Brotherless Night – Go Read
I grew up in Chennai in the 80s and got to witness the Sri Lankan civil war from just across the border. I read about it mostly from the Indian…
My kid loves statistics and 15 minute cities
We have started this simple diary where my 7 yo tracks each of her trips and categorizes them as car or not car. I find the analog simplicity of this…
Choices for 2024
When your phone does a thing I’m not much of a resolver, resolutioner, whatever the word may be. But my phone did show me these very interesting choices of app…
Big Wool and Fast Fashion
Cute sheep or not, factory farming is always impactful According to one analysis of wool production in Australia, by far the world’s top exporter, the wool required to make one knit…
Leftover milk solids chocolate balls
When you make ghee, and are careful enough not to burn the batch, the milk solids that are filtered out are great to use up. This site has a bunch…
Roasted rutabagas are awesome!
This week unlike other weeks, I picked up that rutabaga I usually avoid at the grocery store and it paid off 🙂 It’s so good! And the right amount of…
Why Deport Jaskirat Singh Sidhu?
A federal judge has dismissed applications from the truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan and was fighting deportation back to India. Source: Federal judge…
American Caste and ’90s flashbacks
Always like when I’m validated for something I said 25 years back Wilkerson rigorously defines eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, heredity, and dehumanization. She…
To Read! Dark PR by Grant Ennis
In his new book, Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Harms Our Health and the Environment, Grant Ennis — a lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia — identifies the “nine…
Stuff I read 04-Sep-2023
An occasional roundup of news I found interesting, with even less occasional commentary! How a mere 12% of Americans eat half the nation’s beef, creating significant health and environmental impacts…
How BC Could Tax Soaring Property Values for the Public Good | The Tyee
The vast majority of B.C.’s residential property wealth — $1.5 trillion — is in the value of the land rather than in the buildings on it. Unlike the value created by…
Research notes on defunding the police, from Halifax
The hard work of an important committee in Halifax has recently come to fruition. The Subcommittee to Define Defunding the Police have finished their research, their surveys, and their deliberations…
Adventures with Red River : Part I
Red River, so polarizing Anyone want? I don’t think this household is ever going to consume. About 80% of original capacity I posted this on social media last week and…
The many boats of climate change
Their (the IPCC’s) dramatic report on keeping that rise under 1.5 degrees C says the world is now completely off track, heading instead towards 3C.Keeping to the preferred target of 1.5C…
Let all residents vote in Canada
This year, I will be asking Victoria’s municipal election candidates where they stand on letting permanent residents vote in our elections. Join me!
Who is local?
Using visa status to determine residency, and providing no sensible exceptions for locals with alternative paper work is lazy and thoughtless policy making
Buying ourselves out of homes
Renting and buying homes, for BC residents, is becoming less and less affordable. We’re experiencing the result of decades of deregulation and rabid speculation…
Retire the beg button
It’s time for us to walk without pushing buttons, and our community plans prioritize people walking, so, #DontMakeMeBeg…
Coffee Roasting and popcorn lung
Turns out, coffee roasters are vulnerable to lung harming diacetyl exposure, and worker exposure to toxics is under-reported…
Sports socialism for all
I would love for professional sports to be a test bed for innovative cooperative/socialist models. The features that keep professional sport sustainable and competitive should make it out into the greater …
Sharing public space
BC Transit in Victoria is currently seeking feedback on a proposal to allow larger sized dogs on buses. The trick is to actually engage in a creative discussion about possible strategies without dismissing perspectives other than your own as unimportant…
The Craigslist problem
So, why is Craigslist so successful anyway? Because everyone (well, almost) uses it. But, it does not have to be so. The availability of open access rental data is a public good…
Spontaneous acts of reproductive justice
Reproductive justice is more than the right to have an abortion. It’s about access to judgement-free information, comprehensive sexual education and understanding the complex realities of racism and colonization…
Break the link between employment and healthcare
It’s almost as if there’s an unspoken moral argument here, you don’t deserve good teeth or a massage if you don’t work for a living…