Put Paul in the Hall

It was 35 years ago today when Paul Henderson scored the goal to give Canada the win in the 1972 Summit Series with Russia. This moment is such a part of the Canadian psyche that everyone can tell you where the were when it happened. Even I remember where I was when the goal was scored and I wasn't born for another 2 years. It was that big of a moment.

How To Make Better Coffee

Why Your Coffee Sucks and How to Drink Great Coffee for a Fraction of What You're Paying Now

How Caffeine Works

Be prepared to be de-mystified by a bunch of caffeine facts.

Spook Country

Spook Country is the latest novel from William Gibson. I love the fact that this is a science fiction novel set in the past, in this case 2006. There is a wonderful follow up article where Mr. Gibson discusses that science fiction is not about predicting the future but a reflection of the present day. Which is something that I feel most people don't really get.

Spook Country is a double entendre which refers to the current state where the Spooks (CIA, FBI, DHS, etc.) seem to be running the country and GPS driven art where you can only see the Spooks if you have the GPS and a URL. You can really see from it's humble beginnings where the art could evolve into a number of channels that we could all tune into to overlay our own "reality". This concept is wonderfully expanded in John C Wright's The Golden Age trilogy.

The novel proceeds along telling the story from multiple points of view each one with their own plot threads that eventually begin to interweave their way to a satisfying conclusion.

Hollis Henry, former indie rocker now freelance journalist is writing a story on a new art form that exists only in virtual reality, Bobby Chombo, a GPS software specialist who provides the software that enables the virtual reality art, is tracking a mysterious cargo container that drops on and off the grid, Agent Brown is tracking a young criminal named Tito who he hopes will lead him to the cargo.

This was a real quick read for me and I highly recommend it. Especially if you are a fan of the afore mentioned Golden Age trilogy.

Misc:

Cory Doctorow reviews Spook Country.

How to Quit Drinking Caffeine

Not that you'd ever want to but Scott Meyer's web comic Basic Instructions gives you some advice on how to quit drinking caffeine.

Apple Picking

On Sunday morning we were up bright and early to make the 45 minute trip to Mountain, ON where we went apple picking at Mountain Orchards. This was the same place we took Anna for her second birthday and we wanted to get back there earlier this year as it would be a) warmer and b) more apples would be on the trees.

We started and ended the day with some of the delicious apple cider mini donuts from the bakery. But in between the kids had fun going through the corn maze, picking apples, riding the tractor and playing in the hay.

Click here for more pictures.

Cory Doctorow's Short Story Scroogled

Cory Doctorow has released a new short story called Scroogled on Radar. I have created a .lit version for Microsoft Reader for those of us who like to read on the go.