Phil
@philmarfisi.bsky.social
Sidewalk enthusiast. Other interests: public policy, housing, urbanism, Waterloo Region, Ontario politics, #cdnpoli, Star Trek, music, news media, international relations, and the Oxford comma. Democracy is good, actually.
Reposted by Phil
Work is progressing on this, Phil, and I have just returned from an important research trip (as noted in the photo). However, as you're aware, this research comes with a hefty price tag so I'm wondering if you can remind me where to send my receipts for said research? Thanks in advance!
December 29, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Work is progressing on this, Phil, and I have just returned from an important research trip (as noted in the photo). However, as you're aware, this research comes with a hefty price tag so I'm wondering if you can remind me where to send my receipts for said research? Thanks in advance!
Reposted by Phil
"Did you see what Mark Cuban posted? Oh did you see the clapb—"
You shake yourself awake in the cold North Atlantic water. You are not online. It is July of 1858. You are a baleen whale, and you have changed your mind. The future most not come to pass. The telegraph cable must break.
You shake yourself awake in the cold North Atlantic water. You are not online. It is July of 1858. You are a baleen whale, and you have changed your mind. The future most not come to pass. The telegraph cable must break.
December 27, 2025 at 2:06 AM
"Did you see what Mark Cuban posted? Oh did you see the clapb—"
You shake yourself awake in the cold North Atlantic water. You are not online. It is July of 1858. You are a baleen whale, and you have changed your mind. The future most not come to pass. The telegraph cable must break.
You shake yourself awake in the cold North Atlantic water. You are not online. It is July of 1858. You are a baleen whale, and you have changed your mind. The future most not come to pass. The telegraph cable must break.
Reposted by Phil
Liberal Partisan Brain is basically indistingusihable from MAGA when it comes to demanding journalistic fealty.
Rosemarie Barton is an embarrassment to her profession.
Barton: “That’s not what you were elected on”
PM Carney: “Wasn’t I elected to get the best deal of any country?”
Barton: “So that’s it. You’re done?”
Who does she think she is talking to? 😡
🎥 Credit CBC News
❤️🍁🇨🇦TEAM CANADA FOREVER🇨🇦🍁❤️
Barton: “That’s not what you were elected on”
PM Carney: “Wasn’t I elected to get the best deal of any country?”
Barton: “So that’s it. You’re done?”
Who does she think she is talking to? 😡
🎥 Credit CBC News
❤️🍁🇨🇦TEAM CANADA FOREVER🇨🇦🍁❤️
December 26, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Liberal Partisan Brain is basically indistingusihable from MAGA when it comes to demanding journalistic fealty.
Reposted by Phil
A housing crisis due to town being zoned only for single family mangers. Back-patting City Council allowed for boutique “granny loft” additions but they are expensive & impractical but appease local ratepayer association who have already called the police on the 3 magi.
December 25, 2025 at 9:56 PM
A housing crisis due to town being zoned only for single family mangers. Back-patting City Council allowed for boutique “granny loft” additions but they are expensive & impractical but appease local ratepayer association who have already called the police on the 3 magi.
Reposted by Phil
Bizarrap & J Balvin announce new session, “Bzrp Music Session #62,” out tomorrow.
December 25, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Bizarrap & J Balvin announce new session, “Bzrp Music Session #62,” out tomorrow.
Reposted by Phil
Reposted by Phil
Christmas Mail Train
Maud Lewis
c. 1957
Maud Lewis
c. 1957
December 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Christmas Mail Train
Maud Lewis
c. 1957
Maud Lewis
c. 1957
Driving Ontario back roads at night be like
December 24, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Driving Ontario back roads at night be like
Reposted by Phil
single stair 12-plex on a small site in tokyo
our housing crisis is due to a lack of will and imagination
www.archdaily.com/1037101/esce...
our housing crisis is due to a lack of will and imagination
www.archdaily.com/1037101/esce...
Escenario Hanabusayama / Ryuichi Sasaki + Sasaki Architecture
Completed in 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. Images by Takumi Ota Photography. Carving architecture from the earth – Surrounded by undulating terrain and historic residential zones dating back to the Edo period...
www.archdaily.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:09 PM
single stair 12-plex on a small site in tokyo
our housing crisis is due to a lack of will and imagination
www.archdaily.com/1037101/esce...
our housing crisis is due to a lack of will and imagination
www.archdaily.com/1037101/esce...
Reposted by Phil
While this website’s lack of algorithm can be boring, I will happily take it over the Threads algo that shows me some variation of “Agree or disagree: people over 65 with paid-off houses should not have to pay property taxes!” post literally every time I open the app.
December 23, 2025 at 8:26 PM
While this website’s lack of algorithm can be boring, I will happily take it over the Threads algo that shows me some variation of “Agree or disagree: people over 65 with paid-off houses should not have to pay property taxes!” post literally every time I open the app.
The one thing that physical writing was incredibly helpful for during undergrad social science exams was jogging the memory. Writing out one essay tended to generate useful thoughts for others. Maybe this is an opportunity for us all to reconnect with a deeply impactful form of learning.
Does anyone else bristle at this framing? WSJ says blue books are “torturing” students with hand cramps, and “nobody likes them.”
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
They Were Every Student’s Worst Nightmare. Now Blue Books Are Back.
Cheating with ChatGPT has become a huge problem for colleges. The solution is painfully old-school.
www.wsj.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The one thing that physical writing was incredibly helpful for during undergrad social science exams was jogging the memory. Writing out one essay tended to generate useful thoughts for others. Maybe this is an opportunity for us all to reconnect with a deeply impactful form of learning.
The one thing that physical writing was incredibly helpful for during undergrad social science exams was jogging the memory. Writing out one essay tended to generate useful thoughts for others. Maybe this is an opportunity for us all to reconnect with a deeply impactful form of learning.
Does anyone else bristle at this framing? WSJ says blue books are “torturing” students with hand cramps, and “nobody likes them.”
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
They Were Every Student’s Worst Nightmare. Now Blue Books Are Back.
Cheating with ChatGPT has become a huge problem for colleges. The solution is painfully old-school.
www.wsj.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The one thing that physical writing was incredibly helpful for during undergrad social science exams was jogging the memory. Writing out one essay tended to generate useful thoughts for others. Maybe this is an opportunity for us all to reconnect with a deeply impactful form of learning.
"Happy holidays" ❌
"Merry Christmas" ❌
"Qapla'!" ✅
"Merry Christmas" ❌
"Qapla'!" ✅
December 24, 2025 at 7:02 AM
"Happy holidays" ❌
"Merry Christmas" ❌
"Qapla'!" ✅
"Merry Christmas" ❌
"Qapla'!" ✅
Reposted by Phil
Waterloo Region's water issues simplified: we quite literally need some good old fashioned sewer socialism
December 24, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Waterloo Region's water issues simplified: we quite literally need some good old fashioned sewer socialism
My niche media pet peeve: using "taxpayers" when "residents", or other terms for the general public, would suffice. The overuse subtly reinforces the idea that our relationship to the state/community is primarily transactional. If an issue affects everyone, it's accurate to describe it as such!
December 24, 2025 at 6:17 AM
My niche media pet peeve: using "taxpayers" when "residents", or other terms for the general public, would suffice. The overuse subtly reinforces the idea that our relationship to the state/community is primarily transactional. If an issue affects everyone, it's accurate to describe it as such!
Reposted by Phil
Every single report to shareholders from a large REIT includes something about how it's great that market-rate multifamily housing isn't getting built in high-cost coastal cities because the shortage is what allows them to rent gouge.
New housing stops landlords from raising rents—take it from the CEO of AvalonBay, one of NYC's largest landlords:
"We're well-positioned… we face significantly less new supply. Land entitled for multifamily is hard to come by, the amount of time it takes to get those entitlements… sets us up well.”
"We're well-positioned… we face significantly less new supply. Land entitled for multifamily is hard to come by, the amount of time it takes to get those entitlements… sets us up well.”
October 30, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Every single report to shareholders from a large REIT includes something about how it's great that market-rate multifamily housing isn't getting built in high-cost coastal cities because the shortage is what allows them to rent gouge.
Reposted by Phil
I appreciate @1alexhemingway.bsky.social’s consistent advocacy for non-market housing without downplaying market housing or the broader supply shortage.
By covering not just zoning but also suppressed household formation, this is pretty much the gold standard for left-YIMBYism.
By covering not just zoning but also suppressed household formation, this is pretty much the gold standard for left-YIMBYism.
British Columbia’s #housing crisis is severe, but its root causes are familiar: exclusionary zoning, under-building, and chronic neglect of nonmarket housing. Economist Alex Hemingway’s proposals show how governments could reverse course, in BC and elsewhere. jacobin.com/2025/12/cana... #Canada
The Housing Crisis Is Solvable
British Columbia’s housing crisis is severe, but its root causes are familiar: exclusionary zoning, under-building, and chronic neglect of nonmarket housing. Economist Alex Hemingway’s proposals show ...
jacobin.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:06 AM
I appreciate @1alexhemingway.bsky.social’s consistent advocacy for non-market housing without downplaying market housing or the broader supply shortage.
By covering not just zoning but also suppressed household formation, this is pretty much the gold standard for left-YIMBYism.
By covering not just zoning but also suppressed household formation, this is pretty much the gold standard for left-YIMBYism.
Reposted by Phil
Anyway every housing policy fight is a proxy battle over who gets to live in your neighborhood and what lifestyles are acceptable.
December 20, 2025 at 3:10 AM
Anyway every housing policy fight is a proxy battle over who gets to live in your neighborhood and what lifestyles are acceptable.
Given it has some of the most stunning freshwater beaches in the world + proximity to major US industry historically, I've always wondered why we don't have a city of 1 million+ on this strip of Huron, but a quick day trip to Collingwood today was a good reminder of the likely culprit (snow belt)
December 22, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Given it has some of the most stunning freshwater beaches in the world + proximity to major US industry historically, I've always wondered why we don't have a city of 1 million+ on this strip of Huron, but a quick day trip to Collingwood today was a good reminder of the likely culprit (snow belt)
Reposted by Phil
how the fuck do the Flintstones know about Christmas
December 21, 2025 at 8:46 AM
how the fuck do the Flintstones know about Christmas
Reposted by Phil
"prompt theft" is funny as hell like oh no somebody did the same google search as me. grow up
December 21, 2025 at 12:57 AM
"prompt theft" is funny as hell like oh no somebody did the same google search as me. grow up
"Canada has been boycotting American spirits since March in retaliation for President Trump’s ongoing trade war and U.S. whiskey sales to that country are down by more than 60% through October."
Major Kentucky bourbon maker Jim Beam shuttering distillery for 2026
The move comes as Kentucky’s $9 billion bourbon industry is dealing with a glut of supply and slipping sales.
www.kentucky.com
December 21, 2025 at 12:45 AM
"Canada has been boycotting American spirits since March in retaliation for President Trump’s ongoing trade war and U.S. whiskey sales to that country are down by more than 60% through October."
It is honestly shocking how long we've known the way we build our cities is unsustainable
From the Metro Toronto Planning Board's 1959 draft Official Plan (voted down by Metro Council). You could not say something this obvious in Toronto's Official Plan anymore.
December 20, 2025 at 2:58 AM
It is honestly shocking how long we've known the way we build our cities is unsustainable
Case in point: a recent report that scored cities on housing progress gave a B to Waterloo, a C to Kitchener, and an F to Cambridge. Waterloo and Kitchener have generally done far more to encourage construction. The latter's reputation for being easy to work with is well known.
December 19, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Case in point: a recent report that scored cities on housing progress gave a B to Waterloo, a C to Kitchener, and an F to Cambridge. Waterloo and Kitchener have generally done far more to encourage construction. The latter's reputation for being easy to work with is well known.