Finished reading: Adam Frank cleverly uses interest in UFOs to get at the science of extraterrestrial life in The Little Book of Aliens 📚
Microposts
Finished reading: Slow Productivity by Cal Newport has some interesting concepts for how to manage pseudo productivity. Almost makes me want to have the type of job that would allow me to really apply the advice 📚
Finished reading: Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin is a short, fascinating, and entertaining book all about black holes 📚
Finished reading: I enjoyed A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. Moves briskly with an interesting plot, good characters, and intriguing magic system 📚
Finished reading: Blood Meridian, Or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy is bleak, nihilistic, and compelling 📚
🔗 Matt Gurney: Anson Mount saved Star Trek
Because Anson Mount saved Star Trek. And I’m not afraid to say so. In fact, I’m here to shout it from the rooftops: thank you, Anson Mount. You were just what we needed.
I endorse this claim
As usual, against my better judgement, I’ve installed the public betas. I’m mostly interested in the new fitness features of watchOS 11. Although I already have something like Training Load in the HealthFit app, Apple’s take is intriguing. For me it is the simple things, like structured swim workouts and being able to see what the next interval is in a custom workout that will make the biggest differences.
To get watchOS, I had to install iOS 18. Overall, some nice incremental improvements with nothing too significant (at least until some of the Apple Intelligence features get added).
Finished reading: The Rise and Reign of the Mammals by Steve Brusatte is a comprehensive and detailed tour of all of the mammals, past and present, that stays engaging. Such tremendous diversity and curious lifestyles 📚
Dog couch
Finished reading: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson is a good ending to The Wax and Wayne series. Although the Cosmere hints were intriguing, they also got a bit confusing. Presumably to be clarified in later books 📚
🏊♂️🚴♂️🏃♂️ Getting ready
Finished reading: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson is a fun continuation of the series. Intriguing to see the world of Elendel open up to a wider perspective 📚
George discovered digging. So George had his first bath
Finished reading: Justin Trudeau on the Ropes by Paul Wells is a short, informative, entertaining, and timely look at Justin Trudeau’s tenure as Prime Minister 📚
Finished reading: As Gods by Matthew Cobb is a really good look at the science, politics, and ethics of genetic engineering 📚
🎧 I’ve been enjoying The Universe podcast: a fun conversation about astrophysics. Katie Mack is great at explanation and John Green is a good audience stand in
Finished reading: Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee contains lots of fun stories. Only make sense though if you’ve read the series 📚
Training load and rest days on the Apple Watch are nice improvements. I’m curious to explore the Vitals App too
Finished reading: Witch King by Martha Wells is good. I enjoyed the clever interweaving of the two time periods and the vivid world building 📚
Maybe not enemies
🔗 “Worse than I’ve ever seen” - Paul Wells
I’m not here this week to tell a story of despair. I was impressed by what I saw of the Alberta government reponse to the opioid crisis, which reflects a level of ambition and concerted effort over time that I rarely see in government action anywhere.
I’m glad to see this getting pragmatic attention, rather than rhetoric
Welcoming George to our family
So far Lucy is mostly ignoring him
🏊♂️🚴♂️🏃♂️ Ready for tomorrow
Finished reading: The Dog Sitter Detective by Antony Johnston is an entertaining and easy to read murder mystery 📚
Finished reading: The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss is a fun interlude of the Kingkiller Chronicle series 📚
Finished reading: Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie is a good continuation of a great series. Includes some interesting ideas about AI 📚
Finished reading: Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson has a good twist on the humans-colonizing-other-worlds narrative, along with his usual, highly technical descriptions 📚
🏃♂️ Today’s run was a fun exploration of Porto
Gorgeous views in Porto. We’re having a great first day here
🔗 Variations on the Theme of Silence
Silences that close us off, refusing connection, shoring up the ego at others’ expense—those are dead silences. But the letting-go sort, the silences that hold space or keep vigil for someone else? They are alive.