Varanasi - City of the Hindus READ MORE Mount Wudang and the Meaning of Life READ MORE A Wild Sheep Chase READ MORE Jawbreaker - Ultimate AI Upscaled 4k edition READ MORE The Storm King's Thunder and the Dragon's Bane READ MORE OMEGA Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch” review READ MORE Basho's bonus modules: Rime of the Frostmaiden – an Adventure with Pirates READ MORE Remembering Catherine READ MORE Announcing my new book: Trials & Tea Ceremonies: Misadventures in Far Away Places. READ MORE You're the Pretender - a Tier 1 tribute READ MORE Beijing and the Great Wall - Our final days in China READ MORE The Alam Clock Lesson READ MORE Udaipur READ MORE Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden – Sunblight READ MORE Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden - Destruction's Light. READ MORE Waterdeep: Dragon Heist | Dungeons & Dragons READ MORE Varanasi City of Gods - Special Edition READ MORE Children of the Red Rose READ MORE Things Will Change - a Basho travel film READ MORE Yaks for tea and Tibetan Temples. Living the high life in Shangri-la READ MORE The Purpose of Travel - Now Published! READ MORE Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden - Defeating Auril, DM's guide and ending READ MORE Chan Buddhism, Daoism and Zen - Journey through the East READ MORE Why Most 'AI' Fitness Apps Are Just Marketing (And How I Built One That Actually Works) READ MORE “Countryside walk” – Digital Watercolour READ MORE Critical Praise for "Trials & Tea Ceremonies" READ MORE And so I went for a walk... READ MORE What is Daoism/Taoism? READ MORE “Morgan” – Digital Watercolour READ MORE Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, green tea and finding inner peace READ MORE
Welcome to the Outside Context Homepage2025-10-28T11:33:16+00:00

About Outsidecontext.com

Articles and films from Outside Context have been licensed for use by airlines, featured in Webby award winning phone apps, published as degree level English exam questions, played on Indian evening news and in global advertising by Google.

Why Most ‘AI’ Fitness Apps Are Just Marketing (And How I Built One That Actually Works)

7 AI Pipelines ? 5 AI Prompts, 2 Deterministic Engines. Discover the technical strategy behind building The Iron Church—an AI fitness trainer defined by periodisation science, multi-prompt architecture, and serious consideration of your real equipment. This article is the technical deep dive for anyone who wants to understand what “AI-generated workouts” actually mean when you refuse to cut corners. Introduction This isn’t a story about prompts. It’s a story about why real AI products need state, constraints, and domain logic. There is a specific kind of professional irritation that arises when you spend your working life directing and building real AI systems, only to encounter something that treats AI as merely a marketing feature. AI on the box, we call it. Once you are trained to notice it, you spot it immediately, with telltale signs and vague claims. Such as “personalisation” claims, which amount to little more than a [...]

Announcing my new book: Trials & Tea Ceremonies: Misadventures in Far Away Places.

A hilarious and heartfelt journey for anyone who has ever wondered: "Is this it?" What happens when the life you've built no longer feels like your own? For Basho, turning thirty felt less like a milestone and more like "a splinter in the mind." A series of personal crises convinced him and his partner, Cesca, to make a radical choice. They walked away from their careers, put their lives in storage, and set off on a year-long, unscripted adventure across a dozen countries to answer one question: Is there a better way to live? Their path takes them from the rugged shores of Australia to the spiritual heart of India and the serene temples of Japan. But between the moments of transcendent beauty, a deeper, wilder journey unfolds. They must face down spitting alpacas, chaotic farm hosts, a terrifying encounter with the world’s largest spider in a Laotian toilet, [...]

Things Will Change – a Basho travel film

Things Will Change A travel film exploring humanity's journey through history, touching on themes of faith, nature, technological advancement, and the essence of human connection. The film is divided into four chapters, each reflecting on different aspects of human existence and evolution, inspired by the evocative AI-written poem Things Will Change. Do Not Fear I loved travelling. That is to say, I loved the movement and change. Often, we travel only to reach a particular destination quickly, and indeed, that is how I travel for work. In 2019, I completed an 11-city worldwide speaking tour during which I engaged in live debates with 11 different Google AI experts about the future of AI (which was fun!). Some people asked me why I didn't blog my way around. As a travel writer and blogger, they thought this experience would be like my [...]

The Storm King’s Thunder and the Dragon’s Bane

There follows the campaign we have played all through the 2020 lockdown. It has helped us all resist the mental anguish of the COVID virus, recover from the infection itself and be a beacon of bright enjoyment for all. Truly the great value of this magical game cannot be overstated when played with attentive and imaginative children. So, I present the chronicle of my son, my daughter and my wife playing their first campaign after the starter set, Storm King's Thunder!

Remembering Catherine

"Remembering Catherine" by Basho Today, on the anniversary of her passing, I present a new painting; a present for my mother in law. This digital portrait was painted in Rebelle 5 Pro.

The Alam Clock Lesson

Early in my leadership career, I had a junior member of staff who was late to work. Nothing unusual about that, you may think, for are we not all occasionally late into the office? Most of us commute and moreover [...]

Udaipur

Udaipur is famous for many reasons. To those in the west it is mostly known for its gleaming white Jag Niwas hotel found in the middle of one of its many lakes. To the Indians [...]

A Wild Sheep Chase

**Caution this post contains spoilers for The Wild Sheep Chase!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons and Dragons with, it being the 80’s and the game not being popular here in the United [...]

Shimla mountains and a happy meeting

When you travel through a country, especially if you are using a published travel guide, you are walking a well trodden path. Indeed maybe a thousand people are doing it with you simultaneously. This has a very strong effect over time, as more and more guest houses start catering only to the backpacker and spring up all along the route, which had myriad knock-on effects. Such as: taxi services who know the guide books better than you do and hordes of travellers at ever corner all "experiencing" the local atmosphere; all the time failing to realise that they are in a "bubble" like a Disney theme park ride.

Operation Zulu

The DA’s have played some unusual games over the years, but this was a first for us: this was the first time that we were asked to be a scripted opposition. The idea has a lot of merit if you think about it. Firstly, games often ebb and flow randomly. One side may gain the upper hand in an attack, but they loose too many men to reinforce the position and soon are driven back and it is the other team who are then on the offensive. Similar to a game of football. However, sometimes a team simply hammers all opposition to such an extent that the suffering team cannot fulfil their objectives at all. Sometimes they cannot get out of their safe zone. The game suddenly becomes unbalanced, tempers raise, cries of cheating go up and no fun is had at all. Well, at least none by the team getting a kicking.

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