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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

  • That I will never enjoy the taste of wine.

    I figured out I would never like coffee in my teens, and had the same realization about beer in my 20s.

    But it wasn’t until this year, in my mid-thirties, that I finally accepted that I don’t like the taste of wine and probably never will. After years of trying the full spectrum of wines, I had to admit that it wasn’t the “notes” that were turning me off, nor was it a problem with the quality of the wine. It was the fundamental “wine-ness” that I disliked, the same as I don’t like the “beer-ness” of beer or the “coffee-ness” of coffee.





  • Somewhat related, I wonder how much of an effect birth month can have on a child’s school performance, social development, and athletic ability.

    Where I live, a child is eligible for junior kindergarten starting in September of the year they turn four. A child born in January would therefore be around 56 months old on their first day of school. Meanwhile, a child born in December would be around 45 months instead. That is a substantial gap, and my experience with kids that age is that even a difference of a few months can see dramatic changes.

    I’m personally thinking right now of my nephew, who starts JK in a few weeks. He will turn four right before Christmas, and when he returns from holidays, some of his classmates will start turning six because he’ll be in a combined JK/SK class. I can’t imagine how difficult it might be for him to keep up with those much older classmates, a situation caused by virtue of his birthday.


  • Canada’s military is small enough that there is typically only one officer with the rank of General (or Admiral if they are from the navy), and their position is the Chief of Defence Staff. I think a second General is appointed if Canada gets a seat on the UN Security Council, to act as the senior military advisor for the delegation.

    There are more Lieutenant Generals (and Vice Admirals), and the CDS is appointed from their ranks when a new one is needed.

    EDIT: To clarify further, there are multiple ranks with the word “general” in them. In order of increasing seniority, they are (with equivalent navy ranks in parentheses):

    1. Brigadier General (Commodore)
    2. Major General (Rear Admiral)
    3. Lieutenant General (Vice Admiral)
    4. General (Admiral)