Author: Dax Nair
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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.…
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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:…
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Havana Beyond Classic Cars, Rum, and Cigars
I will start with a cliché: Time seems to have stood still in Cuba. It is evident on my drive from Havana’s José Martí Airport to Hotel Nacional De Cuba. The typical buildings that you find near an airport — offices of companies that support the airport, hotels that cater to transit passengers — are absent.…
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Falling off a ladder – When adversity strikes
Last week my sister-in-law fell off a ladder. It wasn’t a “ha! ha! you fell down,” kind of fall. As the stabilizing bar on the aluminium step ladder gave way, she fell one way while her limbs, pinned under the ladder, went the other. She ended up in a hospital “Emergency” where she remained in…
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Perceptions – A case for colouring your grey hair
“You should colour your hair,” my sister looked critically at me before adding, “You look old.” Siblings don’t sugarcoat. I was not offended, I knew she meant well. After all, she probably remembers the guy with the beard — shown below — more than the bald guy socializing with Brian Burke (that’s another story.) We…