Started in summer. Bottled in November.With luck, it will be drinkable by Valentine's Day.

I first read about this book and the ideas therein in the near-future environmental novel Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. In Ministry, one of the major trends that happens is wildlife corridors between and among major national parks, resulting in a "re-wilding" of rural and residential areas that had previously separated parks … Continue reading Half-Earth →

One thing I think about, when I'm getting concerned about the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis, is another apocalypse that's happened during my lifetime, namely, the Year 2000 Problem. If you're not familiar, this was a crisis that happened at the end of the 1900s. Because computers often stored dates with 2-digit years, like … Continue reading Y2K and The Climate Emergency →

I made chili last night, and I wanted to make cornbread to go with it. I did what I usually do when I don't have a personal or family recipe at hand: I looked one up on Wikibooks Cookbook. I like this cookbook because it has a lot of simple, easy recipes. They're updated and … Continue reading Cornbread recipe →

This morning, my wife and I had a 2-1/2-hour-long Zoom session with a judge, a dozen immigration officers, and 119 other applicants for citizenship in Canada. According to the officers, there were people from 39 different countries of origin on the call. We were all there to take our oath of citizenship, the last step … Continue reading Citizens at last →

I wrote a couple of months ago about Voting in Canadian elections. We applied for Canadian citizenship last year, and I had really hoped to be able to vote in the Federal election on September 20 of this year. As a fallback, I'd hoped to vote in the Montreal municipal election, this weekend, November 6 … Continue reading Voting update →

I finished the Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KOTOR II) a couple of days ago. It was really satisfying; I think it's the first time I've finished a video game down to the ending credits in a few years. The open-world style of most modern games means there's … Continue reading KOTOR II →

A Little Respect has been stuck in my head for a few days. Now it's in yours. I think it's a combination of the soaring, driving, distinctive lyrics and the simple, accessible synth work. Usually if I get a song stuck in my head, I'll let myself listen to it repeatedly. Streaming services have been … Continue reading A Little Respect →

I listened to The Verge from Patrick Wyman last week. It's an excellent historical non-fiction book about the period from 1490 to 1530 in European history. In a series of stories told from different points of view, Wyman gives his possible explanation for the Great Divergence of European wealth and power from other world civilisations … Continue reading The Verge →