On Crémant, a great wine that’s terribly under-appreciated

Sure you can celebrate with a bottle of champagne. Or you can pop open some cava or prosecco if you want some every day bubbles. But if you want something in between that’s well priced and delicious, you want a bottle of Crémant. As Food & Wine notes:

Crémant has the unique distinction of being both deeply appreciated by many wine professionals, yet stubbornly under the radar among most consumers. Among the most delicious — and deliciously versatile — sparkling wines in the world, Crémant remains somewhat of a mystery.

In terms of how it compares to champagne and prosecco, F&W says:

At its core, Crémant is a category of French sparkling wines that are produced using the same traditional method as Champagne, yet from other regions, and often leaning on grapes other than the Big Three of the world’s most famous bubbly (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier)….

Because of the range of terroirs and climates in which Crémants are produced, as well as the different grape varieties, the category represents a wide range of styles and expressions. Still, they are all tied together by their method of production, which involves a secondary fermentation taking place in the bottle — as opposed to in a pressurized tank, as is the case in the Charmat method most famously employed for Prosecco — in order to convert the still wine into sparkling. This lends depth and complexity to the wine, as well as pastry and bakery-like notes from the extended contact with the yeast, which the law stipulates has to occur for a minimum of nine months prior to disgorgement, or clearing the individual bottles of that spent yeast.

If you are shopping around and wonder what makes a Crémant from the Loire different than say one from Alsace:

The main ones you’re likely to see on the market are Crémant d’Alsace (often made from Pinot Blanc or Pinot Gris, and sometimes a grape called Auxerrois, in addition to Pinot Noir and Riesling); Crémant de Bourgogne (Pinot Noir, Gamay); Crémant de Loire (Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and even, unexpectedly, Cabernet Franc); and Crémant de Limoux (Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, and a local variety called Mauzac). Crémants are also produced in Bordeaux, the Rhône Valley (called Crémant de Die), Jura, and Savoie. There are eight total AOCs in France for Crémant production.

We are fortunate to have over a 100 different kinds of Crémant here in Ontario, including one of my favs, Bailly Lapierre Réserve Brut Crémant de Bourgogne. Next time you are in the LCBO, check both the main section and the Vintages section: in a large enough store, there should be at least a few products in both section. Make sure it has the word “Crémant” on the bottle, since some French sparkling wine is neither Crémant nor Champagne and often not that great. However I have yet to find a bottle of Crémant I did not like in all my years of drinking it here in Canada.

Here’s to more people knowing and drinking one of the best value wines France has to offer. Cheers!

P.S. The golden age for Crémant in Ontario was during the pandemic. I am not sure if the French wine makers were dumping it on the market, but there was a tremendously great selection of the stuff during that time. There’s still a good selection, but the selection at that time was great. Much of the pandemic was like a dark cloud: the abundance of Crémant was a silver lining.

On the disturbing subject matter of Francis Bacon’s paintings


People are often struck by the imagery in Francis Bacon’s paintings. What could make someone paint such horrible things, I often see people ask.

The answer to their question is simple and can be found here at this page on the website for the Hugh Lane Gallery:

During the Second World War he volunteered to serve in the Civil Defence Corps, where his work involved black-out enforcement as well as assisting with first-aid and rescue at bomb sites. Responding to some people’s reaction to his work being disturbing, Bacon remarked that his work was no more disturbing than life itself.

No doubt being a first responder to victims of bomb blasts would have left Bacon with terrible images searing his brain. No wonder he painted the way he did.

P.S. I thought of this reading some of the posts that the web site Open Culture has on Bacon, here and here and here.

Towering Toronto (my semi-annual update on Hogtown, September 2025 edition)

Since my last newsletter on Toronto, here’s what new and caught my attention in the city with the CN tower (and Skydome):

Politics/getting around: the battle of the Bike Lanes continues on. After an Ontario court struck down the premier’s plan to rip up the bike lanes, he’s stormed off and took it up with the Supreme Court. I am a supporter of the bike lanes, but even if I was not, I don’t think this is the best use of the government’s time or other resources. Let’s see in 6 months if this battle has subsided.

In transit news, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT which was supposed to be open in September? Yeah, that’s not happening. despite the TTC taking control of it the LRT from Metrolinx. At this point I’m just going to assume it’s never going to occur. And even when it does happen, my neighborhood is due for more turmoil. Sigh. More on that here.

a quick aside: for automobile drivers who wondered how they can they get a temporary parking pass, wonder no more! Instead click here for details from the City.

Speaking of the City, the mayor is talking about scaling back on some of the costs associated with hosting the World Cup. Despite all her efforts, the city is still in a bind financially, according to this. That said, she a resourceful politician. I’m confident she can manage.

Real estate: the last time I noted that one of my favorite places, Hot Docs, was up for sale. I was worried this could be the end of it. As it turns out, Hot Docs sells its cinema for $6.25M, but will continue leasing it. Whew. That’s good. Hey, go check out their web site and see a show or two when you can.

Apparently rents are dropping all over Ontario, including Toronto. Good news for tenants, not so good for landlords. Maybe some affordable places will be built out here in proposed extension at College Park, assuming it gets built. Am I a fan of that new design? Let’s just say I wish College Park was being built out the way it was initially envisioned, as I wrote and showed, here.

Food: if you are in Kensington Market, apparently there is a great new sandwich shop there called Made-Rite. Always good to see great sandwich places opening up to go along with strong line up we already have in place, like La Salumeria, Hot Pork, Ariete E Toro and Bahn Mi Boys, to name just a few.

Ariete E To is also one of the best new restaurants in Toronto, according to Toronto Life. Others on that list I can vouch for: Martine’s, Maven and General Public. I’m sure the others are worth a visit too.

Sadly one of the mainstay of Annex dining,  By The Way Cafe, is set to close after 40 years. I’ve started going there when it first opened and I lived in the area. That stretch of Bloor won’t be the same without it.  (More on its closing, here.)

Finally: with the passing away of Giorgio Armani, many a story was published on his life, including this one with a Toronto angle. When I lived in the Annex I would go to Hazelton Lanes often. I never did skate on their lovely rink (shown in the article), though I wish I did.

Do you remember that Toronto once had 326 different moose statues decorated in wildly different ways? Here’s a look back at the art project, 25 years later.

Untitled

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I appreciate it! I leave you with a date night photo from the restaurant Sorrel, overlooking one of my favorite buildings in the city.

On Giorgio Armani, Kate Moss, and other great things from the 80s and 90s

I don’t write as much about the 80s these days, possibly because the media has shifted their nostalgic articles and stories from that decade to the one that follows. So I have decided to combine both decades in this one post. Hey it’s my annual indulgence, so bear with me. 🙂

The fashion giant Giorgio Armani passed away last week. While his greatness spanned decades, he really dominated the 80s with his flowing and beautifully cut clothing. There was a number of things written about him on the day of his death, but this piece in Wallpaper I found was the best. I’d also recommend this older piece that explains why 80s Armani still matters. And while I was a huge fan of his back in the 80s, as this piece in the New York Times showed, the man never stopped.

I was not the only fan of Armani obviously. Scott Schuman a/k/a The Sartorialist had a special Instagram account dedicated to him. Worth visiting.

If you are in the mood for more great photos of the 80s, I think this photo essay is excellent:  the 1980s turned out to be magic… david bailey on the era of excess in pictures.

Not as many photos in it, but this essay on  The Cameron Public House and 1980s Toronto is a fine remembrance of the beginning of an era at that famous Torontoian establishment. Another famous Toronto establishment, By the Way cafe, also began then. Sadly that restaurant will be closing after 40 years. It won’t be quite the same on the corner of Bloor and Brunswick with it gone.

If you want to know what we were eating in the 80s, read this. If you want to know what were listening too, go here.

One of the people I was listening to back in the day was Tracey Thorn. Nowadays she has a reoccurring column in The Independent where she writes about our current times, such as this: seeing endless faces in the city brings me comfort and relief. Always worth a read. Check out her books too.

Did Tracey Thorn go to clubs like the Limelight in London? Possibly. Did I go into one of the clubs that Sharon Smith captured with her polaroids of NYC nightlife in the 1980s? Definitely. Was I happy to see ‘The Breakfast Club’ stars reunite for the first time in 40 years? You know it. Am I glad that Giancarlo Esposito found happiness and success after a difficult struggle? Most certainly.

Moving from the 80s nightclub scene to the 90s, I give you this story on the famous cafe tabac in NYC. If you had gone during that time, you might have seen Kate Moss there. Zara had a special collection devoted to her not so long ago: Collection Kate Moss. This led to coverage in places like British Vogue and  The Guardian. It may be the reason why someone decided to write this: why fashion keeps selling us the 90s.

PeeWee Herman was another celebrity who rose to the top in that era. Even if you are not a fan of the 90s or Herman, I recommend a recent documentary on him…it’s brilliant.

Finally, here’s a piece on technology that was big at the end of the 20th century. Also big at the end of the 20th century: Friends. For fans of that 90s show, here a recent review of  friends at 30…inside story writers and producers tell all. More friends at 30 sitcom cultural phenomenon here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every thing — everything — is a gift


It’s not true, of course: everything is not a gift.

But if you take a moment and think: what if this were a gift? How would I think of it differently? How can I benefit from this?

Some people believe every day you are living is a gift. You can expand upon that. Think: every day is a gift, and every thing in that day is a gift, too.

Try taking that perspective when difficult things come your way today. Take out a pencil and a pad and for a few minutes write down the things you gain from whatever you’re dealing with. If nothing else, adversity gives you the chance to get stronger and wiser. Strength and wisdom are certainly gifts. No doubt you can glean out more.

On natives and migrants

It’s difficult to not think about migrants and natives. So many problems in the world have their roots in who belongs to a place and when. So I was interested to hear about this book: Home Rule – National Sovereignty and the Separation of Natives and Migrants from Duke University Press. The Duke University Press says:

In Home Rule Nandita Sharma traces the historical formation and political separation of Natives and Migrants from the nineteenth century to the present to theorize the portrayal of Migrants as “colonial invaders.” The imperial-state category of Native, initially a mark of colonized status, has been revitalized in what Sharma terms the Postcolonial New World Order of nation-states. Under postcolonial rule, claims to autochthony—being the Native “people of a place”—are mobilized to define true national belonging. Consequently, Migrants—the quintessential “people out of place”—increasingly face exclusion, expulsion, or even extermination. This turn to autochthony has led to a hardening of nationalism(s). Criteria for political membership have shrunk, immigration controls have intensified, all while practices of expropriation and exploitation have expanded. Such politics exemplify the postcolonial politics of national sovereignty, a politics that Sharma sees as containing our dreams of decolonization. Home Rule rejects nationalisms and calls for the dissolution of the ruling categories of Native and Migrant so we can build a common, worldly place where our fundamental liberty to stay and move is realized.

A lot to consider there. Some questions I considered were: Why start at the 19th century? Why not go back to the age of European exploration? What about before that age? Should it be restricted to the Western nations? What are the differences between the Roma in Europe and Europeans in the Americas? What about other persecuted groups that are native but are never considered as a group that belongs to the native group?

No doubt you have your own questions. To learn more about the book, go here.

On risotto, a dish no one should fear and everyone should embrace


Everyone should learn to make risotto, and no one should fear it. I was thinking that again recently when I was showing my daughter the best way to make shrimp risotto with peas. 

I first recall risotto becoming a big thing in the 198os. Maybe it was risotto milanese, as this noted. At the time it was presented as a difficult dish that was hard to make and easy to mess up. It has managed to keep that reputation into the 21st century, as this piece shows.

I’m here to tell people to reject that reputation and embrace making risotto. As I wrote on my other blog, it’s a great dish if you make if you want to use up things you have in the kitchen. Plus it’s not hard. There’s just a few simple things to keep in mind:

  1. You just have to be patient when you make it, adding the liquids a 1/2 cup to a whole cup at a time, then stirring the pot as you add the liquid.
  2. You don’t have to stir non stop, but you should stir it every 10-30 seconds until the liquid incorporates into the rice. When you move the rice and you can’t see any liquid on the bottom of the pan, add more liquid.
  3. Stick to medium-low when cooking the rice in the liquid. Give the rice and the liquid time to do the work.
  4. After you add the 3rd cup of liquid, taste the rice. Is it still hard? You want it to be al dente, in my opinion. Do you prefer it softer? Then keep adding more liquid until it is soft. Generally with a cup of risotto rice, you will want four cups of liquid. Whenever I have used a ratio of 1:4 (rice:liquid) I have had success.

Here’s the recipe for Risotto With Shrimp And Peas by Marian Burros from the New York Times. It’s a winner. (My comments are in the parentheses.)

Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients:
  • 4 cups no-salt-added fish or chicken stock (I used chicken and I don’t worry about the salt. Also most recipes call for warmed up stock)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil ( or any neutral oil)
  • ½ cup chopped onion (shallot or leek is also fine)
  • 1 cup arborio rice
  • ½ cup dry white wine (you can replace with stock but the wine is better)
  • ½ pound fresh peas, shelled to yield about ½ cup (canned peas are fine. Frozen cooked in the stock is also good)
  • ½ pound shelled raw shrimp (I used a bag of mixed shrimp and bay scallops and that was great)
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, optional (at least for fish based risotto)
Preparation
Step 1: In a large saucepan, simmer stock. In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil. Add onion, and sauté until it softens. Add rice, and stir to coat. Add the wine, and cook until liquid is absorbed.
Step 2: Add one cup simmering stock to rice. Stirring often, cook over medium-low heat until liquid is absorbed. Repeat with second cup, and continue cooking, stirring often. Repeat with third cup.
Step 3: As rice becomes soft but firm, add last cup of stock. If peas are large, add them and cook about 4 minutes. Then add shrimp. If peas are small and tender, add them along with shrimp. Cook shrimp just 3 or 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve, with cheese if desired.
P.S. Once you feel you get the hang of that, here’s 19 more risotto recipes you can make, courtesy of Chatelaine magazine. Image is from their recipe for lemony mint and pea risotto. Also check out my blog post for more risotto ideas.

My annual robot survey, 2025 edition


Time for my annual review of what I’ve seen happening in the world of robotics in the last 12 months. Progress in robots, unlike other forms of IT, tends to be slower and incremental. Not surprising: robotics is hard. If you look at the robots I featured last year and compared them to these robots, you won’t see dramatic changes. Still, it is interesting to note the progress made and the limitations still encountered.

Robots in factories are still where the bulk of robots can be found. Despite widespread adoption, they still have issues with basic tasks, as this study of robots in Amazon warehouses shows. Will that mean we are away off from amazon having package delivery humanoid robots? I’d say yes.

Home robots tend to be limited to one floor. But according to this, they are close to navigating stairs. That could be a game changer. Maybe some robots will get around your house like this tiny pogo robot does? Call me skeptical. Still, engineers keep trying to give robots more range, as we see here.

Not all home robots are limited to the floors of your house. This here contratrapion is a brainless soft robot that runs on air, while these 5 robotic lawnmowers hit the great outdoors. Speaking of robots and grass, there may come a day when your caddie is a robot.

It’s not all hard labour for home robots. These cute little fellows are mainly for emotional support for seniors. I question whether this pomodoro desk robot is an actual robot but I do agree it is the “cutest way to boost your productivity “. Speaking of desktop robots, this cute desktop robot gets gloomy when your room becomes unhealthy.

Finally, not all robots are cute: a lifelike robot that mimics human anatomy with complex muscular system is pretttttty creepy (see below).

One last note: the province of Ontario “began a ten-year pilot program in 2016 to allow the testing of automated vehicles (AVs) on Ontario’s roads under strict conditions, including a requirement to have a driver for safety reasons.” (In my mind, AVs are just another form of robots.) The program is still on going and I expect to see more developments on it. You can read more on that, here.

Thanks for reading this. I’ll be curious to see what happens with robots over the next year. Let’s see!

On life and death and the substack writings of Helen de Cruz

If you want to read some thoughtful posts today, I highly recommend the Substack of Helen de Cruz.

I used to follow her on Twitter while I was still a user of it. He posts there were always thoughtful and wise. To find out she was writing on Substack was a blessing. To discover (via Bluesky) that she passed away in 2025 was terribly sad.

While she was a philosopher by profession, her writing on Substack is very accessible. And thoughtful. And wise. Give what she wrote a read when you can.

(Image = link to one of her colored pencil drawings on her substack)

On The Course of Empire (paintings and otherwise)

Cole Thomas The Course of Empire Destruction 1836.jpg

In reading Clive Thompson’s latest linkfest, I came across the above painting by Thomas Cole. It illustrates a section of his newsletter talking about how the collapse of empires can lead to benefits for those other than the 1%. I highly recommend not just that section, “3) 🌋 The upside of societal collapse”, but the entire newsletter.

I’d also recommend you check out all five paintings from this series:

  1. The Savage State, or The Commencement of Empire
  2. The Arcadian or Pastoral State
  3. The Consummation of Empire
  4. Destruction
  5. Desolation

Cole’s paintings imply an arc that goes from Commencement to Desolation, with Consumption being a peak. However based on the newsletter and the book it references to, “Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse” by Luke Kemp, it seems more likely that with Desolation comes an overlapping Pastoral State and that Consumption is bad for all but a privileged minority.

Check out the newsletter and the five paintings to see what I mean.

P.S. The Pastoral State, below, looks good to me. 🙂

Cole Thomas The Course of Empire The Arcadian or Pastoral State 1836.jpg

 

How to avoid doom scrolling

One way to avoid doom scrolling is to put down your phone. If you can do that, great.

If you’re not likely to do that, then you need better things to scroll through. That’s likely my route.

To go that route, I am building a list of good sites to visit when I am bored and tempted to endlessly scroll. So far this is the list. I plan to build it up:

Another approach is to play a game. Like Dodge This!

Finally, you can check out Clive Thompson’s mailing list! It’s jam packed with good stuff.

The rise of Nazi thoughts and deeds in American politics – a marker

Around a decade ago, I put a marker on my blog regarding Peter Thiel, because I thought it worthwhile to track his decline. Last week the pattern of Nazi related activities in the American right got to the point where I thought: I need to start noting these.

First off, Peter Thiel is giving a lecture on “The Antichrist: A Four-Part Lecture Series” of all things. One thing that stood out for me was the reference to Carl Schmitt. In case you don’t know much about Schmitt and his relationship with the Nazis, you can read this.

Next up, JD Vance (who is also aware of Schmitt), said, “I don’t know why we accepted that it was reasonable to have crazy people yelling at our kids. You should not have to cross the street in downtown Atlanta to avoid a crazy person yelling at your family. Those are your streets.” Read that, I thought, I wonder if we should be prepared for someone in the Trump administration to propose Aktion T4. This is a marker to see if they are going to go down that road.

None of this Nazi infused thinking is new. Mike Godwin in 2023 said comparing Trump to Hitler was not wrong, in light of Trump “calling people vermin” and “talking about blood poisoning”.

Godwin’s Law — “As an online discussion continues, the probability of a reference or comparison to Hitler or to Nazis approaches 1.”  — is good to keep in mind. It’s easy to reach for comparison of the American right wing to the Nazis, and that comparison should be resisted. Many authoritarian actions that the Trump administration has been doing are terrible but such actions are not strictly limited to Hitler and company. But as these actions pile up, and as right wing thought and action echo behaviors of Germany after 1933, it’s worthwhile keeping track. Actions like the formation of a secret police, the use of concentration camps, the attacks on the museums and the arts, or the takeover of cities by the military.

(Photo of Miller, Hegseth and Vance with the National Guard in Washington D.C.)

P.S. For people who say, Americans would never do anything terrible, I would simply start by by pointing out CIA Black Sites, where Americans would “detain, interrogate, and often torture suspected enemy combatants” in extrajudical locations outside the U.S.

New York is great, near or far

It’s been a year since I’ve visited or wrote about New York City. I miss it. Alas I don’t think I’ll be going to the States / NYC any time soon for a number of reasons. There are many in the same situation, so much that it seems to be having an impact. (Although it didn’t seem to limit Paul McCartney, who played a few surprise concerts in NYC in the last year. The man is everywhere.)

In the meantime, I’ve been following along with what’s been happening in the city, especially on the dining scene. After four years of a vegan menu, meat is back on at Eleven Madison Park restaurant. A place once impossible to get into seems less so: hence the addition of meat.

In other restaurant news, it seems there’s been a resurgence of new restaurants since the pandemic. That’s good to see. Also, it turns out young chefs are saving old school diners. Good for them.

One thing that came about during the pandemic was outdoor dining, but now that the pandemic is long gone, people are wondering: is outdoor dining dying off? I suspect it won’t. New Yorkers remain resilient and resourceful despite difficulties. I mean, you have restaurants thriving without kitchens there. I suspect restaurants will hold on to outdoor dining for some time, too.

Dining experiences in New York are about the Old as much as they are about the New. To show you what I mean, check out Resy’s great guide to New York’s New Old-School Restaurants. You’ll want to hit up some of them on your next visit. Maybe you’ll go to one of the greatest of old school establishments, Keens steakhouse, beloved by old and young diners alike.

Thinking of old school dining got me going down a rabbit hole of Manhattan nostalgia recently. Perhaps it was all the pieces I read about Lutèce after the great chef André Soltner died. Pieces like this and this and this. Those pieces lead me to read this: Reliving The 1980s: 10 Iconic New York Dining Moments That Defined Decadence. And then this: the 50 year club (i.e. the oldest upper west side shops and restaurants still in business). Which finally led me to this article on the battle for Bryant Park Grill, a famous restaurant which also happens to be a great piece of real estate.

Speaking of real estate, here’s a good story about my favorite building: cooper union is taking back the Chrysler building.

While ostensibly about the artists, this piece on the NYC apartment of Jean and Jean Claude Christo’s apartment got me thinking about living in downtown Manhattan when it was grittier. Perhaps that’s why I watched this not too long ago: ‘On the Bowery’. Very gritty indeed.

The Lower East Side is my favourite part of the city, which is why I was happy to read about the efforts to save the dive bar Lucy’s in the East Village. Meanwhile for Brooklyn fans, check out this hot pink building there. Or this Maximalist Brooklyn apartment. It’s not all light in that borough though. Check out as this grim piece on Brooklyn deaths possibly due to a serial killer. NYC is not without its dangers.

Like many people, I sometimes want New York to never change, though change it will. This year congestion pricing went in, and it turns out it’s a hit. That was fast. Not so fast is the adoption of trash bins. It boggles my mind, especially since a) no one likes all the rats b) bins wipe out rat populations. Go figure. Another antique thing that should change is the New York’s subway system. Good luck with that Herculean task. That said, they recently retired some of their  old subway cars. So even the subway system can adopt.

As for other changes, this piece on  the slow death of neon signage in New York made me wonder what the town would look like without bright neon. I can’t imagine it.

To close out, here’s a fun piece on the hardest working font in NYC. It looks like the NYPD is having a hard time recruiting cops. And the city is having a hard time figuring out how to bring people back to NYC. New York is never without challenges, no mater how much it changes.This piece by Naomi Fry writing about the famous piece by Jay McInerney on Chloe Sevigny in the New Yorker was very meta. Did I love this piece Jeannette Montgomery Barron’s black and white portraits of artists in Downtown New York in the 1980s? You know I did. Included in it is this photo of John Lurie, taken in 1982. Cool, like the city he was in.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. See you in a year when I post my annual appreciation of the greatest city in the world.

Tiny homes, 2025 edition

While I am a big fan of tiny homes on this blog, I haven’t done a post on them in some time.

I used to do them on the regular because a) I like the idea of tiny homes b) a blog I follow called Yanko Design often posted stories on tiny homes, giving me lots of material to comment on.

As it is, I still love tiny homes, and I still follow Yanko, so here’s four recent posts from them worth checking out:

  1. First up is this cool place in Tokyo. Most tiny homes in North America are horizontal: that one is very vertical (as you can see in the photo).
  2. Next is this small but might home built from a shipping container (a popular framework for tiny homes).
  3. While many tiny homes come assembled, this incredible foldable tiny home that a single person can install within an hour with no tools .
  4. Finally, if you want even more tiny homes, Yanko has 10 more homes designed to be sustainable retreats for off the grid living.

I think tiny homes are excellent, and I wish more people embraced them. If you are a fan as well, check out those links.

Seven questions to ask yourself this week

Over at Austin Kleon’s blog he had a post called 7 questions I ask myself. The questions are:

1. What was the best thing that happened yesterday?

2. Will this enlarge or diminish me?

3. What would it look like to be done for the day?

4. What did you really want to say?

5. What’s the matter?

6. Would I do it tomorrow?

7. And then what?

I don’t think you have to ask yourself these questions every day or in every situation. Instead, use them in the right context. For example, whenever I am faced with doing something difficult, I ask myself #2. Whenever I am blogging, I keep question #4 in mind. If you are aiming for a goal, it’s good to keep #7 in mind before you achieve it.

If those questions appeal to you, go check out his post. He provides more insight into each of the questions that you’ll benefit from if you ask them of yourself this week.

(Image via a link to his post)

 

Math and physics books from Dover via Google Books (what I find interesting in math and physics, Aug. 2025)

I’ve recently discovered a bunch of math / physics Dover books via Google Books of all things. You can access previews of them based on the link below and also buy them. I like this because I have a tendency to splurge for Dover books only to find my math skills are too weak to make progress. I don’t mind, since I like giving money to Dover, but my bookshelves are too full and this seems like a good compromise. Here’s just some I found good:

  1. Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics
  2. Mathematics for Physicists
  3. Mathematical physics
  4. Classical mechanics
  5. Foundations and Fundamental Concepts of Mathematics

Also I found these good links, not Dover or Google Books necessarily, but worth checking out:

  1. Calculus and beginner calculus
  2. History of physics
  3. Principle of least action
  4. Lagrangian physics and why it is useful.

On the death of Perks Culture and other thoughts on Work in 2025

Untitled

If you are interested in perk culture and reading about work generally, I thought these pieces were all worth reading:

First up, this piece: For Younger Workers, Job Hopping Has Lost Its Stigma. Should It? I think criticizing job hopping is a classic case of employers not liking an advantage workers have. Relatedly, What Is (or Was) ‘Perks Culture’? touches on the clawback of worker privileges that tech firms no longer figure they need to provide them. That said, Meta is going on a hiring spree, so maybe things will swing back. For companies that are on a hiring frenzy, they would do well to study this piece on how Aaron Schwartz hired programmers.

Another perk more employees used to have was sabbaticals. I know some jobs still have them, but at one time even tech firms like Apple offered them. Based on this piece, it looks like young people are trying to reinvent them in a way: To Escape the Grind, Young People Turn to ‘Mini-Retirements’.

Work culture is different outside North America. For example, over in Asia we have this: Declaring ‘Crisis,’ South Korean Firms Tell Managers to Work 6 Days a Week. China too has the 996 system: 6 days of working 9 am to 9 pm. Not sure that will be sustainable.

Forming Storming Norming Performing: those four words you may have seen or experienced at work. The idea comes from here:Tuckman’s_stages_of_group_development. Some teams never go from Forming to Performing, but many do.

Roxane Gay is a great writer who also writes well about work. Here’s her last piece: Goodbye, Work Friends. You’d do well to read the rest.

(P.S. Photo of many of my work neckties and bowties I finally threw out. Many trends come and go and return when it comes to work, but wearing ties is over, I think.)

 

On the mad, bad egg and wine diet

As diets go, the egg and wine diet — which has an entry in wikipedia, no less — is one of the crazier ones out there. I have always been fascinated by it, but I was curious if it actually worked. Well according to this and also this but not this, it does, kinda. One person lost 7.5 pounds, one lost 5, and one lost only one. No one felt good about it. No one recommends it. I can’t recommend it either, and I love eggs, steak, coffee and Chablis! But if you were ever inclined to do it, read those articles first.

P.S. If you feel you have to lose weight, talk to a medical professional about how to do it in a healthy manner.

 

Whenever you read a historical book, you owe it to yourself to find good critics of the book

Whenever you read a historical book, you owe it to yourself to find good critics of the book. Those critics could be other historians writing other books on the topic. Or they could be book reviewers.

Case in point, the book Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery by Seth Rockman. Rockman writes about “the rise of wage work and factory labor, the relationship between slavery and capitalism, the emergence of a market society, the varieties of coercion under capitalism”. Reading it, you might be inclined to come to the same sweeping conclusion that the author does. I did when I read about the book. Which is why I was glad to read this review of the book, The Hazards of Slavery by Scott Spillman, in the LA Review of Books. In his review, Spillman notes the following:

Following plantation goods allows Rockman to provide an effective tour of how both capitalism and slavery operated in the early United States. He also shows that the Northern and Southern economies were knit together more tightly than our typical caricature of the free North versus the slave South might suggest. All this is welcome and generally well done…

Yet Rockman falls short in his larger ambition to prompt “a rethinking of the sectional geography of a United States where the division between slavery and freedom would eventually start a Civil War.” Like many scholars of slavery and capitalism, he focuses so intently on establishing ties between North and South that he excludes the internal development of the Northern economy from his story. His book is notably light on numbers, but one gets the impression that plantation provisioning predominated only in fringe areas of the industrializing Northeast, while larger manufacturing centers saw the South as just one of many markets. As Rockman himself admits, the production of plantation goods did not power the Northern economy as a whole.

Critics of capitalism might be inclined the come to the strong conclusion that Rockman does. I was inclined to at first. However after reading Spillman, I backed off and considered the situation might be more complicated than that.

The next time you are swept up in the conclusions of a historian, do yourself a favour and seek out other historians on the topic. If nothing else, you’ll have a wider and better view of the history you are studying.

On laser eye surgery

In May I started having problems with my vision. I went to Sunnybrook and after a long series of exams I was told to come back and have a retina specialist take a look at it.

At the end of August I finally got to see that specialist. Given I hadn’t been having any vision problems for weeks, I assumed the visit would be relatively routine.

I say relatively because having your retina examined is never that routine. The way the doctor’s handle your eyeball feels tough, and the amount of light they blast in your eye is intense. You feel somewhat disoriented afterwards.

This visit was even less routine because he said there was still some damage and he wanted to repair it with laser eye surgery. While it seemed like no big deal to the doctor, it was a big deal to me. If the previous tests were intense, this was even more so. It’s not that there is pain: it’s that the intensity of light that hits your eye makes you want to flinch and move. Of course you can’t do that, which means you have to steel yourself to remain steady. Fortunately the doctor knew that so he was good about signalling how long the duration was. Despite that, it was still hard to endure.

I’m glad I got the work done. It’s worth the small amount of intense suffering to prevent going blind. But anyone undergoing such a procedure should be ready with whatever means they have to get through it.

How generative AI works (it’s not designed, at least the way you think)

How generative AI works is likely not how you think it works.

What led me to state this was two discussions I’ve had this week about the “design” of gen AI. I think the “design” conclusion that people come up with is based on emergent behaviours of the system. You can shape this behaviour in a number of ways, based on the data you feed the system or some ways you configure the software being trained. However at best you are influencing the behaviour of the system, vs designing the behaviour of the system.

In some ways it’s like taking a bucket of seeds and tossing them around a large area of a field. If you took only seeds of one or two flowers and distributed the seeds so that only these one or two flowers and grew there, you could say you designed the garden to grow these flowers. Likewise, if you divided up the land into rows and planted one type of seed in each row, you can say you designed the garden. However if you have a wide range of seeds included in your bucket and you don’t target the planting of the seeds but just toss them into the ground, it will no longer be considered designed.

That’s why I think gen AI is not really designed. It’s a alot like a big bucket of random seeds not planted in any order. What design you see there is likely how you look at it.

P.S. If you want to explore more on how gen AI works, see this. For a great example of how a gen AI system is built from the ground up, see this.

 

SNL makes you famous. It may not make you rich.

If you are fan of Saturday Night Live as I am, you may have guessed that cast members get paid well to be on the show. If that was also your guess, then guess again. As this piece shows, the pay is not exactly stellar. Mind you, for some cast members, things have worked very well in the longer term. But in the short term, it’s not all that much. Enough to pay the bills of living in NYC and a bit more.

Still, if fame now and fortune maybe later is your goal, SNL is the way to go.

 

Souped up IKEA (or how to hack the Malm, Billy and more)

If you are a frustrated furniture maker like myself, you might want to see what you can make by hacking some IKEA furniture. It’s not the same as getting out the circular saw and cutting your own boards, but it is a good way to combine traditional IKEA pieces with additional material to make something unique for you. Case in point, the raised bed above: made from IKEA without looking like IKEA.

If you need some inspiration, here’s two pieces on the topic: the best IKEA hacks of 2021 and the 10 most hacked IKEA products. Need more inpiration? Check out IKEAhackers.net. Good luck!

 

 

On good political art

I was thinking about what makes good political art after reviewing the work of Mike Monteiro. One of his encaustic works takes a traditional image seen on Portuguese tiles and underlines it with the message: All Portuguese ships are slave ships. While I like all of his work (seen here), that one especially resonated with me. Possibly because in Toronto (with a large Portuguese speaking community) you can see such art in many places, including the subway. I had always taken a benign view to the representation of such ships before. But this work got me to read up more on the leading role of Portugal in the Altantic Slave Trade. This work had me admiring it aesthetically as well as appreciating it for its political statement.

I think for political art to be good it has to strike such a balance between the aesthetic value of the work and the political value of the work. The work of Barbara Kruger or General Idea or Picasso’s Guernica all strike that important balance. Art where the political message is obscure or art that is merely an illustrated political message is out of balance and comes up short. It’s not that the work is bad: it’s that the work that strikes that balance is better.

For more and better thought on the power of political art, read this.  For more great political art, see this. Also much of the work of General Idea and Kruger is political and worth seeking out.

(Image above from the art group General Idea. For more on it, refer to this.)

 

 

Another smart blog to read (still!) is Norbert Hoeller’s blog

I wrote about my friend Norbert Hoeller and his blog back in 2023. I am happy to report he is still blogging two years later. While he doesn’t post as often as I do, whenever he does post, it’s very much worth a read. I am fortunate to lunch with him fairly often and whenever I do, I learn a lot from him. If you can’t sit down for a meal with him, the next best thing you can do is read his blog. For instance, you can read any of his posts and learn something: on travel / where my baggage, on travel / foreign currency, on hacks / air conditioner battery, on ticks and lyme disease, on hacks / monitoring refrigerator temperatures and on  paypal shopping notification.

Or you can just start at the beginning and go on from there.

I am always encouraging smart people I know to blog. I am always happy when they continue to do so.

60 or so interesting things I wanted to write about and maybe will some day

For the last few years I’ve shared interesting links I wanted to write about some day and maybe I will. Last year it was 28. The year before it was 85. As in other years, I think these links are all interesting, even if I don’t have much to say about them.

First off, let’s look at some cool links/sites. These retro design choices are cool. As are all the things Clive Thompson writes about. Anything Dan Sinker writes about is cool. Is Sonny Rollins cool? Of course he is. As was Min Matheson, the Labor Leader Who Faced Down Mobsters. Is the home of Roberto Gerosa home in Milan cool?  I happen to think so.

Moving on from cool, this story, on Only fans and being good, is interesting. Edmund White’s sex memoir may also be interesting to some. Same goes for this story of Stormy Daniels and the gofundme she set up to deal with alleged threats due to testifying against Trump.

I was curious about where does the expression “peace be with you” come from. I was also curious about Christian masses other than Christmas. For example, Childermas. Speaking of Christmas, I liked this piece on the shepherds and the Magoi and this piece on shepherds or wise men at the birth of Jesus. If you wonder if churches still matter, read this.

Some historical pieces I liked: this on 1177 BC bronze age societies and this on the world’s oldest known song, hurrian hymn no 6. Likewise, this story on rare anti-nazi resistance pamphlets. What’s this? A good reminder that there were still old people when life expectancy was low.

Three things on Canada worth reading: MAID has led to soaring euthanasia deaths, where the primary care crisis is hitting ontario hardest, and a story on a Canadian woman sentenced for inuit benefit fraud.

Not on Canada, but by a Canadian, are these two posts by Lloyd Alter: why i am thinking about giving up and if only i could sleep on the overnight train.

Some good articles on fashion and design/decor: a piece on how Google is reaping the benefits of big ad spending from fast fashion companies  temu and shein. Meanwhile, Burberry shows signs of decline with job cuts worldwide. Here’s a slight piece on wearing  white in summer. Here’s something on a minimal entrance way. And I liked this fake window for windowless rooms and this transformer table that goes from a workstation to dining table in seconds.

For some time I was wanting to write a critique of Peter Singer and his arguments about affluence and morality. So I read a number of pieces on him and his argument  here,  here, and here. In the end the cartoon shown above (and found here) summed up what I wanted to say, so I leave it at that for now. In addition, I wanted to also write on the correspondence theory of truth (more on it, here) but didn’t. Same goes for Compatibilism.

Did I care enough to write about  Ellen Degeneres and her netflix special? I guess not. Do I care about Bill Gates closing his Foundation in 2045? Not really. Do I think much of Niall Ferguson’s tendentious op ed? I do not. Do I think even less about Elon Musk and xAI? I do. Is any thought of RFK Jr (as seen here) worthy of consideration? Nope. Is Richard Hanania a terrible person? Yep.

Finally I thought these random pieces were worthwhile: on soldiers shortage due to population changes, when Dietrich Bonhoeffer theorized how stupidity enabled the rise of the nazis, on the changing of plant names that contain a racist slur, on antitrust suits, on whether or not you are entitled to severance pay, on how parents are stressed and how young undecided voters voted in the 2024 US election.

Two great hotels that reflect two things I am a fan of

Anyone who knows me and my blog will know I have always been a fan of Philippe Starck. I am especially a fan of his hotels. So of course I was delighted to hear about this new place he is working on, the Maison Heler hotel (shown above) in Metz in the north of France. It’s fantastic and fantastical, as many of his hotels are / were.  It’s worthwhile to read this here and check out the lots more great photos.

While I am a fan of Starck, I aslo a fan of the city of Charleston. Which leads me to point out another great hotel, The Nickel, that has just opened up in that city.

Just as the Maison Heler is a reflection of Starck, the Nickel hotel is a reflection of Charleston. Other than that, they are both very different hotels. To see what I mean, check out this piece here. That piece too is filed with details on the hotel, not to mention great photos.

If you liked those two hotels, I recommend you head over to the website Design-Milk for many more great hotel stories.

P.S. For even more on hotels, specifically hotels next to railways, read this.

Declutter challenge, part 2: using the pile method

Yesterday’s declutter challenge was all about getting the trash out of your home.

Today’s declutter challenge is about putting things away. To do that, you are going to use the pile method.  As this piece explains:

To use the “pile method” to declutter a room, start by gathering everything that’s not in its place into a basket. Then, dump it all in the living room, start sorting, and then put items away.

It seems counterintuitive, but it works. I’ve used it for clothes especially, but it can work for any bunch of things lying around.

Some thoughts:

  • One good thing is once you remove all the clutter, you already feel confident the place can be restored, even if you still have a pile to deal with.
  • If there are things you know have a place to go, put them to one side. If there are things to go in the trash, put them right in the trash. Hopefully at this point there is a place for everything in the pile. For those things that do not, consider donating them to someone.  Or try than the box and banish approach.

 

Declutter challenge, part 1: a 30 minute trash run

Inspired by this piece here in the Washington Post, I am going to challenge myself to do a “trash dash” and see how many of these things in my home I can get rid of in less than half an hour:

  1. Expired food, including spices.
  2. Branded freebies and promotional items like plastic cups, water bottles, koozies, insulated tumblers.
  3. Takeout detritus including plastic utensils, takeout containers, sauce and spice packets, and paper menus.
  4. Food storage containers.
  5. Reusable bags.
  6. Plastic dry cleaning bags and unused wire hangers.
  7. Clothing that is torn, stained or stretched, including items in need of repair
  8. Promotional swag like T-shirts, tote bags and bandannas.
  9. Orphaned socks.
  10. Paper bags.
  11. Receipts and product manuals.
  12. Magazines or books you’ll never reread.
  13. Calendars and newspapers.
  14. Junk mail.
  15. Expired or barely used beauty and personal care products, including makeup, sunscreen and bug spray.
  16. Hotel toiletries.
  17. Dried-up markers and pens.
  18. DVDs and board games you don’t use.
  19. Completed coloring books, puzzles with missing pieces and other kid stuff that has run its course.
  20. Decorative items.
  21. Unused hobby gear.

Give it a try. And if even that seem too overwhelming for you, set a 5, 10 or 15 minute timer and see how much you can collect. I bet you’ll be surprised by how much you get rid of, and how inspired you are to do more.

Don’t make it hard by overthinking it: just grab any old garbage bag or old box and start throwing things in it. If you aren’t sure, toss it in the bag/box and reconsider it AFTER the challenge. The need here is for speed, not contemplation. Go fast, toss things in the bag, and move on.

 

On the end of Jersey Milk and Cherry Blossom chocolate “bars”

Sad to hear that another Canadian chocolate icon, the Jersey Milk bar, is being discontinued. The company that owns it, Mondelez, said there was more demand for it’s other products. Hence, the discontinuance. Hey, I get that. It’s still sad to see part of one’s youthful experiences disappear. I really used to like Jersey Milk chocolate. It was different and dare I say better than other chocolate only bars.

Sad too was the demise of a “bar” I loved that many didn’t: Cherry Blossom. It wasn’t a bar so much as it was a mound of chocolate with a cherry filling. It was also a candy that brought up strong feelings, with many saying they hated it. What did they know: I thought it was unique and excellent.

How to live in wonderful small spaces

Over at the blog Cup of Jo is a story of the 175 sq foot apartment and the woman who lives there. She has lots of tips on how to thrive in a small space.

I like the bold use of black and white to simplify the decor and make it seem less busy.

Looking at this small apartment reminded me of another small space also featured on that blog, this one being Erin Boyle’s:

Like the first place, Erin’s place is full of well curated pieces. And also like the first place, she is not afraid to put big pieces of furniture in a small space. (By the way, Erin has a book and a substack devoted to her way of life. I recommend both.)

Check out both of blog posts featuring their homes. Anyone living in or dreaming of living in a small space of their own will be inspired.

 

Design that is neither digital nor minimal

In an age when the default design approach for devices tends towards minimal and digital, it’s great to see devices that go in a different direction. Take this device:

If it weren’t for the dial, you might have a hard time determining it is a very fun FM radio. I love it. It reminds me of Italian design from the 1980s.

Or take this analog device:

It’s a brilliant way to know the weather outside! I highly recommend you go here to really get a sense of well it is designed and all it can do.

Check out the link for the radio as well. It’s also innovative in it’s design.

The Withings smart watches, for people who want their watch to look like one

While I am a big fan of the Apple Watch, I know some people are put off by the look of it. If you are one of those people, then consider the Withings ScanWatch 2. It’s a good alternative for those of you who want a smart watch that has a more traditional look to it.

Even though it looks traditional, it seem it can do all the health monitoring of an Apple Watch as well. Plus, it has a long battery life and it comes in different materials and colors and has a variety of bands. Nice.

If you need a less expensive version, Withings has a variety of watches at different price points. Lots of  other smart products, too. Check it all out, here, on their online Store.

P.S. It’s interesting how closely the product page for the watch resembles an Apple Product page. I’m sure that’s no accident.

 

How to become a birder and improve your life in the process

A good friend of mine who is an excellent birder forwarded me this self help guide, How to become a birder: 10 easy ways to start this life-changing hobby.

What’s great about it is not only does it provide good instructions on how to become a birder, but how in the process of becoming one, you also improve your life.

Any hobby that allows you  you to “broaden your horizons” and be a part of “something bigger” is an excellent hobby indeed.

Become a birder, not just to see birds, but to become a better person.

On the famous essay and subsequent career of Anthony Bourdain

Like many, I love the famous New Yorker essay by Anthony Bourdain, Don’t Eat Before Reading This, published in 1999. For some reason, I always thought he submitted it to the New Yorker as a whim, that the success of it was a fluke, and the great books that followed were simply a response to this essay’s success.

So I was surprised to read this interview of him in 1997, “Potboiler Dreams: Chef Hopes To Write His Way Out of the Kitchen”. He confessed in the interview that he already wanted to write his “dream book, a definitive, foody memoir, a ribald account of my 22 years in the restaurant business that would probably appall and horrify anyone thinking of hiring me.” That dream book was Kitchen Confidential, published in 2000. The man had a plan, and with some luck, the plan succeeded. A good thing it did too, for we all benefitted.

More on this, from VOX: “Bourdain’s first big essay shows off all the things that would make him a great food celebrity”.

P.S. Here’s an excerpt from the film, “The Big Short” in which the film writers get Bourdain to riff on his fish story to explain financial instruments.

Heat dome! Some thoughts – hot and not – and the usual ramblings midyear year (i.e. the June 2025 edition of my not-a-newsletter newsletter)

The first half of 2025 is done, and if you’re living in Central Canada, you’ve just suffered through some face melting heat caused by a heat dome. That was a new experience for me. I’ve suffered heat waves, but not a heat dome. It’s a new way of suffering. Fortunately it did not last long, and cooler temps have brought some relief.

Once the main focus of this newsletter was the pandemic and COVID, because for the previous 5 years that was the thing that most preoccupied people. While COVID is still around, it has diminished to the point that the flu is deadlier than it in some parts of the world.

In the last year the thing that mostly preoccupies the world are the actions of the second Trump administration. I suspect that this will also be the thing that preoccupies this this newsletter for the next few years.

Trump 2.0

Tariffs were pretty high on the agenda for Trump’s second term in office. I think he dreamed he could eliminate income taxes and replace them with tariffs. (Never mind that tariffs are just another form of tax, which everyone but Trump seems to know). Turns out, it’s not that easy to get rid of income taxes. And while trying to switch over to a tariff based form of revenue, you get things like shipments freezing up just like in the bad old days of the pandemic. Does any of Trump’s tariffs make any sense? Some try to explain away his actions, but the constant changing of tariff rates on various places seems like madness to many.

When Trump hasn’t been applying tariffs on everyone including penguins and seals, he has been out seeking revenge.  It’s pretty common knowledge that Trump has a revenge list.  For those on the list, it will be interesting to see who he attacks over the term of his administration. I suspect he’ll get to most of them. Of those already attacked, many are struggling to respond. The ones that did respond by caving to Trump are losing in other ways.

It’s not only individuals that Trump is after. It’s also institutions, such as U.S. universities. While his administration has gone after a number of schools, Harvard has been hit especially hard, as you can see here. Why Harvard? Perhaps because they are fighting back, unlike Columbia University, which quickly threw in the towel.

He’s even taking his fight to the Justice system itself. Some are wondering if the Supreme Court would stop him. Short answer is nope, it didn’t, although they are pushing back ever so slightly. While the SCOTUS is giving Trump a pass, judges in lower courts are struggling to provide some sense of justice despite this onslaught from Trump attorneys in the Justice Department.

As for other attacks, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention his wrongful deporting of individuals to other countries, the wrongful arrests of citizens by ICE, and the sending of marines to Los Angeles.  Honestly it’s too much to cover, but that’s the point.

It’s not all tariffs and attacks, mind you. For instance, he’s found time to redo parts of the White House. Much has been written about his weird Oval Office decoration (this is the guy who keeps a fake Renoir painting in his New York Home). Not surprising, the new look doesn’t even seem to be expensive, just cheap and gaudy.

What else? He picked up a free plane from Qatar, just one of many corrupt acts. He also got his wish of having a military parade on his birthday. In the end, many thought it was a failure. What does not seem to have been a failure were the No Kings protests that happened at the same time.

Musk

Speaking of failure, Elon Musk has slunk off from Washington, black eye and all. Like so many others, Musk learned that Trump will use you and then be done with you. There was some initial speculation that he was not really leaving, but that seems unfounded. (It didn’t help him that he got into literal fights with other members of Trump cabinet, which likely explains these leaks about his weird beavoir and drug misuse).

Musk really believed he and DOGE boys would find 2 trillion dollars in savings as they slashed and burned through much of the administration in Washington. Instead he cost the US government massive amounts of revenue, largely due to IRS cuts. And while DOGE was a failure in itself — some are already calling it over — Trump’s spending bill undermined any savings DOGE might have achieved. (For those interested, check out this DOGE tracker for more info.)

Elon Musk leaves behind a legacy of disease, starvation and death during his short time in Washington. Hope it was worth it for him.

The Pope

While all that was happening, Pope Francis died this Easter Monday. After a relatively short conclave, an American was chosen as the next pope, Leo XIV.

Needless to say, this lead to a slew of news stories, such as  how the new pope came up with his name and how the Cardinals were watching the movie “Conclave” for guidance. Of course while Trump was at the funeral he drew attention for the way he dressed and his supposed desire to be Pope. Whatever. Unlike Trump and Musk, Pope Francis left a good legacy and tried to live a good life, as seen here.

Canada

One weird counter-effect Trump has had on the world is damaging political parties that are aligned in some way to him. This happened in Canada, with Mark Carney and the Liberals surging from behind to win the recent Federal election. (Results here.) It helped that Carney’s Liberals won big in Toronto, despite Conservatives flipping key 905 seats.

Carney has since paid a visit to Trump and it seemed to go well, but one never knows what will happen at any given week in the White House. Meanwhile Carney has also been courting other world leaders like King Charles and members of the G7, no doubt as a way of dealing with our neighbor down south.

In other news

Are things still terrible in the Middle East? Of course. If anything, things are only getting worse. Ukraine? Yes. Is crypto making a comeback? Sadly I think so.

Are we in for a wave of disease and suffering due to people like RFK, Jr? It’s likely. Mind you, measles is surging in Alberta. Foolishness like this doesn’t help.

Michelin, which has been to Toronto a few times, has now expanded their Canadian presence by going to Montreal and Quebec and reporting back on all the goodness that part of the country has to offer.

Finally

The great Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame passed away recently. I’ve always loved his song, “God Only Knows”, and here he is with an abundance of new and not so new musicians to perform it with him for the BBC:

As always, thanks for reading the June 2025 edition of my not-a-newsletter newsletter! Enjoy your summer.

 

One reason to record

Bike at Dusk

Over at my other blog, I recently asked myself, “why record at all”. I didn’t have an answer to it until I looked at some old photos like the one above.

I like that photo, taken using a Diana camera of a wooden wall I made. The wall wasn’t very good: I didn’t know enough and didn’t have enough resources to make it properly. As a result, it flopped around and was prone to getting wrecked when a high wind came along. No matter. I was proud I could make that then. And I was happy with the way this photo came out. I am still proud and happy about that.

The record — in this case a photo — reminds me of what I am capable of. It states: you could do that again.  At a time when one is plagued by negative self-talk, a record can provide a voice to drown out the negativity. A record can be a voice of encouragement.

There are many good reasons to make a record in any form. A record that can help you regain your better self is surely a good reason to make it.

 

What’s cool? These seven links are cool

Summer’s starting, and when the weather gets hot, you need something cool. These links below aren’t cool in that way, but they are cool nonetheless:

For example, this moped design by teenage engineering is definitely cool. Other cool transportation is this solar-powered chocolate factory supplied by a sailing ship.

When people first started putting things on the Web, virtual tours were very cool. Guess what? They still are. Check out this recent virtual tour of the Basilica Santa Maria.

The great Gina Trapani has built a page showing her Life in Weeks. Cool stuff. Speaking of the Web, here’s some cool stuff you can do with the web site, Bluesky

If you need a cool place to get away, how about these Postcard Cabins? Some of them are awesome. Also awesome is this clip of an Olympic gold medalist runner dominating the 100m at her kids sports day event! Any time someone says they would have a slim chance against an elite athlete, show them this.

It’s getting hot out there. Stay cool.

The arts on Wednesday: from Ruth Asawa to Wim Wenders

Wednesday seems to be a good day to take a break from your work and feast your eyes on the work of artists covered in these 10+ pieces. There’s something for everyone’s taste, from classic painters to conceptual artists. Enjoy!

 

The century is a 25% over. Here’s the best books and movies of those 25 years.

It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that the 21st century is 1/4 completed. When I was young, the 21st century was far off in the future. Now so much of it has already past.

Given this milestone, it seems a good time to look at what some of the best books and films have been of this era.

For films, I recommend this essay in the New York Times of the best films of each year from 2000 to 2024.

For books, I recommend this piece from Kircus Reviews.