Ever wonder why wearing masks is so common in #japan every spring? A post-WWII reforestation policy to plant just two types of fast-growing trees has triggered a mass-allergy crisis. My latest for @bbc looks at the roots of this 70-year-old blunder and the massive challenge of fixing it […]

The Yellow Milkmaid Syndrome. "The Milkmaid’, one of Johannes Vermeer's most famous pieces, depicts a scene of a woman quietly pouring milk into a bowl. During a survey the Rijksmuseum discovered that there were over 10,000 copies of the image on the […] [Original post on social.sciences.re]

Omar Artan, named Africa's best referee last year, was denied entry to the USA. He would have been the first Somali to officiate World Cup matches. FIFA's reaction (as predictable): Well then he can't officiate any World Cup matches. We're powerless. not our fault. I looked for reactions by […]

"Bots Now Outnumber Humans Online And The Internet Was Never Built For This." https://www.forbes.com/sites/josipamajic/2026/06/04/bots-now-outnumber-humans-online-and-the-internet-was-never-built-for-this/ "The culprit is not the old wave of scraper bots and search crawlers, but agentic AI… […]

I will be teaching Race, Media, and International Affairs virtually again this summer!! Last year was so much fun that we decided to bring it back again. Classes start July 20th! #ResistanceSummerSchool2026

Hello!? Yes please! #labour #work #canada #canpoli #cdnpoli https://techfixated.com/mexico-cuts-workweek-bans-after-hours-contact-and-guarantees-no-worker-will-take-a-pay-cut-in-the-most-sweeping-labor-reform-in-a-generation/

Not sure what to think about expanding the island airport? A thread. They’ll have to fill in 900 metres of the lake, destroying a lot of water habitat. Why accept paving 900 metres of the lake for any reason? #TOPoli #ONPoli #cdnpoli#onpoli#topoli#ytz

The Government of Canada launches public consultations on the future of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Complete the anonymous survey here: https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/consultations/public-consultation-future-billy-bishop-toronto-city-airport #TOPoli #ONPoli #cdnpoli#onpoli#topoli#ytz

[#cdnPoli #cdnPolitics Louise Arbour] Our new Governor General was installed today. I'm so proud of the career of the Rt. Hon. Louise Arbour! Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour's first speech, in full: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/science/gov-gen-louise-arbours-first-speech-in-full/ar-AA257tox #cdnpoli […]

Mexico cuts workweek, bans after-hours contact, and guarantees no worker will take a pay cut in the most sweeping labor reform in a generation […]

CMHA Hamilton project takes aim at #homelessness. What a great idea to re-purpose a former commercial space and house people in need. https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/cmha-hamilton-project-takes-aim-at-homelessness/article_b6663064-cc0d-56a6-aabc-2aecdb98ed99.html

Dear US-ians: Tod @tod has a suggestion, for your midterms. Maybe we can help! Short video. https://youtube.com/shorts/xrKrL_GqiMQ?si=l8JqV1scaxfN3kc0 #uspol ##cdnpoli #cdnpolitics #elections

🤔 The cost of AI would be quite different if the owners had to also build their own water purification facility, so as not to impact citizens. *Downstream* of the municipal facility. And, while we're at it, pay compensation for pulluting the air with fossil-fuels. @msfreepress […]

Close to my home! Urban archaeology: An Ancient Past Unearthed by Urban Construction | The Local "In January 2024, a collection of ancient human remains was uncovered at Toronto’s Withrow Avenue, after a resident fell into a hole dug by City workers installing a waterline. The discovery, in an […]

[So-called "AI" agents. #dystopia] "Technical debt lives in your code. Cognitive debt lives in your head. Intent debt lives in the artifacts you may have never written: the goals, constraints, & rationale for why the system is the way it is. If you’re lucky, some of it exists … in team […]

This kind of fraud is already happening here :caflag:. Now the govt wants app & service providers to hold a year of our metadata (and not just ppl demonstrably suspected of wrongdoing), & build-in back doors (that hackers can also use). Civil rights orgs say Bill-22 is disastrous for privacy & […]

[CW: stalking] https://mastodon.social/@JoBlakely/116714179508707952

John Finnemore on the French horn/cor anglais: "I was idly wondering why the cor anglais has a French name meaning ‘English horn’, and the French horn has an English name meaning… well, ‘French horn’. I looked it up, even though I knew there would just be some reasonable but rather dull […]

1987: Commqnser Data, consulting ship's readings: there is no sign of intelligent life, just animals and plants. - #startrek TNG 2026: Bumble bees recognise faces and count, whales speak a language compared in complexity to chinese, crows leave gifts and hold grudges, and trees communicate […]

@Hex I should be the one watching the TV. It should not be watching back.

#silentsunday #sweden #smaland

Ooh, a lovely article with lots of photos from @majnouna, on dyeing natural fibres with botanicals! I found the last item a lovely surprise. https://zirk.us/@majnouna/116704171386945356 #bloomscrolling #fibrearts #textileart

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@simon_brooke/116707667431637802 Warsaw Ghetto. You can't unsee it.

[#uspol news? Or disinformation?] #giftarticle #uspol https://journa.host/@samlitzinger/116708779611037581

I've never been opposed to the word "hallucinating" for describing how AI makes mistakes ... until now. I just talked to someone who thought AI hallucinations would be obvious because it would be obvious if you talked to a *person* who was hallucinating. In other words, they equated […]

Red-winged blackbird flexing https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/51310184056/in/album-72157719538881544 #otd 6/6/2021 #birding #birdsofmastodon #birds #abirdaday (or more)

#startrek TNG S1:Ep24 on the Holodeck: Parisian waiter (to Picard): Some wine? Some cheese? Picard (with Eiffel tower in the background): I'm not very hungry. I really came for the view. Waiter: Perhaps what you hunger for … is not on the menu.* Picard (with a knowing smile): Perhaps not. * […]

Does anyone know how to allow those silly CloudFlare checks on websites without getting rid of UBlock Origin? I have it disabled on 1 of my browsers but if there's a way I can keep UBlock but allow for those checks, let me know! Example? The login page of https://bearblog.dev/ #privacy #ublock […]

#startrek TNG S1:Ep23 Skin of Evil (1987) is a psychodrama. Internal Family Systems would call the Creature an 'inner Exile' - with crushing emotions & child-like coping strategies. A Part deemed "unacceptable" - hurt, repressed, festering in the dark. Protecting itself with outbursts, demands […]

More progress on "de-Googling" my friends and relatives! While talking with my sister-in-law she said "there's so much AI everywhere" and was sad that folks around her are asking ChatGPT for answers to every single question. When I suggested that she could try using a different search engine […]

New data centres would consume 13.2 GW of power if built. BC's current generation capacity is 18.5 GW (AB has 16 GW). Power required to run these data centres will have to built along with them. It will be powered by fossil gas. Fossil gas folks here are working hard* to connect their […]

RE: https://mstdn.ca/@josephsimons/116190439845776774 It's the final weekend for signing the #WaterNotCoal petition. Many locations are available across #Alberta. Let's push this sucker well over the 178,000 so #coal#waternotcoalproponents finally get the idea that Alberta will not tolerate more coal […]

Maybe Tomorrow https://farandwide.beehiiv.com/p/maybetomorrow?_bhlid=bfed7699ceda8aae7625930a2da1350623cfea90 What I do know is that these days, Canada keeps having moments like this. And maybe one day, when the noise south of the border finally settles, and someone down there is looking for […]

Oh the joys of staying hydrated on a hot #caturday #cat #cats #catstodon #catsofmastodon #humor #humour

[Instagram accounts hacked] Most of you don't use it … But it's not too late to leave, for the rest. https://mastodon.social/@zackwhittaker/116703018430127671

[#usPol Good voting rights news] The "proposal would have taken effect immediately, even as voting is underway in congressional primaries. … would have required voters to show a document proving their U.S. citizenship … when they registered to vote. … also required all voters to show photo […]

Many of my excellent colleagues from across the Canadian academy contributed to this Walrus article on the #aistrategy in #canada: https://thewalrus.ca/canada-ai-plan/ One major takeaway: the AI strategy's concept of "trust" and "literacy" is, essentially, "Canadians don't trust AI? Well, we […]

#ai #aihustle #aibubble #llms #techbros #anthropic

Welp: I guess I'm gonna need to see this, to believe it … #whatToWatch Follow @thetyee#whattowatchhttps://mstdn.ca/@thetyee/116700086924793518

Real & simulated viscous fingering: Accidentally printed a digital negative on the wrong (non-absorbent) side of the transparency film, then folded it and the thick layer of ink produced this beautiful effect of branching traces. The two color prints in the […] [Original post on mastodon.thi.ng]

So, at least make FIFA take the empties with them when they go, rather than adding them to our recycling overhead and landfills. 😠 https://bird.makeup/users/politlcsuk/statuses/2062925357120946232

This instance is *not shutting down* and I am not planning on moving because I like this instance’s character count but can others recommend, 1. Blind focused Fediverse instances with similar lengthy character counts and that's well maintained, well moderated, and not shutting down soon? Also […]

Tech CEOs: we only want to hire the best and brightest programmers. No mediocre employees please! Also tech CEOs: omg you MUST use this tool which is literally designed to emit the statistical average of its inputs! 🤔 🤔 🤔

[So-called "AI" "training". #dystopia] Follow @AmnestyTech https://mastox.eu/@AmnestyTech/116671624874305707

247 signatures! Who's going to be #250 and mark the halfway point to the 500 minimum we need!? I know there are more than 500 avid Canadian weather watchers, measurers, and nerds out there on the #fediverse! Sign the petition here! […]

1987: Commqnser Data, consulting ship's readings: there is no sign of intelligent life, just animals and plants. - #startrek TNG 2026: Bumble bees recognise faces and count, whales speak a language compared in complexity to chinese, crows leave gifts and hold grudges, and trees communicate […]

"According to new research from consulting firm Robert Half reviewed by Fast Company, nearly a third (32%) of hiring managers say that their organizations eliminated a role or let someone go primarily due to productivity gains from AI or automation, and then later rehired for that same role." […]

Current estimates set the total amount of money that has been spent on large-language models and adjacent generative AI at 1.4 trillion $ over the past four years. For the sake of simplicity let's cut that to 1 trillion $. With 1% of that money you could have paid 25000 FOSS maintainers 100k […]

she's finished 🥹 she's so beautiful (I had the great privilege of visiting her 26 years ago, very much in process)

😂 "We’re joining the EU but we’re bringing conditions — and geese." - @tod Short video: https://youtube.com/shorts/Q8lhegrd20U