Honestly I’m finding it hard to concentrate on my own passions and hobbies because they feel so trivial in comparison to what is going on in Gaza and Lebanon. A building next door to my cousins supermarket got bombed this week. My cousin was in the building at the time. Aside from the destruction one of the girls at the cashiers died. The utter randomness of hurt and destruction continues unchecked.

Aloo Gobi is the only way I will get excited about cauliflower.

The last time I bought Field Notes was 7 years ago. While I’ve been stocked up nicely, I have been hankering for a restock for a while. Should be good for another 2 years. See you in 2026.

I mean honestly, look at those colours.

It continues.

Seeing this monologue by Mehdi Hasan reminds me of what a shit choice people with a conscience have in the upcoming election in the US.

On the one hand you have a Democratic nominee that sees absolutely nothing wrong with what is going on in Gaza and Lebanon - and will continue to enable and support the genocide perpetrated by the 21st Century Nazis (that’s some fucking irony there). The colonialism and racism at play here is just astonishing. On the other hand you have a Republican, who also doesn’t see anything wrong with what is going on, but will likely ratchet up and expand the killing.

Both are distinctly odorous. Given the choice, which I obviously don’t have, I don’t know how I would use my vote. My view is that we collectively cannot stop the killing but what is happening right now, is inhumane and must never be forgotten, by myself or anyone with a moral fibre in their bodies.

The sooner work can be begin to isolate Israel from the world, in the same way the world did to South Africa during the apartheid, the better.

It’s begun.

I’m testing out a new ‘Zen’ mode for my mobile life. I’m trying to limit how long I spend on the phone and focus on things that matter a little more to me.

Reading has generally re-entered my life in a big way this year, which I am incredibly happy about. What I would like to do is create a little more space for writing and drawing again. I’ve taken nearly a year off.

Easily one of my favourite ways to start the day. Fresh cup of coffee, a great book (currently reading John Bogle’s Enough) and a quiet house. Everyone else is asleep.

The video explaining what has been going on in Gaza is truly harrowing. I mean what the fuck is going on in the world where this type of behaviour is not cut outright. Just not right.

It’s not easy to see time. Great post and exceptional graphic on Seth’s blog today.

Mo Hamz is one angry Palestinian, but I love the fact that he’s not going quietly into the night. As long as there are people with this type of energy, Israel will ultimately not prevail. They will however continue to kill Palestinians, until a more active generation stops them.

Finished reading: The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel 📚

🚚 Landlords informed us that they want the house back. After two years we’re going to be moving again. Thankfully it’s only within a city, rather than to another country. Silver linings.

“Surrender or starve” plan for war. And the entire world watches as the 21st Century Nazis continue their genocidal mission to extract more land, soaked in the blood of Palestinians.

I’ve spent the entire morning working through my Forever Note stack, and it really is a revelation. A few simple rules of organisation and all of a sudden my dumping ground has become incredibly organised. And fricton of maintenance is really low. Highly recommend you take a good look.

Forever Notes. Super interesting idea. I have tried multiple methods for my notes and none have stuck recently.

Amazing Comics Company. Joe Quesada has always been my favourite artist of all time. The last time he did this was for Event Comics and the main character Ash, which was great. Looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

Holey money. First time I use the AI feature for text description (using the Mimi Beta), and it really is like magic. Great work @samgrover !

While the situation in the Middle East is absolutely deplorable and shows a chasm of epic proportions between the ruling elite and what they think is acceptable based on race.

It’s not ok if you’re Ukrainian. It’s totally fine and necessary if you’re Palestinian or Lebanese.

I am however heartened by the voices of people I genuinely look up to and listen to or watch. Journalists, writers, activists, helpers, volunteers, parents, mothers and fathers who are not going quietly and accepting this situation.

The latest being Ta Nehisi Coates and Trevor Noah. These people have huge platforms and bring with them a great deal of attention. My hope is that some of that attention is converted into meaningful change.

From a moral standpoint, this genocide will not be completed for as long as there is one Palestinian or Lebanese, then there will always be resistance to cowardice, brutality and inhumanity.

With everything going on in Lebanon, it’s super hard for me to get excited about everyday things that I would typically get excited about. Life’s mini milestones. They all seem super trivial now as I continue (like millions around the world) to watch disaster unfold and not a single powerful country out there to step in and do what’s right.

The world feels like it is completely morally bankrupt and the ruling elite across nations that sit idle or support can seriously go fuck themselves.

Norman Finkelstein and where is this Israel-Lebanon war heading? A masterclass in understanding the endgame. Heartbreaking watching this horrible situation play out again and again, across the decades.

41,000
The number of Palestinian lives lost in the last year.

1139
The number of Israelis that lost their lives in the same amount of time.

The multiplier is 40 (as of October 2024). That is how much more expensive an Israeli life is compared to a Palestinian one. The racial supremacy at play here is simply astounding. This is not ok. This is not right. You cannot carry out or enable genocide and have any moral standing.

How anyone in power can be aware of these numbers and continue to support this deplorable government shows their moral corruptness and callousness.

Elected leaders who support this regime are devoid of any humanity. Don’t talk to me about Putin, anyone supporting Netanyahu is cut from the same blood drenched rag.

To Joe Biden,

Shame on you.
The world deserves a better world leader.

You’ve managed to make sure that Iran is the only power, in the entire world, that is willing to stand up to the morally deplorable and callous Israeli government. Even if it’s fruitless or for show at least someone is bothered to take action rather than ignore the genocide being committed.

Meanwhile you, the United State’s elected leader (which even with your stupid electoral college garbage still means the majority of Americans who bothered to vote), stand behind and support a regime that has only death on their minds. I cannot believe the majority of Americans believe that this genocide is just.

The Palestinians and Lebanese and Syrians and Yemenis and Iranians did not cause the holocaust, but critically they are paying for it in the same manner.

Back in the 1940s America stepped in to stop humanity’s madness. America has now switched roles and is the proxy enabler of the madness.

Politically you are retiring in 2 months, why wouldn’t you take a stand and do what’s right? You have nothing to loose. You’re nearly dead anyway. Before you have no power left, save some lives, even if they are filthy Arab and Persian ones.

— K

⚽️ Shit game but the boys are really trying even with 10 players!

I feel that politics have normalised terrible behaviour, which has then emboldened people in power that may have acted with more restraint to simply go unleashed, the consequences be damned. Regardless, world is only going to get much worse.

As the daily news from Lebanon trickles in, one devastating blow at a time, it’s a reminder that social orders don’t matter unless you have the muscle to enforce those orders.

Somehow we find ourselves back at the mercy of the laws of the jungle. Might beats right. Iran and the US are playing their proxy war while innocent people and futures are the collateral damage.

The Lebanese are descendants of the Phoenicians and a Phoenix never dies.

Adrian Newey Exclusive: Why I Quit Red Bull & My Future at Aston Martin. What a coup for the High Performance team. Can’t wait to hear what the legend has to say.

The Godfather is such a great movie. I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen it but every time I rewatch it I’m just totally sucked into the world.

🏃‍♂️ That. Was. Tough. First HIIT session in years and every muscle aches. The first 15min after are not great but feel more energised now. Missed this and actually think that my new app of choice (Freeletics) might keep me going. Let’s see.

⚽️ I dunno. I really hate this team. They just annoy me.

⚽️ Predicting a 2:1 to City. It’s going to be tight but I really hope it’s a good game.

⚽️ Generally pretty entertaining game so far. Just missing a few goals to really get things going. They’ve had so many chances I can totally see CP smash and grabbing this!

Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways, men can be immortal.
— Ernest Hemingway.

🍃🍂 Autumn is definitely in the air and I’m all for it. Crispness in the air. The light is a little different, a little lower, less harsh.

Finished reading: The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway 📚. This one was an extension of Scott’s previous book I just finished. However it does go deeper into many economic concepts (so at least you can’t claim ignorance). ETFs similar to mutual index funds are a major part of the answer, but equally there is a lot there about buying property and hopefully using wealth at different times of your life to help you lead a better life. It’s a great book and one I wish I had when I was starting my working life.

More over having someone guide me around these economic constructs (that I honestly have previously had little to no interest in) is another important element in this. I sadly did not have that growing up and until recently didn’t have the inclination to find out more. This is a good book to get you on this journey.

Today morning was a bike day. Went from sunny to gloomy and back to sunny again. Kids have Karate, so that’s the afternoon sorted. Might get a little reading done.

⚽️ Sweet we finally see Ugarte making an appearance. We’ve been waiting for this all summer.

⚽️ Not loving this ref at the moment. Just seems a little random.

⚽️ Rashford finally scoring a goal after like 100 games. Finally.

⚽️ Zirkzee is having a really good game connecting everyone. Really getting involved.

⚽️ Well that’s a different 5min than I thought it was going to be…in a good way.

⚽️ Dalot having a really terrible game. He’s not a right back and this game sadly is exposing just that.

Just finished rewatching Mad Men. It’s a great show, with both great and vile characters. I love the historical context. I love Peggy’s wardrobe. I love the dialogue. Most of all I wonder what things we are doing now will be seen as completely incomprehensible to someone 60 years from now?

I wish I could get A Closer Look t-shirt.

Newey to Aston Martin is massive. The man clearly knows his way to a successful car. Could this be how Alonso finally gets his third championship?

There was a time that I would watch the Apple infomercial when it came out. Even be excited about it. I can’t remember a time I was less interested in what Apple has just released. From a computing standpoint I’m good. iPhone Pro has hopefully years of service in it. My 2018 iPad Pro is still a compelling device, 6 years after it was released. My Mac Mini is chugging along, kicking ass and taking names.

The only take I have is that the Apple Watch is slowly turning into a device that I don’t hate. It’s getting thinner and more rounded and less of a mental burden. It’s only taken them 10 editions to get there.

⚽️ Man international break sucks. Especially coming in so soon after a few major tournaments. I’m ok to wait 6 months (a year even?) between any international activity as the scarcity is what makes it special.

Easily my favourite time of the year. The weather is shifting. There is a crispness in the air. In a few weeks everything goes bang and the colours will explode. If you live in a country with seasons don’t take it for granted. This is not the norm for millions.

Finally getting back to writing about the built environment.

Finished reading: Paper Girls Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan 📚. I love BKV. He’s brought me hours of joy and is one of the best writers of comics, but this series did not connect with me. I just wasn’t all that interested. Equally I returned the first Incredible Hulk volume by Jason Aaron (another writer I love). Tastes have clearly changed over time and that’s ok.

⚽️ The attack is not coming together at the moment. Just a little off. A little soft. A little hard.

⚽️ The stationary nerd in me wants to grab EtH and upgrade his BIC multi-pen (and whatever paper he is writing on). You deserve better.

⚽️ Close one for United. Glad for VAR for once.

⚽️ This is the big one…so early in the season. My prediction? 2:1 United.

Finished reading: The Algebra of Happiness by Scott Galloway 📚

The perfect scoop. Lemon meringue from Zuzus.

Fjorden acquired by Leica. Totally missed this news, but pretty exciting news for the Fjorden team. Hopefully this means that maybe the grip will slowly get some material science help from the Leica team to improve the wearability of the grip itself (mine is already showing wear in the corners). Also would be nice to see the iconic red dot on the hardware as well - doubt this is on the cards but one can dream :).

Last days of summer.

⚽️ Really close game so far. Should have been ahead (or at least level at the moment). I hope they make a proper game of this and just go for it.

First day back at work. I feel refreshed and ready to go. Game face is on, let’s see how long I can keep my holiday calm in place.

Procreate’s Stance on generative AI. Straight to the point and totally on point. Love this company and both their products.

Finished reading: Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed 📚. Great summer read. Can totally understand the praise this work has received. Fantastically original, great scope, well written and drawn. Celebrating Arab culture as it is now (rather than as it was). Highly recommended.

Yes, People Do Buy Books. I also buy books, but nowhere near as much as I read and listen - mainly because of the insanely great public library system. To get into my personal collection, that book has to work overdrive. Thankfully there are those books, but they are the exception.

Just finished reading the first chapter of Shubeik Lubeik, and it was exceptional. Been a long time since I read a black and white comic with such emotional power.

⚽ I love Onana. Now Sancho messed it up…poor.

Making The Cut. This year I watched the Olympics with my Canadian hat on (typically I’ll root for the Lebanese, the Greeks, the Brits and now the Canadians). I missed the swimming competitions which would have been awesome to watch. The Canadian women’s beach volleyball team has been another highlight. Shame they missed the gold by a few points.

Part of the joy of relaxing on holiday is being given the autonomy to work at my own pace on stuff that matters to me on a personal level. At the moment I’m editing the BEC (Built Environment Compendium) Vol.2. Back into the warm embrace of the Pages app, which I’ve learnt to love, two pens (one to scribble and the other to highlight) and my thoughts. Happy Holidays!

Summer in Ontario.

I’ve been thinking a little about how I can take in more information from the non-fiction books I read. The first tip I’m going to try is The Blank Sheet Method. The second thing that I’ve discovered is the excellent scanning/OCR feature of the Notes.app. It’s not 100% perfect, but honestly I can deal with the occasional missed word or two. Just one note with the key parts of the book scanned and searchable for the future.

Anyone have any other low friction tips to share?

⛈️ Damn is absolutely chucking it down today.

Big fan of Ottolenghi cook books. I’ve used a few of the recipes recently (one today in fact) and it’s exactly the kind of colour and flavour that I absolutely love. The thing is that these books actually benefit from being physical items rather than entries into an app like Mela (which I love). I tend not to buy many books anymore, because of the whole Toronto Public Library thing, but I might make an exception for these books.

Finished reading: Slow Productivity by Cal Newport 📚. Nothing majorly new in this book (for anyone that has been paying to Newport’s podcast, but its nice to find out about all these stories. I also went for the audiobook and I tend to enjoy Cal on his own.

Even after reading The Simple Path to Wealth, it is clear that across all the different countries and their regulations (and bullshit), governments want to keep you poor. If this was simple then everyone would be able to do it pretty quickly. Rather even after someone tries to decipher it all, there is still an immense amount of friction that intentionally makes things harder. It’s even harder for those of us who enjoy a more mobile serial emigrant lifestyle.

Having lived and worked in seven countries, finding a place that will allow me to invest and keep things mobile is actually an exceedingly small number. The only one that I have found is Interactive Brokers - that is available in all the countries I have ever lived and worked in. I don’t know when they expanded into all these countries (or if they always operated in these countries), but this a massive win and feather in their cap.

Can’t really comment on how good a service it is, but having the ability to move my investments wherever life takes me is a truly unique feature and worth other possible pain points.

The only other brokerage that came up in my limited search was Saxo (out of Denmark) and Charles Schwab, except BOTH are not available in Canada, so I would need to move everything over to Interactive Brokers if we ever decided to move.

Aghori Mhori Mei is the new Smashing Pumpkins album being released this Friday!

My sleep has been truly terrible these last few weeks (months?). On the off chance that my phone had something to do with that, I bought this Alarm Clock (although any will do) and somehow I have been getting a full night’s sleep. It has been a stark and instant change. Now every night my phone which is pretty useful in my bedroom (controls the light and adjusts the temperature of the room) is relegated to being placed outside. Best possible life adjustment.

Finished reading: The Simple Path to Wealth by Jl Collins 📚. What a book. It is extremely US centric, but there are some clear truths here that just need to be adapted and massaged to reflect what is possible to me. I wish I had this book 20 years ago, but then most of the things he talks about would be unattainable in the countries I lived in…but not anymore. Highly recommended for anyone looking to get their financial life in order. Been going crazy sorting it out this weekend.

3 min from our house.

I have long argued that our plastic (and other material) trash is part of our built environment. Not in the traditional sense, but it is something that we as humans have contributed to our world and have built one tiny small colourful piece of plastic at a time. Up-cycling this material has never looked this great - although I do find the price a little steep for what it is.

Yesterday was a fun summer adventure with the kids. Japanese stationary. Japanese cheesecake. Art Gallery. Park. Makers pizza and home again. They went swimming on Friday and Sunday brings football in the morning with the other dads.

I’m currently reading The Simple Path to Wealth, which is probably the best book I’ve read about money. I wish I had this at the start of my financial journey, which then makes me think that this is one of those canonical books I want to give to my kids. Which then makes me think what other canonical books would I give (and read with my kids if it encouraged them to do things better than I did)?

🇵🇸 Time will absolutely not look kindly on the US’s blinkered support of the atrocities in Gaza and more importantly Palestine in general.

Having a war criminal presented as a guest of the state is not a good look if you believe you are on the right side of plain human decency.

It may be half a world away, but this is happening with your support and backing in the face of what we can all agree is just humanly abhorrent. Sort it out. It’s just not right and while things have changed (within the US, as the Arab diaspora spreads), this has been ratcheted with even more brazen and unacceptable violations of human right we all can agree on for ourselves. I just don’t understand why this cannot be a consideration for other human beings?

Endearing accents. Call it sentimental from watching too much American TV while growing up, but today had a short meeting with someone presenting from Jersey and it was thick, which kinda made me smile. In the same way whenever a true Canadian says about, just gives me a little sense of place.

Can Paris fix its poop problem before the Olympics? Through engineering, that’s how. I kinda feel that it would have been better if they had built more than a single reservoir, but alas it would be a great way to make things better 100 years after they made it completely terrible. I imagine this must contribute to Paris Syndrome.

Cobra Kai has been a pretty fun show to watch. When it’s great, it hits some really big highs. It suffer from some poor writing choices, but overall the momentum of the show is great. I also kinda like the fact that they’ve split the last season into three five episode mini seasons. Extends the time artificially but I’ve got something to look forward to for another 8 months. I highly doubt they’ll make a spin off, hard to keep mining these characters.

The ANZA 750S by Monday Motorbikes is definitely my kind of urban bike. The fact you can also get two people on this is pretty awesome as well.

Finished reading: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine 📚. This was amazingly endearing. Quick read but also made me cringe and showed me a window of a life I once craved.

Finally, Presto is on Apple Wallet. One less card to carry. I was just thinking about getting one of those three card wallets. Not anymore.

Power outage map for Toronto today was insane.

Yeah climate change is not real. Flooding across Toronto is perfectly normal. Nothing to see here. Absolutely nothing to see.

🏀 Activity number one for the summer evenings is definitely some basketball. I remember loosing 25kg when I was 16 on the back of this daily habit. Let’s see if I can build that habit again.

I think I can likely get a little bit of my attention back now that both the Copa America and Euro’s is over. It’s been fun following along both the matches and then in a number of podcasts. Having said that I do want to concentrate on other activities, so will only really be following a little bit of Manchester United preseason, which is just to see what’s going on.

⚽️ Shame about delay to get the Copa final going. To be fair, this same thing happened 3 years ago in London, at the Euro 2020 (held in 2021).

⚽️ Goal! Super sub Palmer!

⚽️ Wasn’t the greatest showing from Mainoo this game. No moment of genius but solid I guess. Now it has to be all guns ablaze.