A packed Morning File today with stories by @joanbaxter.bsky.social and @dartjenhen.bsky.social. I wrote an essay inspired by comments actress/screenwriter Emma Thompson said about AI on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. www.halifaxexaminer.ca/morning-file...

Today marks the official death of my Twitter blue-tick - and fittingly, Sky News published an investigation proving the whole thing’s an algorithmic bin fire. It’s been real, it’s been ragey, it’s been hell. Let it burn. Let it all burn to the ground.

I’m with Emma Thompson. I don’t want AI to ‘fucking rewrite what I’ve just written’ either Morning File by @suzannerent.bsky.social

Smaller population than HRM:

Much more housing should be permitted in Halifax's South End specifically

Monday's ep is out for subscribers

Me on my bike

The median income of most Nova Scotians is $41,300. The average monthly cost of car ownership is $1,370 or $16,440 a year. The average monthly rent in Halifax is $2,095 or $26,340. If you are an average renting, driving Haligonian you make $41,300 and pay $42,780 for housing and transportation.

How the plastics industry shifted responsibility for recycling onto you, the consumer #ClimateAction #CDOH theconversation.com/how-the-plas...

Yup. I remember the #dotcombubble & #Y2k

More from that thread:

Does this line about a bikeway NYC’s new mayor could fix remind anyone of anything? 🤔 “last block of a crucial two-way protected bike lane vanishes because City Hall intervened to keep the street two-way there for cars, on behalf of a developer that owns a residential building and a garage there.”

New diagram for @cyclinguk.bsky.social

Embodying the principles of directness and attractiveness, Amsterdam’s Nesciobrug—floating 11m above and 780m across the Amsterdam–Rijnkanaal—is the longest non-motorised bridge in the Netherlands, and a shining example of what’s possible when cities don’t allow the car to dictate their priorities.🧵

Nothing to see here, literally! Just 6ft me standing, you read that right, standing upright in front of a truck. @thewaroncars.bsky.social

It’s easy to be a good pedestrian. What’s hard is for news outlets to address the systemic solutions to traffic violence.

Frankly - the MPs on this cttee are supposed to be leaning about science & research but they lack basic understanding about ethical conduct with managing human data sets & the necessity of confidentiality in peer review. These are SACROSANCT in a healthy research ecosystem.

This is exactly what Trump did. He gave sweeping access to DOGE to data mine highly sensitive data on American citizens and then waged war on EDI and ‘woke ideology’ in research. It didn’t end well for America.

We should all be very worried about the cavalier attitude of all MPs on the Standing Cttee on Science & Research who openly engaged in data mining to serve political ends. All of our confidential personal info would become part of the parliamentary record and they didn’t even blink.

MPs used ‘parliamentary privilege’ to overstep privacy laws to access confidential disaggregated data on sexual orientation, disability status, race, research proposals, peer review comments and other highly sensitive info. This followed weeks of anti-EDI // anti-woke rage farming by Con & Bloc MPs

We’ve received more than 5000 signatures on our open letter to stop MPs from accessing private data about scientists, researchers and students in the university sector! This story is still developing- www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/ove...

This is why all entrances to paved multiuse trails need a bollard. www.facebook.com/share/v/1DSw...

When you’re hit by a car, try not to die. It’s a real bummer for the driver.

my city still talks about 'shared responsibility', which is entirely the wrong framing, and the road death number is likely to be very high this year. Drivers need to not break the law and kill people. Full stop.

Our revolution of relaxing rolls on!

Yes, indeed #BikeFriendlyPlanet theconversation.com/cyclists-may...

Today (Nov. 5) at 6:30 p.m.: Accessibility Advisory Committee Annual Town Hall, Paul O’Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library. Read the agenda: www.halifax.ca/city-hall/bo.... Watch on Zoom (registration required): us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi....

I'm thinking I'll be long gone when we finally get it.

At the C40 World Mayors Summit, mayors from the world’s big cities are discussing how to tackle sophisticated disinformation campaigns designed to threaten the ability of leaders to respond to the climate crisis.

“You're not alone in wanting a better world, one in which cars are relegated to their proper use. Cars are tools that can be useful at certain times and places. They’re not gods. They’re not the foundation of our society. They should serve us. We should not serve them. There can be life after cars.”

Learn all about #ISBNPA latest activities and discover what’s coming up! ✨Sprint to submit your best research for #ISBNPA2026 ✨#Dare2Share sessions ✨Non-Inflationary Pricing ✨Elections 2025-2026 ✨Membership Renewal https://loom.ly/_7tCfoA

👀

The American Christian right has infiltrated the UK. We are on the road to Gilead, but it's not too late to change course By @theguiltyfeminist.bsky.social's @dfdubz.bsky.social

This episode features part of a conversation with longtime fisherman, Ernest Decker. Ernest opens up about the history, challenges and changes throughout the fisheries in the Gros Morne region. 🎧 Listen on Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts! Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5c9pzy4...

Magary's response: "I’m never gonna discourage any young person from wanting to become a journalist. The way to defeat bad journalism, AI-generated pap included, is with more people practicing good journalism." Also, calling everything "content" was a sign of bullshit to come.

"That’s true even if you only use AI for tedious bullshit. Doing menial tasks is a strangely useful life experience." The second question is from a father whose daughter wants to be a journalist. The dad is worried about her just grinding out content for AI. 2/

This column by Drew Magary has good advice about using AI. The first letter writer asks about using AI too often: "Studies are already showing that using ChatGPT and its siblings will make you, as an individual, dumber. And probably more depressed, too..." 1/ defector.com/am-i-a-shitt...

If #Mamdani wins in New York, especially if he wins BIG, it would be the most powerful indication we’ve seen that big money, big media & big politics CAN be beat in today’s USA. That might be the most hopeful & inspiring thing to come out of a depressed & broken United States this year. #VOTEMamdani

Vancouver’s urban tree canopy, and the “kissing canopies” over the streets the mature trees create, are one of our city’s most important assets. Cooling, cleaning, beautifying and strengthening the city while integrating urban life with nature for livability. Great pics via @traffictrish.bsky.social

German police said they had conducted an internationally co-ordinated action against alleged fraud & money laundering networks Multiple people were arrested & searches occurred in Germany, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the U.S. & Cyprus www.cbc.ca/news/world/g...

14. Thanks for reading to the end. Here's the thread on one page: skywriter.blue/pages/did:pl...

Imagine a city where the authorities deemed ending this pattern of killings on our streets to be a higher priority than the liberty of the motorist.

"More concerning than this is that there isn’t a clear reason why this year flopped so hard for HalifACT" Our "climate emergency" action is far far from what that requires. Other cities have hit the ground running

A typical European car is parked 92% of the time. It spends 1/5th of its driving time looking for parking. Its 5 seats only move 1.5 people. 86% of its fuel never reaches the wheels, and most of the energy that does, moves the car, not the people. Sound efficient? HT @ellenmacarthurfdn.bsky.social

Oil and gas trumps climate action in brutal federal budget. By senior @policyalternatives.ca researcher @hadrianmk.bsky.social #budget2025 #cdnpoli #ClimateCrisis www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/04/o...

There’s no olive branch for the NDP in today’s federal budget--might Canada be plunged into another election? Full CCPA analysis of the budget is now live: www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Speaking of government budgets. Public funding used to be 70% of what universities needed and is now down to 35%.

“Fighting for the right to a public university”, written about the Dal Faculty strike, also applies to @cupe3912.bsky.social's strike mandate, which can “be seen as strong resistance to right-wing neoliberal tendencies that strangle universities”. www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc... #Nspoli