(no subject)
Mar. 20th, 2021 08:13 pmDownloading this family of fonts as I type this entry. You might be interested, if your brain runs to Art Deco/1920's-1930's influences...and if you're on a tight budget.
Listening to two-year-old podcasts of the Weekly Typographic right now.
More later.
Mid-January 2021
Jan. 13th, 2021 08:22 amThis morning? I've started some laundry, gotten started on today's job search work, and planning to hope-scroll and doom-scroll through today's news as it evolves. Seems like we've got some hot stuff breaking on the exoplanet front.
NGTS-14Ab:
https://phys.org/news/2021-01-neptune-sized-exoplanet-ngts-survey.html
TOI-561b:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/world/super-earth-star-milky-way-scn-trnd/index.html
KOI-5Ab:
https://phys.org/news/2021-01-planet-koi-5ab-orbits-triple-star-skewed.html
Oh, and the count at exoplanet.eu as of today? 4404, split up between 3250 systems.
More on various topics later.
2. Some opinions held by neighbours across the city to consider re: how to finance...police or public safety or whatever we end up calling the service from now on. And to what ends.
3. Photography as Food Bank fundraiser during the Time of Pandemic.
4. The Four-Day Work Week may be a reality for more people from now on. Taylor Blewett at Postmedia Ottawa (AKA the Ottawa Citizen) reports on one company's leaning into that direction. I suspect it's not going to be a thing every employer can or should do, but it might be helpful in some ways.
5. Yes, I'm still job-hunting. And doing laundry. More later.
(no subject)
Mar. 28th, 2020 09:41 amEmployment: I've checked the job boards at Ottawa City Hall, and am working my way through the job alerts I'm subscribed to via Indeed, Workopolis, Jobilico and the federal job bank. My "job search diary" spreadsheet is now at...a very large number of pages.
Listening to The House on Radio One.
Keeping an eye on what little chatter there is on my favourite Delphi Forums groups these days. I'm not surprised that Facebook took their lunch. Saddened, but not surprised.
Got another mile in on the exercise bike this morning, and I expect to do some vacuuming later. Bank stuff after that, which means travelling because up to now I haven't done the online banking thing.
On the matter of exoplanets around nearby stars:
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/a-second-planet-for-beta-pictoris
(Did I remove "Beta Pictoris" from my list of tags? No, I didn't!)
Current "confirmed" count as of 20 August 2019 at exoplanet.eu, FYI: 4107. Ninety more worlds confirmed in the space of about three months.
And a physicist may have useful data on how to mess with hatemongers online:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/22/online-hate-extremism-physics-science
Despite the skies clearing...
Aug. 21st, 2019 12:44 pmLunch is done, of course, and I'm back at checking job boards, and looking at news service websites.
And I've got two more Garth Ennis things to avoid. Both Punisher-related, of course, one of which will return also to his version of Nick Fury Sr., so...additional motive to avoid. I get that Ennis has a fan base. I used to enjoy the DCU title Hitman, after all.
But him and Marvel...no. Doesn't work for me.
Waiting on the Thunderstorms
Aug. 21st, 2019 08:44 amMeanwhile, the writing workshop last night was fun and well-attended. We had a six-word story-writing challenge, poetry was also committed, and some long-form fiction too.
Still wrapping my brain around the news breaking last night about the Sony-Disney Spider-Man movie revenue-sharing spat.
Job search continues as well.
Still, my mind is afire...
Apr. 28th, 2019 07:27 amI'm awake. And I couldn't really sleep in the first place.
Getting stuff done - 25 Nov 2018
Nov. 25th, 2018 01:10 pmGetting some laundry done because it's Sunday, so why not?
Did some snack shopping too because it's Grey Cup weekend, and since Saskatchewan isn't playing, I get to cheer for Ottawa with as clean a conscience as I can given that chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a real problem for everyone who's going to be on the field. I hope everyone gets away with playing more safely than they used to today.
More later...
Uncertainty
Nov. 18th, 2018 10:16 pmThat sense of unfinished stuff you can't identify by name is annoying, isn't it?
Random Stuff
Mar. 26th, 2018 05:38 amAh well...
Yes, I'm still worrying about how long my country has left as a free (enough) nation.
I watched neither 60 Minutes nor the Juno Awards last night. Sorry about that.
Given the changes in local weather and climate expected this week, I think I need to track down a new spring jacket.
No problems needing attention from the dentist until at least September, I'm pleased to note.
So...that's my oversharing for this morning.
Some Less-Than-Random Notes
May. 3rd, 2017 07:39 pm2. A scientist at U of Maryland is watching the activism of post-2016 Americans. I note the following paragraphs with interest, echoing Marvel's "#itsallconnected" promotional hashtag:
"(Dana) Fisher noted that protesters' motivations at recent marches were unlike anything she'd seen before. Whenever she surveys demonstrators, she allows them to check off their reasons for protesting from a list of causes: “Women's rights,” “Environment,” “Racial justice,” “Equality,” “Peace,” “Labor,” “Religion.” Typically, protesters will tend to pick the same, single motivation: the environment at a climate march, LGBTQ rights at a pride parade.
But at recent marches, “I asked about the issues that mobilized them, and they were just like, 'All of them. Across the board, I’m here because of all of them,' ” Fisher said."
3. Two more from Heather Mallick that I like: one on the value of taxes, and the other on snakes. Not the kind that
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
4. More later. Maybe a hopeful rant about Star Trek: Discovery doing location shoots in Ottawa some day? (I can dream of it, can't it?)
Marking Progress
Dec. 23rd, 2016 04:30 pmGot a haircut.
Checked in with several friends.
Applied for a half-dozen jobs (so far today).
Did continuing battle with bigots in the comments sections of several articles hosted on iPolitics-dot-ca.
Got some shopping done.
A productive day. So far.
Vengeance for Broccoli
Aug. 7th, 2016 01:28 pmI'm listening to a guy complain about a squirrel stealing broccoli from his garden at the ByMUG meeting right now, speaking of what he's done to avenge the theft. "Avenge" is strictly my choice of verb for it, mind you. It entertains me to listen to such things, as well as family misadventures in an Israeli desert, discussions of various software compatible with more recent iterations of Mac OS X and on and on it goes.
I'm on warrenellis' "Orbital Operations" mailing list, and from there, I read this interview on tor.com about life on the Internet of today. Disturbing, yet hopeful. Maybe we - as a species - manage to salvage enough of whatever else is trying to survive us living on this planet, maybe not.
Last night, I rummaged through YouTube and found that The Agenda's people salvaged a 1976 interview from The Education of Mike McManus with the late Mel Hurtig. It's a bit of video history archeology in action there, dating back to when a kid in grade school in Saskatchewan wouldn't have a hope in Heaven or Hell of seeing a TVOntario show without some expensive intervention from either CBC or the local school board or public library. VHS and Beta were just starting their fight at the time, I think, right?
More as it occurs to me.
Week Four Done
Mar. 18th, 2016 05:42 amWe've almost gotten a bit of everything this week in terms of local weather, although the snow seems to have been unenthusiastic about showing up. This being mid-March, perhaps we should not be surprised by that.
More later, as it's too early in the morning and not enough time before I leave for the office to chat much.