The Connect2 Podcast

There are lots of songs that sound light and joyful but have underlying aspects that are either sad, gloomy or downright stalkerish. Songs like Every Breath You Take by the Police which is sometimes sung at weddings, but it really is about someone obsessed and stalking the person they are obsessed with. There are a couple of short clips in the podcast but the artists and the songs are credited, including Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind (1997) and Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks (1974)

You spend a third of your life sleeping but how well do you know how it works? It is incredibly important to a good healthy lifestyle but it does some things that are not too obvious. There are also things that you can inadvertently do that has a negative consequence on your awake time after a poor night's sleep. It affects so many of your systems and today we discuss sleep

The real estate world is divided into two very distinct categories, residential and commercial. There are a lot of problems with both worlds but commercial property is valued in a different way from residential properties. It has more of an economic basis whereas residential property is really more related to supply and demand. Mark and Jeff discuss the differences between the two after talking about a number of other more current events including the Alberta Referendum questions.

The Frontier labs are producing more and more models. As a casual user, you are presented with a number of options as to which version of the model you can select for your task. How do you decide. Mark and Jeff go through the different models and versions (as of Sept 2026) and help you understand. We also, briefly, discuss the current Alex Formenton controversy and how it fits into the culture of the Edmonton Oilers that have a long history of recruiting many players, coaches and GM's that have had tainted pasts to give them an opportunity for a second chance.

It seems like everyday you look at any news feed all you see is terrible stuff. Earthquakes, volcanoes, Super El Nino, Polarizing Politics, War, etc... Everything seems so negative and honestly its a little draining. Today's episode is about some good news stories.... things that are positive and hopeful. Oh, and the coffee was great!

Back in the day, underground miners would have canaries in a cage to test the air to make sure it was safe to breath. If the canary stopped singing and died, it meant that the air was bad and a big risk to the miners (they needed to get out!). Did we just see an AI equivalent of a dead canary? The Hugging Face attack by Open AI agents in July was so much worse than originally thought with the agents persistently attacking the Hugging Face infrastructure to figure out how some phantom graders would be assessing the agents' performance. There was so much to unpack. Mark and Jeff discuss this and the real fear for the future, which is not a single sentient AI but a swarm of powerful misguided AI agents trying to do something and devastating the internet or world.

Mark has a special guest today with Kayla Gordon, from Winnipeg, with whom Mark has been travelling all over this planet with on several photographic trips. Both Mark and Kayla have competed in a number of image competitions with a range of results. They discuss the process and what you get as a benefit from these competitions. Just a special note, the recording was done via a zoom meeting, so the sound is not quite good as usual (sorry about that).

We have been able to travel at supersonic speeds for decades, the technology is well know as are the consequences of going very fast. There used to be Concordes but nothing after them. What happened, why don't we do air travel at supersonic speeds (at the moment) and why almost all commercial airplane travel is in a sweet spot of about 0.85 Mach (speed of sound) at an elevation of 35,000 - 45,000 feet.

Passwords protect our digital online lives but they keep getting more complicated and there is so many of them, people start getting lazy so that they can actually remember their passwords. This makes passwords unreliable as a security feature. Passwords are the first line of defense for your personal information but there are other options including password managers and Passkeys. Mark and Jeff discuss online security and what your options are to protect yourself.

In this day and age, we are now relying on mapping applications on our phones to get us to our destination more and more. Google Maps and Apple Maps are great. They find a route to where you are going fast and predict the time so much better than even a couple of years ago. But, how do they do that? How do they predict how long it takes and how do they know about traffic. Better yet, which one is better. Mark and Jeff explore this topic

Alcohol is ingrained and accepted in our society. But is it safe to consume? Alcohol is a Class 1 carcinogen just like Tobacco and Asbestos. What??? Yep. So why do we consume it still? Good question. Let's explore that.

GPS is a technology that has been around for a while and has become incredibly integrated into our lives. It is so ubiquitous but most people don't know how it works. Some people think the system is dumbed down from Military systems but that's not entirely true and there are multiple systems out there. The physics about GPS is very cool

Mark just went on a trip to Africa to photograph animals and tribes in some remote parts of Africa and has now returned. In this episode, we discuss where he went, what he saw and what he experienced. Whoo hoo!

While Mark was away, Jeff had the opportunity to talk with a childhood friend Daniel St. Onge to discuss Quebec Culture. Daniel still lives in Quebec and Jeff moved away when he was in his mid 20's

The world has been radically disrupted by regional conflicts, political realignments, global warming and supply chain disruptions (e.g. fuel). What does that actually mean for travel in 2026 and moving forward. Mark and Jeff discuss the changes in approaches to global travel as a result of these factors and what is actually happening

How did we become a society that successfully used Vaccines to eradicate several types of diseases only to now have a significant portion of the population distrusting vaccines as a whole? Where and when did it start? Mark and Jeff explore the origins of the fabricated study that launched then entire anti-vaxx movement. Previously it was very fringe and although the origin has been proven to be false, nobody seemed to notice the correction until it was way too late.

Many people pay off their credit cards monthly, so how do the banks make money off of lending you money to pay for your purchases when they don't charge you interest unless you are late with payments? Mark and Jeff discuss how the credit card companies (and in Canada the banks) make money off your purchasing habits

As people age, their brain starts to be a little less sharp. Despite this there are things one can do to try to keep your mental acuity as sharp as possible. Mark and Jeff discuss those techniques as well as the usual review of coffee, things they learned this week as well as media consumed.

Currently there is an ongoing disinformation campaign about Alberta Separation going on that is getting a lot of views +40 million. Why is it disinformation? Because is it mostly AI generated, often using actors pretending to be someone with inside information, and the people generating it don't really care about the politics, they are more interested in the emotional spin and how that can translate into monetized channels. PS. It is also not just Alberta Separation, there has been an even bigger disinformation campaign by the same people in the UK just last year.

As a dog photographer, Mark sees lots of dogs. As he is currently about to start looking for a new puppy for his family, Mark discusses with Jeff considerations on types of breeds and where you should get puppies from.

As the podcast and online creation systems are getting mature, some creators are getting burned out or exhausted. They started with a great idea, things started generating content that got eyeballs watching.... but its a grind and they need to keep up with content creation or their revenue slips as the algorithm rewards you less. Mark and Jeff discuss burnout.

Ozempic or GLP-1 is a drug people are taking to reduce weight, but did you know that it is a peptide? There are other, less studied peptide out there that are being taken for a wide variety of benefits and symptoms. Do they work and how much do we know about them

Women's sports are definitely on the upswing. Even though this is the case, people in the manosphere sometimes suggest that women's sport is an afterthought. Clearly this is not true, but are there some sports where women's sport dominates over men's? How would you even measure that? Money? Fame? Performance? Mark and Jeff discuss their thoughts on the status of women's sport

In this episode, Mark and Jeff compare AI models and how agentic work will fundamentally change how we use LLM's as tools

Mark and Jeff discuss Mark's trip to India, what he learned, what he enjoyed and what he found challenging.

Today we have a travelling episode with Mark in Delhi India, we have a special guest for the podcast, Kayla Gordon a renowned photographer based in Winnipeg and a former theatre producer. They talk about the trip they have been on that is coming to a close.

There are very few guardrails for AI agents and as they develop more autonomy, they pose a real risk of damaging and eventually destroying the usefulness of the internet. AI agents can attack people and they don't sleep, which means they can keep breaking things on the internet if left unchecked.

AI's breakthrough for LLMs was dependent upon an unanticipated result when additional computing power was added to the base algorithms. A great deal of money and effort has been invested into the next generation of AI with the anticipation that the first company to develop Artificial General Intelligence will dominate the landscape. Mark and Jeff discuss why there may be a significant problem with the current approach

The Unfavourable Semi-circle was a mysterious Youtube channel that appeared in 2015. Mark and Jeff discuss what it was and what is known about it. To this day it is still a mystery.

Many young people are very fearful of the advent of AI particularly because it may make all kinds of work redundant. AI tools do help leverage time but are AI agents ready to come in an replace workers entirely? if not, how far away are they?

One of Mark's dogs passed away recently and in this episode we discuss the process of dealing with an elderly dog's passing and their journey over the rainbow bridge.

David Graeber did some research on jobs and found that a lot of people thought their jobs were meaningless. He classified these jobs as Bulls&%t! jobs and even classified them. In this episode Mark and Jeff dive into what makes a job a BS job

We're back! After a few weeks of conflicting schedules and travel, we are back in business baby. Today we are talking about the enshitification of the internet (a term coined by Cory Doctorow) and take a closer look at what it means and examples of it.

At this time of year we contemplate where we have been and where we are going. In the gap between Christmas and New Year's Jeff and Mark discuss their wishes for countries, individuals and people in general for 2026.... Have a Happy New Year!

Today's episode explores a bit about different types of vaccinations, how they work and what benefit we get from them. Mark is traveling in a few months and had to get some vaccinations to travel.

Most people can lose weight by using intermittent fasting to help manage their caloric intake. In this episode, Mark and Jeff discuss the benefits of fasting and how it helps you manage your weight. It doesn't work for everyone but it does work for many.

Everyone sleeps, but how much do you need and how much do you know about it. Do you get enough sleep? Do you get enough good quality sleep? Mark and Jeff explore this as well as our usual segments

Nobody gets out of this reality alive.... everyone eventually dies. Some younger than others. Better to make the most of your time on this planet. In this episode, Mark and Jeff discuss the appreciation for the time we have an what we see as we get older. Not depressing but more an appreciation of the time we have - Carpe Diem!

Mark and Jeff go through the different types of espresso based coffee, discuss caffeine levels and review both the benefits (there are some benefits) and negatives of coffee. Grab a cuppa and enjoy the discussion, we guarantee you will learn something new

Mark and Jeff explore how to create something from essentially nothing. How to make something creative from its raw form. How did Leonardo Da Vinci create great statues from blocks of stone?

What is Cholesterol and what does it do? Why do we need to manage it and what is the difference between HDL and LDL? Statins are some of the most prescribed medications but can have some serious side effects....

Mark just finished a trip to Churchill Manitoba to photograph polar bears. The results were amazing. In this episode, Mark discusses some of the details of his trip and things that make Churchill a special place

OpenAI just released a new social media platform that consists entirely of AI generated slop. It has some unusual features and is fun to use and experiment with. Who knows where this will go but the ability to generate these short clips from text input is remarkable.

What prescription drugs have the most side effects and what are they? What about generic drugs, are they just as effect as name brand drugs? How well do they perform? We explore both of these topics as well as discuss 3i/Atlas and what coffee we are drinking

Do you like to try new things? Are you resistant to change? Why are some people motivated to try new things while others resist change? Mark and Jeff discuss this

Nasa is planning it's Artemis program to send astronauts to the moon and establish a base on the Moon to get us to Mars. Today, we talk about the Artemis program, where it is at and where it is going

What happens when you have a humanoid robot and you put into it, AGI? Where does that leave humanity?

In this episode Mark and Jeff discuss why older people talk about health concerns.

Mark and Jeff discuss Mark's recent trip to Katmai National Park in Alaska where he got to photograph Kodiak Brown Bears, some of the biggest bears in the world (basically the same size as polar bears)

Mark is on the road on a photography excursion to photography Kodiak bears in Katmai National Park. On this travel edition of the podcast, Mark interviews a fellow photographer (Kayla Gordon from Winnipeg) and they discuss where they are and what they have been doing. ****WARNING**** The noise quality is a little rough (the generator for the boat was going on in the background), we were in an open space and the portable recorder was not as nice as our regular studio microphones, but the episode is worth it!