It's Sunday night...do you know where your copy of Bruno Latour's Laboratory Life is? (I sure don't and I know I have a copy...searching all my stacks of books). #phdlife

For context for our non-Canadian friends, The Tragically Hip's very last concert was broadcast by our national broadcaster; it was estimated that 1/3 of all Canadians watched. Gord Downie died from glioblastoma a little more than a year later.

Although on second thought, that's a visit my local record store to pick up the album kind of release.

The Tragically Hip's 'Live July 22 – August 20, 2016' is going to drop on Aug 21, and CBC is going to air the live concert on Aug 22. Pardon me while I go block off my calendar and pre-order the album (also how has it been ten years?). mediacentre.cbc.ca/announcement...

Left Singapore today and started the trek home. The number of container ships and oil tankers there was staggering to see.

[Courtroom] Me: [chanting] tree law, tree law- Others: tree law, TREE LAW Judge: [pounding her gavel] TREE LAW, TREE LAW, TREE LAW!

While I've been in Singapore, I've been using WeWork hotdesking for a comfortable place to write. I feel like an anthropologist or a spy, working on my science fiction story among business people. Typing away industriously, like a captain of industry. Little do they know...

Foundling Fathers, by Meg Elison Hamilton meets The Boys from Brazil 1776 meets Clone High All the Presidents' Heads meets Jurassic Park 6.23.2026 It's the satire America deserves for her 250th. tachyonpublications.com/product/foun...

Ahhh, that feeling of landing a seat upgrade for an upcoming 15 hour flight....I am at a co-working space and it was all I could do not to stand up and cheer.

The heat and humidity is so shocking that after a long day, I have been stopping at a local McDonald's for a coke. Nothing else, just a coke with all th ice.

Today's Singapore adventure: a research visit to the herbarium, followed by a walk through the gardens.

Many pro astrophysicists receive unsolicited letters from amateurs with new but subtly wrong physics theories, often about relativity and from retired engineers. This cute new paper is a perfect reply & I love how it uses cyclotrons & transponders & radar 🧪🔭 arxiv.org/abs/2605.21660

I am jetlagged BAD but I discovered an app to look up the cargo ship I'm watching as I write.

I got some dimsum and brought it back to the open air veranda. Was just wondering what that noise is...it's the waves breaking on the shore.

So I'm here for two weeks to research and develop science fiction-themed critical self-reflection modules, and also do some creative writing. I think...I think it's going to be pretty easy to dream up some sci-fi.

this is art

I have been flying all through the night from Vancouver to Singapore. It's been comfortable but so so so long.

OBSTETRIX IS OUT TODAY!!! If you're looking for a signed copy ASAP, I went over yesterday to Uncle Hugo's and Moon Palace and signed stock.

Raspberries are $3 in Montreal. <Glares in 7.99 Alberta>

I am staying in a residence that was once a convent and there are nuns buried in the basement. It's probably not haunted.

Prairie me is aghast at the backyard pools and the wanton spraying of water upon the roadways just because it's dusty.

I have arrived in Montreal for le conference. Also they are doing roadwork and just randomly hosing down the road and sidewalk to keep the dust down DON'T THEY KNOW WATER IS PRECIOUS DONT WASTE IT LIKE THAT

Getting ready for my presentation this week at the 2026 Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English meeting. My Wri 426 course at @ucalgaryconted.bsky.social was (and I think still is?) the only romance AND erotica creative writing course offered by a Canadian institution.

It might be an indication of the state of the world when I got trapped with my coworker in an elevator and we really enjoyed the break to sit and chat. (We were freed after twenty minutes or so)

Now available for preorder - Revolutionary Subjects: A Radical History of the Bildungsroman by Benjamin Kohlmann "A source of much-needed cultural sustenance in hard times." - Bruce Robbins

💗Girl summer💗

Putting this out there, hoping to connect with scientists working on climate impacts in Singapore. Bluesky, do your thing!

If you want to learn everything about bugs you’ve always wanted to know. You can sign up for free. www.ualberta.ca/en/admission...

I tried a new hygienist-led practice for my cleaning and they offered me a numbing paste for my gums when I mentioned that they're sensitive. I'm almost fifty years old, and this is the first time pain relief was offered during a cleaning. All this time, I thought just was something that hurt.

Rest in peace, Cris.

My neighbours are on their way home from their honeymoon so I abused my spare key privileges and left them champagne and snackies (and a gross new bone for their dog) and decorated their door. I love being middle-aged and doing fun things for the youngsters in my life.

I'm gaining on my candidacy exam reading list...

On Thursday, my grad program director muttered that my choice of Chinese to fulfil the second language requirement wasn't relevant to my PhD field of study as she looked at my profile. Today, I am making notes as I read Paolo Bacigalupi's The Water Knife and translating the Chinese characters.

NY Times really hoping the new western Canada bureau chief is found soon.

Just once I wish my grad program and its faculty would treat me like I wasn't just a big hassle to them.

Have you been thinking about subscribing to Speculative Insight? Now is a good time to do so! We have essays about collective memory in Afrofuturism, Indian feminist SF, how SF helps people living under occupation, climate change in Africanfuturist work, agency in Winterson's The Stone Gods...

If anybody would like 60 days of Kobo Plus, my 'friends and family free code is 2Z7FA7CP. www.kobo.com/ca/en/promot...

The more I read for my candidacy exams, the more I think my dissertation is going to take up a beef with Barthes and the whole death of the author thing.

Epic, neighbourhood wide games of hide and seek. Making forts in lilac bushes. Walks to the library and swimming in the public pool. Reading in the shade.

I've been taking a picture of the river from the same spot off and on for three years, and the pic from twelve days ago to today is a good example of spring arriving!

Happy International Workers' Day. Solidarity. Poster by @rlmartstudio.bsky.social, and also on my office wall.

Candidacy exam prep through the summer means I'm ordering prescription reading sunglasses. (I'm feeling particularly smug about realizing I could.)

In honor of #EarthDay, here is a reminder that there is a bot account that posts a photo of the whole Earth from a million miles away, taken by the Deep Space Climate Observatory, several times daily. You can view all the images (and zoom in) here: epic.gsfc.nasa.gov

I am filling out an application for a research trip.

You can tell it's awards season because I just got a junk email offering my past life reading and I thought ooo what books did past me read?

I had to reposition the shifters, but these new handlebar grips make for a comfier ride!

First weekend of being DONE classes...I put new handlebar grips on my bike (some nice comfy touring ones) in anticipation of bike commutes this spring and summer.

We had 30cm of snow over Weds and Thurs and today it was bare and dry for a bike ride. Springtime in Alberta...🎶🎵

It's that time of the week again, folks: TGIO: Thank God it's Omeisaurus. (Prints of this and my other artworks are available: www.markwitton.co.uk/product-page...) #FossilFriday #dinosaur #fossil #paleoart #sciart

More snow today.