Dylan Reid

"Messy Cities" - a Canadian indy bestseller! #23 on the 2025 list of bestselling books by Canadian publishers in independent bookstores. The perfect gift for the urbanist in your life! quillandquire.com/omni/indepen...

Pleased with my quick deduction on this one! (Thursday December 4)

Wordle 1,629 3/6*

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It's good—very good, and very important—that district courts keep issuing these 100-page rulings upholding the law. It must be incredibly dispiriting to see them overturned in a two-page, lawless, unsigned order, but please, keep them coming. They expose SCOTUS' corruption like nothing else.

Parts of the federal gov't that most people never think about -- research orgs, safety regs, low-income programs, etc. -- are being degraded & destroyed, with no one to notice or mourn them. But every bit of it erodes the foundations of US power & prosperity, carefully laid over decades.

@zahraeb.bsky.social and @shebuildscities.bsky.social are the other two editors of "Messy Cities". How great to be in such distinguished book company!

Encampment by @maggiehelwig.bsky.social and Messy Cities (ed. Zahra Ebrahim, Leslie Woo, @dylanreid.bsky.social, and @johnlorinc.bsky.social) are top sellers by Canadian-owned publishers! (#16 and #23, respectively.)

plywood on top of car

A read shares a photo of doing a home reno job and carrying plywood on the roof of their car, pickup-free.

A historical illustration showing a Christmas celebration in a large room with a candle-lit Christmas tree decorated with ornaments in the background. A group of well-dressed adults and children in 18th-century style clothing (long coats, gowns, breeches, and wigs) stand and sit around the tree, some holding gifts or toys. Small toy horses and a cart are on the floor. Warm light comes from wall sconces. Overlaid on the right side of the image is a large close-up portrait of a smiling woman in a blue gown with lace trim, holding a bouquet of flowers.

In 1781, in the town of Sorel in the colony of the Province of Quebec, the Baroness Riedesel hosted a party.
At that party, she unveiled a fir tree decorated with fruits and candles.
This is the story of North America's first Christmas Tree.

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Goes back to 1659 when there actually was a war on Christmas ... by fundamentalist Christians (the Puritan government of England).

Like the way Canadian banks "lagged" their peers on sub prime mortgages?

My wife had to help me with this one. I feel like it breaks an unspoken rule. (Tuesday December 2)

Wordle 1,627 4/6*

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George Will is still alive and writing?

We are finally in the good place

#BikeTO

“He didn’t say why the legislation does not include other types of drivers who kill parents, such as distracted drivers.”

Or drivers who mow down a parent riding their bike on a road that used to have a bike lane before Premier Ford ripped it out. #TOpoli #ONpoli #BikeTO

What Will Enter the Public Domain in 2026? At the start of each year, on January 1st, a new crop of works enter the public domain. Find our highlights of what lies in store for 2026 here.

It's time for the delightful @publicdomainrev.bsky.social annual advent calendar of works going into the public domain on Jan. 1! publicdomainreview.org/features/ent...

Love all lovely I'll protect you from the Hooded Fang. Or Claw.

What's fascinating is that was the SAME YEAR as "Last Christmas" and kept the latter from being #1 at Christmas on the British pop charts. (And Frankie Goes to Hollywood's equally cheesy "The Power of Love" was in the mix as well). mollymccarron.substack.com/p/love-all-l...

A play about science actually transformed science! Oh the humanities. #humanities

Not only a criminal but also a coward

Urgh - I thought of it earlier but tried other things first (Monday December 1)

Wordle 1,626 5/6*

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Ontario’s Conservatives are misleading you about Bill 46 and what it means for loyalty points.

With one quiet regulatory change, the Ford govt could let corporations make your points expire. I wouldn’t trust this govt to run a lemonade stand, let alone protect consumers. #onpoli

Exclusive: Alberta oil regulator stopped enforcing gas flaring limits after government pressure, documents show The regulator in charge of environmental enforcement in Canada's main oil-producing province bent to pressure from the provincial government and oil companies to eliminate a limit on natural gas flari...

www.reuters.com/world/albert...

Messy Cities at Book City Danforth!

Messy Cities: Why We Can't Plan Everything (ed. @johnlorinc.bsky.social, @dylanreid.bsky.social, Leslie Woo, and Zahra Ebrahim) on @canadianarchitect.bsky.social's Best Books for Canadian Architects 2025 list!

www.canadianarchitect.com/best-books-f....

This explains something that has always mystified me about drivers who rail against bike lanes and transit. Why WOULDN'T you want people to have options not to drive? It would make your own driving better! But they don't just want good traffic, they want to reinforce the NORM of driving

Everyone saw this coming.

Trump stiffed his contractors, then fell out w/his architect because he refused to back his demand for a ballroom bigger than the WH.

And those corporate donations he keeps bragging about are pledges, not real money. Taxpayers will end up on the hook one way or another.

An educated society is what will pull us out of our doldrums, but when the going gets a little tough, we cut education.

It's like eating the seeds for next year's plantings when facing a little hunger.

That was not a good start! Feeling lucky I didn't end up with a 6. (Sunday November 30)

Wordle 1,625 5/6*

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They were my first contract, because I'm kind of cheap. And now they offer cross Canada free roaming and calling, so it's pretty much as good as the other services. (They did however cancel what used to be excellent rates in the US).

2025 has been an eventful year for Canada's identity. To commemorate the year, The Society for Canadian English is choosing a 2025 word of the year (CWOTY), based on the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles.
Have your say: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Senator Kelly is correct.

Plus a Public Service Announcement:

KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.

The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."