I hope you’re enjoying the snow and cold as much as I am. We were in Charleston, SC last week for an M&A event and marketing strategy session, and as much as I was against leaving a day early to beat the snowstorm home, Nancy was right (somebody please note the date that I acknowledged this) in suggesting we do so. After sitting in DC for 5+ hours on Saturday, waiting on a connection, we made it home and I’ve since been able to use the snowblower at least four times. Best money I’ve spent in a long time! Looks like some skiing on the agenda for this weekend and maybe some pond hockey in the near future.
Today marks our first attempt at our entire distribution list receiving this publication from our new marketing solution, rather than splitting between past and present as we have for the past couple of weeks. So, if you get this, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know whether it hit your inbox or your spam filter, so we can continue to fine tune everything. In the meantime, scroll on down for frozen water, LinkedIn scams, granite rocks, coffee cups, and more.
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Frozen Water
Since Nancy used to sell stone and tile and remains a granite expert, I probably know more than most laypeople about granite. As such, I’d imagine that I had a post about granite curling stones four years back prior to the most recent Winter Olympics. But, it’s always interesting to hear about the Scottish island where all Olympic curling stones are birthed.
And while we’re on the topic of Olympic ice events, I found this piece about the evolution of ice skates to be fascinating. While I’ve spent plenty of time on 3mm wide steel blades, I had no idea that they were originally made from bone.
Lastly, but still on the topic of Olympic ice, I thought I’d give a shout out to Laila Edwards of Cleveland Heights, who will be skating on the US womens Olympic hockey team in Italy, beginning next week. Her older brother Bobby was on a few of the teams I coached, and I remember her and her sister as little rink rats playing ball hockey in the corners while we were on the ice practicing. I guess that just means I’m old!
LinkedIn Scams
Another good reminder to ‘think before you click’, or to at least review the URL you’re about to visit. Scammers are now using LinkedIn to spread malware by convincing unsuspecting users to click a link after showing a popup that they’ve been temporarily banned from the platform.
Coffee
I rarely drink coffee, and if I do, it’s only cold brew as I don’t care for hot beverages (even when it’s 10 degrees out like today). And then, I don’t drink with a lid on, so I’ve never paid attention to the top of a to-go coffee cup. But if you’ve ever wondered where there’s a second hole on the lid, now you can find out.
Sharks
Jaws has always been one of my favorite movies, and while I’m not sure why somebody decided to put together a list of history’s worst shark attacks, said list ended up in my inbox this week. Not to ruin it for you, but number one on the list was the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during WWII. If you’re looking for something to add to your reading list, check out In Harm’s Way about that sinking and the sailors’ struggle to survive in the South Pacific. Great book!
Circular Reasoning
Anybody who’s ever used AI to create something, whether it be a blog post, an image, or a video, probably knows that you need to perform some reality checks before you share your work, lest you have AI hallucinations. Now, security experts are suggesting that AI that is trained on AI (circular reasoning, for those who’ve ever worked in Excel) is an even bigger concern. If your AI is being trained on something that’s not real, you’re going to get even less ‘real’ results. And that leads to liability issues.
We use AI for a variety of solutions both internally and externally, but the first thing we always tell anybody who asks is that they need to ensure that no company data is being shared to public AI models. And now we need to remind focus about this issue!
Google Gemini AI
Jim Millican loves to remind everybody here in the office that with Google, “you are the product”. They track everything you do and sell the data, which is why most of what they offer is free. Now Google’s Gemini AI is connected to your inbox (if you’re using Gmail) and those AI search results are also based on your photos, email, calendar, and more. All the more reason to separate where you live your online life.
That’s all for this week. I’ll leave you with the most exciting hockey call I’ve heard in a long time (Jack Michaels for the Edmonton Oilers, who’s right up there with Tom Hamilton in my book) and an interesting (and seemingly reasonably priced) mansion on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for $7M.
Have a great weekend and stay warm!
Abbey