There are many similarities between dating apps and social media apps. Both rely on a system of random, meaningless “rewards” (likes, hearts, stars, comments) to entice the user to remain on the app. Both promise something unrealistic- dates, love, popularity, fame, fortune – in exchange for simply logging in, swiping, clicking, posting a photo or…
Author: Steve Ainslie
Taking The Edge Off
This year I did something to make my morning workouts better. I bought a space heater for my garage. For the past two winters, I toughed it out, bundling up in multiple layers and blowing on my numb fingers as I exercised in the frigid early morning hours in an unheated garage that was between…
Dating Failure
Wow. It’s hard to believe it’s been only six weeks since I met My Good Looking Neighbor. During those weeks, I experienced a whirlwind of emotions, longings and feelings. My friendship (and hoped for romance) with MGLN reawakened part of me that had been dormant since my wife died 3 years ago. I was optimistic…
Fair, Impartial and Just Farce
Since I won the loser’s lottery having been summoned for jury duty in Wake County next week, I’ve done a bit of research on what is expected of me. Apparently jurors are sworn to keep secret all of the proceedings and are prohibited from: Checking facts online or in person Doing any research abut the…
The Pandemic Of Excuses Has Arrived
As I predicted last year, we are now beset with a pandemic of excuses. Here in my hometown, everything from grocery store shortages, to reduced pool hours, to trash pickup delays, to last minute school closures are all being blamed on “the Covid pandemic”. If there is poor customer service – it’s due to covid….
Intellectual Attraction
I leaned a new word yesterday – sapiosexual. According to Dictionary.com, a sapiosexual is “a person who finds intelligence to be a sexually attractive quality in others.” That’s me. I just didn’t know there was word for this. Ever since my wife died 3 years ago, I’ve been pretty isolated. The first year I was…
Artificial Intelligence & Algorithms – Don’t Believe the Hype
My recent foray into the online dating world using the Bumble and Hinge apps got me thinking about artificial intelligence and algorithms. If my experience is indicative of the power of AI, I suspect our fears of being tricked, manipulated and ultimately ruled by these systems is over-hyped. Both of these apps offer basic filters…
The Chainsmokers
I can’t believe my neighbor isn’t dead. He lives two doors down from me and smokes on his back porch at all hours of the day and night. I know this because I can smell the smoke as it drifts over from 50 yards away through his yard, my neighbor’s yard, my yard and finally…
Technique-al Training
The online drawing course I’m taking at Udemy has been better than I expected. I’m now into my fourth day. Each lesson introduces one or more new concepts / techniques. It’s exactly what I wanted to get from the course. It is self-paced so I can skip over the fluff (like “post your drawings to…
Unproven
The most challenging thing about dating after having been married for a long time is building a relationship from scratch. My friends and family told me many times, “Don’t try to replace your wife. Don’t think you will find somebody like her.” My gut reaction to this is, “Really? Why would you even say this?…