Bonne Fête Nationale!

La Fête Nationale du Québec à Paris!

La première poutine à Paris. Pas mal ...

Et voilà!

Urbex: Spiderphile ou Cataphile?

«Spiderphile»

En ce moment, je dirais «Spiderphile». Cependant, ce n’est que le début de l’histoire ...

No, I am not high.

Arrrrrr!

The Red Skull!

Scratch another one off the bucket list.

Pooh Gets Stuck.

La Ville de Châteauguay

À la prochaine!

My Academic Family

The Knights Who Say Ni

Who are you? Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Three choices: return home to settle down; keep calm and carry on; or what’s in the box. What would you choose?

Batman had said, “no matter what, you are still you.”

But I didn’t feel that way at the time, nor for a long time thereafter. I’ve since put in a lot of hard work to get to a good place, and for the most part I am there. I know who I am, I know where I came from and where I’m going, and every nine days out of ten life is simply superb.  And yet, why every now and then do I still feel so … tortured?

I know nothing.

Winter is Coming

A few gems from Game of Thrones: The Exhibition:

The King in the North

Mad King Igor Targaryen

Pensive Paul Baratheon, King of Westeros and the First of His Name

A few months back, my good friend and fellow mad scientist, Igor, paid me a lovely visit and we partook in much fun and adventure. So I decided to carefully make my way over to the original cool, Holland, to return the favour. Our journey took us from Utrecht to Rotterdam to Amsterdam to Westeros and back again.

Tyrion's Armour! (and other nobodies as well.)

Dragon Eggs!

A Treasure Trove of GoT Goodies! Check out those fingers ...

It was a total blast; I ate deliciously terrible food, met some really cool people, worked out at a great gym, and ... well, remember gents: what happened in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam! 

A Lovely Dress for a Wedding. A Red Wedding.

Map of Best Coffee Shops in Westeros.

Lastly, this is what happens to those who break our Amsterdam pact! (But, you know, if you happen to run into Pauline again, say hi for me.)

The actual head of Sean Bean. Great actor. You will be missed.

Bil and Norm's Excellent Adventure

The ‘stralians are taking over Paris! Whoa!

Topics in Optimal Transportation

Yours truly and Cédric Villani

Tonight I was lucky enough to encounter someone whom I admire very much; if not a personal hero then as close to one as there can be: Professor Cédric Villani, recipient of the 2010 Fields Medal for his work on the Boltzmann equation, and author of one of my all-time favourite books, Topics in Optimal Transportation. This book provides a beautiful exposition of the Kantorovich functional and Kantorovich duality, subjects that have profoundly influenced the direction of my research and my life. I was actually a little nervous, as the people I typically admire for their talents in one area turn out to be ... disappointing ... in other areas of life - Orson Scott Card comes to mind. Thankfully, Professor Villani turned out to be nothing short of charming, intelligent, and friendly in his public discussion with the French artist Bartabas on the subject of creativity, including interactions with the audience. He even gave a five-minute explanation of his work on the Boltzmann equation. As if that wasn’t cool enough, I think I also finally have the simple example I need to finish off the draft of my paper.

All in all, a good night.