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
Sunday, January 12, 2025
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.
Seems to be working so far. Now that I feel like I’ve regained momentum, I’ll ease off on the training progression to stabilize on a more modest increase over weeks. I don’t need to relearn the lessons of overtraining and injury!
Göran Winblad has a good video on how to use RTT and HRV as one indicator in training. Worth investigating for your training too.
Saturday, January 11, 2025
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. So, it kind of wraps back around on itself to be like, who cares about any of it? It’s just way too much.
And the urge to clean everything up came back. So, I did it: deleted every album and playlist! It feels nice to start all over, add back in the essential albums, and appreciate the scarcity of good music again. I’m continuing to use the great Albums app to keep the focus on actual albums, which are the proper way to appreciate music.
Of course, I can’t quite delete everything 😀.
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
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
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.
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
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.
![The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]](https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/300x/https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%2Fcontent%3Fid%3DrffwDwAAQBAJ%26printsec%3Dfrontcover%26img%3D1%26zoom%3D5%26source%3Dgbs_api)
Finished reading: Translation State by Ann Leckie is another great book in the Imperial Radch series. I’ve enjoyed each one📚
Friday, December 27, 2024
As 2024 comes to a close, a few personal highlights:
Welcoming George to our family
A recuperative cottage rental in Haliburton
Completing the Ironman 70.3 in Muskoka
I’m so grateful for these opportunities and memories.
Finished reading: I enjoyed the satirical futility of The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis 📚
Wednesday, December 25, 2024 →
🎄My family knows me well!
🐶 George meets snow
Finished reading: A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab is a fun second book of a great series. I’m looking forward to the next one📚
🔗 Cross-border Calvinball - Paul Wells
Careful what you wish for. Five minutes ago everyone was calling for a “Team Canada” approach to dealing with Donald Trump. Unfortunately our team would make the Bad News Bears look like Navy SEALs.
Good observations on Canada’s responses, so far, to Trump’s tariff threats
Wednesday, December 11, 2024 →
🔗 Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.2: A Deep Dive into Working with Siri and ChatGPT, Together
I’m aligned with Viticci here:
I think empowering LLMs to be “creative” with the goal of displacing artists is a mistake, and also a distraction – a glossy facade largely amounting to a party trick that gets boring fast and misses the bigger picture of how these AI tools may practically help us in the workplace, healthcare, biology, and other industries.
I could use the help with reducing busywork and letting me focus on the creative part. That’s what I’m looking forward to