Eleven miles later, I stopped my watch — satisfied, yet aware that my run was a castle constructed out of lies. I never intended to stop early, but I told myself that I would. I think I believed myself in the moment. As a moral philosopher, this gives me pause.
We had a great two-day family ski trip to Blue Mountain. After a few years off skis, great to be back.
🔗 The "near abroad" comes home // Paul Wells // paulwells.substack.com
I’ve believed for many years that Canada’s national bird was a chicken coming home to roost, except this one looks like an eagle.
🖖 Outline of a short story, starring a Star Trek fan:
Yoga with George
I’ve been a happy AeroPress user for many years now. A few weeks ago, I was gifted the Flow Control Filter Cap. The cap acts as a pressure activated valve that prevents any drip through the filter, until you press on the plunger. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much of a difference it has made to the consistency of my coffee Before trying the flow control cap, I would not have said the AeroPress was unduly inconsistent.
Finished reading: Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave by Seán O’Hagan is a remarkable conversation about creativity, grief, and religion📚
There’s an odd glitch with my Apple Watch: anytime I finish a swim interval, it claims there are still two meters left. Then after about five seconds, it realizes I’ve stopped, decides I’ve finished a lap after all, and moves to the next interval. It isn’t the pool, I’ve tried several different ones. Even stranger, it isn’t accumulating by lap. If I finish a 25m sprint: two meters short. A 500m interval: also two meters short.
Dispatch from the Front Line: “Canada” is a question of what we can get
The ability of a population to withstand neighbourly aggression — “economic force,” if you will — depends on two things. The first is internal social cohesion and identity. The second is what the aggressor is willing to do or offer in order to secure capitulation.
The first is so important, yet so intangible and fickle
🎧 Nice to have Strombo back on Apple Music radio. The show has been a regular companion for my long basement rides and was missed over the past few months
📚 Although I exceeded my goal of reading 45 books in 2024 by finishing 60 books. I’m going to keep my goal for 2025 at 45, anticipating that I’ll be reading more non-fiction this year which will slow me down – for the better.
If you’re interested in owning your own web content (and you should be), the new Micro.one is a fantastic option at a super affordable $1/month. I joined Micro.blog back in 2018 and am a very happy Premium user.
The people should own the town square
Nice to see this:
we are going to transfer ownership of key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components (including name and copyrights, among other assets) to a new non-profit organization, affirming the intent that Mastodon should not be owned or controlled by a single individual.
Mastodon continues to be our best, decentralized option and I’m glad it exists
Thanks to a pre-Christmas flu and general busyness over the holidays, my triathlon training took a dive. This past week, I’ve really tried to get back into it. As a result, my watch and phone have been pointing out that my training load has spiked and are suggesting caution. At the same time, my readiness to train has been correspondingly increasing. I’ve been using this increase, plus generally feeling good, to keep the training intensity at the right level without overdoing it.
I lamented recently what a mess my Apple Music library had become. I was tempted to delete the whole thing and start again, only to end up doing nothing. What’s the big deal? It’s just a collection of songs. I search through them, find something I like, and hit play. Then Jason Burk said in Episode 128 of Hemispheric Views: I just, I find that I have this, like, abundance blindness where I have an infinite number of songs.
Finished reading: The Infernal Machine is another great book by Steven Johnson. I enjoy how he integrates seemingly small technological changes with broad historical trends. Always interesting to read 📚
🥶🏊♂️ Shortest and coldest swim of the year
George wishes everyone a happy new year! And, requests more liver treats
According to my listening history, my top three albums of 2024 were: I’m a bit surprised that Nonkeen snuck in there at #3. It is rather different from the other two.
2024 was another great year for books. My favourite fiction book was Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Non-fiction was As Gods by Matthew Cobb.