Daniel Munro

Ken, have I told you about my elementary school principal Mr. Harold Dick?

This is not a joke.

Wonder how the productivity-in-the-public-sector people work these variables into their models.

Federal public servants to return to office minimum 4 days per week later this year The federal government is expanding its return-to-office mandate for public servants this year, requiring employees in the core public administration to be onsite at least four days per week.

Setting aside whether this is in itself good or not, I’m trying to imagine the mood of people ordered back to the office after 24,000 of their colleagues were let go and having to wrestle with Ottawa public transit to get there.

www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

Fantastic news, kudos to New Brunswick for leading the way here.

That tracks. I’m feeling the pull of “stop cluttering space” from one direction and “counterbalance fickle fascist options” from the other.

Terrestar chair looks to build competitive network with the help of other middle powers Montreal-based satellite company is hoping to raise about $500-million for the development of a low-Earth-orbit

The chair of Montreal-based satellite company Terrestar says that to compete with American giants, it intends to partner with other “middle power” countries to build a global direct-to-cell satellite network.

www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/7ff7d5d...

I think that undervalues the supply of easy marks in the population.

The galaxy brain boys will tell you to “buy the dip.” But they’ll get scarce when you ask them where the bottom is.

The thing about Canada’s public science situation is that in light of cuts in the U.S. - on whom we have relied for data, analysis, expertise - we already face a science deficit just by standing still.

Cutting our own capacity now is like shooting ourselves in the knee after being shot in the foot.

Happy with the bronze.

My middle age Olympic sport is Not Throwing Out Back When Bending to Pick Up the Cat’s Food Dish.

Well, damn.

Carney’s government is cutting hundreds of environment and science jobs. Here’s what that means for Canadians | CBC Radio Scientists and labour leaders are warning that cuts to Environment and Climate Change Canada could significantly impact the health and safety of Canadians as well as Canada's wildlife and environment.

Can Canada maintain its critical public science functions in the face of civil service job cuts?

“Public science is the science that isn't as glamorous, it isn't profitable…. Public science is the science that needs to be done.”

www.cbc.ca/radio/whaton...

Report cover: For All Humankind: A Framework for Responsible Spacefaring.

There 30,000+ objects (>10cm diameter) in orbit around Earth.

1/3 active satellites.

2/3 dead payloads, rocket bodies, collision & other debris.

Can we handle a million more?

In my latest, I articulate a framework for a more responsible use of space.

1/4

www.cigionline.org/publications...

Board game box. Mycelia- The Strategic Mushroom Game.

Mycelia board game pieces set out and ready to play.

Tonight’s Guys Game Night features Mycelia - because we’re fun guys.

Which is not to say these voices and interests don’t matter. They do.

But would be nice to see greater engagement with civil society and efforts to ensure that civil society organizations - who tend to work with shoestring or no budgets - have the resources to participate equitably and effectively.

My guess is that, because the government felt overwhelmed by submissions, they will fall back on input & advice from the usual suspects.

And because the feds gutted internal expertise on countless files over decades, they’ll over-rely on the expertise of tech CEOs, VCs and other private interests.

Ottawa releases findings from AI task force and public consultation | BetaKit The government used AI to parse more than 11,000 submissions that will inform Canada’s new AI strategy.

ISED’s use of AI to synthesize the 11,000 consultation submissions is unfortunate, but consultation as the federal government tends to conduct it is insufficient whether AI-assisted or not.

Mere listening and summarizing is not democratic engagement.

betakit.com/ottawa-relea...

Given the state of the U.S. - the leading space nation - it’s an odd time to think about responsible space behaviour, let alone hope for action aligned with principles of fairness and sustainability.

But think and hope we must. The stakes for humanity are too high to retreat to idle cynicism

4/4

Are We Going to Mess Up Outer Space Too? | The Walrus As nations jockey for military edge in orbit, there is a growing threat from above

We need to move quickly.

Current space-related innovation and the rush to occupy prime outer space may serve to block future and potentially better space innovation.

Once you junk up space, it gets very hard to clean it up, as I note elsewhere.

3/4

thewalrus.ca/mess-up-oute...

Chart showing launch attempts since 2016 by country/region. Dominated by the U.S., but also includes Russia, China, Europe, North Korea, South Korea, India, Japan, Iran, Israel, New Zealand and others.

Setting out principles - and ensuring they are consistent with (or better than) existing treaties is just one of the challenges.

Another is getting agreement among countries that are already in, or want to go to, space - a rapidly growing group.

2/4

Report cover: For All Humankind: A Framework for Responsible Spacefaring.

There 30,000+ objects (>10cm diameter) in orbit around Earth.

1/3 active satellites.

2/3 dead payloads, rocket bodies, collision & other debris.

Can we handle a million more?

In my latest, I articulate a framework for a more responsible use of space.

1/4

www.cigionline.org/publications...

Often have to remind myself that sharing the latest hate read just reinforces the business model that generates the hate reads.

So I’ll just leave it at: Good grief, Globe & Mail.

Good political philosophy is constructively naive.

This might be one of the most constructively naive things I’ve ever written.

I will not be issuing apologies.

Musk's X office in France raided by Paris prosecutor The raid, involving cyber-crime officers, represents a dramatic escalation of an investigation that began in January 2025.

“The French offices of Elon Musk's X have been raided by the Paris prosecutor's cyber-crime unit, as part of an investigation into suspected offences including unlawful data extraction and complicity in the possession of child pornography.”

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Until recently, it was my escape. Now it’s complicated.

Opinion: A blanket ban won’t solve social media’s ills – but it can be an effective temporary tool Bans punish users, not platforms. But clearly defined moratoriums can drive the structural changes we need

“When a product is so misaligned with public well-being that exclusion feels like the only viable option, the problem is not the user. It’s the system.”

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...