A discussion with another member of Bluesky led me to wonder about house prices & income in other countries as well as other factors affecting affordable housing availabilty. A villa in Portugal seems a firm NO. Finland is looking good compared to Canada. Anyone know hard is it to learn Finnish?

Why 'Poetry 180'? Billy Collins, former United States Poet Laureate, to high school teachers: "Hearing a poem every school day, especially a well-written, contemporary poem that students do not have to analyze, might convince them that #poetry can be a worthwhile part of their everyday experience."

An aggression atrocity from a little more than a year ago is invisible on mainstream Western media now, along with many others. Can you name just one outside your immediate world that sticks with you beyond 'here today - gone tomorrow' syndrome that afflicts those of us in privileged countries?

Who here follows Paul Salopek on his Out of Eden Walk, started in January 2013 in Ethiopia, planning to end at the southern tip of S. America? A 38,000-kilometer storytelling odyssey. A recent interview that is only a very brief glimpse into his journey, 13 years later. He did reach North America.

Waiting for analysis from human rights defence groups on the implication of changes.

Not an #enrgyproject for any Canadian to promote. Hissing at O'Leary and all involved for further damaging action on #climate and ignoring environmental impact.

Agreeing to uphold #humanrights ... if convenient? Not sure where this is going if fickle "public interests" of the day are the defining factors.

The important 'Precautionary Principle' is not being applied, to our peril. Following the axiom 'Look Before You Leap' is difficult in our complex world but do we NEED to charge ahead willy nilly with #AI? Have we collectively learned nothing? Recall the outcomes of hasty use of atomic bombs & DDT.

"For most people, the most direct impact of the US-Iran war has been an enormous spike in gas prices (a hardship that has translated into windfall profits for fossil fuel companies). But there’s a lesser-known impact that should also be of concern to us: global fertilizer supplies."

The Beaverton interviews an Alberta Separatist - tongue firmly in cheek. thebeaverton.com/2026/05/the-...

Keeping on with stating the obvious is sadly necessary everywhere.

Thank you Mary Simon.

Author speaks of #protests then & now. Ottawa G8 protest in 2002 compared to a Freedom Convoy protest inflicted on the city in 2022. The 2002 article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal link: 'One thousand words' A M Todkill CMAJ August 06, 2002 167 (3) 287; www.cmaj.ca/content/167/...

Time to refocus! Civilians are still being killed & maimed by weapons from Canada's illegal supplying of materials for arms used in Gaza - we are distracted by fabricated war with Iran. 2024, students still protesting the carnage 29 May (C. Bellefeuille/The Charlatan) charlatan.ca/community-ga...

In the 'We have been there before but pretend we don't have a problem' category - G8 protests in Canada saw a rise in repression of social justice protests. E.g., G8 Kananaskis June 2002 protests in Ottawa & Calgary led to G8/G20 June 2010 Toronto with protesters being kettled & unlawfully held.

Understanding of large language model or #LLM development is woefully lacking for most. As it is part of #AI & AI will affect our future, this limits our ability to assess impact. Hard to apply the needed 'precautionary principle' on creating this aspect of AI without knowledge. Big $ is at stake.

Carrying on after Mothers Day 2026. But is her son correct in attributing the quote to Camus...or was it from Sartre? What's a mother to do?

It is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of 'Woman at the Edge of Time' by Marge Piercy in May 1976. This article from 2016 is still relevant. www.theguardian.com/books/2016/n...

For Mothers Day, re: creating #peace and & the role of women. “When a great truth once gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it. It is bound to go on till it becomes the thought of the world." . “Give Women Fair Play,” F. Douglass 1888

Thanks David Ho davidho.bsky.social for a comment re: a dilemma for many who say the push to have people reduce their own carbon foot print is a red herring distracting from #carbon oligarchs - the real culprits. I once hoped personal 'skin in the game' would cause unrelenting activism. I was wrong.

Many who once had good critical thinking skills seem to have given up using them & have become unquestioning Carney groupies. Carney turns out to be an extra bitter pill to swallow given his background as UN Special Envoy on financing carbon reduction before becoming the Liberal Leader. Choke!

Rev. Maggie Helwig, priest at Toronto’s St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Anglican Church, made a poignant plea at the Politics & the Pen gala, an annual event attended by Ottawa’s power players. She received the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for her book “Encampment: Resistance, Grace, & an Unhoused Community.”

This story. Her strength and stamina led to insightful compassion for others. Indigenous athlete, Waneek Horn-Miller, believes sports can be a mental & physical saviour. Long before Hall of Fame days, a soldier stabbed her with a bayonet at the 1990 Siege of Kanehsatake. She was 14 years old.

#Bird nerd friends - do you need a puffin fix? Brand new on line as of 26 April. Hurrah! www.youtube.com/live/zt3MCin...

For all who are intrigued by the ill-fated Franklin Expedition, more pieces of the puzzle in place. If you have visted the high Arctic, you likely have been humbled by the knowledge that unsupported survival requires skills you just don't have. uwaterloo.ca/news/media/d...

As a person who advocates for cycling over using a car whenever possible, I find this is so heartening. Cheers for acting living, better health, affordable transportation and reduction of use of fossil fuels!

Canada marked Red Dress Day across the country on May 5 to honour missing & murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2 spirited people. MMIWG2S memorial and awareness day. Imagine how families in Ottawa felt as our government's talks on funding for action on MMIWG2S took place behind closed doors.

How a photocopied pamphlet changed the world of science. ..contemporary global research has roots in a pamphlet, Current Contents, printed in a hen coop by a young US information scientist – Eugene Garfield. No www. for searching through digital copies then. www.researchcghe.org/wp-content/u...

If this is not on your radar, it should be. Civil Society to Parliament: Kill Bill C-22 More than 25 leading rights and privacy organizations and experts call for full withdrawal of the Lawful Access Act, warning it would be "the most expansive invasion of Canadian privacy rights in modern history"

In spite of all the warnings and expert information from people like Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social, most of us are still obliviously circling the drain. Relatedly, the Report on OpenAI is expected from federal, provincial privacy watchdogs today in Canada.

Warning bells on willy-nilly use of #AI are ringing. Most of us are only starting to understand what #LLMs are, let alone what can go wrong. At least LLM, i.e Large Language Model, is in the Oxford dictionary now. How deviously clever of Open AI for the name ChatGPT. Sounds so friendly and safe...

The best time to move away from fossil fuels was at least 30 years ago. But as the old saying goes "The next best time is now". Kudos to countries in the 'Coalition of the Willing' for commitments to creating a safe #climate at the Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels conference in Colombia.

And brought to mind today, still the song for the decade for . saying it all. From a Canadian group - The Burning Hell. The irreverent lyrics rivetted me to the spot when it was released in 2022.

Go ahead and listen if you love the #music of Erik Satie and are intrigued by the playing of the theremin. May freak you out as "Satie's introspection meets Deconstructivist irony. Here is the most ethereal, contrite and disturbing version of Gnossienne you can imagine". Gave me the willies!

Canadian #bird nerds - Binoculars up! Just look at how many birds were migrating at the peak times in the wee hours of this morning & yesterday morning! It will be a day for seeing or hearing new arrivals.🥰 Multitudes of bird voices in dawn chorus at 5:30 AM here in Ontario, plus Spring Peepers.

Kaveh Akbar gave this speech at the Dayton Literary #Peace Prize ceremony on November 10, 2025. 'Fiction’s Role Towards Revolutionary Action' “People who look and pray like me love our children exactly the same way you love yours."

Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social‬ has been ringing alarm bells for a long time on this subjest and he does so on the basis expert knowledge and understanding. Heed his warnings!

Justified embellished resume? From American Rivers.

If you live in one of the 38 OECD countries, you can find an overview of your own country at the bottom of the page linked here: www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

It seems like a no-brainer but...

Fellow Canadians please step up! Indigenous youth from Northern Ontario are at the UN making a case for their future. Get behind them - everyone's future is a stake and we owe them support no matter what for 'Truth and Reconciliation'. Our nation made this commitment. www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_AC...

GDP growth...whatever that actually means is up for debate. "Key Takeaways Out of the world's 20 largest economies, India is forecast to have the highest GDP growth in 2026 of 6.5%. The U.S. is expected to have the highest growth among major developed economies of 2.3%"

In general, Canadians are not living up to the recommendations from the Truth & Reconcilation Commission re: supporting the rights of Indigenous peoples. Sad, as much of the action needed benefits all Canadians. Some ideas here from Legal Advocates for Nature's Defence (LAND). naturesdefence.ca

1st of May! International Workers Day. No matter what work you do, stand in solidarity with all workers for equity and social justice.

Affordable housing IS possible in a wealthy country like Canada. In 2024, an estimated 119,574 people experienced homelessness in an emergency shelter - just the tip of the iceberg. Others are in tents, are 'couch surfing' or living in unsafe trailers & shacks. THINKING BEYOND THE MARKET

Do you like cycling with friends but don't care for riding up hills? Sturdy and Young's circular velocipede from 1869 may be perfect for you!

On the last day of National Poetry Month in Canada, a poem shared by the League of Canadian Poets in their daily dispatch. You can sign up for a poem a day to feed #poetry to your waiting heart.

Thankfully, Twitter is no longer a 'thing' and users are leaving its descendent X in droves but this overview of Canadian think tanks from 2015 is still helpful when you need to evaluate sources who are trying to influence people.

Exceptional journalism.

It is still #Poetry Month. Take these thoughts with you into May, I'd suggest.