As a geologist, we are introduced to the concept of uniformitarianism early in our scientific career, namely the principle that "the present is the key to the past". Our understanding of geological processes is dependent on the assumption that the physical processes we observe now are the same as what operated in the past. As a climate … Continue reading On History

Last year, I wrote a post illustrating the good points of 2015, and tried to think positively about 2016. I have to say most of the things I had hoped for in that post did happen. 2016 turned out to be a much better experience than 2014 and 2015. 2016: the year that was A … Continue reading 2017 – What’s in store

  I always love John Oliver's take on current issues. I think we can all agree that in a world beset by uncertainty, it is nice to look upon it and laugh. The video above shows his report on the Republican National Convention, with the main theme that they are appealing to emotions, and ignoring … Continue reading The Facts Don’t Matter

Fry: This snow is beautiful. I'm glad global warming never happened. Leela: Actually it did. But thank God nuclear winter cancelled it out. - Futurama, Xmas Story When I look at the current state of global politics, I can't help but think about how helpless we are to address the most pressing issue facing our species. … Continue reading Brexit, Climate Change and Modern Political Discourse

Comparison of the (a) true and (b) reconstructed topography of the modern Greenland Ice Sheet, using ICESHEET This post refers to some hints and tricks to run my ice sheet sheet software, which I called ICESHEET. This was published a few weeks ago in Geoscience Model Development, but due to the chaos of moving and … Continue reading ICESHEET 1.0

I started my PHD in July 2010. On March 12, 2016, the paper that summarizes over five years of work was finally published. Before going on what it is about, you can download your own copy of the paper from this link until May 1st. After that, it is behind a paywall, but feel free … Continue reading Model of the western Laurentide Ice Sheet

In Japan, there is this concept called honne and tatemae (本音 and 建前), where you keep your true thoughts to yourself (honne), and project yourself in a more pleasant manner (tatemae). This concept is pretty hard to grasp for a Canadian, where we tend to wallow in our in our (real or imagined) misery. Living in … Continue reading 2016 – It’s getting better

2015 has come to an end, and it has been an up and down year for me. I plan on elaborating on this in another post, but I'll just say for now that posting more on my blog will be a part of what I hope will be a better 2016. 2016 is here, and for the Canadian … Continue reading Electoral Reform in Canada

Those who know me are well aware that I usually am pretty tuned into the affairs of the world, and am not afraid of making my views know. Since I finished my PHD, I've struggled to deal with the flux of my life, and therefore have stayed further and further from discussing these manners. But … Continue reading State of the World, December 2015