Archive (Page 10) • Hit and Miss • Buttondown

Hit and Miss #250: Decommissioned

This week saw the formal end of life of two software products—both were famous, for a time, before ending their lives more or less infamously. First,...

Hit and Miss #249: Half-caff

Hello! Pretty tired today (rainy day, and T and I only realized midafternoon that we’d made half-caff espresso this morning), but hanging in. We’re all...

Hit and Miss #248: Financialized nesting dolls

I’ve just spent who knows how long perusing biking maps of Ottawa, planning for countless little tours. The past week or so has seen me doing plenty of...

Hit and Miss #247: Busy rest

Hello! It’s been quite a packed week. My parents were up visiting, which was lovely, with evenings of family friends and catching up. This weekend has been...

Hit and Miss #246: Climate unpredictability

Hi folks! Yesterday afternoon featured one of the fiercest storms I’ve seen in Ottawa for a while. The water running down the street was so voluminous it...

Hit and Miss #245: L’aride follie del viver mio

Good afternoon! While I’ve plenty to share, I’ve been slow today to write—something about the weather, maybe, the heat leaching energy, even while I chill in...

Hit and Miss #244: Sunny springtime links

It’s a beautiful spring day in Ottawa—even emphasized with italics, “beautiful” doesn’t quote cut it, which, I suppose, is why we have poetry. Life, in other...

Hit and Miss #243: Anniversary treat

Good morning! It’s May. Wow, eh? This time last year, leaves were already out on the trees, and spring flowers were merrily on display. We’re not quite there...

Hit and Miss #242: Forces for good

Hi there, I’m perched on the ladder of a tree fort in my parents’ back yard, here in Waterloo, soaking up some sunshine, fresh air, and unseasonably warm...

Hit and Miss #241: Abundant, virtuous futures

Hi there! I’m experiencing heavy time dilation this week—my perception of days and hours is way out of whack with what the clock says. But I’m not...

Hit and Miss #240: April again

T called me to the window yesterday, to see a heron flying lazily over downtown. There are many signs of spring, but I always take great, excited joy in this...

Hit and Miss #239: Spring (tab) cleaning

Good afternoon! The city put out street sweeping notices this morning, a sure sign of spring in Ottawa. I gathered numerous links this week—thanks in part to...

Hit and Miss #238: Links on ambition, resilient building, and more

Good morning! I was up late playing Cities: Skylines last night (no regrets), but I bounced back with a triple espresso to start my day—it’s hard to predict...

Hit and Miss #237: Doing our parts

It’s here—we’ve gone from “springlike” to “spring”, at least officially. There’s still snow on the ground, and ice in the rivers, but it’s melting quickly....

Hit and Miss #236: Seeking beautiful moments

(A sombre reflection on the current moment. I invite you to skip ahead to the end for two beautiful links, if that’d do you best.) Two years ago, with COVID...

Hit and Miss #235: Chase the sun (redux)

Good afternoon! It was a tough week. And I was barely reading the news. It feels weird to have a tough week when the world is on fire (literally,...

Hit and Miss #234: War in real-time, in all its ugliness

February 27, 2022

Hi there. It’s been quite a week, eh? The overwhelming story, in print and online, has been Ukraine. “Overwhelming” applies, in every sense: it is...

Hit and Miss #233: Goodbye (?) to the occupiers

February 20, 2022

Hello! It’s been (yet another) interesting week in Ottawa. A few reflections, for posterity: Over the last few days, downtown Ottawa has looked very...

Hit and Miss #232: Savouring silence

February 13, 2022

Good evening! I returned to my apartment on Monday to find the street below mostly clear of vehicles, and enjoyed, for the first time in a few weeks, a quiet...

Hit and Miss #231: Acoustic assaults

February 6, 2022

Good morning! An opening note: when I sent last week’s newsletter, it was titled “Honk honk”. I later learned this is a dogwhistle phrase. There’s no need to...

Newer archives Older archives