Eric Lawton

Natural philosopher (STEM background), retired IT Architect.
Supporting public policy based on kindness, respect and evidence.

Canadian, UK and (sadly) former EU citizen.

#systemsThinking #socialSystems
(mostly on website)
#solidarity

Cis, het

Settler on the traditional territories the Mississauga branch of the Ojibwa Nation.

Website: https://ericlawton.org/
Location: Mississauga Anishinaabe land, Ontario
Pronouns: he, il. They is fine.
Languages: English, français

Public Key

npub16nww8a5plfj0fp605tghgy8sw7j3mz6l6h3yyryky3neqzxx64ns2wulpa

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdfh8r76ql5e85sa8695t5zrc80fga3d0atcjzpjtzgeusprrd2ecpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsqs6d4p

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub16nww8a5plfj0fp605tghgy8sw7j3mz6l6h3yyryky3neqzxx64ns2wulpa

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-04-12 23:45:53 UTC

- reply

There's a name that brings back a memory.
I got a school maths prize in 1967, a book token, and bought this with it.
A bit more than an Introduction, for teenage me, but I did manage to work my way—slowly—through chapters like Differential Geometry of Curves.
@npub1ppe…qv2g
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/394/397/122/295/425/original/436715a99889a7c3.jpg

2026-04-03 15:10:46 UTC

Donald Trump Says He Can’t Focus on Child Care Costs: 'We're Fighting Wars. We Can't Take Care of Daycare’
“It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things,” the president said. “We have to take care of one thing: military protection"
He can't say it plainer them that.
A war he started.
A war that benefits nobody except weapons manufacturers to the time of hundreds of billions of dollars and the Netanyahu government.
A war that is murdering people across the Middle East in their tens of thousands
A war that is throwing economies across the world into chaos, including the US's.
If the US doesn't rise up, they will be economically and morally bankrupt.
Especially the Democratic Party. (The GOP is already lost).
https://people.com/donald-trump-cant-focus-daycare-fighting-wars-11941772
#Trump #USPoli #Ethics

2026-03-26 14:58:24 UTC

Women's Olympic sports limited to athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene from 2028 - IOC - BBC Sport
https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/articles/cdj7dgvlj0no
"So it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe."
What are they doing to make it fair to trans women? Anything at all?
"Not be safe"? Can they give even one example where a trans woman harmed other women?
#antiTransNonsense #bigot #trans #sport

2026-03-25 16:54:22 UTC

In #oligarchy news today:
The BBC has appointed former Google executive Matt Brittin as its new director general.
https://theconversation.com/matt-brittin-bbcs-new-director-general-appointed-at-an-existential-moment-for-the-broadcaster-278453
> The BBC’s royal charter is renewed once a decade to make sure the broadcaster keeps up to date with political and technological changes.

2026-03-22 15:40:55 UTC

A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky — for everyone on Earth
https://theconversation.com/a-million-new-spacex-satellites-will-destroy-the-night-sky-for-everyone-on-earth-277938
> If SpaceX launches one million new satellites, it will increase atmospheric pollution and risk of falling debris. And we will see more satellites than stars.
Why do we imagine we live in a #democracy when one arsehole can decide to do this, with zero accountability?

2026-03-22 15:23:48 UTC

Is there any possible outcome of the Netanyahu-Trump bombardment of Iran, in which the world is a better place than it was before?
Even if they just stop, right now, and resign, the enormous toll in lives, on the environment and on the economy will all be disastrous. Only the arms industry and Big Oil will benefit – the merchants of death.
Monsters.

2026-03-21 00:46:25 UTC

- reply

Will every taxpayer now sue to "seek to compel Trump to comply with civil-rights law and recover millions of taxpayer dollars that the US administration accepted while allegedly in violation of the law."?
@npub1jz7…0f0r

2026-03-20 23:29:56 UTC

Machines Like Me
A quick review of Ian McEwan's "Machines Like Me", a literary sci-fi work, followed by some thoughts it inspired about the uses to which we put "artificial intelligence" which are diametrically opposed to the solutions we need to real problems faced by humans like us. #AI #literature #ethics
http://ericlawton.org/2026/03/20/machines-like-me/

2026-03-16 22:15:35 UTC

I haven't worn a watch for ten years.
Today I had a hospital wrist band on for a few hours.
I looked at it to see what time it was.
#MuscleMemory

2026-03-15 16:57:04 UTC

- reply

I have the same model.
Just cooking for winter, because it's harder to open when frozen than my other, similar-sized bin.
@npub1dsh…xjz8

2026-03-13 14:11:32 UTC

- reply

One useful definition of a police state is one in which you are compelled to obey the police, not the law.

2026-03-09 14:56:08 UTC

Unexplored deep-water worlds in Caribbean revealed for the first time
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmllk32g72o
> Scientists discover underwater mountain ranges, golden towers of coral, and never-before-seen sea creatures.

2026-03-06 03:46:16 UTC

- reply

Thanks for the memory.
I heard the Moody Blues play that at the Isle of Wight festival.
They played Days of Future Passed starting with The Afternoon, in late afternoon, The Sun Set at sunset and Nights in White Satin when it was dark.
So I guess they were Knights in Wight Satin.
@npub16nh…kk84
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Wight_Festival_1970

2026-03-04 19:18:09 UTC

- reply

I wouldn't object to denying men the vote for a generation or two to shift the Overton window towards peace and health.
It would be reasonable compensation for the generations where only men could vote.
@npub1zny…prd4

2026-02-25 14:50:00 UTC

Trump: I'll never allow Iran, world's number-one sponsor of terror, to have nuclear weapon
The US has already used nuclear weapons on two cities, and its arsenal is under the control of an unstable menace.
It shouldn't have nuclear weapons either.
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/iran/2026-02-25/ty-article/.premium/trump-says-iran-worlds-biggest-terror-sponsor-will-never-have-nuclear-weapon/0000019c-92ec-d7dd-a9bc-bbef03900000
> Trump Said Iran Has 'Already Developed Missiles That Can Threaten Europe and Our Bases Overseas, and They're Working to Build Missiles That Will Soon Reach the United States of America,' Warning Tehran Not to 'Ever Doubt America's Resolve'

2026-02-21 16:53:12 UTC

“Can a chatbot be a co-author? AI helps crack a long-stalled gluon amplitude proof”
We don't ask if spreadsheets or other programs can be co-authors.
We are allowing AI™ vendors to twist our language for their marketing campaign to get us to accept their software as people.
https://phys.org/news/2026-02-chatbot-author-ai-stalled-gluon.html
#propaganda #AI #BigTech

2026-02-18 16:26:05 UTC

Credit cards cancelled, Google accounts closed: ICC judges on life under Trump sanctions
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/feb/18/international-criminal-court-icc-judges-trump-sanctions?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
> Kimberly Prost and Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza vow US reprisals will not affect work of international criminal court

2026-02-15 23:49:46 UTC

- reply

There's one tiny apple tree in my garden that must have come from seed. So far, only one apple but it was very similar to the Macintosh that I have nearby.
And there's a similar one growing by the road that I've had a few dozen from.
@npub12xq…3fr6 @npub1zvl…qckq

2026-02-10 21:05:58 UTC

Doug Ford confident in Ontario police probe: ‘We have the greatest police in the world’
After 8 cops arrested for:
a conspiracy to commit murder, shootings, extortion, robbery, drug trafficking and firearms offences.
If this is the greatest police force in the entire world, imagine what the rest are like!
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/doug-ford-confident-in-ontario-police-probe-we-have-the-greatest-police-in-the-world/article_355f58b4-26c9-4a43-99c4-9698be3b34a6.html
#ACAB #AbolishThePolice

2026-02-10 00:42:25 UTC

Trump threats on Gordie Howe bridge opening 'just insane,' Windsor mayor says | CBC News
Trump complained that Canada has treated the United States unfairly and says he will not allow the bridge to open until “the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve.”
Speaking of fairness and respect, I don't recall Canada threatening to annex the USA.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-gordie-howe-trump-bridge-opening-truth-social-post-9.7081929?cmp=rss
#CDNPoli

2026-02-07 15:19:17 UTC

- reply

So the US is now a country where child rapists' word is law and innocent people are imprisoned without recourse in the courts.
The US "government" is a criminal gang and has no legitimacy.
https://mastodon.social/@eunews/116029202587705521

2026-02-03 00:15:21 UTC

Philosophy at the Threshold of Belonging | Blog of the APA
https://blog.apaonline.org/2026/02/02/philosophy-at-the-threshold-of-belonging/?amp=1
> I grew up in West Baltimore where I experienced homelessness for almost the entirety of high school. For me, philosophy emerged in situations of precarity and uncertainty. Those formative years, spent not so much in a single home as in a patchwork of many, shaped what are now some of my central philosophical concerns: belonging, exclusion, and the status of those at the margins of society, those at the threshold of belonging.
> What I want to explain here is how philosophy can, for the marginalized of society, be concrete and tactile, woven into gestures, silences, and the gritty details of daily survival; an activity that is bonded to the world, not a conjectural one that is cloistered from it.

2026-02-02 06:32:38 UTC

- reply

At what point will the US Democratic Party acknowledge that this is a civil war and which side will they take?

2026-01-29 20:54:04 UTC

- reply

And many of our weapons are American, with dependency on them for parts even if they don't actually have a kill switch.
@npub1jlu…zuvf

2026-01-28 14:29:11 UTC

I felt the Earth move last night.
I was hoping it was the White House disappearing but sadly, Earthquakes Canada recorded a magnitude 3.7 quake north of Toronto just before 11 p.m. ET.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/earthquake-ontario-3-7-magnitude-9.7064318

2026-01-24 16:58:33 UTC

- reply

It's almost as if countries and nationalism are designed to divide the vast majority with common interests, to make them easier to rule by a global oligarchy.
@npub1zvl…qckq

2026-01-17 16:02:02 UTC

- reply

I remember the title but realised it was the Wyndham book of the same name. It's only CAD$3 on Kobo via Indigo books in Canada, so added to my virtual "to read" pile.
I started E.O. Wilson's Anthill: a novel, but didn't get into it.
My favourite ant(hill) character is Aunt Hillary, in the prelude to each chapter of Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach, though it's a very long time since I read it.
Now I'm wondering how many fiction books there are, featuring ants.

2026-01-16 23:08:11 UTC

Corporations: we have doubled increased productivity per worker, through automation.
Workers: so we can have double the wages?
Corporations: no, we will double the profits. Our shareholders will get f and our genius owner will have twice as many billions.
Workers: but at least goods and services will be cheaper, right?
Corporations: No. Inflation will magically increase prices, nothing to do with us. Mysteriously, our profits went up even more and our genius owner is even richer!
Politicians: it's all the fault of immigrants and trans people
#capitalism #fineTheRich #sociopath

2026-01-14 18:30:26 UTC

Pluralistic: It's not normal (14 Jan 2026)
'A manufacturer can sell you a device and then mandatorily update it at a later date to take away its functionality, and then sell that functionality back to you as a "subscription"'
Our just stop it from working.
'"Terms and conditions apply", and we can change them whenever we want.'
@npub1fdr…lvhs
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/14/sole-and-despotic/

2026-01-13 22:51:09 UTC

- reply

Like these "Canadian automakers", Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/carney-ev-mandate-canada-auto-companies-costs-warn-9.7043562
@npub1j7g…c603

2026-01-12 18:59:49 UTC

- reply

Coincidentally, my friends from Bolton that I'm still in touch with, 50 years after moving to Canada, now live in Edinburgh

2026-01-12 17:13:13 UTC

The UK sold off its public wwater utilities.
This is what they got for "efficiency", besides sewage in rivers and on beaches:
"Major incident declared as 30,000 homes left without water in Kent and Sussex"
"Efficiency" for a corporation means maximum profit for minimum investment.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/12/major-incident-declared-as-30000-homes-left-without-water-in-kent-and-sussex?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

2026-01-12 16:37:35 UTC

- reply

Or "Texas poaches doctors from poorer countries that trained them, often at public expense"
Canada does the same.
We shouldn't restrict the doctors' movements, but should reimburse countries that trained them for that training. Same goes for any jobs that require training.
Or maybe just provide blanket aid payments to poor countries to cover all the ways in which we exploit them.
@npub1j7g…c603

2026-01-11 15:54:13 UTC

- reply

Now I'm curious about whether LLMs' code compiles and executes error-free on their first attempt.
(Aside from the question of whether it meets requirements, as originally intended; always the hard part).
[@david_chisnall](https://infosec.exchange/@david_chisnall )

2026-01-08 17:07:01 UTC

- reply

So Jacquard cards were another "borrowed" Chinese invention?
My dad, a textile mechanic, used those.
I followed his career path by using Hollerith punched cards for mainframe computers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_machine
@npub1jz7…0f0r

2026-01-03 22:59:46 UTC

One of Cory Doctorow's best podcasts, on the real "take back control" that we MUST DO but don't get enough of from our politicians.
The American tech industry's stranglehold on the rest of the West.
He's also on here @npub1fdr…lvhs q
https://craphound.com/podcast/

2025-12-27 19:49:55 UTC

- reply

I still read bits of Alice (Wonderland & Looking Glass), and Winnie-thePooh.
They were written for children and adults.
The Disney versions trivialize them.
@npub1san…jgxu @npub1ppe…qv2g @npub1jsj…dtg9

2025-12-27 17:48:17 UTC

- reply

Looks good to me; I can't imagine how some people think driving a giant SUV at speed on a highway is more Utopian.
@npub1ppe…qv2g @npub1jsj…dtg9

2025-12-27 04:12:55 UTC

- reply

@npub1zvl…qckq
As an old person, slowing population growth by removing younger people aeems short-sighted, only marginally better than eliminating the old.
Does Carney think some American AI will care for him in old age?

2025-12-20 22:32:12 UTC

Soaked in the bathtub
The last thing I did for play or fun was to have a long soak in the bath, listen to music and read some of Iris Murdoch's The Message to the Planet. Murdoch said that we shouldn't think that her noesls are based on her philosophy but that, since she was a professional philosopher, there are some elements of being a philosopher in some of her characters, as that is one thing she knows. That was two days ago. #biography #philosophy
http://ericlawton.org/2025/12/20/soaked-in-the-bathtub/

2025-12-20 17:13:45 UTC

British cops break the law to support genocide.
"Met using outdated powers to police pro-Palestine protests, say legal experts"
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/20/met-using-outdated-powers-to-police-pro-palestine-protests-say-legal-experts?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
> Lawyers argue ‘cumulative disruption’ regulations were quashed in May and should therefore not be used
#ACAB

2025-12-16 16:35:57 UTC

Trump signs executive order labelling fentanyl ‘weapon of mass destruction’
So he's going to destroy the US's nuclear arsenal?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/15/trump-signs-executive-order-labeling-fentanyl-weapon-of-mass-destruction?traffic_source=rss
> Label is the latest instance of Trump using militarised language to justify US operations against drug smuggling.
#Trump #war

2025-12-14 00:14:44 UTC

- reply

Icicles are sparkly but it's hard to catch on camera.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/715/033/230/629/103/original/e74198ec2554d8fd.jpg

2025-12-13 21:03:03 UTC

Swords of Icicles.
(Rhymes with Damocles)
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/714/279/462/483/468/original/75559ab8dad3ac21.jpg

2025-12-13 16:14:05 UTC

- reply

@npub1jz7…0f0r
Why do so many think Orwell's 1984 is a "how to" manual?
Britain was a part of Oceania (led by former US), called "Airstrip One", off the coast of rival Eurasia.

2025-12-13 15:50:17 UTC

My BiL was complaining that he couldn't get home in BC because the floods had washed out the road.
I reminded him that he used to lead wilderness canoe trips and wrote a book on canoeing.
I realized his canoe was probably at home but he has access to a kayak. It's not even a thousand km.
He's not quite 60 yet, the young folk today are so lazy! 🤣🤣

2025-12-11 17:26:55 UTC

- reply

Will "the computer made me do it" become the new "just obeying orders"?
@npub1j7g…c603
#AI

2025-12-10 21:10:16 UTC

- reply

They could have one like Captcha, only instead of traffic lights, you have to identify a floppy disk, a dial phone, a videotape and other ancient artefacts, as proof of age.

2025-12-10 20:56:21 UTC

- reply

Do I have to pass a test to get one?

2025-12-10 20:43:24 UTC

The race to mine the Moon is on, and it urgently needs some clear international rules
"International" is pointless. No country with corporations approaching Moon mining capacity has signed the last treaty.
We need a *global* democracy to make decisions affecting everyone, not "sovereign states" controlled by oligarchs.
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-moon-urgently-international.html
Since the 1979 Moon Agreement attempted to designate lunar resources as the "common heritage of mankind" but failed, it will become the property of colonial powers
#space #colonialism.

2025-12-10 16:03:59 UTC

‘The 0.001%’: a quick visual breakdown of the world’s wealthiest people
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/dec/10/visual-breakdown-worlds-wealthiest-people
56,000 people control three times as much wealth as 4,000,000,000 people.
This is what they have designed the economy to do. This is the purpose of capitalism.
#inequality #capitalism #democracy #ethics

2025-12-02 15:30:42 UTC

- reply

Conigarchy.
Rule by smiling con men.
@npub1j7g…c603

2025-12-01 16:50:04 UTC

- reply

You're right that outside kids would be known immediately. I just don't see why a few would be a problem, hungry kids should be fed.
If dozens started showing up, that would be a sign of a deeper problem outside.
What difference do tickets make for kids who bring their own lunch? Are they to prevent kids getting a second lunch? We were allowed to go back for seconds after everyone had their first, as long as there was food left.
[@anon_opin](https://mastodon.social/@anon_opin )

2025-12-01 15:37:36 UTC

- reply

[@anon_opin](https://mastodon.social/@anon_opin )
We had almost the same, but no tickets.
I never heard of someone not from the school coming for a meal, so if they did, IDK what would have happened.
But if a kid is hungry, they should eat.

2025-11-12 03:06:08 UTC

The Twelve Commandments Revisited
A review of the 10 commandments, plus Jesus' 2 commandment summary, in which I consider which are fundamental, interpreted from a non-theistic point of view.
http://ericlawton.org/2025/11/11/the-twelve-commandments-revisited/

2025-11-11 15:37:34 UTC

Horses at 50: three reasons why Patti Smith still cuts to the bone
I think I have all her albums.
I still listen to them regularly.
I can't believe Horses is 50 years old. 😯
https://theconversation.com/horses-at-50-three-reasons-why-patti-smith-still-cuts-to-the-bone-269418
> Even if you’ve never heard of Horses or indeed Patti Smith, this is an album that you should listen to.

2025-11-09 16:26:22 UTC

Canada is determined to sell every last gram of carbon within its borders, to fuel foreign CO₂ production.
Drax still burning 250-year-old trees sourced from forests in Canada, experts say
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/09/drax-still-burning-250-year-old-trees-sourced-from-forests-in-canada-experts-say?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
> Exclusive: report by Stand.earth says subsidiary of power plant received truckloads of whole logs at biomass pellet sites
#climateCrisis #climate

2025-11-07 22:29:11 UTC

I had to stop listening to the latest @npub157r…8pny "Tech Won't Save Us" podcast episode "Why We Need a War on Cars" w/ Doug Gordon and Sarah Goodyear
Because I was listening while making dinner, and I need to take notes on it.
Good account of the systemic nature of the problems
#systemsThinking

2025-11-05 15:37:07 UTC

- reply

Parliament is theirs for the picking of the NDP and Greens would get their act together.
Many people feel betrayed by Carney's bait-and-switch and this is a moment to sieze.
#CarpeDiem #CDNPoli

2025-10-28 18:05:57 UTC

Capitalism is so ingrained in our collective discourse that we say that billionaires are "worth" $x,000,000,000.
They believe that. They believe they are superior and their money and power show it.
They think those with little or no wealth, or debt are "worthless".
And our media repeat this endlessly.
They seek even more wealth and power because they are in competition with other billionaires.
They also seek immortality, because that is all they need to become gods.
#WordsMatter #TaxTheRich

2025-10-26 15:29:32 UTC

- reply

I thought Lords employed shepherds.
A rather mixed metaphor.
Though the Christian right are certainly on board with the nobility aspect.
@npub1ppe…qv2g @npub1ls4…7vtk

2025-10-23 18:51:40 UTC

‘The police weren’t interested’: what’s driving the rise in private prosecutions?
In the UK, the rich can buy justice.
The police only prosecute when they feel like it. No chance of discrimination in this system, right?
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/oct/23/the-police-werent-interested-whats-driving-the-rise-in-private-prosecutions?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
#ACAB

2025-10-23 05:38:26 UTC

- reply

I'm not sure how my brain learned it, but, even though I automatically caught a falling cup today, before I consciously realized it, I also stepped back from a falling knife recently. Again, before I knew what was happening.
Thank you, subconscious me!
@npub16nh…kk84

2025-10-19 19:38:55 UTC

AI is using your data to set personalised prices online. It could seriously backfire
https://theconversation.com/ai-is-using-your-data-to-set-personalised-prices-online-it-could-seriously-backfire-266995
> Two people looking at the same product at the same time might see different prices. AI has turbocharged the process.
Why is this legal?
Presumably because governments put corporate interests first.
#AI #ethics

2025-10-18 22:16:35 UTC

Here's what "No Kings" Looked Like Across the World
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/heres-what-no-kings-looked-like-across-the-world/
> It certainly wasn't a "Hate America Rally."

2025-10-08 19:40:00 UTC

- reply

Probably the only Canadians as safe as before Trump in flying to the US.
@npub1zvl…qckq

2025-10-01 18:26:08 UTC

Has anybody had surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
I'm due to have it in a couple of weeks, apparently to open up the tunnel in my wrist to put less pressure on the nerves.
Some people I know have been unable to use their hands much for up to ten days, one was OK within a day, so I was wondering what I should plan on.
Fortunately it's only one hand, my right, which I need for some tasks, but I can do more with my left than most right-handed people.
Please boost for reach.

2025-09-30 16:26:34 UTC

"The best countries for expats in 2025"
Funny, the countries that whine the most about "immigrants" aren't on this list.
"Expats" are just white immigrants and nobody should object to them, right?
#racism
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250922-the-best-countries-for-expats-in-2025
> From Panama's jungles to Vietnam's buzzing cities, these five countries offer expats the best mix of affordability, friendliness and quality of life.

2025-09-28 18:30:39 UTC

Thomas Piketty:
People with more wealth controlled for education, are more right wing.
People with more education, controlled for wealth, are more left wing.
A sociology PhD with no income is probably left wing.
#inequality #economics #sicialScience
https://www.lse.ac.uk/events/global-inequality

2025-09-26 17:38:23 UTC

- reply

"Edinburgh" already says "place"¹, so hub is fine. Wheels have hubs and go everywhere.
Ideas and thoughts are much broader than maths and physics. Do you intend to widen the score later?
___
1. A very fine place!
@npub1nf4…nqe4

2025-09-05 20:37:26 UTC

- reply

I have Carney's book "Value(s)".
The premise being that values—ethics—should take precedent over value—price.
I'm now convinced that he had it ghostwritten as a way of getting the Liberal leadership job.
(I'm not an “AI”. Those aren't m-dashes, they're w-dashes, which look the same but upside-down).

2025-08-23 01:03:09 UTC

- reply

Democracy is impossible without accountability.
As long as elected officials cannot be held accountable for keeping their election promises, they will always lie to win.
@npub1zvl…qckq

2025-08-17 20:10:43 UTC

I heard that Sunday is a day of rest. 🤣🤣🤣
The forecast said zero chances of rain, so I hung out the laundry.
It started raining.
I brought it in again. It stopped after 10 minutes.
Hung it all out.
Used the wrong flour for bagels, so switched that mix to whole wheat bagels, started another batch of bagels, so I will have a kneadful afternoon.
And I'd promised chocolate chip muffins, so have three kids of baking going, then dinner and all the dishes from all that.
Oh, and I have beans cooking, for refried beans.
Fortunately, I can put off the rest of my job list until Monday and I'm guaranteed a couple of hours of rest on Wednesday, while I have an iron infusion, to restore my energy levels and magnetic personality.

2025-08-13 19:20:21 UTC

Guess what I got in my mailbox yesterday.
A phone book!
For the City of Peterborough, Ontario.
It went straight in the paper recycling box.
It was smaller than they used to be, but still, what a waste.
It's not like I go to Peterborough that often, usually only for medical appointments. One of these days I might go to the canoe museum. It's 40 minutes drive.

2025-08-12 14:56:17 UTC

- reply

If Britain's national security requires the genocide of a people at the far end of the Mediterranean, then there is something very wrong with Britain.
@npub1g5g…3ct8

2025-08-05 14:23:31 UTC

- reply

No international events should be held in the USA.
Wrong gender? Wrong colour? Disagreed with Trump? Have a friend who disagreed with Trump?
Arrested and disappeared to a concentration camp!

2025-08-01 14:46:42 UTC

- reply

His number one policy is "Poilievre for PM". All others are changeable by the minute to support that.
@npub1ynt…3zqj @npub1spc…3gwu @npub1j7g…c603

2025-08-01 00:56:19 UTC

- reply

So Poilievre continues to think that the job of Opposition leader is to oppose government policy regardless of facts.
He's saying that Palestinians can never have a state, even if Hamas is excluded, as Carney proposed. Because of what Hamas did.
Of course, he doesn't offer a viable alternative.
Is he going to rhyme a slogan? "Make the State Wait!"
@npub1spc…3gwu @npub1j7g…c603

2025-07-29 04:30:02 UTC

- reply

Have they done a poll asking if they want more forest fires, droughts and floods?
Though judging from my need for a periscope to see over all the giant SUVs and pickups around here, I'm not surprised they want more gasoline.

2025-07-28 20:24:44 UTC

- reply

Do they mean "renewable energy superpower" as in leasing manufacturer of panels, turbines, batteries, …
Or "fossil fuel supervillain"?
I suspect the latter.
I keep hearing "energy" being used as a synonym for "fossil fuels", as a marketing trick to keep us linking the two.
We should use "fossil fuel" exclusively, if that's the topic of discussion.

2025-07-23 17:44:39 UTC

- reply

He's being criticised for the position he now takes.
At a minimum, he should explain why he now believes that his previous argument does not hold.
@npub13hx…7a03 @npub1rrd…hvza

2025-07-22 14:50:27 UTC

- reply

My dad was a textile mechanic. He could barely manage the heavy machinery by the time he was 65.
A tiny works' pension because only the last place he worked survived bankruptcy as the Lancashire industry collapsed and he'd only been there a few years.

2025-07-09 14:09:44 UTC

- reply

"Correction" officers.
Why do the media echo these propaganda terms?
Prison guards for a more neutral term.
Jailer or concentration camp goon in reality.

2025-07-01 18:56:08 UTC

Cleaning out our old games from the basement.
Seems topical.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/779/499/312/898/937/original/1098e7e34dc2d263.jpg

2025-06-30 21:29:52 UTC

- reply

And we're waiting to see what the NDP will become if it wakes from its voter-induced coma.
#CDNPoli
@npub1spc…3gwu @npub1zvl…qckq

2025-06-12 17:55:55 UTC

- reply

When I moved to Canada in the 1970s, left-wing economists were earning of consequences of relying too much on trade with the USA, especially in extractive industries.
Even the Conservative premier of Alberta knew this and set up a Heritage Trust Fund to try to diversify Alberta's economy but it was gutted by his successors and turned into the Conservative Slush Fund.
Given the Alberta and now Saskatchewan siding with Trump, and the huge dependency we have on US trade, Carney is in a difficult position.
I think he sees the situation through the abstract lens of finance and not through the reality that we're in a war and need to fight.
We certainly can't continue shipping raw resources from mines to ports, to let other countries process them.
"Right of first refusal" is worse than "51st state" because we get no votes for legislature or POTUS, we just take orders.
@npub1j7g…c603

2025-06-10 22:13:14 UTC

- reply

I was charged with assaulting a police officer for sitting peacefully on the ground. Fortunately, there was ample photo evidence and the judge threw the case out. Against almost all of the 61 arrested.
A while ago, protesting South African apartheid.
@npub1j7g…c603

2025-06-07 22:56:32 UTC

It's becoming a common theme: "our business model doesn't work if we have to obey the law".
Whether it's wrecking the environment or stealing creative ideas, we can't allow this to be normalized.
"Bidders demand Thames Water granted immunity over environmental crimes"
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/07/bidders-demand-thames-water-granted-immunity-over-environmental-crimes?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
> Exclusive: ‘Ransom note’ requests would leave Environment Agency unable to prosecute company or management

2025-06-06 14:22:07 UTC

Why Canada needs a law that gives workers the right to govern their workplace
https://theconversation.com/why-canada-needs-a-law-that-gives-workers-the-right-to-govern-their-workplace-257776
> In its governance structure, the modern workplace operates as a kind of mini dictatorship. But what if there were an actual legal right to workplace democracy?

2025-06-01 15:48:49 UTC

My calendar says it's June 1st.
The weather forecast says it's April 1st.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/608/893/385/024/320/original/650956dcbf3320e6.jpg

2025-05-24 15:42:44 UTC

America is doomed. A warning to the rest of the world to cut ties and not be dragged down with it. | CBC Radio
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/marci-shore-end-of-history-u-s-affair-1.7540641
> As a historian of totalitarianism, Marci Shore feels obligated to offer the world some blunt relationship advice: it's time to end our affair with the U.S. She warns America can no longer be trusted to defend democracy — even within its own borders. The Yale professor explains how her knowledge of Eastern Europe informed her choice to move to Canada.

2025-05-21 22:17:16 UTC

Drivers of SUVs and pick-ups should pay more to be on our roads. Here’s how to make the system fairer
https://theconversation.com/drivers-of-suvs-and-pick-ups-should-pay-more-to-be-on-our-roads-heres-how-to-make-the-system-fairer-252381
> Bigger cars mean bigger costs for everyone else. It’s only fair those costs are reflected in how car rego is priced.

2025-05-14 18:56:35 UTC

- reply

Imagine if we had elected judges.
They would use their fund raising to get Conservative judges elected, which would tip judicial recounts in their favour, as well as having laws interpreted their way.

2025-05-07 20:16:34 UTC

My "lawn" is infested with weeds. At least that's what a boring-green-patch web site told me, giving tips on how to eradicate these creeping cinquefoil.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/468/388/177/294/873/original/d48d58441abe9423.jpg
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/468/388/456/552/929/original/40cf7e2a9050de51.jpg

2025-05-06 23:14:04 UTC

- reply

Another random passer-by recruited by cops for #AbolishThePolice

2025-05-04 15:57:42 UTC

France and EU to incentivise US-based scientists to come to Europe
Who had "scientists as refugees" on their bingo cards?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/04/france-eu-us-based-scientists-come-to-europe-emmanuel-macron-ursula-von-der-leyen?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
> Macron and von der Leyen expected to announce protections for researchers seeking to relocate amid Trump’s crackdown

2025-04-28 14:34:40 UTC

- reply

If you had a tree in your home, it could grow up it. 😀
I just use string from a hook in the ceiling.

2025-04-28 12:51:04 UTC

My home is being taken over by Monster(a)s!
The original rotted near the base, so I cut it in four, gave two away and kept two.
The one in my bedroom grew much bigger leaves so now I've moved the other to the living room, where the light is the same.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/415/675/123/063/008/original/32a278ee3c25dae5.jpg
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/415/675/880/036/021/original/5bb54e7eed97800f.jpg

2025-04-27 19:44:55 UTC

- reply

Prosecuting bystanders will empower all fascists to cosplay ICE and attack whoever they want.
They know this.
@npub1s02…zz9t

2025-04-04 16:24:30 UTC

Watch: Disturbing video shows jail guards carrying out violent, hours-long retribution at Maplehurst
https://archive.ph/6qzeQ
> Ontario government lawyers tried to prevent the public release of the videos. But the Star won access in court.
#ACAB
Why do we accept recruitment, training and culture of prison guards and street cops which institutionalize violence for cruelty's sake?