Much like last week, the week started on a bank holiday. I know there are a lot of them in May in France. However, unlike in other countries, the bank holiday days are fixed to the calendar day of the month. That means in practice, if the bank holiday falls on a weekend, the day off is taken on that day, and it is not moved to the following Monday like in the U.K.
To take advantage, we had friends over for lunch, and for their son to catch up with ours, they’re best friends. They’re both budding professional sports players, albeit in different sports, and they have been separated for a year whilst my son’s friend has been studying and training abroad. Next year it’ll be the same for my son, so it is important to celebrate and enjoy these moments together.
The UNCTAD training continued, and I finally finished the last module and passed the course with an average of over 80%. That is not bad for someone new to the subject. Admittedly, it’s not in my daily wheelhouse, but I found the information useful, and it has rounded my view on international trade.
I haven’t worked as much on the research paper I had been asked to write, but I plan to catch up this week. The priority was the UNCTAD training as it had a hard deadline, which was vital for me to mobilise the energy to complete the task. However, I spent much time reading academic papers on AI, ChatGPT and other LLMs in the HR industry and general productivity use in businesses. There’s already a lot of material out there. Some with questionable conclusions and others with outright listicle-like compositions. Still, they help gauge the feeling out there.
This was done, again, to a deadline, as I have been asked to teach a couple of training courses on the use, background, and usefulness of LLMs in business. I’ll be training a couple of small groups this month, and I’m looking forward to giving the participants a good overview and some food for thought.
I’ve virtually completed the writing for a newsletter post on cybersecurity. I haven’t finished it, and it’ll need a bit of trimming and editing, as well as some new topic injection, but I think I’ll be able to do it this week. I miss writing for the newsletter and getting that buzz out of writing something a little longer than brief paragraphs to satiate a personal need. So, fingers crossed, I’ll get around to it, despite having a fairly busy week ahead.
My exercise has continued, and I’ll be off for a run after I finish writing this evening. I felt much better on the last run and can already see a difference in my heart rate and how I feel while running. At least I don’t feel like I’m about to die immediately like I did at the start.
Reading
I’m still reading Foundation’s Edge and enjoying it, and there’s only one book I haven’t read in the series after this, Foundation and Earth. Unfortunately, due to some stupidity on my part, I read the two books that followed Foundation and Earth already, reading them out of step. Oh well. At least I read them.
The other books I mentioned last week are all still on the go, and I’ll be making inroads, no doubt, during the week.
I’ve also read academic papers on sports injuries, training and flexibility. I’m trying to get as much scientific evidence as possible to see how I can help my son progress. Rather than leave things to chance, professional sports require evidence and experience. I can bring some of that research to the table and hopefully contribute to building a better athlete than just leaving it to develop without guidance.
Of note
Next week will see Apple’s introduction of a totally new platform if the rumours are to be believed. Essentially, Monday is the keynote presentation of their Worldwide Developers Conference or WWDC. At 13h ET, they’re live-streaming the keynote and will talk about the new things slated to be available over the coming year or so. This year’s talk is about an xR product that leapfrogs all the VR/AR devices introduced previously to a resounding ‘meh’ from the public.
Apple rarely invents new things. Instead, it tends to look at what’s come before it and do it properly, answering the question of what problem this is solving. Up until tomorrow, all of these products have been the very definition of solutions looking for a problem.
I can’t quite see the problem that needs fixing with strapping a computer and a couple of screens to one’s face, but I’m staying open-minded for now.
That said, I think this is going to tank initially. I think it is too early —the world still isn’t ready for Glassholes— and I think it is a rushed product without need.
Time will tell if I am right or not.
On to next week.
5 June 2023 — French West Indies
