TAXES ARE THE PRICE WE PAY FOR CIVILIZATION 🥁bangs drum harder🥁

OMG THERE IS A GUINAN MINI-FIG! And Data's CAT! I am dying! 😂 File under things I really really want but which would just collect dust and so I should not have. (Also, the price tag is prohibitive. Which is a good thing.)

Meanwhile in Canada, half of the country lives in provinces ruled by people who think solar is Evil and Unmanly, and the federal government is run by a man lacking both imagination and conviction when it comes to energy and climate policy.

Happy Thursday Bluesky world!! Today is the LAST DAY for saving 20% off our entire website! www.maritimetartancompany.ca Do some early Christmas shopping and save some money! Maritime Tartan Co and East Coast Lifestyle Retailer 28 Church St Amherst NS (902) 441-6721

Thread!

Pay attention, Canada. This is what our provincial premiers are trying to do to us here. American-style healthcare *bankrupts* people. Do you have thousands extra a month to pay for *permission* to see a doctor? Do you have more on top of that for point-of-service fees?

City staff confirmed with me that they removed 75% of these scam stickers from city parking metres today, and will have the rest done by tomorrow.

#IReadCanadian Here are two books I love by Victoria BC authors @troystory.bsky.social and #SueMacartney

and if you want something shorter for #IReadCanadian day, check out my extremely cathartic short story, billionaire's tears! escapepod.org/2025/07/24/e...

Apparently it's #IReadCanadian Day and I just so happen to be a #CanadianAuthor with a just-released new addition to my middle grade fantasy series. Magic! Danger! Villains you love to hate! And lots and lots of CROWS! 🐦‍⬛😁 #BookSky ➡️ books2read.com/rl/TheArcanium

Oh, look. Perhaps the world is willing to start paying attention to what this virus is doing to humanity. www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Everything else in that budget aside, I can't believe nobody looked at the optics of ending a *luxury tax on freaking yachts* and said, hmm, maybe we shouldn't do that one while all the normal people are struggling just to afford groceries?

And the Figuring Out What is Causing the Health Things requires a colonoscopy which they have scheduled for December 23rd which, between the prep and no eating for 2 days and the fact that sedation always wipes me out for 2 full days post-procedure, basically screws up my entire holiday week off. 🙃

My latest #book dropped yesterday, in case anyone is looking for something to read this week. 😊 #ReaderSky

There is jack-hammering somewhere nearby. Why is there jack-hammering somewhere nearby?

So the Ford appointed supervisors will make more than all School Board Trustees combined, and that money will come out of the education budget that’s supposed to go to student needs. Shame! globalnews.ca/news/1151063... #topoli #onpoli #onted

Okay, wait -- there's more than just the NYC election in the US today? My calendar says today is "Election Day" over there, but I thought that was a misprint since the next presidential one isn't until 2028? Do they have all their other-level elections on the same day every year???

Well, there are things that I like about the budget. Things that I really don't like. And a bunch of stuff that concerns me and depends on how it gets implemented. The climate stuff, though (or, rather, lack of it), is definitely bad. We can't kick that can down the road anymore. We're out of time.

This could be our electricity future, if only our government was paying attention.

Happy launch day to @mikejungwroteabook.bsky.social @marthabee.bsky.social & @katfcomix.bsky.social, whose THEO CHANG IS NOT A CAT and THUNDER NELSON DOES THE IMPOSSUMBLE are out today from @littlebrownyr.bsky.social! bsky.app/profile/kate... #KidLit #BookBirthday #PublicationDay

It’s Publication Day! Sylvia Rouss and illustrator Rick Penn-Kraus follow an acorn’s journey to become a tree in The Little Acorn’s Big Adventure. www.bedazzledink.com/little-acorn... #booksky #kidlit #environment #booksaboutnature

Happy #PublicationDay to @nptwrites.bsky.social, whose CHALICE OF CALADRIAI (Book 4 of mg Arcanium series) launches today! See NP's pinned post for bkgnd info & more! #BookBirthday #KidLit #CanKidLit

I really really REALLY hope this guy wins today. I hope he does fantastic things for NYC and makes people in our own cities think about what *they* could be with someone like this in charge.

TODAY'S THE DAY!!! Chalice of Caladriai, book 4 of my middle grade Arcanium series is out in the world! 😄🥳 #TeamArcania #BookSky #BookLaunch ➡️ books2read.com/ChaliceOfCaladriai

We strongly condemn @CondéNast’s consolidation plans for Teen Vogue, a move that is clearly designed to blunt the award-winning magazine’s insightful journalism at a time when it is needed the most. More from our statement:

"Once again, the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations stand to capture the lion’s share of any gains, leaving everyday Canadians—both now and in the future—to shoulder the cost." canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

TC Energy pushed CSIS to create an intel-sharing group including the spy agency, RCMP and corporations worth more than $500 million. Former CSIS director David Vigneault, a "dear friend" of Business Council of Canada president, appeared to support the idea. New from me and @zakvescera.bsky.social

So, Canada, this is really effing scary and we need to fight while we still can. Taken together, these bills could give the government the power to harm Canadians the way the GOP are harming people in the US.

They just gutted Teen Vogue which had top notch political journalism. The media is continuing to purge any sort of political dissent to Trump and the oligarchs. www.vogue.com/article/teen...

Do you have a #KidLit or #YALit book launching this wk? Or do you want to help boost someone else's #PublicationDay #BookBirthday? Reply below with info + link to the post. Only for books launching Nov.3-9, 2025 #2025-Wk45.

IMPROMPTU BOOK COVER ART SHARE! Writers... share your book cover! Rules: 📚 Must be your book (not a friend's) 📚 Credit your artist in the post 📚 Must have alt text 📚 Include a link to your book in case someone wants to buy it 👀

This is heartbreaking. 😔 globalnews.ca/news/1150283...

Maybe if Canada stopped spending money on oil companies and bailing out foreign-owned media corps, we would have more money to spend on useful things like science.

"Many scholars, including us, have highlighted the threat posed by techno-solutionism in education: Rather than expanding our intellectual horizons, these technologies undermine the very conditions that allow us to think for ourselves." 1/n www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...

If you're driving, speed & hit someone, you're at fault. But, that doesn't mean that government's who encourage or facilitate dangerous driving are blameless. If you're in a collision w a speeding driver where a speed camera was removed email us: [email protected] 1/2

It is November 1st in Ottawa and I just harvested another bowl of raspberries from my backyard plants. In a toque because it's frickin' cold out there. 😂🥶 I think it's safe to say they're quite happy where I planted them. 😎🌱

Well, this isn't good. toronto.citynews.ca/2025/10/30/c...

“Earlier this month, Health Minister Marjorie Michel told a CMA town hall that economic uncertainty makes it ‘impossible’ — at least for now — to release $4 billion in national health funding promised by the Liberals during their reelection campaign.” Money for the military, but not for your health.

Right, it's November now. Time to start listening to my Christmas playlist. 🎅🎄☃️ (Too soon? It's too soon, isn't it... 😂)

I've lost count of the number of times I've tried to explain the American healthcare system to Canadians who believe that healthcare in the U.S. is somehow better, more efficient than that in Canada. It absolutely isn't. #cdnpoli #novascotia

Well, KDP has locked my files pending the book release, so I guess the pre-order promo on Amazon lasts a few days longer. 🙃 www.amazon.com/dp/B0FL7Y7F8R

I hope they do. But, also, am curious if anyone knows whether *individuals* could sue (by themselves or in a class action suit) provincial governments for violation of Charter rights when they use the Notwithstanding clause? Could that ever happen? www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

My Fluttershy's Cottage .blend has been updated to the latest version of Blender with an array of improvements and is free on my Ko-Fi! 💖 ko-fi.com/discopears If you are able to, any support you can give directly helps keep a roof over my head while I look for work. 😊 #mlp #b3d #mlpfim #pony

This is a really fascinating story!

Ooo...!

I'm hosing a sale for all three of my books! 50% off the Berge Sisters trilogy! That's a lot of snark and lark! Please share and help me reach my tiny goal! I need to do a new print run, and books ain't gettin' any cheaper! itch.io/s/166162/hal...

Just a few more hours left to get the pre-order promo pricing for Chalice of Caladriai. Book drops next Tuesday! #BookSky

Not even American and I want Mamdani to win by an absolute landslide next week so it proves to the centre-left that the way to win elections is NOT to pander to the right (as they keep doing), but to focus on what people really want and need.

Seriously. I hope the NDP and centre-left in general here in Canada are studying this guy's campaign and taking LOTS of notes.

Am feeling very disappointed that I do not have a local haunted bookshop. 😭 (But maybe I can still order for delivery by a flying fiend.)