The “fediverse” is the term for the federated social web, a collection of social media concepts (Mastodon, PeerTube, Pixelfed, Friendica, Bookwyrm, etc.) that can all talk to each other by virtue of a common protocol: ActivityPub. The technical details don’t matter. What matters is that, in the fediverse, everyone can […]
Life
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Will a 2019 Intel-based iMac (without the T2 security chip) happily run GNU/Linux? This was the question I set out to answer when we recently retired the first Mac we ever bought for our house. The answer is YES. But the details matter. Background: Forced Obsolescence of Good Hardware For-profit […]
I am presently back in the US on a short vacation before heading to Vermont to participate in the Stellafane Convention. In what has been an intense and extremely busy year, this has been a few days of much needed rest and peace. After exercising in a state park yesterday, […]
In October 2023, I had the great pleasure to journey from Sudbury to Modane, France to participate in a workshop at the Modane Underground Laboratory (Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane, or LSM). That was an incredible work period and a great chance to visit the underground laboratory, which is a “horizontal […]
Updated October 28, 2024: I added information about the new companion website for the book! We’ve launched! While the official release date of the book is October 31 (aka Dark Matter Day … aka Halloween!), it is now available to order. Copies should start arriving on or about October 31 […]
Jodi and I were very fortunate to be able to get a lot of feedback on our book draft for “The Dark Matter Discoverer’s Guidebook”. We finished receiving all the feedback a few weeks ago. This was the scariest part of the writing process. You spend so much time with […]
Today was a wonderful day. The host site for SNOLAB, the Creighton Mine, ran its Family Day events this afternoon. Food, a tour of mine equipment, games, music … and science! SNOLAB was part of the festivities, and the lab came together to share wonder and discovery with the mothers, […]
Three years in the making, “The Dark Matter Discoverer’s Guidebook” – a labour of love and intellectual pursuit – is almost ready for publication. The goal is to have this published and available on or around Dark Matter Day (October 31). This book was born from a pandemic delay, a […]
I recently had the humbling experience of officiating the second wedding of my life. The first was my sister’s wedding. The second, just a week ago, was that of my most recent PhD student, Chris. This one was, however, unique: I had to do some writing for the ceremony. Apparently, […]
The Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane, or LSM, is located directly adjacent to the Italy-France border. Nestled below the Frejus Peak and connected to the Frejus Road Tunnel (a 13km underground highway currently under expansion), the laboratory can be driven into and shields its projects with a maximum of 1700m of […]
It was a good trip from Toronto to Modane. Two planes, two trains, and a bus … and I was standing at the feet of alpine mountains in beautiful Modane. Here are some scenes from the trip.
This week will be something of an intense travel exercise. I am off to a 2-day workshop at the Modane Underground Laboratory on the border of France and Italy. To get there, I leave on a flight (today) from Toronto to Paris, connecting through New York. This puts me into […]