Links for November 9th, 2025: johnmcgrath.substack.com/p/links-for-... (An AI-heavy edition this week.)

"But even through my twenties, even when I had the chance, I would plunk myself down wherever two roads diverged in a yellow wood. Plunk myself down and wait for Later." Gift link:

no amount of state propaganda will ever convince me this man is my enemy

OMG. The site is literally called the Dunning Kruger Times.

A 90min Not Just Bikes video about vehicular cycling zealotry? Clear my schedule pls youtu.be/pRPduRHBhHI

Okay, but here's a thought: what if we could avoid a surveillance state AND not have China "win" an "arms race" for a (*checks notes*) non-rival, non-excludable technology.

Watched the first ep of PLURIBUS last night directly before bed (inadvisable!) but loved it so much that I made @vsmcgrath.bsky.social watch it with me tonight. Excited for episode 2!

oh so these people do pay attention to who politicians follow on social media, they just don’t care that the vice president follows a bunch of actual neo-nazis

quick, tighten the rules around ebikes a little more

This is what I picture when anyone mentions using Chatgpt (I think you are dumb, but I’m also worried about my safety)

academics are higher income and thus likelier to own cars and thus likelier to suffer from undiagnosed car brain, so

Buying a home in a state where insurance rates are only ever going to skyrocket from now on vs. retaining property in the most sought after city on the planet? If a rich person believes this is a good financial decision their wealth should be taxed at 1000%

Great piece by @theturner.bsky.social. "There might be a moment, nearer at hand than many expect, when a revolution too cheap to contain and too big to ignore forces Canada to choose more conclusively which side of the divide will best fuel its future." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

if i ever reach this point then just put me down

Tried this out at the No Frills near work today and I gotta say I'm a fan. www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti...

lol lmao even

New from me at TVO, regarding today's fall economic statement: www.tvo.org/article/anal...

sending November headlines back to January would often be horrifying but in at least some cases they'd also just be genuinely confusing

Cost estimates for new gas power plants just keep rising! www.utilitydive.com/news/gas-pow... 🔌💡

🚨Scoop: Nova Scotia MP Chris d'Entremont says he is considering crossing the floor to join the Liberal Party. He tells me he'll make a decision “in the next few days” after reviewing the federal budget. Other Conservatives are also being courted.

N.S. NDP leader becomes housing critic, says government doing nothing to solve crisis

Too many people who had similar priorities to my own pre-2016 haven't grasped that the stakes are much different now. Publicly owned grocery stores and free busses are silly ideas for New York. Accelerating fascism is an existential threat to America. Silly ideas are survivable. Fascism isn't.

“It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime and ending with the hard facts of autumn…Most of all, it is about time and timelessness, speed and grace, failure and loss, imperishable hope, and coming home.” Ken Burns, “Baseball”

Links for November 2nd, 2025: johnmcgrath.substack.com/p/links-for-...

The USDA sent an email to grocery stores telling them they are prohibited from offering special discounts to customers affected by the SNAP funding lapse. I'm aware of at least 2 stores that had offered struggling customers a discount, then withdrew it after receiving this email

Funny. So apparently Metrolinx is happy to have its people talk to the media — as long as it’s not about the building or operation of transit

That’s from this www.theglobeandmail.com/life/style/f...

I would never tell you to get an animal to get over a World Series Game 7 loss but one of the grounding things about a dog is that they still need you to walk them, feed them, and pick up their poop whether you were up late or not. (Not unlike young kids in this regard!)

look I love my wife very much but I dissent

need trigger locks for poasting

PSA: if your feed is out, go to www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...

For those people whose sportsnet subscription isn't working, if you have prime video just get a free trial of citytv and watch the game from the live channel

The AGO might be a safer place.

I'm pretty good about not swearing in front of the Biped but reader, I slipped

I also bad-mouthed Gimenez earlier this evening and I will be submitting my written apology forthwith

YES MAKE THEM SUFFER

Fun fact: nothing you achieve in life will ever look this fucking cool.

Also a variety of ill-considered, politically opportunisitic tax cuts by Carney after taking power aren't helping. Normally, this *would* be a time to spend more, do some Keynes to power us through the global slowdown and tarriff attacks. But the tax cuts & previous overspending make it impossible.

As I mentioned during our DC show the other night, years – decades! – of mayors tacitly tolerating cops and other city employees defacing their plates has made this much more difficult to deal with now.

In 2013, Santa Monica tried to lift its bldg code "high-rise" definition (consequential threshold for cost) from 55' to state's 75'. FD opposed, it failed: www.smgov.net/departments/... Same proposal succeeded this year! Single-stair is a wedge issue for broader code reform smdp.com/government-p...

I got experimental brain surgery. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Welp. November baseball!

If we can't run up the score, run up the pitch count I guess?

Jays in the series, Friday Halloween, and a kid who brings their haul home and says "oh yeah help yourselves, I've got too much candy" Life is good

so uh respect for tradition and all but no we will not be handing out candy past the first pitch and frankly if you or your children are still trick or treating past then I question your life choices

30 second Halloween/World Series costume: The Blue (Jays) Spirit #avatarthelastairbender #bluejays #wantitall #iykyk

of all the trutherisms moon landing trutherism is the one I think I'm most irrationally angry about?

Illinois will effectively eliminate parking minimum requirements in ~all of Chicago and much of its suburbs thanks to the transit funding bill that passed last night.