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• Post #3975460

  Interesting to Canadians: A new poll by EKOS research shows 71% of Ontarians support proportional representation. This includes 71% of 2025 Ontario Liberal voters, 86% of Ontario NDP voters, 82% of Ontario Green voters and 63% of Progressive Conservatives voters. https://secure.fairvote.ca/civicrm/mailing/url?u=242772&qid=34726691 The Conservatives already use it in internal party elections.

• Post #1092808

  @brendangregg I've written a performance book, "Performance for the Desperate" forthcoming from No Starch Press. I'd like to reproduce the contents of Figure 4 (below) from "The Flame Graph" at https://spawn-queue.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2927299.2927301#F4 Regrettably, the" new" permissions page appears to be the "not-yet-implemented" permission page (:-)) I can't even ask for permission to use one...

• Post #1092807

  Ha! Check My Ads has a lovely cover this month. https://api.neonemails.com/emails/tracking/click-link/vw_NWJH43GYz520qqkfSVS32CeopPkoe4cejFdimIA4=/0GYTsxNVv6WPj152vMOBoXGcj_gM7Yht40sxkTrgHpY= Note the URL (;-))

• Post #983171

  #PennedPossibilities 975.1 — Author/Artist POV: Sometimes we end up In the Zone. Do you work until you drop? Or to a stopping point? Can you do anything but sleep afterwards? I'm a computer nerd, so flow state is important to me when I'm doing anything non-routine, meaning writing. So I do get called to stop and come to supper (:-)) I get the biggest kick out of flow. So if I'm out of it, I do something routine to warm up, and see if I have something new waiting to gra...

• Post #983170

  RE: https://mstdn.chrisalemany.ca/@chris/116352646031251286 @bcantrill This looks a lot like Oxide, but in China and for batteries. Maybe a candidate for Oxide and Friends??? https://hachyderm.io/@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca/116352647098728316

• Post #983169

  #WritersCoffeeClub 6-April Do the plots or characters in your work converge towards a single point? The themes and/or threads in my non-fiction *better* converge before the end (:-))

• Post #983168

  #WritersCoffeeClub 7 Apr Do you combine poetic fragments and prose paragraphs in your work? Hmmn, I wonder if I can quote Vogon Poetry in an otherwise non-fiction book? Oh freddled gruntbuggly, Thy micturations are to me, (with big yawning) As plurdled gabbleblotchits, On a lurgid bee

• Post #653104

  #WritersCoffeeClub Mar. 12: How do you "stress test" your work? My wife is my first reader: she's not at all shy about pointing out inexplicable or ungrammatical sentences in my work. As an experiment, I sent a chapter of one of my (non-fiction work) to my nephew, who is a trained science communicator. He helped me finish the translation from Nerd to English.

• Post #653103

  An updated version of Spencer Sunshine's 2018 "40 Ways to Fight Nazis" has been published as "40 Ways to Fight the Far-Right" by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, in collaboration with Dr Sunshine. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YDuCgOF7XnYMefuQU-JaVOgk9tYFGZDB/view?usp=drive_link

• Post #653101

  #WritersCoffeeClub March 13. Talk about an experience when you consulted an expert for a piece of writing. This week! I reached out to my nephew, who did his degree in Science Communication, and he helped me finish the translation from Nerd to English of the sample chapter for a book pitch. I'm engaging him for my current book. ting.

• Post #653100

  (copied from a private board) Sir Tim Berners-Lee said "Two myths currently limit our collective imagination: the myth that advertising is the only possible business model for online companies, and the myth that it’s too late to change the way platforms operate" (see https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/11/tim-berners-lee-tech-companies-regulations). IMHO, he's right. The sorta-free ad-supported model prevents authors and publishers from being paid if someon...

• Post #653099

  #writersCoffeeClub 14 Mar 'Do you think readers want new experiences in structure or narrative, or do they prefer what's familiar?' There is a narrative structure to my non-fiction, but it's exceedingly simple. I don't think anyone would notice if it changed.

• Post #289856

  Seen on Snopes (the Parable of the Talents is a dystopia about a christian-nazi president)

• Post #289855

  @rwg Glad to see you're at York: I used to be on staff there. I'm helping a friend collect data for him to do a resource guide for moving to Canada, and I notice that the government of the day, whoever they are, whip-saws at the reins. The poor civil servants then try to keep up, all while dragging a heavy load. A couple of immigration-consultants have daily mailings about the numbers, and shout loudly about the changes. I follow moving2canada-newsletter@news.moving2canada.com...

• Post #289853

  Warning to players and spectators: "ICE Director Says It Will Play Key Security Role At World Cup" https://www.forbes.com/sites/sofiachierchio/2026/02/10/ice-director-says-it-will-play-key-security-role-at-world-cup/

• Post #289852

  I was just reading about WWII, and found two (free!) scanned copies of books of topical interest, - The Art of Guerrilla Warfare, https://archive.org/details/SOE_The_Art_of_Guerrilla_Warfare_Gus - The Partisan Leader's Handbook, https://archive.org/details/SOE_Partisan_Leaders_Handbook_Gus Both are by Colonel Colin Gubbins, a member of Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, described by Giles Milton in the book of the same name. Not the one by Damien Lewis. I bought...

• Post #289851

  @tod I'm writing a resource guide on fleeing Gilead, pro-bono, and would like your opinion on how to make it broadly available. No, I'm not looking for a plug! I've made the first pass through it, and now need to let the adrenaline from the writing sprint drain out (:-)), before I go back and do some editing. This is therefor a good time to think about "marketing" it. and I know your company, https://engageq.com/ has real expertise about social medi...

• Post #159595

  @martinvermeer@fediscience.org @cstross@wandering.shop The soviet union used to like the name. They had three variants that I can remember: - NKGB, People's Commissariat for State Security - MGB, Ministry of State Security - KGB, Committee for State Security Possibly something you don't want to have in a democracy...