Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 14h

I’m sorry for the growers and makers. But you get who most voters in your country voted for. Other ppl may have odd notions about “polite” Canadians—till you kick us & find out we’re just as chauvinistic as any country’s ppl.

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 14h

“Our Thanksgiving is timed with the harvest”. So it is. Here’s a jar of newly dried sweet Blush tomatoes from my own little harvest, which continues in spite of a couple of frost warnings last week.

Half-litre jar of dried tomato slices, gold in colour, tinged with deep pink.

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 15h

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

“This shift may reflect a broader sentiment that U.S.-imposed tariffs are unfair, prompting consumers to support their domestic industries or seek non-U.S. products in response.”

Ya think?

American spirit exports to Canada 'plummeted' 85%, says U.S. trade group | CBC News

American spirit exports to Canada "plummeted" 85 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States calling the situation "very troubling" as consumers in ...

www.cbc.ca

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Reposted by Fiona Charles

Tadonic the Flautulent @tadonic.bsky.social · 18h

@smithsonianmag.bsky.social The Only Recording of Woody Guthrie Singing the Protest Song ‘Deportee’ Has Been Released for the First Time
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
#music #WoodyGuthrie #protest #Deportee #recording #folk #FolkMusic #folksong #AI #artificialintelligence #restoration

The Only Recording of Woody Guthrie Singing the Protest Song 'Deportee' Has Been Released for the First Time

The singer-songwriter recorded the audio on a reel-to-reel tape machine in his apartment in the 1950s. Now, the previously unheard song has been restored using A.I. audio technology

www.smithsonianmag.com

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Ify Nwadiwe @ifycomedy.com · 1d

I think we really should stop using antifa and just fully say anti-fascist and get them saying they are against anti fascism. Using antifa is giving them some distance and I genuinely think some of their base don’t even know that’s what it stands for.

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 16h

Very cool! An excellent tool to push back at the anti-bike lobbies and our pro-car-at-all-costs Premier. Every Canadian city should have them #kingston #cycleKingston

Observing The City @observingthecity.bsky.social · 1d

Did you know Toronto has 15 permanent bicycle counters around the city? I have created a portal that should be updated monthly when the city updates their open data. It's live now at: observingthecity.ca

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Reposted by Fiona Charles

Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 2d

New from me on @autonomynews.co: The popular abortion pill resource Plan C relaunched this week with a new design that better displays the many, many options for medication abortion in all 50 states

Autonomy News @autonomynews.co · 2d

The online abortion pill guide @plancpills.bsky.social has been redesigned to make it even easier to learn where to get pills, including at no cost. The redesign comes as state officials have threatened investigations and potential lawsuits against the organization.

An Autonomy News exclusive:

Exclusive: Plan C Doubles Down on Abortion Pill Info Amid Political Attacks

The online abortion pill guide has been redesigned to make it even easier to learn where to get pills, including at no cost.

www.autonomynews.co

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Nick Tsergas @nicktsergas.ca · 1d

I'm sure this would be "digitally sovereign" much in the way all the grapes at Loblaws are "grown in Peru."

ANALYSIS | Why OpenAI wants to help Canada build homegrown artificial intelligence | CBC News

OpenAI wants to help Canada build a sovereign digital infrastructure for artificial intelligence, putting the country in a tough spot as it tries to distance itself from overreliance on U.S. tech comp...

www.cbc.ca

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 17h

Important we respond to this government survey, even if we suspect we’ll be ignored. We certainly will be if we don’t speak up.

Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 1d

I did this, took like 30 min.
Points I kept hammering: domestic cloud, regulations around copyright and likeness rights, focusing on machine learning with concrete, real world uses (creating new drugs, etc), the damage done by slop, the need to listen to AI experts who are realists, not boosters.

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 4d

Canadians: The federal government is seeking public input on how AI should be developed and used in business, research, and the military.

If this scares the shit out of you, please let them know:

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Reposted by Fiona Charles

Glennyrodge @glennyrodge.bsky.social · 23h

Please name who did this. If it’s you, give yourself 10 cool points.

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 18h

It was a poor attempt at humour.

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American Fietser @americanfietser.bsky.social · 1d

A perfect illustration of which "lifestyle" actually imposes itself on public space, public safety, and the public purse.

Jfrisco @jfrisco.bsky.social · 1d

Hold my beer...

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 19h

Well, exactly. I’m (kinda sorta) reconciled to believing 6 impossible things before breakfast & so far I *think* I know which ones to believe. But what happens when it’s lots more than 6? And deepfakes will only make this worse. I hate to think there is nowhere but the rabbit hole.

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Reposted by Fiona Charles

Dale Smith @journodale.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI, my @xtramagazine.com column: The premiers violating your Charter rights don't want the courts to weigh in #canqueer #cdnpoli

The premiers violating your Charter rights don’t want the courts to weigh in | Xtra Magazine

When it comes to the Notwithstanding Clause, premiers opposed to the federal government’s factum are showing their true colours

xtramagazine.com

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 1d

Um—happy Thanksgiving?

Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 2d

Walked into a Canadian Tire and no longer know what holiday season we’re celebrating anymore

Grim Reaper plays heavy metal guitar next to a display of Christmas trees

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 2d

www.kingstonist.com/news/politic... Yes indeed. And I want to know where that “70%” of customers number came from. Who did VIA ask? When? I’m a customer, as are many of my friends, and you didn’t ask us. Hard not to believe this isn’t a number pulled out of the air.

City Views – VIA Rail needs better training to serve all of its passengers – Kingston News

(Kingston, Ontario) Kingston’s civic leaders are understandably furious over their recent snub by the nation’s passenger rail service.

www.kingstonist.com

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 2d

Instead of a printer that rudely tells me to go away most times I use it, because it’s maintaining itself. “Do not interrupt”, it says and I strongly desire to throw it out the window.

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 2d

Dear techbros frantically nutting at each other over your own god-like brilliance for making the Five-Boobed-Lady-Picture-Machine: I would at this point settle for you applying your alleged technical genius to making a printer that works

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Reposted by Fiona Charles

John Roscoe @johnroscoe.bsky.social · 2d

Turn a farm into parking lots & loading docks?
• Sure, happens all the time — the amount of arable land in Ontario is reduced by 319 acres *every day.*

Turn a parking lot into a farm?
• That never happens. Once it's gone, it's gone forever.

Ontario: it's big, but the part that grows crops? Small.

An illustration showing farmland vs. land for other purposes in Ontario.
Source:
https://www.foodfocusguelph.ca/post/are-farm-numbers-declining-across-ontario

"Ontario loses 319 acres of arable land every day"
Source:
https://ontariofarmlandtrust.ca/2022/07/04/ontario-losing-319-acres-of-farmland-every-day/ [July, 2022]

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 4d

Interesting! The ospreys I’ve been watching (from a distance) all season left weeks ago. I think they left early last year, too. And driving to southwestern Ont 2 weeks ago we saw lots of hawks riding the thermals, including at least 1 kettle, so on their way south, I think.

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 4d

My limited store of native tact and patience is rapidly depleting as I read more and more nonsense from the “AI” (I.e., LLM) carnival barkers.

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 4d

Boohoo to the AI industry. If your industry can’t prosper without widespread theft, then you don’t have a viable business model. You could fix that.

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 4d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

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Fiona Charles @fionaccharles.bsky.social · 4d

Oh FFS! Are people complete idiots that they take this nonsense seriously?

Esther Schindler @estherschindler.bsky.social · 4d

"The bots silently record everything, create transcripts, and summarize meetings for the humans who couldn't — or wouldn't — attend themselves. The trend has created bizarre new etiquette problems."

AI note-takers are flooding virtual meetings

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan envisions AI "digital twins" replacing humans in future meetings. But experts warn about information overload and the implications of perfect digital memory.

boingboing.net

Reposted by Fiona Charles

Peggy Blair @peggyblair.bsky.social · 4d

Hey self-published CDN mystery authors -- did you get a new book out this year? You may be eligible for the Toby Award? Check out the criteria at tobyaward.wordpress.com!

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KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 7d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Reposted by Fiona Charles

Drop Site @dropsitenews.com · 6d

Greta Thunberg: "I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me. But that is not the story. What happened here was Israel… continuing to worsen and escalate their genocide and mass destruction with genocidal intent, attempting to erase an...

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