We take Boxing Day seriously here as a day of relaxation. So, I’m disappointed to have exceeded my 0 minutes target. The spike around 2 was when I went upstairs for a nap 😴
The Labo VR kit is great fun to build and play
I’m most certainly in the target demographic, so perhaps not surprising that I enjoyed For All Mankind. I like these sorts of alternative histories and space exploration is a fascinating topic. I’m looking forward to whatever comes in season 2. 📺
The Stiehl Assassin by Terry Brooks is okay. Given this is the last series he plans to write, I’m curious to see where he takes the fourth book. Based on the three books so far, the plot is pretty standard for Shannara series. I’d hoped for something more dramatic.
After the original series, I think the Genesis of Shannara series is the most inventive one. 📚
Great fun with my siblings last night on our annual Christmas dinner adventure. Storm Crow Manor was very entertaining with nerd-themed drinks.
I declared podcasts bankruptcy and recovered with a better curated subscription list 🎧👍
Declaring podcasts bankruptcy
Podcasts are great. I really enjoy being able to pick and choose interesting conversations from such a broad swath of topics. Somewhere along the way though, I managed to subscribe to way more than I could ever listen to and the unlistened count was inducing anxiety (I know, a real first world problem).
So, time to start all over again and only subscribe to a chosen few:
- Quirks & Quarks is the one I’ve been subscribed to the longest and is a reliable overview of interesting science stories. I’ve been listening to this one for so long that I used to rely on an AppleScript to get episodes into my original scroll wheel iPod, well before podcasts were embraced by Apple.
- In Our Time is another veteran on my list. I really like the three-academics format and Melvyn Bragg is a great moderator. This show has a fascinating diversity of topics in science, history, and literature.
- All Songs Considered has helped me keep up with the latest music and Bob Boilen is a very good interviewer.
- The Talk Show has kept me up to date on the latest in Apple and related news since at least 2007.
- Exponent has really helped me think more clearly about strategy with discussions of tech and society.
- Focused has been a very helpful biweekly reminder to think more carefully about what I’m working on and how to optimize my systems.
- Making Sense has had reliably interesting discussions from Sam Harris. It just recently went behind a paywall. But I’m happy to pay for it, which comes with access to the Waking Up app.
- I admire what Jesse Brown has built with CANADALAND and happily support it.
- Reconcilable Differences is a bit niche, though I enjoy the dynamics between the hosts.
- Mindscape has had some of the most interesting episodes of any of my subscriptions in the last several months. There’s definitely a bias towards quantum mechanics and physics, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
- Liftoff keeps me up to date on space news.
- The Incomparable is great for geek culture.
When all together on a list like this, it looks like a lot. Many are biweekly though, so they don’t accumulate.
I use Overcast for listening to these. I’ve tried many other apps and this one has the right mix of features and simplicity for me. I also appreciate the freedom of the Apple Watch integration which allows me to leave my phone at home and still have podcasts to listen to.
A mind bending discussion on the Making Sense podcast: what we perceive as reality is only a “user interface wrapper” that natural selection has created to enhance our fitness. It has no necessary mapping to the truth of reality.
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is an imaginative literary romance novel wrapped in a time travel espionage plot. I really enjoyed it, though it was not at all like my usual sci-fi reading 📚
Gamer
I’ve just bumped up my monthly support of CANADALAND to the next tier. Plenty of great content that I’m happy to pay for.
Great fun at the Axe Pancreatic Cancer fundraiser last night! Thanks to everyone that joined us to raise money to support two promising clinical trials.
A cool visualization and exploration of the network of scientific papers
As a daily AeroPress user, I enjoyed watching this documentary on its origin and culture
I finally got my flu shot and hope you did too 😷🦠
A great conversation between Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins on the Making Sense podcast. Nice to hear Dawkins talking about evolution again.
Several catchy songs on Joseph Arthur’s new album Come Back World
Recursion by Blake Crouch is an entertaining time-travel, multiverse story. Distinct from his previous Dark Matter novel, but with the right kinds of echos 📚
With an agent based model you can explore interesting scenarios. Our latest post models the 🇨🇦 election with another Liberal scandal, new Conservatives climate change policy, or proportional representation. The results are not obvious, showing benefits of non-linear modelling.
At my son’s soccer game, but I’m not that familiar with the game. Anyone know what position he’s playing in this picture?
