Coast to coast to coast...
Today, Canada became the largest country in the world and the third (following Portugal and Uruguay) with a legal national marijuana marketplace. Read more here…
My photo in September 2017, Cox Bay Beach, Tofino (British Columbia).
Blombos Cave (near Capetown), South Africa
“Nine red lines on a stone flake found in a South African cave may be the earliest known drawing made by Homo sapiens, archaeologists reported on Wednesday. The artifact, which scientists think is about 73,000 years old, predates the oldest previously known modern human abstract drawings from Europe by about 30,000 years.”
“We knew a lot of things Homo sapiens could do, but we didn’t know they could do drawings back then,” said Christopher Henshilwood, an archaeologist from the University of Bergen in Norway and lead author of the study…
(original source unknown)
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba
I am overwhelmed with gratitude, and thankful for the hundreds of friends, colleagues, and family members (around the world) who have held me in their thoughts and prayers during my recent health ordeal. I am also grateful beyond words to the specialists, doctors, nurses(!), nursing assistants, technicians, orderlies, physiotherapists and other vital hospital personnel who have helped me through one of the greatest trials of my life. It goes without saying that I am also incredibly thankful to live in Canada, where citizens are provided with universal healthcare!
I have happily returned with Evelin to her home, after spending the past seven weeks in four different hospitals (Selkirk, HSC in Winnipeg, Arborg, and then Gimli). I am weak, but recovering. Evelin stayed by my side throughout the 51 days in hospitals, sleeping watchfully along side me every night — what a love! I am now learning to walk again, and with the help of canes, am beginning to climb stairs as well.
What exactly transpired at Easter is still somewhat unclear (to the experts, as well as to me). What we do know is that I had a severe case of sepsis, which triggered a serious cardiac event and then an explosive series of strokes. I was heavily medicated with opiates for the first month, while doctors struggled to stabilize me and the various bodily functions that had been impacted. I’m very fortunate that, as MRIs are showing, the brain damage I suffered was only on the right side — not affecting my ability to remember, to speak, etc.
My focus over the next months (perhaps years) will be to heal, quietly and steadily, and regain whatever semblance of “normal” is available to me.
Again, a huge “Thank You!” for the love, prayers, encouragement and “light” that so many sent to me.
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba
I’ve enjoyed living with my partner Evelin in this quiet little town for the past few years, here on the Western shore of Lake Winnipeg (the world’s 10th-largest freshwater lake by area, slightly smaller than Belgium). Water levels can fluctuate significantly in the lake’s relatively shallow southern basin, and strong or sustained winds can whip up powerful waves…
In 2016, Winnipeg Beach undertook extensive re-building of the longstanding “boardwalk” along the beach, following storm-damage and shoreline flooding the previous year. The broken and eroded wooden boardwalk was replaced by a concrete breakwater-walkway, and thousands of “engraved bricks” were installed (including 3900 that were “grandfathered” from the walk’s original wooden planks) — most commemorated the names and/or passages of loved ones who once were part of (or who regularly visited) this quiet resort/community. As part of its efforts to raise funds for the beachfront reconstruction, the town “sold” inscribed bricks (replete with a Certificate of Title), of which I “bought” four. It was fun to “leave a mark,” and easier (also more sustainable) than carving in trees. (-:
As I had not seen any previous acknowledgment along the boardwalk of the original Indigenous inhabitants of this shoreline, that seemed like an obvious first brick. Three more offered the opportunity to share some “words to live and work by” from the Maxim/Dictum that I have referenced as a Leitmotif or manifesto for the past several decades. (Technical problems with the “brick-production” delayed the installation until autumn of 2017, but I was happy to see these finally put in place…).
Winnipeg, Manitoba
My good friend Gerald Brandt’s third novel in the San Angeles trilogy, a thrilling “near-future cyberpunk sci-fi series,” has just been released by Penguin/DAW. Gerald’s “darkly gripping vision of the future” offers a tense, fast-paced, “impossible-to-put-down” tale that keeps readers on the edge of their seat, with a very relatable young heroine as the embattled protagonist. The Rebel is launching locally at McNally Robinson on Monday evening, and we look forward being there for it!
I first got to know Gerald in the 1990s when I took up rock climbing — he and his lithe twin brother were good instructors and a decade younger than I was — we bonded almost immediately (in that way that only those who put their lives into each other’s hands can do) and we became good climbing mates, with countless weekends on nearby cliffs along with unforgettable climbing expeditions in the Rockies. (Yes, Gerald’s climbing prowess makes an appearance in his San Angeles narratives).
Ev and I were pleased and honoured last night to be able to host Gerald and his partner Marnie for dinner — a real shock (and a sudden wave of tears) came when he presented me with a signed copy of The Rebel and I opened the book… Talk about chuffed! I’ve never had a book dedicated to me before…
Thanks Gerald!
Seattle, Washington
My good friend, renowned designer Pat Hansen, has just launched a truly unique online gallery featuring works of fine art by accomplished professional graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, architects and interior designers — work created “on the side.” Many designers create outstanding art outside of their day-to-day practice, but few have had a way of exhibiting such works. Most offerings in Portfolio2 Gallery are one-of-a-kind or offered in limited editions, and have not been available until now.
An initial collection of fine art pieces is currently available here, in a range of media including painting, drawings, sculpture, photography, mixed-media, ceramics and various craft techniques. Accomplished professionals in the design industry (initially only in the USA) are invited to participate by exhibiting pieces they have created “outside of their professional career.” Portfolio2 Gallery’s commisson is 25%, and works of art are shipped (shipping price included!) directly from the artist to the buyer (again, only in the USA for now).
Initial response from the design community has been overwhelming. As noted by Chicago designer Greg Samata, “The idea of an online gallery to aggregate designers’ independent work is a brilliant one. It is an opportunity to make an extraordinary body of work available to the general public.”
A few samples are shown below… view the gallery’s current offerings here.
Winnipeg, Manitoba
My partner Evelin‘s daughter Jennifer is literally a “brainiac” scientist, the head of Kornelsenlab.com (a laboratory involved with brain neuroimaging research re: the study of psychological well-being and chronic pain). Jen is looking for approximately 40 healthy adult volunteers (women or men, 21-75 in age) in the Winnipeg area.
Their brain scans would help figure out the neurophysiology underlying chronic pain, such as in trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain, in terms of the effect those conditions have on brain structure and function. She is nearly done collecting data from the patients with those conditions — now she needs to match each of those patients with gender-and age-matched healthy people to observe the differences. You’d be contributing to science — (and there’s an honorarium of $25).
What is involved?
1) Use the ‘contact us’ link on the website (and include your phone number in the message);
2) you will receive a telephone call that explains the study and what you as a volunteer would do, and, if you’re still interested, then a quick “phone screen” for eligibility would take place;
3) you would get a date/time for your MRI appointment at HSC (Health Sciences Center);
4) at the appointment you would fill out informed consent, MRI screening, and a few questionnaires and then hop in the MRI for an approximately 30-minute set of scans.
Visit here to sign up (use the Contact form) — you can also check out the lab’s ongoing research, publication record, etc. there.
Thanks in advance… (and please share)!
Earlier this year I received the following message (a “friendly admonition” is how it landed on my shores), from a kind gentleman in Munich, Germany…
For a number of reasons (that I won’t get into here and now) I have not found the energy to “post” to this long-running personal blog the way I used to, but it’s really not that I haven’t wanted to. This “News+” blog has been an effective way of sharing links, ideas, opinions, information, inspiration, and interesting viewpoints of others (“Weltanschauungen” I would say), for well over a decade. Though the blog’s “traffic” is down considerably from the 300+ daily visits it used to have (understandable, with no new posts), I know of many friends and contacts and relationships around the globe that have been seeded and nurtured through these keystrokes. So, yes, “Thank you, David!”… you have my word that I’ll try to pay a little more attention to “sharing interesting things with the world again.”
Cheers!
