Matt Carrington

"Ingest" is such a particular ebook-world term!

I have a friend working on a fascinating historical family memoir (not Holocaust related this time). He's in Toronto and looking for a good writing group. Does anyone know any relevant writing groups or how to find one?

One intersection on Bloor saw average daily bike ridership consistently hover around 6000 for the past 4 months. This is a 20% increase over last year. Yet, Premier Ford wants to target this lane for removal. I wanted to highlight this, one year after the passage of Bill 212.

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

One Star Review of Waiting for Godot on Broadway I recently attended Waiting for Godot on Broadway and spent over $1,400 for two Row C seats (103 and 104). I'm a longtime admirer of Broadway productions and even hold a season pass for Shea's Performing Arts Theatre, so I came in with genuine enthusiasm and high expectations. Unfortunately, this show was unlike anything ! have ever experienced —and not in a good way. What I encountered was not the artistry, music, or emotional storytelling I usually associate with Broadway, but instead what felt like an endless cycle of nonsensical conversation between characters who seemed trapped in their own madness. I tried-truly tried-to find meaning, symbolism, or even a thread of emotional resonance. I stayed through the first half hoping the second would offer clarity. But by intermission, it was clear: this was a waste of both time and money. Keanu Reeves is an actor I respect greatly, but I cannot fathom why he would agree to participate in such a disjointed, inaccessible production. His talent was lost in a performance that defied reason rather than provoked insight. To anyone considering attending: unless you are drawn to highly abstract, nearly incomprehensible theater, I strongly caution you against this show. For the average, educated, thoughtful theatergoer, it is far more frustrating than fulfilling. In my opinion, this was the single most disappointing Broadway experience I've ever had - an unfortunate waste of money and, more importantly, of time.

I like to think Beckett himself would have delighted in this review

(via @luxalptraum.com ht @ykomska.bsky.social)

Thanks for the ideas! Maybe I’ll try galas. I always use granny smith, though I do sprinkle white sugar on them. Apple crisp time of year!

Why do my apples turn to mush in my crisp? I cut them pretty thick. Am I just cooking too long?

Love it when they let is into their world view.

The story as it's told is that some soy farmers are losing and some are benefitting from a reshaping of the global value chain for soy. Yes, true. But the bigger story is that the global appetite for soy is a result of the global appetite for meat, which is driving ag beyond planetary boundaries.

Here are some of the automated speed enforcement tickets given to vehicles assigned to Ford cabinet ministers. #OnPoli

Story ▶️ globalnews.ca/news/1146373...

My strong professional opinion about the serial comma as an editor is that caring too strongly about it one way or the other is unprofessional.

Using the serial comma is either a personal aesthetic choice or deference to a particular style guide. So is its omission. Ambiguity is so easy that both omission and use of the serial comma can lead to it. (More in comments.)

Vehicles registered to Ford cabinet ministers caught by speed cameras more than 20 times | Globalnews.ca Documents obtained by Global News reveal that, over three years, vehicles registered to Ford’s cabinet minister received more than $3,300 in fines for speeding.

🤤 (shocked, shocked I tell you)

On May 1 last year, a vehicle registered to one of Doug Ford's cabinet ministers blew past an automated speed camera, going 70 km/h in a 40 zone and netting a $450 fine.

Life vs death

The climate movement’s biggest weakness What the climate movement is getting dead wrong.

Meat is a blind spot for people who care about climate. When I used to have dinner with my colleague Wally Broecker, the climate scientist who coined the term “global warming”, he would always order a steak.

Microsoft shoved their AI Copilot into everything in Windows 11. Which lead to an increase in Windows 10 use. So they announced they'd stop support for Windows 10, but its usage was still strong. So they started to put Copilot into Windows 10.

Windows 7 use is surging 5x now.

AI is product poison.

Also is this what Islington and Bloor still looks like (image a year old)? They want people to bike there?

A map of part of the Bloor West bike lane showing that a section beween Islington and Resurrection Rd was prioritized for removal. Nearby streets curve off in various directions, avoiding railway tracks and providing no straightforward alternative.

This "priority removal section" for the bike lane on Bloor W demonstrates that Ford and Sarkaria were never serious about finding parallel secondary routes. Where is the parallel route here? They don't care. www.thestar.com/news/gta/the...

I agree with the general criticism. Klein is lost here, working through an unhelpful paradigm of the role of social critic. But he’s a guy who clearly reads a lot, including Coates’s books and the books in the tradition Coates references. Klein isn’t ignorant.

The problem is clearly not that Klein (the guy who ends every podcast with three book suggestions and has on lots of authors, whose books he’s clearly read) hasn’t read books. This is not that.

Makes me feel old when people send me a video that could just be a clear and concise article.

And that for Coates, his role as an intellectual and writer is to hold and voice those ideals. Conversely, Klein seems to see his role as closer to that of a politician or Democratic strategist than as an intellectual and social critic.

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Soy animal feed’s trail of deforestation: What are the solutions? Soy is one of the main drivers of deforestation around the world. Forests are cut down every day to make way for the growth of soy crops. However, most of this soy, in fact almost 80%, is grown to fee...

☝️ Important point @macmargolis.bsky.social @theguardian.com

"only about 20% of soy is used in products for humans, with less than half of these for vegetarian and vegan products. The vast majority – nearly 80% - of soy is grown to feed animals."

www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2023...

How the world’s taste for soya is eating Brazil’s Amazon Cultivation of the crop has made a few wealthy but at a huge cost to untouched forest as it spreads across vast areas of former wilderness

This story isn‘t about ‘the world‘s taste for soya‘, it‘s about the world‘s taste for meat. The vast majority of soya is grown for animal feed. Less than 10% is for direct human consumption. A shame it‘s not mentioned in the story.
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

This post was heavily ratio'd yesterday because of its blatant victim blaming and windshield bias.

So @npr.org decides to double down and repost this crap again today. 🙄

Ford government says it will ban speed cameras across Ontario | CBC News Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the traffic enforcement tool a "cash grab" at a news conference in Vaughan Thursday. He said his government will introduce new legislation to ban speed cameras.

Are Conservatives really now against law enforcement and basic traffic laws? Are they also against parking tickets, because they’re a cash grab?

Fining speeders is good. Ford is removing city revenue as well as a basic tool of traffic laws enforcement.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Car drivers are so uncoupled from the responsibility of life and death that not only is the solution laid on cyclists and pedestrians but the word ‘Car’ never appears in the article’s summation.

Imagine if NPR had actually talked to safe streets advocates for this story and learned how the solutions to drivers killing people is not, in fact, victim blaming