I've noted this before: in 2002, on Christmas Day, my father died of metastasized renal cell cancer. Some forty years earlier, a cousin of mine was born on Christmas Day.

The day has been a mixed blessing for my extended family across the decades, and I wait and wonder what twists the occasion will bring this time.

And so...here is us again. Those of us still here, anyway.

It's been a wild year, running the full range of emotion from joy to despair.

I wish you the best possible greetings of the Season, by whatever Name(s) you choose to honour it. I wish you peace, hope, wisdom, freedom, justice, and love. If you do not find them, may they find you and may it bring joy to you when they do.

Including and not limited to:

Easter Sunday
Trans Day of Visibility
Indigenous Languages Day
75th Anniversary of Newfoundland + Labrador's Accession to the Canadian Confederation
The Disbanding of the Warsaw Pact
World Backup Day

I suspect you'll have additions to this list!

Happier birthdays to lunabee34!

To those of you observing Juneteenth today, whether as celebration, commemoration, or some other way, I hope today is good for you!

We've known each other going back a couple of decades now through first Livejournal, then Dreamwidth and also Facebook and elsewhere. Glad to still be in touch and in friendship!

1. The danger of recruiting outside your political party's "flock" as described by Rebecca Solnit.

2. New additions to and promotions within the Order of Canada.

3. Connected to the Epstein/Maxwell cases: BBC News calls itself out over an interview with Alan Dershowitz.

4. Queensway-Carleton Hospital cuts back on services due to COVID-19-induced staffing shortages.

5. DIY radio astronomy is setting up a new home in Ottawa-Gatineau.

6. From Reuters Graphics: Anatomy of a Death Threat - Trump supporters have waged a campaign of intimidation against the state and local officials who administer U.S. elections. This visual analysis explores hundreds of menacing messages - and explains why they’re difficult to counter. CW: records/transcripts of death threats as well as militant racism, misogyny, and antisemitism.

Wishing you well on your birthday and many more, with hopes for even greater joys to come.

I know it's a day or two early, but with the CPAP appointment on the day itself, I wanted to make sure I didn't forget!

This is, I think, a first for CBC News!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0OBg98MYF4

It's been good to have company in map nerdery!

Take care, okay?

HELL YES!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-lawsuit-supreme-court-defeat-1.5838403