this 72-page book, The ABCs of Media Literacy, is given to every grade nine student in Finland media literacy is a core component of the national curriculum. everyone has the toolbox and training needed for practicing responsible citizenship its CIVICS (a bullshit detector) abcsofmedia.com

STEWART: “Comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether— we’re the banana peel in the coal mine… authoritarians are the threat to comedy, music, art, thought… progress.” Nailed it.

For decades, Redford had a tortured relationship with acting--one critic described him as behaving like the handsome high school senior who'd grudgingly agreed to star in the class play. Here's some raw transcript from when I asked him about Mike Nichols directing him in Barefoot in the Park. (1/2)

🚨National Statement from Canada's Healthcare community: #ScienceMatters! Too often lies – about vaccines, COVID, ivermectin, etc. – harm patients, policies & the public. Canadian medical, research, clinical and healthcare organizations stand up for science!📢 Signed by over 20 leading orgs...👇

Dec. 10: Calgary. Margaret Atwood. Hosted by Heather O’Neill. Much in common. Sold out.

Denmark to end book tax to encourage people to read

“The big lie is that Albertans think that the regulator is going to look at what’s submitted and, if those promises and requirements aren’t met, then the company is going to have to fix it. Well, here’s the paper that says that’s not true.” Why are we so bad at regulating our resource economy?

Sometimes you get lucky, even in a time when it’s hard to believe in luck anymore. I got lucky last week and saw Tyler Childers playing in the shadow of a giant T-Rex on the side of a highway. I was so happy on the way home I didn’t even think about my bitin’ list. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/o...

Source (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/o...

Forty years of My Beautiful Laundrette, 'the movie that changed cinema – and the lives of everyone involved'. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ju...

In summary: 1. Something that is effectively eliminating jobs (AI) and causing more climate change problems, 2. Is putting more of a burden on the average consumer, especially those who are in lower income brackets, 3. Who have to suffer environmentally as a result. wapo.st/4kY7C2k

Big Tech is building massive data centers, and 40% of the planned and existing centers across the US are in areas with "extremely high" or "high" water scarcity. Mounting evidence points to these data centers exacerbating water shortages across the country.

“Vaccines have done more to improve public health than any other medical intervention.” Cancer vaccines and the future of immunotherapy - www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... This exciting research gonna be a challenge for the antivaxx community...👆

"For the life of me, I can't tell you what led me to reflect on the moment when Nicholas II lost control over a once-burgeoning empire due to widespread unrest that he himself had a hand in shaping."

Feels like ranked choice was absolutely decisive in this race—not because of the vote count, but because of how it changed the incentives from zero-sum to cooperapetitive. It allowed a fractured left field to align organically through co-endorsements instead of falling into a circular firing squad.

What a wonderful @wordfest.com event with Robert McFarlane for his new book, “Is a River Alive?” Music by Corb Lund, an excellent interview by Kevin van Tighem AND a beautiful opening with the amazing Leroy Little Bear. Way to go, @youngblut.bsky.social and team! Truly brilliant ❤️

Books are seeds. Shelves are soil. The reader is rain.

He should have been our Prime Minister. Marc Garneau was accomplished, focused, adept, and so very curious. Thank you, sir, for embodying the best of Canada throughout your too-short time on earth. 📸: David Kotsibie

Criminally tone deaf

Want to know what you should read this summer? Ask a bookseller. Ask a writer. Ask a librarian. Ask a living, breathing human being. Hell, ask me! It's been a while since I've done one of these, so let's do it: one like = one summer reading book rec.

Wherever we go, the music is too loud and makes conversation almost impossible. What do we have to do to get some quiet in our lives? by Mark Kingwell www.thestar.com/opinion/a-go... via @thestar.com

🏊🏽‍♂️ Homework: Read THE SWIMMER by John Cheever (1964) a short story originally published in The New Yorker. Free online: www.newyorker.com/magazine/196...

Hi. Books are incredibly important. Please let them be.

Ack, sorry, here's a gift link. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/m...

I logged on here to post this. RIP.

Great evening tonight with funny and articulate @scaachi.bsky.social at @wordfest.com. Masterfully moderated by @youngblut.bsky.social.

Sigh. This reminds me of a fave Sprawlcast. @klaszus.bsky.social www.sprawlcalgary.com/the-local-co...

"When you start working, everybody is in your studio——the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas——are all there. But as you continue painting, they start leaving, one by one, and you are left completely alone. Then, if you're lucky, even you leave." —John Cage

Calgary, AB -- Wordfest Tuesday, April 15 at 7 pm | Memorial Park Library Tickets wordfest.com/2025/event/w... Hosted by Christina Frangou @cfrangou.bsky.social -- and my heart belongs to Shelley Youngblut @youngblut.bsky.social and her crew. #wordfest #calgary @wordfest.com #booksky

TikTok fuels ADHD self-diagnosis with misleading content, study shows www.news-medical.net/news/2025032... "...most TikTok content is misleading and inaccurate, which likely contributes to a rise in self-diagnosed cases of ADHD."

Canada is everything.

Elbows up, Canada.

Since people on the Hellsite are apparently saying a bunch of nonsense about WW1, this is your daily dose of punk youtu.be/gsXEGvX_ksI

Please read the whole thread. 📗🌱

The great Katherine Boo: “Wean yourself off of the tit of your own ego" niemanstoryboard.org/2017/07/25/k...

Prominent Alberta Indigenous artist Jason Carter has been selected to create the Calgary Stampede's three new entrance art statues for the park.

The great Jeff Douglas (aka Joe) has done it again. This is brilliant. Elbows up, Canada. youtu.be/_OzbmriDgQc?...

But check those edges:

John Candy passed away on March 4, 1994. On October 7, 2025, my book John Candy: A Life In Comedy (House of Anansi) celebrates his tragically short but incredibly full life. Pre-order now wherever you usually do that sort of thing.

'A big surprise is coming for guys like Pete Navarro, J. D. Vance, and the Trump trolls who think they can bully, threaten and push us around. Mike, we got the message. It’s already moving down the line.' Elbows UP Canada. All Canadians should join this substack and Americans in Resistance.

Connection. The most life-affirming action we can take now. “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” -David A. Robertson’s wrist tattoo, a Edward Everett Hale quote

it is time for me to share my father's golden rule of film which is: Always default to a Gene Hackman movie because good actor, yes, but more importantly amazing taste in movies.

If Canada is tearing down interprovincial barriers, let’s start with health care. It's well past time we created a semblance of robust national medicare, by @picardonhealth.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti... via @theglobeandmail.com

Revisit “A Wonderful Country,” a masterful piece from Mavis Gallant’s early writing days that paints a vivid picture of 1940s suburban Montreal: thewalrus.ca/a-wonderful-coun...

Men: Ugh I struggle to even finish a book anymore my attention span is so cooked Women: It's called A Field of Fury & Roses and it's the prequel to A Palace of Thorns which I enjoyed almost as much as its sequel, A Maze of Mist & Fire. Each book is 800 pages of inter-species elven smut

We have antidotes in the form of stickers at @wordfest.com

I am Canadian, bred in the bone to quote Robertson Davies. And these are my fighting words. youtu.be/3tepxOAEBIE?...

For any Americans 🇺🇸 who want to understand who Canadians are better… this is one of our popular politicians. 🇨🇦 So Canadian. ❤️❄️ We love our country. So much.