One of the small things that I've noticed about the island of São Miguel is that most properties have their utility meters (for things like electricity and water) in small vitrines next to the street. Here are a few examples that I came across:
Utility meters aren't the sexiest of things. So if you have to have them on the street for quick readings, having them tidily installed in niches behind glass is, I guess, a better look. It also offers security.
But apparently the other reason this is done is to protect them from the weather. The Azores have a mild maritime climate characterized by high humidity and frequent rain. This, combined with the salt air, could corrode the equipment.
And so they lock them up in vitrines.
Bianca's maternal lineage is Portuguese — specifically the Azores.
Sinfully though, she had never been. But that is changing right now. We're all here, and I was fortunate enough to get an invitation. Thank you! One thing I didn't appreciate until recently is that a large majority of the Portuguese in Toronto (70%?) are of Azorean descent, particularly from the island of São Miguel (which is the largest and where we are right now).
This is the result of a major wave of immigration that occurred between the 1950s and 1970s, where Azoreans came for economic opportunity and to fulfill a labor shortage in Canada. This strong connection between Canada and the Azores can be found all around the island. In fact, the first restaurant we walked into had this plate prominently displayed on the wall:
Bond — which is a San Francisco-based VC firm with a cool website — just published this 340-page report on Artificial Intelligence. One of the authors of the report is Mary Meeker. She has been called the "Queen of the Internet" thanks to a 20-year run of presentations about the state of the internet, and her perceived ability to identity new trends early. So people are paying attention to this report. Her last one was in 2019 and I mentioned her 2018 report on this blog, here.
At this point, it's boring to say that AI is ushering in "unprecedented" global change. Everyone sends around snippets from ChatGPT. I incorporate some sort of AI-powered tool all the time in my daily workflow. And we've started using it on our development projects to help with tedious things like design coordination. Eventually we'll probably stop calling it out as "AI" and just refer to it as the things that computers and the internet can do.
One of the small things that I've noticed about the island of São Miguel is that most properties have their utility meters (for things like electricity and water) in small vitrines next to the street. Here are a few examples that I came across:
Utility meters aren't the sexiest of things. So if you have to have them on the street for quick readings, having them tidily installed in niches behind glass is, I guess, a better look. It also offers security.
But apparently the other reason this is done is to protect them from the weather. The Azores have a mild maritime climate characterized by high humidity and frequent rain. This, combined with the salt air, could corrode the equipment.
And so they lock them up in vitrines.
Bianca's maternal lineage is Portuguese — specifically the Azores.
Sinfully though, she had never been. But that is changing right now. We're all here, and I was fortunate enough to get an invitation. Thank you! One thing I didn't appreciate until recently is that a large majority of the Portuguese in Toronto (70%?) are of Azorean descent, particularly from the island of São Miguel (which is the largest and where we are right now).
This is the result of a major wave of immigration that occurred between the 1950s and 1970s, where Azoreans came for economic opportunity and to fulfill a labor shortage in Canada. This strong connection between Canada and the Azores can be found all around the island. In fact, the first restaurant we walked into had this plate prominently displayed on the wall:
Bond — which is a San Francisco-based VC firm with a cool website — just published this 340-page report on Artificial Intelligence. One of the authors of the report is Mary Meeker. She has been called the "Queen of the Internet" thanks to a 20-year run of presentations about the state of the internet, and her perceived ability to identity new trends early. So people are paying attention to this report. Her last one was in 2019 and I mentioned her 2018 report on this blog, here.
At this point, it's boring to say that AI is ushering in "unprecedented" global change. Everyone sends around snippets from ChatGPT. I incorporate some sort of AI-powered tool all the time in my daily workflow. And we've started using it on our development projects to help with tedious things like design coordination. Eventually we'll probably stop calling it out as "AI" and just refer to it as the things that computers and the internet can do.
As soon as I saw it I said to the owner, "I like your license plate!" And she replied with, "thank you, yes, Toronto!"
I've also been spotting Canadian flags all around the island, including this hybrid Portuguese-Canadian one:
São Miguel is a beautiful place with stunning landscapes, warm and welcoming people, and incredible food. (If you've had lapas grelhadas before you'll know that it's an optimal delivery mechanism for butter and garlic.) I'm excited to share my photos with all of you, both here on the blog and on Globizen's Instagram page. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the card reader for my Fujifilm, and so my best photos will have to wait until I'm back in Toronto.
Stay tuned.
But I think it's valuable to point out that this has been a really long time coming. The report talks about an "AI winter" from 1967 to 1996. That's a long time to stay motivated and interested in something that doesn't seem to be gaining traction. And it's a reminder that crypto is still early. Even though I also use blockchains every day and I've already transitioned (or am transitioning) a lot of my online life, including this blog.
Of particular relevance to this community is probably the fact that AI is also going to have a meaningful impact on our built environment. One of the sections in the report is called "Physical World AI," and it talks about how quickly data centers are now being built (compared to housing) and how Waymo (using AI) has taken something like 27% of the ride share market in San Francisco in the span of just 20 months.
This transportation product is now scaling, and cities have always responded and remade themselves according to new mobility innovations. This time won't be any different.
Cover photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
As soon as I saw it I said to the owner, "I like your license plate!" And she replied with, "thank you, yes, Toronto!"
I've also been spotting Canadian flags all around the island, including this hybrid Portuguese-Canadian one:
São Miguel is a beautiful place with stunning landscapes, warm and welcoming people, and incredible food. (If you've had lapas grelhadas before you'll know that it's an optimal delivery mechanism for butter and garlic.) I'm excited to share my photos with all of you, both here on the blog and on Globizen's Instagram page. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the card reader for my Fujifilm, and so my best photos will have to wait until I'm back in Toronto.
Stay tuned.
But I think it's valuable to point out that this has been a really long time coming. The report talks about an "AI winter" from 1967 to 1996. That's a long time to stay motivated and interested in something that doesn't seem to be gaining traction. And it's a reminder that crypto is still early. Even though I also use blockchains every day and I've already transitioned (or am transitioning) a lot of my online life, including this blog.
Of particular relevance to this community is probably the fact that AI is also going to have a meaningful impact on our built environment. One of the sections in the report is called "Physical World AI," and it talks about how quickly data centers are now being built (compared to housing) and how Waymo (using AI) has taken something like 27% of the ride share market in San Francisco in the span of just 20 months.
This transportation product is now scaling, and cities have always responded and remade themselves according to new mobility innovations. This time won't be any different.
Cover photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
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