I really wish people aspiring to write understood what a competitive advantage being able to write without AI will be in the coming years.

A great reminder in our world of echo chambers.

Important to take a second to ask yourself if you're being a prick.

Drivers are not ok. abc7chicago.com/post/woman-a...

I was at the Celebration of the Arts hosted by Mayor Jeromy Farkas at Werklund Centre, in the Jack Singer Concert Hall. I was standing in line to get a drink & there was Cllr André Chabot standing to my right (there isn’t much to the left of me). What follows is my version of our conversation. 1/

Bring back the ancient knowledge

when we mourn le guin, we mourn one of our greatest writers & thinkers. but we also mourn one of our all-time greatest haters

I'll take a short break from being mad about housing politics to note that in another life I was a music student at the University of Alberta, and I also spent many years trying to learn to play the pipe organ. The organ in Con Hall is a magnificent instrument and this is a travesty.

Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.

How men feared women! she thought, walking among the late-flowering roses. Not as individuals, but women when they talked together, worked together, spoke up for one another - then men saw plots, cabals, constraints, traps being laid.

The Batte Man doth knowe the trouthe

UCP = Cheat to Win

I will always find it confusing that some people think a person riding a $2000 bike to commute is a privileged elitist but the guy in the $80k truck that costs $150 to fill is the working class average joe.

Is Angine de Poitrine mirror universe Khruangbin?

With so much to be angry about in the world right now, act locally and write to your councillor!

Who is watching Calgary city council right now? I had made peace with the rezoning repeal, but I did not expect things to go so far off track with the amendments. Council is gutting every path to build housing that it can. This is a total dereliction of its duty, and Calgarians should be furious.

Just putting this here for handy reference

Trans rights are human rights. This isn't complicated.

6. We should ALL expect that our leaders, who are supposed to learn much more about the need/context for change than most of us will know, will be responsible enough to make the right decisions even when unpopular. And NOT do the opposite, which is rage-farm populist lies about change to get votes.

Midsize SUVs are standard US car bloat. They eat public space, wear down infrastructure, and add danger. ​Compare that to the Urban Arrow, the SUV of the bike world. It has a minimal footprint, is fully urban capable, and keeps streets safe. ​Yet only one is called "big".

Or--this is going to sound crazy--you could read the cases you cite.

I once truly believed in my heart that if I offered my children a low-pressure variety of delicious whole foods they one day would eat them

Happy ides of March

Watch this awful video and remember it every time you choose to get behind the wheel. I wish there really was a war on cars.

Thoughts while practicing: this weekend I heard a great concert of sackbut music from early 17th century Italy, which is around the place and time when Allesandro Manzoni's great novel 'The Betrothed' is set. I'm also preparing for Verdi's Requiem, which was composed in memory of Manzoni. Cool.

If the strike that killed all those schoolchildren in Iran was on an AI-chosen target, would that make you personally reconsider your AI use?

Hard to get new Sprawl members nowadays! So busy w/ stories that I don't have time to make proper appeals. Also I feel like I've said the same thing 1000x and am sick of hearing myself say it. Even so—if you value independent journalism, pls support our work! sprawlcalgary.fundjournalism.org/donate/

Hard to believe that anyone is questioning the relevance of opera in this modern age given that an opera about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs has been written within the last decade @juddgreenstein.bsky.social mosesjacobsopera.com

“Travelling five times a year, maxing out her TFSA, building an emergency fund, and having the freedom to see her friends when and how she wants: Those are just a few ways Deeksha Singh [of Calgary] said she can use the estimated $14,000 a year she saves by not owning a car.”

“Repeal and replace” was a campaign commitment. Making housing more affordable was the goal. It’s time for Mayor Farkas to stand by that commitment, or admit it was never the plan at all.

Canadians and more so Albertan’s have been sold the biggest lie on low taxes and frankly it’s getting tired and boring. It’s time to have a real grown up conversation about what kind of community we want to live in and how much tax that could or should cost.

NOBODY BIKES IN THE WINTER

Hey wouldn't it be neat if we treated every person like they were a whole human being with dignity and stuff? No?

My kids voted that they want to only eat pizza and candy, and never be disciplined for anything. I guess they get to unilaterally decide that's how it's going to be.

Behold, the consequences of our choices.

Relevant to Calgary drivers today. 😢 The question should be asked of everyone who drives regardless of age. Every time I get behind the wheel I remember that I'm operating a machine capable of mass destruction.

Controversial opinion: killing a human is bad, EVEN IF it's done with a truck.

I just don’t see how blocking new housing from being built could *not* make it more expensive. How is that plausible?

Not pictured: Haruki Murakami’s wife, or indeed whoever is cooking, cleaning, paying bills, running errands, doing the laundry, answering emails, etc like yea his routine is goals, but let’s not lie to ourselves about all the invisible work others are doing to enable him to have that routine

Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center Philip Glass Philip Glass Philip Glass Philip Glass Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center

Why weren't they grateful?

Remembir everye daye ys a goode daye to reach out to a friende and tell them how much you love them. Maybe buy them a booke. Bringe up an olde inside joke. All the sillye thinges and the serious thinges about friendeshippe, thei are all infinitelye valuable. Tyme spent thus wil nevir be regrettid.

I'm currently working on a novel and at the end of an average day, I'm wiped out. The sheer amount of analysis, synthesis, making of connections, layering of prose, deepening of characterization, supplemental research... all the mental work is intense and exhilarating. Which is just to say, fuck AI.

'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' should be required annual reading.

The Vanity Fair photographer from the Susie Wiles story. Holy. Shit. www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/...

Vote the UCP out of office.