Page B6 September 2024 SUPPLIERS NEWS By Mike Jamar Your Source for High Quality Funeral Vehicles Mike Jamar is founder and co-owner of Advanced Integration Technology. Mike has been working with computers since the early 80s and started Advanced Integration in 1994. Advanced Integration specializes in Internet inventories designed for specialty vehicles and equipment. HearseHub was created through a collaboration between Advanced Integration and Nomis Publications, and is now in its fifth year of service. HearseHub brings together funeral vehicles from a number of dealerships that specialize in high quality funeral vehicles. HearseHub offers funeral directors a large, and easy to shop inventory, of funeral vehicles. You can reach him at Mike@AITAdvantage.com. FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.NomisPublications.com Monthly Columnsonline at Like many of you, I watched the Olympics. It was so apparent during the games that perfection comes with a cost of dedication and practice. These athletes have dedicated their lives to their sport, and it shows. The film clips they showed from past Olympics demonstrated how much some sports have evolved over the years. What I found ironic during the Olympics were some of the commercials, specifically those advertising Artificial Intelligence (AI). Those commercial messages were all about letting AI do it for you. They suggested letting AI write your emails, your letters, and even your HearseHub columns Okay, maybe the last reference wasn’t there, but in my mind, it was inferred. I may not be a scholar or even the sharpest tool in the shed, but I believe creativity and imagination require the same effort as Olympic sports if they are to be improved upon. It seems that AI, instead of wanting us to be better at them, wants us to delegate those skills to its service thus de-evolving in these skills. I would argue that these two skills, plus opposable thumbs, are why we have evolved to where we are today? Every time I write this column, I stretch my imagination and creativity. I also learned things about myself, like I should have made a better effort in my English classes. I thought about having AI create this column, but how do I tell it to throw in a sentence or two, that makes little sense and does not pertain to the subject matter, like my past columns? If you ever do read a column of mine that makes perfect sense and is grammatically correct, you can bet I took the AI way out. Here are a couple of examples of our already starting de-evolution. Spelling. You don’t need to know how to spell words anymore. I start a word and suggestions automatically appear on my computer or phone. We no longer need to teach our kids how to spell, we only need to teach them to sound out the first few letters of a word and let AI do the rest. This has become my philosophy. I don’t think I am alone in this either. Letter writing. My father-in-law was in WWII. Those who are too young to remember back then, which is almost all of us now, the only way he could communicate with his family and friends was through letters. He kept many of the letters sent to him while in Europe. The letters weren’t just from his immediate family but included letters from his extended family: aunts, uncles, cousins, as well as from friends and neighbors. These letters were, for the most part, well thought out and interesting, even today. They were all handwritten in cursive and written with ink. What was astonishing is that very few had correction cross-outs or even a smudge. How many of us can do that today? I depend too much on my ability to cut and paste my random thoughts into some reasonable facsimile of a coherent letter, which is usually now a text or email. AI doesn’t even want us to go to that effort. They want you to briefly tell it a little about what you want to say and it writes it for you. I have a pretty good imagination and can be creative at times. It wasn’t always this way and I can point to the change. For a good part of my life I was an over the road salesperson many of my calls involved long drives between calls, or driving to the next city for that day’s calls. The trip that changed it all was on a drive to St. Louis, from Kansas City, a 4-hour drive. Like most of my life, I started the car and the radio popped on. I usually listened to music or talk shows to pass the time. An interesting expression “to pass the time.” Well, this time, for some reason, I turned the radio off. It was just “me” and my mind on this trip. I really thought this won’t last long, it will be boring and I will turn the radio on. It didn’t happen. I found that without the mind-numbing radio blabber, the time was instead filled with interesting and some productive thoughts. From that point on I hardly ever turn on the radio while driving. It’s just “me” and my mind interacting in some of the most interesting ways. What will it be like 50 years from now? Our great-greatgrandkids may not need to know how to read and write. They will communicate through holograms. Drones, of some sort, will bring what we need to the house. Robots will do what we need around the house. The Olympics? The athletes will probably be robots. Our De-Evolution The Fan Man, Inc. Fans Calendars Urns Register Books Dresses Advertising Specialties John Mannion “WhatEver You Need” 1-800-671-8280 Cell: 803-417-2940 Thefanman@comporium.net bankersadvertising.com/thefanman Call 651-450-7727 to request a wholesale catalog, Our Extra-Large Cremains Bags (13” x 15”) are perfectly sized for the Standard Plastic Human Service Urn. or visit UrnBags.com to order some bags. Just $2.90 each*. * Bags sold in multiples of 10 Choose from Black, Blue, or Burgundy Just $3.20 each* Choose from Black, Blue, Burgundy, Green or Gray SoCal Approach Adds Profession Veteran Lindsay O’Neal as Senior Consultant maple, walnut, or oak wood, offering a timeless and elegant way for families to commemorate loved ones. “As someone who knows and loves wood, the craftsmanship of Kentucky Crafted Urns is superb,” said Bob Milward, Milward Funeral Directors, Lexington, KY. “The quality and craftsmanship of Kentucky Crafted Urns is unparalleled within our industry,” said Greg Powell, Davis & Powell Funeral Directors, Berea, KY. Visit KentuckyCraftedUrns.com, call 859-533-9579, or email I.T.designsky@gmail.com for more information. New Small American Business Elevates Quality and Exudes Personal Touch Continued from Page B1 Doric Products, Inc Introduces New Elysian® Burial Vault Lindsey O’Neal WESTLAKE VILLAGE,CA— SoCal Approach recently announced the addition of Lindsey O’Neal as a senior consultant, adding to an already strong core of Voice of the Customer and multichannel marketing expertise. She will be based in Houston, TX. O’Neal spent nearly 11 years at Service Corporation International (SCI), where she managed the company’s long-running customer experience program, working between the corporation and the field to help locations analyze data and deliver actionable insights. “It’s an absolute coupe for us to add a pro like Lindsey,” said George Owens, founder and president of SoCal Approach. “Lindsey brings not only a wealth of knowledge about the profession but understands firsthand how insights about the customer experience can help improve business operations.” Prior to joining the SoCal team, O’Neal was director of brand solutions at Marketcast, where she oversaw the NFL’s “Voice of the Fan” study, which evaluates the game-day and season ticket member experience across all 32 teams. O’Neal led the team that delivered in-depth analysis and reporting, as well as conducting ad-hoc analysis for individual teams. O’Neal also served for nearly four years as manager of marketing operations for Clearway Energy Group, a division of NRG, running marketing and retention efforts for their consumer division. O’Neal is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and completed her MBA at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. SoCal Approach Marketing and Consulting Group is a full-service marketing and research agency founded to measure and deliver data-driven market insights businesses can use to understand and reach their target audiences. For additional information, visit www.socalapproach.com. Rich in appearance and sturdy in structure, the Elysian’s polished simulated marble exterior adds another layer of protection to the vault and the smooth carapace is ideal for optional personalization. MARSHALL,IL— Doric Products, Inc is proud to introduce The Elysian® - the latest addition to their quality line of burial vaults. Elysian is the first Doric vault that offers reinforced concrete that is totally encased by a seamless faux-finished polymer jacket and matching inner liner. Optional silver bar handles are available to accent the exterior appearance while a smooth carapace is ideal for personalization or custom graphics. “The Elysian vault has been designed with both families and our dealer network in mind,” commented Jim Wiens, president of Doric Products, Inc. “With a one-piece outer bottom, onepiece inner liner bottom, one-piece inner lid liner, and a onepiece outer jacket surrounding the concrete, there are fewer joint areas that can be compromised by subsoil gravesite elements and the weight of heavy cemetery maintenance equipment. All joints are bonded using our exclusive sealing technology – the best in the business. And with a frame that effortlessly ties this all together, it’s a lot easier for Doric dealers to assemble.” Like the other vaults in the Doric product line, the Elysian was christened with a Grecian name as a tribute to ancient Greek architecture. The Greek nomenclature harkens back to the original qualities built into the first Doric vault - durability, character, strength, and grace. Well known for its modest price in relation to its strength, and durability; the Doric burial vaults offer families uncompromised security with tremendous value. “The people of Doric are dedicated to providing outer burial enclosures that honor a loved one’s memory while giving family members comfort and peace of mind,” added Wiens. “The introduction of the Elysian helps us stay true to this mission.” Doric Products, Inc is a leading manufacturer of burial vaults, cremation vaults, and memorialization products. Distributed by highly trained professionals throughout the United States and Canada, Doric offers burial vaults of exceptional quality, value, and strength. Although Doric is best known as a leader in traditional concrete burial vaults, the Classic Metal Vaults division features one of the largest selections of air-seal metal vaults available anywhere.
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