 Greetings from the confirmed location of 53.5° north latitude. Contrary to the standard definition, this past week was at least 15 days long. It was not a bad week by any means, just long. As I mentioned last week, I was trying to sell a car on Kijiji and that was an experience that I would not wish on many people. It ended up being a successful transaction and I am happy we did not just accept the trade-in amount from the dealer, but it was a lot of work. From a sociological perspective, we - or at least I - have self-selected a pretty narrow slice of the population to interact with. Middle-class, cycling enthusiasts, technology focused, liberal-minded. Every once in a while, our daughters will make a friend with someone that comes from a family that is on the periphery of that slice. Maybe they will be more liberal, more educated, more religious, or younger, but usually there is enough common ground to build a relationship on. Selling something on Kijiji puts you on the outside of that slice and exposes you to the entire spectrum of people and humanity. There is no way to be insular as the act of posting that ad blows up the bubble of comfort one has with the self-selected circle of friends. Of the nearly 100 people that I interacted with during the process, I was exposed to many different types of people. Some were quite friendly. Some were less concerned about keeping appointments and obligations than I am. (Trying to be polite.) There were lots of people with writing styles and grammar that suggest recent arrivals to Edmonton. There were lots of people with writing styles and grammar I would consider lazy . There were also a lot of people that knew how to fix up cars, which is clearly not a demographic represented in my current bubble. As I said about, the transaction was successful and I was not concerned about the deal turning ugly, but walking away from the deal with a pocket full of brown bills was a bit nerve-wracking. Moving on, I was catching up on emails the other day and I came across a newsletter from Studio D that was really interesting (sign up here if interested). I know about Studio D from a Kickstarter that I backed a few years ago. Their Field Study Handbook is an amazing book filled with best practices and templates to successfully do field work pretty much anywhere in the world. I pull it out and flip through it often just to read about topics like In-depth Interview Stages, how to build a Pop-Up studio, and how to pitch a research project.  "The Field Study Handbook", from Studio D In the newsletter, Studio D asks the question "What skills does one need today?". At the top of the list is literacy and numeracy, which seem like obvious choices. We live in a time when literacy is the dominant skill—learning how to write, read, and comprehend what is written, closely followed by numeracy. Given that there was a time before literacy (roughly 7,000 years ago), will we live to experience a post-literate world? For example where communication with letters and words is essentially delegated to or abstracted by technology? - Studio D, Radar Newsletter #24 They suggest that there are five other -acies that one should focus on.
Four of those five -acies are made up words, but the concept behind them and the need for them seems obvious. I am particularly intrigued by the concept of Artificialacy. Knowing when some corporate algorithm tampered with your entertainment stream is not something I considered before but is something I will look out for in the future. As a parent, one focus I am trying to impart on my daughters is self-sufficiency. They should know the basics like how to wash laundry, how to budget and invest, how to plan and manage conflicting tasks, how to cook at least ten different meals. I am also trying to teach them the importance of having a good toolkit. In the past, this meant knowing how to use a hammer, saw, screwdriver, and maybe even a multimeter. Today though, I am expanding the definition of toolkit to include macros and commands in Excel, and coding with Python. Most of those fit into literacy and numeracy. Thinking about how to incorporate the additional -acies presented by Studio D will be an interesting parenting challenge.  Reading Pile: I was able to finish another book this past week, and got half way through another. Book #11 for 2021 was "Lost Light", the ninth book in the Harry Bosch series from Michael Connelly. I really enjoy the Harry Bosch books, but for some reason I have not read one since 2016. In this installment, Bosch is now retired but has not given up being a detective and decides to investigate a cold case from four years prior. I really cannot say much more as I risk giving away the plot. Suffice it to say that for this book, Bosch comes to grip with life as an ex-cop, and because he is Harry Bosch, he pisses a lot of people off. Well worth the read if you are going through the series and potentially good enough to read without reading the first the first eight books in the series. Cycling Update: This week was for good for cycling and my cross-Canada virtual tour, with just over 100 km in the saddle. In addition, I closed off the final two segments of the current leg between Edmonton and Lloydminster.  With that leg complete, I now move into my third province on the virtual tour. This next leg between Lloydminster and Saskatoon is a decent length of 411 km. At my current pace, I will be able to complete is by early June. Fun facts about Vermillion and Lloydminster. Vermillion was founded in 1902 and had a population of just under 4,100 in the 2016 census. Lloydminster is a border city, with a split between Alberta and Saskatchewan. Lloydminster has a population of 31,410 according to the 2016 census, with 63% of the population living in the Alberta portion of the city. This makes sense when I first saw the numbers given the lack of a sales tax in Alberta which would seem to be an economic driver to focus living in Alberta. However, the Wikipedia article points out that the Saskatchewan side of Lloydminster is exempted from the Saskatchewan sales tax so as to not penalize Saskatchewan businesses. Next up is North Battleford and then on to Saskatoon via Biggar and Rosetown. New Beers: There are a lot of beers to report this week, but that is because I did not report on any last week. Even so, seven beers in fourteen days is faster than my current overall pace since March 2015 of one new beer every 2.95 days. The first beer of the fortnight and coming in as Beer #749 was the Troubled Monk If the Crown Fits Kettle Sour. A ton of pineapple and a very fresh taste. I find kettle sours are often not that sour but this one seemed too un-sour to carry that label. That said, this was very tasty and I could see this beer being a huge hit on a crowded patio some day. Hopefully. (3.75 / 5) Beer #750 was the Pond Surfer ale from Town Square. I was expecting a more bitter taste based on the color but this was very easy-drinking. A bit of pithiness but not too much and a nice level of malt. Good stuff. (3.5 / 5) Next up and coming in as Beer #751 was the Albertosourus from Edmonton brewery Campio. Based on recommendations from friends, I went in with high expectations but was disappointed. This one smelled more sour than it was unfortunately. It did have a beautiful color, but I found the fruit flavors were too mixed and muddled. (3.0 / 5) Beer #752 was the Arcade Glow Pale Ale from Boombox Brewing out of Vancouver. This was a decent ale with a fair bit of hops and some nice crackery malt. I will have to look out for more from Boombox in the future. (3.5 / 5) The next beer was a complete departure from the standard offering. Beer #753 was the Phillips Zonkey is supposed to be a Brown Ale, which is not something I typically like. For this one though, the first taste was "wow". Very fresh. Added a nice sweetness to the standard muddled brown ale. The ginger has a bit of zing to it for sure. (3.75) Last up were two beers from Cabin Brewing out of Calgary. I have raved about Cabin of late and was really hoping for another two knockouts. Beer #754 was their Starburst ESB (labeled as a Triple on Untappd). This was very good with the freshness completely masking the high ABV (9.5%). Lots of fruits and a great aroma. Definitely one to pick up and hoard in the back of the fridge away from unappreciative guests. (4.0 / 5) And finally, Beer #755 was their Night Kitchen ('Smores) Imperial Stout. I did pick up some creaminess from the lactose, but not as much as other Imperials. (My reference beer for this style is still the Iconic Milk Stout from Situation.) Overall, this was good but a bit weird. (3.0 / 5) Note that my numbering on this blog and on Untappd no longer match, and I am not sure why. Untappd has me at 754 beers but the numbers seem to reconcile back to Beer #700. I will dig in and see if I can figure out the issue. 
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