Seamus Bellamy

Alberta

Managing Editor. Journalist. Full-time Hobo. Peer Support Volunteer for @BadgeLifeCanada. Eventual novelist. There’s more to us than this.

Articles

Why I'm sticking with Proton despite a 72-hour account lockout

1 week ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

I've been using Proton's family of digital tools for a decade. I started back when all the company offered was Protonmail and stayed on with them as VPN, online storage, calendar and access to an encrypted word processor were added to what I get for my annual subscription fee.
John C. Reilly finally gets to direct Jack White's dream music video project

1 week ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

It's not often that we plop a music video on the site these days, but this recent story in Vulture about how the video for Jack White's Archbishop Harold Holmes is too good not to share with you. The short version: John C. Reilly and Jack White have been pals for years. Reilly was in love with the song for ages and constantly pestered White to let him make a music video for it.
Jon Stewart delivers blistering analysis of weekend violence, from political killings to Israel-Iran tensions

1 week ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

Last night's Daily Show was a doozy. A lot happened over the weekend: political assassinations in Minnesota, a pathetic military birthday parade for the Cheeto-In-Chief, missiles and bombs lobbed to and fro between Israel and Iran and that little matter of the military being deployed against American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. Jon Stewart pulled no punches in bringing damn near everyone to task of the shitty state of affairs at home and abroad.
Technocrats help pay for Trump's autocrat military parade

2 weeks ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

If you need more reasons to use pen and paper instead of a computer or favor cash while you shop at a local shop, we've got your back: Those big parades thrown with the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army as an excuse? The ones designed to give off pheromones that give wanna-be royalty stiffies? They've got the backing of some of the largest tech companies in the world.
Inside Qingdao's authentic German quarter: A colonial legacy in modern China

2 weeks ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

Qingdao, China once played home to a German trading colony. Like most colonial powers, the Germans shrugged off what the local culture had to offer by ways of food, etiquette and architecture. When the Germans came to do business on the coast of the Yellow Sea, they brought their language, European style buildings and the art of beer making with them. You won't hear much, if any German spoken in Qingdao, these days. But you can still find the nation's influence haunting the city.
Jared Harris returns in Foundation S3 trailer - Release date revealed

2 weeks ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

I'll watch anything with Jared Harris in it. Take me by the head, point my eyeballs at it and you have my undivided attention. It's my opinion that he's one of the finest actors of his and many other generations. When Apple dumped the first season of Foundation in our lap, I was there for it, even though I was never fussy on Isaac Asimov's work. In the time since the series showed up, I've had a love/meh relationship with it. But I've kept watching. I watched harder when Harris returned, last season.
The fascinating origin story of the fish lip grabber

2 weeks ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

At some point in human history, someone was sitting in a boat across from their pal Athelstan, fishing pole in hand when they say "Athelstan, I've been struck by it, fella. We've been gripping them fish all wrong."Athelstan raised his eyebrow and jiggered with his reel, silent and waiting for his friend to continue. "No now, hear me out. Them fish, they're covered in their slime an' some of them got those spines and maybe they gonna bite yeh bringing them into the boat.
Travel: Vienna's Third Man Museum

2 weeks ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

There are many reasons to spend time in Vienna, Austria. For starters, it's gorgeous. Despite how much of downtown was destroyed by Allied bombing runs during World War II, much of the old city remained intact when the Nazi finally screamed "uncle." St. Stephen's Cathedral is an absolute stunner and free to visit. In the winter, you wouldn't want to miss the city's St. Stephen's Cathedral is an absolute stunner and free to visit.
Why spending more on a pen might actually help you keep track of it

3 weeks ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

I lose Bic pens and other disposables like they're an infection vector for herpes. Give me a pack of cheap pens on a Monday and, by Wednesday, I'll be digging through my backpack wondering where they've all vanished to. Curiously, this isn't an issue I have with pricier writing implements. Because of their cost and – in the case of a fountain pen gifted to me by someone I love dearly – sentimental value, I'm constantly aware of where my fancy pens are.
World blows $2.9B on wooden rectangles

3 weeks ago | boingboing.net | Seamus Bellamy

Every once in a while, my brain latches onto a notion like a street dog on a pork chop. Over the last few days, it's been this: Why the hell do cutting boards cost so much? Head to a flea market, and a nice one will set you back over $100. Even a cheap piece of flat plastic from Dollar General is gonna cost you at least a few bucks. I broke down today and did some research. There's nothing out there — at least nothing I could find — that explains why they're so damn expensive.