Ashok Argent–Katwala
LightNews LightNews
banner
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Ashok Argent–Katwala
@ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
11 followers 7 following 34 posts
Security developer, with good booze.
He/him.
English & British; of Ireland & India; Canadian & Torontonian.
Immigrant, son of Immigrants.
Raising the #tinyCanadian with […]

🌉 bridged from https://mstdn.ca/@ashok on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/
Posts Replies Media Videos
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
A second visit to Collective Arts for a couple of pints of cider for #coffeeneuring on the 13th.

Two to go, and just over a week to do it.

5 of 7.

#coffeeneuring2025
Map of the west side of Toronto with a pin at Markham and Dundas, with a trail leaving heading west, north on Palmerston then west on Bloor.
November 16, 2025 at 11:22 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
No photo, but yesterday’s #coffeeneuring was a jaunt at the end of the work day, for mock meat groceries and a pint of cider at Get Well.

4 of 7.

#coffeeneuring2025
Map of the western end of Toronto, with a blue path down Dovercourt, south of Bloor, heading west on Dundas to roughly Brock, and back east to a marker between Dovercourt and Ossington.
November 13, 2025 at 10:05 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Accidental #coffeeneuring outing.

At my second-favourite neighbourhood Jays bar to watch the start of game six of the #worldseries.

(The first is happily entirely reserved.)

I believe the #bluejays can and will do it tonight.

Okay, Blue Jays!
Let’s Play Ball!

3 of 7.

#coffeeneuring2025
A pint of cider on a bar, next to a Blue Jays hat with the World Series logo on the side.
October 31, 2025 at 11:49 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
#coffeeneuring with breakfast at Fix Coffee & Bikes.

2 of 7.

#coffeeneuring2025
A milky coffee and a brownie on a patio table, with a long-tail cargo bike in the background
October 14, 2025 at 12:31 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
First #coffeeneuring of the year.

A pint of cider at Collective Arts in Toronto on the e-bike.

1 of 7.

#coffeeneuring2025
A map showing the tail end of a tracked journey on a map of Toronto, going east on Bloor past Christie Pits, and ending near Bathurst and Dundas West. A pint of cider on a very quiet, half-packed-away patio, sitting next to a Kindle and a Blue Jays hat, with the Collective Arts wall art and sign in the background.
October 12, 2025 at 8:07 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
There’s something very wrong about a link on a website called “enable accessibility”.

That’s divisive, and supposes that accessibility is for “other” people.

This is from Birkenstock, but presumably there are others out there.
Screenshot of menu bar from the Birkenstock site, with a highlighted link at the top that says “Enable Accessibility”
August 24, 2025 at 9:54 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
#theviewfrommypint of Left Field beer is Canada’s Wonderland, with some riders on the big drop for Yukon Striker.
A pint of beer on a picnic table, with rollercoasters in the background.
July 5, 2025 at 4:28 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
My minor entry for the #carryshitolympics.

A Maclaren umbrella stroller, IKEA high chair and some kids’ floor tiles, on the back of our #tern GSD.

#biketooter #biketo
A laden cargo e-bike, as described in the main post, parked outside a coffee shop with a coffee and e-reader on the picnic table behind it.
July 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
The #tinycanadian asked me whether a catch off a wall would count in #baseball. (After Springer hit a double off the Green Monster for the Jays.)

I said I didn’t think so, but let’s look it up.

The top result on Google was from Quora, which had the right answer […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Google result page for “can you catch a ball off the wall in baseball”, with a prominent “Al Overview” reading: Yes, in baseball, a fielder can legally catch a ball that bounces off a wall. If the fielder catches the ball before it hits the ground after bouncing off the wall, it's an out. However, if the ball bounces more than once before being caught, the play progresses, potentially resulting in a single, double, triple, or even a home run depending on the number of bounces. Quora result page for the question: “In major league baseball, if a ball hits the wall and the player catches it, is the batter out?” The first answer is from “Assistant” (Bot): In Major League Baseball, if a batted ball hits the wall (or any other object) and is caught by a fielder before it touches the ground, the batter is considered out. This is classified as a catch. However, if the ball hits the wall and then bounces back into play, and the fielder catches it after it has touched the ground, the batter is not out. The key factor is whether the ball is caught before it hits the ground. — Then a real answer from user “Richard Gallerani”: Ah.... no!!!! Once the ball hits the wall it can no longer be caught for an out.
April 11, 2025 at 12:35 AM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
"AI" is going great.

Yesterday, I disabled the "Gemini app" in a Google workspace.

Today, I see that it's still prominently getting in the way in that workspace's Gmail web app.

I tried asking it "How do I disable Gemini completely?" and it's positively unhelpful.
Chat box with Google's "Gemini" AI thing: Q: How do I disable Gemini completely? A: Gemini is not available in your workspace yet.
April 10, 2025 at 7:22 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
We’ve come a long way as a city in 70-odd years.

Motorists can now routinely break the rules with little chance of getting a ticket. 😔

“Even Metro Chair Gardiner, reacting to a record $10,000 in fines imposed on local motorists in a single day in April 1953 […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Screenshot of an ebook, where a section near the end is highlighted, with the quotation from the toot. Full text follows: Constable Dickson complained that city streets had become "an open air garage." In 1929 Toronto police laid over 30,000 charges against motorists for infractions under municipal, provincial, and federal laws; by the 1950s, the number had risen to over 400,000. Road violations were so common that the motorist suffered little stigma, except in the case of criminal charges, although drinking and driving might still be laughed off. Speeding by drivers was an offence often excused as a "heavy foot" or with a smirk, at least by motorists, even though each increment in a driver's speed increased the risk of serious injury or death for a person hit by the vehicle. The motorist remained fascinated with speed, despite its obvious harms. Even Metro Chair Gardiner, reacting to a record $10,000 in fines imposed on local motorists in a single day in April 1953, suggested that "traffic regulations are such you can't avoid getting a ticket" - but his insinuation was that the rules were the problem. Simply keeping track of the rising number of
March 29, 2025 at 9:04 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Bastards.

This doesn’t make me any more secure.
Ticketmaster warning at login saying they periodacally require password changes, with the grammatically dubious exhortation “get you a new password”.
March 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Waiting for a 47 bus in North York, and the signage is rather silly.

They’ve changed it to reflect the opening of Line 5, despite there being no public date for that yet, with a second foam-core sign describing that it’s wrong, but not how.

It’s even sillier […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
TTC bus stop sign on a utility pole, showing one route (18A), and a second sign below saying: Service changes coming to this stop This stop has been updated I preparation for the opening of Line 5 Eglinton. The routes shown above reflect future bus service at this stop. Current routes will continue to stop here until Line 5 Eglinton opens. Close up of the same sign, showing that the new 18A route is on an overlaid sticker.
March 20, 2025 at 2:24 PM
ashok.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Tomorrow is the silly version of “World” Book Day, which is only in the UK & Ireland.

For everywhere else it’s on St George’s Day.

I think it would be far simpler if they were more honest, and called it “National Book Day” or simply “Book Day”. It’s very silly to […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Google search result for “world book day uk” with a mangled answer listing the date as April 23 (which is wrong) and a Wikipedia-derived summary saying it’s the second Thursday on March in UK and Ireland.
March 5, 2025 at 9:48 PM