Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Featured Links - July 22, 2025

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

The sun sets as an orange ball in a hazy sky along the 401
Sunset along the 401

Monday, July 21, 2025

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.

Sunday, July 20, 2025

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.

A kilometre long (or more) line of trucks on highway 401, backed up because of an accident.
Trucks on the 401

 

Friday, July 18, 2025

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. 

An AI created image of an ostrich with a head in the shape of the continental US burying its head in the sand.
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.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Featured Links - July 15, 2025

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

A large patch of daisies
Summer daisies

Sunday, July 13, 2025

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. 

Two peachy pink roses
Roses




Saturday, July 12, 2025

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. 

Friday, July 11, 2025

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.'

Wednesday, July 09, 2025

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. 

Monday, July 07, 2025

Featured Links - July 7, 2025

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

A white hydrangea
A hydrangea in our backyard

Sunday, July 06, 2025

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.

A clump of daises glowing in the sunlight.
Daisies



Saturday, July 05, 2025

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 on a small outdoor stage
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings

The Blues Holler, an outdoor concert stage in a wooded backyard
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.

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

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)

Tuesday, July 01, 2025

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.

Two bushes of small yellow and purple flowers
Backyard flowers