Notices by Downes 🍁 (downes@mastodon.social)

While the spoke on the road bike was being repaired, I took the gravel bike to Larose Forest. It didn't really go as planned. I had thought there was a nice trail from one end of the forest to the other (as indicated on maps) but this trail is blocked and impassible. I also tried a horse trail, but it's also unusable. The mountain bike trails were intact but are more focused on up-and-down and right corners. Some gravel roads exist for ATVs and these are in the long run probably my best bet.

@The_ogier in other words, in complex systems, economies based on competition are less efficient than economies based on cooperation.

@ton Exactly.

Today's bike ride was cut short at 37 km by another broken spoke, but not before I got the chance to watch these farmers harvesting grain the old fashioned way. They're preparing for a world record threshing event - https://thereview.ca/2019/04/23/event-hopes-to-bring-threshing-world-record-back-to-st-albert/ - and yes, I'll be there.

@lauraritchie Earbuds were heaven-sent for me. I have a lot of noise in my head - internal monologue, tinnitus, breathing & heartbeat... earbuds isolate me from all that & give me an external world to focus on.

@lauraritchie After the ride (and after I've recovered, rehydrated, showered), I am refreshed, rejuvenated. I'm thinking more clearly, I'm less worried about things. After a long ride like that I do need a day to recover; sometimes I'm productive (like when I wrote my Art article), sometimes I'm not (like yesterday), but it doesn't matter.

Where it's magical is on the breaks during the ride, eating some dry bread and eggs, hearing only the sounds of a forest or small town, thinking of nothing.

@lauraritchie You ask about what I'm thinking about on such a ride. Most of it is focused on the ride itself, watching ahead, managing my pace, staying hydrated. When I have other thoughts, they're fleeting, and then it's back to the ride. I'm always listening to things on the earbuds (a 3-hour episode of TWIG, NPRs On the Media, music) but it's just background. The beauty of the rides is that I can clear my mind, not think about the weightier issues, just be in the moment. Cycling forces that..

@lauraritchie On the way back it became an endurance run. I took the Marvelville road, a straight run about 5 km south of the Metcalfe route. Wind at my back, I was mostly concerned about mileage and hydration. It was brutally hot and I'd stop every few kilometers for some water and to adjust my clothing (also, my bike seat wore out at the front, so I was cycling on bare metal). Back toward Embrun (about 15 km from home) I turned north to take a break and have a smoothie...

@lauraritchie Going through Metcalfe is always fun because I get to reminisce about the different places where I spent my childhood. And from Metcalfe, a ride to Oscoode was rare, as it was a longish ride. But I once had a girlfriend from Osgoode, so I thought about that. I stopped at a restaurant for a quick lunch, but the light sub sandwich I had envisioned was more like a pizza sub (heavy and roasted) but it didn't really slow me down (I was worried about that)...

@lauraritchie Of course there's more story (but not more photos, sorry). I had planned to go to Cumberland, on the Ottawa River, but I broke a spoke 14km into the ride, so I diverted to Embrun, to a cycle shop, where they changed my spoke in about an hour. Meanwhile, the wind shifted as well, from NW, to W, so it made sense to make my ride straight west and back. This took me through Metcalfe (past the house where I grew up) and on to Osgoode, which made it an exceptionally long ride....

@shoutcacophony @dajbelshaw @shoutcacophony This is from 2016. What would be more relevant today is follow-up. Has this model been verified? Has our knowledge of this model been used to prevent abuse? Has someone developed mechanisms that rely on this model?

107 km. Woo!

Yesterday I went for a 70 km bike ride 'exploring the Raisin River' - fgollowing the river from its mouth on the St Lawrence. up through some historic mill towns in Glengarry and Stormont counties in Eastern Ontario. It was a brilliant day, not too hot, not too long, and endlessly interesting. I've uploaded the photo collage, but to enjoy, visit the actual set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_downes/albums/72157709846689242

@theartguy Nice

@lauraritchie awesome

@dajbelshaw ok. Won't be today, it's nice and sunny.

@lauraritchie I for one welcome our new ant overlords.

@thamesynne Exactly right.

@lauraritchie Cubes?

(A week or so ago I dreamed I was on a cooking game show and had been criticized for not being creative enough. I took it very badly and looked like I was going to lose. So the next meal we were supposed to make something out of cubes. I did that, but my design incorporated mathematical cubes as well. Too good not to win.)