Take a moment and have a think about all those grifters that want us to compete with the US on their tax policy ignoring all their other policies that go with that tax policy as those it can be magically disentangled. It’s important that you do since @mark-carney.bsky.social promised reform

Well that was a nice couple of hours of video games, now to take a look at the timeli- oh jesus christ

Once the bombing of Venezuelan fishing boats started, the bombing of Caracas was going to happen. Terrible news. In a long flood of terrible news. Wishing courage, ingenuity, and success in 2026 to any and all USians who are working in opposition to Trump and Trumpism

Tulsi Gabbard in 2019: "The United States needs to keep our hands off Venezuela... end these destructive and wasteful regime change wars... proven to cause more problems, increase suffering, increase instability for the people in the countries where we wage these wars. In Latin America especially".

If you don't come out of economics or any empirical social science undergrad with healthy skepticism of all causal stories, you missed the point. (Stories still drag you in sometimes, of course, just not as easily.) xkcd.com/552/

In order to get *anything* done, we have to rely on other people. Which is to say, we need other people to become experts in things we're not, and we have to trust their expertise.

A few historians have ♥️'d this post. Curious if ppl from other academic disciplines recognize these same effects (or different ones) from their research life. There's always a good chance of self-selection in the match between discipline and personality, so I might be wrong about the whole thing!

And that's it. For a week, no calorie tracking. Then a couple of days of tracking. 😱😱😱 Tomorrow, back to eating like a healthy person. But going 1,000 calories over target for most of 10 days has been lots of fun. No regrets

Very cool and anecdotally consistent with other industries. Quickly pivoting to r.o.w. markets. Nature is healing. Canada finding itself in a much better bargaining position going forward. Geographic proximity ain’t what it used to be.

Being an historian has had big effects on my character. I noticed a new one today. I already knew it underpinned my "don't panic" perspective. Wait and see how things unfold. And practicing history shaped my sense of my limited individual power (call that humility if you want to dress it up) 1/4

A List of Predictions Made in 1926 About 2026 🧵

Here's a pair of resolutions for the coming year 1. Live so that I don't need to get wellbeing from a shot-sized bottle in a gas station store 2. And in solidarity with my francophone fellow Canucks, call out lazy / bad translations. Franglais aside, what's with the Germanic caps?

My Bluesky experience is much more #Halifax than my Twitter was, and I like the change in emphasis HNY, Hali-folks!

Meanwhile, here in small town Bedfordshire, someone set a car on fire with fireworks and the comments in the town Facebook group are saying it's not fireworks, it's because it's an electric car. 2026 may have peaked already.

Part of the new YIMBY path in the McIntosh Run trail system. So inviting!

#Halisky DeeDee's is selling their holiday ice cream flavours at a discount of 30%! I got the second-to-last pint of Candy Cane this afternoon. (Yes, there's a story behind the weirdly empty freezer. But the ice cream discount is the lede here.)

Yes, I know.

More cat and tax combo - delightful!

The cat bookmark really sets off the cover design! 😉

Just had a look at Nova Scotia Fire/Emergency/Info. It's a mess out there. Brutal night for first responders travelling to accident scenes. Seems like not going out would be the best option for the rest of us

😅 That's 3 points to James

Corrected headline: Estimated billing continues to baffle ratepayers because Nova Scotia Power declined the interview request.

The relative moral importance of contract law is very very very low. But it remains a moral principle of our society, broadly and narrowly. Acknowledging what it is and what it isn't, getting it right, is always supportive of clearer and better moral thought.

Okay ChatGPT I gave you a chance and what the what - Why are the donairs bleeding - Many clocks are only numbered from 1 to 3, but not the Town Clock - What are those cannonish things? These are funny, but in seriousness, the plagiarism machine put fucking GREENS on a Halifax donair. #HateCrime

Fripperies, in memory of the friend who collected them and is gone now

For some of you it’s heat and traffic. For some it’s rain tapping your window. For some it’s a café, a corner store, a borrowed quiet. Different places. Same pause. Wherever you’re standing— hope the day loosens its grip for a sec.

Shout out to Mrs P's bakery in Spryfield. There was a flood at my condo. I was rattled, needed to get lunch. Where to go for comfort food? Mrs P's. Down-to-earth menu, superb cooking. Chicken tortilla, green salad, and a divine, perfectly baked, lemon square Photo of the last bite

My dearest beloved, We are camped outside the North Pole where the Chickamauga flows nearby. We have eaten nothing but biscuit and icemelt for near two weeks yet the feeling of killing Elves has made this the greatest experience of my life. Miss you and hope we have a boy but am here to completion.

"When we said 'pay,' we meant 'incidence.' But we didn't want to use any big words. "Once you say 'incidence' you have to say 'inelasticity of demand.' And then you've lost Idaho." OK, maybe I shouldn't have used quotation marks. He didn't exactly say that. But that's what I heard.

Good reminder of the length of time and the labour that it took to make bars smoke-free. Much love to the bar staff who made it happen after the legislators said "make it so"

"AI can replace editors." Really? Editors, by and large, try not to just make things up as they go along.

Neighbor was having a heart thing this morning and wouldn't call 911 because of her dog. Sweet Daisy is staying with us now and has claimed Queens preferred spot. Daisy's Mom is in hospital for a few days. Good reminder to have a care plan for our darlings!

I am doing housework and stalling on it (again), so I wrote a post in my newsletter instead. suzannerent.substack.com/p/i-refuse-t...

And once more, because it MAY be my best post of the year

"Urbanist joy!" Nice work, Bartek What a cool ptoject

Just read more antivaxxer garbage about replacing vaccines with healthy food and exercise to boost immune systems while more babies die of measles. Vaccinating widely is how we protect Littles too young for vaccines - no exercise will protect them. WTF with these people #vaccinessavelives

If you don't have to be out driving around right now. Don't be. The danger levels aren't worth it. Let's not put first responders in danger because you're stupid.

Yes, I *am* someone who can tighten up a wobbly tap handle Use Google lens to ID the make / model of the tap. Search for instructions. Find the essential allen key where the plumber who installed the tap left it 2 years ago. Done. There are decades of my life when I'd've just lived with the wobble

I have a feeling we may lose power. Rarely do we - but we’ve had 3 large power bumps. The last two were enough to reset everything in the house. I also rescued some neighbour’s bbq cover as it flew past my driveway lol

ICYMI Ducks-capades! In which a duck faithfully imitates a curling rock.

It's getting fierce out there. Big power outage on the Halifax Peninsula. No doubt many of us will join them tonight. For me, a minor inconvenience. But I'm thinking of the people in desperate need of power and of the repair crews. 💪 ♥️

Opportunity to support innovation in bike infrastructure

"monetize the dysfunction" is the perfect explanation of our time.

Ducks on ice. Action!

I’m glad the work was done And I’m not surprised about the conclusion

I looked at normalized engagement first - the number of likes, shares and comments, divided by the number of followers on each platform. As you can see, in October Threads far out-performed Bluesky. Yet in Nov/Dec, Bluesky remained steady while Threads engagement dropped by nearly two thirds.

This video is worth watching. It's an overview of the situation of young men, but it's not manosphere. I wish he had gone into the social stigma attached to men who read and think, this anti-nerd trope that has driven three generations of young men away from books. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnA9...

Since the various takes won’t die, I will offer my own: We elect people to the House of Commons and to provincial legislatures, not trained seals. We should therefore expect our elected representatives to exercise their own judgment, and to not be surprised when they do so.

A good read. Fair-minded but no excuses

Think winter walks are miserable? They’re actually saving my sanity. Fresh air, filtered light, and unexpected fungi are keeping me going. Watch the video and tell me what keeps you grounded this time of year.