Why We Call Saturday’s Blog Posts “OG.”

It’s short for “Omnium-Gatherum” which is the long, Latin way to say “Things I fell across on my way to tomorrow.”

As always, we start with something newsworthy and end on something musical and hopefully inspirational. This week’s OG comes to you from Spatsizi Wilderness Plateau in northern BC where we’re fly-fishing. This must be the only place in the entire province that’s cold and rainy.

So no matter the weather wherever you are, here are 10 things to explore today on the way to your tomorrow.

1. Smoke gets in your dashboard. To learn just how bad smoke and pollution are where you live, or anywhere, really, and what you should and shouldn’t do, like exercise outside or not), use this link from IQAir.

2. Brilliant designs. Why can’t everything be designed this well, and whimsically?

3. Love and death. They change when you’re older. In fact, when you’re 88-year old Inga Boysen from Norway, death doesn’t matter so much – in this wondrous 7-minute video.

4. Robot Therapists? Talk therapy has moved online with a vengeance. But what if therapists didn’t have to be human at all,  but just empathetic machines who can nod their heads and ask: “But how did that make you feel?”

5. The most dangerous film in the world. This week it may be coming out of Afghanistan. But we’re not talking about physical danger here, or even political danger.  Rather, nuclear-contamination-of-film-stock danger.

6. Online architectural tours. From “From Texas to Tel Aviv, the world’s best architecture is now available for digital tours” from Architectural Digest. And the first item up? Eppich House in Vancouver, designed by Arthur Erickson in 1972.

7. Showcatcher. For the first time, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has invited artists to share their performances virtually. As this sub-site says: “Discover the talent from Quebec!”

8. Does your life need more rants? Canada’s got Rick Mercer; America, Trevor Noah and many more. But I fell across Britain’s best political ranter, Jonathan Pie, the fictional character from actor Tom Walker. Check out this one about A Nation of Wankers.

9. Not Netflix, but Nestflix. It’s the spoof site of fictional movies and fake shows within shows, including Arnold Schwarzenegger in Hamlet.

10. Arguably the greatest piano solo in jazz history. Boogie Blues Etude from the late great Canadian, Oscar Peterson. Join the three million viewers who’ve already loved it.

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To order a copy of my book Love or Die Trying, click here for Canadian orders, click here for US orders, or visit your favourite bookstore.