I’ve explained how Kitchener and Waterloo acquired their names, but what about Cambridge? You might know that it only dates back 52 years, but you might not realize that it contains a nod to local history or that, like Kitchener, it was selected by a vote of its citizens…

The story of how Waterloo, Ont. got its name has some similarities to Kitchener’s. Both cities owe their names to war developments that were top-of-mind at the time of the renamings. While Kitchener’s name came from a general, Waterloo’s is a tribute to a famous battle.

Just found this, a way to search Google without ads. The results are so calming, how search used to be. Nostalgia for the earlier era of the internet hitting hard right now www.no-ads.tech?source=omglo...

On this day in 1916, Berlin, Ont. officially changed its name to Kitchener. Although nearly 20,000 people lived in the city at the time, only 346 of them had voted in favour of the change. So how did that happen? Read on…

Really looking forward to listening to this.

"We've lined up a fabulous type of tiny robots that thrives on kidney stones." "But then we're stuck with tiny robots!" "No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the tiny robots simply freeze to death."

Six weeks ago I saw Victoria Mboko play a Wimbledon qualifier on a court where the only seats were reserved for coaches and tournament staff. I don't think she'll be playing many more matches in those conditions.

We have worms in our fridge all summer and I have never thought about where they come from. 🪱 Beautifully written, fascinating story by @royinori.bsky.social

anti-doomer sentence of the day: "Globally, roughly a third more power is being generated from the sun this spring than last" www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...

Twitter, in its heyday, was a good place for journalists to build their brand and interact with their audience. But it was never a significant source of traffic to news sites.

The top four stories on the CBC Manitoba news site right now are about forest fires that have led to evacuation orders for four different communities. To be clear, that's four separate fires affecting four different places. I've never seen anything like this in northern Manitoba.

Does anyone know of a good alternative to Pocket? There has to be a better solution than creating a dedicated folder in my browser's bookmarks, right?

Very excited for my favourite part of election night: watching TV networks try to entertain their audiences for the two hours between first results from Atlantic Canada and first results from anywhere else in Canada.

Chubby Checker scoring a hit with "The Twist" and following it up with "Let's Twist Again" was honestly a move decades ahead of its time, branding-wise.

People in 2025: "Remember when the news only covered stories that were actually important?" The news in 1929:

I've recently become a big fan of tennis, a sport that contains so many amazing stories. Like Alexandra Eala, who is ranked 140th by the WTA and comes from a country with no elite tennis history -- but she's beaten two of the top 5 players in the world this week!

"As God is my witness, I thought bunnies could fly!"

And even where local news still exists, it's a shadow of what it once was. @therecord.com's newspaper output peaked at 33,812 pages in 1989. Last year it was 12,712. That's a lot less news! (To be fair, it's also a lot fewer classified ads, which helped pay for the news.)

Weirdly, Wikipedia pages for a bunch of KW restaurants have sprung up over the past year. No idea what the selection process or notability requirements are but whoever is behind this seems to be making some solid choices.

If you're looking to buy local/buy Canadian, there is some very helpful advice here. probablyworthsharing.substack.com/p/buy-canadi...

Today I learned that Chuck Berry owned a house in Kitchener for 25 years and only a handful of people seem to have known anything about it until recently www.chuckhowitt.com/post/we-call...

Was thinking about this all day and then I learned the small-town newspaper where I started my journalism career is shutting down. Another proof point.

So long to the home of Oopsy the Clown, Big Al, Romper Room, Agri-News with David Imrie and so much more.

As someone who is trying to simultaneously join one community (this place) and rejoin another (Waterloo Region), this starter pack is perfect. go.bsky.app/FHCHEgg

Theory: An underrated part of the reason this place is so much more pleasant than the other place is the absence of The Brands. At the other place, my feed is full of advertisements, click-generating headlines and brand-building of all kinds. Here, it's just people being themselves.