Category Archives: life

Plumper Cove

Plumper Cove is a BC marine park on Keats Island, which is in the mouth of Howe Sound between Bowen Island and Gibsons. The weather this April has been unseasonably cold and wet, but the weather forecast was good for … Continue reading

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Halket Bay

Halket Bay is the eastern-most bay on Gambier Island, just past Bowen Island in the mouth of Howe Sound. There’s a marine park in that wraps around much of the bay, interrupted by some private land on the eastern shore. … Continue reading

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Scary Creatures

Behold the scary creatures I have known on land and sea and even in the air: a shark or two, sea-lions and a duck whose hurling form came headlong at my face in level flight. My eyes could see so … Continue reading

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The Art of Arbitrary Choices

Engineering is more like art than people think. So is science. The key to all of them is the same: making arbitrary choices well. On the face of it, an arbitrary choice ought to be, well… arbitrary. It shouldn’t matter … Continue reading

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Why Isn’t the Germ Theory of Disease Mentioned in Scripture?

My text for the day will be the Gospel According to Lister, in which he recounts the revelation God gave to His beloved prophet, Pasteur: And in those days there was a great sickness in the land, and the people … Continue reading

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Marine Maintenance

The Gulf 32 has Universal 32 HP diesel, model 40 (which is also model 5432). It is mounted immediately below the aft companionway and accessible by raising the floor-boards, if by “accessible” one means “can been seen.” There are two … Continue reading

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Insomnia

What is this thing you speak of, sleep? A closing of the eyes? A slowing of my breath and heart? My mind in soft surmise? I think I’ve heard of it before, a myth from yonder times, a thing to … Continue reading

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Robust Relationships

Robustness is the property of being able to deal with unexpected situations without things falling apart. The opposite of robustness is fragility. Fragile things have to be handled with extreme care. In my algorithm development business I pay a lot … Continue reading

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Rain

Hard rain against the window, hollow sounds of glass reverberating in the storm; fat drops of cold hard rain, wind blowing down against the brittle barricades forlorn while crows in murders glide down through the grey and shapeless fog that … Continue reading

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2013 Predictions

‘Tis the season for prediction, and who am I to buck the trend? There are three kinds of predictions I’m interested in: the global economy, the national political landscape, and my own life. Globally, we’ll continue to muddle through. Greece … Continue reading

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