Tales under the cat tree: Conversations on Imagination, Tech & Human Adventure

Writing about experiences centered around specific pivotal moments in my life is not easy for me. I easily get wrapped up in my own emotions. I find that autobiography does not come naturally to me. I think some of the closest autobiographical-style writing I have done was included in Episode 6 when I talked about my own immigrant story. I would like to explore this idea of autobiography with some...

Have you noticed that the market for self-help and how to succeed at business is so incredibly massive? According to a piece in the Washington Post from January 2025, I kid you not, 15000 self-help books are published each year. Some thousands likely have the terms “manager” or “leader” in the title. I'm only talking about the English language. Maybe even just North America. Why so many? Well, fun...

Welcome to episode 9 for the week of June 29th, or better known as the week of Canada Day. This is my 24th Canada Day as a Canadian citizen, 33rd since I came to the rocky shores of Newfoundland, and the 8th since I moved to Finland for work. People often ask me where "home" is. As I have expressed elsewhere , I tend to respond that home and I have a complicated relationship. But in truth, where h...

So far on Tales Under the Cat Tree, we've explored quite a number of diverse topics. In episodes two and three , we looked at the impact of AI in software development. In episode four, we took you driving through hazards in Chile and Sri Lanka . In episode five, we looked at the impact of AI in fiction , which I revisited with actual fiction in last week's episode on a very Finnish Midsummer . In...

There are many things that were alien to me when I moved to Finland. One of those was the concept of Flag Days. For those in Finland who take these for granted, in much of the world that I have lived in, there are no specific rules around when the national flag is flown. Yes, many rules about how and where, but not often "when." In Finland, specific days are designated Flag Days, and only on those...

I feel that I have been a migrant, immigrant or foreigner most of my life. They are labels that get attached to me quite easily, I often haven't looked the same as those who make up the majority and in at least for the first 20 years of my life and the latter decade, it feels also that I don't speak the same language. That being said, I feel, and I certainly hope people who know me would agree, th...

The whole reason for my podcast and my substack is to once more explore writing: both fiction and non-fiction. However, since I left high school, and until last year, I had put creative writing to the side unless it was to create campaigns for Dungeons and Dragons. When I was in highschool I was always writing, both in school and outside school. Sadly, in my family's many moves, most of that writi...

This podcast combines two pieces from Tales under the cat tree with some additional content. The "hazards" of driving in Chile Every country has its driving norms and after driving 2,500 kilometres in Chile, I think I've figured out at least one that you might want to have in the back of your mind before visiting! Read the full piece. Photos: Scenes from the Atacama, Chile , Carnival in Arica, Chi...

Explore changes to web technology from the earliest days in the 90s through to the AI era through the lens of the changing realities for my personal web site dups.ca (duleepa.com) and photos.dups.ca. I also go through composing my first ever podcast theme! You can view the full article and the pictures on https://tales.dups.ca. This specific post is available at: https://tales.dups.ca/p/after-thir...

When it comes to all things AI, it seems hype is running faster than reality. If you believe the hype, Google and co. say that 30% or more of their code is AI generated. I would argue, while there may be lots of autocompleted code, in many larger engineering teams, the majority of developers may risk being dragged along or left behind and not on their terms. While I do not call it the death of the...

Find out what this is all about and what I hope to explore through Tales under the cat tree in both written and audio form. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tales.dups.ca