7jan2026

There's not a lot I personally can do to push back against the current administration's war crimes, but ...one thing I can do is talk, just a tiny bit, about Greenland, because I think most Americans have only the vaguest idea of what this country is—certainly I didn't, before I took up kayaking.

Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenlandic), or Grønland (Danish; it's an ‘autonomous territory’ of Denmark) has less than 60,000 people. 60,000! That's barely double the population of the small town I live in. The US has, what, 300 million? Even Wyoming, the least densely populated state in the US, has about 10x the number of Greenland's people, who, you guessed it, are mostly Iniut peoples. And we propose to invade?

That's not an invasion, that's a bully stomping on ants for the sheer cruelty of it. It's ludicrous. Anyway. Back to Greenland. It's difficult to fly into and out of, because of fog—my kayaking teacher, who went on a trip there this summer, was fogged in for days—fortunately, after his trip and not before.

Qajaq is the Inuktitut word for the skin on frame boats that far-northern peoples used to hunt seals; because the country is rocky, without many trees (because, hello, it's in the Arctic Circle) wood is scarce, so traditional qajaqs are a frame covered with sealskin, which also served as material for the special garment seal hunters used to (ahem) seal themselves into the boat: this hooded jacket would bind around the opening of the boat to keep water out.

But it also means the paddler is bound to the boat, besides which spending any amount of time in frigid water is a death sentence. So, kayakers learned to flip themselves back upright when waves turned them under. This corkscrewing technique is called a roll, and it's among the trickier moves a serious sea kayaker has to master. I've managed, in dead flat or pool conditions, to do it maybe 10 times? over nearly three years of struggling with it?

Greenland paddles are distinguished from so called Euro-style paddles in that they are longer, and don't really have blades per se—the ends are slightly wider, but that's all. Traditional greenland paddles might be reinforced with bone on the ends to protect them from wear (seal hunters made their own boats and equipment). In addition to a paddle, the hunter would also carry a harpoon and a short paddle (perhaps 15 or so inches) for launching the harpoon called a norsaq.

Basic rolls take advantage of the paddle length as the kayaker sweeps it for lift to assist rolling; a traditional qajaq paddler, however, might use his (seal hunters were usually men) norsaq or even hands if both paddle and norsaq were unavailable to roll himself back up. Needless to say, these techniques required even more skill.

As powerboats came in, Greenlanders switched to this faster, more efficient and much safer mode of transportation, and kayaks nearly died out. They were a hunting tool, after all, like bows and arrows. As is so often the case with traditional practices, it was outsiders (Brits, I believe) who documented kayaking, turning it to a recreational way to explore the British Isles’ extensive coastlines: UK level 5 certification is, at least amongst the folks with whom I paddle, considered a point of excellence.

But the people of Greenland have recaptured their traditional practise; they have an annual contest for rolls, with points assigned for levels of difficulty, rather like Olympic ice skating. Though once limited to natives, anyone (who qualifies?) can now join in. Qajaq has branched into all sorts of boats and water sports to go with—sea kayaks like mine can be used for paddling around rivers and lakes, of course, but also (kayak) surfing, rock gardening, and touring; whitewater boats, which to my eyes are stubby little weird looking plastic boats for, you guessed it, whitewater, are popular out west; the wide, open ‘recreational kayaks’ are favoured for fishing or photography (kayaking is great for photographing wildlife because it's so quiet). Often considered ‘entry-level’ they're an inexpensive way to spend time on the water.

Qajaq (it's pronounced kayak, btw) is just one aspect of Greenland, but I thought I'd try to illuminate a bit of this country's culture—not least because some day, I'd like to go there!

In the meantime, have a picture of some colourful qayaqs.

6jan2026

Today is Epiphany, the 12th Day of Xmas. This minor holiday has always been important to me, a joyous cap to end of the Solstice; and indeed, at 6am yesterday (today as I write this) I received some very happy news from f2tY, a gift I'd been waiting to receive. For years.

And then I came downstairs to this:

I cannot keep up. I can barely keep up reading the posts of others who are trying, bravely, to keep up. But they can’t keep up either.

Heather Cox Richardson valiantly tries to present a matter-of-fact daily keeping-of-the-minutes for future historians. This attempt to keep up earns her criticism as “alarmist” or—because she is a woman—“hysterical.” [snip]

“After Venezuela operation, Trump says the whole hemisphere is in play,” Politico reports, with the president hinting at invasions of Cuba, Greenland, Mexico, and Colombia, by name. So far.

This fucking administration. God damn them to hell, to serve out the same misery they've inflicted on every single one of their victims, sentences served end to end to end, no matter how many millennia it takes.

Oh, and for ruining what should be a joyous celebration.

5jan2026

Welp, I see our dear leader has decided to invade Venezuela, which absolutely sucks for us and even worse for them, but...it's kinda par for the course, with this administration. (And, as Scalzi points out, this country. Sigh. I don't wanna be the baddies!) Clearly, not only is Ukraine off our radar, somebody would like the Epstein files and our crappy economy to get pushed to the background as well.

Not much I can do about the imperialism (aside from staying focused on those internal problems at home, ofc...)

But. In an rather interesting reversal to the whole, but this problem needs to be addressed at an institutional level! this vox article has the click-baitey but at least positive click-baitey title One of the most impactful resolutions you can make in the new year and right now, I'm for any positivity I can find.

So...since I'm not quite ready to give up dairy or eggs (and I do pay a premium to purchase locally, and supposedly humanely produced dairy and eggs from our local hippy-crunchy-granola co-op) I guess for me this is gonna be the year that I really work on choosing vegetarian options when eating out, and try to do better on the dairy front. Opt-outs as always for those whose circs don't have the margin for this sort of thing, but in the interest of offering a vegan protein source I find really tasty, here's a little recipe for making what I find to be a yummy-on-its-own-terms, texturally appealing meat substitute:

• bring 1 liter (quart) of 2% salted (20g/4 t) water to boil in medium saucepan (you can eyeball the salt)
• tear (for more authentic) or slice (easier) extra firm tofu (no pressing needed)
• add tofu to salted water, return to boil
• reduce heat simmer for about 5 minutes; the salt will reduce moisture in the tofu, ain't that magical? Chemistry for the win:)
• drain, without letting pieces touch; pat dry with tea towel
• dump into bowl adding enough cornflour/cornstarch (UK/US) (or other) starch, stirring to coat
• add 2–3 T (30–45ml) high smoke point oil (e.g. peanut) to cast iron or stainless steel pan, heating till it shimmers; reduce heat to medium high
• IMPORTANT: sprinkle a little salt into pan—this prevents tofu from sticking, especially if you're using stainless (cast iron, which is what I use, is relatively non-stick already, so it's not as critical)
• add tofu to pan & fry till golden brown on one side, 3–5 minutes or so; flip (adding more oil if necessary) and cook at least one other side.
• n.b.: if you want really crispy outsides, use more oil, and drain on paper towels. I'm going for the lowest amount of fat that works—if your tofu is getting black spots instead of a nice brown coating, that's a clear sign that you need to add more oil.

I like this stuff so much I'll happily eat it right out of the pan, and as I happen to be one of those rare americans who needs to increase my protein intake, this was a game changer for me. This ready-to-go protein can be stored in the fridge and added to curries, fried rice, etc. Additional bonus is that it costs less than $2/lb, and there are no worries about prions or other raw-meat pathogens, and yes, like animal products it's considered a complete protein. And oh yeah, vacuum packed tofu stays good for months in the fridge, no need to worry about it going bad or taking up precious freezer space.

Granted, it's not as fast as frying up an egg topper for your vege bowl, but no more time consuming than frying up a pound of hamburger, especially from the freezer (you can kind of see what my priorities are, here;).

If you'd like more of this sort of thing and have instagram on your phone, I recommend following the many folks publishing all sorts of easy, Asian recipes; though the cornstarch coating tip is courtesy of Maggie Zhu's Chinese Homestyle (all vegan recipes, & which I recommend highly, btw) the boiling/salting the pan was a tip I found on insta.

Aaaaaaaand, we have a xmas prezzie with a bit of st pat's shamrocking, just cuz I liked playing around with the assorted greens.

Enjoy.

2jan2026

Hoping you had a pleasant or relaxing or joyful interim between xmas and new years. I, er, spent that time reading a fanfic deconstruction (in three volumes) of Pern that puts my little squib utterly to shame. Though very well written I'm not certain these books would appeal to someone unfamiliar with the Pern universe, but should you like to try them out, the first one is novella lengthed (and if you like that one, vol II is about standard novel size and vol III is an 800,000+ word monster, and absolutely amazing); I recommend the AO3 site if you've the patience to click through one chapter at a time, because the comments are insightful, the author responds, and for me at least it added an extra layer of interest. The author's website, however, has all sorts of art on it, and is easier to navigate, though. Via slacktiverse, specifically Silver Adept's Pern deconstructions.

So. In effect I took the week off from finishing up late xmas (& now late new year's) gifts, working out, tidying up, doing end-of-year finances, or much of anything else, really.

But now I feel ready to be doing again, and hope you do too.

And as it's not yet the 12th day of xmas, here's a giftwrap (which as I recall was of something given last fall. Never let it be said that I'm not perpetually behind.)

26dec2025

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, hoping you had a good one; (And a delightful Thursday, for those don't;)

But of course, not everyone did, and what with all the crap going on here, Ukraine's issues have basically dropped off USian consciousness—you'd think all those 2nd amendment people would be really interested in this underdog's fate, given the parallels to this country's founding, and how France helped us... It just sucks.

Yet, the Ukrainian people persist. Here are some soldiers, defiantly playing Carol of the Bells.

Closer to home, Flatbush cats has a howto on making winter shelters for feral cats. Seems dead simple, but is there was, at least to my eyes, a number of important details.

Aaaaaaaand that's as much interaction with politics as I care to deal with today. Here's my little pushback against cruelty and ugliness.

17dec2025

Carol of the Bells is my favourite xmas song, which, given that it was evidently originally a New Year's harbinger of spring (and why yes, I think the year ought to start with spring, just like those ancient pagans) and not actually a xmas song at all, seems entirely appropriate.

I knew it hailed from Ukraine, and was under the impression that original melody was thousands of years old, but wasn't aware of its more modern history...I found all the AI video clips in the video a tad on the disconcerting side, but surely Ukraine's culture—for which Carol was an ambassador a hundred years ago when a choir toured worldwide to celebrate the country's newfound independence from the USSR—deserves recognition just as much now, as the country once again battles for its independence (from Russia. Sigh. The more things change, the more they stay the same....)

On a slightly brighter note (ha!) the splendidly ebullient Anna Lapwood gives a tour of her signature instrument, the organ explaining that playing it involves setting up a lot of sequences, akin to subroutines in a computer. Also that organs just sometimes randomly play notes. Oh, and she explains the meaning of ‘pulling out all the stops’:)

This giftwrap certainly doesn't do that, but it's pretty enough. Enjoy;)