This brings together so many of my interests. European history. Transportation infrastructure. GIS and mapping. Rigorous methodology. Open source data. And poking around on this map, I realize I have actually traveled down several modern roads that follow the original routes laid by the Romans.

Love that the new LCD design is rolling out to all buses!

Earlier this year I got to play around with some Roman roads data for @sciam.bsky.social. The article (with four of my #maps) is out now: www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...

This is scary shit. Not much you can do as a passenger to prevent it. But airport security should be able to quickly see 1) what your bags looked like when you checked them in, via video, and 2) if the bag weight matches what's on the tag. Preferably before you've been detained and terrorized.

"crying in the shower"

Layers of Toronto. From Corktown looking east.

Nice to see there are one or two reasonably sane people left in the world.

My latest free newsletter is about one of The New York Times's specialties: publishing the opinions of wealthy elites as if they are news.

Portugal’s high-speed rail plans are moving from long-running ambition into delivery. New lines between Lisbon and Porto, future links to Vigo and Madrid, and investment in a dedicated high-speed fleet all say that faster intercity rail is firmly back on Europe’s infrastructure agenda.

An important operational notice buried in a Nov 20, 1943 memo distributed to troops of the 1st Canadian Corps of Signals stationed in Sicily.

This is people of Kyiv tonight coming to metro with kids and animals bringing yoga mats and mattresses preparing to sleep here to hide from Russian drones and missiles attacking the city . Already 7 missiles attacked the city, and more missiles and drones continue to come

In this week's Scratch, @maggiemertens.bsky.social asks why writers remain on Substack—as a user of Substack herself—and interviews three writers who've left the platform for Beehiiv and Ghost. We know how hard Substack makes it to leave; we also think writers should still try do so.

Remember, not density OR trees. Density AND trees. Better cities are climate action. #UrbanTruth

Wow, technology is saving us so much time, allowing us to relax and enjoy life while AI does our work for us. Or not.

“Mobilizing Canada” (per @sethdklein.bsky.social) to address the emergencies we face – whether it’s the climate, housing, poison drugs, or grocery prices – is the one thing politicians won’t commit to. The PM wants to mobilize capital, instead. buttondown.com/leftcoastdis... #cdnhist #bcHist #yyj

The new bridge for Ontario Line in my backyard is looking good. I hope it’s lit up at night like the others

In case you thought catfishing required the internet to exist, think again. Apparently it was a problem during WW2, as per this guide sent to officers in 1943. publications.gc.ca/collections/...

At the launch of The Drum at Biidaasige Park on the Toronto waterfront - a new gathering and shade structure designed by Tawaw Architecture Collective. Grounded in Anishinaabe teachings and the 13 Moons, it is designed as a space for ceremony, teaching, and gathering.

After over 70 years in business, Toronto’s Patrician Grill is closing today. The family-run joint is being sold to George Brown College, reflecting a broader trend of legacy diners buckling under commercial pressure. What will take their place? https://ow.ly/G6HX50YWN5H

Welcome back to Canada, President Obama. Thank you for joining us in Toronto for important conversations on how we can build a better and more just future — and empower more people to build with us.

Icelandic authorities just rerouted a planned hot water pipeline so as not to disturb an elf hill.

A search that is 90% correct is egregiously bad. I'm deep into genealogical research about my grandfather's WW2 service, and Google's AI results are awful. It often confuses WW1 and WW2, no matter the prompt. The useful info is in old newspaper archives and PDFs of books published in the 1950s.

The European flag returns to the Hungarian parliament.

"It costs nearly $50 more today to fill up a Ford F-150, the most popular vehicle in the U.S., than it did in January." There are many things wrong with this system. Like Fernandez suggests, high gas prices turn cars from "freedom machines" into liabilities. The dependency is the real problem.

💥🇭🇺 Tens of thousands cheered newly inaugurated Prime Minister Péter Magyar outside Budapest’s Parliament building. Magyar said voters changed both Hungary and him—and pledged a full regime change and justice for victims and perpetrators of Orbán-era abuses.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

Interesting: while humans changed the genetics of potatoes through cultivation, potatoes led to genetic adaptations in the humans who eat them. (I myself am not from the Andes, but I am confident I have the potato chip gene.)

Toronto Walks is a web app I built to help locals and visitors alike explore cultural and historic sites in downtown Toronto. It was a chance to combine my web dev skills with some new GIS knowledge from my current studies, and to learn more about places I thought I knew well. torontowalks.ca

Deepfakes are everywhere, but digital forensics investigators are fighting back. Learn more: https://scim.ag/42dMPBg

Biidaasige Park. 200 years ago this was one of the largest great lakes marshlands, Ashbridges Marsh. Filled in during the early 1900s to build the Toronto port lands, today it has been renaturalized into 50+ acres of wetlands and a meandering river mouth. Soon, 20,000 people will live here too.

Robarts Library at dusk University of Toronto #toronto #bikeTO #x100vi @uoftlibraries.bsky.social

PM Carney: "The world is undergoing a rupture across several dimensions in technology, in energy, in commerce and geopolitics. Integration is being used as a weapon by some and the rules are not constraining the hegemons."

🇨🇦please sign and share ✍️ Another very import petition requesting action on foreign interference related to Alberta and separatists www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

Toronto’s Patrician Grill has survived everything from neighbourhood collapse to a frozen-patty revolt because its owners, the Papas family, never chased trends. Here, The Walrus’s Marina Black celebrates the diner’s legacy ahead of its final days: https://ow.ly/uZKh50YTFGb

Wayne Thiebaud - City Downgrade - 2001

These are crazy delicious in Greece. Nowhere I've visited has had such tasty food for such reasonable prices, it is a shame that is changing and the locals will be squeezed hardest.

There are currently Redcoats on the White House lawn to welcome the King of England

NEW: The One-Hour City Conspiracy! “Here's the REAL conspiracy: Too many people are forced into car-dependent lives, with more health harms, crashes, noise, air pollution, social isolation —& less space for everything our streets should be giving us.” Thanks @usa.streetsblog.org #1HourCityConspiracy

And the Sky Touched Down (2011) by Canadian artist Mark Grantham (born in 1966) Acrylic on canvas 91 x 61 cm #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

Topping Out At Sky Tower 1/2

More than once in Edinburgh this week, lovely Scottish people shouted out 'Hilloo, it's the history lady!' Yes, indeed, WE ❤️ SCOTLAND.

It's important to remember that, yes, sometimes good things still happen. www.dailymail.com/news/article...

My painting GREAT PLAINS STORM

Looking north to Yonge St. & The Esplanade from the elevated railway viaduct, Toronto, Apr. 23, 1929. #OnThisDay #1920s #torontohistory #toronto #jeremyhopkin

I would say it should be nailed to the door of the cathedral at Wittenberg but I think that Martin Luther, who iirc is buried inside, would rise from the grave to personally lecture this guy until he died

Yes.

This is not wrong.

The most thorough history of public benches I’ve ever read! placesjournal.org/article/the-...

"At one point, as regulators were questioning an employee ... a colleague nearby quietly scribbled 'stay silent' on a sheet of A4-sized printer paper and passed it along. When officials noticed, the person crumpled the page and, in front of everyone, swallowed it." Seems normal.