of Internet, I recently found a story I’d written on a website I’d created in the early 2000s. It was a story of my time at Endsleigh House, a former country residence/salmon-fishing lodge, once belonging to the Duchy of Bedford. The content was riddled with typos and grammatically all over the place, but I liked the story, so I set about rewriting…

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Mischief and the Magpie

“One for sorrow, two for joy…” Minwha (Korean Folk art). Two magpies and a tiger I’m sitting on my patio, idly watching a pair of chattering magpies as they go about their business, raucously hopping between trees across the way from me. I’m hoping the magpies’ noisy activity might help me find something to write about, perhaps a post that helps me better understand current affairs the media has…

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Astounding Times

In normal times, when you retire, people assume that you step away from the daily routine, the hustle and bustle of a 9 to 5, and spend your time on pet projects, day time TV, and scrolling through reels of Asian food recipes on Instagram. 1989 Cover art of Isaac Asimov’s ‘Robot Visions’ by Ralph McQuarrie Well, that may be true. Why preoccupy yourself with distant matters when there are more…

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Burdigala

It’s January, and, having recently retired, my time is, in theory, my own. So instead of staring out the window watching the birds pecking at the nuts and seeds my wife puts out for them while they shelter from the blustery January weather, I decided to finish writing a piece I started last September but put aside for more pressing matters. Bordeaux December 2024 – River Garonne January One year…

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Floirac33270

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A Scribbler's Jumbled and Overflowing Notebook

We all have our little ways of whiling away the odd five minutes of down time, such as daydreaming, playing Sudoku, or idly doodling. One of my favourites is, especially during meetings, noting odd words from a speaker’s presentation or jotting down what may, oftentimes, appear to be unrelated or irrelevant bits of information but that may one day be useful. It’s a revelation to learn that…

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Freedom of Movement: Myths and Realization

Continue reading Untitled

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The Soothing Sound of the Ocean

What follows is a short fictional story to illustrate an attitude and an approach taken by one couple to reach a mutually fixed objective; any resemblance to persons living or actual events is, as they say, purely coincidental. The Scribe – George Cattermole (1800–1868). Photo Credit: The Cooper Gallery *** One morning, as Anton Parris and his wife, Fleur, were sitting in the salon of their…

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A Chateau in the French Cévennes

Avid readers of travel guides and trip advisors, will have certainly come across some descriptions of hotels or places of interest and wondered at their veracity, for example: “Tucked away in the French south-western region of the Cévennes, a natural park of stunning beauty and not far from the town of Millau, now famous for its bridge, the Chateau D’Ayres Hotel, a 16th-century chateau and site…

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Amsterdam - Valéncia (AMS-VLC): There and Back from a Data Mining Perspective

When a marketing service, such as Holland Travel Marketing, announces that Valéncia is “the most popular city of Spain among Dutch travellers,” it’s a fact based on actual data. Although I’m not Dutch, I have made multiple trips this year from Amsterdam to Valencia, Spain, and because of my own experience with data storage, I can see how this particular source may have come to that…

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Writing "Stuff" on Internet

The perception, or misconception, today is that social media offers a safe space and a certain degree of protection, even impunity, for those expressing a point of view. Social media should offer and be respected as a safe space; however, as none other than Mike Tyson said, social media is making people too comfortable. It’s unlikely that many people would want to take Mr. Tyson to task for his…

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Awaiting The Big Reveal

It’s been a while—three months—since my last post, which begs the question: what could possibly have happened during that time that merited a quiet period? “… And how do you explain this gap in your resumé, Mr. R?” … a question I doubt I’ll ever again. There is no such thing as a setback. As it transpires, a lot can happen in three months; in fact, the mind may boggle at what can happen and be…