Hot dogs. The Pitt is taunting me.

I can’t stand AI slop images and I will never use them to communicate city issues to my constituents. The energy consumption, the undermining of actual paid artists and the weird sameness of it all creeps me out. No thanks.

Mika pointed out that in his union’s last round of collective bargaining, they took an effective paycut (the rise was lower than inflation) because workers wouldn’t have to pay for commuting. Now they have a pay cut AND they’re expected to commute 2 hours each way at their own expense.

I love Apple News Puzzles. The subtle hints that the puzzle makers make about the world around us are really something I appreciate - like how today, Erik Agard’s Mini Crossword mentioned both Chiune Siguhara and Adolfo Kaminsky. 🤔

This dude will make major personality changes every few years. We’ve had him for over 10 years and he literally would not hop up onto the couch until last month. Now he’s happy to sprawl across my lap as though he’s always been this cuddly.

I maintain: The Pitt is dealing with a massive Listeria outbreak and we’re going to find out next week. Mika referred to a Listeria plot being “ripped from the headlines” but honestly, it seems like it’s just super common for how our food situation is going in North America.

I don’t quote myself because yuck, but also…c’mon, Mark. Are you even aware that Hollander is the character and not a real guy? www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

I’m genuinely confused: some #Ottawa folks want the new high-speed rail to stop at the old Union Station, but I cannot for the life of me think of how that would work. Would they replace the (very new) Rideau street? Run along the Canal? Do they have any idea, or just think the building’s nice?

Finally got around to starting season 2 of The Night Manager and I am fascinated by the idea of an elite intelligence group made up entirely of prestigious hotel concierges.

Ready and willing to donate my blood iron content to anyone in the area who wants it. Please bring your own bucket.

Napping with a giant can of Ghost energy drink, the way my ancestors did.

Canada should be doing the same. Microsoft just gave the FBI backdoor encryption keys to Bitlocker - something used by all of our federal government agencies. We rely too heavily on Microsoft, Twitter, OpenAI, etc. and it’s to our own peril if we continue.

he hwhat????

Looks like someone’s hoping to split the vote with Sutcliffe. I’m wary of anyone with those backers getting control of the city and I think we all should be. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Luloff’s impaired driving trial sends me into a rage. What a disgrace.

Google keeps emailing me to tell me how popular my reviews have been (3000 views 2 months ago, 5000 views 2 weeks ago, 8000 views as of today) and it's like...do they not realize that this is just AI bots scraping sites? If anything, it's telling me that I shouldn't be leaving Google reviews.

More than once per week, I write in my gratitude journal that I’m grateful to not be American.

The hoarded wealth of the superrich can do more good in the public’s hands, so let’s tax it Here's an excerpt from a forthcoming book by Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks

Prediction: they’re dealing with a Listeria outbreak on “The Pitt”

I don’t have any resolutions about reading more, but I’ve zipped through Elodie Harper’s “The Wolf Den” and “The House with the Golden Door” in the past 2 weeks and I’m feeling very pleased with myself. It helps that they’re incredible books, I suppose.

Pinterest is getting to be unusable with all of the unlabelled AI garbage I can’t easily filter out. Looking for hairstyles leads me to accounts that have links filled with “haircuts for women over 40” where each image is so AI-modified that the women look like they’re all 17. 😒

This is hilarious. I think I saw his original claim being reported in Ottawa Citizen or CBC (can’t find it now, nor can I find a correction/retraction) and the second I saw “commute times” listed, I knew it was garbage.

I'm not sure most people have any idea how often the answer to "why can't I get the municipal service I want" is "because the police union sends their heavies to budget meetings" I heard WILD stories from a friend who was the arts rep to a midsized town's council. the cops basically had veto power!

Fascinating how we went from Liberals saying “half of the Cabinet is women because it’s 2015” to basically “deepfake sexual abuse of women and children is violence, but we’re going to continue using these tools because it’s 2026”

I’m sorry, it’s just really weird to me that there are paid exemptions to winter parking bans. If the rationale for the parking ban is “it’s important to clear the snow quickly” then I don’t see why the snow removal isn’t so important that you can pay your way out of it? But I’m not car-brained 🤷‍♀️

I would really caution anyone against implying that paywalling this feature is a legitimate response to public outcry. The paywall is an endorsement, not a restriction. Musk is saying "this thing you're all talking about is valuable. Pay me for it." The actual material effect is just monetization.

I teach bystander intervention for a living and have taught de-escalation to law enforcement. Trust me when I say that bottle girls, gas station clerks, strippers, front desk employees at hotels and airports, baristas, etc. have better de-escalation skills than any cop I've ever seen.

My GP is notoriously so awful that I literally had to file a complaint against her, but because our healthcare system is busted, I can't get another one. Anyway, she routinely mocks me for still wearing a mask and yet guess who had to cancel our appointment today because she got influenza A? NOT ME

This is unbelievably messed up but not at all surprising. Social media and credit card companies don’t want you accessing *legal* stuff they disapprove of, but let this stuff go ahead because they can make money off of it. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The rise of deepfakes and AI CSAM prove public and private sectors don’t actually care about abuse, but still punish sex workers, queer people, and women under that guise. Credit cards companies and law enforcement punish consensual sex and sexuality, but ignore and therefore encourage abuse

They’ve been running heavy digging equipment across the street since this morning and my nerves are fraying. 😔

Selena Gomez Oreos are incredible.

It’s almost like…they work.

Deamalgamate so you can show Ottawa how it’s done 🙏

The ICC’s prison at Scheveningen is not nearly big enough to house all of the people who deserve to be held there. Maybe they could trick Trump into paying for renovations if they let him name his own wing.

The liberal west will always be the liberal west. Imagine putting this kind of both-sides statement out about an unprovoked invasion when the nation performing it has been talking about invading your own country

Abysmal statement from Canada on the illegal US action in Venezuela. It doesn’t matter how much you dislike Maduro, that doesn’t justify a violation of international law and the UN Charter. You can’t call on “all parties” to respect international law and not call out US lawlessness.

Oh hey, I guess FedEx is on strike? Probably not, but we have a parcel coming from the States and the tracking site says that they tried to deliver but we weren’t home but it actually hasn’t even crossed the border yet and also they’re on strike so it might be delayed. 😒

My New Year’s resolution: be ✨ extra✨ Starting tomorrow, Saturday, January 3, at 8 am, the Skateway will be open over 4.2 km (an extra 0.8 km)! 📍 From Rideau to Somerset 📷: rachelneilson (2025)

Sooo…once filming begins for season 2 of Heated Rivalry, how soon do we think Mark Sutcliffe will try to get photo ops with the actors? Like, he’s already working on getting them right?

I’m trying to recall a (fiction?) book or movie about an attacker who sliced women’s faces open on either side of their mouths to widen them, and it’s really going to bother me. Relatedly, I accidentally slashed myself while dermaplaning last night and I am relieved that I mask in public.

Can you solve a puzzle without knowing the rules? For the first week of January, I'm publicly sharing the experimental beta of Scriddle - a daily puzzle where the rules are kept secret. I'd love to know how many guesses it took you to solve it. 🔴 SCRIDDLE #24 ▶️ scriddle.net?d=MDEtMDEtMj...

My dad was teasing me for calling before 8:30 so I could go to bed, but joke’s on him because I’m getting to do my favorite thing in the entire world.

Let's keep the music at a reasonable volume this New Year's #ReasonableVolume

I don’t think I’ll ever recover from learning that people on TikTok are encouraging women to put estrogen on their faces. 🤦‍♀️

Shoutout to my fellow maskers!

I tried to explain to Mika how much I sometimes hate how good I feel after waking up at 5:30 and going hard in the gym for an hour. Like, I want it to feel like a waste of the slog every once in awhile instead of the perpetual reminder that actually, exercise is good for my brain.

So I’m finally sitting down to the season finale of Heated Rivalry and I had to pause because I’m laughing so hard finding out that Hollander’s dad works for Treasury Board. I told Mika and he shook his head in disgust.