Love that they are using the LOM Geofón microphone/sensor for this! store.lom.audio/collections/...

Two independent studies found that AI chatbots were better at persuading voters than political ads. The most persuasive bots also lied the most. This is something that humans working in psyops have known for decades. AI is psyops at scale. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/04/1...

“In fact, if every billionaire were left with only a billion dollars to their name, the rest of their seized wealth would be enough to cover the amount UN experts believe is needed to end world extreme poverty for the next 196 years.” www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12... #cdnpoli

Love that they are using the LOM Geofón microphone/sensor for this! store.lom.audio/collections/...

1. Some good news at last. This week’s column is about the amazing thing a couple of us stumbled into three years ago, which we’ve now developed into a global research programme. It doesn’t change everything, of course, but it could help change quite a lot. + 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We’re launching the Earth Rover Program - trying to make geophysics actually usable for farmers. That means tackling the ridiculous price of equipment and opening up a global, easy-to-use dataset so anyone, anywhere around the globe, can understand what’s happening under their feet.

The first school to market itself as AI free is going to corner the market on people interested in actually learning. And I would not be surprised if rich families and the children of people creating this tech were the first movers.

Periodic reminder: The government is not a business. The president is not a CEO. Public services are not cost centers. The metric to optimize is not "profit."

It’s time for the NDP to tell the truth: we must get off fossil fuels fast—with no worker left behind. Today I’m unveiling our Green New Deal: a plan to tackle both the climate and affordability crises by creating 1M good jobs, lowering bills, and building a new economy. Join us: lewisforleader.ca

It was time a decade ago. It's way past time now. Enviro studies graduates tell me that the only jobs on offer are in oil and gas. That is cruel. They desperately want to be part of building a thriving future, not burning it down. They have the skills, they deserve the opportunities.

the real story is the way the country's obscenely rich have hijacked new and old media to pour lemon juice in the country's unhealed race and gender wounds to divide the electorate and derail genuine progressive reform, justice-oriented taxation, and corporate oversight now THAT's a story

this is literally the first thing i learned about Sam Altman and boy has that shaped how i think about him and his whole deal 👀

This is the same party (who have never elected any members btw) that doesn’t think we should have memorials or anything to honour residential school survivors and victims

Everyone can agree that the worst thing that could possibly happen is safe drugs finding their way to the streets.

The mill closure in Crofton BC (just down the highway from Nanaimo), got me reading about pulp supply...

Across the street.

I can't wait for the Atlantic to talk about how those who don't need to work a job to pay for college are essentially getting extra time compared to those who do. As someone who was among the former, I admit an extra 20 hrs/week to do the readings seems a bit more uneven than 30 minutes for a test

I mean, we know for a fact that training generative AI on the output of generative AI simply result in the collapse of the model and nothing more. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

You can't restart a blast furnace after shutting it down. The molten metal inside cools and solidifies, causing severe and permanent damage. If this is allowed to happen, Canada loses that domestic steel making capacity forever.

If Carney is serious about using Canadian steel for shipbuilding and other major projects, the Federal government needs to recoup the $500M paid to Alcoma by nationalizing the plant. We need this capacity now more than ever, and it's clear that more corporate handouts won't work.

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

This is just my opinion, but I don't think departments need to change their strategy for reading or grading student work. Departments need a strategy for responding to harassment and attacks.

“What this all comes down to is a philosophy that less is more, constraints are helpful, and unlimited of anything is paralysing. This is certainly true in many facets of creating or appreciating art, and probably in most aspects of life generally.”

if you are thinking lately about how all social media & subscription services are getting worse and more annoying, please enjoy my husband’s blog post about quitting Spotify to curate music again lukecyca.com/2025/listen-...

Aesthetics friends: do you know of any good recent papers on depictions of trans and/or queer characters in film/fiction? A student asked for recommendations when we did rough heroes, and I’m wondering if there might be something good for us to end the semester with…

Look out BC! China’s LNG demand drops for 13th month running. Last week, Pakistan cancelled a huge contract to purchase LNG from Qatar (even choosing to pay a penalty) because they no longer need/want it -- the solar revolution is quickly displacing demand for LNG. financialpost.com/pmn/business...

Is 'They Live' a Black Friday movie?

I think it’s bad, actually, to play political chess with Indigenous rights.

“Rather than reinvesting those profits in the Canadian economy, the four companies paid out $79.7 billion in dividends and share buybacks, nearly ¾ of which went to foreign shareholders, including 62% to American shareholders.” www.theenergymix.com/u-s-owned-oi...

WTF!? FIFA-specific bylaw approved by #Vancouver Wed allows $1,000 fines for range of street infractions during 2026 World Cup - to ensure “brand protection". * distributing ads * defacing/postering st. furniture * placing ads on vehicles Outdoor event postering will be illegal for all but FIFA?

Anyone who says a bitumen pipeline through northern BC could "usher in a new era of harmony on resource development" has not talked to anyone in northern BC.

idiot guy: i'm like the wolf i'm stalking my prey alone through the forest and being raw as fuck even if i'm in a group i'm the alpha actual wolf: i love my friends so much!!! i love to romp and kiss my bros and work together as a family <3 awooo etc etc have you seen the puppies oh my god come see

“Research doesn't have to be exploitative.”

This is what taxes could prevent thetyee.ca/News/2022/01...

I'd say we need a word for assholes who don't want to pay taxes, but we already have words for them: sponges, parasites, leeches. Rich people who don't want to pay their fair share are fucking parasites. Leeches who pull money out of society, get all of its benefits, and don't want to contribute.

Taxes are good! Taxes are how we pay for all of the things that make society a good place to live! People who don't like taxes are selfish and stupid and make our entire society worse for their own short term, often barely noticeable gain.

swear to god

approved despite over 600 speakers signing up to speak to the budget, with all but a tiny number strongly opposed, and following a public engagement survey that found the majority of respondents supported a property tax increase to avoid cuts.

I'd appreciate if any audio tech folks could help circulate this exciting call for a fully-funded PhD position working in multichannel audio design for galleries. It's part of an ARC funded project 'From Noise to Signal: Improving Sonic Experiences in the Gallery' www.unsw.edu.au/research/hdr...

I’m pretty angry about Canada moving toward more fossil fuel development. Furious, actually. Carney has severely misjudged the moment. We see him putting corporate interests ahead of a liveable planet and he needs to understand 👏we will mobilize against that👏. No more pipelines.

so, so good. run it as a political ad.

I want people to displace the imaginary depictions of *revolutions* that they have come to create in their heads with the actual small revolutionary acts that happen daily. We might get closer to revolution that way.

2. Not only is Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar unsure whether full clearcutting is still happening—"I don’t think that’s happening in BC anymore"—but he refuses to meet with top environmentalists who used to have access to the Minister. Why, @rparmarbc.bsky.social @davidebybc.bsky.social? #bcpoli

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features." There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

Can anyone direct me to a Canadian, UK or EU website that ships to Canada and sells Protect the Dolls and/or You Will Have To Go Through Me unisex or womens tshirts where the proceeds go to support trans people or orgs anywhere in the world?

My work on counterpublics and related topics demos.co.uk/research/ver...

We’re watching a shift where AI simulates the cohesion and reinforcement that used to require an entire online community. A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window. Which seems bad.

The content is still obviously delusional to anyone reading it. It’s just organised crazy. But the real danger is the internal effect on the user. The AI provides coherence and validation, stabilising the narrative they’re caught in.

Previously, these belief systems tended to collapse under their own weight. Contradictions and memory gaps made them hard to sustain. Now the AI removes that friction, it produces timelines, summaries, and "forensic" explanations on demand.

"One expert with the Ministry of Forests who spoke on condition of anonymity said the way timber supply reviews are conducted in B.C. amounts to 'voodoo science' and grossly overestimates harvestable wood. 'It’s a dirty secret. But if you lower that number, it’s seen as some kind of loss.'#bcpoli