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• Post #4173740

  My conference panel's chair. I met someone new, but GUG remains a mystery.

• Post #4008007

  In 1999, I moved to another country for the first time. While there, I made an incredible group of friends many of whom I still see regularly, despite the lot of us being spread out across several continents and a dozen countries. We listened to a lot of music that year, most of which, as the only uniliginual English-speaker of the bunch, I didn't understand at all. This track came out that year and caused me to cut more than one rug. Vive l'Erasmus ! Zebda, "Tomber la chemise&quo...

• Post #3675035

  The university has just declared that one of its three goals in the years to come is "Advancing responsible AI adoption at scale." These goals get written into every major project the university undertakes, including a large number faculty research proposals. For years to come, then, we're going to plow even more money and support into AI while neglecting those who refuse to engage. And don't be fooled - "responsible" here is veneer, signalling our apparent commitment...

• Post #3650451

  I'm already exhausted by the Toronto politics narrative that's going to bombard us non-stop through the election: "mayoral race has tightened." I've seen no evidence whatsoever that Brad Bradford - my councillor - has any business being elected to the office he holds, much less the mayoral position. Toronto's got problems. It'd be great if we could avoid making Bradford an even bigger one.

• Post #3362542

  Playing cards with Kid2. My idea of perfect summer weather (24° and sunny during the day, 15° at night). Homemade honey and anis hyssop ice cream. #3GoodThings

• Post #2522712

  Start your letter of complaint - especially if it isn't the first one - like this dude in 1853: "It is with the utmost unwillingness that I again find myself called upon to draw your attention to..."

• Post #2461081

  Congratulations on buying an EV! You can kill a pedestrian or cyclist just as effectively with it as with a conventional car.

• Post #2461076

  Maybe next time, as a grown-ass adult, you should just hit the brakes on your 2-ton minivan while keeping your mouth shut, instead of cutting off the kid on a bike and screaming at them because they didn't stop.

• Post #2327131

  Spring on the green roof. #BloomScrolling

• Post #2311969

  I love sitting in public space in my neighborhood - in a park, a library, the community center - because if there's any foot traffic and if I'm there for more than a minute or two, I'll hear several if not dozens of different languages spoken by passersby, some that I can identify and even understand, and others that are totally beyond me. It's seriously one of the best things about this place.

• Post #2153719

  I love writing. I wasn't always good at it (it's debatable that I am now). But it was never about being good, it was always about process; about playing with language; about putting one word in front of another and moving them around; about dragging thoughts from the darkness of my head into the light on the page to make sense of them and to communicate; about affirming my humanity. Writing's never been for everyone - that's fine. But how we're collectivel...

• Post #1925032

  RE: https://mas.to/@brian_gettler/116506332823026464 Oh, and taxes. Brought to you by taxes. Of which many of us could pay more.

• Post #1904011

  Violets under Leafless trees, a spring carpet Green and violet. #haiku

• Post #1850997

  It's a good book - well written for the most part and focusing on an important and understudied topic. Hopefully it will inspire others to do similar work. That's what I want to say in this book review. Now I just need to do it with an addition 772 to 972 words.

• Post #1850996

  Crachat, "La dérape" (2024) https://crachatqc.bandcamp.com/track/la-d-rape #MusicWomenWednesday

• Post #1850994

  Social media/screens/AI/whatever is a problem with capitalism and the state's refusal to do anything about it, not something wrong with the kids.

• Post #1850993

  Wab Kinew's got a clever little soundbite on social media and LLM bans for kids: "a society should work to train the next generation, not the next AI model."

• Post #1850991

  The gathering ends But we linger, dodging the Solitary screen. #dailyhaikuPrompt - lingering

• Post #1850989

  Table ronde sur les revues savantes d'histoire à l'ère de l'IA et du libre accès Vendredi, 1er mai à 13h30, heure avancée de l'Est (en ligne et à l'Université de Sherbrooke) https://ihaf.qc.ca/evenement/table-ronde-sur-la-pratique-de-lhistoire-ii/ #histodons

• Post #1850988

  Premier Mai/May Day, 1974, Montréal Source: Fonds La Presse, Bibliothèques et Archives nationales du Québec https://advitam.banq.qc.ca/notice/659509 #PremierMai #1erMai #MayDay #Montréal #Québec

• Post #1850987

  Looking at some newspapers from 1970s Montreal and I'd love to know what portion of their ad revenue came from adult theaters and strip clubs. Something like one-eighth of the pages in midweek issues of one of the most circulated papers are dominated by these ads.

• Post #1842927

  This Cyndi Lauper tune is probably my favorite track off this brilliant all Inuktitut cover album. Elisapie, "Taimangalimaaq (Time After Time)" (2023) https://elisapie.bandcamp.com/track/taimangalimaaq-time-after-time #MondayCovers

• Post #1830781

  Thinking of a friend and colleague who is giving a talk today pushing back on her faculty's mad dash to push LLMs into absolutely everything. To see how bad things have gotten, those of us in the humanities or social sciences should stop by the business school.

• Post #1795070

  We really don't use the words "peculation" and "defalcation" often enough.

• Post #1571594

  If you've got 7 minutes to spare, check out "Rotinonhsión:ni Ironworkers: The Indigenous Ironworkers that Built New York City" a short animated film produced in partnership with the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language & Cultural Center and Six Nations Polytechnic and co-directed by Allan Downey and Carlee Loft, with animations by Saki Murotani. https://youtu.be/6pIIL6c1XHU #NewYork #NYC #history #film #animation #Indigenous

• Post #1422190

  Ugh. I could do without Carney spouting the Harper government's absurd tale of the origins of modern Canada in the War of 1812, complete with the starring multicultural paint-by-numbers cast of Brock, De Salaberry, and Tecumseh (sorry, Laura Secord, this time around it's a boys-only club).

• Post #1289339

  Just make your own mayonnaise already.

• Post #1289338

  Research!

• Post #1289337

  If I lived in Windsor, ON, I'd open a restaurant called Sandwich Sandwich.

• Post #1289336

  The great egret (Ardea alba) I spotted on today's walk in the heart of the continent's fourth-largest city. Saltwater Hank's brand of sleepy Sm'algya̱x- and Engligh-language country ("I'm gonna barbecue the rabbits at the university"). Seeing friends and colleagues half a continent away, if only on screen. #3GoodThings