Happy Valentine's Day, sinners

Ah, clean living.

Interesting stuff happening in the US economy for those who watch these kinds of things - it kind of seems like things just keep plugging along unaffected, but retail spending is being supported by a plunging personal savings rate. (5.1% in Jan of 2025, down to 3.5% by Nov 2025 per the Fed)

How do I get one of those plush perogies the Polish teams are carrying around? So cute!

What a great race! Congrats to Valerie!! 🇨🇦

Of all the reasons to ask for an extension on an assignment, this is a pretty good one. Canadian figure skater Maddie Schizas posts her email to her prof, asking for an extension. Because she’s competing at the Olympics. Attached the press release for proof of participation.

That’s wild stuff, folks

Canada’s new consulate in Nuuk is now officially open — a major commitment under our Arctic Foreign Policy. As strategic competition increases in the Arctic, Canada is standing with our Arctic partners to advance stability, security, and shared interests in the North.

Doubling the electrical grid in Manitoba is not that crazy a target - it still wouldn't let us electrify everything we use natural gas for right now at our winter peak. For Manitoba, that could look like replicating the largest nuclear plant in Ontario. That one plant matches our total capacity.

Fascinating

Bike trainer movie reviews: 2 Fast 2 Furious is a silly, action-filled time capsule. Also: does my car need underlighting?

Was standing room only tonight at Canadian Mennonite University - singing in solidarity with our neighbours south of the border in Minneapolis, praying for peace, hoping for an end to violence

Exactly this

The collapse of the rules-based international order is likely to end the broader push towards nuclear non-proliferation, and that’s awful. Nuclear weapons cost a ton and are a deeply unproductive public investment. More people with bigger swords to rattle doesn’t make for a safer world.

Based on whatever my weird social media algorithm is on all the algo-driven platforms, someone appears to be trying to use bot farms to convince Americans there’s bank run/market collapse starting any minute

I’m sorry to see that Catherine O’Hara has passed. This is a song from one of my favourite performances of hers - singing A Kiss at the end of the Rainbow with Eugene Levy in A Mighty Wind. She learned the autoharp just so she could play this role. youtu.be/QwLZfPPM7GQ?...

I think this is more where AI really makes sense - we use AI in such a broad way, but training models for highly specific repetitive tasks makes a ton of sense. General LLM slop… meh

Signs of love - “I saved you all the flavours of sour gummies I don’t like.”

Let he who has not exaggerated the size of his snake cast the first stone 🐍 😂

Bike trainer movie reviews: Gladiator II is terrible

All the really important life lessons are found in children’s stories. This one is “The boy who cried wolf” 🥱

Every Mennonite knows the story of the Dutch Anabaptist named Dirk Willems who ran across Frozen River to escape capture. His pursuer fell through the ice and Willems sent back to rescue him. He was then rearrested, tortured and killed for his belief.

First time sous vide cooking - pork chops with blackout rub from Miller’s, sauerkraut with red onion and apple

It’s been interesting to watch the reactions to Carney’s speech yesterday in Davos - and it was a good speech, no doubt. But it’s also a speech on the same line he’s been thinking about and talking about for years, a continued development of the same themes in his book.

the ft reporting that christine lagarde walked out on lutnick, and lutnick was being heckled by... al... gore?

We are in the dumbest possible timeline. (Not a criticism of the journalists here, just disappointed in the state of the world)

City of Winnipeg took the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund goals seriously and is today reporting a 12% increase in housing starts for 2025. More than double the Canadian average of 5.6%. The city’s 2nd highest number of starts ever. www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...

Not to interrupt your doomscrolling but I present to you: Sunday morning cat snugs

I’m getting ads on social media for an AI that will help me diagnose my patients. I am not a doctor. Tech has gone too far. I think we need to roll this all back to like, what, ICQ?

I think this is probably accurate, but really points to a larger question: Should the Emergencies Act be amended to provide criteria for federal responses to organizational failures in regional and local governance?

Today I’m going to Costco to buy frozen things to put in my freezer I bought from Costco. Follow me for more #lifehacks

I’d never heard of this particular moment in history. Truth is stranger than fiction…

🤣🤣🤣

I’m glad to see this deal moving forward, but not sure about that 49,000 vehicle quota - I’d wager that’s too low for anyone to build out a national dealer and service network. Will likely see someone like BYD come into focused markets centered on Vancouver and the GTA, maybe Quebec.

The brunch at Fionn’s is solid / corned beef hash

“…the preferred form of Soviet aggression: internal subversion and limited war.” —Henry Kissinger, 1956

Best part of tonight’s game - a tiny size Jets dog complete with a little pierogi (and the first period was great)

I needed to be reminded (again):

A poem for you (and me).

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Matthew 26:52

What a wild time to be alive that this is a real headline

In all this I keep thinking about the history of the League of Nations, and the withdrawal of large powers that led to it’s effective collapse in the run up to WW2. International order is ultimately a collective agreement; one that is easily lost.

Happy 'just circling back' week to all who celebrate.

😵‍💫

😬😬😬

The linked article is an interesting read - the “it’s all about the oil” line doesn’t make as much sense if the major oil services firms aren’t actually prepping to go get the oil

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9

Did the FIFA Peace Prize mean nothing?

I appreciate Frank’s ongoing look at the data on what people across Canada are thinking, and where we might be headed. I think he’s right in naming our present challenges as linked to epistemology; fundamental divides are splitting in how we understand what is true, how we understand the world.

I don’t think this bodes well for 2026, all