Earlier this year I wrote a script for a segment in an upcoming documentary TV series linking the hysteria of Strasburg's 1518 dancing plague to the even weirder story of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. Unfortunately, the dancing plague section got cut for time.

This month in 1518 there was an outbreak of 'dancing plague' in Strasbourg. A group of women danced in the streets for so long that many were eventually hospitalised. It was just one example of dancing mania that flared up late medieval Europe.
No one knows why.

Two things:

(1) He finally spelled “Stolen” correctly;
(2) Truth Social desperately needs to implement a 140 character limit, if for no other reason than to save Trump from himself, but mostly to spare everyone else. His feed is just a just a torrent of ghastly, rotten mind vomit.

Obviously the play here is for Swift and Springsteen to team up and produce an anthem of an anti-trump song that’s at least as catchy and enduring as Born in the USA and Shake it Off combined, then spend the next 130 weeks at No. 1, touring together the entire time.

Vandals in our neighbourhood set fire to a replacement sidewalk garbage bin within 48 hours of its being installed. Apparently the city took 2 years replace the bin, then someone burned it down in less than 2 days, just cuz.

These robot carts don't stand a chance.

The voters of Battle River—Crowfoot have the opportunity to do the funniest thing

Ah - very good: I see the AI overlords at The Guardian have already got started. An atrocious headline as Rubio appears to have the same level of agency in US international policy as my kids have in buying our next family car.

Is the skull dipped in gold? Feels like a totally normal and noble thing so long as the skull is dipped in gold. Preferably the gold of your mortal enemies.

Thoughts and prayers to the editor who was handed this footage and wasted 30 minutes messing with their audio settings trying to contain the reverb and frame delay echo before the penny dropped.

The Sopranos; and also the grim, vomitous, nicotine-stained-teethed David Thewlis character, who sucks the life out of Ewen McGregor’s business in their breathtaking season of Fargo.

Just remembered to seek out @dreamkid83.com to the scroll and boy oh boy did that instantly pay off with this. What a legend. An entire album of synthwave Nirvana covers would be wonderful.

As a critic of things, it's easy to forget what works (esp w all the "broken Canada" bellowing). Beyond the covid hicup, passport getting is easy. Elections Canada is best-in-world level smooth. Other things don't work, but some really do.

I’ve lived in Toronto for 20 years. As someone who both cycles and drives through the city, the downtown bike lanes have been the *only* improvement to transit infrastructure I’ve ever experienced. Removing them is just a painfully stupid backslide: traffic gets worse for everyone, and nobody wins.

There are many things to hate about Vance’s speeches but top of the list has to be his persistent attempts to be funny. They’re just… awful jokes. Does he know they’re terrible? He must do; he has to say “with all humour” as the setup.

Aleksander III receiving rural district elders in the yard of Petrovsky Palace in Moscow, by Ilya Repin, 1885-86

$10 for a 12 months of Wired is one of the most rewarding deals ever. Their reporting on _gesticulates wildly in every direction_ this year has been top notch.

The firm Stantec has been named. Put them on the shelf with Diamond Schmitt & Urban Strategies as corporate citizens who’ll take the cash to destroy part of the city (and here put lives at risk).

Cracking into 2025 with new socials, and more than a few cackles at @paulsymonds.bsky.social take on the new Traitors season. Love seeing TV people who relish watching and talking about good telly as much as making it.

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