Mike Hager

Ancient stepwells brought back to life as India begins to run out of water Centuries-old wells restored to provide drinking water as parts of the country head towards “day zero” when no water will be available

Great to see India's restoration of traditional water management is expanding. I wrote about Tamil Nadu's eris system for @biographic.bsky.social and in my book, Water Always Wins. Good story by @shomaabhyankar.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

cdn.openai.com/pdf/8e938d69...

#OpenAI now saying "With the benefit of our continued learnings" tech giant would refer #TumblerRidge shooter to police if they asked ChatGPT bot same violent questions today as they did in June 2025, when company only banned them.
Also says shooter was just able to create second account after ban.

How we’re battling Trump’s science cuts across small-town America Neuroscientist Jessica Cantlon is urging scientists to use the power of local newspapers in the fight against US research-funding cuts.

Neuroscientist Jessica Cantlon is urging scientists to use the power of local newspapers (what's left of them) in the fight against US research-funding cuts. Since she started her campaign, more than 100 articles have been published. #StandUpForScience

I know from living in Ontario that pal can be used to intentionally piss people off, is this the case anywhere else?

One hundred accounts are behind the majority of conspiracy theory content in Canada Researchers analyzed more than 14 million social media posts from accounts in Canada and found that 87 per cent of conspiratorial claims come from influencers, with just 100 users responsible for near...

The Media Ecosystem Observatory has found that just 100 accounts in Canada are responsible for 68% of posts promoting conspiracy theories. But they are having an outsized impact on local governments.

Read my latest:

www.nationalobserver.com/2026/02/25/n...

FBI Subpoenaed X to Get Grok Prompts Used to Create Nonconsensual Porn The FBI obtained prompts used to make more than 200 sexual videos of a woman in a harassment case.

New: The FBI subpoenaed the Grok prompts a man used to create more than 200 nonconsensual sexual videos of a woman he was obsessed with

www.404media.co/fbi-subpoena...

Juno News scraps plan to run residential school denial film after investigation by CNO The decision comes after Canada's National Observer determined a producer listed on the film's trailer credits — Simon Hergott — has published several videos and comments on his public YouTube channel...

Candice Malcolm and Keean Bexte's "Juno News" scrapped a feature-length documentary denying the atrocities of Canada's residential school system

The @nationalobserver.com linked the film's producer to a YouTube channel that created "pro-Hitler videos"

Alberta Premier defends fall referendum plans Danielle Smith stumbles when asked about costs of providing health care and education to newcomers; NDP says referendum proposals designed to inflame

Premier Danielle Smith said she doesn't know how much newcomers cost Alberta’s health care and education systems, despite scheduling a referendum to ask whether social services to those residents shd be limited b/c of cost

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alber... By @mattscace.bsky.social and friend

The Crown argues Ontario Justice Peter Bawden failed to properly scrutinize Deepak Paradkar’s wife as his surety, when he granted bail. The Crown said in its filing the justice ignored her “embedded role” as an accountant and paralegal at her husband’s practice and family's unexplained wealth.

#OpenAI met with BC gov't the day after an 18-year-old killed 6 in a school shooting in #TumblerRidge, but province says the tech giant did not disclose then that the company was aware of the shooter's concerning #ChatGPT conversations in the months before. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

other evidence on other problematic users before this, why it didn't ask for help in its meeting with the province the day after the shooting and, finally, whether this incident has kicked off an internal review of its practices...

OpenAI sent statement out after @wsj.com's scoop on shooter being banned last June that - following the shooting - it "proactively reached out" to RCMP with this evidence. But have now asked the company why it didn't have contact info for Canada's national police agency, if it had ever relayed...

B.C. Premier's office says it had a pre-planned meeting with the tech giant the day after an 18-year-old killed eight people before killing themself, but #OpenAI waited another full day before asking its provincial contact for RCMP's number. Story coming shortly on @theglobeandmail.com.

Breaking: #OpenAI waited two days after the #TumblerRidge school shooting to alert RCMP they had evidence about the shooter's interest in gun violence, as flagged by internal #ChatGPT screening.

Lots more questions about how OpenAI screens its users for problematic prompts in the wake of WSJ’s explosive scoop.

Podcasting the Crisis of Masculinity: Recognition Politics, the Manosphere, and the Joe Rogan Experience Audience Despite podcasts' increasing prominence in the contemporary media ecosystem, they have attracted limited scholarly attention. This study examines audience characteristics of the most popular podcast i...

Important work exploring Rogan's audience:👇

"...younger, male, & with low educational attainment"

More "conspiratorial" thinking & "conservative media consumption"

"politically diverse yet culturally unified"

intensifies "cultural polarization."

Preprint: preprints.apsanet.org/engage/apsa/...

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Report: Staff at Dilley raiding cells to confiscate kids' letters and drawings detailing conditions inside

ProPublica published children's letters and drawings documenting their sadness and suffering at Dilley. And Dilley staff are now retaliating by confiscating kids' letters and drawings.

www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...

a feel-good story from @sevawood.bsky.social with photos of some extremely cute lil goats

From their homes in B.C., Nelson’s war resisters hear echoes of an authoritarian past down south The Globe recently interviewed a half-dozen émigrés and found they shared major concerns about resurgent American authoritarianism and President Donald Trump

From their homes in B.C., Nelson’s war resisters hear echoes of an authoritarian past down south

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

This sentencing hearing should shed more light on India’s transnational repression of its Sikh diaspora in Canada.

It is demonstrably awful.

Tried to find videos about a topic specifically more than eight years old last week. They just… made that impossible? Why?

The closest the gun licensing process comes to examining any risk posed by other family members is Y/N Q on application form: “Do you know if you have ever been reported to the police or social services for violence, threatened or attempted violence, or other conflict in your home or elsewhere?”

RCMP identify victims of Tumbler Ridge mass shooting Federal party leaders to join Prime Minister in B.C. town on Friday to attend vigil

RCMP identify victims of Tumbler Ridge mass shooting
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

The B.C. government is still counting low-barrier housing in its total of “publicly funded substance-use treatment beds.” It’s a practice that drew criticism over a year ago when the IJF first exposed it.

Read now: zurl.co/Pa927