Ideas and Thoughts

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day, and we both agreed that the Internet is at its best when people use it to make others laugh. People get to show the world new ways to be creative and funny at the same time. When I was a Twitter user, my favourite follows were random funny people. I also have a fondness for those who figure out how to use the Internet to lift others up.

I’m fully aware of the controversy around AI music. It’s complicated, and I’d argue, a genre of music we don’t quite know what to do with. I totally understand those against it because of potential copyright issues, as well as all GenAI’s environmental challenges. But putting that aside for the moment, it is delightful and even touching what some are doing with this newfound expression.

I follow this account on Instagram and enjoy how he makes his passengers laugh and be surprised with his songs about them. Often they’re a little crass but mostly very playful and usually end with a thank you. This one particular clip went above and beyond.

There’s something about the kindness of a stranger that makes you think the world is still a pretty good place. The simple act of listening and then crafting something that lifts someone up seems like a pretty good use of technology. What other ways can AI bring delight?

Ever since Saturday night, I’ve been spending considerable time processing what happened both at the Rogers Centre and the entire season. I don’t normally post here without some loose connection to education, and I think there’s a link I can make, but as has been my habit on this space for the past 20 years, I often come here to wrestle with half-baked thoughts that I hope by the end resemble coherence. In the end, I ended up adding this one to my series on delights, but it goes beyond that.

I love what Chris wrote last week about baseball. Of all the major sports, it’s likely in the most decline among young people because of its pace, which is what Chris suggests we celebrate. I agree.

That pace and length of the season add to the heartbreak and joy. As someone who watches nearly every game beginning in April, I am pretty invested. What I say every year is, As long as the Bluejays play meaningful baseball well into September, I’ll be happy. I was. They could have lost in a wildcard series, and that would have been fine. But expectations continued to grow, game by game and series by series. With that build, the Jays gained more and more fans. Pretty soon, people I know who never watched a game all year, couldn’t name more than 3 players, were talking about bullpen strategy and quality at bats. Some folks get upset at that, but I’ve done that for other teams. Our local Moose Jaw Warriors hockey team had a good run a couple of years ago, and I gladly joined the bandwagon. Going to games with 5,000 other folks from our little city was a lot of fun and so good for the city.

If you’re not Canadian, I don’t think you can understand. We got a taste of this last February during the 4 Nations Cup. As a country, we rallied and used the political tension of the time to bring us together. In that case, a victory was the only outcome we would accept.

This was different. Yes, it was heartbreaking, and the number of podcasts and sports shows and social media posts dissecting secondary leads, lodged balls, base running errors and pitching mistakes is too numerous to count, and while it’s sometimes fun to debate, it doesn’t really matter.

This wasn’t just about your team having a good run. I’ve been part of many of those and sometimes even won. (Raptors in 2019 and Riders in 2013). Not often, but I know the feeling. This team was different. They loved each other. That’s rarer than almost anything. I remember teams like the New York Yankees in the late 70s, where there was so much infighting. Kobe and Shaq didn’t get along, but they won. The 2025 Toronto Blue Jays played for their city and the country. But mostly for each other. It was infectious.

I’m not sure what the lesson is, but before I wrote this (I’ve been writing this on my phone at the Toronto airport), I wondered if AI could help me come up with something. I don’t use AI for writing because I like what I’m doing now- challenging myself to say something of value. But here’s a link to my conversation with Claude. (It was better than the paid version of ChatGPT)

Some of those would be interesting to explore sometime. So is there a lesson for schools? Probably lots. But I found a video that perhaps captures things best of all. Courtesy Shelby Hayle

I think there are going to be books, documentaries and studies done about this team. There’s so much to learn about culture, team, fans and love. I suppose when I look back at some of my experiences, the best ones had an element of love and care for each other. The time I spend with my colleagues at Discovery Education probably most closely connects to the 2025 Blue Jays when I consider the quality of people, the fun we had together and how we relied on a variety of skills and talents. Chris Bassit was asked about replicating this team and its culture, and he didn’t think it was possible. A lot of pieces came together during this magical run. Perhaps it can never be created but at a minimum, the memory of the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays will endure and bring a smile to millions. That’s not nothing.

Like all the big players in tech, Google is working to gain market share in education based on its AI tool kit. Recently I’ve been showing this clip in presentations about things to come.

This was 4 months ago. Unlike tech innovations of the recent past where you might see a demo and then maybe 2 years later you could try it, this is moving uber fast.

Today, I played with Google’s Notebook, followed Alec Couros’s suggestion, and uploaded a copy of my book. I also added my blog. Within minutes it created this 9-minute audio podcast of my book.

While there is still much more to explore and understand about this tool, just this feature itself is fascinating. Uploading a copy of my book and website makes me the perfect person to critique the content and I have to say if I had had this when my book was first released I likely would have used this to promote it. These 9 minutes do an amazing job of summarizing my book in a way that is engaging and easily consumable. I did look into the privacy policy and as it stands now, they are not using this to train their AI models. That said, I don’t fully trust that. I never wrote my book to make a bunch of money so I’m less worried about copyright.

More to come…..

I have 2 older sisters so much of my childhood was experienced without siblings nearby. I envied my friends who had brothers because it just seemed so cool to be able to play sports together and learn from each other. I get it, many of you who have brothers might not see it the way my mind did as a child but I’m still envious of you. The brother relationship is like all relationships in that they are complex but it seems to me the potential is great.

Today I’m watching Herschel and Woody play. As 2 and 3-year-olds, play and social play is still in its early stages. Watching them negotiate and create their own rules is a challenge but over the last few months, they’ve begun to show a lot of progress. Herschel can be the sweetest older brother at times and wants to see Woody happy. Woody watches his older brother carefully and will mimic his actions. The kindness and caring are usually short-lived and often things go awry. But each day it seems that time of cooperation and collaboration is extended.

Clearly, I identify as a grandparent. It’s a role I’ve embraced and thrive in. I discovered the delight early on in this role was in watching and being less helpful. Watching them figure out how to play is fascinating and wonderful to watch. The degree to which I intervene is minor but hopefully useful.

I know many of my friends who have brothers don’t seem to be as close as they might be or maybe hoped to be. I’m imagining a day when my boys will be golfing together and taking trips with their families. I also hope that one day I’ll experience what my 91-year-old father did last weekend which was to watch 10 of his great-grandchildren play together.

I’d love to hear from those of you with brothers to share some of your insights on this relationship. Is it delightful?