Best inventions of 2024; Rocking the ring; Make MAiD criminal again

3 Things this week and the poem "Back to Arms Again"

It’s happening. Christmas has come to the Kooman household. The trees are up. The carols are playing. The hot chocolate bombs are detonating in little mugs. Isn’t this just the best time of the year?

Last weekend I unofficially kicked off the season with the kids while Petra was on an international work trip. We went to see The Best Christmas Paegeant. It was wholesome, funny, touching. It was a great way to start the Christmas film season.

If you have a classic Christmas story or film that you love to watch, please share it with me in the comments. I want to put together our list.

Thanks for spending some of your weekend with Things I Wrote Down. Here are three things and an a poem.

1. Best inventions of 2024

I picked up my print copy of Time’s Best Inventions of 2024. I love innovation and to see what people around the world are creating.

Of course, AI was dominant. In fact, one of the features alerted me to Google’s NotebookLM technology and prompted me to create a first My Fake Podcast episode this week, in which I had artificial hosts discuss my real content. Quite a trip!

Here’s how it turned out:

Some innovative standouts are:

• A trifold smartphone. So cool, if you’re into accordion-style folding your tablet…but would you ever use it?

• This “blue-collar” robot that can do my chores and looks least likely to subjugate me and take over my identity. Amazon’s already using them in warehouses, but segregates them from the humans, creating the perfect plot line for a sci-fi thriller.

• I’m a bit surprised it took to 2024 for an artistic e-reader to hit the market. Full colour reading for graphic novels and coffee table books. It’s time.

• If we can ensure this robotic lawn mower won’t run over the humans or the kid’s toys, I think I’m in!

2. Rocking the ring

Speaking of technology, my RingConn 2.0 arrived! It was a birthday gift (and a new device developed through a Kickstarter campaign. It’s like the Oura ring, but doesn’t come with a monthly subscriber fee, so you have all the benefits of tracking steps, and monitoring all the health things, right (underneath) your fingertips. And at much less cost over time).

I loved everything about this campaign. To be part of creating something (not really, but you get the feeling you’re supporting a start up), is fun. And I really appreciated that they sent an elegant sizing kit with multiple prototype rings so I could wear and test the feel and find the right finger.

Abrupt scroll stop for a shameless plug.

Delft Blue, my award-winning about a family living through the Nazi occupation in World War II Holland, is now available in print and as an e-book. I share a bit about the story here.

I’m so excited that readers can now experience the story that’s only been seen in public readings and in screenplay competitions. If you need a stocking stuffer for a friend or family member, this is a great option!

3. Make MAiD Criminal Again

Since RFK Jr is riffing on the MAGA catchphrase, I can too. Let’s Make MAiD Criminal Again in Canada. MMCA!

That’s definitely how I felt after reading this must-read article by Alexander Raikin in The New Atlantis: A Pattern of Noncompliance.

The article details how Ontario’s euthanasia regulators have tracked 428 cases of possible criminal violations — and not referred a single case to law enforcement. The article exposes that in 2023 alone, a quarter of all euthanasia providers in Ontario received at least one response from the Coroner’s Office about a compliance issue.

Too many people, including people in positions of power, are ignoring what appears to be an alarming breach of Canada’s Criminal Code as the MAiD regime continues to expand and root deeply into the medical system.

I did a deeper dive on the article findings in my weekly article, which you can read here:

Without oversight the vulnerable perish

It’s terrible to talk about and think about. But what’s happening to the vulnerable is even worse, so we can’t be silent.

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A poem

Gotta end on a light note after going to the euthanasia stuff, amiright?

I thought I’d share the poem Back to Arms Again, because I believe every word of it. It was inspired by my nephew Spencer. I remember holding him and just being amazed at him, his life and what life means. I revisited the poem when my daughter was born and changed it around a bit (no offence, Spence).

I believe this poem is true of all of us. Imagine if we viewed each individual with such wonder and awe at each stage of life.

Back to Arms Again