Navneet Alang
@navneetalang.com
One of a few editors @ Toronto Star Opinion. Pitch me op-eds, essays at nalang@thestar.ca.
Writer, columnist, bylines all over. PhD. https://navneetalang.com/categories/blogposts/
Writer, columnist, bylines all over. PhD. https://navneetalang.com/categories/blogposts/
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Navneet Alang
@navneetalang.com
· Dec 31
Bluesky: I’m a better person than you
Twitter: I’m a better person than you because I’m white
Instagram: I’m a better person than you because I’m hot
LinkedIn: When people say “I’m a better person than you” this is what it teaches me about B2B marketing
Twitter: I’m a better person than you because I’m white
Instagram: I’m a better person than you because I’m hot
LinkedIn: When people say “I’m a better person than you” this is what it teaches me about B2B marketing
For some reason I’m not clear on I’ve been off Instagram for a couple of months and now I’m adrift. I have no model of how I should be living life, nor am I presented with images of what things I should be aspiring to.
February 15, 2026 at 2:38 PM
For some reason I’m not clear on I’ve been off Instagram for a couple of months and now I’m adrift. I have no model of how I should be living life, nor am I presented with images of what things I should be aspiring to.
Got the first Sora-generated “family members cooking and rapping” video sent to the family group chat. As the kids would say… we’re cooked fam
February 14, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Got the first Sora-generated “family members cooking and rapping” video sent to the family group chat. As the kids would say… we’re cooked fam
I have some complicated thoughts about elevation, but I think @hels.bsky.social did a really good job of articulating the tension of the term when I interviewed here some years ago foodissue.commercialtype.com/helen-rosner...
February 13, 2026 at 7:37 PM
I have some complicated thoughts about elevation, but I think @hels.bsky.social did a really good job of articulating the tension of the term when I interviewed here some years ago foodissue.commercialtype.com/helen-rosner...
Scapular. Occipitalular. Femurular. Ulnaular. Spinular. Mogged. All of them mogged.
February 13, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Scapular. Occipitalular. Femurular. Ulnaular. Spinular. Mogged. All of them mogged.
Reposted by Navneet Alang
New episode! Cara talks to Reece Martin of @RMTrasit on why our transit systems often fail families, and how we can fix them.
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watc...
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watc...
February 13, 2026 at 4:08 PM
New episode! Cara talks to Reece Martin of @RMTrasit on why our transit systems often fail families, and how we can fix them.
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watc...
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watc...
I shouldn't confess things like this in public but I dedicated half a chapter of my dissertation to Jane Eyre and I regularly get it and Wuthering Heights mixed up in my mind
February 13, 2026 at 3:01 PM
I shouldn't confess things like this in public but I dedicated half a chapter of my dissertation to Jane Eyre and I regularly get it and Wuthering Heights mixed up in my mind
at least one trouble with social media is that you* can never quite escape the deluded belief that you might be someone or that you saying something might end up mattering in some way
*you = I
*you = I
February 13, 2026 at 2:40 PM
at least one trouble with social media is that you* can never quite escape the deluded belief that you might be someone or that you saying something might end up mattering in some way
*you = I
*you = I
Reposted by Navneet Alang
Wow: Meta has been working on plans to add facial recognition technology to its AI smart glasses. nyti.ms/3Os1oxf
And this was the company’s cynical view on when, and how, to do it:
And this was the company’s cynical view on when, and how, to do it:
February 13, 2026 at 2:14 PM
Wow: Meta has been working on plans to add facial recognition technology to its AI smart glasses. nyti.ms/3Os1oxf
And this was the company’s cynical view on when, and how, to do it:
And this was the company’s cynical view on when, and how, to do it:
Reposted by Navneet Alang
The Two Solitudes
February 13, 2026 at 10:26 AM
The Two Solitudes
Reposted by Navneet Alang
This story about online speculation about the Tumbler Ridge shooter and fears of 'trans violence' has been the most read on the @thestar.com's website all day. The Star is trying a new thing where reporters answer Qs now in the comments, which I will be doing at 5ET. www.thestar.com/news/canada/...
Inflammatory claims about Tumbler Ridge shooter identity surge as elected official claims ‘trans violence’
Far-right U.S. commentators have argued that transgender people commit a disproportionate share of crimes, a claim not borne out by statistics.
www.thestar.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:11 PM
This story about online speculation about the Tumbler Ridge shooter and fears of 'trans violence' has been the most read on the @thestar.com's website all day. The Star is trying a new thing where reporters answer Qs now in the comments, which I will be doing at 5ET. www.thestar.com/news/canada/...
Here's a lovely story about someone falling in love in the way that falling in love often happens - when you weren't looking for it and it was the last thing you expected. www.thestar.com/life/travel/...
Iceland love story: I took a girls’ trip and met my husband
It was the worst year of my life. So I rented a villa and told my closest friends to book flights. On our last night, I met the man I would marry
www.thestar.com
February 12, 2026 at 5:18 PM
Here's a lovely story about someone falling in love in the way that falling in love often happens - when you weren't looking for it and it was the last thing you expected. www.thestar.com/life/travel/...
At the food court, a sushi counter, next to a bagel place selling lox. What did the salmon do to so offend God??
February 12, 2026 at 3:44 PM
At the food court, a sushi counter, next to a bagel place selling lox. What did the salmon do to so offend God??
The only Atwood novel I ever read was Alias Grace nearly 30 years ago, so I had this very mistaken idea of her as a “traditionally CalLit” author. Picked up Oryx and Crake on a whim at the library recently and… (I have also not read The Handmaid’s Tale. Please feel free to yell at me)
February 12, 2026 at 3:12 PM
The only Atwood novel I ever read was Alias Grace nearly 30 years ago, so I had this very mistaken idea of her as a “traditionally CalLit” author. Picked up Oryx and Crake on a whim at the library recently and… (I have also not read The Handmaid’s Tale. Please feel free to yell at me)
I thought this post was about Threads the social network
That phrase made me wince too.
The WHOLE POINT of Threads is its utter hopelessness. That's literally what it's about.
The WHOLE POINT of Threads is its utter hopelessness. That's literally what it's about.
Threads director Mick Jackson has expressed worry over the upcoming remake’s focus on finding “hope even in the most challenging of times.”
“That one phrase worried me,” he tells Empire. “Hope is not part of nuclear war.”
Read more: www.empireonline.com/movies/news/...
“That one phrase worried me,” he tells Empire. “Hope is not part of nuclear war.”
Read more: www.empireonline.com/movies/news/...
February 12, 2026 at 1:27 PM
I thought this post was about Threads the social network
Reposted by Navneet Alang
“Right now the focus should be on supporting the community in mourning, not weaponizing this event as hate against a vulnerable group at large.”
I hate profoundly that articles like this need to be written when, like Mel says, the focus should be on community. But thank you Mel for writing ❤️
I hate profoundly that articles like this need to be written when, like Mel says, the focus should be on community. But thank you Mel for writing ❤️
NEW from me today:
Tumbler Ridge is mourning a horrific loss. But how the shooter's identity is being talked about online, and the dangerous links being made to trans people at large, will have resounding and dangerous impacts in the months and weeks to come.
xtramagazine.com/power/tumble...
Tumbler Ridge is mourning a horrific loss. But how the shooter's identity is being talked about online, and the dangerous links being made to trans people at large, will have resounding and dangerous impacts in the months and weeks to come.
xtramagazine.com/power/tumble...
The Tumbler Ridge shooting is already fuelling anti-trans hate in Canada | Xtra Magazine
Bad actors on the right are leaping to connect the shooter’s trans identity to the violence
xtramagazine.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:36 PM
“Right now the focus should be on supporting the community in mourning, not weaponizing this event as hate against a vulnerable group at large.”
I hate profoundly that articles like this need to be written when, like Mel says, the focus should be on community. But thank you Mel for writing ❤️
I hate profoundly that articles like this need to be written when, like Mel says, the focus should be on community. But thank you Mel for writing ❤️
Reposted by Navneet Alang
if you played sonic the hedgehog and put down the controller, sonic would look at you and tap his foot impatiently. this was proof that sega genesis cartridges had souls. the decision was made to make the storage cases a lot larger than the cartridges so they would have room to move around in there
February 11, 2026 at 3:58 PM
if you played sonic the hedgehog and put down the controller, sonic would look at you and tap his foot impatiently. this was proof that sega genesis cartridges had souls. the decision was made to make the storage cases a lot larger than the cartridges so they would have room to move around in there
Reposted by Navneet Alang
No son, they are not "magically delicious." The workers made them delicious. This is a slogan meant to mystify the social conditions of labor
February 11, 2026 at 1:46 AM
No son, they are not "magically delicious." The workers made them delicious. This is a slogan meant to mystify the social conditions of labor
Something I’ve been thinking: if you create software, or do something that is potentially “a software problem,” AI can seem like it would be incredibly transformative. But are most things software problems?
Coders freaking out that it's replacing them and extrapolating from their extremely weird domain (as in: unusual among knowledge work) to "all of work" is going to be a major theme of 2026 and kind of embarrassing by 2027.
twitter essay designed to one-shot bosses everywhere x.com/mattshumer_/...
February 11, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Something I’ve been thinking: if you create software, or do something that is potentially “a software problem,” AI can seem like it would be incredibly transformative. But are most things software problems?
Reposted by Navneet Alang
The small-town paper in Tumbler Ridge is going to need support. This is its front page right now. Their subscription page is here:
www.patreon.com/tumblerridge...
www.patreon.com/tumblerridge...
February 11, 2026 at 4:52 AM
The small-town paper in Tumbler Ridge is going to need support. This is its front page right now. Their subscription page is here:
www.patreon.com/tumblerridge...
www.patreon.com/tumblerridge...
This is really good. Makes a link between the attention economy, the superhero era and what it means to be the person paid attention to vs. being "a normal" i.e. the faceless no-one who is part of the crowd.
“To watch KPop Demon Hunters,” writes Kevin Power, “is to recognize that the corporate entertainment industries and the fandoms that they solicit and serve have now entered into a sort of closed loop.”
Promo Time | Kevin Power
“This is what it sounds like…” Readers of a certain generation will perhaps automatically complete this phrase by saying “when doves cry.” But it isn’t
www.nybooks.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:22 AM
This is really good. Makes a link between the attention economy, the superhero era and what it means to be the person paid attention to vs. being "a normal" i.e. the faceless no-one who is part of the crowd.
Going to vibecobe a split screen app that rapidly flits between Bluesky and Twitter Clockwork Orange-style and radicalize myself into becoming a reactionary centrist
February 11, 2026 at 12:04 AM
Going to vibecobe a split screen app that rapidly flits between Bluesky and Twitter Clockwork Orange-style and radicalize myself into becoming a reactionary centrist
Well I for one find this positively shocking www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/w...
Bridge Owner Lobbied Administration Before Trump Blasted Competing Span to Canada
www.nytimes.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:55 PM
Well I for one find this positively shocking www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/w...
You write things and then years on you don't exactly feel the same way. For example, I wish I were more sympathetic to homeowners or people's sense of their own safety in this.
February 10, 2026 at 5:21 PM
You write things and then years on you don't exactly feel the same way. For example, I wish I were more sympathetic to homeowners or people's sense of their own safety in this.
Hey, here's a thing I wrote in 2022. thewalrus.ca/porch-camera...
Porch Cameras and Facebook Groups Are Turning Streets into Surveillance States
Our tech-driven approach to neighbourhood watch is cementing community divisions
thewalrus.ca
February 10, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Hey, here's a thing I wrote in 2022. thewalrus.ca/porch-camera...
As a middle-aged man, it is my duty to inform you that we might touch 0°C today for the first time in >3 weeks. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
February 10, 2026 at 4:01 PM
As a middle-aged man, it is my duty to inform you that we might touch 0°C today for the first time in >3 weeks. Thank you for your attention to this matter.