[ iPhone 8+, Musée de la Civilisation, 2019/06/26 ]
Squelette d’ours polaire, archipel arctique canadien, Musée canadien de la nature
[ Nikon D3300, Jardin botanique, 2019/09/08 ]
La Lobelia cardinalis est une espèce de plante vivace à fleurs de l’ordre des Asterales, de la famille des Campanulaceae, et du genre des Lobelia. Elle est apparentée à la grande lobélie (Lobelia siphilitica) et au tabac indien (Lobelia inflata). Les Zuni l’utilisaient contre les rhumatismes et l’inflammation, alors que les Pentagouets s’en servaient comme un substitut de tabac. Elle contient certain alcaloïdes, dont la lobelamine et la lobeline, et est donc potentiellement toxique si ingérée en grande quantité. Il existe plus de trois-cent espèces de lobelia. Il s’agit ici d’une variété hybride (développée par Thurman Maness de Pittsboro, NC) et du cultivar “Monet Moment” dont les fleurs sont particulièrement appréciées des papillons et des colibris. (Sources: Wikipedia et divers sites horticoles) [ Translate ]
[ iPhone 8+, Musée de la Civilisation, 2019/06/26 ]
J’ai pris cette photo en visitant l’exposition “Curiosités du monde naturel” qui se tenait au Musée de la Civilisation de Québec du 16 mai 2019 au 19 janvier 2020. J’en ai déjà parlé dans mes billets “Vendredi nature” des 002.020.017, 002.020.024, 002.020.031 et 002.020.038.
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[ Nikon D3300, Jardin botanique, 2019/05/24 ]
Les magnolias sont des plantes à fleurs de la familles des magnoliaceae. Ce sont des arbres ou arbustes caducifoliées dont les grandes fleurs solitaires et robustes éclosent généralement avant l’arrivée du feuillage. Il en existe plus d’une centaine d’espèces (sans compter les nombreuses variétés hybrides). Dans ce cas-ci, la fiche signalétique ne précise pas l’espèce, nommant seulement le cultivar “Betty”. Toutefois, il s’agit d’un hybride entre la Magnolia liliiflora “Nigra” et la Magnolia stellata “Rosea” qui fait partie de la série Little Girl développée au National Arboretum au milieu des années ’50 par Francis DeVos et William Kosar. Cette variété offre une floraison tardive (de avril à mai). [Sources: Wikipedia • Missouri Botanical Garden] [Translate ]
[ iPhone 8+, Musée de la Civilisation, 2019/06/26 ]
J’ai pris cette photo en visitant l’exposition “Curiosités du monde naturel” qui se tenait au Musée de la Civilisation de Québec du 16 mai 2019 au 19 janvier 2020. J’en ai déjà parlé dans mes billets “Vendredi nature” des 002.020.017, 002.020.024 et 002.020.031.
Selon la fiche signalétique, “De la taille d’un lion et pourvu de dents longues et effilées, ce chat tout sauf gentil tendait des embuscades à de gands mammifères herbivores (…). Le Smilodon a disparu à la fin de la dernière glaciation — il s’agit d’un des rares tigres à dents de sabre à avoir possiblement rencontré des humains.”
[ Translate ]
[ iPhone 8+, Musée de la Civilisation, 2019/06/26 ]
J’ai pris cette photo en visitant l’exposition “Curiosités du monde naturel” qui se tenait au Musée de la Civilisation de Québec du 16 mai 2019 au 19 janvier 2020. J’en ai déjà parlé dans mes billets “Vendredi nature” des 002.020.017 et 002.020.024.
Selon la fiche signalétique, “ce proche parent du célèbre Tyranosaurus rex vivait dans la région de Red Deer River, en Alberta, il y a plusieurs dizaines de millions d’années. Il a été découvert en 1921 par Charles M. Sternberg, fils du réputé paléontologue Charles H. Sternberg. Des analyses réalisées au Musée canadien de la nature dans les années 1960 ont révélé qu’il s’agissait d’une toute nouvelle espèce de dinosaure. Parce que les fossiles originaux sont si uniques et précieux pour la recherche, les musées exposent souvent des reproductions de ceux-ci — des moulages.”
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[ iPhone 8+, Musée de la Civilisation, 20191/06/26 ]
Selon la fiche signalétique du musée, le petit rorqual de l’Atlantique Nord (northern minke whale) est l’une des plus petite espèces de baleines à fanons qui se nourrit dans les eaux de l’estuaire et du golfe du Saint-Laurent, de mars à décembre. On note que les nageoires pectorales ont conservé une anatomie s’apparentant à celle d’une main, ce qui démontre que les cétacés auraient évolué à partir d’un ancêtre qui était probablement un mammifère terrestre quadrupède. Ce spécimen, échoué en 2003 aux Îles-de-la-Madeleine, provient du Musée du squelette.
En souvenirs de cette exposition, voici un album photo des spécimens qui m’ont semblé les plus intéressants:
…ainsi qu’une autre bande-annonce de l’exposition (disponible sur Youtube):
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[ Nikon D3300, Jardin botanique, 2019/08/20 ]
Toute plante se doit d’avoir un organe reproducteur mais lorsque l’on pense au tabac à cigarette (cigarette tobacco en anglais) on ne l’imagine pas toujours avec des fleurs! Et pourtant, les plants de tabac en ont. C’est une plante à fleurs de la famille des Solanacées et du genre des Nicotiana (dont il existe près d’une centaine d’espèces, la plus connue étant la Nicotiana tabacum, le tabac commun ou tabac cultivé). Originaire d’Amérique centrale et introduite en Europe à la cour de Henri II par Jean Nicot (d’où le nom), cette plante herbacée annuelle est surtout connue pour ses feuilles séchées qui étaient soit mâchées, prisées ou fumées et qui contiennent un alcaloïde très toxique, la nicotine. Cette dernière est non seulement un stimulant (psychotrope) qui cause de la dépendance mais constitue également un insecticide très puissant. La consommation de tabac, ou tabagisme, est reconnue comme étant cancérigène et favorisant les maladies cardiovasculaires. Il existe quatre groupes principaux de cultivars: le tabac blond (de Virginie), le tabac brun (Maryland, Kentucky), le Burley, et le tabac d’Orient (Turc). Ici il s’agit du cultivar “Gold Seal Special Burley.” (Source: Wikipedia) [ Translate ]
“Egyptian mummies: Exploring ancient lives” is the North American premiere of an exhibition created by the British Museum. Using digital image projections, explanatory videos and over two-hundred objects from ancient Egypt, it “reconstructs the lives of six people who lived along the Nile”. It tells the story of each of those individuals, their beliefs and the diseases they suffered from.
The original British Museum exposition (opened to the public from May to November 2014) was showcasing eight mummies, one-tenth of their Egyptian mummies’ collection. However, for its international tour the exhibition was limited to six mummies. It first opened at the The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia (from December 2016 to Avril 2017) before moving to Hong Kong in 2017, then Taipei, Taiwan (from November 2017 to February 2018) and it is now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal from September 2019 to March 2020. The next stop will be in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum from May to September 2020.
In the early days of Egyptology, the only way to learn about mummies was to unwrap them. 19th century European collectors were even turning this into a social event with lavish “unwrapping parties.” However, the British Museum, with its strong ethics about artifact preservation, always refused to perform any invasive intervention on its mummies and its collection is therefore in excellent condition. Since the 1970s the development of cutting-edge technology, like combining x-ray devices with high-resolution three-dimensional computerized imaging (computerized tomography (CT) scanning) in order to create detailed 3D visualizations of the internal structures, has revealed much more informations that a simple unwrapping would have provided — while still preserving the mummies’ integrity. Combining the resources provided by medical science with those learned from anthropology and archaeology, has allowed the egyptologists to learn a tremendous amount of information about the life and death of ancient Egyptians: not only their culture and way of life, but also their biology, genetics, diet, diseases, burial practices and embalming techniques. This exhibition is illustrating all this through the exemples of six in dividuals (and their mummies) who lived in the Nile valley between 900 BCE and 180 CE.
Apparently the only official catalogue of the exhibition’s international tour was produced by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and is now sold out. However, the catalogue from the original British Museum exhibition is still available.
You can visit (and visit again) “Egyptian mummies: Exploring ancient lives” at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1380 Sherbrooke Street West) from September 14, 2019 to March 29, 2020.
It is a superb and fascinating exhibition, rich in informations and artifacts. I enjoyed it greatly and everyone must absolutely see it. When I visited, in early January, the museum was packed (so, PLEASE don’t bring your five or six year-old Kids, as they might not be old enough to understand the complexity of such subject, and don’t bring your crying baby in its giant stroller !!!). 
Here’s a teaser of the exhibition (available on Youtube):
More information and pictures after the jump >>
[ iPhone 8+, Musée de la Civilisation, 2019/06/26 ]
[ Translate ]
[ Nikon D3300, Jardin botanique, 2019/08/20 ]
On n’imagine pas vraiment l’artichaut comme une fleur mais c’est en fait une plante (Plantae) à fleur (Magnoliopsida) de la famille des Asteraceae et du genre Cynara. Elle appartient à la même espèce que le chardon (Cynara cardunculus) mais d’une variété différente (var. scolymus). Ici, il s’agit du cultivar “Colorado Star”. La partie comestible est justement la “fleur” (l’inflorescence en capitule). C’est un légume-feuille riche en polyphénols (flavonoïdes), fructanes, en vitamines (B3, C) et minéraux (magnésium, phosphore, potassium et cuivre), ce qui lui donne une excellente valeur nutritive et même pharmacologique (par ses propriétés antioxydantes et détoxifiante). (Source: Wikipedia) [ Translate ]
[ Nikon D3300, 2019/09/08 ]
[ Nikon D3300, Jardin botanique, 2019/08/20 ]
L’échinacée pourpre (ou rudbeckie pourpre) est une plante à fleurs de la classe des Dicotylédones vraies, de l’ordre des Asterales, de la famille des Asteraceae et du genre Echinacea. L’espèce Echinacea purpurea, ici (selon la fiche signalétique ci-contre) le cultivar “Bravado”, est une vivace dont les qualités médicinales étaient déjà connu par les Amérindiens qui se servaient entre autre de la plante broyée pour guérir les plaies infectées et de la racine contre le maux de tête ou d’estomac et les infections respiratoires (toux, rhumes, rhinovirus). Des études récentes ont démontré un effet stimulant sur les défenses immunitaires. (Source: Wikipedia) [ Translate ]
[ Nikon D3300, Jardin botanique, 2019/09/08 ]
Cette délicate fleur vivace — qui appartient à l’ordre des Myrtales, à la famille des Onagraceae et au genre Oenothera — porte le charmant nom latin de Oenothera macrocarpa. Ici, il s’agirait de la variété (sous-espèce) fremontii (qui se retrouve strictement au Kansas at au sud du Nebraska) et du cultivar “Lemon Silver”. Ces détails taxonomiques peuvent paraître ennuyeux mais c’est ce qui donne un aspect scientifique (et une occasion d’accroitre notre savoir) à ce qui ne serait sinon qu’une présentation photographique… [ Translate ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro, Parc Frédéric-Back, 2019/10/28 ]
Il est étrangement difficile d’identifier avec précision l’espèce de limace à laquelle nous avons affaire ici. La couleur est un peu pâle pour une limace noire (aussi appelée limace des jardins ou Arion alter), elle n’a pas l’apparence moucheté de la limace léopard (Limax maximus) alors que la limace des bois (Lehmannia marginata) est surtout européenne, trop grande et foncée pour une Loche laiteuse (Deroceras reticulatum), etc. J’ai abandonné après deux heures de recherche… Chose sûr, c’est un mollusque gastéropode probablement de la famille des Arionidae ou des Limacidae… [ Translate ]
[ Nikon D3300, Jardin botanique, 2019/08/20 ]
La Tanaisie commune (Common Tansy) est une plante herbacée vivace de l’ordre des Asterales, de la famille des Asteraceae, du genre Tanacetum et de l’espèce Tanacetum vulgare. Il s’agit ici du cultivar “Isla Gold.” C’est une plante aromatique qui a de nombreux usages (médecinal, culinaire, insectifuge, ornemental, etc.) mais est aussi toxique. [Translate]
La compagnie (un sous-contractant, évidemment) qui fait l’entretien du parc Frédéric-Back procède régulièrement à de la coupe. Cela ne se fait pas sans raisons: d’une part, c’est pour dégager les alentours des équipements gaziers (bulles, valves, etc.) et des oeuvres d’art (la plaques qui retracent l’histoire du site) mais c’est aussi pour empêcher que la végétation devienne trop haute et se dessèche créant ainsi un risque d’incendie. On coupe aussi régulièrement les bordures de sentiers (j’ignore pourquoi, peut-être pour des raisons esthétiques, mais cela fait souvent disparaître de très belles fleurs — oeillet du poète, tournesol, coquelicot, rudbeckie, etc.).
Toutefois, mon épouse me faisait remarquer au début de septembre que la végétation sur la bordure des sentiers était toute désèchée et morte. Elle soupçonnait qu’il y avait eut épandage d’herbicide. Je ne peux pas, en effet, imaginer un phénomène naturel qui affecterait les bordures et pas le reste du parc. Il semble donc qu’un épandage d’herbicide en serait la cause mais même dans cette situation j’ai peine à en imaginer la raison. Une façon plus rapide de remplacer la coupe? Pour éliminer l’herbe à poux qui envahissait les bordures de sentiers de façon embarrassante (car la ville encourage fortement les citoyens à l’éliminer)? Cette méthode serait certes plus économique que de l’arracher à la main, mais, même là, j’en vois mal le bénéfice puisque, si cela tue et assèche la végétation, cela crée donc aussi un risque d’incendie…
[ iPhone 8+, Parc Frédéric-Back, 2019/09/16 ]
Tout ce que j’espère, si il s’agit bien d’épandage de pesticide, c’est que l’on a pas utilisé des produits nocifs comme ceux qui sont dommageable pour le abeilles (Néonicotinoïdes ou Glyphosate) et qui, malgré qu’ils soient interdits en Europe, sont encore tolérés ici… Étrangement, la ville interdit l’usage de pesticide… Si quelqu’un en connait plus sur ce phénomène, s.v.p. m’en informer…
Je regrète également très fortement que les Grands parcs de Montréal (la division de la ville qui gère les grands espaces comme le Parc Frédéric-Back) ne tienne pas les citoyens informés plus que ne faut sur ses politiques de gestion… Dommage…
Sur le parc:
Sur les pesticides:
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It has been a little more than two months since the last entry of our journal. The weather has been relatively gray, since we’ve had very little snow so far, as it was—more often than not—rain and freezing rain, and lots of ups and downs in the temperature. The most notable events on the domestic front included a strange saga over the video of a panel at the book fair, where I also attended the launch of Solaris #208 and did a capsule interview with Catherine Sylvestre. We had again a problem of flicker in our electricity (strangely only on one side of the house), so bad that one night I thought my apartment had become a disco! Finally, we found the source of the problem (old wirings) and hired an electrician for a temporary fix but we will have to change the electrical entry in spring.
Somehow my sister’s cats managed to start the shower while she was on vacation. It lasted about twenty minutes before we realized that water was dripping from my bathroom’s ceiling. Luckily this small flood was relatively contained but we had to mopped the floor for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. The damage is limited but we will have to redo our bathroom’s ceiling…
The work-place was not too much a strain on my mental health, beside the continuing problem with the ventilation and heating system (strangely when this happens at another library of the borough they close immediately while we have to endure and work in very unpleasant conditions—that’s so unfair!) and some dubious decision on age classification of some mangas (Bride Stories, Nausicaa & Mafalda for kids! Are you joking?)!
Apple announced new Macs and iPads. We attended the vegan fest again, visited the Book of Hours and the Calder exhibits. I reached my reading goal for the year (fifty books! But, as usual, it was mostly comics and mangas). This allowed my to comment on a few books (C Comme Cthulhu, Le Chat du Rabbin 8, Isabella Bird 3, Nous rêvions de robots, Pline 6, Ross Poldark, and a book about the New Yorker’s cartoons). I also wrote about the works (bande dessinée) of Philippe Gauckler: Convoi, Prince Lao and Koralovski. Unfortunately, I still watch too much TV and movies (A place to call home season 6, Mars season 2, Murder on the Orient Express, Outlaw King, Picnic at Hanging Rock, RBG, Solo, Transformer: The Last Knight, Traverlers season 3). Finally, I took some time to reminisce about the fanzine era and the old Protoculture days.
I just completed my first year with WordPress.com so I don’t have much basis to compare this year’s statistics (although I remember that with Internic’s hosting I had ten times more traffic so either they were calculating it differently or I lost some followers in the switch or WordPress is not promoting the traffic as well). There is also a slight difference between WordPress’ and StatCounter’s numbers. Anyway, in 2018 I posted 319 entries (a 16% increase), acquired 68 followers and received (if we round up a little) an average of a thousand views per month or 350 visitors per month (about 135 returning visitors per month). It is not as much as I would I’ve liked but it is a beginning. The most important is that it keeps increasing from month to month. I’ll keep improving the blog and (hopefully) writing more so it will be at its best when I retire and make it my main occupation (in about 3064 days!).
Doonesbury (2018/10/21)
On the world stage, the months of November and December had their lots of typhoon, floods, wildfires, tsunami, and violent protests in France, but it is mainly the U.S. Mid-term elections that retained the attention. In reaction to Trump’s insane White House, people went to the ballot with numbers not seen in nearly a century allowing the Democrats to retake the House by electing many young candidates, including several women (95), members of racial minorities (two Muslim and two Native Americans) or of the LGBT! Space exploration was also in the news as we landed another probe on Mars, explored more asteroids and mini-planets, and China landed a probe on the far-side of the moon.
All in all, 2018 was a very challenging year for everyone, so let’s hope that 2019 will be much better.
Through all this I tried to stay acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered a few notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order — note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual), after the jump.
Since our previous status report, nearly three months ago, a lot has happened. On the domestic front, I am happy to say that I have felt improvement at work. I guess I found better ways to deal with all the irritant “mammoths” (a plethora of usual absurdities, incompetence, and running arounds that made me crazy and drained my energy). However, following the “heat episode” I mentioned earlier, I complained to the union. The union director for the borough came to the workplace and said he could not do anything. A few weeks later he submitted his report to the employers. His conclusion? The section head and the three employees who left early because the excessive heat made them sick … should have stayed at work to show solidarity with their colleagues! Who needs a heartless employer when you have a union of traitors and assholes like that! A real nest of collusion. Madness!
As I keep saying, library work can be quite physical and exhausting (who knew!). I remember someone saying that, at my age, “if you don’t feel pain somewhere when you get up in the morning, it means that you’re dead!” Well, I can say that I feel quite alive. Pain is good. It certainly makes me feel I am there.
What has probably helped is that it has been a very good time for writing. My mind felt clear, I’ve been producing a lot, and everything was doing so well that I could only fear that it would all crash down soon. Maybe it’s the Algernon’s syndrome or, to paraphrase Nelligan, “I am happy, so happy, that I am afraid to burst into tears!” Hopefully not… It is true that I wrote a lot, mostly about movies (Winchester, The Guernsay Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Isle of Dogs, Ready Player One, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, Ex-Libris: The New York Public Library), particularly with the coverage of the World Film Festival (list of Japanese films, red carpet, Samurai’s Promise, Zone Out, Life in overtime, Think again, Junpei, The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan, wrap-up). After a while I had enough of movies and it felt like I should go back to comment on books and manga—which I did with The Ghost in the Shell 1.5: [Human Error Processer], Un siècle d’Animation Japonaise, Souvenirs d’Emanon, Le Guide du Mauvais Père 4 and The Little Broomstick. I also wrote a suggestion list of adult manga. With all this the blog’s stats have soared!
I kept busy. I took walks in the park or visited the museum, a farm fair or the Italian week. I also reflected on the electoral conundrum (before accomplishing my citizen’s duty —in anticipation— with disappointing results), against Facebook, about writing (1, 2, 3) and about reading (or not).
Eventually, by mid-September, everything started to slow down again and I wrote less. So many things to do. I feel that I cannot accomplish anything. What I need is more time! Time… Time is the enemy. We fight it to do more. We fight it hoping not to get old too fast and still have a little time left to do more. I wrote a haiku.
I started writing in a new notebook. The thirty-fifth. Some could be surprised that, in this digital age, one would still use a paper notebook. However, I find this physical form strangely reassuring. After all, electronic information can be so vulnerable. The good old notebook doesn’t need any batteries and fears only fire and water. Its sequential way of working—to write, read (or re-read)—is so much more appropriate for the human brain capacity. It is easier to get an overview of the text, to positioned yourself in the three dimensions of the writing. It’s more confortable for me. Of course, most of the time, it is just a glorified to-do or grocery list, but it serves as backup for my capricious memory. That way, in a few scribbles, I can preserves ideas that would otherwise be too fleeting to be useful. It is also the witness of my daily life.
I’ve watched a few interesting TV series. First, The Miniaturist mini-series. It is good and yet disappointing. It looks similar to the Girl with a Pearl Earring. It’s another show about the powerlessness of women in the end of the Middle Age (or early Enlightment). It concludes with an open-ending. “I can do this”, she says… I also binge-watched the first season of the Jack Ryan TV series on Amazon Prime (a thriller similar to 24), the new seasons of Walking Dead, Doctor Who and also the very good Press TV series.
Apple has announced new products (iPhone and watch) and released new operating systems. How come, when you do a software upgrade, you always loose something you like? Why is removing something cool and useful is considered an upgrade? New operating systems always offer a basket of frustration…
I am trying to improve my reading habits by reading more, more often and better literature than just manga. I started with The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart and I am currently reading the first novel of the Poldark series by Winston Graham. But it is hard. In the olden days, I could read about sixty pages in an hour. Now, I read only a few hours per week, before going to bed, and barely thirty pages per hour. After two or three days of starting a new book, I am barely at page fifty! What’s happened to me? Fortunately, as I go forward, it is starting to get better… However, manga are pilling up on my nightstand, so I will soon have to pay attention to them…
“Summer is officially dead. It smells like Fall outside and I heard a flight of geese passing over the house”. Then, Fall officially came. It got colder and rainy. We even had some light snow. It became a little warmer for a while, but now we can feel that Winter is around the corner. Flowers and plants are shrivelling, twisting and taking the brownish colour of death. Winter is coming…
The lights have started to flicker again. Same time than last year…
On the world stage, we find the usual disasters (increasing numbers of earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and volcanoes) but my attention had been particularly focused on the trumpian saga of corruption scandals (Stormy Daniels, the Mueller’s investigation, of course, but particularly the Kavanaugh confirmation) growing in a crescendo as the midterm elections are closing by. Such craziness! (For all the details see the 2018 events for the months of August, September and October as well as the links bellow).
Despite all this, I surprisingly succeeded to stay acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered over two-hundred notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order; please note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual) after the jump.
[ Traduire ]
I used my sherlockian power again! This time not to identify, locate and defeat a sunflower thief, but rather to identify a mystery flower. Last year we came upon this strange flower in the park and we were unable find out which genus or species it belong to and I was quite flustered by that.
[ iPhone 8+, Parc Frédéric-Back, 2017-10-22 ]
[ iPhone 8+, Parc Frédéric-Back, 2018-09-29 ]
Last year, the plant we found was more developed and mature. This year, it is a little earlier in the fall, so it is at a younger stage of its development. However, it is clearly the same plant, with several stages of flower on top of each other, tubular flowers (undeveloped this year) and long lance-like reddish leaves.
Today, thanks to the Reader’s Digest A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants (I tried before with various other books like Daigle’s Les fleurs Sauvages du Québec or Parent’s Fleurs des champs du Québec et des Maritimes, without success), I was able to find enough clues to establish that the mystery plant that eluded identification for nearly a year was… the Monarda Punctata, also known as the spotted beebalm or horsemint.
It is from the family of the Lamiaceae (to which many herbs like mint belong) and it seems that at least one of its sub-species (Monarda punctata var. villicaulis / Monarde ponctuée à tige velue) is pretty rare in Quebec (see also this study, in French). There are several variety of Monarda in Quebec (like the Monarda fistulosa / wild bergamot or the Monarda didyma / Crimson beebalm) but, after comparing plenty of pictures, I am pretty sure that my mystery plant is one of the two varieties (var. punctata or var. villicaulis) of the Monarda punctata.
Mystery solved!
[ Traduire ]
Since the last update, over two months ago, so much has happened.
On the domestic front, it seems that I ran out of karma points because a series of unfortunate events kept happening to me, including frustratingly bad customer service experiences: I had trouble getting my bag of weekly flyers delivered, after eight long months the contractor finally came to finish the landscaping work in the backyard so I could work (hard) to set up the garden, and then the water heater broke down! Everything was just a big pain in the ass! I ended up so stressed and distressed by the whole ordeal that I forgot to do the accounting and pay the bills! This had never happened to me in fifteen years!
Out of energy !
However, that was not the end of it. Work is usually a real nut house where we have to run around like crazy, doing absurd stuff. Under normal circumstances it is already demoralizing and exhausting. But we had to go at it during a heat wave, for a whole week! We had a few days of respite and then, the air conditioning broke down—for another week! We were working at temperature between 27° C and 30° C, with relative humidity of 50-55% ! If you calculate the humidity factor (the way that it’s normally done on weather channels) it felt like working at temperature between 35° C and nearly 40° C ! (Of course, according to the charts used by management, it was barely over 33° C and we shouldn’t even brake a sweat! For them it was just uncomfortable conditions!). Damn it, we are working in a library, not a sweat shop! Management brought huge fans, but if you move hot air, it is still just hot air — in a very noisy environment.
If it was just working at a desk with a fan in the face it would probably be tolerable, but we are standing up and moving around a lot to serve customers (lending, shelving and processing books, etc.) — contrary to what most people believe it is a very physical work. At my age and with my health I cannot work in such conditions for a long duration. One day, I was tired and feeling dizzy (the head-librarian had already left and a couple of colleagues were not feeling well either) so I decided to also leave work early. We were threatened of “consequences” (disciplinary measures) by management for doing so. We endured for the rest of the week, but, in the end, I couldn’t take it anymore, I was exhausted (completely out of energy), having sore throat, migraine and ear ache, so I took a day off. I just don’t get it: why’s this obstinacy to force employees to work in unbearable conditions? Where is decency and respect of the workers? That’s what upsets me the most: absurd decisions and disrespect… I get it that there is nothing in the labor law (health & security) that prevent work in extreme heat conditions, but it is just common sense and thoughtfulness not to subject your employees to such suffering! Then again, why should I be surprised of such contempt for the workers?
At the same time, I had to deal with some garden theft which became “the sunflowers’ affair” and evolved into a real saga. Finally, as I was ready to blow a gasket, my blood pressure medication was recalled due to contamination with a potential carcinogen (the generic version is made in China, no wonder)! I had trouble at first to get the pharmacy to replace it for free, but now there is a class-action lawsuit being organized…
My mind elsewhere !
Thankfully, there was a few positive events to brighten my mood, like an occasional trip to the botanical garden or the park, Apple announcing their incoming new operating systems (iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 Mojave) or finally being able to finish watching the latest seasons of Poldark and McMafia. Strangely, as I handled all the bad karma with relatively great zen, I managed to write comments on quite a bunch of stuff (books, TV series and movies): The Dark Tower, The Terror, Crapule, American Made, Victoria & Abdul, Un simple monde, Le chat du louvre 1-2, Black Panther, Isabella Bird: femme exploratrice 1-2, Alien Resurrection & Alien: Covenant, Pline 5, Ad Astra 4-5, Justice League, Batman v Superman, Jumanji, Giacomo Foscari 1, Nos yeux fermés, Your name., In this corner of the world, and The Mummy. Fortunately, reading (or alternatively watching TV) and writing (comments, rants or even poetry) is a great help to bring my mind elsewhere!
On the world stage, we saw the usual fires, floods, volcanoes, storms, kids trapped in a cave, a couple of summits (G7 & North Korea), the World Cup, water was found on Mars and each day kept bringing more Trump insanities. If I wouldn’t know better I could think that Trump is the antechrist and that the end of the world is near! But, no, it’s just our daily lives in the 21st century… I just don’t understand: in 1953 the Rosenberg were tried and executed simply for spying for the Soviets; now, some politicians conspired with the Russians to interfere in the U.S. elections, make their own businesses profits, as well as contribute to undermine western democracies and absolutely NO uproar is being made about it? Delirant isti americani !
Through all this I did my best to stay (sane?) acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered over two hundreds notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order — note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window beyond this point), after the jump.
[ Traduire ]
In the last couple of months (ten weeks!), there was really nothing new on the domestic front. The same old routine. Spring finally came, the air warmed up and (after a little icy setback) the buds started to open, quickly blossoming into a late summer. I experienced, again, some health problems which kept my moral down for a while. I had my old computer repaired and finally got a new one, which meant lots of hardware and software installations, reorganizing the working area, etc., which made many onomatopoeias come to mind (Aauugh!, *whimper*, *Phew*).
I tried to apply to a couple of new jobs in order to get out of the nut house where I works but with no luck. To make things worse, the company we hired to repair the balcony & backyard keeps dragging their feet and nothing seems to get going. I want to prepare the garden for the summer but will we be able to do any gardening? My life seems on hold. I have many new project ideas to keep me busy but there’s so little time, so many things to think about and to do, all at the same time, that’s overwhelming, mind-crushing, depressing even…
I spent so much energy running like crazy at work (and for a whole week the temperature in the library was between 24 and 28 ºC!), coming back completely exhausted, hoping for a new job (or some sort of fairy god-mother intervention), waiting on the contractor (I took some vacation in order to rebuild the garden after the works would be done, but I feel I wasted my time…), stressing about health problems, reorganizing my computers and my network (extending ethernet to compensate for Bell’s weak wi-fi for example) that I really didn’t read or write much. Again, getting caught with life so much that… I forgot to live! It seemed that time was slipping through my fingers like sand. I felt (and still feel) tired all the time…
When I am at work I feel miserable but, when I am at home and look at this house — this little and comfortable nest, or safe-house, we have set-up for ourselves — I feel pretty good and content. I have everything I need and could ask for (okay, maybe not that marble bust of Lucius Virus or a more quiet and pleasant job — but, who knows, it might come someday). So, I have no real reason to be unhappy (beside watching the news, of course). I just have to tell myself that, again and again, and repeat it, each time I have to face the darkness…
However, I was not completely idle. I wrote a little (commenting on Le secret des vietnamiennes, Venise and Bug, as well as a few movies). I also attended the Congrès Boréal, went to Ottawa to watch tulips and to the annual book sales of the libraries (so far I bought a few novels and about thirty-five manga!). Unfortunately, I mostly kept myself entertained: I finished to watch The Durrells, some old favourites TV series like Homeland or The Expanse, and tried some quite excellent new series like the remake of Lost in Space, Little Women or The Good Karma Hospital. I even discovered a new TV service, BritBox, but haven’t had time to try it yet.
On the world stage we find the usual disasters: Trump ramping and raving (blaming everyone but himself), floods here, volcano there, many more sexual scandals, ups and downs in North Korea, war looming in the Middle East (Gaza, Iran), add another ebola epidemic, or an occasional school shooting and you have the picture. But there are also some good news, like a very Royal Wedding! [See detailed day by day events for April and May]
Through all this I tried to stay acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered a few notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order — note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual), after the jump.
[ Traduire ]
In the last five weeks, nothing much happened on the domestic front. The weather slightly improved each weeks (now it’s mostly above zero, although the east coast kept being hit by one nor’easter after another!) and the sun feels much better (warmer) since we switched to daylight saving time as it sets much later now. The snow is melting. The job is as tiring and frustrating (absurd) as ever, but I think I am dealing better with it. Zen and all (trying not to give a f*ck).
I got my DNA testing results from 23&me and it is rather disappointing. I am genetically boring: one hundred per cent europeans and no variants detected for major health issues (save a higher risk for macular degeneration and celiac disease). The physical traits reports are hits and misses. I still have to read everything in details, but I feels it is more amusing than really useful.
I didn’t write much (although I did a few good comments on What the Health, An inconvenient sequel, Le chat du rabbin 7, Reine d’Égypte vol. 1 and vol. 2-3, on Kim Thuy’s conference and her book Ru) because I have been constantly busy trying to solve multiple problems. I have the feeling that nothing works properly anymore! Everything seems buggy: the WiFi, the blog, the computer (at home and at work), and even the electricity (causing the lights to flickers almost constantly, turning off and on the TV or the computer)! Is the world starting to slowly brake down all over? The entropy! The entropy! Seriously, if all this is a simulation (or a dream) slowly shutting down, maybe a reboot would wake me up? Or maybe not. But this constant fighting to maintain the cohesion of the universe is getting tiresome (if not unbearable, yet).
I called Hydro Q and the flicker stopped (for now). Tried to install network extenders but Bell’s wifi is till shitty (neither Apple Airport or Netgear worked; should I try another brand? More pods? To be continued…). The computer finally died (there was a problem with File Vault being on but the main problem was the hard drive after all) and is now at the repair shop. My desk feels empty and working in the salon on a combination of Mac-mini (which I normally use as a media center) and iPad, is rather uncomfortable. I am planing to purchase a Macbook soon… But I wasted so much time doing all this… it is frustrating.
In the news, the world doesn’t seems in a much better shape. More Trump-related scandals (Cambridge Analytica, Stormy Daniels, he fires Tillerson and McMaster, tease trade war and impose tariffs on steel & aluminum — mostly for China, proposed talks with North Korea, etc.), more school shooting this time at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland (Florida), serial bombing in Texas, another democrats’ victory in Pennsylvania slowly tips the scale, emboldened Russians assassinated a couple of former spies in Britain (one with a nerve agent!), Steven Hawking died, etc. The good news is that the students from Parkland are old enough to become activists (#NeverAgain) and, for some, to vote in the mid-term election in November! An end to this nightmare really seems possible…
Anyway, as usual, I managed to stay a little acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered many notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order — note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual), after the jump.
“A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought the climate crisis into the heart of popular culture, comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. Former Vice President Al Gore continues his tireless fight, traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy.
Cameras follow him behind the scenes — in moments both private and public, funny and poignant — as he pursues the inspirational idea that while the stakes have never been higher, the perils of climate change can be overcome with human ingenuity and passion.”
[From the official web site]
So much happened in the last four months (since the last notable news entry), that I wouldn’t know where to start. I’ll try to recall the highlights, but I’ll try to be brief.
On the domestic front we had a bout of extreme cold (while in the opposite hemisphere they had the hottest weather in nearly eight decades!). For the rest of the time we had the (now) usual cycle of freeze (snow) / defreeze (rain) with more snow than usual (at least more than last year; 195 cm so far). At work it is the usual hell, but I guess I came to term with it, becoming more zen (i.e. no giving a f**k) but I am still set into trying to find another job (in a quieter library, some place closer to home, maybe some desk job but I would rather prefer to keep working with books).
My blog was hacked and I finally made a move to a proper WordPress hosting. It is still a work in progress (still lots of repair to do), but I am now very satisfied with the look of the new blog. Of course, I’ve been more busy working on the blog itself and I didn’t write as much as I would have liked (but, still, I kept busy with some reviews, an essay on the art of reviewing and some articles like a biographical notice, a bibliography update, indexes, etc).
I had lots of trouble to have the city cut a branch of the tree in front of our house because it was touching the electric wires. The expensive repair/renovation in the backyard & balcony couldn’t be completed before the arrival of the cold weather (bad planning and lots of wasted time). The stupid contractor didn’t even provide an invoice so we cannot file our subsidy demands and he didn’t even bother to respond when we demanded that the work be completed in a timely manner in spring!
The digestion problems I’ve had since the beginning of the year convinced me to finally submit to tests and I had to endure a coloscopy (the test itself lasted just fifteen minutes but the two days of liquid diet and “preparation” were hellish!). They found that I was suffering from fatty liver and a sigmoidal diverticulosis (which could complicate into a diverticulitis). More stuff to be careful about…
This string of problems made me rather depressed. What’s the purpose to constantly fight if it is to simply eat in order to work, and work in order to be able to eat? I felt like the entropy of the world was catching up to me: the world was stopping making any sense, I was getting tired and weaker, everything was crumbling around me! Fortunately, writing and working on the blog was some sort of therapy for me and I now feel much better. Spring will be arriving in a little more than a month (despite mixed signals from the groundhogs) and we’ll be able to enjoy flowers under the sun again!
In the news, Catalonia declared independence from Spain, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (killing all chances of peace in the Middle East), Disney acquired most of 21st Century Fox, the #metoo social awakening happened, the U.S. government shotdown twice, the Dow Jones dropped, SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket with a Tesla car as payload (!), there was a missile false alarm in Hawaii and Japan, we had various disasters (wild fires in California, mudslides, earthquakes, floods in Europe), and the usual Trump craziness makes me despair for some sanity. Finally, there nothing much on TV since it’s the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics!
Despite everything, I managed to stay a little acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered many notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order — note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual), after the jump.
[ Traduire ]
On the domestic front, in the last month or so, the condition were still rather horrible at work: it was way too hot (ventilation is working but there’s absolutely no air conditioning so we regularly work at temperature of 28~33 ? including the humidex — 23~25 ? with 45%~55% humidity) and we are still running like crazy… Therefore, most of the time, I come back home totally exhausted.
When I was not busy chasing quotes for the balcony and masonry repairs on the duplex, I was taking care of the stray cats, but this year’s cat saga has finally concluded: the two females have been sterilized & released and their kittens have been adopted through a good samaritan shelter. Despite all this (and maybe thanks to the omega 3 supplement I am taking? Nah…) I wrote much more than the previous months (many capsule reviews including commentaries on the Ghost in the Shell and Valerian live-action movies, as well as the superb Pline manga) and I also started contributing to the Irrésistibles blog (with a version of my commentaries on Animeland #214 & #215, dBD #115, Pline #1, and the movie Silence).
In the news, everything was about the Trump circus. I was literally consumed by the news of this train wreck in the making, like watching an accident where you know you shouldn’t but just can’t turn you gaze from it. So we’ve spent countless hours watching news reports on MSNBC (mainly Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell shows) about the latest trump scandals — and there’s a new one almost every day! It never stops: the Buzzfeed Russian “dossier” (Wikipedia, document), the possible election tempering collusion and financial involvement with Russia, the healthcare repeal & replace disaster, the sabre-rattling with North Korea and, finally, the controversial comments following the Charlottesville violence contributing to inflame the supremacist and racist agenda! When will the republicans realize they have bet on the wrong horse and decide to put him out of his misery? I can’t believe it has gone this far…
I have also watched today’s partial eclipse of the sun (58%) on TV and with my own eyes (using a home-made filter) but, unfortunately, I was not able to take any respectable pictures (by lack of preparation and appropriate equipment). But, at least, the weather was cooperating and I was able to see it. The next opportunities for such event will be June 10 2021 (partial at 85%), October 14 2023 (partial at 29%) and on April 8 2024 (a total solar eclipse!).
As always, I tried to remain acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered oven an hundred notable news & links — which I share with you (in both french or english, and roughly separated in a few categories of interest), after the jump.
[ Traduire ]
You’re feeling good because you think you are saving the environment by recycling and switching to LED light bulbs? Well, don’t (feel good, I mean). It is totally useless.
Last week-end, I read an interesting article in The Gazette titled “Want to save the planet?” (also from the National Post via PressReader). A study by the University of British Columbia is showing that what we are told to do to reduce climate change is rarely the most effective way. We’re told that “making a difference doesn’t have to be difficult” when, in truth, making a real impact demands some major sacrifices!
The most interesting part of the article is found in a graphic that was available only in the print version. What high school textbooks suggest students to do for the environment is not very effective: using reusable shopping bags instead of plastic ones represent only a saving of 0.005 tonne (5 kg) of carbon dioxide per person per year, while upgrading light bulbs saves 0.1 tonne, hanging your laundry to dry in the sun saves 0.21 tonne, recycling saves 0.213 tonne and washing your clothes in cold water saves 0.247 tonne. Small changes.
In opposite, the more effective actions for helping the environment represents only four per cent of the suggestions given to students. The best tactics are eating less meat with a plant-based diet (saving of 0.8 tonne per year), buying green energy (saving 1.5 tonne per year), taking one less transatlantic flight per year (saves 1.6 tonne), and going car-free (saving 2.4 tonne per year — note that switching from an electric car to car-free saves 1.15 tonne per year and buying a more efficient car saves 1.19 tonne per year!). However, the most effective way to be environmentally friendly is to have one less child: you would save 58.6 tonne of CO2 emission per year! I always said that those kids are killing the planet.
I am really happy because I am already doing all those things (switching light bulbs, washing in cold water, hang-drying, using reusable bags, hydro-electricity, having a plant-based diet, no flying, no car, no kid) and I hope you will consider it too. I won’t go as far as some sci-fi shows and suggest, as some sort of Sophie’s Choice, that we should reduce the children population (or even the general population) — it would surely make the environment quieter — but please copulate with moderation (I would say “practice abstinence” but that would be inconsiderate: just don’t have four or five kids and think of it as a planetary-wide one-child policy)! There are already too many people on earth…
That would certainly be a good way to save the planet.
[ Traduire ]
Another few weeks have passed quickly without anything significant happening: More crazy weeks at works and rainy week-ends where I don’t feel I accomplished anything. I am tired and really need a longer vacation. Next week I’ll start a ten-day holiday where I’ll be able to rest (sleep late!), catch up on stuff (writing, work around the house), travel around (Ottawa’s Tulip’s festival, Quebec City, botanical garden, museums, the libraries book sale, bury my mother’s ashes, etc.) and, above all, completely forget about work for a while. Or so I thought!
In hope for greener pastures, I have applied for a new library job (more responsibilities, further from home, but a greater challenge for my skills and a much better salary). However, after a lengthy processus, they scheduled an interview right in the middle of my vacation and at nine o’clock on the morning of my BIRTHDAY! Not only they made me filled a psychological test online (it’s called “an inventory of personality” and it will probably reveal that I am a total psycho) but they didn’t even bother to reply when I asked if it was possible to reschedule, so I’ll do my best to be there and we’ll see. Que sera, sera.
The weather has really been lousy lately. May is supposed to be the nicest month of all (and not only because it’s my birthday). Overall, it has been cold and rainy. It even snowed a little last week. In may! Hopefully, it will not portend that the summer will be likewise, and it will soon improve (at least for my vacations, please!).
Something strange happened at the beginning of the month: out of the blue, one late afternoon, I started to smell a vague odour of gazoline in the basement. It didn’t come from the obvious source, the garage. Usually, such smell comes from the sewage (through a dried P-trap) or from a dead animal but, in this case, it seemed to come from the pit of the water-pipe entry. I called the city and was told not to worry, it was “probably” not toxic and might have come from some work on the pipes in the neighbourhood (I couldn’t locate any nearby). I cracked open a window and the next morning it was gone. I never knew what it was.
The unlucky streak didn’t stop there. Not only I broke a piece of tooth while eating a granola bar during my lunch break at work (and I am still waiting for the dentist to find some spare time for an appointment), but I also discovered that the damage to the rear balcony of the house is more extensive than I first thought. The supporting posts are not planted deep enough (they rest on concrete supports that are just on the surface while they should be in soil deep enough so it never freezes in winter — who are the morons who built this house?!) so the ground expansion due to the freezing is slowly ripping the balcony off the house. So much that it has now become worrisome. We will have to do the repairs sooner than expected and it will probably be quite costly! What an exciting boring life!
Again, I must remind myself not to let the outside world rattle my core. Carpe diem, my boy, carpe diem!
Finally, I managed to stay acquainted with some of the affairs of the world and gathered notable news & links of interest — which I share with you (in both french or english, and organized into a few basic categories), after the jump.
[ Traduire ]
Another month (or so) has passed at lightning speed. Lots of stuff to do, particularly now that spring has come. We had plenty of rain at first, however now the weather is more enjoyable but still a little chilly. The humidity has made my left knee (and a bit my right ankle) hurt and, for a week, my back pain came back with a vengeance — libraries can be hard work sometimes (and not only for the soul; although it can be amusing too). I also had an episode of high blood glucose and I feared I would become a full-blown diabetic but it returned to my pre-diabetic “normal” after a week. This is no work for old men…
It has been a busy month. We’ve visited the notary twice for mom’s succession paperwork and there was plenty of work around the house particularly for the garden cleaning. I also had to deal with many unexpected problems: some strange Bell bug kept me from my blog for a week and I had some leaky roof, front door handle and water heater issues (the latter two just this weekend). Installing two more Outdoor Nest Cams (as one of my cheap IP cameras died following water damage inside the window) has been a strain on the Bell Wi-Fi causing serious performance problems. I’ll probably solve this issue by going back to Videotron, but only for the internet (I’ll share my sister’s).
A question on FB made me look back at my collection of old books and share my love for them. I also purchased a new Telephoto Mirror Lens for my camera. My TV viewing habits didn’t change much. I still watch too much TV: the new season for old series (When calls the Heart, Into the Badlands, Doctor Who) but two series are particularly worth mentioning for their quality: Anne and The Expense (and its beautiful opening credits with Norwegian vocals — listen on Soundcloud and Youtube). I also wanted to go see Ghost in the Shell in theatre but the reviews were not too good so I decided to wait. However, I’ll definitely won’t miss the Valerian‘s movie when it is released!
I have always considered blogging (and writing in general) as an essential mental exercice (as much as my daily walks) to keep in shape, the mind sharp and age better. However, now I have some doubt. It sometimes feels like a strain since I have less and less time to do it. I have to split my waking hours between my wife-together time, my me-time and work (from which I always come back exhausted). Lately, I had lots of problems with the blog (the Dropbox issue, not being able to log in for an entire week) and it leaves me with the dilema of having to choose between fixing the layout on the old posts or writing new material (or try to do both and be unhappy with the result). I just wonders if it is really worth it.
Maybe I should try less to DO something and just take more time to enjoy life right now (going to movies, to the museums, to the botanical garden, READ more, etc.) without always thinking about sharing it, what I would say about it, which angle I could use to explain the subject better or tell an interesting story about the whole experience. My health won’t improve with the years and I am quite sure that there is less road in front of me than behind, so maybe I should just take the most of it and enjoy the moment. Who’s reading me anyway. Although, I often say that I am writing for myself, so I can read what I wrote one day and remember how it was (particularly when I would not remember it at all). It is just like a journal left adrift in the binary stream of time, to create some sort of posterity.
Both ways seem kind of selfish: if I do write I feel guilty of not doing more of my life and, if I don’t, I feel I am letting myself down. Either way it is a losing battle. •Sigh* It’s the age-old depressing philosophical question: Did I ever really lived and did it really matter? I can only press on and hope for the best.
Finally, I nevertheless managed to stay acquainted with the (ever so depressing) affairs of the world and gathered a few notable news & links — which I share with you (in both french or english, and roughly divided into a few thematics), after the jump.
[ Traduire ]
The Holidays and the couple of weeks that followed were rather quiet. Thankfully, document.write(“”); I had to deal with much less craziness at work. But that was only the eye of the storm and those depressing days (scientifically certified as such since Blue Monday fell on January 16th this year) are coming to an end. The days are getting longer and more shit will soon hit the fan. Of course, there’s also this endless American nightmare with everything Trump. I wish I could forget about all that and never hear about it again, but unfortunately that’s what the world has become now.
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I am already getting behind in my writings, but I caught up a little with my TV and movie watching. Besides the restarting new seasons (mostly Call The Midwife, Colony, Endeavour, Father Brown, Homeland), the notable new additions are Victoria and Dark Angel (although those two have already ended) as well as the weird Young Pope (a young and reckless leader is unexpectedly elected to head the Church — a little reminescent of the whole “orange is the new black” American electoral fiasco — but it’s directed by Paolo Sorrentino, who gave us La grande bellezza) and the quite interesting Mercy Street, a medical period drama set at the Mansion House Hospital during the American Civil War.
I’ll try to reinvent myself this year (so much to do) and push forward even harder on the path to improve my temperament and expend my knowledge. That’s the only purpose one can have.
Despite everything, I tried to stay acquainted (a bit) with the affairs of the world. Here’s a “few” notable news & links that I came across this month and that I’d like to share with you, after the jump (in no particular order, in both french and english): Continue reading
The first week was totally uneventful; another quiet but tiring week (with the usual craziness at work). However, document.write(“”); the second week was very busy with all sort of outings and events! First we had a family brunch to celebrate my mother’s 87th birthday. Then I finally received the (substantial) back-pay for the retroactive raise since the signature of our collective bargaining (the two good things that work brings: the pleasure of books and money! — but there’s only 550 weeks to endure).
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Wednesday, I finish work early and the museum is opened late, therefore I took this opportunity for a last-minute visit (last week!) at the Museum of Fine-Arts exhibit on Toulouse-Lautrec. Thursday, not only Apple released new hardware, but it was also the beginning of the 33rd Japanese Film Festival of Montreal at the Cinémathèque Québécoise. There was a sake tasting, a few speeches and then they screened A Tale of Samurai Cooking. I went to see a second movie on Saturday: Sue, Mai and Sawa. That was wonderful. I felt alive. It’s good to get busy since we don’t have that many good years left.
I also tried to read a little. I have so many books piling on my bedside table (haïku compilation, numerous mangas, Solaris #200, etc). However, I find it so hard to read lately. I am so busy that whenever I can read, I feel guilty and this sentiment is a distraction that make it difficult to concentrate on my reading. Quite annoying. And there’s plenty of other distractions… like watching TV! Beside the U.S. presidential election madness and the returning shows (7th season of Walking Dead, 2nd season of Poldark, 10th season of Murdock Mysteries, 14th season of NCIS, 2nd season of Blindspot, 3rd season of Z Nation, 8th season of Vampire Diaries, 4th season of A Place to call home), there’s very interesting newcomers like Westworld and Tutankhamun, or others like Class (a Doctor Who spin-off)! I’ve also watched on Dvd the Michael Moore documentary Where to invade next.
Maybe all that activity was too much, because I caught some bug (cold, stomach flu?) that left me tired, congestionned and with an upset stomach. But there’s no rest for the wicked and now I must work on my monthly accounting and pay the bills.
However, before I do that, I’d like to share with you a few notable news & links that I came across lately. Because, even with all this activity, I will always find some time to stay acquainted (a bit) with the affairs of the world. Here they are, after the jump, in no particular order, in both french and english):
Souvenirs de Science-Fiction Québécoise
Manga, jeu vidéo et arts mineurs
A blog about the pursuit of knowledge
A blog about the pursuit of knowledge
Émission littéraire + Suggestions + Confidences
“If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; If you are depressed, it will cheer you; If you are excited, it will calm you.” ― William Ewart Gladstone
A blog about the pursuit of knowledge
Book reviews and the occasional ramblings of a book blogger
Moi et les livres... dans cet ordre
Science, réflexion et poésie
A blog about the pursuit of knowledge
A blog about the pursuit of knowledge
A blog about the pursuit of knowledge
Clodjee's Safe-House 