Notices by M. Grégoire (mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca)

@FediVideo Now that loops.video has federated, could you please suggest some accounts there that you think people might enjoy following?

#loops

60 Minutes: "Hunger, chronic blackouts, and scarcity of essential medicines plague Venezuela. Today, more than 70% of residents live in poverty — a stunning reversal of fortune for a nation that was once one of the wealthiest countries in the world. https://cbsn.ws/3L8xjBl"
https://nitter.net/60Minutes/status/1982596109173182598#m

I remember 15 years ago arguing about #HugoChávez. He's trying to help the poor, my interlocutor said; undermining independent institutions doesn't work out, I replied.

#Venezuela #tyranny

@evan You never know what craziness the anglos will get up to if they're not told what not to do...

@keithzg Not really worth sending a loonie to Montréal. I'll consider the bet settled if you put the $1 into the Legion poppy sales.

@keithzg Oh good! Thanks for letting me know.

@Paulatics

What most excites me about @CraigSauve 's campaign to become mayor of #Montréal is his promise to make hats mandatory for all municipal employees.

This is exactly the sort of bold, forward-thinking policy Montréal needs. I only hope in his second term he finds a way to extend it to all Montrealers.

(For the full platform of #TransitionMontréal , see https://static1.squarespace.com/static/681c082b5745a963d13d411d/t/68fa844d570a5c0361476f31/1761248364067/Plateforme_TransitionMTL_2025.pdf .)

#polqc

@gemlog First we shape our buildings, then they shape us. This sort of topic is important not just because of the housing crisis in Canada (and other countries in the anglosphere), but because how we build affects what sort of communities and lives we lead.

In particular, after nearly a century of building our cities to suit cars, it's now become clear that automobile-oriented development doesn't scale well beyond a few hundred thousand citizens.

@evan Touché.

@gemlog Would you agree with me also that much of the blame lies at the feet of government? Zoning rules and road planning made it impossible to build the sort of neighbourhoods we used to have.

@evan Any day is a good day for greetings and kind words, wouldn't you agree?

@evan
1. Sure, I'd be fine with a system that asked my mutuals if they wanted an annual reminder; but I wouldn't want to send them automatic messages that they hadn't explicitly agreed to receive.

2. My precise birthday is an identifying characteristic I prefer to keep private. I don't mind admitting I was born in the mid-1970s.

A long thread about a report that has recently come out in the UK, about how they can build more #housing and more towns, avoiding past errors:

Nicholas Boys Smith (@boys_nicholas): "Firstly, report understands problem: it’s is based on a correct understanding of cascading & disastrous consequences of our housing shortfall not just for disposable income & living standards but for labour flexibility, family formation, economic growth https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-housing-theory-of-everything/" | nitter

https://nitter.net/boys_nicholas/status/1982363174591455409#m

The report praises Poundbury. From the thread:

"Poundbury is a runway success whichever way you cut the evidence: more affordable homes, more walking, more shops & trees, more neighbouring jobs & economic growth, more homes on less land without complaint & higher land values, by 55% which can in turn pay for better amities, than any comparable development anywhere in the country. [However it omits beauty.] What it looks like, as well as its urban morphology, is a crucial part of this success."

@evan Yes, but...
1. They'd have to opt-in to the service as well.
2. I wouldn't use my real birthday.

@dansup Not trying to rush you, but though I've read your recent posts, I don't really understand: When do you plan to allow Fediverse users to follow accounts on loops.video? Is there something you're still waiting for?

#loops

"B.C. is unique among Canadian provinces in that more than 90 per cent of the landmass is potentially subject to unextinguished Aboriginal title, because of the absence of treaties. So Ottawa and Victoria pass the ball back and forth, and when the game gets rough they kick the can down the road and leave the courts to figure it out."

Terry Glavin: Cowichan ruling tells us what B.C. really needs is treaties
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-glavin-cowichan-ruling-tells-us-what-b-c-really-needs-is-treaties

#bcpoli #CanPol #cdnpoli #FirstNations
#NationalPost

@gemlog Digital tools and services are becoming more and more part of our lives, and one of the best ways to protect ourselves is to avoid non-free software. RMS was prophetic.

@gemlog We're all heading to a world of surveillance, alas. How many Canadians have an Alexa device listening in their homes?

#telescreens

U.S. requiring non-citizen entrants and exits to be to be photographed
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/us-photographs-non-citizens

Is there any other country in the world that photographs every non-citizen legally crossing its borders?

#uspol
#NationalPost

@gemlog There's a good Wikipedia page about rail gauges, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge

Would you believe that the TTC in Toronto has a unique gauge for its trolleys?