Establishing the bases

I had the idea for this blog while reading the Schulich Library of Science and Engineering's history. I'm not a McGill student, but I enjoy going to this library from time to time (I ended up on their website looking up the opening hours, I think I may have a late book or two..) to borrow books from their rich astronomy section. It said on their history page: "The Schulich Library of Science and Engineering occupies the former Macdonald Physics Building, which was built in 1893 by A.T. Taylor. Here, Ernest Rutherford conducted the research (1898 – 1907) that would eventually lead to his Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908. The building was completely renovated and reopened in 1982 as the Macdonald-Stewart Library Building. At this time, the physical sciences collection and the engineering collection were merged to form the Physical Sciences and Engineering Library." I had this feeling that I had to express, almost spiritual, of knowing that I randomly wandered in a sacred place of science, a haut lieu where some discovery was made. I always liked this library; because of the thick, old stone walls, and then the new, "renovated" structures in and around the old ones, that were definitely not there when Rutherford made his discoveries: the elevators, the computer areas, etc. I like the smell of old and new books together, a joy I certainly don't need to bother traveling to McGill for, but nonetheless.

I always struggled with blogs, never really knowing what kind of content to publish. My interests in life are diverse, and I've had several outlets on different platforms over the years. However, university being my latest lieu de diffusion, I thought starting a blog about my intellectual journey/research interests was in order. Through the weeks, I will use this free space to publish thoughts on my different objects of study, which include university and education politics, science and technology studies (STS), astro-physics (in particular exoplanets, cosmology and particle physics), sociology and religious studies (non-confessional).

In due time, I might use this blog to post reviews of books and magazine articles, to share published work and host different types of contents. (documentaries, interviews, co-authored work, photography, etc.)

I'm preparing a piece on exoplanets, which I will be posting in the following month, in the meantime, I will try and write as regularly as I humanly can through my studies, which are far from over, if the odds are to be believed!

Before I leave, I will explain simply the title I chose for my blog. It is inspired by an album-song, "The Way of All Flesh" by the french band Gojira. I left out the last word so that the reader can imagine which way is the way of all what (what?), haha, and also figuratively as a symbol of my interest of theories of everything and the great questions of humankind (the singularity/dualism problem being on the top of my list), as well as a wink to my Sea Shepherds out there, and as an indirect hommage to Paul Watson, one of my eco-heros.

I'll leave you all with a soundtrack, and a Gojira quote, derived from the aforementioned album.

"I won't bring no material in the afterlife
Take no possessions, I would rather travel light."

Kat~