I have taken my life in my hands and written a column about off leash dog owners (and maybe on what “danger” is & how its perception can be manipulated by politics).

I am pleased that the Province of Ontario adopted a law that allows politicians, "found in serious violation" of the code of conduct to be removed from office. It's several years overdue.

Lying is bad unless you do it via AI. False advertising is bad unless you do it via AI. Plagiarism is bad unless you do it via AI. Losing billions of dollars for no good reason is bad unless you do it via AI. Robbing cities of water is bad unless you do it via AI. You’re just embracing the future.

New Ways to Bus has proved similarly problematic. Should we expect as rapid an escalation towards remedial action for bus service as we have for addressing car traffic?

I think this is why most actual professional writers aren’t on board. It’s very hard to convince us we need help with the thing we love doing and have done acceptably well for most of our lives. I get why barely literate CEOs are enchanted.

Return-to-office policies at this time make no sense. We don’t have the transit capacity, we don’t have the office space, we don’t have the parking. Losing this greenspace – meant for recreation and physical health – to parking because of RTO is sad.

Springtime in the capital

sometimes I wonder if people in other fields have any clue what we go through as women in computational fields... (graph from: www.npr.org/sections/mon...)

This is the stuff.

It most uncool aspect of pro-AI folks is that they don't even know what they are talking about. Nothing about these days' AI really stands out as cutting edge either, it just assissts you in becoming less capable as a human. They brag about being useless without a computer holding their hands.

"Keeping streets safe" is BS language politicians and cops use to cover up what they really mean which is "I don't want my bougie voters having to see the poors."

I have a laundry list of issues with this with one of them being "keeping streets safe" language. It's never referring to dangerous drivers or street harassment. It's a term that's meant to emphasize vague "urban crime" when most violence happens in private homes and spaces.

With alt text!

I’m a big fan of this idea. Tax vehicles according to size, fuel efficiency, and maybe whether they have good visibility – can drivers see pedestrians well? Use revenue to fund public transit and bike lanes … win-win.

The most egregiously Vancouver-coded video I've ever seen.

Opinion: It's been six months since Premier Doug Ford's ban on "cash grab" speed cameras, and the data is in, writes @graphicmatt.com. All of us get to say it: we told you so. #onpoli

Your partner in crime took away trans kids healthcare and is trying to ban every LGBTQ+ book in the province but doesn't matter if we burn the planet down faster

I’m on the o-train at Tunneys going to Blair and two special constables just got on. One of them woke up a sleeping passenger (appeared to be unhoused). The constable asked him what his final destination was and when he didn’t respond said “Well we’re getting you off the fucking train.”

still not quite over the fact that i watched 15 year olds get sued for millions of dollars for downloading twelve songs and now we all have to accept AI slop because every tech company in the known universe decided that IP laws don't exist now that they're inconvenient for them

Riding bikes is 10X more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities. And that’s just the climate emissions. Doesn’t include the massive public & personal cost difference, the air & noise pollution difference, the massive space difference, etc, etc…Via @theconversation.bsky.social

“Use AI or get left behind!” Please, leave me behind. Drop me off on the side of the road somewhere. Sentence me to a remote cabin with a typewriter and some wildflowers that don’t know how to use the internet

Many of you deserve to have your cash grabbed

folx, I’ve been working on AI "ethics" for almost a decade now & hate to tell you there’s no such thing as "ethical AI" the only "ethical principle" that works is regulating the shit out of the industry & to take back control of our autonomy, fundamental rights, freedoms & right to exist w/out AI

“Where is the pool of men who are self-sufficient and like to read, are willing to go to therapy and are not afraid of a woman who has a passport? That sounds really wild to say out loud, but I don’t feel like I’m missing a ton by choosing to read a book instead of swiping on Hinge.”

In #OttCity nearly a billion$ is earmarked over next 8y for road widenings/new arterial roads on top of hundreds of millions for repaving, regular renewals. Not only does this embeds motor-normative thinking & auto-poverty, it deprives our city of $ to build #PlacesForPeople: housing, parks, etc

Curious what the metrics were for a successful deployment of AI scribe tools to Ontario doctors because these seem really bad globalnews.ca/news/1184434...

The City of Ottawa posted the raw speed data from before and after Doug Ford banned speed cameras and the effect is so obvious it's not even necessary put a line marking when that happened. This chart shows the percentage of drivers going 15km/h or more over the posted limit.

Imagine if #OttCity, also a G7 capital, saw the potential to improve health outcomes, reduce pollution, meet our own climate change objectives we set & save money. Imagine if we had the leadership to make this sort of vision a reality, benefiting every resident, boosting our reputation and economy

Imagine talking about any other public service this way. Does the government keep public hospitals “afloat”? What about when it gave Marine Atlantic $169 million to support its operations in 24/25? The media does the bidding of those who want to private Canada Post when they adopt this framing.

People who don’t bike anywhere often have virtually zero knowledge of how to do it. What routes exist, which ones are safe, how they connect or go places. Same thing behind the “we have enough bike lanes!” crowd.

On May 9, 1992, a methane explosion killed 26 miners at the Westray Mine in Nova Scotia. A public inquiry found miners' concerns over their safety were ignored, along with poor oversight by government regulators that led to the disaster. This is the story. 📸 SaltWire 🧵 1/10

"It’s absurd that we even need crossing guards. There are laws and we’re required to follow them. But non-compliance of traffic norms is now baked into our system and culture, a feature not a bug." #ASE www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Oh my. This is spectacular. sinceyouarrived.world/taken

this is also one of my hobbyhorses. you want a better caliber of lawmaker? you want to reduce the odds of corruption? pay them more. a lot more.

Canadian taxpayers have poured $980 million into Ubisoft since 2020, helping build a global gaming giant. As governments double down on subsidies and AI, the company’s Halifax shutdown exposes a policy gap. Journalist Isaac Peltz explores: https://thewalrus.ca/ubisoft-canada-tax-breaks-layoffs/

“If the federal government is intent on exploring the use of AI (however defined), it should not do so as a cost-cutting measure, but only after careful, case-by-case deliberation that pays close attention to how this (or any) technology interacts with the people using and affected by it.”

It totally doesn't matter that there are v few women around the PM, what were you all complaining about?

My latest Paris dispatch on how 300 streets outside of schools became some of the coolest places in the city. But even more importantly, these family-centric improvements provide ubiquitous reminders that this society prioritizes children

Fantastic new piece of public guerrilla art from Banksy: clearly a politician about to fall from their plinth as they’re blinded by the flag they are waving And it’s been put up right in the part of London soaked in imperial imagery. Applause

The myth that bike lanes have a negative impact on storefront retail or economic activity as a whole is just that: it’s a myth Time and again we see evidence of improved economic activity, not to mention, well-being, health and social cohesion as a result of bike lanes. @urbantruth.bsky.social

When you hear 'asset recycling' from PM Goldman Sachs & his ministers, think of Britain. Yes, it started under Thatcher but has continued (Royal Mail was listed on the London Stock Exchange the same year Carney became governor of the Bank of England.). Britain and the British are the worse for it.

Another banger by @rawsignal.ca

It gives gov't short-term finances that make them look like they are reducing debt rather than having to tax corporations & the wealthy properly to achieve that. It robs the public of long-term control of infrastructure, allowing the market to gouge the public while reducing long-term public profit.

It would be complete folly to financialize critical public infrastructure under the guise of "unlocking federal assets."

Are you registered to vote in this October’s municipal election? Check at the link below. #OttCity #OttVote

not saying it wouldn’t be higher without removing the tax, but it’s hard not to feel there’s more going to profits and that it wasn’t a good policy move at all

one week on from the feds pausing the gas tax and the price of gas is back up to where it was before that 🤷

“Robertson Road serves more than cars; it serves the community itself. Residents want a place where they can comfortably walk and bike through their community, where they can rely on transit to reach their destinations..” @lainejohnson.bsky.social on transforming Bells Corners