With this custom bokeh experiment — which turned out pretty well — I wish you Happy 2010, may it be better than 2009!
The lights in the picture are on the Christmas tree, but the picture has not been manipulated — the stars were achieved using a home made filter.
The torch relay for the Vancouver Olympics went through St Catharines a few days before Christmas. Jenna and I walked a few blocks down the street to watch just to say we’d seen it. Now we have. Of course, we wouldn’t have been able to see it if the Norway trip hadn’t been cancelled, but then again, nothing providential happened.
Wishing everyone I know a Merry Christmas! (or just a Happy Holiday if you’re not upholding this neopagan, hedonistic and consumeristic tradition ;)
God Jul alle sammen!
The picture is of a little street in St Catharines famous for it’s Christmas light display (but you find Christmas displays all over the place…).
The Christmas holiday in Norway went down the drain when our flight was cancelled by a snowstorm last weekend. When they couldn’t offer us an alternative until Christmas Eve (and it woulnd’t have gotten us to Norway until Christmas Day morning…), we opted to cancel, spend Christmas is Kalamazoo, and delay our Norway trip until the summer. It was disappointing though, Christmas is a very special time.
Now we’re relaxing in Kalamazoo. The last couple of weeks were stressful, I’ve been working furiously on finising my master research paper. It’s now finished! I turned it in last night, at 9PM on Christmas Eve — writing and editing, that’s how I spent Christmas Eve. It’s a tremendous relief to be done. The last leg of my master’s degree is now over, so now all I can do is wait and see how it went. If it went well, I’ll post it in January.
Anyway, I’m now not going to think anymore about it, just relax.
Have a good holiday!
This is the fifth post in a series. Jenna and I went to Ottawa for a weekend in the middle of October, finally–neither of us had yet been there, even after several years in Canada, and considering that Ottawa isn’t really that far away from Niagara. Jenna wanted to go to a conference on global health so it was a good excuse to go.
Jenna requested that I post this picture, of the central block and the Peace Tower of the Canadian Parliament through the fog.
This is the fourth post in a series. Jenna and I went to Ottawa for a weekend in the middle of October, finally–neither of us had yet been there, even after several years in Canada, and considering that Ottawa isn’t really that far away from Niagara. Jenna wanted to go to a conference on global health so it was a good excuse to go.
This picture shows the Ottawa River, as seen from underneath the monument of Queen Victoria outside the main building of Parliament. The large building to the left in the picture, on the edge of the bluff, is the supreme court. The right side of the river is Gatineau, Quebec.
This is the third post in a series. Jenna and I went to Ottawa for a weekend in the middle of October, finally–neither of us had yet been there, even after several years in Canada, and considering that Ottawa isn’t really that far away from Niagara. Jenna wanted to go to a conference on global health so it was a good excuse to go.
I figured I should post one more picture of Parliament, an absolutely quintessential, archetypical, superordinary tourist shot. With the small difference that I think that the extremely crisp and sunny weather makes it a little more interesting.
This is the second post in a series. Jenna and I went to Ottawa for a weekend in the middle of October, finally–neither of us had yet been there, even after several years in Canada, and considering that Ottawa isn’t really that far away from Niagara. Jenna wanted to go to a conference on global health so it was a good excuse to go.
This picture shows the Rideau Canal (somewhat low on water ahead of winter) and the Houses of Parliament in the background, with the Peace Tower proudly flying the maple leaf. I took a lovely little walk from there along the canal.
Jenna and I went to Ottawa for a weekend in the middle of October, finally–neither of us had yet been there, even after several years in Canada, and considering that Ottawa isn’t really that far away from Niagara. Jenna wanted to go to a conference on global health so it was a good excuse to go.
We had tremendous luck with the weather and with the choice of weekend; fall colours were at peak. Well, I was lucky: only the Sunday was nice; the Saturday was gray, dull, cold, wet and foggy, and that was the only day Jenna had for sightseeing.
Ottawa is a really nice city, with its location of the city over the Ottawa River and with the Rideau Canal running through it. In the picture, you can see the Rideau Canal going through a number of locks down to the Ottawa River. Parliament is on the bluff to the left, overlooking the river and the canal (a spectacular location for a spectacular set of buildings, if you ask me).
I read old Calvin & Hobbes comics every day — I still love this series, it is timeless.
I hope it will never come to this, however:
I’m taking my chances posting this image, while pointing you to the source, on gocomics.com, where you can read more C&H, and strongly encouraging you to buy the complete C&H box set on Amazon… and if you’re buying it, maybe you could get me a copy too… as a gift… I really want this set… Calvin is my hero.
**Update** Jenna got me the C&H box set for christmsas :)
Desperate times, desperate measures: Advancing the geoengineering debate at the Arctic Council
I’m pleased to announce that the result of my internship at IISD this summer has been published; my first (real) publication! I worked on it for about a month and a half, and I’m quite pleased with it (if I may say so). It was co-written with Henry David (Hank) Venema, with me as lead author. I owe a lot to Hank, however, who helped me out, jogged my brain circuits, gave me the idea for the paper, and wrote a few crucial paragraphs I was struggling with.
Abstract and download-page at IISD.org
The Arctic is like the canary in the coalmine, warning us about the increasing impact of climate change, which is felt first there. In 2007, the Arctic ice cap shrunk to its smallest size ever recorded, 37 per cent below the recorded average. Its abrupt decline, which deviates widely from the largely linear and predictable trend observed over the past few decades, has alarmed the scientific community and suggests we may be closer to a dangerous “tipping point” than previously anticipated. At the same time, economic globalization is coming to this marginalized region at last through increased resource exploitation, leading in turn to further emissions of greenhouse gases and further climate change.
As unsavoury as it may be, this paper will argue that we must investigate geoengineering as an emergency option in case the mitigation regime fails. Given the dramatic consequences of climate change in the Arctic and the role of this region in the global climate, the Arctic countries have a special responsibility to lead this investigation and the debate surrounding it. As the only circumpolar governance forum on environmental issues, the Arctic Council is an obvious venue for this process. The paper explores the state of global geoengineering governance and how it should be constructed, and how the Arctic Council can contribute.
Manitoba has a fair amount of Icelandic influence, owing to a bunch of settlers that came over in the 19th century and founded a town called Gimli. Naturally, Gimli has to have an Icelandic festival every year, the highlight of which is a viking camp put together by various “living history” groups.I went there with a couple of colleagues form work; it was really cool, very well done. Sadly, we missed the highlight — the fighting demos. But we did get to try archery, that was fun.
Inside the atrium of the Manitoba Leglislature, taken from behind the grand staircase and the iconic bison, mascot of Manitoba.