Dr. Ostrich…

It’s one of the last days to vote for the Signal Awards, where I’m up for Best Host: News & Politics! If you’ve enjoyed the show or supported my work this year at @canadaland.com, I’d be so grateful if you took a minute to vote. Vote here: vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...

An update: bsky.app/profile/pwna...

Today in things I read on the internet… You’ll probably never guess what the hell he’s talking about (click through for context)

THAT IS CORRECT

You know, just another morning in the studio, sipping my coffee, talking to a doctor who has just returned from working in Gaza and had a front row seat to a real-time genocide. And now, here's your weather...

I finally read the Chotiner piece. Delightful. www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

(It's arguably more cautious than the position taken by the government, which, for example, is now offering travel advice for "Israel and Palestine" instead of for "Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip" travel.gc.ca/destinations...)

Canada is the Bluesky of countries

I’m sorry, I’m still stuck on “Hard Fork” as the name of the show… did that test well with the public?

Ugh… www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

If this holds true for the CAQ, this would be a far more devastating loss than what the NDP suffered federally. Truly a complete defeat. And QS has really suffered too…

Crazy shit overall

GadZUKES! Those are some big zucchini!

HUZZAH! Finally...

I feel like I’m seeing the power dynamics behind Only Murders in the Building very differently now. I knew Gomez was probably more popular/well known than either Steve Martin or Martin Short to most audiences, but the wealth discrepancy is probably huge. (At least 10x from a quick search.)

Is this Blueskyism?

It’s finally real

Steam, I expected better of you in this moment.

“This platform makes me deeply unhappy.” lol

What is even going on anymore? This is like twice in nearly one week that Conservatives are agreeing with Moscrop. lol (The previous time was about self defence at home.)

Lucky reporter that got to write this gem, “It's not about cars. It's about traffic," said Allen, who brought a hockey stick to his interview with CBC Toronto at a Morningside Avenue bus lane.”

Welcome to the CWA. Solidarity to the workers, be they working “on hell” or “in hell”

Was just sent this, from the header of the newsletter at my former publication. I'm starting to get the feeling the tone has shifted somewhat over there since we all, er, departed.

When you send your first draft for feedback or approval

BREAKING: Silksong will be out on September 4. Two weeks from today. Really. Often, games that take 7+ years to make are plagued by mismanagement and painful burnout. But for Silksong? Team Cherry was having a blast. They still are. This is their story: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

I’m happy knowing that my vacation starts just before September 4.

My first Qatsi film was Naqoyqatsi (2002) and I loved it so much, I went and bought the DVD right away. (Because we rented it at Blockbuster, as was the style at the time.) I watched it a lot, but I’ve also listened to the soundtrack a ton. Some of my favourite work by Glass.

if you don't have the context of the Air Canada strike, this headline is very funny

TIL about a part of the internet that kinda freaks me out. And I’m pretty open to many things on the www

Not quite the same, but I remember on Twitter, I once posted something sound-design related and when I looked up someone who liked or retweeted it (I only had a few hundred followers), his bio said "I made the 'chung-chung' sound for Law & Order," and I was just a little faint. What a legend.

Granted I haven’t done deep dives on ChatGPT, but what I’ve seen resembles more the first year undergrad student who just finished his first survey course. (The choice of male pronouns was intentional.)

Unemployment rate didn't budge, but share of long-term unemployed rose again. Almost 1/4 of those looking for work (23.8%) had been *actively* looking for 27 weeks of more. Highest level since Feb 1998 (excluding pandemic) That detail blew me away. The 1990s were awful.

I think this is still an argument for better transit, personally. The piece gets into arguments for and against, but I think one aspect that isn’t talked about is how parking is just not good for city economics. Fewer homes, less tax revenue, utilities cost more per capita, etc.

I was unfamiliar with this article and Pamela Paul, but this article found a way to succinctly describe like 70% (probably more) of Canadian politics.

How brilliant is this www.weregildcalculator.com

Knocke knocke Who ys ther? Existential dreade! Existential dreade who? ... Existential dreade who? ... Existential dreade who?

I swear there was some after-school between-program tv thing that told me in the early 90s that female lions did all the work and male lions just slept 20 hours a day or something. It was relevant because I had watched The Lion King and thought male lions were cool.

My brother did not ask me to do this, nor did he know I was going to, but I made him a mashed potato volcano for his birthday. The number of potatoes this required was shocking but otherwise it was relatively simple to do. A side effect is a freezer full of leftover mashed potatoes.

I reviewed the Tesla Diner, congrats to me on my new career as a food critic

Happy Sunday

TIL that Tom Lehrer was still alive until now! He was 97… I loved his work so much when I was getting into music

Aw, I was thinking about going to the Elbphilharmonie some time... Dvorak... no comment. (Hilary Hahn is pretty great, ngl)

There’s was discourse on Bsky recently about how journalists should “just go solo” or something to that effect, now that newsletter options like Substack are somewhat viable. There are many issues with that, but I’ll focus on one point: No indie can do what the WSJ just did. Few MSM would do it.

Have just been made aware of the Edmund Glizzgerald

I hate that my new work is hidden behind a paywall, but this episode was one of my favourites. Molly was so generous in giving her time to talk about this and to open up about her experiences. Reporting in trauma is hard and it was even hard doing meta reporting on it.

Two people on Google Maps reviews for Camp Mystic are being kinda shitty after the floods in Texas… could there be personal and corporate accountability for this? Sure. But this is a government failure in my mind, no question.

I just had a freezie for the first time in god knows how many years, and it was perfect. Just a mini one, but it was perfect. (Blue flavour)