Oh no! Anyway... (The rest of the headline is the words "other services", which, hoo boy, CBC/AP.)

Did you know that there’s a premium version of Whatsapp which : - Has no advertising - Has no mandatory AI integration - Has no tracking and does not gather your personnal data - Has increased privacy and stronger encryption - Is exclusive and allows you to chat with other premium members Best […]

I had only just decided that my unplayable first WWF letter tray should be called a "boing" (as opposed to an "ognib") when my opponent played a first-tray bingo.

My local CBC outlet has started posting on X again after a 14-month absence. What's the urgent breaking story that warranted their return to the Nazi site? (With a link to YouTube, no less, instead of the CBC website.) #ldnont

I haven't yelled that many (overwhelmingly excited) swear words at the sky for a long time. WWOOOOOWWWWW. Reddest auroras I've ever seen!! Usually it takes a long time exposure/CCD camera to see red at all. This is BRIGHT!! You can actually see easily outside […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Somehow found myself at a Wikipedia page for the Roud Folk Song Index <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_folk_songs_by_Roud_number> and was reminded that, back in the Napster era, I collected something like 50 versions of _The Raggle Taggle Gypsy_. (Not one was credited to Weird Al Yankovic […]

Not to make light of the latter, but "Once again millions of Canadians literally forget how to drive after first snowfall"* is Canada's "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens".** *< […]

Aaron Swartz should have been 39 years old today #aaronswartzday

Finally fixed (i.e. rebuilt) the long-broken iCalendar feed on my theatre website. I'm the only one who actually uses it, so it wasn't a priority, but it was a good opportunity to figure out a better way of handling things. As a bonus, I've already found it useful. Next, the user-facing […]

Apparently yesterday was #ireadcanadian Day, so here are a few books by Canadian authors I've enjoyed: * _Sleeping Giants_/_Waking Gods_/_Only Human_ (The Themis Files series) by Sylvain Neuvel * _Dreaming Sally_ by James FitzGerald * _The Healing Power of Singing_ by Emm Gryner (of more […]

Looks like no one at #immich ever reported #cursed issue https://github.com/immich-app/immich/issues/10796 to the #npm git repository https://github.com/npm/cli Also, surprisingly, it appears that neither Immich nor npm have presences in the fediverse.

Mark Carney is now, officially, a Climate disaster for Canada. #ClimateChange #cdnpoli #MarkCarney

Listening in to a meeting of radio astronomers: direct-to-cell satellites are SO BRIGHT that even though they're following the rules and broadcasting in their allocated bands, they destroy astronomical observations across a huge swath of frequencies. Radio telescopes were designed to operate in […]

Is it still nominative determinism when the doctor's *initials* are D.R.?

Warrantless wiretapping?!? Encryption backdoors?!? Read the submission to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security of Bill C-8 from The Citizen Lab and the concerns raised by our own privacy commissioner. Thank goodness for @citizenlab and @OpenMediaOrg. Thank you for the […]

[can pol] Just got an email about an open letter for professors to sign, because the Standing Committee on Science and Research just decided to grab personal demographic info and the EDI portions of tri-council research grant from the last *25 years*. This is really bad. Please please please […]

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright, The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light; And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout, But there is no joy in Hogtown

My submission to the Competition Bureau of Canada about the new and current Android restrictions, https://competition-bureau.canada.ca/en Google has announced that it will stop permitting me from writing my own apps for Android unless I both register with them and seek their approval on an […]

The Human Only Public License: https://vanderessen.com/posts/hopl/ #genai

In Toronto municipal elections, "electors" includes non-resident citizens (plus their spouses) if they own or rent property in the city. It doesn't include non-citizen residents. Elections Ontario should report statistics on residency status for municipal […] [Original post on urbanists.social]

The FCC has explicitly stated that they plan to approve everything https://www.satellitetoday.com/government-military/2025/10/28/fcc-kicks-off-proceeding-to-overhaul-satellite-licensing/. There is no way to stop stupid fucking mirrors from being launched into […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Dangit. I should have posted this about 22 hours ago (in response to the #baseball game). "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"

NOTE: Even though Jays-Dodgers played two games' worth of #baseball tonight, only one win will be credited. Series is now 2–1 LA.

Rats.

Highest Canadian nerd achievement UNLOCKED I'M SO EXCITED!!!! QUIRKS AND QUARKS!!!!!!!! And that was all because of Mastodon, thanks all! (Especially @mayintoronto whose comment got a Quirks and Quarks producer to get in touch with me via BlueSky-Fedi bridge. Wild. WILD.)

Two powerful letters in the Toronto Star make it clear. Canada’s real nation building project is not pipelines but a healthy democracy. Proportional representation would strengthen our country now and for generations to come.

Are you a youth who is directly and disproportionately impacted by pollution, climate change and/or the systems and industries causing it? Do you need research as part of your community’s fight for environmental justice? If so, email us, including if you need […] [Original post on cosocial.ca]

I'm offering a funded PhD position on nighttime lights #RemoteSensing in the Institute of #Geography at the @ruhr-uni-bochum.de#RemoteSensing#geographyttps://jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/62065e5be70a916f65edd647cd1b1740b04cd72e0 I'd love for the ad to be seen by as many potential candidates as possible, so […]

Currently happening basically outside my window, with what appears to be one police vehicle present for every protester (not hyperbole) […]

🧐

Amazing video. #bluejays https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:eia5xcbvtdimp5blnxunkzs7/post/3m3luddop2c22 (Filmed, handheld, by Alex Frazao, per https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:in6dhzhfj7jthnnyvsec3n5o/post/3m3n7shmhkc2y — wish someone had captured that too!)

Hey #cbc #ldnont: Rachel Hannah has a name too.

Carney: “What makes those emissions go down will be carbon capture and storage.” That is a declaration of war on Canada's environmentalists, who know (as does Carney) that scalable and viable capture/storage technologies are science fiction […]

Insta-block, as the kids say.

it's not FOR us

The questions are all very leading, but each answer can be up to two thousand characters, so feel free to tell AI Minister Solomon -exactly- how you feel about Canada's relationship with AI. In polite, but excruciating detailed terms, of course; you don't want to be summarily discarded as a troll.

Having completed this survey, it's clear that it exists entirely to gain approval for things that are already in the works. Push back. https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:56fa7nq34sp444dlr5a7tqmu/post/3m2p25abqzs2q

Canadians: The federal government is seeking public input on how AI should be developed and used in business, research, and the military. If this scares the shit out of you, please let them know:

Yup, Canada's "AI Minister" Evan Solomon is just (and/or just being scammed by) an AI Con. https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:67x5yohybjcgsstt3cvtpu4n/post/3m2riqoz4kc2s

What can you do? The FCC never opened up a comment period on RO's filing for launch, so there's no official way to protest. They may open it up later? Absolutely no info on that. DarkSky International is working on a petition to be delivered to RO's misguided investors, I will share that as […]

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that Reflect Orbital's fucking stupid giant mirror satellite, with absolutely NOTHING useful to offer, which will cause countless safety issues, ecological disasters, and destroy the night sky, is going to launch. A bunch of astronomers and I have sent out […]

"It's also a two-lane road, with a posted speed limit of 80 km/hr that does have a designated bike lane". If you think an unconnected 100m strip of green paint on an 80 km/h road (which, practically, is a 90­–100 km/h road) is a "designated bike lane", take your 5-year-old out there for a ride […]

I'm soon starting up a Nighttime Lights Remote Sensing webinar. Speakers will come from all over the world, and the talks will take place alternately in the (European) morning or late afternoon/evening, to allow international participation. The first talk in […] [Original post on fediscience.org]

From https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cysfyu7ook326epmpvun2qtb/post/3lzs7noi6oc23 — > Prof. Lee says that the problem for Canada Post is the smartphone because people send texts, not letters. Fine, but don't gut it. I say, make Canada Post a public service mobile broadband provider serving […]

Let that sink in "Despite its extreme population density, Gaza was mostly self-sufficient in vegetables and poultry, and met much of the population’s demand for olives, fruit and milk. But last month the UN reported that just 1.5% of its agricultural land now remains both accessible and undamaged."

If you don't think road safety should be left to governments holding majority control with only 40% of the vote, demand proportional representation.

Here's the official Global Meteor Network camera video from Lucky Lake, Saskatchewan! This video is courtesy University of Western Ontario and Defence R&D Canada. I counted 13 pieces in the video, how many do we think made it to the ground and are sitting on canola stubble east of Saskatoon?

Breaking (and we do mean breaking)! #ontario #dougford #cars

The Canada Revenue Agency is doing a public consultation on automatic tax filing (which they should have implemented …several decades ago!). Fill it out and let the CRA know that it’s a good idea! […]

The BC Green Party has a new leader! 25 year old @emilylowan This youtube link should be cued up to the 21m50s mark when she starts her inaugural speech as leader! Big Congrats to her! #bcgreens #bcpoli #canpoli #greenparty https://www.youtube.com/live/psZhiP6JsaQ?si=72Nvlyy-buUh07TD&t=1310