Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy This episode of Peoples & Things completely nerd sniped me. On recommendation from Biella Coleman, hosts Lee Vinsel and Paula Bialski interview Ben Collier about his new book Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy (available Open Access from MIT Press. I love ethnographic works on computing history and especially admire Biella’s book Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking.
“Connect, don’t collect”
Protocols and federation > data hoarding silos
Inspired by the film, my daughter hand-sewed her own PROJECT HAIL MARY mission patch. Amaze amaze amaze!
The launching gantry for the SkyTrain extension is getting close to my future local train station. It is cool to see how it lifts and lines up those big concrete blocks for the elevated guideway. surreylangleyskytrain.gov.bc.ca #SurreyBC
I’ve been really looking forward to the StatsCan results for the 2025 census to see if we are on track for Surrey to overtake Vancouver as BC’s biggest municipality soon. The old projections from BCStats signaled the overtake to happen in 2027, but a lot has changed since the census of 2021.
Started reading Bob Williams “Using Power Well”
#amreading #booksky #bookstodon
Enjoying the sakura by the sea in Steveston
#hanami #花見
Filed my archival requests for the Royal Geographical Society in London in a couple weeks 💪 Looking forward to seeing Younghusband’s journals and maps of the Pamirs, Kashgar, Ladakh, and Tibet! 🗺️
Read in 2026: Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd 📚
Challenging. Moody. Fascinating. An admirable work of craft that inspires me to write!
Saddle up my faerie cowboys! 🧚 🤠 ✨
#mosstodon #lichensubscribe
Went to Project Hail Mary with my daughters, and my buddy and his daughter. Great night out! Kids were entertained and on the way home said they “like science movies”. Giving them The Martian audiobook next. 🚀
Watched the Artemis II launch with my daughter live 🚀
Recovering from the four+ days of the second annual ATmosphereConf, this year held here in Vancouver at the UBC campus. It was more than twice as big as last year’s inaugural event in Seattle, and even more international with many folks coming from Europe, Japan, and Brazil. The community is very thoughtful about how to make hashtag#opensocial better for communities, as demonstrated by some excellent presentations from folks like Erin Kissane, Blaine Cook, Rudolph Fraser and many many more.
🌸 Cherry blossoms in the local park. Nice walk with my wife this afternoon in great weather.
We watched the finale of REPLY 1988 today. 😭
The show nails anemoia — “nostalgia for a time or place one has never known.” 😊 So good!
Started The Devils by Joe Abercrombie 📚
Nice to be back in Abercrombie’s world. Laugh out loud from the first encounter! 🤣
Currently at the @movementyvr.bsky.social and @surreycitizen.bsky.social meeting on #transit in #SurreyBC. Once all the major projects (Broadway subway, SkyTrain Extension, KG BRT) are complete, MORE people will be able to get to Surrey Central than Waterfront in downtown Vancouver! 🤯
It’s happening! 🌸🌸🌸
“And so let us beginne; and, as the Fabrick takes its Shape in front of you, alwaies keep the Structure intirely in Mind as you inscribe it.”
Started Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd 📚
Preparing for my trip to London next month, arming myself to defend against Darknesse and Shaddowe
With the release of the Dune 3 trailer I have started Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert 📚 Hopefully I will have forgotten enough by December to enjoy the film.
Up until 2am reminiscing with the wife about all the little neighbourhoods we lived together in in Japan: Oike and Demachiyanagi in Kyoto, Chiyoda in Nagoya (in 3 different apartments!), and of course Sakuranomiya in Osaka. There were more, but we made many memories in these.