Living in the Future

Category: Blog

  • COVID Alert is now publicly available! [Links]

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    Rob Attrell

    You can download the COVID Alert exposure notification app in Canada now! It’s available on the iOS App Store as well as the Google Play Store. See more details of how it works and what it looks like in my older post when I started using the beta:

  • Here’s What Canada’s ‘COVID Alert’ app (beta) Looks Like

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    Rob Attrell

    [UPDATE – July 31]: The app is now publicly available. Go get it! On Wednesday, Health Canada finally released a beta (test) version of the Canadian ‘COVID Alert’ exposure notification app. I have been waiting for a couple of months to finally be able to get this set up once Apple and Google announced they…

  • 3 Things: WFH Edition

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    Rob Attrell

    Obviously, I would pick: Fast internet Multiple monitors Good chair

  • Happy 2nd Birthday Evie! 🥳🎉🎂

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    Rob Attrell

    Today is Evie’s 2nd birthday. In case there were any doubts she’s my daughter, check out this picture! We had such a good time celebrating her birthday today (and getting out on the bike), and Julia made a delicious pink cake that was so good!

  • Features I’m looking for in an instant messaging client

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    Rob Attrell

    I’ve spent far too much time lately trying to convince people that giving new things a shot is a worthwhile endeavour, especially when it comes to instant messaging apps. Recently, I was led down the path of discovering Skype again, and then ended up tangentially researching pros and cons of that and other messaging services.…

  • Skype is Good Again

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    Rob Attrell

    This post is all about how I came to start using Skype early in 2020 after more than 10 years away. We’re going to get to the reasons why, but first, I think it’s important to go back and figure out how we got here. If you don’t need convincing, you can catch up with…

  • Merry Christmas 2019!

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    Rob Attrell

    I hope you’ve had a really great year! Our family has had its ups and downs over 2019, but we’ve come through it with some big changes and a positive outlook on the year(s) to come! Evie celebrated her first birthday back in April, and she continues to surprise us every day with new words…

  • Ways to Improve the CBC Vote Compass (Conclusion)

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    Rob Attrell

    See my preamble for this exercise and analysis of each of the policy questions here: 2019 CBC Vote Compass Analysis. First things first, let’s tally up the questions based on whether they simply ask for a policy position (good/OK), whether they could use more information for context (bad), or whether they’re based on an extremely…

  • Propositions 31 & 32 (QOTD): Religious Symbols Ban

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    Rob Attrell

    I hate this new law so much. It’s so clear from the way it was put in place and the way it’s been defended that it’s just about racism against Middle Eastern people, mostly women specifically. The two ‘Questions of the Day’ when I took the Vote Compass were all about this law, and though…

  • Proposition 30: Religious Minorities

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    Rob Attrell

    This is a weird question for me, and because there’s no context, I’m also going to call it a bad question. How much are we saying is currently done to ‘accommodate’ religious minorities, because from my perspective it doesn’t seem like much outside of the bare minimum (for a secular state which for Christianity has…