The Vermont Housing Improvement Program (VHIP) 2.0 – New and Improved?

The Vermont Housing Improvement Program (VHIP) 2.0: Vermont has a problem.  There are way more folks that want to live here than available housing.  Any available housing is priced double what it should be considering Vermonters overall earn less for the same work.  If you guess that would lead to higher homeless and housing insecurity…

Practical AI for Everyday Life: Notes from my lecture.

I held a lecture recently about the practical AI use for Everyday Life,  the group as expected was a bit older; everyone was over 40 and there was even an 80-year-old.  That gentleman couldn’t wait to talk to his morning walking partner. We gathered to explore Artificial Intelligence (AI)—a concept they’d all heard of but…

Unlock AI: A Beginner’s Guide to Practical AI for Everyday Life

 In my new class, Practical AI for Everyday Life, I’ll pull back the curtain on how AI tools help enhance productivity, creativity, and more in my personal and professional worlds.  My idea is to make it less scary for those who never use it and may even be afraid of it. We’ll explore leading AI…

How AI is Transforming Education: Engaging Students while Empowering Teachers

Across the US, AI fears have rendered knee-jerk AI bans in some schools. Fortunately, many of those schools have reversed their decisions. Many schools have embraced AI and have included the tech in their curriculum. This is the correct answer. Obviously, generative AI is raising valid concerns among educators about plagiarism. That’s the first thing…

Opportunity Awaits: Why Downtown Burlington is Primed for Retail Renaissance

If you read  Reddit or talk to someone “who hasn’t been to Church Street in years” you may think they are confusing 1980s Bogata to present-day Burlington Vermont. However, if you go on Spotify Wrapped Sound Town you’ll learn you may already live in Burlington.  While the hand-wringing about crime and vacant storefronts makes splashy…

The Secret to Selling More Books: Tap Into Your Niche Audience

As an author, discovering and leveraging your niche audience can make all the difference when it comes to selling books. I recently saw a great real-world example of this while connecting with fellow corgi owners online. One creative dog owner I follow started regularly posting cute photos and videos of their corgi. Over time, they…

AI is Getting Better at Just Making Stuff Up

I recently read a book entitled The Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel.  It is about a man named Christopher Knight who lived in the woods of Maine for 27 years without human contact.  It’s a decent read for the sheer logistics of living off the grid illegally for nearly 3 decades.  It reminded…

Stable Audio: A New Way to Make Music with AI

People who are not Musicians or music producers now have an exciting new AI tool at their disposal – Stability AI’s Stable Audio. This new text-to-audio model allows anyone to generate music and sound effects simply by describing what they want in text prompts. It’s still early, but users can generate music in any genre…

Creating Object Portraits with Midjourney

Object portraits are an artistic genre where portraits are composed of objects rather than literal likenesses. The objects are carefully chosen for their symbolism and connection to the portrait subject. This allows the artist to convey the essence and personality of the subject through meaningful items. It makes sense that AI can do this well. …