Happy spring 🍀

The sun is out, the plants are green, flowers in bloom, the bike is fixed, Websummit happened, Vancouver Cantonese Opera is prepping for a new season, Nikkei Center had their spring fest, and we killed a bad bid bill where the government tried once again to pass an encryption backdoor. Everything is cyclical.

After private messaging app Signal signaled they might have to leave Canada due to Bill C-22 “lawful access” requirements allowing the po-po to have a back door to our communications, some friends started a site (dontsurveil.me) and social media campaign coordinating with other orgs like OpenMedia to prevent Canada from becoming a surveillance state. Across Canada many groups stood up for encryption, key for protecting every citizen’s privacy and speech, and the bill was sent back for revision. This is the Carney government’s second attempt, we know there will be a third, so follow the campaign and let’s get ready to block the next attempt like your favourite defensive basketball or volleyball player.

(っ'-')╮ =͟͟͞͞🏐 ❌❌❌ ✋😠🤚

I am staying vigilant. In May alone RightsCon got rug-pulled, the Canadian environment minister finally quit as Carney tries to push an Alberta pipeline through a resistant BC, and we found out about Defence making deals with American surveillance company Palantir (Archive link to access TorStar). In this issue of the newsletter there are a number of items on resisting colonialism.

In brighter, non-cyclical news my daughter had a successful run headlining the school production of Mamma Mia! Her grandmother traveled down from the Okanagan and a couple of my aunts all joined us to watch her finale performance. Then later in the month I got to meet my godson! He is already 6 months old but I was very happy to get to play with him on our living room floor and pack him around a bit. It didn’t take him too long to get used to us. Altogether we had 4 parties visit us from the Okanagan, and 3 parties come over from other parts of the west coast. With spring the mountain passes thaw and the visitors come to visit. Love it!

Enjoy the season. See you next month when we will be under water use restrictions and complaining about it being too hot! 😅

Chad

🖋 From the Blog

Reading the Journals of Younghusband
20 year old bucket list list item ✅

Elaborating Westminster Abbey
On leveling up my church experience.

Handwriting, journaling, and LLMs
Writing for myself and the machine.

🧭 Elsewhere

Wrote about my trip to IETF in Toronto Link →

More conferences in Toronto, London, Vancouver Link →

Radical Planner when to Cuba and made a fire video Link →

If you are traveling take some medical supplies Link →

New worker-owned local news outlet dropped in Vancouver Link →

Al assistants leak your conversations via third-party trackers in the apps Link →

This kind of mixed use urban planning is illegal in America Link →

A collection of small web tools Link →

Ever wonder how fast you could get from Kobe to Kyoto by train travelling at Mach 1? Video →

Last mile automation for the summer Video →

Catching up on Flickr 🔵🟣

• Toronto
• London April 2026 (All) - Royal Geographical Society - British Museum and the SAMURAI exhibition - Westminster Abbey

Still haven’t finished processing all my images from Germany. That will show up in the next newsletter!

📖 What I’m Reading

The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon by Adam Schatz
(64% Complete)

Based on a recommendation of a new friend I picked up this biography of Frantz Fanon after listening to an interview with the author. So far this book is offering a very wide-ranging look at Fanon’s life and all the context that led to The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks. I feel like I am getting a look inside one of the great minds.

2026 is the year I leave GoodReads. Since January I have been using 📘 Hardcover which has been a delight. Connect with me there https://hardcover.app/@chadkoh