climate change activist and science communicator; event photographer; amateur mapmaker — advocate for a stable global climate, reduced nuclear weapon risks, and safe human-AI interaction
Posts about Canada’s capital city, and the experience of living there
More than a year after I broke my collarbone, I re-inflated my tires, strapped on a new helmet, and went for a ride along the canal, past the locks beside Parliament, along the river, up Booth Street, along Dow’s Lake, and back home along the canal.
Cycling may carry the distinct risk of breaking your neck, but it beats paying $60 per month to exercise under constant social surveillance at a gym.
I have tried the chess club that meets on Sundays near Billings Bridge, but I have some objections. They only seem to play bullet chess, with five minutes of time per side. I don’t think that allows enough thinking time. Also, they wanted money almost immediately.
It is appealing to arrange a situation where people in central Ottawa can meet to play informal chess for free, using whatever time controls they like.
One idea would be to meet on Tuesday nights between about five and about eight. People could bring their own boards and clocks and play against like-minded amateurs. Any takers?
[Update: 30 July 2011]
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I am very skeptical of patriotism, generally. Very often in the past, people have done terrible things with that motivation and justification. All human beings are our kin, national boundaries are arbitrary, and most wars start for bad reasons.
That said, there is something nice about being with people from all over Canada in the capital today. Whichever part of the landmass we are from, we have something in common that does have value. I think a lot of that value lies in the ethical traditions of Canada – traditions like fair elections, the responsible use of power, and the protection of the powerless. They also lie in institutions like the Charter and the Supreme Court. It is those substantive things that we ought to celebrate about Canada, while also recognizing our substantive faults. Aspects of our international reputation are badly tarnished, and there are groups domestically that deserve more protection than they are getting, not to mention those in future generations.
Our imperfections acknowledged, it seems OK to celebrate our commonalities. For instance, the ways in which the lives of Vancouverites are similar to those of Ottawans or Haligonians much more than you might guess, based on the distances between the places.
At the Ottawa Fringe Festival yesterday I saw All My Children: a ninety minute one-man show in which a slightly Christopher Walken-esque man recounts his rather mischievous dealings with the children of his former girlfriends. Matt Smith, the man putting it on, is easily able to hold the attention of the audience for the duration, and the show is filled with an indirect but rather effective sort of humour. I enjoyed the show a lot and would recommend it.
It is on five more times:
[Update: 5:09pm] My friend Evey wrote a review of this play for Fully Fringed.
The Fringe Festival is starting. There are shows to see.
Given job uncertainty, I have been trying to save and create a buffer for any troublesome periods in the future. That has had me looking at my expenses, particularly at the recurrent ones that arise every month.
Some of those expenses I took on knowing what their extent would be. Others, like my cell phone and web hosting charges, have been steadily creeping up with time.
It is quite possible that whatever job I end up in long-term will pay dramatically less than my current one, and be less secure to boot. With that in mind, I should remain aware of opportunities to squeeze down these expenses. Moving somewhere cheaper is the obvious option, and almost probably something I will do if moving to Toronto.
I walked around my building and neighbourhood, recreating the classic 1851 chess game played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky in London.
The game reminds me a bit of the Orson Scott Card novel Ender’s Game. The book features a battle where one side seems to be defeated but manages to satisfy the formal conditions of victory. This game seems like a nice reminder that the real objective is checkmate, not gaining or protecting material. Anderssen tosses away rooks and even his queen, all while setting up checkmate with two knights and bishop.
I may try photographing some other classic games in interesting venues, though it is hard to do in a way that makes the pieces completely clear. On this chess set, the bishops look too much like pawns. I am going to add some red dots to them – marking them like queen bees.
In the last few weeks, as the weather has become pleasant, the roof of the Beaver Barracks has become an appealing place to spend time. Right now, the roof of 160 Argyle is just bare wooden planks. I know they are eventually planning to have planters and things up there. That will be pleasant, and may provide a welcome pretext for neighbours to get to know one another a bit more.
I hope they put a couple of benches up there. It could also be a nice place to play some evening chess games.
Sorry for the thin content here lately. I have been intensely busy with other things.
For instance, last night I took photos at a Young Canadians in Finance sponsored fundraiser for the United Way. The keynote speaker was Wayne Wouters – Clerk of the Privy Council and Canada’s top bureaucrat. The United Way has a press release up about the event, which includes one of my photos.
P.S. If you are planning to mail anything in Canada – or have anything mailed to you – it may be wise to do it soon.
P.P.S. You can solve chess endgames for free online, using the Nalimov Endgame Tablebases. Once you are down to six or fewer pieces (including kings), the number of possible chess positions falls off sharply. In fact, they can all be stored in just over 7 gigabytes of space.
