One of my favorite weird signs at the rally

In the Canadian federal election, the distance between Poilievre (Conservative) and Carney (Liberal) is histrionics. PP is willing to destroy things that benefit the non-wealthy. Carney will just smother them with a smile. The NDP's problems are trivial in comparison.

bsky.app/profile/geor...

People outside the COVID informed community see many of us as stuck in 2020 & 2021, while it’s obvious to us that most ppl are pretending to live in their 2019 fantasy where COVID doesn’t exist & doesn’t harm or k*ll or disable people (your risk of LongCOVID increases with each reinfection)

🧵 1/3

Outside, howling wind and mysterious thumps and scrapes as our snow shovel tries to defend us from the storm. Inside, bright wood stove, warm cats, chocolate cake with clotted cream, exciting novel to read aloud while the listener draws a portentous picture

2
Just to be clear, we would consider a book written anywhere (without the help of AI) if Nova Scotia figures in it somehow. But this recent spate is about Soviet prisons, billionaire angst, medieval quests involving ripped bodices, and flipping houses for fun and profit.

End/

Our little publishing house brings out books 'written in, or about, rural Nova Scotia'. We must have gotten on some list, though, because manuscripts are coming in from Romania, Oklahoma, and some places I am hard pressed to identify. Nice to be noticed... I think? 1/2

it was a real struggle to complete edits on 21 books for Moose House Publications moosehousepress.com last year. So I am very happy that I have four of our 2025 books ready to go already. Nice to have them done well in advance of their launch dates. Already at work on the next four. #books

I have long been fascinated by the city of Trebizond, on the Turkish coast of the Black Sea. Now, thanks to Neal Acherson's remarkable "Black Sea", I am even more caught by its story. And let's not forget Odessa, the Crimea, the Tatars and Cossacks and all the wild dreamers of the region

Got it first-ever air fryer, with about twenty different functions. First experiment, of course, is mug cake. We will do the taste test very soon!

Been writing a thing for a one-act play competition, but I am not going to submit it. In the current state of willful neglect of sensible measures against COVID, why entice actors into a room to rehearse a play it may shorten their lives to perform?

Mouse House Publications (big stories about small places) is about to release our 87th title. When we started in 2019, we had no idea of the range and high quality of rural Nova Scotia writing that would find its way to us. Already starting work on next year's crop...

We're on BlueSky!! Thank you to those who have followed us (big wave after our AGM last night). As always, the Canadian Freelance Union will use our platform to discuss workers rights, liberation, and solidarity for freelance workers (+ labour organizers) everywhere 💙

@cdnfreelanceunion.bsky.social looking forward to today's annual meeting, and especially to the participation of the translators who have joined recently

I have been reluctant to abandon the bird app, but I guess the time has come. Very glad to see so many people I was following already here... and boy, howdy there are lots of other people I want to follow and learn from

We have started putting out some food every evening for the neighborhood crows. First few days they were suspicious. Last few days they have been roosting in a tree by the patio at feeding time. This morning they are on the patio with breakfast orders

Got a lovely new scythe this year, better than my old one. Helps me tackle even the tough areas of the yard. Which, of course, helps me find the rocks I have not met before. Just got a lovely new peening tool to take the dents out of the lovely new scythe blade.

I see the Authors' Guild are recommending a clause in all contracts covering written work preventing the publisher from using it to train AI without explicit permission. Adding that to the standard contract where I work. https://authorsguild.org/news/model-clause-prohibiting-ai-training/

New kid in a new school. Somehow the decor looks familiar...