Truth. I was just thinking about this the other day 🤡 a massive loop of “no [actual human person] reads/consumes this” to make the richest even richer.

Nothing fires me up more than a couple walking two dogs complaining LOUDLY about children playing, as they walk passed a SCHOOL YARD full of school BBQ attendees including children playing. This neighbourhood is a GRID. CHOOSE A DIFFERENT ROUTE.

It is disgusting that one person can be worth a trillion dollars. The systems that allowed this to happen, frankly, need to be completely burnt to the ground. open.substack.com/pub/orbitpol...

If Peak Oil happened in 2019 and nobody was there to notice it, did it make a sound

Seriously. I don’t get the hype over cyclists blowing stop signs or pedestrians jaywalking — the only one we’re putting at risk is ourselves!! UNLIKE vehicle drivers!!

“WHY is that cyclist ON THE ROAD?!” Besides obviously “we are legally supposed to be there”, I present to you this diagram. (roads and routes south of this are either blocked or high speed; also crosses railroad tracks) Locals can ignore the cars facing the wrong way; I’m limited.

It’s not even halfway through June and my parsley is covered in aphids. Sigh. Probably the earliest I’ve given up on my tiny balcony garden. Barely planted anything this year in the first place, but I do not have the stamina to fight aphids this year.

A central principle of Vision Zero is that people will make mistakes and those mistakes should not result in serious injuries of deaths. A bikeway design where inattention or having a conversation with riding partner will throw you over the bars is in direct conflict with this.

Dear #ldnont,…

This thread reminds me that I need to get back to Joyful Militancy (by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery). Joy is a form of protest for marginalized communities!! The world being a dark place is definitely not a reason to suppress joy 👍🏻.

And when it comes to artistic endeavours there is absolutely nothing about a creative style that makes it inaccessible to you, nor are you required to be the audience to function in society. Horror movies too violent? Don't watch them. Prose too flowery? Try a different book.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, pedestrian fatalities are up 56 per cent compared to this time last year and 75 per cent compared to 2024. Are e-bikes the culprit? No. Motorists are. Notable that “e-bike riders” is often shorthand for racialized gig workers. Immigrants. www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti...

I am no traffic engineer, but I think we should simply design roads that make drivers nervous and scared so they slow the fuck down. We shouldn't want drivers to feel comfortable.

Submitted a complaint to the city about this block still being closed just to store a portable toilet despite being a critical infrastructure connection point. Cyclists don’t use the detour because it’s basically suicide, telling you to ride and turn left in traffic. #ldnont

Totally agree with the folks quoted here: it’s a bandaid solution. We need to house our homeless neighbours, provide them with support. On my block we literally have an unused entrance that is CONSTANTLY full of literal shit. Just cleaning doesn’t address the cause. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

#ldnont better watch out for that section of Central Ave where they inexplicably switched the bike lane to protect the vehicle parking 🤷🏼‍♀️ (and I’m sure many more places)

This. As someone who currently has a stressful day job to pay the bills and spends almost all my free time laboring over art and slowly having the joy of creating that art sucked away by bullshit like this, my response to anyone who thinks they're owed my work for free is a resounding "Fuck you."

No one is out here calling chatbots “thought partners”. The education system is absolutely failing our kids and trying to sound cute about it. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

This is what every landscape designer who introduces arbitrary curves and deliberately indirect paths deserves.

Well that was fun. Alt text; photos from within a large, slow, group bike ride.

When Bradbury wrote “The Pedestrian” (which became Fahrenheit 451), walking had been effectively criminalized in society. Requiring someone to have insurance to walk is the first step toward this dystopia. thewaroncars.org/2022/03/29/t...

Diagram Club #081: - Cargo bike cartoon - Modifying my latest bicycle to carry things - Cartoon about volunteering - Misc nonsense (hand-drawn) open.substack.com/pub/diagramc...

How it feels:

"Not only are there material costs [to submitting AI-written articles] – we are extremely unlikely to trust you enough to commission you again – but ethical ones. Trust in the media is already at an all-time low; making it a dumping ground for your Claude castoffs is unlikely to help." 1/3

OMG and the cutest old gent who was absolutely wobbly on his legs but loves his bike so so much. “I almost fall asleep on this thing it’s so comfortable!” 😂 the darndest thing to say about a bike.

I’ve always said that one of the worst parts of making software is knowing how any of it works. Thank god we can turn any program into a kafkaesque, carbon-spewing black box and pay millions in previously human salaries for the privilege

OKAY BUT POSITIVE nice thing. Chatted for a good long while with a lovely human who had bought their dream bike while recovering from surgery and was pumped to trip it out with cute bags and that you can customize appearance with pedals and grips 😆 we had fun.

It is starting to become really clear when I’m interacting with people who are heavy AI users. They demand information. They have no respect for your time. They ignore/deny what you say. They don’t treat you like a person with their own desires and needs. I AM NOT A WALKING CHATBOT. Grrr 😠

9.3 Trillion Liters of Water: UN Report Exposes Unfathomable Footprint of Data Centers as AI Booms

I reeeeeally need people to stop insisting that their local bike shop is responsible for assembling and servicing whatever shitty e-bike they bought online.

Yooo… that is actually so messed up. Beauty is subjective; everyone’s viewpoint is different on what is beautiful. I actually find dissonance (musical, visual) to be extremely beautiful for example! Children should see all kinds of art, all kinds of people, places, things to be well rounded humans!

no it does not

i literally just wanted to own a two bedroom home in a walkable neighborhood where i can have three cats and a dog and wear nice outfits to go feed pigeons and now society is about to collapse

Want people to know and understand the #UrbanTruth? Repetition, repetition, repetition.

are you just going to do this for every generation

Sadly, from the U.S. to Canada to Europe, governments have largely caved to industry pressure, embracing the myth that AI regulation equals innovation-killing. Fear of missing out (FOMO) has replaced foresight and a duty to protect the public. #FOMO

A huge fraction of us also can't drive a car and we should have transit that doesn't take 2x, 3x and sometimes 5x as long as driving even for URBAN trips! This is so tiresome.

Uuugggh this makes me feel sick www.cbc.ca/news/busines...

AAA estimates the average cost of owning a car is $12,297 a year, and recommends drivers spend no more than 10 percent of their income on car costs. This means you should make 120K to afford the average cost. Median *household* income in the US is $77K. The math just doesn't work.

If the city makes it possible for more people to go on a nice bike ride from home to the park or to their job or the library, a lot will do it even though they have a car! People don’t need to be Cyclists to get around town by bike

Another half billion dollars for "key firms" to scale up their adoption of digital asbestos, but hey, we can't afford to fund women's or LGBTQ+ organizations beyond a pittance anymore. Thanks, Evan Solomon and Mark Carney!

Similarly, public engagement is important. But there can be diminishing returns in public engagement. It’s important to hear diverse voices and perspectives, but often times we hear the same voices over and over and not new or different ones when we do additional engagement.

I keep being reminded of this question and answer: "What is the problem that AI services are being built to solve?" "Wages."

wow guys. have you ever wanted to own a factory full of dirty malnourished children?? well now you can. and don't worry about the children. their water's just getting poisoned and their sanity eroded by the never ending hum of data centers but you can't see them so it's fine

A colleague used AI to tell him how to use up bar ingredients he’d been gifted over time but didn’t know how to use. And I just thought, you know, I’d rather some random person with a passion for cocktails built an app to do the same thing - and there are many!

Great thread that absolutely reminds me how I said “I love counting (active transportation) traffic!” yesterday 😆

The benefits of cars are enjoyed only by drivers. The downsides, on the other hand, affect everyone. With cycling and walking, it’s completely different. Bam.

Irony of finding cures for cancer (there's a new vaccine for melanoma too) at the moment we've decided to destroy science.

Unrelated to literally anything, I think I need like, a week. Away from anyone I know but not so far away it’s unfamiliar. A quiet clean hotel room. Good restaurants nearby. And just some knitting, my journals, and maybe a book. That is my idea of heaven. Undisturbed, no schedule = peace.

2020: Wow, it turns out that we can come together as a society and solve complex problems! 2021: Oh.