Three moments and some links

Three fun(ny) moments from the week:

• T suggesting a meeting up with some friends at an event that just happened to be near Moo Shu, and enjoying ice cream in the sun for an hour or two. (Well, the ice cream last much less than an hour, but the sunny sitting on the grass certainly did.)
• Hanging out with Asad in the Bank of Canada plaza before checking out the Object//Project Art Book Fair, organized by Possible Worlds.
• Walking through Strathcona Park, overhearing a set of bros (but not hardcore bros), sharing a six pack of Bud: “are you using 4.6 or 4.7?” “nah I use Chat” —WHAT IS THIS WORLD lmao

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• Lindsay Tedds on the long-form census: “You should fill it out because the census is the closest thing this country has to a mirror. Demographic, social, economic — every five years Canada looks at itself and writes down what it sees. And in 2026, 1 in 4 of you will get the long form, the version that asks the questions that actually shape policy.”
• Alan Jacobs on the Canvas hack (on which, see CBC or Wikipedia): “Every university function that is on the internet is a security vulnerability. (Just look at how many online systems we have!) But every university function outsourced to a giant company whose tools are used by many universities is a far greater vulnerability, because there is so much money to be made from exploiting all that data. Locally owned and managed data is a smaller and less appealing target for hackers.”
• Good Sudoku is a brilliant Sudoku implementation. Just the right level of assistance, with interaction design that makes it a delight to play. (via Dave Rupert)
• This led me down the Wikipedia page for Sudoku, through which I learned that its modern form only grew to widespread popularity in 2004/2005. I clearly remember playing Sudoku on a 2006 family trip to Italy. Blows my mind that the game’s popularity in the English-speaking world would’ve been so fresh at that point—but that also makes perfect sense, as my playing it would’ve been following that trend.
• What those studying LLMs can learn from studying the history of the GIS industry.

All the best for the week ahead!

Lucas