One of the things I’ve always found interesting is how various stretches of land in the Stevensville area have been used, developed, and re-organized over the years, and especially since my childhood. From my pre-1970 perspective these areas include: The Creek (Black Creek) The Grove (which is now known as the “United Empire Loyalist Park”)

This series on AI is interesting, but I’m confusing myself. Should these posts be in the music blog (Good Vibrations) or in my more general blog (The View from Conestogo)? I’ve decided to do it this way: – Posts as they relate to the role of AI in music and the promotion of Muzictrain/Uke Crew

I wanted to move on to creating a “reel” for posting to both Instagram and TikTok. The variables here are pretty confusing, but I at least wanted to create a short lip-synched video, put some type on it, and try to get the “Comment ‘Yes” and I’ll send you blah, blah, blah.” This is more

Memories of the Village I Knew Whenever I return to Stevensville – the small town where I grew up – I am struck by the changes. My memories of the town are of people and places as they were in the 1960s. I moved away after getting married in 1968 and left most of those

My experiments with AI programs made me realize that having a group of “characters” is important. By “characters” I mean images of people who can serve as my “subjects” in posts, ads, and videos used in various media. For example, in this video I wanted a “little girl playing a ukulele”. So my first job

My recent attempt to rejuvenate Muzictrain by moving our meetings to Elmira, developing the “Jam Nite” concept and introducing “Uke Crew” has meant developing quite a bit of new material. This included program ideas, program names and accompanying logos. One of the first ones was a redo of the Muzictrain identity. This was not meant

This series of posts will focus on my developing use of AI for various purposes. One specific use will be for creating, developing and organizing products and programs for Muzictrain. These will include things like developing training courses and using various ways of promoting these programs. A good example right now is the development of

To see the reviews of a specific book on Amazon go to the book’s product page. You could also search by author, or topic. Scroll down to the Reviews section below the Author information. You should see “Write a customer review”. A review that is marked “verified purchase” has more weight than a non-verified purchase

In my previous post about Free Will I discussed why author Sam Harris calls Free Will an illusion. I suggested that there is a difference between Free Will (Big F) and free will (little f), and that is is Free Will (Big F) that Harris talking about. According to Harris and many others there is

The recent Trump-inspired uproar about Canada’s relationship with the United States has several dimensions: economic, cultural, political. All of these focus on the heightened importance of reducing our dependence on U.S. trade, diversifying our relations with other trading partners, reducing internal trade barriers between provinces, and taking better advantage of our abundant natural resources. One

We’ve decided to visit some small towns in our area of Ontario this summer. The first one was a week or so ago – a visit to Floradale, just a few km outside of Elmira. This has been a small community with many Mennonite families, but as one long time resident told me, it is

I recently watched the Jordan Peterson interview of Jim Balsillie regarding (among other things) the upcoming Canadian election. I hesitate to comment at any length, but feel it is worth sharing a few basic comments and questions. In case you are not aware of Jim Balsillie’s background, he made his fortune as co-CEO of Research

(**Sources to be added.) The problem of publicly-funded Protestant/Catholic schools was an outcome of the history of Canada. When the British defeated the French in 1763 Canada was populated with mostly RCs, but the official religion of the British Empire was Anglican (ie., non-Catholic). To avoid internal fighting the British govt gave the residents of

This dry pour concrete technique has gone viral, and it’s something we intend to try very soon. We’ll report back as the project moves along. Notice they are pouring the dry concrete right on a grassy area: no gravel and no metal supports (screen or rebar).

Many local Conestogo residents have pretty much given up on using the Glasgow St. bridge. But it’s still there, and to a limited extent at least, still being used. As far as I can tell the status and future of the bridge were determined in 2019 when it was decided to make minimal structural improvements

One of the most puzzling features of the Trump era in the U.S. is the unflinching support he continues to get from the evangelical Christian community in that country. It is puzzling because this is a man who has never professed to believe in the basic tenets of the Christian faith, and has never pretended

This August (2023) we had the opportunity to travel to Ireland for a week-long visit. Judy and I had visited the emerald isle back about 20 years ago when we flew into Belfast and drove a couple hours across to Donegal, the most northerly part of the Irish Republic. The entrance to our airbnb Like

Today when I went thru the outside doors to the food court at the mall, I heard this odd whirring sound up ahead. It was clearly an electric motor, but I couldn’t remember hearing it before. Hearing loud noises at the food court is not unusual. Young kids seem to like the echo and hearing

Nellie McClung was an activist and “suffragette”, elected to the Alberta legislature in 1921. This article is about the development of “responsible government” and universal suffrage (the right of all adults to vote) in Canada. The granting of responsible government – where citizens rather than autocrats made decisions about governance – was a process that

It’s pretty difficult to play the guitar if you can’t tell one note from another. This is what is called developing your “ear”. This skill helps you recognize when you are playing the correct note(s), when notes are higher or lower in pitch than others. And, of course, developing your ear helps you determine when