Author: Dax Nair

  • Recreational Marijuana: When the Government Sells Pot
    Recreational Marijuana: When the Government Sells Pot

    After a lengthy political approval process, the Canadian Government recently legalized recreational marijuana. Considering that marijuana has been illegal in Canada since 1923, It’s kind of a big deal! Effective October 17, 2018, you can walk into a designated store and buy marijuana like you would buy beer and cigarettes. As various players such as…

  • San Francisco – A City of Parties, Parks, and Protests
    San Francisco – A City of Parties, Parks, and Protests

    The vestiges of the hippie movement are everywhere as I walk down Haight Street in San Francisco. It’s the 41st Haight-Ashbury Street Fair — the annual fair where people come together to remember and celebrate the “Summer of Love.” Pop-up stores peddle psychedelic wear and trinkets to middle-aged tourists who are here to relive the…

  • When a Blast Rocks Your Neighbourhood
    When a Blast Rocks Your Neighbourhood

    When I tweeted out to 680 News that there was an unusual level of police activity at the nearby plaza, I didn’t expect it to be anything serious. It was around 11:00 PM when all the commotion caught my attention.  For a few minutes, I wondered whether there had been an accident at the Bombay…

  • Budapest – A Fascinating Tale of Two Towns
    Budapest – A Fascinating Tale of Two Towns

    Budapest is a tale of two towns, Buda and Pest. Looking down at Pest from the Buda side is like old money looking down on the nouveau riche. To its residents, Buda is the classier side of the city. After all, the Buda Castle and many of the city’s attractions such as Fisherman’s Bastion and…

  • Walking Prague – A Food Tour Worth the Money
    Walking Prague – A Food Tour Worth the Money

    Prague is a bit like Toronto. Everyone loves hockey and beer. But, the resemblance sort of ends there. Toronto is newish and modern. Everything in Prague is ancient. For instance, the “Old Town” in Prague dates back to the 9th century, and, the “New Town,” in case you are wondering, was established in the year…

  • Meatless burgers and alcohol-free beer?
    Meatless burgers and alcohol-free beer?

    Imagine showing up for a barbecue where they serve you meatless burgers and alcohol-free beer! As someone who likes burgers juicy and beer medium-bodied, I am confused. It all started with some research into “meatless” meats. It was for a blog post on the subject of business disruption facing the meat industry. In case you…

  • The Dangerous Weaponization of Data
    The Dangerous Weaponization of Data

    The weaponization of data, as a term, has a dramatic sound to it. The reality is that data, in the wrong hands, can be as lethal as any dangerous weapon that can harm you. The unprecedented level of influence the FAANG companies have on our lives came to light with the recent Facebook-Cambridge Analytics fiasco.…

  • Bye-Bye Byron – A Matter of Life and Death

    It turned out to be a matter of life and death… “You should have won that match,” I said, as Byron came off the squash court. He had just wrapped up a closely-contested house-league match in which he lost 2–3 to an opponent who I felt was less skilled than him. I was early for…

  • The Facebook Fiasco – We Had it Coming
    The Facebook Fiasco – We Had it Coming

    As a Marketing guy, I am ambivalent about the recent Facebook fiasco. I hate to tell you: But, we had it coming. Sure, I am outraged that 87 million people had their personal data accessed without permission, for corporate gains. But, the fact remains that the data existed within Facebook for it to be mined.…

  • A computer scam and my momentary lapse of reason
    A computer scam and my momentary lapse of reason

    The instant I clicked on the attachment, I realized that I should not have. I was researching for my next blog post when the popup notification in the corner of my computer screen showed that I had a message on Facebook Messenger. It was from a friend that I regularly played squash with. It read:…