Downes 🍁

#SilentSunday

August 16, 2026. Crow. For this week's hike we went to Petrie Island to inspect the frogs and the turtles and whatever birds we could find. It was mostly overcast today but warm. #SDDaily

Better no deal than a bad deal. We are not a U.S. colony.

#SilentSunday

August 15, 2026. Gravel Grind. Today I set myself the objective of cycling with the wind 45 km south to the St. Lawrence River and then coming back the hard way, following gravel back roads as much as possible, and to maybe add enough extra distance to make it a metric century - 100 km - ride. It was a beautiful day and the plan went like clockwork, 101 km total, and I crushed the gravel. :) #SDDaily

#cycling

August 19, 2026. Larose Forest. Made this a longer cycling day today as I did a loop that took me through the heart of Larose Forest. Nice day, except for some rain, but that didn't even slow me down. #SDDaily

August 14, 2026. Bretzler Farms. Scene from my bike ride today. Our economy around here depends on dairy farms, and I very much hope the industry is not traded away in a futile bid to appease the U.S. government. #SDDaily

August 12, 2026. Sun and Moon. OK, the 'moon' is just lens flare, but this photo taken at the 'maximum' in Ottawa doesn't show any real eclipse effect. We were at the Costco at the time. We also dropped off some electronics recycling and also discovered that the minimum fee at the local landfill is $91, which is rather more than I want to pay just to unload a box of picture frames. #SDDaily

Dragonfly #DailyPhoto #Photography 2026365 July 26, 2026. We went for a hike in Larose Forest west today; I haven't been there in the summer for quite a while. Listened to the ball game, though that was just disappointing. https://ift.tt/1Tf3Vjs

July 23, 2026. Home again. Back after a long travel day in which a lot of things did not work the way they should. A case of summer travel? Luggage will follow, but at least my bike box arrived - beaten and ragged and sent to the wrong belt. Sore and tired - not just sleepy but body tired. It's good, though. It's what adventure feels like, and what am I without adventure? #SDDaily

Looking
https://divine.video/video/6b3a2625c6598477bbd6be75b5a3c090f1967c4e7cd9a9a4cd6535484fe2d516

August 17, 2026. Tractors. A display promoting an effort to set a plowing record in nearby St. Albert. A typical day - OLDaily plus cycling. #SDDaily

April 21, 2026. Nuthatch. I've spent the last couple of days resting to relieve a sore oblique. This means I've been working on my CList software. Meanwhile, enjoy this nurhatch. #SDDaily #bird #photography

Welp... I'm home from my last day at the office (spent mostly packing books) and now I'm officially retired. It's on to the Next Thing, whatever that turns out to be...

"Every era’s turnaround began the same way: some unmeasurable number of people, each acting alone, declined to sell — and then made the single most subversive move available to a member of a collapsing civilization.

They found the people who could not be bought."

https://thegrimhistorian.substack.com/p/has-america-crossed-the-asshole-threshold

Back home again.

July 27, 2026. Jeff Banister and the Lenses. Scene from a shelf in my home office, where I spent most of the day puttering. I'm still in trip recovery mode, but beginning to do stuff again. #SDDaily

July 24, 2026. First day back. This is the basement floor. It's my first day back after a long time on the road. I got my photos uploaded to Flickr, which is plenty for one day. So tired. #SDDaily

July 25, 2026. Grass, as seen from the basement window. Today's accomplishment was to upload a video. We also went to Costco. Also got some OLDaily posts done. Still not very ambitious. #SDDaily

Enjoy a collection of 364 photos from my trip to Iceland: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_downes/albums/72177720334825867

March 31, 2026. Productive day. Went to the dentist for the hygienist, X-rays and a checkup and left with zero cavities. So yay! Got my final time sheets completed, and wrapped up the project with DRDC. Also we had our last team meeting. Brought home many of the speaker's gifts I've accumulated over the years - not sure where to put them but I value them. #SDDaily

Today's music: 10,000 Maniacs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ALBnosXFMo Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY8y_7B3Gxs

April 2, 2026. A last look at my office before I take things down. It was a decent office but I never felt any love for it. My last day in this building will be next Tuesday, with my only objective to take my own stuff out of it and leave NRC's stuff behind. #SDDaily

Today's music: Katie Melua - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIF5mcc0y4c

Today's music: Maria Schneider & Frankfurt Radio Big Band - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79hXRF2RkIo

I've completely rewritten my CARE application — Content-Addressed Resource Exchange. This was my project from a few years ago to distribute Open Educational Resources (OER) on IPFS, a decentralized file storage system. https://github.com/Downes/CARE-project

An account is required to upload, and the demo version is a 'hermit' node, not actively publishing to IPFS, but the code includes full IPFS support. https://care.mooc.ca/

(I wanted to do all this 10 years ago but it was way too far ahead of its time)

April 1, 2026. Sunshine in the Back Yard. The weather has turned a bit. Working from home, getting files archived and my post-NRC Web page set up. #SDDaily.

Finally watching 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' (in Technicolor)

July 28, 2026. Baseball. When I was pushing through the cold and the rain over the last month I was dreaming about sitting in the stands on a sultry summer evening watching a ball game. Tonight we went for an Ottawa Titans doubleheader. First game was a dog but the second was a 1-0 thriller. #SDDaily

August 18, 2026. Goldenrod. This is the scene outside my basement window. Good thing I like goldenrod. Shopping day today, which means a trip to the city and no cycling. Watched the ball game in the evening. #SDDaily

Today's music: P.J. Harvey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De-p_E650Ik

After three days of the #OLDaily funding campaign, I'm at 7% of my subscriptions target.

April 3, 2026. Lunch. I liked how bright my lunch looked today. Today was very much a rest day - any ambition I had disappeared with the need for an afternoon nap. They say retirement is one of those stressful life events. I can relate. #SDDaily

What I've Been Doing Over The Summer https://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2026/08/what-ive-been-doing-over-summer.html

Today's music: Lissie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnC6ZBXCqa0 Also (with better sound quality): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKkzgVun43c&t=1151s

It has taken a while but I have now been able to upload the video recording of my keynote in Ecuador, Technology, Diversity and Human Connection: https://www.downes.ca/presentation/605