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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 [...]
Varanasi City of Gods – Special Edition
How does it make one feel to be in one of the most “holy” cities in the world?
The Hidden Context in some Great Movies
I love the cinema and movies. I also make films myself. What stared as a simple passion for the action and adventure in films has become a life long urge to understand what the filmmaker, [...]
Mount Wudang and the Meaning of Life
In China, Daoist temples atop mountains are so numerous that there must be something about these high places that answers a longing for cliff edges and being above the clouds. A simplistic analysis of this, one using that most ignoble [...]
“Morgan” – Digital Watercolour
"Morgan" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
Basho’s bonus modules: Rime of the Frostmaiden – an Adventure with Pirates
When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 45 and play with my own children. Yes - I built my own players! Our players: the piplins! [...]
The Purpose of Travel – Now Published!
We often take arriving at the destination to be the purpose of travel. Taken in this way the journey itself is not the point, rather it is the serious business of transporting our bodies from one place to another. Getting [...]
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!
Varanasi – City of the Hindus
Many Indian cities are a jumble, a mix of the ancient and modern, but nowhere I have ever been compares in this regard to Varanasi. I come from a country, and from a city, which [...]
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist | Dungeons & Dragons
**Caution this post contains spoilers for WDH!** My players (9-year-old children, my wife and her 70+-year-old mother) just completed Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and there follows my write up of the adventure. The piplins! [...]
What is Daoism/Taoism?
Before we start I should add a caveat to this article: I am a philosopher and a Daoist. As such, I suppose, I am open to accusations of bias and a lack of objectivity. This is unavoidable. However, if one [...]
“Countryside walk” – Digital Watercolour
"Countryside walk" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
Critical Praise for “Trials & Tea Ceremonies”
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? That's exactly what Basho and his wife Cesca felt. So, they walked [...]
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 [...]
Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden – Destruction’s Light.
**Caution this post contains spoilers for Destruction's Light!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 45 and play with my own children. Yes - I built my [...]
Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, green tea and finding inner peace
I have written before about travellers wanting a point to it all, to travelling. In part this is perhaps seen as them wanting to justify the vast cost of travel; to have a point for spending all that money, [...]
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 Backroad to Bures”
"The Backroad to Bures" by Basho AI image upscaled from 2019. It would make a lovely computer background.
Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden – Defeating Auril, DM’s guide and ending
**Caution: this post contains spoilers for Rime of the Frostmaiden!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 46 and play with my own children. Yes - I [...]
OMEGA Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch” review
THE SPEEDMASTER PROFESSIONAL MOONWATCH. For well over half a century, the OMEGA Speedmaster has witnessed events that have tested the limits of physical endurance and human courage, including the first manned lunar landing in July of 1969 and every one of NASA’s piloted missions since March of 1965.
And so I went for a walk…
"And so I went for a walk..." by Basho Painted by hand onto a Microsoft Surface Studio 2 in the software "Rebelle" using a digital stylus. This is near the village of "Mount Bures, Suffolk, UK" [...]
Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden – Sunblight
**Caution this post contains spoilers for Sunblight!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 46 and play with my own children. Yes - I built my own [...]
Chan Buddhism, Daoism and Zen – Journey through the East
Writing an article about Zen is almost a contradiction in terms. That is unless I simply leave the rest of it blank... Just a finger, pointing to the moon… But, I don't want to do that! At its basic [...]
Beijing and the Great Wall – Our final days in China
"So," said Cesca loudly and clearly, just as I was drinking from a water bottle, "What's all this about China and Tiananmen Square?" I almost did a spit take. "Quiet!" I said and I looked around, wiping water running [...]
The day I met the Buddha, and killed him
Delhi. Many people say they have “done” Delhi, but in all honesty they haven’t. They have perhaps done the tourist parts of New Delhi, or maybe spent some time in an Ashram there – which amounts [...]
Big in Japan
This was the very first film I ever made when I first purchased my camcorder. In 2008, I visited my [...]
“Venice, after the opera” – Digital Watercolour
"Venice, after the opera" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
Short Jolly Swagman Backpackers Review
A copy of my Hostelworld.com review: Jolly Swagman Backpackers, Sydney, Australia 25th Jun 2008, 3 [...]
What does it mean to be a man in the modern world?
What does it mean to be a man in the modern world? How do men feel and why do men play violent sports?
Christopher Ward C60 TRIDENT PRO 600 Review
Introduction There is nothing like buying, owning and enjoying watches for inducing consumerist fervour [...]
Charity Airsoft Event – Write Up
On Sunday, my airsofting brothers and I held an airsoft event on behalf of the little kids at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. Many people gave up their time and gave across their money for the event, including the Electrowerkz site owner's, marshals, medics and players. The net result was a combined donation of £1816.68 to the charity.
The American War
They say the better part of travelling is meeting the people from the countries you visit. They do not say how much that meeting will affect you, neither how heartbreaking such encounters can be. The first time I met a one legged man in Laos, while visiting COPE – the charity for the war injured, I asked him how he lost his leg? “The American’s took it,” he replied.
TM M3 Super 90 CQB Mod Guide
The M3 Super 90 from TM is one of the best non AEGs on the market. It uses the now [...]
Beijing and the Great Wall – Our final days in China
"So," said Cesca loudly and clearly, just as I was drinking from a water bottle, "What's all this about [...]
Vietnam: Cu Chi, the Mekong and Nha Trang
We meet with the crazy Cao Dai!
Lets go tubing! A Basho Film
"Lets go tubing!" This video highlights the crazy day my friends and I had while tubing the legendary Mekong river in Vang Veng, Laos, South East Asia in November 2008.
FREE CHAPTER! Trials & Tea Ceremonies: Misadventures in Far Away Places
Part I: Oceania Willing Workers and the Storm on Kangaroo Island Not all adventures involve movement; some are about [...]
The Ellora Caves
One of the unique things about India, and one that you never quite come to terms with, is the trains. [...]
“The Backroad to Bures”
"The Backroad to Bures" by Basho AI image upscaled from 2019. It would make a lovely computer background. [...]
What is Daoism/Taoism?
Before we start I should add a caveat to this article: I am a philosopher and a Daoist. As such, [...]
Jawbreaker – Ultimate AI Upscaled 4k edition
I was at the gym and, as usual, I was watching downloaded films on the gym's TV while cycling [...]
Sunset in Mumbai
The November terrorist attacks on Mumbai was something we had worried about before landing in the city, but to look [...]
This is India
I flipped out my phone and called the hotel. We were waiting outside the Mumbai airport, it was late, dark [...]
Headshots In Airsoft: Argument For Full Face Protection
The quotes are from various people in the arnies airsoft discussion on this issue I have recently become embroiled [...]
Physics versus Philosophy, can these two not get along?
It just has always been my position that Philosophy and Science are not in competition to uncover the secret of reality, and that the attempts by Physicists to paint this dichotomy was self-destructive and not worthy of their time. It is almost as if they are leaving their old enemy of "Religion" alone and picking on a group they don’t think will fight back.