Michael Tobis (mt)

Novelty is not an important factor in most reading.

Used book stores are your friend.

There are a lot of great books that were published before “AI”. Read those.

Bonus: you can find copies that fit in your pocket and save your battery life.

Reading an old Samuel Delaney novel and a historical biography of Lucretia Borgia in pulp paperback format at the moment.

Worthwhile thread; a climate / AI connection that is new to me.

Bruce Fanjoy has launched a petition to require all federal party leaders to obtain and maintain top security clearance.

It's open for a couple of months.
www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

YouTube video by kuklinski987 The Doobie Brothers - Long Train Running (official video)

youtu.be/m4tJSn0QtME?...

Person: say, i am alive. Computer: I am alive. Person: oh my god.

#graphicdujour

witchcraft

Mark Carney's Net-Favourables:

🟢 All: +24%

🟢ATL: +42%
🟢QC: +40%
🟢BC: +27%
🟢ON: +18%
🟢AB: +7%
🟢SK/MB: +5%

🟢Women: +25%
🟢Men: +22%

🟢18-29 Year Olds: +32%
🟢30-44 Year Olds: +9%
🟢45-59 Year Olds: +19%
🟢60+ And Older: +34%

Abacus Data / Jan 27, 2026

Trump Administration Restarts Key Permitting Process for Wind Farms The administration has lifted its ban on issuing permits for incidental harm to protected eagles while also pursuing enforcement actions — including against operators that reported bird deaths volunta...

After a lawsuit was filed in late December by the renewable energy sector, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wiped references to the ban from government websites and is now once again sending wind farms what were once routine permits, I can confirm

A Secret Panel to Question Climate Science Was Unlawful, Judge Rules

"A federal judge on Friday ruled the Energy Department violated the law when Secretary Chris Wright handpicked five researchers who reject the scientific consensus on climate change to work in secret on a sweeping government report on global warming."

Gift link.

I came here to say this! ☝️

People of the world take note: If your "leaders" don't have a sense of humour, do not vote for them.

🤣 PM Mark Carney at the Canadian Media Industry event re Hudson Williams #Canada 🍁

Dear climate scientist friends, would anyone care to check out slides 17-22 in the link below and give me a quick gut check on a very simple climate model aimed at conveying the basics to engineering students? Interested in any feedback folks may have.

It would take a lot of work as some of the points are well outside my expertise.

I have made this exact point myself.

I’m not trying to defend the documentary, just encouraging people to offer evidence when they reject nonsense.

Just saying it’s nonsense comes across as arrogant, arguing from authority. It’s tricky to be actually helpful in the face of pseudoscience.

I am unfamiliar with the material and would appreciate a link.

It would be useful if you provided a brief rebuttal of the other points as well. Thanks.

I think single event attribution is not a good use of our attentions. It’s easy to see why people are always looking for a simple cause/effect when something unusually disruptive occurs.

But in the end the circumstances call for more resilience, regardless of causes of individual disasters.

This is just confirmation bias vs confirmation bias. The actual science can vary a lot on attribution and attribution confidence from one event to another. In the end it’s just the wrong question, though.

The stable climate of the past is over. We have to expect the unexpected.

I don’t know as this needs a conspiracy to explain..

We will never see another major natural disaster without this debate “exactly as predicted by all-seeing scientists” bs “obviously completely normal”.

People have blamed volcanoes on climate change! Others have denied any link to forest fires!

On the whole I’m more interested in the adaptation events that the post-storm week will reveal.

This could be memorable, even historic. Big recovery problems are a realistic scenario to be concerned about.

Cold outbreak/ disrupted jetstream? Not necessarily more likely in a changed climate. Disputed among experts. Tired of seeing this posed as consensus.

More moisture available to exacerbate the clash of airmasses? Yes. Clearly exacerbated by climate change.

So, a complicated climatological story.

If this storm is as severe and consequential as people are suggesting, the recovery process will depend to a considerable extent on the capacities and resources of the US federal government.

Watching with interest.

Wishing the many affected people good luck and strength.

That is not how it works. The seasons don’t have momentum or anything comparable.

Definitely not. Possibly more arctic outbreaks though the evidence is not compelling. But winters are unambiguously warming up, largely due to ice albedo feedback.

No. There’s no consensus on whether this is a real trend and if so why. The evidence is thin.

(No I’m not a denier. I’ve been trying to call attentoon to climate disruption since around 1990.)

Of all people, you should be representing the science correctly!

Adults: I may not love Carney, but that was a pretty darn respectable speech.

Brian Lilley: He didn't even praise Trump or eat an apple loudly!

The UK government has quietly released a report entitled
"Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security"

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/696e0e...

Notable for Canada: a "realistic possibility of collapse" of the Canadian boreal forest ecosystem starting as soon as 2030

The Guardian view on adapting to the climate crisis: it demands political honesty about extreme weather | Editorial Editorial: Over the holiday period, the Guardian leader column is looking ahead at the themes of 2026. Today we look at how the struggle to adapt to a dangerously warming world has become a test of gl...

Powerful Guardian editorial on urgent need for #climate adaptation & for “real plans, real finance, real justice”. And good to see shout out to work of @climatemajority.bsky.social & GlacierTrust showing adaptation as both essential in itself & as a spur to greater decarbonisation👇