Archive

Speaking of layers of history (cf. my long post on London) Hari Kunzru walks the city and skates from one historical layer to another, from reality to fantasy, and back. Fabulous writing. harpers.org/archive/2…

“You know you don’t have to hit SAVE all the time anymore right, bruh? It’s not the 1920s.” — my 16yo as I help her with homework

Big news! www.cbc.ca/news/cana…

Engaged Buddhism message: Doug from Doug’s Dharma has had enough 👏

Perfectly clear day and a warm 12°C for my walk while listening to Dhamma talks on this uposatha day

February email update is now released! 🛫 buttondown.com/chadkoh/a…

Dolls are out for #ひな祭り Doll Day! We brought the entire set over in the 19 boxes we sent from Japan in 2024. We didn’t have space to get them out last year in our tiny condo. This year we still don’t have a rack for the whole set, so just the Empress and the Emperor are out. 🎎

Excellent evening of co-op showcasing, solidarity, and FOOD at www.solidstate.coop tonight! #SurreyBC

Newspeak House — College of Political Technology: Chad opens an event at Newspeak House At the top of Brick Lane on Bethnel Green Road in east London the streets are lined with four-storey buildings tightly packed shoulder-to-shoulder, alternating brick and plaster. At street level there are pizza parlours, cafés, vinyl record stores, and a shop …

Updated my Interesting Conferences 2026 doc with a few things. Let me know if I should be aware of more! #events leaflet.pub/p/did:plc…

What an up and down day. Early morning went into surgery. Woke up around 4 feeling good. Decided to relax and watch a film. Oh whatta film! boxd.it/DUHM

We just happened upon this Senegalese place so decided to take the opportunity. Had some Senegalese Jollof rice and veggie fataya, with Bissap Hibiscus juice and a lovely drink made of baobab fruit! maps.app.goo.gl/4pm5i9CSu…

Discovering deep history in London: An unexpected thing happened to me on my first trip to London earlier this month. I stayed in Brick Lane close to the venue (which I will write about separately!) for the event I put on. The first four days I stayed in the area prepping for the event and meeting people, so pretty much just work work …

Birthday HanSang time!

antidepressantsortolkien.vercel.app Wow I only got 15/24! That was harder than I thought it would be! 😄

Finished Katabasis by R.F. Kuang 📚 Easy to digest, but some difficult subject matter (power harassment/abuse) that was not for me. Some people gave it 5 stars so it touches others. I just hope everyone is okay.

Had some epic anime clouds above the city today. Gorgeously warm and bright for Feb 🌞

Of course I did mettā meditation this morning. Easy to spread the loving kindness on this day: our 20th wedding anniversary. 🎊 What an adventure it has been since that cold day in Kingston ON when we walked through snow in our wedding kimono. 👘 Can’t imagine what the next 20 will be like! 🥰

📸 Finally uploaded all my photos from London: 278 photos 24 vids. That is down from 1200+… I also broke them up a bit into British Museum, St Paul’s, and stadium tour, but this is the super album. Give it a quick scroll: www.flickr.com/photos/sa…

#poetry

My visit to the British Museum really inspired me to learn more about early British History, so I picked up A History of Britain: Volume 1 by Simon Schama 📚

I always said I would come back to this wonderful book… and now it has been 15 years. I am re-reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke 📚

Just arrived at YVR. Some shots from the Arctic for you: mountains of Greenland, sea ice, arriving over Canada. Finally the islands of the west coast as we turn to land at YVR.

Okay one last point ☝️🤓: a luggage trolley on the tarmac. Cheers London! It was a blast and I hope to come back soon. See ya’ll on the other side of the Pacific in 9h55m 👋

Back home from 6 hours at the British Museum, walking Leicester Sq, Trafalgar Sq, down the Mall to Buckingham, and then taking the tube back to East London. Just relaxing at the hotel and importing the 453 photos I took today 🫨 So far my whole trip count is 1185. And I was working!

Oh it is #superbowl across the pond today? Haven’t taken any recent owl 🦉 photos but here is the owl cafe in Kyoto

Hmmm… second Iranian protest I have been caught up in in my life while traveling — although for very different sides.

Been here for 4 hours and just gotta say the British Museum is overwhelming. Too many things to point at! 😩

Realized that this is the first Anglo country (other than the US) that I have ever traveled to. Usually when I go somewhere I get some foreign-language manga for my kids, but that a moot gesture here 😅

Chad points at things London Edition ☝️🤓 Part 6: Walked around the downtown core which is pretty quiet on a Saturday and saw The Gherkin, The Scalpel, Sky Garden, all of which cannot really be explained. Finally there is the The Monument to the Great Fire of London (1666) which is MASSIVE

Chad points at things London Edition ☝️🤓 Part 5: Random Edition including the I Goat, the site of London’s first coffee shop, the White Hart Lane train sign, and myself at the Bubble Bond outside Liverpool Station

Hey! It’s your Canadian 🇨🇦 Dad in London 🇬🇧. Let me show you what I found down this sketchy alley

Chad points at things London Edition ☝️🤓 Part 4: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The boys are up in Manchester this weekend so I took the stadium tour. Took a ton of pics of the pitch, and of course the mural of Sonny

Chad points at things London Edition ☝️🤓 Part 3: Not so much pointing in this edition which focuses on tall pointy things. Walked down Fleet St and the Strand, past King’s College, saw the Camel Corps Memorial, Cleopatra’s Needle, crossed the Thames again, saw the Eye and then it was Big Ben time.

Chad points at things London Edition ☝️🤓 Part 2: St Paul’s Cathedral where I spent an inordinate amount of time staring at the dome, avoiding walking over people in the crypt, huffing up tight circular stairs to the roof, then freezing while taking in the view.

Chad points at things London Edition ☝️🤓 Part 1: Tower Bridge, the Globe Theatre, the absolute unit of a building Tate Modern Art Museum, then crossing the bridge to St Paul’s

Omg I slept 9 hours. Time to do some laundry then explore London.

Attended a talk by some g0v.tw and ocf.tw reps from Taiwan at Newspeak House. They covered the evolution of the #opensource community in Taiwan, the relation with the gov, and the “Bloody Truth” of OS economics :lolsob: We then had a wide-ranging conversation and 🍕💖

After having a massive fish & chips I stopped by a Sainsbury’s and picked up some Jaffa Cakes and Walker’s Salt & Vinegar before heading back to the hotel. 🇬🇧 Might have to put on some Doctor Who to round out the evening. 🙃

Also, Brick Lane is a dream for street photography. I will have my GRIV out tomorrow for a wander 📸

Checked out the Newspeak House venue to prep for #PfP✨London, ended up staying for the Open Rights Group meetup, then got a massive fish&chips and hung out with faculty and fellows and even met some visitors from the Taiwan open source community passing through from FOSDEM. 💖

After a 3 hour delay due to a water pump issue—which they couldn’t fix so just shut down the system resulting in no coffee, tea, or running water in the bathrooms for the 9hr flight—I finally took off to London 🇬🇧 Slept the whole way and checked into my hotel. Everything is so… British 😂

How boring people people are actually interesting (and how they can help you do crimes) — advice for a 14 year old from the inimitable Mike Monteiro 😊 buttondown.com/monteiro/…

First newsletter of the year is out the door! Can’t believe I have been writing these little notes since mid 2020 buttondown.com/chadkoh/a…

Bunch of info in here, but the migration to YT and Spotify is real and worrisome (/cc @justinjackson.ca @dmathewwws.com) podcasts.rip #podcasting #rss #ads

Played my first game of MOTHERSHIP tonight. Lots of fun! 👽🚀 #ttrpg

Had a lovely compliment this morning in a meeting: “You are a Zipper, always bringing communities together!” 🥹 My wife remarked, “Are you sure he wasn’t just telling you to shut up?” 😏🤐 🤣 Stay grounded out there! 😘

Church bells in the evening in Vancouver ⛪️🔔

At The Permanent for a little Internet Archive Canada thing 🥂

Watched The Sound of Music with the kids tonight 🎶 🦌🌞🤳🏃‍♂️‍➡️🪡⬅️🫖

What a weekend. After seeing the sunset on the beach we had Indian-Chinese food for dinner, then the next day my wife baked roht at her Afghan cooking class, after which we popped over to the farmer’s market to shop for nuts at the Armenian dealer. Surrey is great!

What a talk from Ajahn Nisabho 🙏 🪷 The Buddha said “I praise the killing of one thing: anger.” Take care of your heart ❤️ my friends. #buddhism #politics

Finally started Katabasis by R.F. Kuang 📚 Tracking on Hardcover here Pre-ordered the special edition a few months ago: micro.chadkohalyk.com/2025/09/0…

Spent the afternoon by the water, watching this sunset 🌅 (Crescent Beach, Surrey and White Rock BC)

Been enjoying Hardcover so much I went ahead and imported all my Goodreads stuff into it. Come join us! hardcover.app/@chadkoh

Competition Bureau Canada report on Data Portability: Last week the Canadian Competition Bureau released the report Your Data, Your Control: How data portability can unlock competition and empower consumers. The surprisingly readable report centers around an experiment exploring data portability in the insurance sector, calculating that “introducing …

I LOL’d when I saw Ajahn Kovilo say this during the full talk 🤣 I am so glad they turned it into a Short: Full talk is here if you want to hear more.

Finished A People’s History of Computing in the United States by Joy Lisi Rankin 📚 Here is a short review: hardcover.app/books/a-p…

Nice walk in a very sunny forest 🌞🌲🪾🌳

Who do I know that lives in the Fraser Lowland? A friend has started a fellowship program to support projects focusing on localism there. If you know anyone please tag me and share them this: fraserlowland.org

Clear Mountain Monastery found land just outside of #Seattle! 🪷 They have a beautiful vision and raised 99% of the funds. I really love this community and have made a small contribution. If you are interested in having authentic #Buddhism nearby learn more: www.friendsofclearmountain.org 🙏

Good first ep in @themaybe.org’s new series on Digital Public Infrastructure with a wild story about how Walmart and Google ended up owning the digital pay rails in India 🫨 www.themaybe.org/podcast/t…

Wife brought back a nice Ebisu omamori for from Osaka for my home office. Keep the house safe, business successful, and also a bag to hold happiness 💰🧧

Interviewing Surrey and Vancouver school officials @cbcstephenquinn.bsky.social learns about how they teach critical media literacy. Luckily all of them have defunct Twitter accounts except BC gov. However they all still list X on their sites.

Chapter 5 of A People’s History of Computing in the United States has this amazing anecdote of how the statewide computer network was governed by the users via a bill of rights! hardcover.app/books/a-p…

This interview with legendary translator Red Pine is pure poetry! From his story of learning Chinese at random, moving to Taiwan on a whim, and “dancing” with the Chinese masters… all with his earthy, saintly, demeanor. Profound and joyful (and a side of swear words)

Ooooh! Massive list of #opensource events. Will need to parse and integrate into my own list of conferences for 2026 github.com/Everythin…

A People’s History of Computing in the United States 📚 Ch3 (41%) BASIC becomes the people’s language. Meant for networked computing and timesharing, easy to mod and fork… much easier than FORTRAN which biz uses and less likely to share programs… READ MORE →

Damn! Riz Ahmed is brilliant and this looks intense

Every time I am at the grocery store standing in front of a glass case waiting 5 mins for someone to come unlock a stick of deodorant, I reflect that we went from family-run neighborhood shops who knew your kids, to impersonal big box stores, to every customer being criminalized. 😔

I am testing out Hardcover as a book tracking and journaling app this month in my 2026 journey to get off of Goodreads for once and for all. If you are using it, HMU I need to find more peeps to follow to test it properly! https://hardcover.app/@chadkoh #books

Started A People’s History of Computing in the United States by Joy Lisi Rankin 📚 Tracking progress and chapter updates in Hardcover as a test this month: hardcover.app/books/a-p… #books #amReading

Finished Orbital by Samantha Harvey 📚 Like the novelization of a David Attenborough film on the planet. Gorgeous meditation on the fragility of the planet, and of people. Lovely. Audio was great, but I can see myself picking up the text and reading again much closer in the future. #Reading #Books

Wife surprised my anime loving daughter with the hotel upon arrival in Tokyo 😄

Listened to half of this today: Orbital by Samantha Harvey 📚 Very poetic and introspective so far.

At Vancouver International Airport. Just dropped off my wife and older kid who are doing a Mommy-Daughter trip to Japan. Meanwhile I will be single-dadding it here in Canada. Good luck to us all! 🍀

My old friend I met in Tehran 22 years ago came over and we ate Japanese New Years food, Xmas cookies baked by my daughter, then chips & homemade guacamole, all the while catching up and talking about going to the local Korean Spa. Feel lucky to live here 😊

Okay, it is that time of year again where I look for a Goodreads replacement 📚. Would love if it worked on atproto. I need organizing (shelves, lists, or tags), progress tracking (pages, %), the ability to post chapter notes, and cross-posting to Micro.blog/Bsky/Mastodon. Send me your reccos!

明けましておめでとうございます

新年おめでとうございます🎊㊗️ 今年もよろしくお願いします🎍 from the west coast in Canada 🇨🇦

New Years Noodle Time 🎊🍜 #年越しそば

The last post of the year is up, so here is the last Newsletter of the year. Now back to end of year cleaning 🧹🧽 buttondown.com/chadkoh/a…

Best of 2025: Notable reads, watches, and questions for the year

Scrolling through all the #Kohaku commentary from last night. I miss the live back chatter on New Year’s Eve in Japan. All this is out of context. Could probably make an app that displays posts in sync with the show based on time stamps. But then I wouldn’t get to participate in the snark! 😔

After a flood we plant trees so their root systems join to protect the vulnerable area. The key to resilience is local relationships. Come to our meetup for meetup organizers and let’s build a resilient community together. 🌲🤝🌳 #vancouver #events #communitybuilding meetupmeetup.com

Surburban Development Cycle — a case from Japan: For a couple of years we kept a very small apartment in Kyoto for monthly visits while we were taking care of my parents-in-law. The rent was cheaper than getting a hotel each time, and my parents stored stuff there which justified the expense. The apartment was on the very edge of southwest Kyoto …

10 years ago today I swore off meat. I adopted a plant-based diet because according to Drawdown it is one of the most impactful things an individual can do to fight climate change, especially in Canada which is a large country with a concentrated beef sector, contributing to a lot of GHGs. 🥗

Judging AI on its ability to expand capacity: From Evgeny Morozov’s essay Socialism After AI: The driving imperative would not be “growth” measured as ever more commodities, but the enlargement of what people are actually able to do and be, individually and collectively. On that view, AI would be judged by whether it opens new spaces of …

Daughter and her friends just showed up at our front door singing Xmas carols. They have been going around the neighbourhood. Apparently it is an annual tradition for the Drama kids here. 😄

Just finished The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie 📚 This is the 10th book in The First Law world, and the finale of The Age of Madness. (Also the 6th book of Joe’s I read this year!) Phew! Epic! Done! So good!

A few more shots from our pre-Xmas celebrations in Vancouver on a pretty nice day! (which means overcast but no rain) www.flickr.com/photos/sa…

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

You live the story you write: But you don’t remember that you wrote it… and that is what makes life fun

''

''

''

''

''

''

Vancouver’s “Powerbroker” — a sort of review of “Becoming Vancouver”: Who is the Robert Moses of Vancouver?

''

''

Re-framing Franz Fanon: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Exploring AI and American Fascism: mikerugnetta.com’s excellent essay on slopaganda, agit slop, and what it really says about power

''

New Kit! Ricoh GR IV: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Back to Birken: A travel report from my 7 day silent retreat

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Revisiting Malazan: There and back again

''

''

''

''

Summer Travel: Travelogue by bullet point

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Why BrainRot: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

TTRPG hole: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Fantasy hole: ''

Scale: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Coffee recommendations in Kyoto and Osaka ☕: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Une petite catharsis of anomie — a review of Deep Work by Cal Newport: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Checking in on online media usage: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Boats to Nanaimo for the National Association of Japanese Canadians conference: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Vaisakhi Parade in Surrey: ''

Cherry Blossoms of Vancouver: ''

''

“Even in Kyoto, I long for Kyoto”: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Goosing the system — Behind the scenes at the first ATmosphereConf: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Suddenly Tokyo: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Thanks for the mench Neverpost! 👋 Traffic Camera Selfies: ''

''

''

''

''

All the different bilinguals in my home: ''

''

Home: ''

''

''

''

''

Organizing Community Thriving: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Best of 2024: ''

''

''

''

''

Taiwan Trip Report pt 4: Inconclusion: ''

''

''

''

Notes from Germany: ''

''

My Coffee Advent Calendar Experience: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Shining a light on the Dark Forest theory of the internet: ''

''

''

My DWeb Seattle Social Trip Report: ''

''

''

''

Neverpost, a show about the internet: ''

''

''

Renunciation and technology: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

CITED is back and taking on "economics": ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Causal Islands Berlin: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Taiwan Trip Report pt 3: Taipei: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Comparing ambiguous apples and polysemous pigs: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

#craigsgymclass begins! plank 🪵 squats 🏋️‍♀️ pushups 🙇: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Recognize the ills, let's do better — Short summary of : ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Jiufen: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Taiwan trip report - Introduction: ''

Kaohsiung and Tainan, featuring Fo Guang Shan: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

It could be better for everybody — a review of Limitarianism in just 335 words: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Just enough capitalism – A quick review of Slow Productivity: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Rewilding the internet: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Networking our networks: ''

''

''

"we all can't be Buddhas": ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

GitHub's Innovation Graph: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

More on Decentralization: ''

''

''

''

''

On decentralization: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Concentric circles of content: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Best of 2023: ''

Hagia Sophia: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Perspective on Palestine — Review of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Istanbul — Look around, feel history: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Attending the Internet Governance Forum - Stakeholders: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Attending the Internet Governance Forum - Experience: ''

''

''

Attending the Internet Governance Forum - An intro: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

Stopping flying considerations: ''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

''

First!: ''