Alice Atkin

huh. I just learned that if I view / download a paper through my university library, it tells me if any of the references have been retracted. that's useful

it is sort of funny (and instructive!) that Britain has been rending its garments for decades about "Britain in decline!" and their resulting attempts to avoid this fate by returning to an earlier geopolitical era have basically made it a self-fulfilling prophecy

The thing to understand about this is that this catastrophe in the UK has redounded to the political benefit of the very same people and political movement that pushed for it! Extremely perverse.

there's a moment in PARADISE LOST where Satan arrives in Eden and realizes Hell isn't a place; it's a thing he carries within him and it'll follow him wherever he goes. and i think about that when i see these awful rich men whose monstrous wealth has enriched them not at all

different era, same speech

does *your* hometown have a semi-official theme song from the 1980's with accompanying music video featuring endless slow pans over local landmarks and scenery?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTRM...

today, like every day, is a good day to remember everything Lake Superior has taken from us. the only language the Great Lakes understand is force.

RIP to the Eddie Fitz

50 years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 'rock star' ship, sank in Lake Superior Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.

Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.

yes, Environment Canada told me days in advance that it would snow today, but they didn't prepare me *emotionally*

Toronto snowstorm

definitely one of mine, for sure

Rumours came out more than a decade before I was born and I've listened to it approximately 11 billion times

Rock shop
Benson, AZ

Place bonaventure concrete bldn

River & paths on a courtyard

River & paths on a courtyard

River & paths on a courtyard

My favourite hotel on earth (at least in Montreal). It is really a brutalist low rise motor hotel high a top of a concrete plinth. It remains gorgeous & perfect 60 years later. Heaven.

There is a stubbornness to it. The beauty of the world even now, even soaked in the sound of despair. Still the magpie holds onto its midnight blue sheen and its velvet dark wings. And try as we might, there is nothing cliche about noticing the magic of birdsong. Even in grief, the winter sun finds every blade of glass eventually, the result a diamond like rhapsody. The august stag still visits the frosty, hushed forest and this will continue till the day his body gives itself back to where he was born. It is a reminder that so much of what withers and dies was once a sublime beauty. That though it may seem obscene, it is necessary to witness all of it, the beauty and the terror. To remember even in despair, how to be alive. - Nikita Gill

With due respect to Rilke for the second to last line, I wrote this after going for a walk in the forest whilst in the throes of despair.

A least weasel. It fits in the palm of the hand.

If you’re wondering what a “least weasel” is, they absolutely live up to the name. This is the least amount of animal you can have that can still meet the bar for “is weasel”

A wet, stone sidewalk reflecting streetlights and traffic lights in red and orange beams. There are tall, glass buildings in the background. The sky is overcast.

Reflections in the rain 🌧

A wet, stone sidewalk reflecting streetlights and traffic lights in red and orange beams. There are tall, glass buildings in the background. The sky is overcast.

Reflections in the rain 🌧

It's a small graphic design detail, but the loitering guy on TTC signage is actually in front of the red slash, casually leaning against it, making him look *unbelievably* cool.

An update on my column: Parliamentary committee drops most contentious parts of its demand for data on research funding. It now wants aggregated, not disaggregated data. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Autumn in #Vancouver appreciation post 🍂🍂

In February, 7-year-old Dolma Naadhun was crossing the intersection of Newtown Road and 45th Street in Astoria with her mother and sister when the driver of a 2021 Ford Explorer blew through a stop sign, striking and killing Dolma. One month later, New York City Department of Transportation commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez visited the crash site with other officials, met with community members demanding a traffic signal be installed, and promised to make changes to the street - including "daylighting" the intersection using curb extensions and plastic bollards. State assemblymember Zohran Mamdani also visited the scene that day and realized that something else needed to change. "When you take a step back and think about traffic violence in New York City," he said, "you start to understand that this is a systemic issue that is incentivized by the policies that we have in place with regard to the design of our streets and what kind of vehicles we allow to be on our roads." Whether a driver runs a stop sign or a red light, statistically, certain cars - namely, bigger SUVs and trucks - are more likely to kill a 7-year-old. This is why Mamdani is co- introducing legislation for a weight-based vehicle-registration fee intended to discourage people from purchasing heavier vehicles. "The car industry is pushing the sale of heavier and larger vehicles," he says. "The state has to make it clear that these types of vehicles come with a certain kind of cost."

soar above adult shoulders. But there may be another way to disincentivize the purchases of such vehicles, says Edwards. "One other potential idea would be for someone, maybe a city's DOT, to start keeping a list of the different makes and models of vehicles that are killing pedestrians and cyclists, or kids specifically, and post that publicly," he says. "That could bring awareness to which cars are more dangerous and also potentially affect insurance rates, which would possibly convince people not to buy certain cars." There's a bit of accountability in New York's bill, which would require the State DOT to track all fatal crashes by vehicle weight. But the other encouraging aspect of the proposal is that the collected fees stay local, by county, and, after the annual dedications to highway, bridge, and transit trust funds are met, a full 75 percent of the funds raised will go toward safety improvements like bike lanes, bollards, road diets, pedestrianization of streets, and raised crosswalks. This means the neighborhoods most impacted by large vehicles are likely to see the biggest changes. And that might be the most important part of the legislation, says Mamdani. "This is an initiative to make our streets safer for our children," he says. "And we are making sure a significant portion of this funding goes toward creating the very streetscapes that we know will save their lives."

Two years ago I interviewed a 31-year-old NY state assemblymember about a 7-year-old girl killed by an SUV driver in his district. I hung up the phone, astonished that I'd talked to a legislator who so thoughtfully articulated what actually needs to change on our streets.

He'll make a great mayor

the vancouverite in me who spent her whole childhood practicing earthquake drills says "oh, hell no"

every time I see that brown jenga tower I'm half-convinced it's in the middle of falling over

A line of tall towers, with power lines and a busy road in the foreground. The sky is partly cloudy.

Scenic Vaughan 🏙

dark at 5:30!

I'm not emotionally ready for winter, but here it is anyway 🫠

long, too

A black cat with a white nose, sleeping in a curled-up position on a blue and white fluffy blanket.

it is just unbelievable how fluffy my cat's tail is

I don't have a feeling about baseball but Los Angeles has been through hell this year and something that makes this city feel good is good