It’s often been said that half of Physics can be summed up in the sentence “You can’t push on a rope.” The other half is: T M A U H S W T Well, the Spy has said both often enough, at least. It’s a common belief, reinforced by a boatload of Speculative Fiction led […]
Technologically speaking it has been the worst of months, it has been the best of months, or perhaps neither. On the low tech side of things, the Acme engine (never terrific) on his 40+ year old BCS Mainline walk behind tractor that he lately uses only as a tiller, choked out its last while preparing […]
The Spy has it on good authority that on Monday next week after the markets close, Apple will announce the takeover of one-time rival IBM for a cash and stock package valued at $162B, just under a 25% premium over where the latter’s stock was trading this week. Given that Apple’s own market cap at […]
Last Month’s chat ended with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are no doubt laughing at the North Americans who must seem to them bent on destroying the very democracy we once touted as superior to their brutal and genocidal dictatorships. Surely they can now go to war, annex their neighbours (and eventually us) into a […]
A couple of recent purchases are worth a mention here. First up is Apple’s second generation TV+ Siri remote –product A2540 with the aluminum case, now sold with the Apple TV. 4K, but also available for standalone purchase. This is the replacement for earlier iterations of the Siri remote in the black case–a rather poorly […]
To the thieves who stole jewelry from my Bradner home on September 16–two questions: 1. How much did your fence give you for 52 priceless years of memories? Enough for a couple of fixes each of your favourite narcotic? 2. Why didn’t you also take the flowers in the living room? You could have made […]
A hot summer gasps to an end in numerous western wildfires that spew smoke across the continent, the degree of Arctic ice melt is unprecedented, high temperatures and drought set records–all visual evidence that the climate is indeed changing, and more rapidly than even the worst pessimists once predicted. Meanwhile billionaires engage in a space […]
And the not entirely so grimas, once again, Canada persists in celebrating the Spy’s birthday a couple of daysearly and the Excited States a day late. ‘Course, both have been at it a tad longerthan he, so he extends best wishes that both will outlast him, despite at least someindicatiors to the contrary. Truth and […]
With apologies to “Our Anne” (with an “e”) the Spy this months takes note of some notable disappointments, failures, and wonders who or what is on the brink. We start with the technological realm itself of course, but this column has always been about much more than machinery. The industry giants have had their share […]
Technology News and Views Since 1983May 2021 The academic realm is often stereotyped as an impregnable, remote-from-life, unscalable ivory tower with little to say to the real world. The Spy’s corner of said kingdom is actually an ivory basement overdue for new carpeting and a coat of paint, and he likes to think his […]
With the announcement this past week that Volkswagen was to embrace the electric era by changing the corporate name to Voltswagen, the Spy decided to research the matter of pending corporate name changes and related issues. He made some fascinating discoveries. And, in an exclusive to this intrepid reporter comes word on internal debates at […]
Some things just last longer than others Those comfortable old sweaters, housecoats, a few pants and shirts worn to threadbare, and even beyond as they get relegated to gardening work, the 91 Buick Regal we kept till last year, and traded in before it was really finished with life, the forty year old rototiller, the […]
Technology News and Views Since 1983February 2021 Why is understanding so difficult? The Spy’s opening lectures to both his first year calculus classes, and his third year computing students taking programming language concepts start with much the same words. “To date you have been shown recipes for ways to manipulate your algebras (that’s what a […]
January 2021 The Technology Industry did well in the otherwise annus horribilis of 2020. Remote teaching, learning, business and personal teleconferencing, combined with the need to outfit and/or upgrade home offices meant that sales of computing equipment finished well after a short-lived COVID-induced slowdown. Preliminary indications to the third quarter show that Lenovo, GP, and […]
The global villagewas much touted back in the 60s and 70s. Better knowledge of our neighbours, countrypersons and those of other nations was supposed eventually to bring about unity, prosperity and a great love-in. The Spy has noted before in this space that his own prediction back in the day was quite the opposite, that […]
COVIDhas dramatically changed university teaching, and not in the Spy’s humble opinion, for the better. Oh, yes, students can still take university courses when, but for a few requiring personal skills performance, they are entirely online. But the Spy has four major concerns: 1. the lack of face-to-face interaction. Not only does the professor not […]
Apple and Tesla last week split their stock, the former by four-to-one and the latter by five-to-one. Since splits make the price of a single stock lower, such actions tend to attract more retail investors and this pushes the price up further. In the case of Apple this is merely the latest in a long […]
Applewas the first corporation to reach a stock valuation of $1 Trillion. Spectacular latest earnings results have pushed that to $1.85T, putting the company back in first place worldwide and poised to become the first to surpass $2T. Not bad for the little outfit from Cupertino that all the pundits once forecast would fail. Earnings […]
Will we?Yes, eventually, but as said repeatedly here, the Pandemic is far from over, and this particularly so in the rush by governments, corporations and unions to “return to business”. We cannot and we will not return to the way it was last Fall.We cannot because many of those employers are no longer in business […]
Technology News and Views Since 1983May 2020 The Spy is a little latewith his meanderings and prognostications this month. The two weeks of year end meetings and activities lacked an actual graduation ceremony–a great disappointment for students to be sure, who have to wait till November or later for their walk across the stage and […]
