S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
@ashleighweeden.bsky.social
*maybe not here quite so much, as I tend to my grief and growth*
Dr. Weeden. She/Her. Rural Futurist. Feminist. Curious/Furious. Place, power, policy. Obsessed with questions like "why?" and "so what?"
Dr. Weeden. She/Her. Rural Futurist. Feminist. Curious/Furious. Place, power, policy. Obsessed with questions like "why?" and "so what?"
Dan Levy openly says that Schitt's Creek would not have survived anywhere except the CBC because it was weird and took a season or so to find its feet... Just for reference if you wanna know the ROI on this approach to supporting creative things.
Canada made weird tv shows because it was all being done with government funded art grant money so they fell in this wacky middle ground between “shoestring budget” and “no expectation to generate shareholder value” which is really the best way to make art
November 27, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Dan Levy openly says that Schitt's Creek would not have survived anywhere except the CBC because it was weird and took a season or so to find its feet... Just for reference if you wanna know the ROI on this approach to supporting creative things.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
"We could, and should, have prepared for this demographic inevitability... But it was easier for both provincial and federal governments at the time to kick that can down the road" @maxfawcett.bsky.social in the @nationalobserver.com www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/26/o... #cdnpoli #boomers
November 26, 2025 at 9:01 PM
"We could, and should, have prepared for this demographic inevitability... But it was easier for both provincial and federal governments at the time to kick that can down the road" @maxfawcett.bsky.social in the @nationalobserver.com www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/26/o... #cdnpoli #boomers
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Before it gets consigned to the memory hole, new from me at TVO on the substantial investigative powers a government can bring to bear on its critics (and why premiers shouldn't make idle threats.) www.tvo.org/article/anal...
TVO Today | Current Affairs Journalism, Documentaries and Podcasts
www.tvo.org
November 26, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Before it gets consigned to the memory hole, new from me at TVO on the substantial investigative powers a government can bring to bear on its critics (and why premiers shouldn't make idle threats.) www.tvo.org/article/anal...
Delightfully surprised to receive this in the mail today - as it includes a chapter from Sean Markey, Ryan Gibson, Greg Halseth, Laura Ryser and myself on “Community Engaged Research and the Right to be Rural”.
(Huge thanks to Sean for leading the piece and for including me in it!)
(Huge thanks to Sean for leading the piece and for including me in it!)
November 25, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Delightfully surprised to receive this in the mail today - as it includes a chapter from Sean Markey, Ryan Gibson, Greg Halseth, Laura Ryser and myself on “Community Engaged Research and the Right to be Rural”.
(Huge thanks to Sean for leading the piece and for including me in it!)
(Huge thanks to Sean for leading the piece and for including me in it!)
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Green: Municipalities have been downloaded with tax cuts. Material conditions in cities will worsen. Property taxes will be hiked to backstop deferred investments in local infrastructure and social services, and the astronomical costs of policing. It's a reaction to the failures of our governments.
New Sandy and Nora episode! This is a special one -- a live conversation between @sandela.bsky.social, @syrusmarcusware.bsky.social and @matthewgreen.bsky.social.
sandyandnora.com/episode-351-...
sandyandnora.com/episode-351-...
Episode 351 – Radical politics through community, care and struggle
In this live episode, Sandy is joined by Syrus Marcus Ware and Matthew Green to discuss the current state of the left, and all the possibilities that exist to save ourselves.
sandyandnora.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Green: Municipalities have been downloaded with tax cuts. Material conditions in cities will worsen. Property taxes will be hiked to backstop deferred investments in local infrastructure and social services, and the astronomical costs of policing. It's a reaction to the failures of our governments.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Very bad. Very stupid. You heard it here first.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Very bad. Very stupid. You heard it here first.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Problem: AI needs massive amounts of power to thrive. Nuclear makes lots of power. Nuclear takes a long long time to do safely.
Proposed solution that I'm sure will have no unpleasant consequences: Use AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear plants.
Proposed solution that I'm sure will have no unpleasant consequences: Use AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear plants.
Power Companies Are Using AI To Build Nuclear Power Plants
Tech companies are betting big on nuclear energy to meet AIs massive power demands and they're using that AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants.
www.404media.co
November 14, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Problem: AI needs massive amounts of power to thrive. Nuclear makes lots of power. Nuclear takes a long long time to do safely.
Proposed solution that I'm sure will have no unpleasant consequences: Use AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear plants.
Proposed solution that I'm sure will have no unpleasant consequences: Use AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear plants.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Will PRIVATIZING Canadian MEDICARE WORK?
Researchers compared 25 wealthy countries.
The more each relies on FOR-PROFIT COMPANIES to deliver healthcare
...the WORSE LIFE EXPECTANCY gets.
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
Researchers compared 25 wealthy countries.
The more each relies on FOR-PROFIT COMPANIES to deliver healthcare
...the WORSE LIFE EXPECTANCY gets.
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
November 22, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Will PRIVATIZING Canadian MEDICARE WORK?
Researchers compared 25 wealthy countries.
The more each relies on FOR-PROFIT COMPANIES to deliver healthcare
...the WORSE LIFE EXPECTANCY gets.
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
Researchers compared 25 wealthy countries.
The more each relies on FOR-PROFIT COMPANIES to deliver healthcare
...the WORSE LIFE EXPECTANCY gets.
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
And people still look me square in the face and deadass ask me why women don't report.
"A Regina police officer has pleaded guilty to using police databases to pursue intimate and personal relationships with women. [...] It's not clear how many people Semenchuk may have contacted."
Regina officer pleads guilty to using police databases to pursue women | CBC News
Sergeant Robert Eric Semenchuck remains suspended with pay, as required under the province's Police Act. He has pleaded guilty to breach of trust and unauthorized use of a computer
www.cbc.ca
November 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
And people still look me square in the face and deadass ask me why women don't report.
Stumbled on this great piece from @anthonymoser.com in the strangest of ways (LinkedIn comment rabbit hole), but damn if it doesn't resonate: "I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater."
(I could pull quote pretty much everything, so just go and read it)
(I could pull quote pretty much everything, so just go and read it)
I Am An AI Hater
I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater.
anthonymoser.github.io
November 21, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Stumbled on this great piece from @anthonymoser.com in the strangest of ways (LinkedIn comment rabbit hole), but damn if it doesn't resonate: "I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater."
(I could pull quote pretty much everything, so just go and read it)
(I could pull quote pretty much everything, so just go and read it)
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Don’t threaten me with a good time.
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Don’t threaten me with a good time.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
November 15, 2025 at 5:24 PM
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Latest episode of Sandy and Nora is out! We have the conversation that Canada needs to be having: what is with this obsession with war? War is bad, actually.
sandyandnora.com/episode-350-...
sandyandnora.com/episode-350-...
Episode 350 – Actually, war is bad.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora take a hard look at war and remind listeners that it is very, very bad.
sandyandnora.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Latest episode of Sandy and Nora is out! We have the conversation that Canada needs to be having: what is with this obsession with war? War is bad, actually.
sandyandnora.com/episode-350-...
sandyandnora.com/episode-350-...
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
New from me & @bhaggart.bsky.social on the Canadian govt's bad AI plans: a rushed industry-heavy consultation, obsession with data centres & GenAI, & little focus on AI regulation. What of public trust & a digital governance capacity? policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/11/ai-r...
Canada’s AI strategy risks democracy and digital sovereignty
The government's plan overlooks rising U.S. authoritarianism, data sovereignty and the risk of outsourcing public services to tech firms.
policyoptions.irpp.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:39 PM
New from me & @bhaggart.bsky.social on the Canadian govt's bad AI plans: a rushed industry-heavy consultation, obsession with data centres & GenAI, & little focus on AI regulation. What of public trust & a digital governance capacity? policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/11/ai-r...
Framing it this way isn't helpful. This is something being *done to* rural people. The dynamics described are crafted by centralized govts + corps with urbanized extractive bias - not rural communities. Punching down on rural places both misses the real problem and harms progressive agendas...
Quetion for rural Alberta? support a dying industry that leaves a toxic wasteland that has no funding for cleanup, or support a growing clean responsible industry that pays its bills?
Tough one.
Tough one.
Rural Alberta's $70-million question: Will renewable energy revenue keep growing?
Rural Alberta is experiencing something remarkable — a steady, reliable stream of revenue that doesn’t depend on oil prices, doesn’t require new taxes and keeps flowing year after year. In 2025, wind ...
ca.news.yahoo.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Framing it this way isn't helpful. This is something being *done to* rural people. The dynamics described are crafted by centralized govts + corps with urbanized extractive bias - not rural communities. Punching down on rural places both misses the real problem and harms progressive agendas...
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
I’m trying to decide if I‘ve accidentally taken acid, or if it’s reality itself that’s breaking down.
Nicki Minaj is set to speak at the United Nations on behalf of the Trump administration.
November 17, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I’m trying to decide if I‘ve accidentally taken acid, or if it’s reality itself that’s breaking down.
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
November 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
You love to see it, Malden!
Love to see community action against this AI nonsense! neighborhoodview.org/2025/11/13/d...
November 14, 2025 at 1:37 PM
You love to see it, Malden!
Reposted by S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD
Some of the most interesting conversations I've had lately have stemmed from work convened, supported, or contracted by the Canadian Standards Association - giving me a little boosts of optimism amongst... *waving broadly*
November 13, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Some of the most interesting conversations I've had lately have stemmed from work convened, supported, or contracted by the Canadian Standards Association - giving me a little boosts of optimism amongst... *waving broadly*