Behold! I have invented the Rough Summary Machine. It will give you a rough summary of whatever text you plug in. Useful, right? Wait... what do you mean "is it alive"? Of course not? It's for summaries. No, what, what do you mean "we don't need jobs anymore" are you insane? I didn't intend for you-

As I was saying: bsky.app/profile/mims...

Navneet Alang@navneetalang.com · 6d ago

“Planting trees to fight climate change” is, in my uninformed view, likely too simplistic or too easy to mess up to be a panacea of any kind… and yet, for cities at least, it seems like we really should just plant trees (of many varieties) everywhere and as much as we can?

There is a reason people deride stock picking as gambling

Mark Gongloff@markgongloff.bsky.social · 6h ago

"One-quarter of men aged 18-29 said they trade stocks daily, and almost two-thirds of them (64%) report feeling like failures ... "The findings were strikingly similar to outcomes among men who gamble" (They're the same picture) Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Was with family this weekend. People love ChatGPT. It was used to plan holidays, identify a kind of fly that emerged in a house and offer solutions (no idea if any of this was accurate), give... therapy? I have no idea how representative it is but in this case, was seen as source of knowledge?

For no good reason, my top TV/streaming shows: 1. Station Eleven 2. Mad Men 3. The Wire 4. Andor 5. Chernobyl 6. Succession 7. The Sopranos 8. Somebody Somewhere 9. Arrested Development 10. 30 Rock

Thinking out loud, as is my wont: a thing I see online a lot re the "excess" of Indians in Canada is that immigration from one group and the subsequent gathering of those people in specific places (i.e. Brampton) means that "they won't assimilate." This makes me think of my parents.

Here's my chat with Juno Award and Polaris Prize-nominated singer @tanikacharles.bsky.social about Parkdale, her big break with Soul Run, her imposter syndrome and why she's still making beautiful music. www.torontomike.com/2026/08/tani...

Tanika Charles: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1943

In this 1943rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Juno Award and Polaris Prize-nominated singer Tanika Charles about Parkdale, her big break with Soul Run, her imposter syndrome and why she's ...

torontomike.com

Lists on Bluesky are the best thing about it. Want a human-curated feed that is real time and not algorithmically moderated? They are the RSS of the social age. Here are a few of mine, hopefully self-explanatory (thread) bsky.app/profile/did:...

"To shoot a man because one disagrees with his interpretation of Darwin or Hegel is a sinister tribute to the supremacy of ideas in human affairs — but a tribute nevertheless." - George Steiner

two days after Vancouver city council voted down their own Villages Plan, west side residents who opposed the plan en masse are complaining that Dunbar (!!) doesn’t have any wine bars, boutiques or gyms — the kind of amenities that require neighbourhood density to support

This could be a solid doctoral dissertation.

Better Things Are Possible@internethippo.bsky.social · 6d ago

Technology is cool, too bad they made it evil

[guy who’s really proud of his family tree] So yeah, that’s the story of my little clan [Me] That’s pretty nice I guess but have you… *suddenly raises voice* ever done a Genealogy of Morals??!

Donald Trump's war on Iran gets most of the headlines, but his economic terrorism against Cuba remains a humanitarian disaster. Canada, which has always defined American embargos on the island, ought to step up. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...

Justin Ling: Trump’s White House is spinning a wild conspiracy tale about this country. Canada needs to step in to defend it

While Trump and Marco Rubio spin theories about Cuba, Canada needs to do what it can to protect Cuba’s residents

thestar.com

I can't believe they're still making Marvel movies

“Planting trees to fight climate change” is, in my uninformed view, likely too simplistic or too easy to mess up to be a panacea of any kind… and yet, for cities at least, it seems like we really should just plant trees (of many varieties) everywhere and as much as we can?

Noticed this a lot lately -- saying something racist, prefaced by saying "I'm not racist." It's odd. It's as if ppl have internalized the idea that racism=bad, and thus wish to disavow their own badness... rather than their own racism. metro.co.uk/2026/07/29/j...

John Cleese says he isn't racist but 'some cultures are better than others'

The Monty Python star said he is a 'culturalist'.

metro.co.uk

I tried to capture the magic and musicianship of Glen Hansard: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Glen Hansard's Greatest Subject Was Life Itself

Our tribute to Glen Hansard, the Irish singer-songwriter who was so much more than the guy from 'Once' and the Swell Season

rollingstone.com

Please enjoy my cartoon in today's Toronto Star

I’m wheezing smittenkitchen.com/2026/07/spag...

This is just to say I have OCRed the text thet was in tne arch:ve and whicb yov were prabaldy seamhing for "breahtast" Fargme ms fheg mem debo:w5 sb ?mccf mmb 5c oc1b

-So??? What do you think?! I've been working on it for like a week -I mean... I see what you're going for. But if, in fact, "London Bridge is falling down"... don't you think the tune is a little bit too... I dunno, jaunty?

Editors Canada @editorscanada.bsky.social has published a new handbook titled Editing with Respect: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Handbook 2026, with "recommended practices for editing diverse material inclusively and sensitively" editors.ca/publications...

Editing with Respect: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 2026 - Editors Canada

This handbook guides readers through EDI in writing, and includes considerations and practices for editing inclusively and sensitively.

editors.ca

Thanks to @kevinmilligan.bsky.social et al for this study on the impact of universal childcare on women's income - Long run impact on women's earnings far beyond the childcare years - Increased tax remittances, reduced social insurance - Recoups 75-117% of program costs www.nber.org/papers/w35514

Since we're talking about films, some I've seen recently that I thought were very good: 1. Spirited Away. Images lingered in my head for days. 2. Zodiac. Fincher (or the editors he works with) can really pace a film perfectly. 3. A Secret Agent. Shouldn't have watched it on a plane, deserved better

the real odyssey is making it through social media these past couple of weeks, amirite? Ohh!

Okaay Whatever: Funny Face & OK Gesture

ALT: Okaay Whatever: Funny Face & OK Gesture

static.klipy.com

Idle thought: seems strange and ironic that Reddit can now sometimes feel like a better version of social media vs. Twitter/IG/Bsky/FB etc... and it's also the one on which: 1) self-promotion isn't the primary aim of most accounts (?), and; 2) there is a mechanism to deprioritize low quality stuff?

the byline on this should have read Benedict Cumberbatchingwong

J. Kelly Nestruck@nestruck.bsky.social · last wk.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong write in the Guardian today about the "immense harm" of the the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros merger. They urge UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Competition and Markets Authority to intervene www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

nonstop chatter about the odyssey but I can't see it! (or at least can't see it the way I want to) impossible to buy a ticket to see it in 70mm. sold out in advance for as far out as you can buy tickets

It's a good Financial Facelift today... How will this couple with a $5 million net worth make it work? Click to find out: www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/pe...

How should Faye, 68, and Ava, 60, draw down their RRSPs given their $108,000 spending target?

The couple is looking for advice on how to turn their savings into sustainable, tax-efficient retirement income

theglobeandmail.com

I like quite a few Nolan movies... but this seems true of a lot of his work?

EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · last wk.

6. Nolan tries to pack a lot of Incidents and Big Ideas into this film, but they do not seem to me to hang together coherently on the level of his own plot and the movie's constructed system of values. Instead, it's foisting a didactic point about Our Times onto the plot without integrating it.