All Armed on Nils Frahms’ Encores 3 EP revived my (barely) dormant obsession with his music. His work rewards focused and patient listening. Hard to do these days, but worth the effort music.apple.com/ca/album/…

Our family data plan was close to the limit, so I called Rogers to temporarily add some data. They ended up offering unlimited data for $15 less per month! A nice surprise and good reminder to call every year or so to check on better deals.

The past, present and future of climate change from The Economist is a good overview of GHG emissions and what we should do about them. Some excellent graphics too.

One of my great hopes for Apple Arcade is that it will end the seemingly endless requests from my children to buy virtual gems

The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyberattack in History is well worth a read. Really puts the dangers of cyber attacks in context.

Of Monsters and Men put on a great show in Toronto.

I declined an offer to provide a lecture on Transport Economics. I’m dissapointed, since I’ve enjoyed these opportunities before. However, it is a for-profit series and they’re looking for volunteer lecturers. This didn’t seem right to me. Hopefully, I’m not being short sighted.

Grandma’s 95th Birthday. Her vitality is inspiring.

I really enjoyed this Strong Song episode on one of my favourite songs: Paranoid Android 🎵

Grades 9 and 6

The Fall by Neal Stephenson is well worth a read. The concepts about consciousness, computer simulations, and death were fascinating, along with the usual hyper detail from Stephenson. Definitely a marathon of a read with multiple, overlapping stories within the book 📚

Owen conquered his first #spartantoronto race

Very fun and very muddy #spartantoronto race

We often think of fungi or other microbes as not particularly intelligent. This study goes to show that across these networks, one of the reasons they can be so successful is that they can make what seem to be fairly sophisticated decisions about where to allocate resources to optimize the return they get.

Soil’s Microbial Market Shows the Ruthless Side of Forests

My vacation transition in Screen Time:

1. Reading on the dock Thursday and Friday
2. Starting to pack on Saturday and traveling on Sunday
3. Then Monday catching up at home on lots of email, upcoming meetings, and tasks
4. Followed by Tuesday and Wednesday going to meetings in the office

Go Karts!

Waiting for the thunderstorms to pass ⛈

Admittedly I didn’t have high expectations, but the First Formic War series from Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston is pretty good. Not as sophisticated as the original Ender’s War series, though well worth a vacation read 📚

Paddle boat for three

Another great @highlandyardrace, in support of Places for People. An extra thanks to @boshkungbrewing for the refreshing, post-race beer

Chips in the paddle boat

Lucy the lifeguard

Kids have settled into cottage life

Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston is a promising start to the prequels for Ender’s Game. Some similarities with the Expanse series, in terms of the asteroid miners, that gives some nice realism to the story and good foreshadowing of the later books 📚