Went away for my bday & some headspace. It was spent mostly in here…
Don Curren 🇨🇦🇺🇦
@dbcurren.bsky.social
writer/blogger, formerly journalist at WSJ, Dow Jones, Reuters, others. #economics #markets, #music, #philosophy, #books, #technology, #photos, etc. (ie hopelessly eclectic) Toronto. May not respond to DMs. Blog at: https://doncurren.blogspot.com
“Legal and civil rights experts have warned that such a result could further undermine Sweden’s long-held reputation as a global champion of human rights, which has significantly deteriorated under the current government.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s... #Sweden
Sweden’s extremely close election could see far right enter government
Latest poll shows 0.3-point gap between left and right blocs, with country’s reputation as global champion of human rights said to be at stake
theguardian.com
“.. Trump has ‘kind of pushed every single button,’ said Piché, 66. ‘I’ll buy Canadian first and anything but the U.S. second. Now the U.S. is a distant third.’” @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...
“ #FDI in traditional sectors can be beneficial because it has positive spillovers such as new industrial facilities, jobs, local supply chains and a new tax base. But in the #digital sphere it’s #extractive …” #CanadaInvestmentSummit #Canada #cdnecon www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/24ca038... 🎁🔗
Foreign money is flooding into Canada. But a closer look reveals much of it is coming from the U.S.
The Prime Minister is pitching Canada as an attractive location for foreign capital. But ensuring the source of that money is truly global will be key
theglobeandmail.com
“the right test for inbound #investment is where the #decisionrights sit afterward. That is the thing #Canada is not protecting, and it is the only thing that decides whether this country moves up the #valuechain or stays where it is.”
Don Curren 🇨🇦🇺🇦@dbcurren.bsky.social · 10h ago“Getting a better price for what we dig up does not move #Canada an inch along the #valuechain, and it does not move Canada closer to succeeding in an #innovation #economy.” #CanadaSky #FDI #foreigndirectinvestment barryappleton.substack.com/p/canada-has... #CanadaInvestmentSummit
“Getting a better price for what we dig up does not move #Canada an inch along the #valuechain, and it does not move Canada closer to succeeding in an #innovation #economy.” #CanadaSky #FDI #foreigndirectinvestment barryappleton.substack.com/p/canada-has... #CanadaInvestmentSummit
Those of us, who keep our mouths shut when we don't know, have a great deal to say. drwhy.net A theory is an explanation of what causes what and why. Most of the media focuses on the alternative explanations that authorities manufacture to maintain their agenda.
There's a lovely recent book by sociologist Christopher Murphy about the back to the land movement people who moved to Nova Scotia - including some who stuck it out books.friesenpress.com/store/title/...!
Far Out! at the FriesenPress Bookstore
The 1960s was a period of radical social change. Many young people rejected the politics and values of the day and decided to “drop out” and migrate to the country. The desire for an independent rural...
books.friesenpress.com
Since 2009, minimum wage in America has been $7.25. Minimum wage in Ontario is going up to $17.95 on October 1st. That's still too damn low for cost of living (and we have universal health care).
The Epstein Class Plea: if you stop squirming this will all be over soon.
The Kyiv Independent@kyivindependent.com · 15h ago⚡️Ukraine's refusal to give up territory to Russia stalls peace deal, Trump envoy says. "Ukraine right now does not want to do that," U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner said.
Three-byline alert: 🚨 “.. Carney has even suggested Canada take on a new title: ‘Associate Member of the European Union.’ .. The EU, not known for its flexible enforcement of membership rules, is open to the idea ..” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/world/europe...
“No country on Earth buys as much from the #UnitedStates as its northern neighbor. For #American #farmers, #Canada is second only to #Mexico as an #export market.” apnews.com/article/cana... #CanadaSky #tradewar
apnews.com
Dario Amodei, who co-founded Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, called for a global slowdown of artificial intelligence development in a 3,800-word essay on Saturday. His appeal for a pause follows months of escalating concerns across the technology industry. nyti.ms/4AatwIK
Anthropic C.E.O. Dario Amodei Calls for A.I. Slowdown
In an essay, the head of Anthropic laid out the rapidly advancing capabilities of artificial intelligence and said there needed to be greater safety controls across the industry.
nyti.ms
“ #Customerservice encounters are becoming Kafkaesque adventures that leave us feeling powerless. All while #A.I.slop is filling inboxes and #socialmedia feeds and A.I.-enabled #scams seek relentlessly to trick us.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o... #AI
Opinion | Big Tech Fooled America Once. The Second Time’s Not Going So Well.
We won’t get fooled again.
nytimes.com
“Part of the reason the public has turned so quickly and decisively against #AI is the bizarre mismatch between the costs they’re being asked to bear and the rewards they expect to receive” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/o...
Opinion | Why Tech Oligarchs Are Willing to Risk Apocalypse
Silicon Valley’s strange new theology.
nytimes.com
“I highly recommend 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman, and Chess as starting points. #Zweig also had a knack for mini-biographies (see, for example, his stellar #book on #Montaigne)” #StefanZweig #BookSky open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia...
How a Healthy Society Falls Apart
Stefan Zweig's account is almost too strange to believe—but forces us to ask if it could happen again
open.substack.com
“What’s everyone #reading this weekend?” will not appear this weekend as I am going on a short roadtrip, but will return next weekend in its unusual time and place. Have a great weekend, everyone!
"Language can be studied through the normal methods of science. You form hypotheses. You test them. You do experiments. You observe stuff. That means it’s technical, because science is technical." fivebooks.com/best-books/l...
Linguistics
The best linguistics books, as recommended by David Adger, Professor of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London and author of Language Unlimited.
fivebooks.com
“According to the latest government figures, #Canada had only achieved a 10.3 per cent reduction from 2005 levels, with total #emissions down 78 million tonnes in 21 years – making it the #worst-performing country in the #G7.” www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... #ClimateChange #CanadaSky #GHG
Canada more than 20 years behind on reaching its 2030 emissions target, study suggests
It is on track to miss its 2030 emissions target under the Paris Agreement – and it won’t even reach it by 2050, the year it was supposed to hit net-zero
theglobeandmail.com
Wenn die Fähigkeit zu lesen, zu rechnen, zu prüfen und Widersprüche auszuhalten über Jahre erodiert … wie lange kann eine #Demokratie dann noch zuverlässig zwischen Information, Manipulation und Wahrheit unterscheiden? bsky.app/profile/dbcu...
Don Curren 🇨🇦🇺🇦@dbcurren.bsky.social · 2d ago“Of course standardized #testing can be misleading, but these plunging #PISA scores suggest a serious deterioration in the #humancapital of #youngpeople since #COVID” adamtooze.substack.com/p/top-links-...
Facism is the core of this regime. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/u...
How Trump Is Wielding Power to Stifle Speech (Gift Article)
President Trump has harnessed agencies across the government to curtail press freedoms, a sweeping campaign that free speech advocates say will have lasting effects.
nytimes.com