Featured Links - July 29, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about. This post is (mostly) politics-free.

A farm north of Oshawa

• I started using NotebookLM with Microsoft Word and I’m not going back. "I could have used this in my last job. 
• The Painter of the Right. "Thomas Kinkade’s paintings show conservatives a world they have already won." Unfortunately, the documentary mentioned in the article doesn't appear to be available for streaming. 
• Remembering Descent, the once-popular, fully 3D 6DOF shooter. "Descent is a big part of gaming history, but not many people talk about it." 
• The death of the projection booth. "As movie theatres adapt new technology for screenings, the art of feeding film through a projector is fading to black."
• 12 Fresh Tomato Pasta Recipes We Can’t Stop Making. Our garden looks like it will produce a bumper crop of tomatoes this year, so I'm looking forward to trying some of these recipes.
• I took my e-book library back from Amazon with this self-hosted app. "BookLore turns ebook chaos into a modern, streamlined library you control completely." I might try this. I'm finding the Kindle app on my iPad Mini almost unusable for managing my books because the Collections view won't show a collection's contents in a list format. 
• Social media is dead – here’s what comes next. "A new information ecosystem is on the rise, featuring closer connections, cosy media and worker-owned websites, writes Annalee Newitz."
• Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97. "A mathematician by training, he acquired a devoted following with songs that set sardonic lyrics to music that was often maddeningly cheerful." Noted with sadness. 

Photo of the Week - July 27, 2025

This week's photo is a picture of the interior of the now closed and empty Saks Fifth Avenue OFF FIFTH store at the Shops at Pickering City Centre mall. The store closed earlier this year as part of the collapse of the Hudson's Bay retail empire. I'm surprised the lights were still on but it did make for an interesting composition. This was taken with my Pixel 8 Pro.

Sad Saks

Saturday Sounds - The Strawbs

Today's musical treat was inspired by news of the death of Dave Cousins, a founding member of The Strawbs, a British band who had a couple of hits in the 1970s. Their music had a mix of progressive rock and that I found (and still find) quite appealing. I saw them perform only once, in Hamilton in 1973, where they opened for King Crimson. Their song, "Part of the Union" was a big hit there at the time. They played Hugh's Room in Toronto a few times but I never managed to catch one of those gigs.  

They released many albums over a 50 year span. I'm going to include two of the early ones here: Bursting at the Seams and Hero and Heroine. Enjoy.

The USA versus Canada 9

Just two stories to note this time; both of them important.

First, in Quebec in Canadian waters north of Lake Champlain, a fisherman was abducted by the US Coast Guard. His boat was rammed and he almost drowned before being plucked from the water and being detained for a couple of hours before being released. 

This wasn’t ambiguous. This wasn’t a high-speed chase. This wasn’t a drug cartel sting. This was a 60-year-old Quebecois fishing off a borrowed boat — in Canadian waters, near Venise-en-Québec, 15 kilometres north of the U.S. border.

 It’s unclear if Canadian authorities were notified before or after the incident. It’s also unclear what the Carney government intends to do about the incident — but silence is complicity.

If Trump’s administration is detaining Canadians in Canadian territory, then we have a serious diplomatic emergency — not an “unfortunate misunderstanding.”

This story should be getting more attention than it has been so far. If Mr. Lallemand was anywhere near where he said he was, then the US Coast Guard had no business being there. Our government needs to push back, hard, on this. Is the St. Mary's River now going to become a danger zone for Canadian boaters and fishers? Or Whitefish Bay? 

Second, the boycott of US products by Canadians has finally caught the attention of US media and Trump's MAGA followers. 

It isn’t a negotiating tactic. It wasn't organized, planned or led by anyone. The boycott is the result of an instinctual response from ordinary Canadians across the country to defy the threats and disrespect of Donald Trump.

And Trump can't do anything about it. His understanding of politics is that of a zero-sum game. He not only believes in a world defined by winners and losers but also uses his power to humiliate and degrade those he considers lesser.

From politicians and potential rivals, he demands public concessions and makes them genuflect in public.

But Donald Trump is powerless against the determination of ordinary Canadians. As powerless as Mr. Boycott, as powerless as the English overlords in India, as powerless as the racist state in Alabama, by a people who are united in nonviolent non-co-operation.

Finally, as a very pleasant aside, the Toronto Blue Jays are in sole possession of first place in the American League. Elbows up, Blue Jays! 

Featured Links - July 22, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Sunset along the 401

• Five days, 65 km, 86,000 steps — and one restless city: I walked all the way across Toronto. This is what I saw (archive link). I am waiting for the Eglinton Crosstown to open and plan to ride it across Toronto, perhaps with stops at some of the stations on the underground part of the line. 
• A Juicy Chronicle of the Fat Decades at Condé Nast (gift link). Empire of the Elite, by Michael M. Grynbaum, is a story of (mostly) insider-outsiders who helmed the glossiest American magazines in their heyday." I miss magazines and browsing the racks in stores like Lichtman's, now sadly defunct. 
• Why Did the Rich Pull Away from the Rest? 'This is Part I of Stone Center Senior Scholar Paul Krugman’s series “Understanding Inequality,” which originally appeared on his Substack newsletter.' This is an important series of articles and worth the time to read.
• Published Via Desktop. 'A list of programs from the all-too-brief golden era of desktop publishing that “didn’t make it.” The GUI’s killer app didn’t slay forever.' Out of the 10 programs listed in the article, I used two: Aldus PageMaker and Venture Publisher. 
• The Peptide Craze. "The Surge in Use of Off-Label and Non-FDA Approved Peptides." TANSTAAFL. 
• Terry Gilliam Reflects On ‘Brazil’ As Film Celebrates 40th Anniversary & The Challenges Of Getting Movies Made Today: “I Really Don’t Want Any More Fights” I really must rewatch Brazil; it's one of my favourite movies. 
• Alberta’s Book Ban Is a Blatant Act of Cultural Vandalism. "The push to sanitize school collections erases what literature is for: knowledge, discovery, the freedom to think." I am sad to see this happening in Canada. 
• The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations. "I would like to address the recent slander circulating on social media, in editorial Slack channels, and in the margins of otherwise decent Substack newsletters. Specifically, the baseless, libelous accusation that my usage is a telltale sign of artificial intelligence."
• Radical New Theory Rewrites the Story of the Earliest Universe. "A new theory promises to simplify our approach to the universe's earliest moments, but some cosmologists say further mathematical scrutiny is warranted." Simplification is good. 

Saturday Sounds - Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Earth

This week's musical treat is a double album from Kamasi Washington, one of my favourite modern jazz musicians. He's a saxophonist much in the tradition of Pharoah Sanders, capable of everything from quiet melodic runs to blasting, braying honks. His albums run the gamut of jazz genres and mix in rap, hip hop, rock, and orchestral music. I've only seen him perform once, in 2018, and wish he'd come back to Toronto in a hall that had seats. 

Heaven and Earth is a double album that was released in 2019 and somehow blew right by me. I recently heard a track on SiriusXM thinking it was new trak and was surprised that it came from a six-year-old album. The track was "Tiffakonkae" and would be a good one to check out if you don't have time for the whole album. Enjoy.

Photo of the Week - July 20, 2025

This is a grab shot from the (passenger seat) of our car driving along the 401 earlier this week. There was an accident in the other side of the highway and traffic was backed up for more than a kilometer. It does make one wonder about the dependance of our modern economy on truck traffic and the failure of modern railway systems to take more of that business. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro and cropped in Google Photos.

Trucks on the 401

 

We're Toast 61

This post is a collection of links that support my increasingly strong feeling that the human race (or at least our technological civilization) is doomed. 

US climate change policy 

Note: I created the image above Microsoft's Copilot AI tool. It took about three minutes and three prompts to get something close to what I wanted.

• After 100 days of upheaval, what’s next for U.S. science? "Fights over research spending and pending court rulings loom large." 
• Will US science survive Trump 2.0? "President Donald Trump and his administration have gutted science agencies, terminated research programmes and cancelled billions of dollars in grants to universities. What are the long-term impacts for the United States and the world?"
• It’s too late’: David Suzuki says the fight against climate change is lost. '“We have failed to shift the narrative and we are still caught up in the same legal, economic and political systems,” said David Suzuki in an exclusive interview with iPolitics. “For me, what we’ve got to do now is hunker down.”'
• Climate Change is Trying to Kill Me. "It's here and it's personal." True for Nancy and me too. 
• What the Fastest-Growing Christian Group Reveals About America. (archive link) "Instead of killing off faith, modernity has supercharged some of its most dramatic manifestations.:
• ‘Could become a death spiral’: scientists discover what’s driving record die-offs of US honeybees. "Experts scrambling to understand losses in hives across the country are finally identifying the culprits. And the damage to farmed bees is a sign of trouble for wild bees too."
• It's not just about measles. "Measles is a canary in the coal mine. When measles reappears in a country like the U.S., it signals that something has gone seriously wrong. This is a disease we had essentially eliminated—thanks to one of the safest and most effective vaccines in the history of medicine. But the way things are heading, the U.S. is at risk of losing its elimination status this year. This is not just a failure to move forward—it’s the unraveling of decades of progress, representing one of the greatest public health achievements of our era."
• How the little-known ‘dark roof’ lobby may be making US cities hotter. "As cities heat up, reflective roofs could lower energy bills and help the climate. But dark-roofing manufacturers are waging a quiet campaign to block new rules."
• Deadly drug-resistant fungus spreading fast across US, WHO raises alarm. "A deadly, drug-resistant fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus, is spreading rapidly across the US, posing serious risks to people with weak immunity as climate change fuels its growth and resistance." If you think the planet is out to get us, you may be right.
• A 100 ft 'mega tsunami' could hit the US at any moment. And that’s only the beginning. "This could be the biggest disaster in US history, and it just got a whole lot worse." Look up the term "ghost forest" and what can cause them.

Featured Links - July 15, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Summer daisies

• The Day Grok Tried to Be Human. "xAI’s chatbot spiraled into chaos after trying to sound more human. The fix reveals just how fragile truth-seeking AI really is." Like father, like son.
• Collapse of key Atlantic currents may be held off by newly-discovered back-up system, study finds. "Rising temperatures in the North Atlantic are slowing vital currents, but a new process in the Arctic could save the day, scientists say." Let's hope this is true. 
• Commentary: Cory Doctorow: Rubber-Hose Cryptanalysis. "In a technologically advanced society, where your health, life and livelihood are all dependent on encryption, and encryption is dependent on the rule of law, authoritarianism represents an existential threat. When a border guard, an immigration enforcer, a federal of­ficer, or the cop on the beat can use rubber-hose cryptanalysis to compromise the security of our otherwise impregnable cryptosystems, the entire basis for trusting in the integrity of our computerized world crumbles."
• Ukraine Infantry Adapts to More Menacing Drones. "For an elite unit, rapidly evolving drone warfare makes the “toughest job in the army” both easier and more perilous." Shades of The Terminator.
  
• Algoma Steel announces historic first arc at new electric furnace. "Michael Garcia, Algoma's president, described today's news as a landmark development in the 'largest industrial decarbonization project in Canada'" Good news for the Sault and for meeting Canada's carbon emission goals.
• Canada's second-tallest structure is being demolished in Ontario. "The Superstack — designed to better disperse smelting gas from Vale's Copper Cliff Complex — has stood as the tallest chimney in the Western Hemisphere throughout its existence." I have driven past that stack many times. 
• Work-from-home starting to look more remote as companies get stricter on office time. During my last few years at the TSX, I was able to work from home two or sometimes three days a week and loved it. I was more productive and had more energy because I wasn't commuting 90 mintues each way. 

Photo of the Week - July 13, 2025

This week's photo is of a couple of roses in our front yard. When we bought the house, there was a bush of these beautiful peachy pink roses in the front. One bad winter killed it off, or so we thought. It came back a year later, but with a different colour of flowers. We found some of the original variety of roses and planted a new bush that has since thrived and flowered.

I'm not sure of the variety of rose. Google Lens suggests Rosa Veranda. If you know the variety, please let me know in the comments.

This was taken with my Pixel 8 Pro, which works quite well for flower pictures. 

Roses

Saturday Sounds - Bruce Srpingsteen - Tracks II: The Lost Albums

This weeks musical treat is the latest and massive release from Bruce Springsteen: Tracks II, The Lost Albums. It consists of seven albums worth of music that Springsteen recorded between 1983 and 2018 but never released.  

•  LA Garage Sessions '83
• Streets of Philadelphia Sessions
• Faithless
• Somewhere North of Nashville
• Inyo
• Twilight Hours
• Perfect World 

So far, I've only listened to the first two discs and sampled a few tracks from the others. Though I am a fan of Springsteen's music, I'm a bit underwhelmed. I will probably go through it and set up a playlist of the songs that I like. Still, there are good songs in here and it's worth a listen. 

Detecting and Fighting Disinformation

I was going to do yet another blog post with articles pointing out examples of misinformation and disinformation (there's just SO much of it right now), but instead I wanted to highlight some sites and tools that you can use to detect disinformation. 

Note: Although I use the term "disinformation" for simplicity in this and other posts, you can assume everything here applies to misinformation. 

• 20 Helpful Verification Tools for Journalists. Although aimed at journalists, the tools linked in this article will be useful to anyone. Verify location, whether an image has been modified, spot AI-generated content, and more. 
• Wikipedia's list of fake news websites. "Fake news websites are those which intentionally, but not necessarily solely, publish hoaxes and disinformation for purposes other than news satire. Some of these sites use homograph spoofing attacks, typosquatting and other deceptive strategies similar to those used in phishing attacks to resemble genuine news outlets."
• Disinformation Designed to Ingrain Erroneous Beliefs and Lies. "Google search can bring results that confirm disinformation, not debunk it." Tips on how to spot disinformation in Google Search results. 
• Joint Advisory: Cyber officials warn Canadians of malicious campaign to impersonate high-profile public figures, from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. "Cyber security officials in the Government of Canada are warning Canadians about a spike in malicious cyber activity, where threat actors are using text and AI-generated voice messages impersonating senior officials and prominent public figures to steal money and information." Includes tips, guidelines, and links to useful resources.
• How to Spot and Combat Health Misinformation. 'While recent events have magnified the problem, misinformation “is not necessarily a new phenomenon. It has been around for centuries,” said Kylie Hall, M.P.H., Operations Director for the Center for Immunization Research and Education at North Dakota State University, during a session at ASM Microbe in June 2022. Misinformation gains traction in periods of uncertainty, as people try to make sense of events when verified facts are lacking. Various factors, including social media, contribute to the dissemination of misinformation. Learning how to spot and correct it—and help others do the same—can slow the spread of misinformation now, and in the future.'

2025 World Fantasy Award Finalists

The ballot for the 2025 World Fantasy Awards has been announced. The awards are voted on by a panel of judges and will be announced at the World Fantasy Convention later this year.

These are the finalists for the best novel award.

• The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey/Hodderscape)
• The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (Henry Holt & Co./Quercus)
• The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister (Counterpoint Press/Titan Books)
• The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (Viking/Del Rey)
• The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills (Tachyon Publications)

I've not read any of the nominees and given my preference for science fiction over fantasy, it's unlikely that I will. 

Featured Links - July 7, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about. 

A hydrangea in our backyard

• 745 km from civilization: Exploring North America's most isolated road. "Quebec's Trans-Taiga Road ends at a point so remote that a broken tire might require an emergency plane landing to deliver a replacement." This definitely not a trip I will be making. 
• The Anti-Autocracy Handbook: A Scholars' Guide to Navigating Democratic Backsliding. "The Anti-Autocracy Handbook is a call to action, resilience, and collective defence of democracy, truth, and academic freedom in the face of mounting authoritarianism. It tries to provide guidance to scholars navigating the growing global trend of democratic backsliding and autocratization, in particular in the U.S." This may be useful to more than scholars. 
• “This Plane Just Did the Impossible”: Historic Supersonic Flight Silences the Sky with Zero Sonic Boom for First Time Ever. "The aviation industry witnessed a monumental breakthrough on February 10, 2025, as Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 aircraft accomplished what many experts deemed impossible. Flying over the Mojave Desert at speeds exceeding the sound barrier, the aircraft achieved something unprecedented in aviation history: supersonic flight without generating a sonic boom. This revolutionary achievement has opened new possibilities for the future of air travel." 
• A London Dentist Just Cracked a Geometric Code in Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man. "A hidden triangle in the vitruvian man could finally explain one of da Vinci's greatest works."
• A Runestone That May Be North America’s Oldest Turns Up in a Canada Forest. "Researchers spent years quietly studying a stone carved with 255 runes and the image of a boat found in Ontario. Now, revealing the stone’s existence, they’re asking the public for help."
• Bogged down (gift link). "Ireland’s peat trade fuels conflict with Europe over climate and conservation." Excellent and well illustrated article. 
• Why Pasta Tastes Better at Restaurants, According to a Former Line Cook. "No need to reach for more salt or even fat to achieve restaurant-quality pasta at home; instead, follow these simple yet effective steps for perfect pasta." I have yet to cook the perfect pasta meal, but I will keep trying.
• Britain’s Three Week Failure to Fix Stranded F-35 in India Provides an Opportunity For Russia’s Su-57 Stealth Fighter. I think it would be a very good thing if Canada scrapped plans to buy any F-35s, 

Photo of the Week - July 6, 2025

We're having a blooming great summer right now up here in the Great Green North. This is a clump of daisies in our front yard. If we had a bigger front yard, I'd plant some tomatoes as it gets a lot more sun than the backyard. But the daisies are prettier and they sure do glow in the sunlight. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro.

Daisies

Saturday Sounds - Blackie And The Rodeo Kings at Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2022

I've posted here before about Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, a Canadian roots music supergroup whose members include Colin Linden, Stephen Fearing, and Tom Wilson. They started as a project to record a tribute album to the late Willie P. Bennett and ended up becoming a hugely successful group.  

I've seen them perform a couple of times, most recently last night at an outdoor concert promoted by Music by the Bay Live in Uxbridge at their "Blues Holler" site. Both performances were outstanding and among the best I've seen in the last decade. Last night's concert was about as perfect an evening of music as one could hope for: perfect weather, excellent sound, great music, and a beautiful outdoor setting.

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings

The Blues Holler

So this week's musical treat is Blackie and the Rodeo Kings' performance at the  Shrewsbury Folk Festival in the UK in 2022. (Setlist here). It's an official recording from the festival, who put many of their concerts up on YouTube and features first-rate sound and pro-shot video. And of course the music is wonderful.

Unfortunately, YouTube has blocked playback on other sites, so I can't embed it here. You'll have to click this link. Trust me, it's worth it.

Movie and TV Reviews - June 2025

Movies and TV shows that Nancy and I watched in June. I do these posts mainly so I can keep track of what we've been watching, so the reviews are cursory. Now that baseball season has started, there will probably be fewer items here.

I may have missed a couple of items; I accidentally overwrote the original post. 

Movies

• The Accountant: A thriller about an autistic accountant who serves bad guys. Quite well done.
• The Accountant 2: Not as good as the original. If there's another one, we won't bother. 

TV Shows

• Injustice: A lawyer gets called up to defend an old friend. Who's the guilty one? Quite twisty and well written. (Acorn TV)
• Hinterland (seaons 1-3): A police procedural set in rural Wales. I don't know which is grimmer: the landscape, the weather, or the inhabitants. Well done but dark. 
• Antiques Road Trip (season 9): Our journey through England in search of treasure continues. (Acorn TV)

Happy Canada Day

It's Canada Day up here in the Great Green North. The flowers in our backyard are loving the warm weather though I suspect they would like a bit more rain. The garden is happy and with any luck we might get some tomatoes this year. 

So a BBQ, beer, and fireworks today as we celebrate all things Canadian. 

Here's some colourful natural fireworks from our backyard.

Backyard flowers

Featured Links - June 30, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

This week's post is shorter than usual. We have a kitchen reno coming up in a week and I'm pretty busy right now. And there's a yard and garden to take care of. So posts here are going to be shorter and/or sparser than usual for a while.

Birds in the hydro marsh

• Are these the world’s oldest rocks? Fresh data confirm contested claim. "Scientists debate age of ancient Canadian crust as Inuit leaders work to preserve the location."
• Photographer Captures the Terrifying Things Humans Have Done to the Planet.  "Photographer Edward Burtynsky has dedicated his life’s work to documenting the impact humans have on the planet, producing stunning photographs that evoke both awe and concern. This week has marked the start of a career-spanning exhibit of Burtynsky’s work at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York." I have seen several exhibitions of Burtynsky's photographs and if you can get to see this show in person, do so, as they have much more impact in a gallery setting.
• Could the Semicolon Die Out? Recent Analysis Finds a Decline in Its Usage in British Literature and Confusion Among U.K. Students. "Not only are semicolons evidently becoming more rare, but young people are less aware of how to use them, according to a survey."
• Why We Need Horror Authors in the Fight For the Freedom to Read. "Please note: this speech was directed at Horror authors, but I hope all of my readers use it as a template to speak to their community members about the importance of speaking out for the freedom to read and use the "how-to" component in the speech to give them the tools they need to take action."
• The Concorde-and-Caviar Era of Condé Nast, When Magazines Ruled the Earth. "Opulent days are over at Vogue, Vanity Fair and other once-powerful glossies. Anna Wintour is giving up (some) control. Now that everyone’s a gatekeeper, why do we keep recreating their status-obsessed world?"

Photo of the Week - June 29, 2025

Nancy and I walked down to the lakefront Friday evening and there were a couple of swans in the marina lagoon. I managed to get a picture of one flapping it's wings  before it ducked underwater in search of food. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro. 

A swan flapping its wings preparing to dive

Saturday Sounds - Tyreek McDole - Open Up Your Senses

This week's musical treat is a new album from a young performer who is new to me, Tyreek McDole. I was listening to SiriusXM and heard what I first thought was Pharoah Sanders' "The Creator Has a Master Plan", but it wasn't Pharoah's version, a piece of music I've been listening to for more than 50 years. Instead, it was a track from McDole's debut album, Open Up Your Senses. 

From the label's press release announcing the album:

At just 25 years old, the Haitian-American, New York-based baritone has already earned significant acclaim, including winning the prestigious Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2023 — one of only two male vocalists to achieve this honor in the competition’s 12-year history. Jazz scholar Will Friedwald, who also contributes liner notes to the project, referred to McDole as “the leading jazz voice of his generation” and acclaimed DJ Gilles Peterson said “it is refreshing to hear a new voice that is so clearly connected to the tradition but also pushing it forward with such strong energy. This is a brilliant opening statement from someone I reckon will be around for some time.”

Open Up Your Senses is a bold statement from a young artist who masterfully blends tradition with innovation. Featuring standout performances by pianist and arranger Caelan Cardello and saxophonist Dylan Band, McDole’s debut evokes the legacy of jazz greats while forging his own distinctive path.

The album’s repertoire highlights McDole’s penchant for spiritually resonant and philosophically rich material. His stirring rendition of Leon Thomas’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan” features a powerful solo from Tomoki Sanders, progeny of saxophone legend Pharoah Sanders. Meanwhile, his interpretation of Thelonious Monk’s “Ugly Beauty” (with lyrics by Mike Ferro) is enhanced by a special guest appearance from legendary pianist Kenny Barron.

I'm not usually a big fan of jazz singers, but I like this album a lot. The tracks feature a talented group of musicians playing in a variety of styles and McDole is a compelling singer. Enjoy. 

The USA versus Canada 8

The relationship between Canada and the US is and contin
uing to change. It's clear that Prime Minister Mark Carney is determined to reduce Canadian dependence on the US and he seems to have the support of most Canadians and Parliament. Here are some articles covering what's happened over the last month. 

Request: I am curious to know how much of this is being reported in US media. I'd appreciate comments with links if you can provide them. 

Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit and Windsor

Nation-Building in the North from science fiction author and futurist, Karl Schroeder. "Canada is reconfiguring itself as a strategic global power. How does that work?" I hope that people in Carney's administration are reading Schroeder. (As an aside, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois reads Robert J. Sawyer.)

Republicans say tax retaliation proposal could be cut from Trump bill if international deal can be reached. "The provision would impose a progressive tax burden of up to 20 per cent on foreign investors’ U.S. income, raising concerns on Wall Street about the attractiveness of U.S. investments." If dividend income from US stocks held by Canadian investors starts getting taxed, there is going to be a big sell-off here. 

Trump's 'revenge tax' on other countries could hit U.S. "Tax that could hit Canadians comes with risk to U.S. revenue, investments."

American Climate Scientists Have a New Canadian Hero. "How McGill professor Juan Serpa created SUSAN, the online forum helping U.S. researchers protect their data from Trump."

Last Year's Move to Toronto And This Year's Politics (video and commentary) from historian and author, Timothy Snyder, one of the many academics who have moved from the US to Canada. 

The US Badly Needs Rare Minerals and Fresh Water. Guess Who Has Them? "As China tightens its grip on critical resources, Trump eyes Canada’s riches."

Canada Torches the Trump Umbilical Cord: Bill C-5 Passed, EU Trade/Security Partnership Signed, and Our Democratic Break From America Begins. "A Historic Pact with the EU Signals Canada’s Rise as a Sovereign Power—and a Sharp Rejection of Trump’s Tariff Bullying and War-First Chaos." Blundell can be a bit hyperbolic (a friend described him as 'shouty') but if you are interested in this subject, he's worth following. 

Fact Checking "Cosplay Kristi" Noem's Latest Canada Smear. "No, Governor Noem—Canada Isn't a Narco-State, Trudeau Never Worked With You, and Fentanyl Isn’t Flowing North."

2025 Locus Awards Winners

The winners of the 2025 Locus Awards Winners have been announced. The awards are voted by subscribers and readers of Locus Magazine, the SFF field's long-running newsmagazine.

These are the winners of the fiction awards.

Science Fiction Novel: The Man Who Saw Seconds, Alexander Boldizar 

Fantasy Novel: A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher

Horror Novel: Bury Your Gays, Chuck Tingle 

Young Adult Novel: Moonstorm, Yoon Ha Lee 

First Novel: Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell 

Novella: What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher

Novelette: “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars“, Premee Mohamed 

Short Story: “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole“, Isabel J. Kim

Someone You Can Build a Nest in won the 2024 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Back in April, I said that I would be disappointed if “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole“ didn't win the Short Story Hugo Award. It may yet and I'm not at all surprised that it has won a Nebula Award and now a Locus Award. It's a remarkable story that works on many levels. 

Featured Links - June 23, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Flowers in our backyard

The MAGA Debt Bomb. "How Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” Turns America’s Fiscal Crisis Into a Weapon for Authoritarian Looting." The adults in the financial world are getting worried.

FEMA is unprepared for the next Hurricane Katrina, disaster experts warn. "Cuts, chaos, and climate change are converging to leave Americans more vulnerable to disaster than they were in 2005." 

How the Grateful Dead built the internet. "Before the the internet took over the world, psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead were among the first – and most influential – forces at the dawn of online communication." Fascinating history showing how music an culture intersected with the early digital revolution, focusing mostly on The Well. I was never on The Well but made extensive use of rec.music.gdead on Usenet once I got onto the real internet in the early 90s. 

'They quit after a few hours': Farmers admit they can't find American workers. "In a deep dive focusing on one farmer who voted for Trump, 36-year-old J.J. Ficke of Kirk, Colorado, the Washington Post is reporting that he along with other farmers are facing possible ruination now that the round-up of immigrants have begun in earnest and promised helpis uncertain."

New study suggests Long COVID is now most common childhood chronic health problem. "In a summary of the study's findings geared to the general public and published on the JAMA Pediatrics Patient Page, three of the authors of the longer study state that Long COVID is common, and, based on the larger study's finding, estimate that up to 10 to 20 percent of children who have had COVID-19 — even "mild" or asymptomatic initial infections — develop Long COVID. This translates to about six million children with Long COVID, which, the authors explain, "is higher than the number of children with asthma, the most common chronic health problem in children."'

1 psychedelic psilocybin dose eases depression for years, study reveals. "Half a decade after receiving a psychedelic treatment for depression, two-thirds of patients in a new study remained in remission."

New theory proposes time has three dimensions, with space as a secondary effect. "Time, not space plus time, might be the single fundamental property in which all physical phenomena occur, according to a new theory by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist. The theory also argues that time comes in three dimensions rather than just the single one we experience as continual forward progression. Space emerges as a secondary manifestation."

Interview: Craig Federighi Opens Up About iPadOS, Its Multitasking Journey, and the iPad’s Essence. As a new iPad user, I found this quite fascinating. 

How should we respond to people “doing their own research?”. "It’s become a punchline—but it points to something broken in how we share health information."

Narrative Theory for Science Communication by author Mary Robinette Kowal. "In this workshop, we learn how to use the foundations of storytelling to help you be more successful with science communication. Pretty much every story, fictional or nonfictional, can be explained through a fairly simple organizational theory. Together, we learn how to use these tools to connect more effectively with your audiences."

Photo of the Week - June 22, 2025

It looks like the switch from (a somewhat cool) spring to a (hot) summer has finally been thrown and everything outside is in bloom or growing. These are some flowers in my backyard. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro.

Geraniums with buttercups

Saturday Sounds - Aysanabee - Edge of the Earth

This week's musical treat is a new album from Canadian indigenous artist Aysanabee. 

The Globe and Mail has this to say about it: 

Aysanabee has been a staple of Canadian rock radio since his debut LP Watin and follow-up EP Here and Now came out in 2022 and 2023 respectively, bringing with them inescapable songs, including Nomads and Somebody Else. With his sophomore LP on the horizon, the Oji-Cree musician is poised to become a household name, if songs such as Home and the title track get the listeners they deserve.

I like this album a lot. He mixes traditional indigenous musical themes with a modern pop sensibility to create gorgeous soundscapes with anthemic melodies and powerful lyrics. It's going on my favourites playlist.  

SpaceX Blows Up a Starship

SpaceX just had a big oops. The Starship second stage blew up on the test site, just before a static fire test. From the video, it looks like the failure occurred in the upper part of the ship with propellant venting at the top, then igniting resulting in a very  impressive fireball and complete destruction of the ship. No one was injured at the test site but the ground equipment is probably toast.

This is going to set the launch program back for quite a while and probably means they won't be able to launch to Mars in 2027.

The Soft Apocalypse is Coming to Hurricane Country

From Mary Geddry's excellent Substack newsletter on Sunday . 

"And while all of this unfolded, assassination, war, economic sabotage, and political theater, yet another quietly catastrophic story slipped into view. The Trump administration fumbled NOAA’s contract renewal for the Saildrone hurricane forecasting fleet, eliminating a key tool used to predict storm intensity just as the U.S. heads into what could be a record hurricane season.

Because of bureaucratic delay and staff cuts, these drone boats, which had provided real-time, in-storm ocean-level data for four years, won’t be deployed. NOAA scientists are scrambling to replace them with airborne tools, but they admit: nothing else gives the same surface-level, loitering data that helps sharpen evacuation warnings and save lives. The kakistocracy fails again!"

Quietly catastrophic, indeed. 

There's more details about the sail drones and the contract not being renewed in this article.

There was a science fiction novel that came out a decade or so ago that reminds me of what's going on now, Soft Apocalypse by Wil McIntosh. The apocalypse it envisions is very much like what we're going through now. The title seems prescient, except that the apocalypse won't be soft for those in hurricane country.

Featured Links - June 16, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

A bearded iris in our garden

Imperial ouroboros. "Andor's second season is a powerful look at the fragility of oppressive ideologies." This is the best article I've read about the series and reveals just how remarkable an achievement it was. There's a master's thesis waiting for someone who wants to explore the revolutionary themes in Andor, The Expanse, and Babylon 5. 

This 1999 email from a tech pioneer helped me think about Apple’s WWDC. "Jef Raskin instigated the Mac project in 1979. Twenty years later, he was dismayed with the state of personal computing. What would he think today?"

RIP to the almost future of computing: Apple just turned the iPad into a Mac. "We didn’t need 15 years to get back to where we started." I will probably not use the new interface on my iPad Mini, but may on the bigger iPad Air. 

Teachers Are Not OK. 'AI, ChatGPT, and LLMs "have absolutely blown up what I try to accomplish with my teaching."'

432 Chinese robots moved an entire 7,500-ton neighborhood before returning it to its original spot to build a subway. Metrolinx, are you paying attention to what's going on elsewhere in the world?

50 Rare Vintage Pictures Showing The Everyday Grit Of Working Class Americans Back In The Day. This is a fascinating collection. I wonder what an equivalent series of photos would show today.

Neanderthals Spread Across Asia With Surprising Speed—and Now We Know How. "A new study suggests our prehistoric cousins likely traveled through the Ural Mountains and southern Siberia."

The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered. "By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have made great strides toward building a “grand unified theory” of math."

What It Took to Build the Death Star. "We know so much about the theft of its plans, and its final destruction over the Yavin system—but building the Death Star was a project decades in the making." Taking Star Wars seriously. 

20 hidden features in Apple’s upcoming 26-branded software. "Everything from iOS 26 to watchOS 26 is getting fun new features." I'm looking forward to trying out the new iPadOS later this year.

The semicolon defended by its advocates. I remember arguments about semicolons in my university English classes more than 50 years ago. 

Cart Cartoon Network Trolls Homophobes Hard For Melting Down Over Pride Month Fan Art. "The cable channel's Instagram account share oon Network Trolls Homophobes Hard For Melting Down Over Pride Month Fan Art. "The cable channel's Instagram account shared several pieces of fan art depicting characters from beloved shows to celebrate Pride Month—and trolled several homophobes who sounded off in the comments." Good. 

What the Fastest-Growing Christian Group Reveals About America. (archive link) "Instead of killing off faith, modernity has supercharged some of its most dramatic manifestations."

Photo of the Week - June 15, 2025

The full moon this week is apparently known as the "Strawberry Moon", probably more because it's the beginning of strawberry season than for the colour. This picture shows the moon a day or two past full with a distinctly orange cast due to the wildfire smoke in the air from the Canadian wildfires. I took this through a screen window so the quality isn't as good as it could have been, but it turned out pretty well. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro and cropped and enhanced slightly in Google Photos. 

The Strawberry moon

 

Saturday Sounds - Riverson

Riverson are a group from Montreal who released only one album in 1973 and disappeared from sight. I had not heard of them until earlier this week when they were played and mentioned on the CBC. One of the members was originally in the group Mashmakhan, who had a big hit in Canada with "As the Years Go By" and who opened for Chicago when I saw them in university. 

Riverson's album is pleasant early 70's pop/rock, very reminiscent of artists like Crosby Stills and Nash, Neil Young, and similar California acts of the day. It's too bad that they didn't go on to have more success, but I'm glad I got to hear it. 

A Warning and a Call to Action

Here's a long article from historian Timothy Snyder focusing on Trump's recent speech to the troops at Fort Bragg and what his rhetoric implies. The speech has been criminally underreported in the US media, probably because of the coverage of the protests in LA (which is exactly what he wants). 

This article is a warning, and coming from Snyder, who is one of the preeminent scholars of authoritarianism and fascism, it should be taken seriously. 

It's also a call to action at a time when the future of democracy is in flux and may be determined by our actions.

In the end, and in the beginning, and at all moments of strife, a government of the people, by the people, for the people depends upon the awareness and the actions of all of us. A democracy only exists if a people exist, and a people only exists in individuals' awareness of one another of itself and of their need to act together. This weekend Trump plans a celebration of American military power as a celebration of himself on his birthday -- military dictatorship nonsense. This is a further step towards a different kind of regime. It can be called out, and it can be overwhelmed.

Thousands of Americans across the land, many veterans among them, have worked hard to organize protests this Saturday — against tyranny, for freedom, for government of the people, by the people, for the people. Join them if you can. No Kings Day is June 14th.

As an aside, I'm getting the same vibes from the current situation that I did before January 6. I hope I'm wrong.  

Dispatches from the War on Science

One of the things I find most upsetting about the current US regime is their concerted attack on science and education. That alone, is going to have generational consequences, and the dismantling of organizations like the EPA, CDC and NOAA will affect not just the United States, but the whole world.

The NASA budget proposed for 2026 is the smallest since 1961

Here are a few dispatches from the war.

• Nobody Expected the MAGA Inquisition from Paul Krugman. "American scientific leadership and the prestige of our research universities are key pillars of U.S. power and prosperity. Corporate America certainly understands that our scientific and educational institutions contribute to its bottom line. So you might have expected even MAGA enthusiasts to be a bit cautious about killing this particular golden-egg-laying goose. You would have been wrong. Everything points to an effort to effectively destroy U.S. science — not gradually as part of a long-term plan, but over the next year or two."
• RFK Jr. guts the U.S. vaccine policy committee from Your Local Epidimilologist. "In an unprecedented and deeply alarming move, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has removed every single member of the nation’s vaccine policy committee—the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—and announced plans to handpick their replacements. In other words, someone with an established track record of ignoring reality made the unilateral, ideological decision to gut one of the most trusted and effective pillars of America’s vaccine infrastructure. A system that helped eliminate smallpox, drastically reduce childhood diseases, safeguard schools, expand insurance coverage, and save millions of lives. A system that empowered 90% of Americans to protect their children and families confidently."
• Standing Up for Science by Phil Plait. "As I’ve written, the Trump budget request for NASA absolutely slaughters the science done by the space agency. He has also slashed budgets to all the science agencies, severely curtailing or even totally destroying their ability to do their important research. This includes climate research (because of course) but also a lot of critical health research. This is also leading to a huge brain drain as scientists look to other places to do their work, a loss that may take decades, if ever, to recover from. And then, late Monday afternoon, word came that RFK Jr., the crackpot quack anti-vaxxer whom Trump put in charge of the department of health and Human Services, fired every single member of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practice (ACIP), the group of experts that advises the CDC on vaccines. This is a grotesque action, clearly meant to cut off any real science advise the CDC can get when it comes to vaccines… a medical procedure that is one of the most successful and safe efforts for human health in history."
  
• NOAA’s Climate Website May Soon Shut Down. "Climate.gov, NOAA’s portal to the work of their Climate Program Office, will likely soon shut down as most of the staff charged with maintaining it were fired on 31 May, according to The Guardian. The site is funded through a large NOAA contract that also includes other programs. A NOAA manager told now-former employees of a directive “from above” demanding that the contract remove funding for the 10-person climate.gov team. “It was a very deliberate, targeted attack,” Rebecca Lindsey, the former program manager for climate.gov, told The Guardian. Lindsey was fired in February as part of the government’s purge of probationary employees. She said that the fate of the website had been under debate for months, with political appointees arguing for its removal and career staffers defending it."
• Loss and Degradation of NOAA Sea Ice and Glacier data. "On May 6, 2025 NOAA/NCEI announced the retroactive termination of funding for keystone sea ice products. These are the products that I use for much of the sea ice analysis and information I present in this newsletter and in many other venues. This data helps inform decisions by people and businesses in Alaska and beyond."
• NASA's disastrous 2026 budget proposal in seven charts. "That's enough for now. There's lots more but I don't have the stomach for it. "The White House's fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget proposal for NASA represents a historic threat to the space agency. That's not hyperbole: we have the data to prove it. It's the smallest budget proposed for NASA since 1961."

That's it for now. I don't have the stomach for more.

2024 Nebula Award Winners

Over the weekend, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) announced the winners of the 2024 Nebula Awards. The awards are voted on by SFWA members and are one of the major awards in the science fiction and fantasy field.

These are some of the winners. 

• Novel: Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell
• Novella:  The Dragonfly Gambit, A.D. Sui
• Novelette: “Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being“, A.W. Prihandita
• Short Story: “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole“, Isabel J. Kim

Back in April, I said that I would be disappointed if “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole“ didn't win the Short Story Hugo Award. It may yet and I'm not at all surprised that it won the Nebula Award. It's a remarkable story that works on many levels. 

Featured Links - June 9, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Wildfire smoke in Toronto

• Some of the coolest ways Unreal Engine is being used in and outside of gaming. "Electric vehicles and performance-capture and Star Wars, oh my!"
• Inventing the Renaissance: Ada Palmer. "A fun conversation about history." A conversation between Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman and historian and author Ada Palmer.
• Scientists stunned by dramatic new behavior in Arctic predators: 'Neither he nor I had any idea of what was coming'. "The relationship between the snowshoe hare and the Canada lynx is a fascinating natural cycle that's been studied for decades. Now, advances in technology are revealing new passages in this ancient story. According to Mongabay, that story is also changing — and both human activity and our shifting environment may be playing a significant role."
• Why Bell Labs Worked. "Why Bell Labs worked so well, and could innovate so much, while today’s innovation, in spite of the huge private funding, goes in hype-and-fizzle cycles that leave relatively little behind, is a question I’ve been asking myself a lot in the past years. And I think that the author of this article has hit the nail on its head on most of the reasons - but he didn’t take the last step in identifying the root cause." And of course, the Bell Labs building is one of the key sets in Serverance.
• ‘My mother didn’t try to stab my father until I was six’: Alan Alda on childhood, marriage and 60 years of stardom. "Best known as Hawkeye in the TV series M*A*S*H, the 89-year-old actor, director and writer has another hit on his hands with a revamp of his 1981 movie The Four Seasons. He talks about his Parkinson’s disease, Woody Allen – and what he really thinks of Donald Trump."
• The Essential Terry Pratchett. "The prolific fantasy author, best known for his Discworld series, infused his writing with empathy and humor. Here’s where to start."
• What I’m learning from MAHA. "And why public health needs to catch up with the curiosity-driven movement." As a former technical writer, what I found interesting was the importance of good communication.
• You should use these 10 personal safety features on your Pixel phone (before it's too late). "Keep your data and physical safety protected with just a few taps on your Pixel phone. Here's how, and why they work." An important article if you have a Pixel phone.
• Breakthrough in search for HIV cure leaves researchers ‘overwhelmed’. "Exclusive: Melbourne team demonstrates way to make the virus visible within white blood cells, paving the way to fully clear it from the body."
• Expect a long summer of wildfire smoke for North America. "Fire danger is increasing as the climate warms, drying out forests." Toronto is seeing high levels of smoke already. See the picture on last Friday's post. 
• These stunning photos show how nature came back after the world’s largest dam removal project. "Four dams and three large reservoirs were removed from the Klamath River in a project that finished last year—and acres of native wildflowers are now in bloom along the river’s edge."
• On Tyranny free resources. "To use and to share, now or any time," From historian Timothy Synder. 
• Remembering the lost father of American science fiction – and his Scottish roots. "Robert Duncan Milne was an astonishingly prescient pioneer of science fiction who published over 60 stories in the late 19th century. Yet hardly anyone knows his name or how he influenced other leading lights in the early days of the genre." I had not heard of him until seeing this article.

Photo of the Week - June 8, 2025

Our neighbours have a large maple tree and right now it's dropping seeds all over our backyard. I'm going to have to go out later today and sweep off the patio, rake the grass, and try to get as many as I can out of the garden. This is a picture of one of our hanging flower baskets that managed to snare a couple of seeds. Taken with my Pixel  8 Pro. 

Flowers with maple seeds

Saturday Sounds - Tedeschi Trucks Band - Live at the Beacon Theatre - 2025/05/24

This week's musical treat is a full concert from the Tedeschi Trucks Band recorded at the Beacon Theater in New York on May 24th, 2025. No source info is given for this, but given the video and sound quality, I'm guessing it's from an official webcast. In any case, it's a great performance from one of the best bands now touring. Enjoy. 

 

Why We're Toast

Wildfire smoke over the 401 in Toronto

I've been publishing an ongoing series of posts titled "We're Toast" with links to articles that underscore my conviction that our technological civilization is doomed. The reasons are pretty obvious if you look around: climate change, resource depletion, ecological collapse, species extinction, rising authoritarianism and religious fanaticism, and so on. 

But if you want a detailed overview, with receipts, of why we're in trouble, then read "Understanding Our Collapsing World" on the Itsovershoot blog. The article looks at the various reasons why we're in the current mess and then examines what we can do about it (not much, unfortunately). Here's just one small sample:

We grew from 1 billion people in 1800 to over 8 billion today, and at the same time, our average energy consumption increased more than twentyfold. From about 2,000-2,500 calories per day (just enough to stay alive) to over 50,000 calories per day when you include the fossil fuels, electricity, and industrial processes that we rely on (that’s the global average). That means our total thermodynamic footprint is now equivalent to more than 160 billion Homo Sapiens roaming the Earth.

It's a long article but very readable. You might want to have a stiff drink at hand while you read it. 

 

Featured Links - June 3, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Springtime at the marina

• What are ultra-processed foods, really? "We dug into the research and answered your questions."
• The MAHA Report Is a Health Hoax: RFK Jr. Just Cited Studies That Don’t Exist. "America’s top health official tabled a report filled with fake science, dead links, and ChatGPT hallucinations. This isn’t policy—it’s malpractice by executive order."
• Predicting and Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease. "With all the advances in both the science of aging and artificial intelligence (AI), we are in a propitious position to accurately and precisely determine who is at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease years before signs of even mild cognitive deficit."
• 5,000-Year-Old Bread Recipe Recreated in Turkey—and Locals Can’t Get Enough. "A bread made from ancient grains is rising again in Turkey, and it's a big hit." Not only does it taste good, but it's made from drought-resistant plants.
• HellCaptcha: Accessibility Theater at Its Worst. "hCaptcha's "Accessibility" Mode Is a Fucking Cookie. And it's wrapped in a maze of broken promises, bad design, and outright user hostility."
• Massive security blunder: Russian nuclear site blueprints exposed in public procurement database. "Russia is modernizing its nuclear weapon sites, including underground missile silos and support infrastructure. Data, including building plans, diagrams, equipment, and other schematics, is accessible to anyone in the public procurement database."
• Changing of the guard and Best laid plans. "What does a change in ownership for the genre's legacy short fiction magazines mean for the SF/F community?" The science fiction magazines, especially Analog and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, were my gateway into the genre.
• The Radical Development of an Entirely New Painkiller. "The opioid crisis has made it even more urgent to come up with novel approaches to treating suffering." Finally there’s something effective." This article gives real insight into the complexity of developing a new drug.
• ‘My mother didn’t try to stab my father until I was six’: Alan Alda on childhood, marriage and 60 years of stardom. "Best known as Hawkeye in the TV series M*A*S*H, the 89-year-old actor, director and writer has another hit on his hands with a revamp of his 1981 movie The Four Seasons. He talks about his Parkinson’s disease, Woody Allen – and what he really thinks of Donald Trump."