Digital Archaeology and the Unbroken Thread

There is something slightly surreal about opening the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine and staring at a digital sweep of my own website captured on Thursday, December 11, 2003.

Back then, the homepage felt compelled to offer a polite, earnest public service announcement explaining what a "weblog" actually was. That was in case a wayward visitor thought they had stumbled into an obscure departmental bulletin. It proudly offered an AvantGo badge for PDA users synchronizing via desktop cradles, and cheerfully displayed both my home landline and mobile numbers to anyone on the World Wide Web with an internet connection.

At the time, Blogger had only just been acquired from Pyra Labs by a young, ambitious outfit called Google. In internet years, two decades is several geologic epochs. Yet despite Google's legendary habit of sending beloved products to the corporate graveyard, Blogger is still quietly running the machinery in the background.

The surrounding scaffolding, headers, and fonts have evolved over the last twenty-three years, but the core text remains untouched. More than two decades later, the words typed on a winter morning in 2003 sit exactly where they were put, still chronicling the road east over the Rockies.

Broadcasting to the Algorithmic Graveyard

Back in 2008, I was practically an unpaid evangelist for Facebook. My early eJournal entries were full of enthusiastic encouragement, urging sceptical friends and far-flung acquaintances to sign up for this brilliant new digital commons. It seemed like an efficient way to keep in touch across continents. Nearly two decades later, that open town square has devolved into an algorithmic landfill. I gave up on it once, maybe twice, before settling into my current, highly defensive posture. Today, I maintain a rolling one-week buffer of posts and a contact list slashed down to a mere thirty-five people.

With a circle trimmed that small, it remains a genuine mystery whether anyone on the list actually sees what I post. Most people stay on the platform purely out of nostalgia; they worry that leaving means forfeiting twenty years of birthday photos and family snapshots. Handing one's personal history over to a corporate landlord is not an archive, however. It is simply a sentimental trap designed to serve advertisements between slot-machine pop-ups of the past.

I only maintain my minimal presence because the alternative is complete silence from contacts who find typing a standard website address far too strenuous. My eJournal contains thousands of high-resolution images, full travel archives, and daily entries dating back decades, yet modern internet users prefer to wait for scraps inside a walled garden. Posting there is no longer a conversation. It is merely operating a reluctant relay station for those who refuse to venture outside the gates.

To survive the experience, I treat the site as a strict one-way broadcast tower. I upload the daily signal, ignore the corporate notifications, and refuse to scroll through two-month-old updates from people not seen in person since the previous millennium. It may be absolute rubbish compared to the open web, but at least the transmission goes out, even if the ghosts on the other end only stare in silence.

Change is Inevitable

My first mention of MS Teams here was in August 2021. The software plays an important part of their business or enterprise projects. It was pushed a bit more to the forefront with the release of Windows 11 as a consumer product.

   

Remember COVID and the big push to do business without contact?  Teams did work.  I got our closest friends to sign up.  It was a great opportunity to get rid of email for communications between us.  Teams introduced the group to a constant conversation with media and the ability to scroll up to see what one missed.  That now seems indispensable!

However, today marks the end of our use of it.  Everyone has moved on and loaded up Whatsapp.  This makes it easier for those of us who already use the platform.  It is common in Europe and Asia and we often  need it to communicate with Airbnb hosts and general business contacts during our winters away.  Jay uses it to stay in contact and speak with his sisters in Sri Lanka.

Now, our ongoing group chat has moved to Whatsapp too.

Goodbye, Microsoft Teams.  Thanks for the memories.

Deliveries

A couple of things arrived at our door today. 

The one to the right was sent from China. A private courier brought a tiny package to our building.  I ordered this battery-powered, mobile router that provides Internet from a telephone SIM card.  It came really quickly. In reality, I won't need it until November!  It operates on the frequencies used in Sri Lanka.  Data is very cheap there and using a SIM in this device allows ten devices to use a single 4G connection,  I had one a few years ago when we visited.  It worked like a charm throughout the house and when travelling it was in my pocket.  The lithium battery worked well and provides over a day of use and recharges when plugged into any USB.

Later in the afternoon, the postman left something in our mailbox.  It was an envelop that contained the card below.  I'd been waiting for a few weeks for it to come from Victoria.  Translink's red card is an annual transit pass for seniors and other low-income residents.  It presently costs $45 annually for unlimited use on the whole regional transit system, including the SkyTrain, bus and Seabus travel modes.

 

I like it when things come to me.

Online Orders

 

I did a fair amount of online buying today. First, I needed a few supplies for my aging Flashforge 3D printer.  I ordered from a company in Ontario.  My Adventurer 3 is five years old, so I thought I'd buy a few spare parts while they're still available. I really don't have many reasons for having a PLA printer. In fact, there's a box of useless printed junk not far from me. However, the device is just nerdy enough to spark my occasional interest. It's fascinating watching it add one layer at a time to an object. 

Next, I also looked on our drug store chain and found their standard niacin tablets are on sale. The usual $12 a bottle is like $7 something. I take a gram or two per day. It helps with blood lipids and slightly lowers blood pressure. I won't have the package delivered to the house but rather chose the free pick up at the store. Sometimes during a sale, there aren't many bottles on the shelf. 

In addition, Jay also ordered some supplements and nuts via Amazon. We selected the option to have it all delivered in one box. That seemed to make more sense than a quick delivery. None of the items are needed right away. 

These purchases caused me to consider my very first online order via the Internet. We'd just arrived in Canada in 1996, I wanted a globe and ordered this one directly from the National Geographic website.

 

AI Trip Planning

Getting information from AI chatbots is different than researching via a search engine. It takes a little time to formulate the prompt but the rewards can pay off. 

I was thinking about what I'd like to do for a week over my birthday in late July this year.

I tried to explain to a friend the necessity of learning about the new tools by saying, "No one knows what he/she doesn't know."  An AI can respond with information on which it was trained.  It can include things with which the questioner had no previous experience and consequently wouldn't query.

    

---

ME:

Create an itinerary for a Vancouver to Vancouver road trip.  I want to drive the Icefields Parkway.  I'd also like to stay in both Calgary and Drumheller for the nights.  List a day-to-day itinerary.  Include kilometers travelled.  I have an EV.

DEEPSEEK:

Here's a detailed 7-day Vancouver-to-Vancouver road trip itinerary, optimized for an EV driver, featuring the Icefields Parkway, Calgary, and Drumheller. Charging stops and key attractions are included:

Day 1: Vancouver to Kamloops 

Distance: 355 km  

EV Charging: Stop in Hope (BC Hydro) or Merritt (Tesla Supercharger). Charge overnight in Kamloops (multiple stations).  

Highlights:  

  - Scenic Coquihalla Highway.  

  - Optional hike at Bridal Veil Falls near Hope.  

  - Dinner in Kamloops’ downtown.  

Day 2: Kamloops to Jasper 

Distance: 440 km  

EV Charging: Charge in Clearwater (BC Hydro) or Valemount (ChargePoint). Top up in Jasper (ChargePoint at Patricia Lake).  

Highlights:  

  - Mount Robson Provincial Park (view Canada’s highest peak).  

  - Arrive early to explore Jasper’s trails or Maligne Lake.  

Day 3: Jasper to Lake Louise (Icefields Parkway)

Distance: 230 km  

EV Charging: Limited charging on the Parkway 

Highlights:  

  - Athabasca Falls, Columbia Icefield (Skywalk/Glacier Tour).  

  - Peyto Lake viewpoint.  

  - Overnight in Lake Louise or Banff.  

Day 4: Lake Louise to Calgary

Distance: 180 km  

EV Charging: Charge in Banff (Town Station) or Canmore. Calgary has multiple Superchargers.  

Highlights:  

  - Explore Lake Louise shoreline or Moraine Lake (seasonal).  

  - Stop in Banff (Bow Falls, Banff Gondola).  

  - Evening in Calgary (dinner in Kensington or Stephen Avenue).  

Day 5: Calgary to Drumheller

Distance**: 140 km (one way)  

EV Charging: Charge in Calgary before departure. Drumheller has a Flo charger.  

Highlights:  

  - Royal Tyrrell Museum (dinosaurs!).  

  - Horseshoe Canyon and Hoodoos Trail.  

  - Optional: Atlas Coal Mine tour.  

Day 6: Drumheller to Revelstoke 

Distance: 560 km  

EV Charging: Stop in Calgary (Supercharger), Canmore, and Golden (BC Hydro).  

Highlights:  

  - Drive through the Canadian Badlands.  

  - Scenic Trans-Canada Highway views.  

  - Evening in Revelstoke (walk downtown or visit Railway Museum).  

Day 7: Revelstoke to Vancouver

Distance: 620 km  

EV Charging: Charge in Golden, Kamloops (Supercharger), and Hope.  

Highlights:  

  - Rogers Pass and Glacier National Park.  

  - Final stop at Bridal Veil Falls (if missed earlier).  

EV Tips:  

- Plan Ahead: Use PlugShare or A Better Routeplanner (ABRP) for real-time station updates.  

- Range: Ensure your EV has ~400 km range.

- Overnight Charging: Book hotels with Level 2 chargers.

Enjoy your adventure through the Rockies and Badlands! 🚗⚡️🏔️ we

QR Code to NFC Tag

Today's blog post is related to one I posted yesterday. 

I used to think I was pretty cool when providing visitors to the apartment with a printed QR code for our wifi.  This made it easy for them to get their phone connected without needing to open up and type in a password.  

I still think I'm pretty cool but that outdated method seems ... oh, so 2019!  I just upped my game with one of the coin-sized NFC stickers I got from Amazon yesterday.

Saving the network info to one of the small quarter-sized coins was easy.  Then, I pulled off the adhesive side and stuck it behind a conveniently located light switch wall plate in the living room.  (All lighting in this room is connected to wifi and my speakers via Google Home, so I never touch switches in here at all anyway.)

Now, a new visitor can log on to my wifi network by simply placing their phone near the wall plate.  Their phone will ask if they wish to connect to PlanetVisitors.  This is the SSID for my guest network.  My main wifi network is called ForbiddenPlanet.  If you are a scifi fan, you may recognize this name as a big-budget flick from 1956, three years before I was born! If you're a super fan of that movie you might recognize the password for my guest network.

   

NFC Tags

I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver my box of 50 NFC coin-card tags.  I ordered them yesterday.

There is a never-ending cache of new things for me to explore.  I didn't even know about read/write NFC cards, stickers, tags, and fobs until a few days ago.  I first noticed NFC rings for men when searching for some item online.  The research lead me to install NFC Tools on my phone.  

Now, I'm ready to think of useful things to do with the technology.   They can store a small amount of data.  When a modern phone nearly comes into contact with one, it will trade information and take action.  For example, one can open a web page.  These can automate nearly any set of actions that takes place on a phone.  My home automation could replace my 'Hey, Google' audio requests into a simple phone taps.  They can essentially be placed anywhere and have a lifetime of at least 10 years (as they require no battery).  Each one costs less than 25 cents.

Well, I suppose the actual tags have to arrive first.  They were scheduled to arrive between 1:45 and 2:45 this afternoon.  It's now 5:50 pm.  Amazon's site now list their arrival as 'before 10 pm'.

A Normal Conversation with Your Phone

Earlier this afternoon, I was thinking how AI has changed my Internet research habits. 

We watched the swearing-in ceremony of the new Sri Lankan president on Sunday evening our time.  Sri Lankans finally had a chance to vote after the 2022 uprising and they clearly showed they were ready to replace the existing political landscape.  The caretaker president was given power by a vote of the parliament.   He put off a general election and hung on to power to 'help the nation'.  He came in a distant third in the weekend race.

The low-key event was held in the 94-year-old Parliament building near Galle Face in Colombo.  Fittingly that was a focal point of student demonstrations two years ago.  I spotted a few statues on its lawn and wondered who they were representing. 

Rather than a traditional search, I opened up Google Gemini AI.  My answer was beautifully written in a format that made me smile as a former technical-writing instructor.  There was a brief summery of each of the three initial Prime Ministers of the island nation too.

I often use Google Gemini or MS Copilot to answer everyday questions.  I have a lot to learn, I guess.  However, I now realize how quickly things are changing.  I hadn't opened ChatGPT in ages.  I didn't realize how useful the addition of persistent memory (between conversations) and its listen-and-answer interface is.  It can stay running in the background.  It feels like a real conversation with a person smarter than most of my friends.

If you haven't tried this app on your device, you should definitely give it a spin.  This is how we'll be doing most everything in a few years, I expect.

My First Photo Upload to Flickr

Some things come and some things go. This is espcially true of the World Wide Web. It even looks funny to see those words spelled out in 2024. 

I had my own domain name registered in the 1990s and an active personal website. I let that go decades ago when social media and blogging came along. It was popular enough so that when I abandoned paying the annual fee, a reseller company grabbed the domain.  It remains active to this day. I swear its present form has nothing to do with me! I don't speak Thai nor do I gamble.

Perhaps because I turn 65 in a few short days, I'm thinking in terms of Internet longevity. I upload photos and images to Flickr.com most every day. I have nearly 43000 online there now. However, I wanted to show you the very first image I ever uploaded.

 

This was taken along the Crow's Nest Highway in southern British Columbia on June 21, 2005. Six guys had gone on an Okanagan road trip in a big rented van. I came home wondering how to best share the pack of images. I had owned a digital camera for three years at that point, but sharing photographs was a messy situation using email. 

This picture has been hosted at Flickr since June 26, 2005.  The website was a local company at the time and an offshoot of a Vancouver online gaming community. I've seen it change hands and locations a number of times.  However, my initial image has always gone along for the digital ride. 

The very idea of online photos seemed appealing to me and many others in 2005. And rightfully so, for over 19 years later, I can still share it here with ease.

Travel Map Update

 

It's time for a little update.  June in Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia helped fill out a bit more of Europe.  There are still many places above Türkiye that remain unexplored.  

I keep an old resume that includes a perpetually-updated listing of countries or territories I've seen. I also keep a Flickr album that has a representative photograph from each of these countries or territories. 

Yet, in addition to those ways, I once started this online Matador Network travel map. The web site provides a checklist organized by region.  Once a country is checked, it appears as filled on a corresponding map.  I always point out when we visited the city of St. Petersburg in Russia for just two days, a whole lot of the world lit up!  Using this to show where one has been is a little disingenuous.  The travel map, though, does help to show vast swaths of the world that we've missed.

I know that we plan on adding only 5 or 6 new countries during our upcoming winter.  When spring comes, however, most of Africa will still remain grey.

What's on the Home Network?

 

Let's see, there are presently only 35 connected devices on the apartment wifi? Before you think it's all computers and gadgets, most of those items are probably light bulbs. I've been switching on and off the lights by asking Google Assistant for years and years. I like sitting on the sofa but being able to turn on the balcony or bedroom lights.   

Oh, there is one new connected device today! That el-cheapo robo-vacuum arrived in an Amazon delivery. Getting it doesn't make much sense. The Lefant M210 cost around $US 100.   However, I believe it is another toy that I deserve.

120 GB of Data and Flying Fish

Day 73 - We started this morning as usual.  Others were up a bit earlier but I got out of bed at 7:00.  At least one thing was different.  Alas, we had no Internet this morning.  I knew that I could only buy one month of unlimited data at the airport when we were returning from Dubai.  The kiosk at the airport allows tourists to buy a no-compromise, LTE data package for around US $21.  I guess we returned a month ago already!

We could keep the same SIM for use in my pocket router.  The number is registered and all but it required a top-up.  Telecom services are plentiful and competitive in Sri Lanka.  They also make it easy to switch and update packages.  Some extremely cheap packages can keep someone connected.

I didn't mind springing for a costlier package because all seemed really cheap compared to what I'm used to.  I tried updating online yesterday, but their online  payment processor is tuned for Sri Lankan credit cards and it balked at my card.  I knew it'd be easier to simply go to a Sri Lankan Telecom Mobitel outlet. 

We hailed a three-wheel (tuk-tuk) the old-fashioned way; which means, by going and asking the driver of one not in use.  I'm used to the ride-share apps here as they make things so much simpler.  We went over to the High Levels Highway, near the flyover.  There are a lot of clothing and interesting shops in that area.  We parked right in front of the Sri Lankan Telecom offices.

Out of the million options, I decided to get two 60 GB add-on packs for a total of around US $12.  We use the router for both of our phones, the laptop, and Jay's sister's devices.  I think 120 GB should probably take us for a full month without needing to be careful about YouTube or downloading.

The old fish seller stopped by his sister's house.  This one is on a motorbike.  Jay's sister buys a lot of fish but mostly at the shops.  However, if the fish guy has something she likes, she buys it.  Today, she got a half-kilogram of shrimp for US $2.50.  She did not buy the flying fish even though the old man demonstrated it for me.

We're Switching to a New Net Provider

I've been with a local Canadian company called Surf Internet for five years. They started off first on our municipal fiber in New Westminster and seemed like a promising entrant. Through thick and thin, we stayed with them thinking that the company would eventually grow and become a reliable provider. Today, I received an email. Here are the first three paragraphs:

   

---

Dear valued customer, 

We hope this email finds you well. We wanted to share an important update regarding our Fibre Internet services that directly impact you. 

After careful consideration of several important factors, we regret to inform you that Surf Internet will no longer be able to offer Fibre service in your location. We understand that this service has been an integral part of your online experience, and we sincerely appreciate your trust in us over the years. Please note that this notice does not apply to your TV or Home Phone service as these services will continue to be offered and will continue to work as long as you have an active Internet connection from Surf Internet or any other service provider. 

The Surf Internet Fibre service is scheduled to be decommissioned on Sunday, October 15th.

---

Sure, sure.  It might as well have read: Dear John, it was us, it wasn't you!

Of course, the timing wasn't great.  We are due to leave for the winter on October 31st.  So, that would have left us without internet for about two weeks.  I'll need to move over to another service provider asap.  

Actually, I'm not upset for several reasons.  First, Surf never had a billing system capable of setting up an easy 'snowbird' service for Canadians who winter elsewhere.  They also never managed to have consistent staffing nor could I ever count on getting hold of help, when needed.

Another reason is that I also have my own modem and router setup.  I bought them on my own last summer after the Surf guys couldn't update an ancient all-in-one setup.  The former device couldn't handle the demands of our place as we have Google Home with at least 20 Wi-Fi lights and 40 devices in total.

In fact, the only thing keeping me was the price.  I was grandfathered under Internet rates that were really good.  Switching over will cost me about 40% more but I guess it'll be worth the money to get a more responsive provider.  I will not be going with a major Canadian telecom but another local company that has a stellar reputation.

A Novus technician is due here next Wednesday to get us switched over.

My Travel Map

I try to actively keep track of all the places I have visited. I have an old resume that includes a perpetually updated listing of countries or territories I've seen. I also keep a Flickr album that has a representative photograph from each of those places. In addition to those ways, I once started an online Matador Network travel site map. They provide a checklist organized by region and once a country is checked, it appears as filled in on a corresponding map.  Yet, its total appeared different from my other calculations. Rather than 84, it showed only 83. 

First, I wondered if it was due to my inclusion of a territory.  Perhaps one that I counted was not listed.  For example, Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative units of China.  Similarly, both Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands are overseas territories of the UK.  Also, the Vatican is a city-state and not really a part of Rome.  So, I started going through the Matador checklist for those places but everything seemed right. Following that, I started scrutinizing the list one by one. As the countries are grouped by region on their website, it was very time-consuming.  Finally, I found the discrepancy. 

Although I had correctly added the South American countries from our extensive travels last winter, I had forgotten something from our June trip to southern France.  Of course, we had spent time in Monaco! Adding that tiny country made the count correct but it didn't do a lot to increase the orange on this map.

 

Updates Galore!

My devices are continually demanding to be updated.  A fair amount of Internet data is dedicated to keeping all our gadgets up-to-date nowadays.

Although this doesn't present much of a problem at home, when one is travelling in areas with less robust net connections, it can become one.

Jay's sisters set their phones to not update daily.  If they didn't take this preventative measure, they'd be out of metered 4G data within a few days.

When my TV wants to do a new major upgrade, I wait while it's doing so and keep my fingers crossed for luck.

Sometimes it's all minorly annoying.

Today, though, I thought this screen capture was funny.  I was in the Tuya app.  That is how many of my household lights and switches operate within the Google Home environment.

It seems I had a least a half dozen lightbulbs that needed new firmware.  They are regular LED lightbulbs but are controlled by wifi. For gosh sake, I had to be connected to the Internet to update my lightbulbs!

The process took only moments and it went smoothly.  I'm just surprised by some of the things I must do in 2023.

Five Dollars of Slot Play in Three Minutes

I had an interesting errand to run this morning.  Jay and I went to the Starlight Casino in Queensborough.  

We are not gamblers; however, we do have BC Encore cards.  They are loyalty cards for all BC casinos and used to manage accounts in the slots.  We got them primarily because they allow for food discounts in the buffets and restaurants.  

As it is my birthday month, I received a free $5.  So, I spent around three minutes of my time blowing through that amount.  It amounted to only about ten useless spins.  We were already in Queensborough so we stopped at the Value Village and Walmart Supercenter.  The traffic over that bridge was slow, more so going than coming home.

It's also been a big day for packages.  We have had Amazon deliveries each day for the last five or so.  Today was Prime Day and consequently, more are on their way.  We buy a number of items to use ourselves each month.  

We're also starting to collect items that we'll take to Sri Lanka this winter.  Today, another type of box arrived from China via Canada Post.  I picked out a 4G LTE router/wifi modem that uses a phone SIM.  I have an account on AliExpress.  This model is an improvement over a defective one I brought last time.  The new version still allows the connection of ten devices.  However, this is truly portable because it has a power bank built in too.  Data is cheap in Sri Lanka and I'll get an 'all-you-can-eat' account at the airport when we arrive.  This device is much better at sharing than the wifi hotspot built into iOS and Android phones.

Digital Debris from 20 Years Ago

I was reading a FB post from a former high school teacher, Mr. Frank Hammond. In it, he mentioned a phrase I'd not heard.  "Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy ..." 

I discovered it was an old-time radio program for kids. A quick search revealed a substantial amount of material, including this page of archived shows. Oh my, golly gee, I'm pretty sure they were sponsored by Wheaties™. 

Then, I notice the page was hosted on the Internet Archive. I wondered what I could see of my old website that I began in the late 1990s. The first entry I located was when I had my own domain. My site was crawled first on August 2, 2002. How much of it might still be cached online after more than twenty years, I wondered?

  

It turns out that a fair amount of the website is intact as I hosted it on a personal server. Obviously, not a lot of the links remained active.  Be careful what you say on the Internet.  It may never completely disappear!

Click the image above to check out what is available from the first visit.

Not a Real Human

Do you remember having an imaginary friend as a small child?  It would've been impossible to create a plausible, actual image of one.   Now, however, it is fairly easy for computers to come up with fake images of people. My own recent interest and research on AI-generated images allowed me to discover a new website.

 

This image was created with an online AI program.

Today, I'd like to introduce you to this imaginary person.  Let's not spend much time on his imaginary name.  He was produced by a generative adversarial network that learns from exposure to sets of images.  Sometimes the results can have artifacts or errors.  This came from notarealhuman.com. There are other sites using the same code but presumably different data sets.

I ♥ August!

I guess BC had a heatwave while we were seeing the sites in Iceland and Greenland. We missed that but I'd rate today's weather as about 9.5/10. It's around 25°C and mostly sunny.  

 

Of course, we put some of the sunshine to good use by doing a load of laundry before we even ate breakfast.  We surely had a lot of clothes to wash from our recent cruise.  The photo shows just the first load.   I love the smell of clothes dried outside.  It's a better smell than any laundry product I've known.  Take that observation for what you will as I do love the smell of bleach and Ivory® soap too. 

We did make an appointment with our New Westminster Expedia Cruise Ship Centre representative.  See you on Monday, Arlene.  We ain't done sailing on them big ole boats this year! 

Speaking of travel, last night I ordered a Swiss army knife for on-the-road Wifi.   It arrived and was in front of our doorway when we got back from uptown.  It's a travel router that I'm sure I'll find handy.  During winters and when on trips, it'll turn Airbnb and other public wifi signals into a secure personal network.