May 16, 2025, 1:04 AM
So cool to see lots of Canadian representation https://social.growyourown.services/@FediFollows/114479108382173349
May 15, 2025, 10:09 PM
I'll never stop confusing Matt Garman (AWS CEO) with Mark Gurman (journalist), which is unfortunate because one says things that can be consequential to me but I don't want to read anyway and the other is the opposite, saying stuff that is mostly inconsequential to be but still makes interesting reading. So I'm forced to read both, with a 50/50 chance of disappointment.
May 12, 2025, 5:36 AM
#Discord by far the champion in software that gets updated without ever me noticing any difference in what it does.
May 8, 2025, 8:38 PM
I just noticed that there seems to exist a gym in one of the top floors of the VPL central branch building (the middle/round part). But what is that place? The #VPL doesn't have a gym AFAICT, so who put that in there?
May 8, 2025, 8:07 PM
May 8, 2025, 7:18 PM
The Handmaid's Tale Season 6
Should this series have ended a while ago? Probably. Are we getting tired of the series trying to hype up yet another conflict using a closing shot of June looking at the camera? Maybe. But we're still here for it, and I think the overall arc of the story is developing in a sensible direction (USA losing to Gilead means Canada starts capitulating with the winners). I just wish that the whole June & Blaine didn't take so much of a central role in the story, it's not an interesting foundation for the plot.
May 8, 2025, 7:14 PM
May 8, 2025, 7:14 PM
Schitt's Creek Season 1, 8 out of 10
Good lighthearted fun. John and David are amusing, but it's a shame that the women characters of the family (Alexis and Moira) are a bit too stereotypical. David's character had a bit more creativity going into him, so why not spice up the women too?
May 8, 2025, 7:11 PM
Sinners, 7 out of 10
We've got jazz, intense soundtrack, black power and entrepreneurship, AAVE, vampires, shootouts, wild west mood. It's a modern fusion with no restrains on its quirkiness, so it's definitely not an all-round crowd pleaser. I enjoyed the central role that music played in the story, and it's not as if vampires ever needed justification to attack people but this tried something different so that's fun. I do think the villains are a bit overpowered, though, to a point where it's hard to believe they wouldn't be more widely known through folk tales, but that's a bit of world building nitpicking. I also found the epilogue a bit too "fan service" - of course it's rewarding to watch klan racists be rampaged by the protagonist but the whole scene was a bit too obvious.
May 8, 2025, 6:54 PM
Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point
Somehow I missed that How Democracies Die had a followup. Tragically relevant given the current state of affairs
Apr 29, 2025, 3:13 PM
The “let’s bring it home” douche not only failed to bring it home, he also got evicted from his home riding.
Apr 29, 2025, 5:13 AM
Apr 27, 2025, 3:14 PM
Not every truck/SUV but always a truck/SUV
Apr 22, 2025, 4:48 PM
#QuadReal received a few awards for their redevelopment of #ThePost into a "sustainable" mixed-use office space.
This week they announced they're no longer allowing #ebikes to be charged inside the building. They built the bike facility with charging stations - a bike facility that smells like sewage by the way, so they don't trust their own safety measures apparently.
And this is just going to incentivize a riskier behaviour: charging the battery on your own desk, where the hazard is higher.
Apr 17, 2025, 2:25 PM
Apr 16, 2025, 5:45 PM
Apr 16, 2025, 5:43 PM
Apr 16, 2025, 5:43 PM
Apr 16, 2025, 5:39 PM
Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, 9 out of 10
Truly a landmark in the history of literature. This is a first crack in tainting the ideals of romanticism, using a dead narrator to excuse the grim and eschatological view of life and human struggles. The structure of the book, the whimsical choices, the events that transpire, they all conspire to a brilliant text.
The book is best enjoyed with a little bit of context on 1880's Rio & Brazil, but generous use of footnotes from the editor and a good deal of curiosity for research should suffice to get immersed.
The part of the book that I enjoyed the least was the middle of it, specifically the volume of attention dedicated to Virgília. But I also think that it is how it should be: so much time and energy and passion is dedicated to a romantic adventure that is ultimately unsatisfying and inconsequential, and the authors (the dead one and the real one) know this and decided for it, because that too is part of portraying a life.
It should go without saying but it's always worth repeating that readers should keep in mind that the story is immersed in the zeitgeist of the 1880's, so gender roles, slavery, social hierarchy are all described by someone who was living that reality without a contemporary lens of criticism.
Apr 15, 2025, 9:12 PM
The response that comes from "think before responding" turned off is a wall of text but it turns out to be better, because at least it recognizes that the toggle has a design issue.
Go figure.
Apr 15, 2025, 8:59 PM
This #ChatGPT tooltip: "Think before responding".
This is:
- not descriptive what the feature really does;
- misleading because why would I ever want a thoughtless response;
- not accurate because "think" is a vague and amorphous concept here;
Was the goal here to just have a tooltip, whatever it says? Or is this a joke on users getting less used to think critically for themselves? Guess I'll have to ask that - with 'Reason' turned on.
Apr 13, 2025, 6:58 PM
Overdose, 9 out of 10
Honest, well research and comprehensive. This book is almost the perfect material to get introduced to an evidence-based approach to "the war on drugs". That it was written by someone who was entirely embedded in conservative politics and grows a devout christian adds to the appeal to its universality.
The one flaw of the book, if it can even be called a fault instead of perhaps a missed opportunity, is the little discussion of the infertile grounds to sow the thesis, because this is one of the most important things we need right now to move forward with solutions. The current political climate is that of conservative leaders calling "empathy" weakness. A good chunk of the book is dedicated to dismantling the stigma, but this bias is a foundational character aspect of at least a third of us: rugged individualism cannot be argued out of someone's core values and principles. How do we even get people to read this book cover to cover without triggering "culture war" reflexes of dismissal? I have no idea, and I guess it's a different type of book that needs to address this.
Apr 13, 2025, 6:42 PM
Kim's Convenience Season 5, 6 out of 10
The end. The writers continued to deny the Kims meaningful character development - until the very last two episodes. I guess it's fair to expect that Saang-Il and Young-Mi develop slowly as any normal pair of middle-aged adults, but I expected more from Jung and Janet. But well, we're here for it anyway. At this point we're used to not expect much other than a pastime, mostly lighthearted and mostly wholesome, still sometimes a bit too silly, sometimes too stereotypical. The season ends with a bit of a cliffhanger but the series was canceled so it is what it is.
Apr 11, 2025, 11:14 PM
Apr 11, 2025, 4:15 AM
Apr 6, 2025, 9:37 PM
Kim's Convenience Season 5, 6 out of 10
The writers continue to deny the Kims meaningful character development. I guess it's fair to expect that Saang-Il and Young-Mi develop slowly as any normal pair of middle-aged adults, but I expected more from Jung and Janet. But well, we're here for it anyway. At this point we're used to not expect much other than a pastime, mostly lighthearted and mostly wholesome, still sometimes a bit too silly, sometimes too stereotypical.
Mar 31, 2025, 2:02 AM
Am I the only one watching #Junos via CBC Gem finding the audio a bit weird? It’s like a few channels are muted
Mar 24, 2025, 7:55 PM
Using [sic] when quoting people in positions of power is probably the most delightful and socially acceptable way to punch upwards, even if it brings a tint of academicism. It's a guilty pleasure.
Done expertly, it's humiliating. Reading a well timed latin expression for "they're dumb, not me!" is the respite I needed while consuming my weekly poisonous dose of #USPol.
Thanks, Jeffrey Goldberg.
Mar 20, 2025, 2:46 PM
“Here is a chart”
🥹 welcome back @j_mcelroy, missed you
Mar 18, 2025, 12:00 AM
Thinking of starting side project number 623737278, while still keeping my current one involving my IndieWeb presence. This is usually trouble as my focus tends to resist dividing, but here we go.
I never successfully launched a mobile app, but I hope nowadays the learning curve is less steep. Probably going with #ReactNative and expo.
Mar 7, 2025, 6:12 AM
Kim's Convenience Season 4, 6 out of 10
The writing has its ups and downs and the portrayal of how academia deals with minorities codes some strange red flags... But the series marches on, mostly lighthearted and mostly wholesome, still sometimes a bit too silly, occasionally too stereotypical.
Mar 4, 2025, 8:34 PM
Every day reading #CanPoli and #USPol news starts an exercise of trying to make sense of the unreasonable.
Is the strategy to dissolve the conspiratorial fame of conservatives by behaving so randomly dangerous that everyone else gets used to look for "dark money" and "cabal of elites" to process this madness?
I'm already crafting meta-conspiracies.
Feb 28, 2025, 5:29 PM
Fifth day in Brazil.
Being an expat is ever stranger. I do feel home. The birds, the food, smiles, slangs, the plants, flowers, sand. The car I used to drive. Muscle memory kicks in. It all feels like it should. Even the clouds look as if they had been broken and are now fixed.
But I also feel like a visitor. The heat, the traffic, inequality. It’s the same as always, but also worse than it was. It’s strange to so easily overhear, to invisibly connect so fast.
Feb 21, 2025, 4:46 PM
“This government does not represent us”
Yes it does, it’s literally called representative democracy.
I have been there before (Bolsonaro), and while I get the #NotMyPresident chant, this cannot be used to excuse oneself from the consequences of these representatives.
“I did not vote for this” isn’t a free pass, it’s the bare minimum.
Feb 20, 2025, 10:47 PM
Great piece.
https://thewalrus.ca/common-sense-politics
How to reconcile the anti-intellectualism that serves as a foundation for the denial of science with the apparent technocratic positivism behind the defense of tech oligarchs?
The answer is grievance. #Politics of resentment. An angry bunch is an engaged bunch.
Feb 20, 2025, 10:40 PM
For anyone interested in reading a weekly curated best moments of humankind's wordcraft, the #newsletter is https://buttondown.com/perfectsentences
Feb 20, 2025, 10:37 PM
Feb 7, 2025, 6:12 AM
Kim's Convenience Season 3, 6 out of 10
Can't say I particularly enjoy the Raj & Janet storyline, but what can I say? The series continues its promise of being mostly lighthearted and mostly wholesome, still sometimes a bit too silly.
Feb 6, 2025, 7:29 AM
Jan 30, 2025, 7:21 PM
Jan 4, 2025, 2:49 AM
Kim's Convenience Season 1, 7 out of 10
Lighthearted and mostly wholesome, though a few bits are excessively silly. A great series to just hit play and relax on the sofa.
Jan 4, 2025, 2:49 AM
Kim's Convenience Season 1, 6 out of 10
Lighthearted and mostly wholesome, though a few bits are excessively silly. A great series to just hit play and relax on the sofa.