The Not So Nooby Book Writer

It has been a while since I have written a tech blog post. Where to begin? Problems. We have problems. We need solutions and sometimes tech can be used to solve those problems. There are limited resources and there is a disconnect between those facing the problems and those tasked with solving the problems. There is a new AI focused ministry attachment. Maybe what we really need is a ministry of problem solving. MOPS for short. Honestly I think much of our problems would be solved if we bring back the love. Love for each other and love for God. What we love for ourselves, we love for others. Our measure of success would be the human development index. Currently we rank 60th out of 193 countries. Amidst all the problems there is much to be grateful for but we can and should do better. Much of what happens in Trinidad is affected by the ugly politics. We have an illusion of democracy. What we really have is a prolonged battle between the two main tribes. Too much energy is wasted in batt...

This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks . __________ "God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere." - Voltaire __________ The mathematician in me loves this quote and I want to make sense of it. Why a circle? Why not a square? Why not any other shape? A circle has no beginning and no end. It is whole, infinite, seamless. No circumference suggests that there is no ending. A center that is everywhere suggests that God is in everything. God is omnipresent and omnipotent. I learnt that Voltaire believed in God but was a critic of organised religion. I do not share the same criticism for religion. I do not blame my religion for the wrongs I see. I blame myself and the people. It is us that creates the problems and we are more than capable of creating problems with or without religion. Religion is a structure and people are the agents. I noticed the word cleric can be formed from the letters of the word circle. Circle makes me...

This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks . __________ "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus __________ I went looking for a quote. I decided to look for "obscure quotes" as I was getting tired of the often repeated and well known quotes. I ended up on a thread on reddit and one user added this quote. Even though it is not obscure it was just the type of quote I was wanting to find. It reminds me that the only constant in life is change. Also, enjoy the moments because we never get them again. Also, experience changes us for better or for worse. Hopefully for the better. We have not found a way to time travel yet. Life has no undo button. There is both melancholy and empowerment in these realisations. We cannot go back, but we can grow, learn, and be more intentional as we move forward. If only river was spelt rever then we would be able to reverse through...

This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks . __________ "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." - Jon Kabat-Zinn __________ I was looking at quotes that hit hard and this quote stood out to me. It seems mundane and obvious and often repeated. Life is about how we respond to the inevitable. It is not what happens to us but how we respond. I had to ask myself to dig deeper and look below the surface. Then I saw that when we surf we really become the waves. We become friends with the waves. The waves and us are the same. Further, the waves are created by us and in our heads. We can control the waves because who can surf all the time? Sometimes we just have to come to shore and build sand castles on shore. I asked my friend Gemini for feedback and he said that I was right, the Jon Kabat-Zinn quote initially seems like a simple call for resilience, but my deeper dive reveals profound layers. The idea that we can move beyond merely rea...

This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks . __________ "In quoting others, we cite ourselves." - Julio Cortazar, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds __________ Of course I had to include a quotation about quotations. A quotation is like looking in the mirror. It is the reflective nature of resonance. It is the human need for self-perception. If we did not have mirrors or cameras, which are really specialised mirrors, we could not see ourselves. Pieces of water like puddles or ponds are also mirrors. Mirrors found in nature. Quotations are like fishing in the pond of all the words ever spoken. Just like the fishes in the pond, quotations are good food for thought. It is true what they say, we are what we eat. When I look in the mirror I see a human first. I see humility. I see love. I see dreams. I see purpose. I see humour. I see stories. I see a writer. I see a writer who is honing his talent. I see a writer looking for inspiration. I see a writer tr...

This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks . __________ "Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island, what book would I bring: 'How to Build a Boat.'" - Steven Wright __________ I was scrolling through quotes from a Google search for deep quotes and deep into that scrolling and reading quotes, I saw a link for a list of funny quotes that are even safe for work. I told myself, that is what I need, a good laugh. And from that list, I had to dig deep before I chose this quote that made me smile really hard. It was SOL rather than LOL, IYNWIM. (Smile out loud; Save our laughs; Save our lives;) I guess Steven is [W]right. I then thought to myself it would have been great if Noah wrote a book on building boats except he built an ark. What is an ark? What makes it an ark? This has really been a quotation sp-ark as the name of this book goes. We would not try to build a plane because that would be too difficult but a plane would work al...

This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks . __________ "Half of happiness is learning to love everything you don't have." - Niklas Göke __________ This quote stood out to me because I could not understand it but I wanted to understand it even more. Why would I love something I do not have? I do not have a laptop, why would I love that? Yes, I love laptops. Yes, I love technology. But I do not love the fact that I do not have a laptop. I feel like I could accomplish more with a laptop. My goal is to create a small office space in the corner of my room. Is this quote about ambition? Probably not. What if something is bad for me and I do not have it, should I still love it? Should I love alcohol? I love when a quote makes us ask questions. I love when a quote makes us think. This quote is simple yet profound even though I am yet to understand it fully. Makes me reimagine the saying that life is about the haves and the haves-not. Except, we are ta...