Shed Dogs

This episode is more than just okay. In fact, we expect an avalanche of encomiums as we coin an all-new acronym while sharing a truck repair story that’ll singe hair (and find out that even the pros do dumb stuff now and then). It’s certainly egoism that leads us to think you’ll want to hear it, and egoism will decide if you do, not mere caprice. As usual we will cavil about the things that annoy us (like people other than Stevie who use phrases like “what the deuce”), but there are more than a few iotas of smiles to be had, so we hope you’ll settle in and have a cocktail while you listen.

Links: Shed Dogs; price of Costco hot dogs; why gas tanks don’t explode; egoism; how a dopamine related gene drives empathy.

Over the past few years we’ve said many times how much we appreciate, even love, the listener mail we get. Many times, the response to a segment generates more interesting conversation than the bit they’re commenting on. In this episode we have mail from Leigh of Courtenay (honourary weather Dog), Rustica of Portland, and Joanne of Rossland, covering, among other things, weather wardrobe, simple syrup, Diet Coke, a really bad movie, composting, and (our upcoming) T-shirts! We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did, and maybe feel inspired to write your first (or your hundredth) letter letting us know what caught your attention.

Links: Shed Dogs; weather presenter; In the Name of the King (metacritic); the Burnaby composting facility.

Episode 160 continues our lazy-faire approach to content management, and we give you another wide ranging session where we just…well, we just enjoy ourselves. We begin with RJ lawyering up, and continue on as the Junos and the Oscars (again) pass under our watchful eyes. We then cover Uncle Tim’s birthday and a fond farewell to one of our high school teachers. Sue finds some stolen mail, and then a “newspaper delivery man” skulks around a house in the wee hours. We have trouble digesting Uber Eats and then get all excited about season 2 of The White Lotus. Your mind might not end up spinning but may well end up pleasantly full.

Links: Shed Dogs; RJ’s excellent immigration lawyers; Mike Roscoe, RIP; a CTV News story published the day before Sue found the stolen mail; Uber Eats is bad for restaurants and their customers; Easter eggs in The White Lotus season 2 (spoilers); the 95th annual Academy Awards.

In this episode we go with a light touch on the editing. Those of you who have joined us in the Shed will recognize the ways time slips away, interruptions come and go, laughs are had. This time, we let our listeners hear nearly all of it!  We make our way through the Oscars, through a really bad movie, through Buddy’s endless antics, through giving KJ professional advice, through some backstage business, through our marketing pitch, and yes, through even more. Sorry to our Courtenay listeners, but it does go on and the hope is it’s just soothing careless waves-on-the-shore company and we hope you and everyone just pictures us and joins us as we coast along having fun.

Links: Shed Dogs; the Vizsla; neutering; Burnaby composting facility controversy; John’s Jukes (flippers.com); Pulp Fiction pinball featurette (long) and trailer (short); In the Name of the King (note difference between critic reviews and user score); this year’s Oscars; the Old Fashioned; Gilligan’s first name; GPT4.

Last episode we saw Shed Dog art, heard great listener mail, and enjoyed hearing PJ and RJ rightly savaged by KJ’s impenetrable Snappers. At the danger of repeating ourselves, in this episode we see Shed Dog art, hear great listener mail, and enjoy hearing PJ and RJ rightly savaged by KJ’s impenetrable Snappers. On top of all that we, after having hopped around the multiverse, also get to marvel at what celebrities like KJ have to handle as they go about their exotic movie star business in far-off places, like Calgary. This is your big chance to either (1) feel all superior to two of the Dogs, (2) feel like a Hollywood insider alongside KJ, or (3) feel like an elite only-a-small-bit snobbish con-wah-seur of the ahts. In Surrey. Or all three! It’s an ersatz win-win-win!

Links: Shed Dogs; Everything Everywhere All at Once; Beyond Van Gogh.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, by permission.

This episode sees the Dogs reporting on trips to Calgary (KJ, for a month, for work) and Nelson (PJ, for a day, for fun in what ended up involving an artistic endeavour). We dabble yet again in thoughts of ChatGPT, and even talk a bit about a Tom Hanks movie that hardly anyone is likely aware of. But this episode also has us revelling in Listener Mail, and feeling grateful to get it. What you won’t see, since this is an audio experience, is the amount of effort KJ made to share the Shed with his real dog Buddy as well as unreal Dogs PJ and RJ. A small space, a large, young, and restless dog, and a lot of opinions and questions—it’s another afternoon in the Shed!

Links: Shed Dogs; Extraordinary Attorney Woo; the Beatles on Shindig!; Bar and Bat Mitzvah; Calgary public art; Little Red Warrior and his Lawyer; Emily Lau’s Art Gallery; ChatGPT in schools in Canada; the Save-On Foods roof collapse.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, by permission.

Special guest Cam of Vancouver joins us for a second episode and he and RJ go deep on their foosball experiences: how they got into it, how it’s going, their results at a recent tournament in Portland, and the mental and emotional journey they’ve both been on. To our surprise, it’s a journey that nearly everyone has undertaken in different avenues in life, from interest, to participation, to competence, and to expertise. It’s a particular kind of joy to hear about! We also spend time here talking about kind strangers and how we make choices that change our lives, so we hope you relate and enjoy. Sit! Stay!

Links: Shed Dogs; Cam’s prior episodes: 27 and 28; a beer commercial featuring Carmina Burana; Cowboy Tempest Cabaret (a totally lawless adaptation of Shakespeare’s Tempest); Cam and Rich play world champion Brandon Muñoz at Moneyball 2023 in Portland.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, by permission.

In this episode of Shed Dogs, we sit down with Cam Burrows to talk about everyone's favorite AI language model, ChatGPT! Join us as we talk about Chad’s impressive adoption rate and its wide range of uses, from writing to customer service. We'll also dive into the controversy surrounding the product, including attempts to jailbreak the model and the legal implications of its use. Plus, we'll explore some of the more lighthearted aspects of ChatGPT, like its tone and potential for advertising. We even share some hilarious mishaps with Google's AI. And don't worry if you're new to the ChatGPT game - we'll explain how it works and why it's such a game-changer. So kick back, grab a cold one, and join us for a fun and informative chat about all things ChatGPT!

Links: Shed Dogs; try ChatGPT yourself; adoption rate; uses; Sydney professes its love to a reporter; Chrome AIPRM extension for useful prompts, tone prompts; Meet DAN — The ‘JAILBREAK’ Version of ChatGPT and How to Use it — AI Unchained and Unfiltered; the paid version; use in the workplace, how GPT (generative pre-trained transformer) works; criminal jailbreaking; Alex Hormozi’s YouTube channel; Lex Fridman’s YouTube channel; Canada Foosball, a.k.a. the Table Soccer Association of Canada is the non-profit Cam refers to; Vancouver Foosball (the local org); Canada Foosball Shop (Cam is co-owner of this business).

Theme music is by Voodoo Jazz or is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, both by permission.

Thinking of renting a car? Heard any of the Hertz horror stories on your social media travels? RJ has his as-usual useful advice for doing business with the megalodon of motor vehicles, as well as any of the lesser fry. It could keep you out of jail! The Dogs also discuss escape rooms, melting keyboards, preparing old laptops for sale, and saving money when repairing them. Also in this episode, RJ takes a deep breath and leaves Twitter now that Elon won’t let him use Tweetbot any more. And yes, Angry Birds still exists so we talk about that, too. It’s another seriously light hearted afternoon in the Shed! 

Links: Shed Dogs; the price of Costco hot dogs; Angry Birds Reloaded; Bamboozled Escape Games (the escape room Griffin played in Burnaby); soap box derby (with an oblique reference to crates); why RJ left Twitter.

Theme music by Voodoo Jazz!

By now, many of you will have heard of ChatGPT. If you haven’t, you will before long, so here in Episode 153 you will find an opening round of info about this groundbreaking software, in advance of an in-depth interview with friend-of-the-show Cam, who makes extensive use of the product. It’s way too important to just call a Public Service Announcement, but knowing about it is worthwhile, seriously. We have another gold-plated, if not somewhat puzzling, money making idea; an encounter with an antique cigar; a newly-functional sink in the Shed (way to go KJ!); and we find out that the world has not entirely moved on from wooden hockey sticks. We’re sure you’ll be as interested and relieved as we were to find that at least one thing hasn’t changed.

Links: Shed Dogs; how long can a cigar be stored; making a jigsaw puzzle; Treadstone; ChatGPT (openai.com)