Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
@chumleyandpepys.bsky.social
Lived too long in a library. Wherever a book shall open. Book lover, dustjacket appreciator, retired librarian and bookscout in search of intangible bibliographic singularities while slogging against the forces of adversity. Enjoys tea, cats & time travel.
So much snow fall of late, I've been practising the French conjugation for "pelleter" out loud as I shovel: je pellete, tu pellettes, il pellette, nous pellettons . . . Neighbours and dog walkers must wonder. Shovelling 2x 3x a day, I feel I'm in training for the World Snow Shovelling Championship.
January 2, 2026 at 11:57 PM
So much snow fall of late, I've been practising the French conjugation for "pelleter" out loud as I shovel: je pellete, tu pellettes, il pellette, nous pellettons . . . Neighbours and dog walkers must wonder. Shovelling 2x 3x a day, I feel I'm in training for the World Snow Shovelling Championship.
Another year, another calendar.
January 1, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Another year, another calendar.
I can't remember the last time we went out for New Year's eve? (memory or age, or both?) In Montreal we would go out to eat and catch a movie and get home before the craziness unfolded. Now, it's out for coffee, get takeout, & watch a movie at home. Movie? It might be one of these older favs:
December 31, 2025 at 10:56 PM
I can't remember the last time we went out for New Year's eve? (memory or age, or both?) In Montreal we would go out to eat and catch a movie and get home before the craziness unfolded. Now, it's out for coffee, get takeout, & watch a movie at home. Movie? It might be one of these older favs:
Reading out a list to my partner of the upcoming public domain releases, one being the German language text of Freud's Civilization and it's Discontents, but I said "discounts". Likely there is a microeconomic text with such a slip of the tongue title. Bought this bk in 1977 for a college course.
December 30, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Reading out a list to my partner of the upcoming public domain releases, one being the German language text of Freud's Civilization and it's Discontents, but I said "discounts". Likely there is a microeconomic text with such a slip of the tongue title. Bought this bk in 1977 for a college course.
Saunas, electronica and air guitar: Oulu, Finland’s tech city, is European Capital of Culture 2026 www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...
Saunas, electronica and air guitar: Oulu, Finland’s tech city, is European Capital of Culture 2026
This Nordic city and digital hub is having its moment in the (midnight) sun, offering cultural, arty events and pleasingly eclectic silliness
www.theguardian.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Saunas, electronica and air guitar: Oulu, Finland’s tech city, is European Capital of Culture 2026 www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...
C by Tom McCarthy. The 2010 UK Jonathan Cape design by Suzanne Dean and the North American 2010 Knopf jacket design by Peter Mendelsund. Both designs, in and out, are clever and still fresh.
December 29, 2025 at 2:49 AM
C by Tom McCarthy. The 2010 UK Jonathan Cape design by Suzanne Dean and the North American 2010 Knopf jacket design by Peter Mendelsund. Both designs, in and out, are clever and still fresh.
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
What Philip K Dick, Tim Leary, Coleridge, and Tim Powers have in common--and what they actually don't, to some people's surprise.
Really fun very short piece I strongly recommend:
#sff #PKD
powersonfantasy.substack.com/p/me-and-col...
Really fun very short piece I strongly recommend:
#sff #PKD
powersonfantasy.substack.com/p/me-and-col...
Me and Coleridge -- an Aside
I’ve written a number of books set in historical periods, ranging from 1529 to 1963, and I try hard not to have my plots deviate from the best accounts of what actually happened in whatever situation ...
powersonfantasy.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 9:17 PM
What Philip K Dick, Tim Leary, Coleridge, and Tim Powers have in common--and what they actually don't, to some people's surprise.
Really fun very short piece I strongly recommend:
#sff #PKD
powersonfantasy.substack.com/p/me-and-col...
Really fun very short piece I strongly recommend:
#sff #PKD
powersonfantasy.substack.com/p/me-and-col...
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
Oscar Peterson remains one of the greatest musicians to ever come from Canada.
He was called the Man with Four Hands, The King of Inside Swing, and the Maharaja of the Keyboard for his musical skills.
He remains a legendary figure to this day.
This is his story.
🧵 1/10
He was called the Man with Four Hands, The King of Inside Swing, and the Maharaja of the Keyboard for his musical skills.
He remains a legendary figure to this day.
This is his story.
🧵 1/10
December 23, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Oscar Peterson remains one of the greatest musicians to ever come from Canada.
He was called the Man with Four Hands, The King of Inside Swing, and the Maharaja of the Keyboard for his musical skills.
He remains a legendary figure to this day.
This is his story.
🧵 1/10
He was called the Man with Four Hands, The King of Inside Swing, and the Maharaja of the Keyboard for his musical skills.
He remains a legendary figure to this day.
This is his story.
🧵 1/10
Comet 3i/atlas is getting closer to Earth. A synthwave song for backing track. The Midnight, Comet.
youtu.be/edaF3oWzqcY?...
youtu.be/edaF3oWzqcY?...
The Midnight - Comet (Official Audio)
YouTube video by The Midnight
youtu.be
December 19, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Comet 3i/atlas is getting closer to Earth. A synthwave song for backing track. The Midnight, Comet.
youtu.be/edaF3oWzqcY?...
youtu.be/edaF3oWzqcY?...
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
Amazon once “pulled a book off your library shelf”—internet pioneer Vint Cerf calls it shocking.
Listen as OGs & advocates explore the past, present & future of the open web on the Future Knowledge podcast.
🎧Listen & Subscribe ⤵️
futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/the...
#OpenWeb
Listen as OGs & advocates explore the past, present & future of the open web on the Future Knowledge podcast.
🎧Listen & Subscribe ⤵️
futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/the...
#OpenWeb
December 17, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Amazon once “pulled a book off your library shelf”—internet pioneer Vint Cerf calls it shocking.
Listen as OGs & advocates explore the past, present & future of the open web on the Future Knowledge podcast.
🎧Listen & Subscribe ⤵️
futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/the...
#OpenWeb
Listen as OGs & advocates explore the past, present & future of the open web on the Future Knowledge podcast.
🎧Listen & Subscribe ⤵️
futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/the...
#OpenWeb
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
Beautiful remembrance by @stephenking.bsky.social.
Opinion | Stephen King: Why I Hugged Rob Reiner After Watching ‘Stand by Me’
www.nytimes.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Beautiful remembrance by @stephenking.bsky.social.
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
Completely dazzled by Networks of the Past, a new gallery @CSMVSmumbai charting India's relationship with the ancient world. Its not just one of the best curated museum galleries in South Asia, it is also the best visual representation I have ever seen of the world I describe in The Golden Road...
December 13, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Completely dazzled by Networks of the Past, a new gallery @CSMVSmumbai charting India's relationship with the ancient world. Its not just one of the best curated museum galleries in South Asia, it is also the best visual representation I have ever seen of the world I describe in The Golden Road...
John Carey (1934-2025) has left the stage. Have to admit his "The Intellectuals and the Masses" was a bit of an assault on general perceived notions. I remember reading it and feeling like he'd shifted the backcloth on the period in question.
December 13, 2025 at 12:24 AM
John Carey (1934-2025) has left the stage. Have to admit his "The Intellectuals and the Masses" was a bit of an assault on general perceived notions. I remember reading it and feeling like he'd shifted the backcloth on the period in question.
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
Tonight, Amia Srinivasan will give the first of this year’s LRB Winter Lectures: ‘The Impossible Patient’.
The lecture has sold out in person – but livestream tickets are still available.
£10 to watch online, both live and afterwards
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lrb-winter...
The lecture has sold out in person – but livestream tickets are still available.
£10 to watch online, both live and afterwards
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lrb-winter...
LRB Winter Lectures | Amia Srinivasan: The Impossible Patient
The London Review of Books Winter Lectures for 2026
www.eventbrite.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Tonight, Amia Srinivasan will give the first of this year’s LRB Winter Lectures: ‘The Impossible Patient’.
The lecture has sold out in person – but livestream tickets are still available.
£10 to watch online, both live and afterwards
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lrb-winter...
The lecture has sold out in person – but livestream tickets are still available.
£10 to watch online, both live and afterwards
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lrb-winter...
Getting my exercise at least. About 3 hours today. Maybe tomorrow it won't snow. Maybe tomorrow . . . #lake-effect
December 11, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Getting my exercise at least. About 3 hours today. Maybe tomorrow it won't snow. Maybe tomorrow . . . #lake-effect
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
New from @EmpirePodUK
To conclude our Writers on Empire series we do a deep dive into the life of VS Naipaul:
AN AREA OF DARKNESS
THE MAKING OF VS NAIPAUL
With Pulitzer Prize winner Ben Moser
linktr.ee/empirepoduk
To conclude our Writers on Empire series we do a deep dive into the life of VS Naipaul:
AN AREA OF DARKNESS
THE MAKING OF VS NAIPAUL
With Pulitzer Prize winner Ben Moser
linktr.ee/empirepoduk
December 11, 2025 at 4:24 AM
New from @EmpirePodUK
To conclude our Writers on Empire series we do a deep dive into the life of VS Naipaul:
AN AREA OF DARKNESS
THE MAKING OF VS NAIPAUL
With Pulitzer Prize winner Ben Moser
linktr.ee/empirepoduk
To conclude our Writers on Empire series we do a deep dive into the life of VS Naipaul:
AN AREA OF DARKNESS
THE MAKING OF VS NAIPAUL
With Pulitzer Prize winner Ben Moser
linktr.ee/empirepoduk
2025 felt like . . .
December 10, 2025 at 9:37 PM
2025 felt like . . .
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
Pliny the Elder’s Natural History to Auction with $1.2m Estimate
www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...
www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...
Pliny the Elder’s 'Natural History' to Auction with $1.2m Estimate
Sotheby’s will present the first selection from the important private collection of Barry Yampol today which is led by an edition of Pliny the Elder’s Natural History with an estimate of $900,000-$1,2...
www.finebooksmagazine.com
December 9, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Pliny the Elder’s Natural History to Auction with $1.2m Estimate
www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...
www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...
Phthalo Green will be my colour of the coming year.
(To hell with Pantone and their fascist choice. Who died and made them king?)
(To hell with Pantone and their fascist choice. Who died and made them king?)
December 5, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Phthalo Green will be my colour of the coming year.
(To hell with Pantone and their fascist choice. Who died and made them king?)
(To hell with Pantone and their fascist choice. Who died and made them king?)
These books by Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, and Tahir Shah caught my eye when they came out promising fascinating cultures, stories, people, and escape from my mundane Montreal bookish/library life. Now, decades later I hazard a reread. The books haven't changed. But I, with the world, have. #books
December 2, 2025 at 3:23 AM
These books by Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, and Tahir Shah caught my eye when they came out promising fascinating cultures, stories, people, and escape from my mundane Montreal bookish/library life. Now, decades later I hazard a reread. The books haven't changed. But I, with the world, have. #books
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893)- Snow and mist.
November 30, 2025 at 1:56 PM
John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893)- Snow and mist.
Reposted by Ralph Mackay 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
Happy birthday William Joseph (Dard) Hunter. The artist, papermaker, printer & designer, famous for his work with the Roycrofters, his advocacy of the Arts & Crafts movement, & his fine bookmaking, was born today in 1883.
#graphicdesign #papermaking #bookmaking
#graphicdesign #papermaking #bookmaking
November 29, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Happy birthday William Joseph (Dard) Hunter. The artist, papermaker, printer & designer, famous for his work with the Roycrofters, his advocacy of the Arts & Crafts movement, & his fine bookmaking, was born today in 1883.
#graphicdesign #papermaking #bookmaking
#graphicdesign #papermaking #bookmaking
After a day of snow squalls, a brief moment of Blue sky and sunshine. Vitamin D passersby said. Yes, get it while you can. (As I post this, it is squalling once again.) #lake-effect
November 28, 2025 at 8:17 PM
After a day of snow squalls, a brief moment of Blue sky and sunshine. Vitamin D passersby said. Yes, get it while you can. (As I post this, it is squalling once again.) #lake-effect
