montreal
And in the spirit of Rambo
Today: summer in Montreal, silly side projects/networking, and why make babies.
B R
Have a great stay at home!
I have a million more things to say about Paris but (1) my last post was rather text heavy and (2) rather than going detail by detail I've thrown together some photo highlights with commentary. The long history: The food/drinks which, like any major world city, were
Of Cats and Communards
Half way through our visit we moved to a hotel in the famous Montmartre district. Montmarte is known for: * Its elevation - beautiful views and strategic position * Its former independence from Paris (made into the 14th Arrondissement late) * Its radicalism - most evident with the Paris Commune * Gypsum mining, which,
paris
Bumming a cigarette to a French child outside the horse butcher
There are some massively fucked up people who get very worked up over declining birthrates. Most of these people, like Elon Musk, are of course concerned principally with the birthrate of specific kinds of people. [[1]] The New Yorker recently wrote on the topic. They accurately point out that birthrates
Four Republiques Deep and He Gives You This Look
Two things that Paris impresses upon you immediately is that it is (1) an old city and (2) a world city. The former I intend to talk about at some length next post, but the latter becomes apparent just walking down the street. On your way elsewhere, you will find
paris
Innovating New Accents to Annoy Parisians
FrenchBee is a funny name for a company. I prefer it over the original name, FrenchBlue, that they were called before JetBlue complained to the FAA. Both are sadly inferior to the temporary name the chose in the interregnum - just “French”. Anyway a huge amount of the branding persists
canada-america
Chute libre of a magical deal
I don't really have anything to add about the economic turmoil we are currently engulfed in [[1]]. Whether you are reading this on a day when the market is up or, as French speakers might say, chute libre, is less important than America's most valuable export
canada-america
The Full Megillah and another time the US tried to invade Canada
We went to a Purim party with the local leftist Jewish group my partner found when we arrived. It was held in a a building that made up part of the first (and until recently, largest) hospital complex in Montréal: Cité des Hospitalières. The original hospital was the product of
Uncomfortably Numb
I'm back in Fayetteville, Arkansas again. I don't think I really have the capacity right now to talk about my father, his life, and our loss in a manner that I would feel proud or happy about. It is still too soon. The collective mood is
Soon in your neighborhood
I've started writing four posts in the last two weeks, never managing to finish them because other events have barged into our collective mental space. Those posts were: * One titled "Hindenburg v2", a retrospective on Joseph Biden * Another about the new Star Trek movie, Section 51,
2024 est terminé
What I've done This year started with finishing the first of four French courses, moving on from Substack [[1]], and wistfully considering alternative futures. As spring rolled in, we started going out a little more - the highlights being a drag brunch Megillah reading (Purim), the first heatwave
Battery Chicken Improv
A key activity in the final 8 weeks of my french course is improv. The Quebecois fucking love improv and, admittedly, it's a pretty good way to move from "think something, translate it in your head, and then speak" to "just say what you are