BRANDON.T.BANDE // ROGUE0015

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Back Again

· 5 MIN READ · ·

  • ai
  • personal

Hi,

I'm Brandon.

And you last heard from me 20 days ago (been a while). However, I am back again (yaaaay!!!). I have a couple of articles stuck in draft mode that I could not wrap up in the past few weeks. Mainly, time has been a factor, and then there has been the issue of a bit of writer's block.

Post Article X

Reflecting on Article X, a few things popped up in my mind. This was meant to be somewhere where I articulated my thoughts and those ca-ching moments of the light bulbs in my mind. Thinking about you, my beloved reader, I felt like I robbed you of a peek into my mind. Maybe I did, but the lights were just off. Or burnt. So you couldn't see in the dark, right?

Pledge to go a bit more tech than social commentary

Also, I realised that there was too much of oh, poor me!! and less of hey, these are my thoughts, maybe they can lead to something. If it wasn't for the impromptu hey, I am back, I would just dive into the techie stuff. But be patient, ey... the lights are back on, time has been kinder as of late, and I am in jolly good spirits.

What to expect later...

A talk inspired by a meme? Remember the tech meme about Google chowing RAM? No? Okay, I guess you are not nerdy enough. Inspired by the meme and the typical African mother mantra (If you eat here, you do the work), I came up with a concept that supports a sign language app that I am working on with a mentee. It uses Edge AI and Representation Learning (fancy ways to say that we use some of the RAM Google eats to do some work on the computer so that less data is shared). Less is more; I mean, less data means more user-friendliness and privacy. Imagine selling privacy in the surveillance era (Hell, I know they are watching, I just don't know how).

Why am I even collecting 75000 unique words?

My mom is a Shona teacher, and I spent a lot of time reading Shona in my childhood (novels, the latest editions of Kwayedza and student exam transcripts). A few things came to mind as I started thinking about how the language is constructed. Crazy concepts like neuroplasticity and biomimicry came to mind. What if we could copy from the greatest designer ever: God, Allah, Yahweh or whatever name you give to Him? So right now, I kinda have a corpus of over 80000 words that need cleaning, and part of the process includes learning the basics of the Shona language (did you know that no Shona word ends without a vowel? I dare you to give me one).

Hermesphere

Well, well, well, a child from the boulevard of broken dreams has the possibility to escape. Well, for this, I would say the biggest blocker was not technical; it was actually mental. I think part of it stems from a background that always encouraged quick fixes and painting over cracked walls. I had hotwired the entire thing around an unofficial WhatsApp client because that was the hotfix for the prototype. The MVP needs a solid foundation, which is something that I am now rebuilding.

A lil bit of love

Lol, before you judge me... what did you expect? Me to be a lonely hermit stuck in an old, isolated castle, writing on a squeaky typewriter, looking all grumpy and weary? Hell no, lol. In recent weeks, I have taken some time to spend a lil time with a special someone who you will get tired of hearing about in bits and pieces.

.... and some ambition

Now, another thing that will be taking up some of my time is applications for so many things. I feel kinda stuck, and I would like to expose myself to opportunities so that I become a better person, leader and uhmmmm... other things.

So hey, it's been a moment. How have you been? I'm back, and Article X was never really my exit.

Let's connect via the following platforms: LinkedIn, on X as @Rogue0015, or check the Sessionize speaker profile if you want this signal live on your stage. And if you're new here, start with the talks — this blog is their echo.