Immoral Engines

"You can't walk away from Omelas when your legs have been shredded to wet pulp by flechettes."
--Peacekeeper 1st Class Kyle Robinson, Perth, 2098

What's with This Worldly Widget?

 I'm in Edmonton; I usually am. 

Here I am in a hailstorm. The map--if it appears--will show that this hailstorm took place in Edmonton, Alberta. 

NOTE: The map did not appear. 

Mission Out-of-Control

 

Systems carefully constructed
Structures built on mathematics 
Numbers streaming, screaming--digital fortifications
Warblesquawking intelligences darting 
Across spiderwebs of light
Buttons pushed, switches turned; tactile audio, reassuring snaps and pops
We erect in ignorance
Structures to serve us, growing beyond us
Pulling out the planet's core, draining vitality
A capital plan
Inflection is coming
The buttons and switches push and turn themselves
Homo sapiens redundans

Dark Matter: "Love and Be Loved"

Dark Matter, based on the novel by Blake Crouch, is about a Jason Dessen, a scientist who is kidnapped by his duplicate from another universe and stranded in the universe of that duplicate. Jason's challenge is to find a way home to get his life back. 

Things get increasingly complicated. Over the course of the show's first two seasons, we get to see a legion of Jasons as similar events play out across multiple universes. 

While I've enjoyed the show thus far, this is the first time I've been moved to comment on an episode. "Love and Be Loved" (the fifth episode of season two) is one of the best hours of dramatic television I've ever seen, and meets the potential of long-form narrative. 

As a stand-alone story, "Love and Be Love" still works. But with 13 episodes of character development behind it, everything this version of Jason is going through explores the human cost of living--not in economic terms; just the pain of being alive, and why it's still worth fighting for. 

"Love and Be Loved" is a lifeline to those among us are despairing over the state of our world--a reminder that if we're lucky, when we've hit rock bottom, there will be someone out there to lift us back up with kindness, empathy, and understanding--and that when we're back on our feet, we can do the same for others.

 

Referendumb B.S. (Bumper Sticker)

I am not a bumper sticker guy. But at this moment, every little gesture of support for federalism matterss. 
 

The Right Man for the Right Job

British studio Hammer Films has created nearly 300 movies spanning the genres, but they're best known for the science fiction, horror, and fantasy movies they released from the 1950s to the 1970s, including fresh takes on horror staples such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Mummy. 

In 2023, British theatre producer John Gore acquired Hammer, and since then the studio has been producing superb ultra-high definition special edition blu-rays of many of their most famous (infamous?) titles, including the first two Quatermass films, X the Unknown, The Curse of Frankenstein, and this month's Dracula. Not only does the new Hammer produce really excellent, fresh 4K transfers of their library, the discs--often containing multiple versions of their respective films and a host of superb special features--are presented in premium packaging with booklets, lobby cards, and posters. 

I guess it takes a man named Gore to revive a truly ghoulish brand. Kudos to John Gore and his (presumably bloodthirsty) team. 
 

Easy Disc Access

Here I am in 1986 playing Ultima IV. But check out the wall to my left; I used adhesive to affix floppy disc sleeves to the wall next to our Atari 130 XE. Handy. 

Here's what was likely going through my head at the time. 

One More Book I'll Never Write

Besides, Manhattan Transfer has already been done. On the other hand, why shouldn't there be a Canadian version? We have bigger islands...
 

Space Paranoids Are Out to Get You

The good (evil) folks at ENCOM created an all time arcade classic back in 1982--SPACE PARANOIDS. Can you navigate the maze and destroy the looming RECOGNIZERS before they recognize you--and DEREZZ you? 

And now you can test your skills from the comfort of your browser, thanks to Landon Smith. 

PLAY SPACE PARANOIDS

Trap Door to the Backrooms

Fall up the trap door
Into blackest space descend
Never to return

 

Autumnal Geekquinox 2026: "Best of" #2

 

Once again--Geekquinox. Autumnal. Best of, the second time around.

Two absent, stricken by illness and injury. We who remained--carrying on valiantly. To eat what they could not; to drink what their lips would not touch. To share conversations later, and bring juicy leftovers. 

To begin: cocktails, virgin and wanton. Recipes tried and tested true. 

The tally for teetotallers.

I partnered with Scott to absorb the Silken Verdure. Sweet. Cold. Chilling in its crisp ambience. Delicious and smooth. A clear, perfect, see-through cube of ice. 

The appetizer. Atomic buffalo turds. Crudely named. Finely assembled. Fresh off the BBQ--sausage, sauce, and cheese wrapped in a jalapeno pepper. Hot stuff for a hot day and a cool crowd. 

Consumed on the back deck on an unseasonably hot September 19. In the distance, a sinister reflection. An Alpha male at the forefront. 

Perfectly pleasing. Snappy, sweet, scintillating. The pear and pomegranate salad. Presented perfectly, gobbled with gusto. 

And what next? A short rest. Use hit dice to regain hit points. Prepare for the next assault on the taste buds. 

The chef's court. Ruler of his culinary domain. 

An audience for the queen. Of beasts and men. And women. 

One of the wanton cocktails, clutched firmly in Mike's fickle fingers. 

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha--

--hamacha shots. A sudden, surprising shock of savoury sensation, twice over. 

Back in time by an hour. The main course. Beef Wellington. Named for the general? The city? It matters not; all wellington and good. Better than good: scrumpsational. 

Unseen: key lime pie. Dessert. Tart. 

Bringing home the bacon. The beef. The pastry. The mushrooms and fois gras. A tender moment. 

Gratitude? Boundless. It was a very good day...to dine. 

77 Words on Five Came Back

Lucille Ball nailing a serious role. A b-picture with cheap sets and special effects, but also a compelling high-stakes story and actors with the chops to make it work. David Carradine and his distinctive voice. A haunting off-screen menace. A metaphorical ticking clock. A killer consigned by fate to make the final decision of who must stay in the jungle to die, and the five who will return safely to their normal lives. A brave, shocking finale. 

Hidden Figure

 

I Voted, 2026 Edition

No to the nine misleading, leading, unrealistic, and misguided questions, yes to staying in Canada. 


 

I Heard My Own Heart Beat Today

Having reached a certain age, I had my lower legs analyzed today. The nurse used a blood pressure cuff that transmitted the sound of my heartbeat, something I've never heard before. It was a strange experience, but reassuring to know that it does, indeed, beat. 

WJW in the Octagon

Another artifact from Mom and Dad's effects--a photo of Dad's dad in a frame made of orange and blue thread wrapped around a metal octagon, presumably made by Hope Woods. 
 

Manitoba Hunter Safety Instructor

I have vague memories of watching Mom and Dad using rifles to shoot tin cans in the forests of Leaf Rapids. This would have been before Sean was born, and might have only happened once, possibly twice. Mom and Dad had those two rifles for decades (along with Granddad's shotgun), and that's the only time I can recall them ever being used. Mom and Dad finally got rid of the rifles sometime in the 2000s. I think they probably only had them in case of bears or wolves; I certainly don't remember them being hunting enthusiasts, despite Dad being a safety instructor through the 1970s. 

Another bit of family history I wish I'd asked about or written down before it was too late. 

Granddad's Uncanny Valley

Restoring art, restoring photos, restoring buildings or furniture or people; no matter how skilled the technique, the original remains well and truly gone. I asked Gemini to fix an out-of-focus and damaged photo of Mom's dad, and it gave me this. It's not bad, I suppose; the image looks something like Granddad, and the book looks plausibly close to the one he was reading in the original photo. 

But it's not a true window into the past. Neither is a photograph, of course, but it's much closer than this. 

Maybe one day we'll invent a time window that allows us to look into the past as it truly was, as in Clarke's The Light of Other Days. Wouldn't that be something...if we had the wisdom to allow our ancestors their privacy, perhaps restricting the use of time windows to only public events, or ones without people. Alas, unlikely on both scientific and societal grounds. 

 

Charlie's Choice

At about the 20-minute mark of "Charlie X," young Charlie Evans plays a very short, one-sided game of three-dimensional chess against Mister Spock. Charlie plays white, Spock black. Spock defeats Charlie in a couple of moves: "Checkmate." Charlie, who's not very mature because of his alien upbringing, throws a verbal tantrum, shouting irrationally, "No, it's not!" Spock, unflappable, walks out. 

A moment later, Charlie focuses his rage on the chessboard, using uncanny psychic powers to melt about half of the pieces. 

Despite having seen this episode probably a half-dozen times, this time I noticed an interesting detail: Charlie only melts the white pieces--his own pieces. He may have refused to acknowledge Spock's victory with words, but by melting his own pieces, Charlie shows the audience that he knows the truth; he lost because he wasn't smart enough to beat his opponent. By melting his own pieces instead of Spock's Charlie shows us that along with all his other emotional difficulties, he's prone to self-loathing. 

Throughout the episode, Charlie says he wants people to like him, but that somehow he always "gets things wrong." He doesn't understand human social mores, having spent the first 17 years of his life with benevolent but distinctly non-human, unknowable aliens--the aliens who gave him the powers Charlie needed to survive after he was marooned without parents on their world. The aliens who come to take him back to their world, not out of malice, but to protect the galaxy from Charlie, who has unlimited power but not the sense of responsibility to use that power wisely. 

"Charlie X" is already one of Star Trek's most tragic and moving episodes, and taking a closer look at that short-lived game of chess increases the pathos. 
 

A Steam Engine and Steel Separator for $880!

Here's a postcard I recently scanned, found in Mom and Dad's stuff. 

According to Gemini--so who knows if this information is correct or not--these postcards were handed out at agriculture trade fairs between 1908 to 1910, making this specimen over a century old. Crazy. I find it quite beautiful in its way; maybe I'll have it framed. 

 

Always Yours, William Woods

Here's a scan of a photo of my paternal grandfather in a small metal and glass photo frame. 
 

Dad's Boy Scout Patch

 

Peace Gardens Camporee

One of Dad's patches. I hope he had  good time. 
 

A Satisfying Bar Graph

(Over 1,900 of these are shorts.) 
 

Alert Condition: YELLOW

Lego's TOS bridge set includes some neat easter eggs, including your choice of alert condition lights for the top centre of the astrogation station, represented as a cheese wedge brick in translucent clear, yellow, or red. I've used the yellow brick here and added a light glow with Photoshop to indicate that Kirk has taken the ship to yellow alert for some reason. Poor Chekov and McCoy look alarmed, while Scotty seems concerned, too. Get down to engineering if you're that worried, Scotty!