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  Its great that Albertans voted overwhelmingly to remain in Canada. But disturbing how much the anti-immigrant and antidemocratic punching down has held sway. Q1: decrease immigration: yes 599k vs 424k votes Q2: kick unauthorized immigrants off healthcare, school and other social services: yes 517k vs 387k Q4: charge a fee to non-perm resident use of health & education: yes 439k vs 330k votes Q5: Proof of citizenship to vote: yes 436k vs 255k votes https://results.elections.ab.ca/8400 #ABP...

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  Stolen to provide alt text #UniversalBasicIncome #UBI #DavidGraeber

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  Gosh I hate the LLM internet so much. A colleague died a few days ago. Now fake AI-generated obituaries are popping up online, scraped from public information with some sentimental wording slapped on to mimic a real obituary. It's so gross and fake. #NoAI

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  Someone stole my teen's backpack (with his laptop inside) yesterday. He phoned the police non-emergency line to report the theft. Which was answered by an AI chatbot. Chatbot said it would send him a link to the form to fill out. Which it didn't do. When he swore under his breath, the chatbot said it would transfer him to a human. And hung up on him. He found the online form. Which had a link error. So he went in person. At least that's an option for police. As opposed to CRA,...

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  Lifehack: when searching for general info on the internet now, I adjust the date settings to pre 2024. It seems to filter out the AI slop, and results in much more useful information. Especially useful for looking up a recipe. #NoAI

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  Subsidize cars, not food! /s Tony Keller wrote in the G&M yesterday that NY Mayor Mamdani’s city-run groceries are a disaster because it’s just subsidizing food. He points to zoning rules that restrict shop sizes as being a key driver of high food costs. Meanwhile Shaun Micallef writes that Toronto is being unfair in restricting subsidized on-street parking for new multiplex residents. Taken together, one could conclude it’s right and natural to subsidize parking. Ruinous to subsidize f...

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  "The height of Covid" When I hear that phrase, I think of the seven cholera pandemics. Europe must have breathed a sigh of relief after the 2nd one (1826-1837). I'm sure they couldn't have imagined the 3rd pandemic (1846-1860) would be so much worse. That one finally sparked investments in sanitation -- including Haussmann's renovation of Paris. (1/2) #Covid #CovidIsntOver #LongCovid

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  Rainy days, Washing the Smoke away Sesame Street theme for climate catastrophe #Toronto #dlws

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  Toronto's 1936 heat wave: The city recorded 3 consecutive days of 40.6 degrees. People fled to the waterfront, and slept in parks. "By July 11, the death toll began to rise. Toronto ambulances reported the busiest day in Toronto’s history; hearses discarded years before were brought in to accommodate the enormous demand. Cemeteries hired extra grave diggers. Florists saw higher demand than they had during the First World War." https://www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?t=f40a62b2-92bb...

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  Libby Isn't Your Library. It's a Private Equity Asset. https://unhingedlibrarian.com/research/who-owns-libby/ I went to do a search on DuckDuckGo, and it displayed a message that it had blocked 72 tracking attempts from Libby over the past hour. Which had me wondering: who owns this app??? OverDrive owns Libby. And OverDrive is owned by KKR, the same private-equity firm that owns Simon & Schuster. https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/could-kkrs-ownership-of-overdrive-raise-ques...

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  It's Ontario cherry season!!! I picked up a mixed flat (half sweet, half sour) at Karma Co-op, plus a large bag of discounted imperfect sour cherries. We ate one quart of sweet cherries for dessert. I've pitted 6 cups of sour cherries so far. Trying out a vegan sour cherry frangipane, and making some banana cherry fruit leather.

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  I'm in Quebec city for a few days. Really impressed by the preponderance of communist and anarchist stickers and graffiti. This Antifa Bonhomme sticker is really effective. I saw it several times before walking into the touristy old town. It cemented the association in my mind, such that when I saw Bonhomme merchandise, I immediately thought Antifa. #antifa #QuebecCity (1/)

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  @lydiaschoch@mastodon.social My rite of spring is to eat a tender green leaf from cherry tree in bloom. At first as you chew on it, it just tastes bitter. But then the cherry flavour comes out at the end. Though, perhaps it resembles bitter almond more. Anyway, I like it as a reminder that the cherries are there, waiting to come forth.

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  Excellent detailed writeup by TACT on the #Andes #Hantavirus situation. "There is evidence of droplet and aerosolized transmission and in closed or crowded social settings it can be enough to sustain a transmission chain when Andes virus enters the right network. That is why a cruise ship, shared cabins, shared dining, narrow corridors, medical care in confined spaces, and international air travel are not background details. They are the transmission architecture." https://t...

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  Truly the best alt-text I've ever read. #AltTextHallOfFame https://mastodon.social/@screambiogenesis/116390559867926031

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  @Cassandra@ottawa.place On "brain fog", I was catching up this weekend with a 30 yr old friend. Several times she said "I can't remember words anymore. That's mom brain for you!". She's got 2 young kids, and teaches elementary school. She mentioned separately that the kids are always sick. This stuff really hurts my heart.

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  @adub@beige.party Awesome! Have a great trip.

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  @dbattistella Wow! I see the Arab American National museum in Dearborn MI has an exhibit of Rajie Cook's called "Waiting for Peace", until August 15, 2026. https://arabamericanmuseum.org/exhibition/waiting-for-peace-by-rajie-cook/

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  I love that there's a guy with a skateboard train giving rides to people around the U of T King's College circle. Its so convivial now that the cars are removed. #Toronto #TheWarOnCars #WarOnCars

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  @mayintoronto Really good article. I didn't know about the ~30% of workers not covered by workers comp. Nor about the low rate of people seeking compensation from being disabled from workplace injury.

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  Oh, I'm pissed about Doug Ford wanting to pave over Norway Park. I told my kid, who responded: "OK, when and where is the protest?" He usually isn't that enthusiastic about joining protests. #ToPoli #OnPoli

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  @senanthic Best laugh I've had this weekend

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  @cargot_robbie I did the survey and the petition! I was really struck by how nice the pedestrianised stretches of Montreal were, when I visited last summer.

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  I’m not usually up at sunrise. This was a nice surprise. #Toronto

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  Someone is going around painting St George's cross in my Toronto neighbourhood. Often covering up "free Palestine" messages. Seems like an ugly white supremacist call to me.